70 years!!

Happy Birthday Loloma!
This weekend we celebrated Loloma's 70th Birthday. (Loloma is the dear lady living with us while taking her DTS). Her daughter and Granddaughter flew in from New Zealand, and we had a huge birthday celebration with her family and the entire missions community.
It was a great time of celebrating God's faithfulness and blessing over Loloma's life.

She truly inspires us, like Psalm 145:4 says "One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts."
We are so blessed to live with Loloma everyday, sharing our house and everything with her; amazed by her stories of Gods faithfulness over her whole lifetime. We also praise God because in a few months we'll be able to do the same for our "next generation". Then we will have three generations living in one house.
Hopefully God will give us all 70 years to "tell of his mighty acts".

Excercising our faith

'Osi had a interesting experience excercising his faith lately.
The farmers surrounding our village were burning their feilds, preparing to plant new crops. The other night 'Osi noticed one fire behind the camp was getting larger and seemed to be coming quickly toward our houses.
He noticed one of the staff of our mission running around frantically asking for the Director. 'Osi thought "I don't know where the Director is, but who am I? Who am I in Christ? I know my position as a child of God. I can go ask God for miracles and He will answer my prayers."

So he marched confidently towards the fire at the end of our campus, and said "In the name of Jesus I command this fire to stop by the time it reaches this coconut tree. You will not harm our houses."

Then 'Osi returned to the main chapel building where we were all gathered to have a meeting. During the meeting a few of the girls were watching the fire nervously, saying how worried they were that the fire was coming too close.
But 'Osi told them not to worry, he already prayed about it, it will stop. Most of us kind of laughed at him (sadly) he has such child like faith and confidence in his prayers. But by the time that fire reached the coconut tree, the rain started falling. God quenched the fire and answered 'Osi's prayers. We all have daily opportunities to excercise our faith, are you praying specific prayers in confidence that God will answer?

Harvesting peanuts!

The mission we are serving with in Tonga claims to be the only self-funded YWAM base in the Pacific. We have 50 acres of land that we lease from the Tu'ipelehake, and we use much of it for farming. Everyone living at the mission takes time to serve on the farm. This week we had fun harvesting peanuts! We will sell these peanuts, using the profits to help pay for various ministry expenses.

Join the Peace Corps or be a missionary?

While living in Tonga I (Jen) have had the opportunity to meet several Peace Corp volunteers from America. They are serving in various villages, and we love to talk about life in Tonga and how we sometimes miss American food or hot showers.

I have been told that most Peace Corps volunteers are not Christians. Out of 20 living in Tonga I have only met 2 believers, and they claim to be the only ones. I met these two at church, and try to encourage them regularly because they are very discouraged, claiming to be continually bombarded with ridicule for their faith. Please pray for them.

On the other hand, this is a fantastic opportunity to share God's love with the others! It is wonderful that they have come here voluntarily, to serve the Tongan people. They share that common ground with Christians, to serve and sacrifice for the good of others.
I have started contacting a few of them for casual visits, and hope we can become friends. Hopefully we can all broaden our understanding of faith and the culture we are living in now.

Thank you

For the past 5 years in missions we have been strengthened and protected all over the world because you were praying faithfully.
Sometimes people send us a word of encouragement which is exactly the thing we need to sustain us in a spiritual battle. Your partnership with us is vital, and we want to improve our communication with you. From now on we will try to update this weblog with new photos and stories every week.

One of our main goals in ministry is to proclaim God’s goodness through our testimony.
Revelation 12:11 says the Christians overcame Satan “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
We all want to be counted in that number of Christians boldly sharing our testimonies right?

So what can we do to be in better communication with you? Should we send newsletters more often? Maybe every 2 weeks instead of every 4-6 weeks? We enjoy praying for you every day when you send us your prayer requests….should we send you more letters or postcards?
If you would like to receive letters through the mail we can do that. We apologize because sometimes our mail doesn’t reach America, coming from our remote 3rd world country. But we’ll keep trying. We received our first letter here this week and were so excited. Jen’s Grandma mailed us corn seeds for our garden (thanks Grandma!)
Whatever we can do from our side, we really want to try our best to improve communication. Because we care about you, value your partnership, and need to share more testimonies for God’s glory. Amen?

Here is the exciting news….

