2020 is flying right along!

Paul is busy with various projects – including developing a mobile app, launching a room reservation system and the ongoing development of the campus human resource system (Salesforce). Paul will be traveling to Nigeria next month to help them with their accounting processes.

Lynnette is staffing the Discipleship Training School at YWAM Ships full-time. She is loving it – sensing that this is where she belongs for this season; to be involved in the discipleship of young students. She even got to share with the class last week on God’s heart for His children.

Here’s a couple of reports from the campus:

In January, YWAM Kona was involved in a major outreach in Myanmar. Click here to read a report on this outreach.

In February, we had the Send Brazil stadium gathering. 140,000 people in 3 stadiums. Here’s a report from Foxnews.

Hard to believe it’s already April! The year so far has been a whirlwind of activity for our Ohana. Here’s a recap of the first 3 months of 2018.

As Paul has done for the past 3 years, he again served on a part-time basis with the Discipleship Training School (DTS) being run by our twin ministry down the road from the main YWAM campus, YWAM Ships. Paul enjoys doing this each year, as it is run by his good friend Sean, and Paul has a great deal of respect for how Sean leads, and so he enjoys working with him, but also, it’s a good opportunity to work directly with a school. Paul gives oversight to the finances of the school, making sure that the finances flow smoothly from start to finish. The school of 50 students plus staff has just sent out 6 outreach teams to Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Haiti, Cameroon, Costa Rica and Cambodia.

This drone picture will give you an idea of YWAM Ships’ great location. YWAM Ships is the buildings surrounding the swimming pool. The lower left hand corner of this photo is the stunning Kailua Bay.

As one quarter comes to an end, another begins. Thursday was Spring Quarter arrival day in Kona, with over 300 students coming to be trained as missionaries. These students are from 39 nations, participating in 6 different DTS’s and 12 different upper level courses.

Lynnette continues to serve on the campus Beautification Team. This team was formed last August, and has REALLY become important as the campus looks to beautify all areas – landscaping, exterior of buildings, interior of buildings, furnishings, window treatments, etc. She is enjoying working on this team, and she is in her element in this role. Currently, this team are remodeling a room that will be the office of Darlene Cunningham, the co-founder of the mission. The room should be completed by the end of April.

Here’s a picture inside the Defender Building, working with the architect.

There is great momentum right now. All over the campus, people are sensing that the Lord is doing something fresh, and we are seeking to be right in the middle of all the plans He has for YWAM Kona. In the early part of 2017, the base encountered some significant challenges, but we are so thankful that we are moving beyond those challenges, and into a season of growth. To give you two specific examples: We are currently moving ahead with finishing the upper and lower levels of the Defender Building, which will greatly increase our classroom capacity. In addition, we are also starting 2 new dormitory buildings to accommodate the additional students the Lord is bringing to us. Based on our current projections, we estimate 875 students will come to Kona for training this Fall. Last Fall Quarter, we had approximately 600. That’s a staggering 46% growth. Part of the reason for this is the launching of a new school called Foundations for Revival & Reformation, or Rev & Ref for short [we YWAMers like to abbreviate :)]. This 9-month school will start this Fall, and we anticipate around 200 students. For more info on this school, visit: http://ywamkona.org/uofn_courses/revivalandreformation/

As is the case every Spring, we have been BLESSED with many visitors: Lynnette’s parents coming over Christmas, Paul’s brother Dave & his family, Lynnette’s brother Craig & his family, Uncle Basil from London, and then friends: VanderHaak’s (Washington), Hudsons (Montana), Gallaghers (Chicago).

Austin has been enjoying playing tennis for Kealakehe High School. Here he is, with his Uncle Craig, Aunty Ann, and cousin Inga during his 1st match.

You may recall that Josiah had a very serious bike accident last May, breaking his collar bone. Unfortunately, he recently had another accident: he was hit by a car on Feb 25, as he was biking. The driver didn’t see him. Fortunately, the Lord was watching over Josiah, and he escaped with minor injuries. His bike was seriously damaged, but we were able to repair the bike as the driver’s insurance covered the accident. One other negative factor was the accident happened just 4 weeks before the Lavaman Triathlon, the race he had been training for, for months. After the accident, he wasn’t able to train, and in fact he wasn’t able to run until a week and a half before race day.

