Never a dull moment, as they say. Life for our Ohana in Kona is full, but that’s a good thing! Here’s an update on our life over the past few months.

Lynnette and Austin had an amazing outreach in June, serving with YWAM in Battambang, Cambodia. It was so great for Austin to see an altogether different life than what he sees living in the USA. Austin commented on how it had changed his perspective on life: “It makes me super grateful for all that God has given us”! Their time was spent serving YWAM ministry “Cafe Eden”, which provides meaningful employment and job skills for local women.

They also got to see and serve at the new Battambang campus, which has literally sprung up from rice fields. Here’s a side by side comparison. The pic on the left is Lynnette and Josiah 2 years ago…..the one on the right, in June with Austin. Can you say Transformation?! The new campus is amazing, and God will use this place to greatly impact both the nation of Cambodia, and also surrounding nations.

For Paul, it meant being a solo Dad for a month, and lots of juggling. But the good news was that Josiah was able to drive, and he could run errands for me……well, that was until his bike accident (see story below), and the helper turned into the patient. Fortunately, Lynnette’s parents Dennis and Marilyn came to the rescue, and flew to Kona to help out for 2 weeks. So great to have them here, even though they missed seeing Lynnette and Austin.

Paul joined the Finance Working Group in April, and has been enjoying  this new responsibility. This team primarily deals with campus financial policies and processes, but also answers various finance related questions that arise. Paul has also joined the CFO group, which is responsible for approving all campus payments.

Summer Quarter at the campus typically sees low enrollment. This quarter is no exception. There are only 2 discipleship training schools running this quarter, plus two second level schools, totaling around 100 students. To make up for these typically low numbers, it is common for numerous seminars on a variety of topics to be held in Kona, which bring in participants from around the world. This quarter, 2 of the larger seminars have been 21Project and Infusion.

21 Project, run by Circuit Riders (a ministry of YWAM),  is running from July 12-30. This seminar has around 350 participants. Here’s the link to the CR website, as well as a quote: https://www.crmovement.com/21-project/

21 Project is for young leaders who are wanting to live for a cause greater than themselves! Come and go deeper in your surrender, walk, and obedience to God as He begins to equip you to carry His presence and His glory into any situation you face. 21 Project recognizes that a generation is responding like perhaps never before in history. This school is designed to reinforce in students the courage, dedication and initiative to awaken their generation to the freedom and power of the Gospel. Our desire is to see leaders who will Revive and Multiply! Revive: by igniting Christians through the gifting God has given them. Salvation: by seeing the lost saved. Multiply: by carrying out the huge dream of God to go into all the world, preach His gospel and make disciples in every part of society.

Infusion Youth Camp has also been running. This event is a 10-day camp for high schoolers. For the first time, this year, they had 2 separate camps. Here’s a link to their website: http://infusionyouthcamp.com/

YWAM Kona was also blessed to have the amazing Francis Chan with us for a few days. Lynnette and I got to listen to some of his teaching. It was so good! If you haven’t heard any of his material before, we highly encourage you to look him up on youtube.

Paul’s work with Chosen & Dearly Loved is going really well. Paul has helped this ministry to improve their financial systems, and is also helping Chosen to launch a new donor management system. So far in 2017, Chosen has helped 26 children be adopted into loving families, by providing matching grants. Chosen’s goal is to be part of eliminating the orphan crisis in our lifetime. For more info, their website is: www.chosenanddearlyloved.org.

Family-wise, our 4 boys are all growing up fast. We now have 2 high schoolers. Austin will be a freshman this year, while Josiah starts his Junior year. Do you think they’re excited?

In March/April, we had Paul’s family visit. It was the first time we had all been together since NZ in 2010. So it was long overdue! It was such an incredible time of visiting with Paul’s two brothers and one sister, along with spouses and children, as well as Uncle Basil from London.  While they were all here we got to celebrate Basils 90th and Tiffany’s 40th!  We even found time for a group photo down by the Ocean.

At the same time, Lynnette’s brother Craig was here in Kona for a business trip. It was great to see him, and it worked out really well to have him here at the same time as Paul’s family. He even offered to take the above photo 🙂

April was Josiah’s biggest race of the year with the annual Lavaman olympic distance triathlon. He did incredibly well, crushing his personal best. He finished 12th overall out of 1200 athletes, and even made the front page of the local newspaper.

Kyle will be entering 4th grade this coming August. He is doing well at school, and is definitely a smart young man. Outside of school, he enjoys swimming for the Kona Aquatics club.

Tre turned 4 in May, but wants to be a teenager already, to keep up with his older brothers 🙂 He doesn’t understand why he can’t drive like Josiah! He is a passionate kid, who brings joy and energy to our life. His favourite things in the world are currently Batman legos and Dinosaurs.

Tre will be starting Preschool next month for the first time. He could have gone last year, and probably should have, but we elected to keep him home for financial reasons. He’s pretty excited to start, and the structure will be really good for him. We’re believing in faith for the extra funding to make this happen, as he also really needs the social development.

Lynnette and Paul celebrated our 19 year wedding anniversary on July 10th. Plans are already underway for the big one next year!

As we mentioned earlier, Josiah had a bike accident in May. He was riding with a group of bikers, and the biker in front of him fell down, leaving Josiah nowhere to go. He broke his left collarbone, and had surgery a few days later. Here’s a pic of the accident, with Josiah about to flip over the other rider. We are super grateful that the Lord was with him. He actually landed and rolled into the road (55 MPH speed limit), so praise the Lord that there were no cars when that happened. Only the white one pictured below. We’re also grateful for this group of riders, who helped Josiah right when the accident happened. The support he has received from the local Kona triathlon and biking community has been incredible.

Josiah is now doing physical therapy twice per week. We would love your prayers for his complete healing, so that he can get back into the sport he loves.

We hope you are enjoying your summer (or winter for you Kiwis and Aussies)! If you have time, we’d love to hear from you and know how we can pray for you. With love from the Randerson Ohana. (pc: Emily Gallagher)