We’re having a baby!
This was a total surprise to us, because we planned to wait awhile—but God did a miracle.
This is a blessing and testimony to ‘Osi’s family too. His 3 older brothers have been married for many years with no children. They really want children but are not walking with the Lord. Now they see how we are walking with God and He blessed us with a baby even when we were trying to prevent it. God is so amazing!
So now we are over the shock, and getting excited. God’s plans for us rarely seem “practical” or “safe”. Remember what He called Noah to do? Or David, or Esther? (Check out Hebrews 11 for more fantastic examples of faith). When we put our faith in Him He can show His greatness and do miracles.
This month we moved back to the YWAM Missions compound on the main island of Tonga. We felt we should return here for a bit more Bible/ministry training while helping serve the mission. Because everywhere we’ve lived the past 5 months of marriage we get heavily involved in local ministry, and quickly the Pastors offer ‘Osi a leadership position among the youth or asks us to pioneer a pre-school….random things. But every time we bring it to God in prayer, we get verses about how we need more training and humble positions first.


While we are serving and training here…..

We are sharing a cute cabin with another missionary on campus. She is a darling 70 year old lady named Loloma, who just gave her life to Jesus and wants to be a missionary. We love Loloma as our own Grandma, and are thrilled to have her in our family. She came with nothing to support herself, and no family support. So we applaud her bravery. She is a true disciple, leaving everything to follow Jesus. Loloma is also helping Jen improve her Tongan, because she talks constantly but doesn’t speak English. The only English word we have hear her speak is "enough!" when we give her too much food.

Maybe you were wondering why we took the past 4 months off from our “normal” ministry to do youth ministry in other villages with our family. Truthfully, we have not changed our missions focus or vision, but were respecting the culture we live in. In Tonga after marrying the man is expected to take his bride home to help his Mom and meet the whole family. Indeed we spent a lot of quality time with the whole family, sometimes packed into a 3 room house with 4 different families. Spending our “honeymoon” in the same room with Grandpa was awkward, but overall God used us in exciting ways.
A few of our relatives recommitted their lives to God simply because they saw that we read the Bible and pray together daily instead of screaming and fighting. Osi’s brother and sister in-law have been married, wanting children for years but never could. But when they saw that God blessed us immediately with a baby, they started praying and going to church again….after inviting God into their marriage they conceived 2 months later! Hallelujah!


The most amazing miracle…..

Is that after 16 years ‘Osi’s Dad is finally reuniting with his Mom. ‘Osi’s Dad, Kesomi sat in our kitchen last week crying as he confessed his failure to a group of friends and family. Kesomi had left ‘Osi’s Mom Kelela 16 years ago in Tonga with their 7 children. Then he moved to Alaska, saying he wanted a divorce and had another girlfriend. But Kelela refused to give up on him, and she prayed for the next 16 years. Kesomi said recently he has been convicted by the way his children are missionaries trying to serve God, yet he should be the one setting an example. So he flew back here to Tonga and is currently reconciling with his wife.

Malo aupito! (Thank you very much) for your encouragement, advice, prayers, and partnership with us. We always pray for you, and look forward to communicating with you more regularly.
Love 'Osi, Jenn, Loloma, and the baby.

Eating the neighbor’s dog….. and the never ending Easter Celebration

Life is different in Tonga.
The other day I sent ‘Osi to the shop to buy some milk and he came home holding the neighbors dog by the feet, dead. He found it on the road, and guessed a car hit it, so we can cook it for lunch. We’ve been on a tight budget, since the U.S. economy went down our missions support is down 1/3 what it was before. But God still provides manna from heaven! Jehovah Jireh, our provider.
We know that you may be facing a similar struggle right now, so we have been praying for you and your family everyday. Praying you will experience God’s peace and provision for your family. Tongans always tell me how proud they are of being free, they don’t feel pressured by jobs schedules, time, or bills….just free. Just live, and eat what God provides. Dogs are tasty with salt and onions. Meanwhile the building project continues, as we help our Mom finish her house.

Our brother Viliami also came up for a week to help us build the house. Here is a recent family photo.Here in our village ‘Osi and I helped lead the Easter program for the children/youth in our church. We had to be there from 6 A.M. until midnight the whole weekend, so I was squirming like a little kid on the pews. Overall I didn’t contribute much to the program because my Tongan is not fluent yet, but ’Osi was fantastic teaching and preaching. Several kids gave their lives to Jesus, Praise God!!