Because of this, we went into Lavaman with moderate expectations. Despite this major set back for Josiah, he finished the Olympic distance triathlon 13th overall, and 3rd in his age group. This local race had over 1,100 participants. His result was also good enough to qualify him for age-group nationals, which will be held this August in Cleveland, Ohio. He also qualified for nationals last year, but was too young to go. Austin also participated in this race, doing the 25 mile bike portion as part of a 3-person relay team. He did really well, and we are super proud of his achievements too, especially his persistence in training. His relay team, which included 2 young ladies from his High School, actually won their division.

Summer Plans are in full swing. We are planning to incorporate some time in Southern California, to look at some colleges there (Josiah is a Junior this year), followed by time in Washington, visiting family and friends, and then some of us will head East for Josiah’s race in Ohio, while the rest of us will head back to Kona. We plan to be in Southern California in late June and Washington in July. Exact dates to be determined. We sure hope you’ll be around, so we can see as many of you as possible. Our last trip to Washington was in 2016, and the last time our family was in California was in 2005, when Josiah was 4, and Austin was 2.

We have the funding for most of our Summer plans, but:

• Renting a car for 6 people is expensive. Do you have any leads on a vehicle our family might be able to use, either in Southern California, or in Washington?
• Getting Josiah and his bike to Triathlon Nationals is going to cost around $2,000. Would you consider partnering with us in this? The Lord has gifted Josiah in this sport, and we want to encourage him in it.

We hope this post finds you well. If you live in Southern California, the State of Washington, or lower British Columbia, we hope to see you this Summer.

We’ve just had a wonderful Thanksgiving, celebrating with both family and friends. We had an amazing lunch at Paul’s parent’s house, followed by delicious dessert and games with friends. Beyond the great food, we are reminded of God’s astonishing goodness to us. Whether we are in the midst of a trial, or not, God is good. Period. Full stop. God calls us to be thankful regardless of our circumstances.

“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (The Message)

Here’s the family at Paul’s parent’s place on Thanksgiving. Tre was napping during this photo. Josiah is the selfie-expert! 🙂

Here’s a pic of all 4 boys swimming on Thanksgiving! Tre usually stays on the steps, but that day, he ventured out with the big boys!

On Thanksgiving morning, Josiah participated in the annual Triptophan Triathlon. Paul could not compete this year, due to his leg. He should be able to swim again in a few weeks. Josiah ended up getting a flat tire on his bike, and finished down the field, but we are proud of his perseverance in finishing the race. He had good times in both the swim and the run. Lynnette volunteered at the race, while Paul, Austin, Kyle & Tre were the cheering squad.

The Fall quarter at the U of N is wrapping up soon. Approx 35 different outreach teams will leave around the 20th of December. This coming Thursday, Paul will be training over 100 of the staff and students that will be responsible for the team finances. He conducts this 2 hour training session each quarter, to ensure the teams are prepared to handle the thousands of dollars that goes with our outreach teams, as they travel. The following week, Paul will train the Winter quarter staff on how to properly budget for outreach.

If you’re on our mailing list, you should be receiving our Christmas card and an Annual Report by mid-December. They’re being printed as I type this. If you’d like to get on the mailing list for future newsletters, let us know, and we’d be happy to add you. Here’s a sneak peak of the boys during the photo shoot. They are growing up fast. This year, Josiah surpassed Lynnette in height, and it won’t be long before he passes Paul up too. (Josiah Freshman, Austin 7th Grade, Kyle 2nd Grade, Tre 2.5)

For those interested in our finances, here’s an update:

• Our Fall push for an increase in support of $1,000/month is going well. We’ve had pledges of $720 per month, although not all of it has materialized yet, and some donors couldn’t start until 2016. But we are thrilled by the response, which will really help with the increased costs we are facing.
• Comparing our finances in 2015 versus 2014, our missionary support income is up by 7.8%. Expenses are also up by 6.7%, so most of our support increase has been used up.
• Last December we were facing a large deficit for the year, but due to receiving several year-end donations, we ended up with a surplus of $204 for the year.
• This year, our expenses have again exceeded our income, by $3,338. This has been paid for by depleting our savings. We are not yet in any type of debt, but we will be before the end of 2015, based on our normal monthly support.

