Loving Others Begins With Loving Yourself

To quote one of my favorite lines, this past Fall season in Kona, Hawaii was the best of times and it was the worst of times.  Some of you know that Ava and I have moved on from Kona, back to Asheville, North Carolina.  We came home for Christmas, but sadly, won't be returning.  My love for the land in Kona, and the people there that we were so blessed to meet is stronger than I had anticipated, and my grief in leaving is still fresh and painful.

However, God has taught me so many wonderful and great things in the past three months, and in the year that we were in Kona,  that I know I will be able to rest, and trust that God knows my heart and my desires.  While I still believe that God wants to use my gifts and passions for children and education, I have learned that in order to truly bless others, and to live out the many plans I have in my heart to love others,  I must first know and believe God's love for me.  I must be loved.  I must listen to God's voice in my life, and know that God's plans are always loving.

Two of the main reasons that Ava and I have returned to the Mainland are:
firstly for me to finish teaching two more years in NC to repay my Teaching Fellows Scholarship loan and to pay off my other school loans,
and secondly for us to be surrounded and supported by our family. It was challenging this past year to be so far from family.  I feel that this time in Ava's life is the most important time for her to be able to be surrounded by our family.

Thus, Ava and I will be living (temporarily) with my parents in Asheville, NC.  My sister and her husband are moving up to help me home school Ava for the rest of this school year so that I can also substitute teach.  I will be trying to acquire a teaching job for the next school year, and Ava will then go into First grade at whichever school I end up teaching at.  Please be praying that this transition will go smoothly for both of us, and that the right school will open up a job for me.  Ava made some strong friendships in Kona, and misses her friends deeply.  She is adjusting well, but still has moments of sadness.  Please be praying for her, and me, to make new relationships quickly.

I once again have no idea what lies in the future corridors of mine and Ava's lives...but I know without a shadow of a doubt that it involves God's Love, God's beauty and excitement, and God's people.

While I feel that part of my heart will always be on The Big Island of Hawaii, I am excited to move into this new era of life...and see what new adventures lie ahead!

Life on the Mainland! (I'm singing this title to the tune of "Life in the Fast Lane"!)

It's been two months since my last post.....yes, I am still alive.  Barely.  You won't find me lying on the relaxing beaches of Kona, Hawaii with all the time in the world in my hands though.  These past two months I have literally been living in the Fast Lane....in the car.....literally.  All we do here is drive!  I am still a little but in culture shock of the Mainland pace.  Hawaii definitely fits my slow pace personality much more.

So my visit here has been a whirlwind of fun, family, Disney World, Asheville, Myrtle Beach, Raleigh, Fayettville, Greensboro, Wilmington....friends, concerts, church, IKEA, Whole Foods, Malls, Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free food, more friends....and everything else that we miss in Kona.

Before I came, I felt God telling me to trust Him in everything, and to follow His voice.  That He would direct my steps.  There certainly has been a lot of steps...but I know that God has been setting up encounters with people that have brought Glory to Him.  It has been such a blessing to see so many of my friends and family during this trip.

There have been times where I begin to plan without God....and begin to get stressed about financial support and time....this was actually most recently.....but God gently reminds me that He knows the best plan, and that I should seek His voice to know it too.  My Papa God has also put an incredible sister in my life to bring clarity and revelation to me at the perfect times.

I have realized on this trip that I need to be intentional about cultivating and nurturing the relationships I have in my life.  I have realized that I need people who are not only supporting me financially, but in every aspect of my life....and Ava's life.  I have realized that these people who are praying for me, and invested daily in my life are so much more valuable to me than I have known.

So I have been spending my time here building up what I am now calling my "Family Support Team".  There is no financial obligation to be on this team.  It is a support team that will be in constant prayer with us, and know the daily details of our lives.  We will also be invested in the lives of the people on this team as well.  

It has been an enlightening way for me to think about what a "support team" really is.  I do believe we should be giving and generous and help each other when we have needs....but I also strongly believe that it doesn't end there.  We should be willing to give our time as well as our money.  We should be willing to engage in conversation....not just give someone the coat off your back.  We should be willing to speak truth in each others' lives, stay on the phone when someone needs encouragement, actually pray for someone when we say "I'll pray for you".  I am learning that being supported by my family in the Kingdom of God is not just about being able to pay my bills.....but about having someone to challenge me to get out of debt!  

As my trip here on the Mainland is coming to an end, I want to ask all of you to be in prayer for me....that I would continue to be open to God's direction of how to spend this time here, that my Family Support Team would grow, and that I would be able to trust God with every detail of my life.  

I also will be praying for you....that you would seek out those people in your life who bring joy and wisdom to you, and cultivate those relationships.   Maybe even reach out and begin new relationships that are meaningful, deep, and genuine.  Invest in each others' lives.  That is what Jesus did when He came here to our earth!  