♥ ‘Osi and Jennifer Halalilo

Building!

'Osi enjoys working on the house, he is learning alot about carpentry. We just installed the plumbing, so our Mom can have her first indoor toilet! We are all very excited.

March 2009 Newsletter

We have so much exciting news to share with you this month, and here are the highlights:
We moved to Vava’u the beginning of this month. Vava’u is another main island in the kingdom of Tonga. ’Osi’s Mom Kelela, and some siblings still live in his childhood home where we are living temporarily to help Kelela finish her house, and renew her farm. ’Osi’s Dad and all 3 older brothers moved away to find work, so Kelela really has to work hard to care for the other children on her own.
I love, Kelela so much. She is the perfect picture of a Proverbs 31 lady. When we first married ‘Osi told me “Jennifer, I love you so much. I love you like I love my Mom.”What!! That’s every American wife’s nightmare being compared to the perfect Mother in law!
But now that I am living with Kelela I understand, I can’t be jealous of an angel. Besides ‘Osi gives me ample reason to feel secure. Every day he scrubs the Tongan mud off my feet and tells me how much he loves me. He is a wonderful husband. Another way God blessed us this month is through ‘Osi’s Dad giving us land for an inheritance. Land in Tonga is passed down from Father to son, and his Father gave us the best piece. We praise God for this generous gift. Hopefully we can build a little Tongan house from coconut leaves so we have a permanent address anytime we need to return from missions.
When I first visited the property I cried and cried. Its everything I ever dreamed about, and ‘Osi was totally confused when I reenacted a scene from Gone With the Wind – grabbing a fistful of dirt I declared “With God as my witness, I’ll never go hungry again!!!”
‘Osi was working as a youth leader for 3 different churches in Tongatapu before we moved to Vava’u. We are still involved in ministry everywhere we go, and I have internet set up at home now to continue mission communications work. Also I finished two documentary videos this month for YWAM Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. But our main ministry now is friendship evangelism with many of our unsaved family members and friends in our village.
Everyone goes to church as part of the culture, but many people don’t have a relationship with God. So alcoholism, abuse, and other problems are common within families in our village.
Village life centers around church meetings. So I really need you to pray for me to learn Tongan faster. I love going to church at home, but going to church Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:30 in the morning, then again on Sunday 3 times a day is a bit much when I don’t understand the language.
It was hilarious, today was the quarterly giving Sunday, but I didn’t know the protocol. ‘Osi and I were rushing out of the house when I grabbed our tithe, thinking it was a $50 but it was only $2. So the protocol in our Free Wesleyan (Methodist) church is every 3 months we save up our money and bring a large offering to the front. Then the deacon calls out our name and the amount we gave. Man, I was so embarrassed giving our $2 widows mite.
Good thing God and the Pastor are more concerned with our hearts than public displays of holiness.‘Osi has had many meetings with the pastor of our church here. They have several ideas for reaching the youth in our village. Most of the youth are going to church on Sunday as part of the culture, but during the week they are taking drugs and alcohol and falling away from God’s plan for their lives.
Please pray for the youth in our village. It’s difficult to reach people who think they are Christians because they go to church, but they don’t have a real relationship with God. We want to encourage them to see that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life.This promise is true for you as well dear friend.
God bless you as you grow closer to Him,
♥ Jen and ‘Osi
Praises and prayer requests:
1.) Praise God for the opportunity to serve our family and new village in Vava’u.
2.) Please pray for our good health, Jennifer is recovering from dengue fever this week
3.) Praise God for our ministry opportunities to the youth, through ’Osi’s favor with the Pastor 4.) Pray for Jennifer to learn the language and adapt to being the only foreigner in the village, it can be lonely sometimes

Wedding Photos!!

At last!
I am now Mrs. Faka'osi Halalilo.
We had a beautiful simple little wedding here in Tonga. Please see the Wedding Photo Album on the right side of this page!
Love from Tonga,
Jenni and 'Osi

Faka’ofo’ofa!