If you are able to help us financially during this time, that would be amazing! For more info on how you can give, please visit our partner page, or call us and we’d be happy to help with the process. All donations are fully tax deductible in the U.S. and Canada.

We pray that you will have a wonderful Christmas season. May you be reminded of the good gifts you have received from the Lord, and may you prosper in 2016.

“I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” John 10:10 (The Message)

Fall has arrived in Kona. It probably doesn’t look much like where you are. For us, there are no leaves on the ground, other than those from branches that have blown down in the strong winds. There are no cold temperatures, other than us celebrating the thermostat showing in the high 70’s in the mornings and evenings. The most obvious sign of Fall is the decorations in our home. October 1st is Fall decorating day in the Randerson Ohana. Despite living in Hawaii, Lynnette loves Fall, and so we decorate!

Today is also Fall quarter arrival day. We are anticipating close to 500 new students arriving in Kona today, to be trained in various schools over the next 12 weeks. Almost 350 of these students are taking YWAM’s entry level course, the DTS (Discipleship Training School), and will be equipped in Knowing God and then Making Him Known!

It has been a busy season for our family and in ministry of late. The A-team, on which Paul serves, continues to look for ways to improve our outreach effectiveness. We are working on outreach evaluations, from both staff and students, to see areas that need improvement. We also had a meeting yesterday with our Winter school leaders. The main goal of that meeting was to communicate that outreach planning begins now, connecting with contacts on the ground, figuring out visa cost and process, required immunizations, budgets, housing plans, etc. A good outreach begins with well planned logistics. At the end of October will be our next quarterly Outreach Training. These have been really great events, as we look to equip our staff to handle the environment and challenges of outreach in some of the toughest places on earth!

October is also Ironman month in Kona! The Ironman World Championships are on October 10th, and for our triathlon loving family, that means volunteering and cheering. The event, which hosts almost 2,000 athletes, requires over 5,000 volunteers to run, and our family will be running an aid station during the run portion of the race, as well as doing security at the pre-race and post-race banquets.

For More than Sport, one of the ministries we work with, Ironman is a huge deal. Chris Lieto, the founder, is a professional triathlete, and knows many of the athletes that come to Kona. During race week, we will have the More than Sport village, right by the race finish line. Thousands of people will come by, and learn more about what this ministry does, encouraging athletes to give back, and “do more” than just sport. We are also partnering with several companies, and by buying their products, a portion will go back to More than Sport. You can learn more by going to the Kona landing page of More than Sport.

Paul had a small skin cancer removed from his lower right leg recently. It was a “basal cell carcinoma”. The doctor was confident that he removed all the cancer, and that it hadn’t spread. Now, Paul’s leg just needs to heal up, which will take several months. So, sadly, no swimming for Paul for a while 😦

In other health related news, Lynnette’s dad Dennis, 74, had a stroke a week and a half ago. It was caused by a blood clot, and caused loss of feeling in his mouth and the entire left side of his body. Just today, he moved into a rehab center, where he will receive 2 hours of therapy each day, to help his brain and body recover. We are praying he will make a full recovery. Please pray for Dennis and Marilyn, as well as Lynnette and her brother and sisters, as they walk through this time.

Here is a great video that YWAM Ships Australia put out, talking about their work in Papua New Guinea. PNG is a country of 7 million people. YWAM Ships is bringing medical and dental care, in the name of Jesus, to people who are in desperate need.

Our Fundraising push is going well. As of today, October 1st, food is no longer free for our family on campus. Eating a meal for our family would now cost us $10. So, we are going to predominantly eat at home, which will increase our overall costs of living here. As if our food costs weren’t high enough already. A gallon of milk costs us $5! Much more expensive than the U.S. mainland. Our goal is to raise an additional $1,000 per month, to bring us into a position of financial sustainability, with the increase in expenses we are facing. So far, we have received pledges of $400 per month, so we are almost half way to our goal. Would you please consider becoming a monthly partner? If you would like further information, please contact us. You can also visit our partner page for information on how to give. All donations are 100% tax deductible for U.S. and Canadian taxpayers.

Thanks for reading our update! Have a great October, and may God bless you richly!