This is a new video from our “twin” ministry here in Kona, YWAM Ships. This ministry uses ships to reach places that cannot be reached by plane. Jesus loves to reach the lost with the good news of his Kingdom!
As the saying goes, “time flies when you’re having fun”. It must be true, because 2014 is flying by!!!! In a few days, the year will be one third complete. For you glass half-full types, I will phrase it “there is two thirds of the year left”, to keep everyone happy.
We’ve been so busy in fact, that we haven’t updated the website this year. A bit slack!! So, we have to make amends by doing an incredible post this time! Read on to learn more…
So far this year, we have hosted numerous visitors, volunteered for various YWAM events, volunteered and competed in local triathlons, traveled to Oahu for surgery, on top of normal life and ministry commitments. Life so far in 2014 has been full, to say the least.
The year started off with a surprise visit from Lynnette’s brother Craig, his wife Ann, and their daughter Inga. They surprised us on January 3rd, Lynnette’s birthday.
In late January, we were visited by Paul’s brother Dave, his wife Tiffany, and their daughter Tori. And Paul’s sister, Sally, and her boyfriend Mitch from Australia came too. The only one of Paul’s siblings who couldn’t come was Tim, and his wife Megan, who were missed.
In February, we wrapped up our “visitor season” with visits from Lynnette’s parents, Dennis and Marilyn, and Lynnette’s good friend Jewel, from Lynden. We had a great time hosting all these visitors, showing them our life in Kona, and our work with YWAM.
We also love volunteering at different events. Lynnette made cup-cakes for an “adoption seminar” put on by a YWAM Kona ministry called “Chosen & Dearly Loved”. She also helped to put on “the Big Smile” event, which raised money for cleft-pallette surgeries in Thailand. Another thing our family likes to be involved with is triathlons. Josiah and Paul like to compete in some of these events, and when we’re not competing, we can volunteer by running aid stations for the athletes.
Then, unexpectedly, Tre had to fly to Oahu for hernia repair surgery. So that was a bit traumatic, to see our 11 month old have to go through a surgery, but we sensed God with us, and the surgeon was amazing. Tre did so good!!
Thanks for reading about our adventures these past few months. We are so blessed to serve the Lord with YWAM Kona, and we are immensely grateful to our team of financial and prayer supporters who stand behind us, allowing us to serve as we do.
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches here in the U.S., I am always reminded that the bible calls us to be thankful, no matter what our circumstances. We are to be grateful people, whether we are in plenty or in want. For most of us, we have SO MUCH to be thankful for: food to eat, a roof over our heads, clothes to wear. On top of these basic needs, we as believers, can be thankful for God’s love, for Him sending His Son, Jesus, to die for us, for the indwelling Holy Spirit, our church community, the list goes on.
One of the things that may not make your list of things you are thankful for, however, is clean water. The fact is, most of us take clean water for granted. We have water in our homes. Doesn’t everyone? Sadly, no. In developing countries, people can have to walk a long way, just to get access to water. Can you imagine this? Imagine your home with NO WATER. Now think of all the water you use each day to bathe, drink, brush your teeth, wash your clothes, wash your dishes. What if you had to go each day and retrieve that water from your community water source, and it was an hour’s drive from your house, and you had to bring it home? And what if the water source does not have clean water? This situation is a reality for many people in our world, especially in the developing world.
One of the ministries that Lynnette and I work with here at YWAM Kona is called Justice Water. We believe that everyone has the right to clean water. Justice Water uses simple, sustainable water technology, to bring clean water to those who need it. Here is a video of a water project just outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia from May of this year.
Last weekend, Paul was involved in an outreach training event for the various discipleship training schools here at the campus. There is a real push right now for DTS to be more intentional in training our staff for overseas outreach. With that emphasis, Paul was part of a crew that organized the event, which ran from 1pm Friday to 6pm Saturday.
It was a fantastic event for our staff. We had over 100 staff in attendance, and all who attended were blessed by some of the gifted teachers that serve here at YWAM Kona. The training was on numerous topics related to outreach: What is an outreach? Outreach Requirements, Budgeting for outreach, Dealing with Emergencies, Cross-Cultural issues, and the list goes on.
Paul was so excited to be involved, as training staff to be more effective in their role is one of his passions. Paul shared for 45 minutes on how to properly budget for outreach, walking the staff through some financial guidelines, as well as an excel budget template on the big screen. This topic is important given that we send hundreds of thousands of dollars with our teams who go on outreach each quarter, and we want to be wise stewards of these funds. This quarter, around Christmas-time, we will have approximately 40 outreach teams with almost 400 short-term missionaries who will go out and preach the gospel in many locations around the world – primarily in Asia and the Pacific, but teams are also being sent to Europe and the USA.
The goal of this training is that our outreaches are even more fruitful, and ultimately that more people make decisions for Christ, and then are connected to their local church for further growth and discipleship.
One of the YWAM ministries that Lynnette and I will be working with here in Kona is called Justice Water (http://www.justicewater.net).
Justice Water aims to empower developing communities with multipliable and sustainable water technologies, using resources that are available, affordable, and acceptable to their culture and region.
It is easy to take our access to clean water for granted, but according to the World Health Organization, over 1 billion people do not have access to safe water supply sources.
Check out this video below, to show how simple technology can be used to meet one of our most basic needs: clean water.
God is at work in the nations! Check out this video highlighting the work of the Lord in Cambodia!
For over a year now, our family have been in a transition, as we followed the Lord’s calling to return to Kona, Hawaii to work with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Well, that season of transition is now over, and we have arrived in Kona to start a new chapter in our family’s life.
We flew in on Tuesday July 9th, and were greeted by not only intense humidity, but also by our good friends Andrew & Jane West and their two boys, Isaac & Lucas. So, as I type this, we have been here for 5 days.
We are privileged to be staying at the house of some friends of ours who are vacationing in Montana for the month of July. They have 4 boys also, so the house is tailor-made for us. At the moment, we are searching for a suitable place to rent. There is not a lot available, so we are trusting the Lord that he will continue to provide for us, not only in finances, but also in accommodation.
The great thing about the place we are staying is that it is around 800 feet above sea level – this is really helping us, by keeping the temperature’s down.
Most people want to know if we are getting settled – I think that process is going to take a couple of months! We are awaiting both our shipping container and our vehicle. Once those arrive, and we have our accommodation sorted out, then I think we will start to feel settled. It is on the one hand great to be here, and feels like we have come back home (this is where Lynnette and I met 16 years ago), and on the other hand, it feels like we have left home in Lynden behind, and we all miss our friends and family from there.
Since arriving, we have been down to the YWAM base several times, as we try to find our way around again. I think one of our favorite places is the Plaza of Nations, which has flags to show the nations that are represented at the Kona base. It is very cool to be surrounded by so many nationalities, and I think just a small glimpse of what Heaven will be like, as the nations worship the Lord together.
Paul had his first meeting with DTS leadership on Friday. It was a great meeting, and gave Paul a sense of what the Lord is doing right now through the base, and how He is making the DTS program grow in fruitfulness,and effectiveness, but also how the base has such a need for people with administrative skill, to make the program even more successful.
We also celebrated our 15-year wedding anniversary on July 10th, the day after arriving here in Kona. It was special to wake up on our first morning here, and celebrate our journey together these past 15 years, and our future together. We were able to spend that evening with some friends down at the beach, share a meal together, and watch the incredible sunset.
Please pray for our family for the following:
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Aloha!
Randerson Ohana 