I may be vain but……..
Living in Tonga surrounded by beautiful people, has made me wonder what is their secret?! They are so very beautiful, with such smooth skin. Their skin glows brighter and healthier than a Maybelline commercial!
So I did a bit of research and I am happy to report to you the ancient secret for their beauty. Can you guess?
Customarily I found Tongan women trekking to the bush looking for tui tui trees. They gather the small brown tui tui nuts, crack the shells, and chew the nuts mixed with fragrant leaves. Then they spit the mixture out and rub it on their skin!
It sounds gross, but I had to try it since I claim to “wear the culture”. So I started chewing and spitting and rubbing…. Rubbing it on naturally exfoliates our skin because of the small nut pieces, but what really surprised me was that a mysterious ingredient in the nut causes dirt to rise up! That is why they call it Tongan soap. Then after we rinse off, the oils from the nuts leave our skin feeling soft and smooth. It really is amazing stuff.
Perhaps I am a vain missionary, but I tell you everyday I have been doing this and have reaped the benefits of beautiful skin and a valuable life lesson: this is just like the Holy Spirit.
When we ask the Holy Spirit for a fresh anointing and covering everyday He sluffs off the old dead skin, and draws out the dirt and sin from our life. Then as the sin washes away our lives are so much brighter and beautiful.
Faka’ofo’ofa is the Tongan word for it: beautiful. Life is beautiful when we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives cleansing and renewing us. And don’t we all want to be beautiful from the inside out?

Our wedding!

Well....not mine it was Jessie and Pila's, but I was a bridesmaid =)

Incognito

This week I found myself the fortunate stow away on the big yellow truck taking the DTS feild trip to the beach! Usually people aren't aloud to go along, but I was desperate =) Fortunately I had this tupenu to cover my head and conceal my identity. I blend in right?

Weaving with my roomie!

This is my lovely roomate Suliana. She has MAD palm weaving skills, which she has been teaching me so that we can decorate our gate for the coronation of the new King of Tonga!

Jen's July 2008 News - lessons from the Quaker Box

Every morning I laugh while reading the back of my oatmeal box with the sordid recipe for Oatmeal Quesadillas. Strange people, whoever thought of that. Breakfast for dinner is cool if it’s pancakes. But there should be a limit, right? =) This originally caught my eye after noticing the text in a foreign language. Naturally I assumed it was Tongan because we are in Tonga.
So I’m thinking
“Right on! I’m going to learn Tongan from my oatmeal box!” But as I read along – almost the whole recipe – I thought “cucharaditas de granos” and “Sazonar” might not be Tongan because Tongan words always end it vowels. Reading further down the box I caught the phrase “En Mexico importado” and my cunning linguistic intuition told me “This must be Spanish!” hence the recipe for Oatmeal Quesadilla’s.
I drank another cup of strong, special missionary brew, instant coffee and two things became very clear: #1.) I should get a Tongan dictionary. #2.) Quaker Oats needs to rethink their marketing strategy.
Why in the world are they sending products all the way out to a tiny little Island kingdom where people highly value food, then they market the food in Spanish?!
I had another cup of great instant coffee and began to ponder my own life – as if I were the oatmeal box coming to this foreign land. Will the people read me in the right way or am I carrying too many labels from my native language and country, or the last language and country I’ve been to?
The Spirit really convicted me to shed my labels. Be fresh and ready to learn from the people and start wearing the culture. Obviously missionaries need to learn the local language, dress, food, and customs…but I think it goes deeper. Since I know The Living God has called me to be here, I want to be the best I can for Him. Will I love the people enough to wear their culture from my heart? 1 Corinthians 9:22

I am so thankful for that revelation from the Oatmeal box because......
After that morning I had an excruciating week. Potentially the worst week of my life. Physically, spiritually, and emotionally I was so sick….Something happened to me and it was 7 deadly poison arrows shot in my heart (not exaggerated enough.)
But eventually, God restored my soul, enabling me to focus on my work. I got back to learning the language and culture.
One night I was sitting outside with the girl DTS students. We were shelling peanuts on the porch, laughing and talking in broken English/Tongan. Then one of the girls said the sweetest, uplifting thing, “Jenni, we know you love us ‘cause you not just wear our long dress, eat our Tongan food, and try to talk in Tongan – but you wear it in your heart.” Man she made me cry. I really love these people. I really love God who probably had her say that =)
And I want to encourage you, my friend to read the back of your oatmeal box and meditate on the life changing lessons God is teaching you. Please seek Him daily, love people, and never give up.