With Arms Wide Open

 

Southpoint.  The windiest place on the Island....Ava and I were there in March, during our Spring Break. It was also the most beautiful place, with rolling green fields, horses, bulls, windmills...and lots of wind!

Ava stood with her arms wide open, hair blowing wildly, and her body pressed into the invisible, powerful, force.  There is so much I can learn from her trusting spirit.  There is so much that I am learning now from her!  I feel that I am in a season of learning to let down my guard, and trust....not just God but people as well.  The past two months have definitely stretched me to trust for finances....and I am still leaning on God's provision daily, and with every dollar that I need to come in.  However, I am learning that God wants me to trust Him more with my heart, and with the way that I view His people.  It has been so easy in the past for me to distrust the motives of people, and to judge them, and to worry that they are judging me.  I feel God calling me out of the "disease to please" that I have and into a new freedom.  Knowing that I am pleasing God is enough....I don't have to worry about pleasing people.  I DO have to love His people, but not acquire my identity and self worth from them.  

I was asked two questions by a friend last week: "what do I want in the next month?" and "Who am I?".  

It was very difficult for me to answer these two questions, and I was shocked....I thought, I definitely know who I am!  But I couldn't put it into words.  I was still worried about confidently saying what I want and who I am.  It was humbling, and a little discouraging.  However, my pastor here said that sometimes when we have difficulty expressing our ideas and opinions, it is because we don't want to feel judged.  I realized that I am still worried about being judged!  

So, I sat long and hard contemplating "Who God says I am" and what I really want.  At first I thought I wanted to be able to trust "people", until I realized that I only want to trust people so that I won't be hurt or judged.  So, what I really want, in the next month, or year, or years, is to be able to trust God.  He is the only one I need security from.  

So I am going to try to open my arms wide and un-guard my heart, and lean on the invisible, all powerful force of my Papa God.  I know He is going to provide ways for me to learn to trust Him with my heart, and I know that He will transform my mind, allowing me to trust Him.  

As far as who God says I am...I am Elysia...."Perfect" in His eyes.  I am just a woman trying to get to know my Papa, and trying to love Him with all of my heart.  

"What is God trying to teach me through this?" Or "What should I be learning through this?"

Community living. An adventure that I have often said out loud, would be incredible! The positive people surrounding you all the time...a neighbor to always chat with...kids for Ava to play with whenever her little heart desires...the shared laundry room.

I am a person of habit, system, order. When I was told by our building manager last quarter that you must sign up, ahead of time, in order to wash clothes...that's what I did! Luckily that's what the other twenty families in my building did as well....last quarter. This quarter, we have new families in our building who must not have heard about the "Order of the Laundry". Recently it seems that every time I go to the laundry room, during my assigned time slot....which I have signed up for a couple days ago...there is someone using my time slot! Unbelievable! I know you are thinking, how can this happen!? My name and my room number are clearly marked on the sign up sheet. I've had my clothes removed....others put theirs in...(during my time slot, mind you)...and even my detergent taken!! (probably on accident....but that's not the point.) How can my neighbors NOT know the "Order of the Landry"?!?!

My amazing friend Becca said to me one night, as I was fuming over this seemingly insignificant problem, "Well, what is God trying to teach you through this?"
Ha! Why would God be trying to teach me anything through this trivial thing? ...and of course there is nothing that I can learn through this...it is my neighbors who need to learn something here!!!

(Wow, I have been deliberating over what to write about in this blog for a couple weeks now, and as I am writing this, I know that this is exactly what I need to be writing today.)

God wants us to be humble enough in every circumstance to be able to hear His voice. When we humble ourselves, and ignore the pride which rises up in all of us, He is able to move in closer to us, and we are blessed with an intimate encounter with Him. (The pastor at my church here in Kona spoke about humility this past month, and gave me some good ideas to ponder over.)

Of course Papa God was trying to gently remind me why I am here on this campus....to love others. Pride causes me to think that my dirty clothes are much more important than my neighbors. Pride causes me to think that my neighbors should know how to laundry the "right way". When I am prideful I can't "love my neighbor as myself". Literally. It is only when I am humble, and think about others' needs, that I am able to truly love.

I encourage you to humble yourself today and be on the look out for the tiny trivial matters that God wants to speak through. He wants to speak to you so badly, that He will use any circumstance to get your attention. He loves you, and wants to know you, and wants you to hear His voice.

I love you all too! I will be sending out my Spring newsletter very soon...so be looking for it in your email or snail mail. Let me know if you don't get it!