My new home for the next 2 years! (Lord willing)

Why Tonga?

Dear friends, I have some interesting and exciting news to share with you! But I wanted to share it straight from my heart. So as I was praying about writing this letter to you, I felt that I should copy a page of my journal here and let you read it. (Normally I never let people read my journal, but this is a glimpse of my heart.)

April 26, 2008. (my first week visiting the YWAM University of the Nations Campus in Tonga)Lord I am getting close to the people here already, especially the girls...and everyone has been telling me to stay. It’s so tempting because I do absolutely love it here. Everything about this place. But I want to have a sign Lord, 4 signs please? There are too many beautiful places in the Pacific with nice people who have asked me to stay and set up my office for communications. But I can’t stay just because of the people, I need to know it’s from You. There are many great places to live….but I want to be in the best place; in Your will. So I wait for the Lord. My soul waits =)
Driving around the country today with friends (Tonga is roughly the size of Camano Island, so it’s easy to drive around) I was amazed at the beauty of this place. And the beauty of the people. Their culture and traditions are soooo beautiful! For about year now I have been dreaming of coming to Tonga…and I have to say I feel like I’m in a dream. The culture is beautiful.
I know that’s such a shallow reason to stay here. But why not? Really? I never wanted to be an ascetic missionary who feels the need to sacrifice every happiness and comfort thinking I will somehow please God by being miserable! So unless I hear otherwise from You Daddy, I think I will continue to follow my heart and my eyes and my taste and all my senses and exercise my freedom of choice =)
Plus another great thing about this place is they have free offices open and ready for occupation, wireless internet, and cheap rent. It is in an excellent location, in the middle of the Pacific. With great leaders whom I trust.
Daddy, this lifestyle I have been living the past year has been a fun adventure with You. But I am getting tired of moving and transplanting myself over and over and over again. I thank You for giving me the strength and diligence to continue moving and planting seeds, building relationships….but Daddy, now I would just love to settle down in one place for awhile and put down deeper roots. Have sanctuary.
It has been a wild ride and I need a place to just stop and think…to work on all these missions projects I have accumulated. Take a deep breath, focus, and grow deep. I am becoming buoyant, resilient, and a bit surfacey – like a coconut floating on the waves being tossed and drifting…..I’m ready to settle on a beautiful island with some other coconutty’s and put down roots. =)
My Father heard the cry of my heart and by the end of the week I had all 4 of the confirmations I asked for: A Bible verse, a dream, and a formal invitation from the leaders, and also the fact that they let me run around barefooted! So I gleefully accepted, and began filling out my visa application to stay here for the next couple of years.
I am sharing a room with the greatest girl named Suliana. She is so cool. We laugh all day long and all night. Since we live around a lot of families the kids usually spend the night at our place too. Now that I’m part of the Tongan family life I feel free to be myself and have a good time, and we are just crazy.
I tell you one thing, it was great to unpack my suitcase after so many months on the road! The office is a good atmosphere to dive into all my communications projects too. By the way, I plan to post links on my blog to the different websites I am creating for YWAM bases in the Pacific. If you want to check them out please visit my web blog www.castyourbread.blogspot.com and click on the links. (Just to show that I am actually working here too, and not just dancing and playing all the time =)
Thank you so much for your love and prayers my friend! God bless you warmly and wonderfully as you call on Him - Jeremiah 33:3
♥ Jennifer

Our city is on fire but we are still having a good time...

My friends say I need to keep writing provocative newsletter headings to coerce people into reading them. Apparently the “Sleeping with Warriors” title on my last newsletter attracted a lot of attention. No, Daddy, I have not fallen into sin =) I just wanted to see if people actually read these letters each month!
Truthfully, I am in Argentina this week and our city is on fire. Someone said I should title this newsletter “Smoking pot in Argentina” because this city is a smoking pot. Hehe. In spite of the smoke we are carrying on with our mission conference Communications Research Information and Technology (CRIT). Thanks to my amazing boss Bryan, who sponsored my trip here. I was invited to represent the Pacific Islands and meet 30 other worldwide YWAM Communications staff. Did you know YWAM is the largest mission organization in the world? I had no idea it was growing this rapidly worldwide….possibly because I am floating in the Pacific like a coconut on the sea =)
I am thrilled that the waves brought me here briefly, to share about God’s work in the Pacific region.I taught a small workshop on writing for YWAM which was fun. Then I met with a few YWAM Editors to give them some stories and photos from the Pacific. Praise God, various magazines want to publish these stories I have been gathering the past couple of months in the islands. So you didn’t send my communications team out in vain! God is doing miraculous and mighty things in New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, the Cooks and the Solomon Islands…..and I am so thrilled to send these stories worldwide!
At the conference I also learned how to use multimedia computer programs such as Photoshop, so that I can make myself look beautiful. If I look suspiciously gorgeous…..well, don’t look too close. The islands have been good to me =)
Jen’s April 2008 Newsletter!I was blessed to be involved in a weeklong project of organizing a team of missionaries from Central and South America into the official “LatinComm. Team”. I am secretly jealous there are 6 of them to serve their region, and only 1 of me for my region. But I am still praying. Please pray with me that God will send a couple more people to join me in a permanent PacificComm. Team. It was wonderful traveling with Tim and Anna the last 2 months, but they had to return home for work and school….so please pray that God will send more people to help me. See, I have so many dreams for developing communications in the Pacific but I only have 24 hours a day to write the stories, take pictures, shoot video, build websites for the ministries, and maintain them, raise support for all this and….it is fun but please pray for more skilled people to help.
Hey! I love getting your e-mails – please feel free to write anytime!
“Dios con bendiga!” (God bless you)
♥ Jen
p.s. The new addiction?? Matte. mmmmmMatte the marvelous Argentinean green tea pounded into the wooden cup in my hand. The locals share a communal cup of it all day long. Matte is about relationships, caffeine and antioxidants so I happily embraced this tradition. They sent me home with 6 kilos of the stuff and a cold. Yay for communal sharing!

Bula from Fiji!

I just said goodbye to Tim and Anna as they returned to their motherlands....I love you guys and miss you already. But I'm so thankful we shared this missionary journey together! Thank you.

This past week in Fiji has been fabulous!
I visited 3 seperate YWAM ministries in the past 6 days, and everyone has a fantastic story to tell. So I was extremely busy reporting and gathering photos....
Another highlight was reuniting with my old Fijian friends Salote and Uriah!
Reh Reh Vinaka!
They were YWAM staff in Samoa during my DTS, and have since returned to Fiji.
I completely surprised them - we were laughing and crying there in the village...good times. They say Y.W.A.M. stands for You Will Always Move =)
This gives me hope that I will continue seeing the same friends over and over again - so I'll never say "goodbye" anymore just "see you later!"
Moce!

Jen's March Newsletter

Jen's March 2008 Newsletter
Last night I was sleeping in a Marae which is an ancient sacred meeting house of the Maori people of New Zealand. This place is so holy, I felt like I was sleeping in the temple. The only thing stealing some of the holiness from the room was the men snoring a chorus throughout the night. =)
All of the families sleep together here when they spend the weekend on the Marae. They don't live here every day, but some have been coming their whole lives. Some can trace their ancestry back 19 generations from this Marae.
As I stare up at the 19 generations of ancestors carved into the beautiful ebony wood beams of this house I wonder what stories the carvings tell. They don't look like people. They look like fierce mythological warriors staring at me with their bright shells for eyes. I am afraid, and don't dare to get up to go to the bathroom.
These are fierce people. Have you ever seen the Maori people do a haka? A war dance? If you have not, go to youtube.com and look it up. (I put a picture of one here at the top) There is nothing that impresses the warrior heart of God on me like a Maori haka.
The interesting thing about Maori culture is that it demonstrates both the Father heart and the nurturing motherly heart of God as our comforter. An older lady just told me that outside the Marae there is war and all manner of violence. But at the end of the day all people, warriors and children alike, are required to take off their shoes at the door before entering here. She says "It is the womb of our culture. The safe place."

Doesn't that picture remind you of Jesus looking compassionately over his people saying "Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem… how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks. But you were not willing" Matt. 23:37.

Friends lets be warriors for God. Strong and courageous and fight the good fight. But when He calls us in for the night lets learn how to rest in Him too. Let's stop striving and fighting; and rest in His love for us and His power to do things for our lives.

The Maori word for life and also thank you….is "Kiora"
Kiora my friends,

♥ Jennifer

Pictures from our weekend on the Marae