Kona Day 104

"Whenever God's will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power."
-Oswald Chambers

I love this quote so much, because it gives me such an awesome visual of Papa God fighting for me, and shows me that He really is on my side! He doesn't want me to strive, or struggle....He really wants the best for me, and wants to provide all my needs! I love resting in that! You should too!
Ava rested in that as she enjoyed her fifth birthday party last weekend. It was a blast, and if you haven't seen the pics on Facebook, you should look at them. She had everything her little heart could desire...and all on the low low budget of her YWAMer mom!
I still can't express in words how at peace I am here. I know that I know that I know that God has placed me here for this season. In our weekly staff meetings here at the Learning Center, we have been discussing more of what our vision is as a team and as a school. I want to share that with you all as well. This is our vision statement:
"Our program (The Learning Center) is a part of an international mission (YWAM)that holds tremendous value in the education of children locally as well as globally. We aspire to use the medium of education to bring good news to children around the world and see transformation take place in their lives. We aspire to achieve this by training missionary teachers and build Bible based curriculum.
Our purpose is for children to be well equipped to serve in any sphere of society, to have a vast awareness of who God is and of His created world, and their unique role in His plan for this world."

As I am writing this out, I am even more inspired! As I came here to work with the Learning Center, I knew that this would be a "beginning" for Ava and I. While we will be here for the next 2 years and 9 months, I have already begun to pray into how God wants to use my life and my gifts. I do not know what the future holds, but I do know that if I continue to "do the next thing God tells me to do", then I will be in His perfect will....and thus He will continue to "assist me with His almighty power!" How wonderful is that! I encourage you all to continue to seek out what the next thing is that God is telling you to do. Listen carefully....and quietly for His still small voice. He WILL let you in on His plans for you!

Right now we are praying as a school staff about God's plans for us this summer. We have a wonderful opportunity to travel to another country and lead a summer English camp for children. It will be an incredibly opportunity for me to see what it would be like to teach in another country. It would also be an awesome outreach trip to take Ava on! I am seeking out God's will in this intensely. Please pray for wisdom for me. I am also planning on coming home this summer to the mainland for some time as well to see you all!!!! So, as I am praying to hear God's voice, and listen for the next thing He wants me to do....please be praying for me as well.

I miss you all, and love you so much! I am so grateful for your partnership with me in the vision that I have, and in the work I am doing here at this wonderful school!

Grace be to you and peace in God our Papa!
Brooke

All The Small Things

As Queenie and Pappy drove away this morning, I stood and waved until their car was out of sight, in honor of Elliott tradition. Ava was however speeding around the Ohana (family in Hawaiian) Court on her new bike with her friends. Thus, the Elliott family Hawaiian Vacation Part II is officially over. (Part I was when Tia was here.)

Now I am realizing just how quiet it is around the campus. You see, the first quarter of school for the DTS students ended just before my parents got here. So many of our new friends had to leave for outreach or home. Of course we have many friends on staff who have stayed, and some students who are staying to become staff...but the always buzzing hum of students is gone. For the moment. The new January quarter will begin soon and hundreds of new faces will arrive. Here on the YWAM Kona campus they run about four DTS schools(Discipleship Training School) each quarter, along with a few secondary schools, such as the School of Worship. There are also the University schools, such as the School of Dance, or Counseling. Total there is an average of four hundred students each quarter, in addition to about 200 staff. Right now the only people here on campus are the staff who live on campus (about 20% of the staff) and have not traveled anywhere for Christmas.
So, you can see how it is super quiet now!
Please be praying for Ava, because while she has made friends with a lot of the kids who won't be leaving...she also has friends who have already left, and now there will be many new kids to arrive.
The DTS school is what Ava and I attended in Nashville. It is a three month school where the students (of every age and Nationality) basically get to know God more. There are 12 different topics for each week, with twelve different incredible teachers/speakers. It is an amazing learning time. After the "Lecture Phase", the students go on a two or three month outreach. This is when a new quarter begins and the new students come in. It is an ongoing cycle through the year. The kids I am teaching in the Learning Center are the children of the leaders of these schools. Most of the leaders and their families go on outreach with the students, at least for a few weeks or so. I actually have a boy that will be gone for the month of January to Cambodia with his family and the outreach team. It will be so exciting to hear about his adventures when he returns. The experiences that these children are getting are priceless....as well are the students in the DTS. After outreach, the DTS students do a number of different things....hopefully it is the next thing that God tells them to do! Some return to work with YWAM in the country they just had their outreach in. Some return home, or go to college. Some become staff with YWAM here, or on another YWAM campus. Hopefully ALL of them go out to impact the earth for God's glory, and help usher in the Kingdom of God! That is YWAM's mission: TO KNOW GOD AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN. I love that!

Okay...now about the small things...for the past few weeks God has been giving tiny gifts to me to build my faith! For example, every time I would pray that I needed something, or think it, or write it on my fridge....He would bless me with it! Now I am talking about very specific things....like an air mattress for my parents to sleep on when they arrived here...it showed up in the "boutique" (which is a place where you can drop off unwanted things and you can also take anything for free-like a free thrift store). I needed a room divider to separate Ava's "room" from mine....and I found a brand new very nice Chinese room divider in the boutique! One night I was admiring someone's fake Christmas tree....I mean this thing was white and sparkly (not quite my type), but I just wanted some sort of tree for Christmas! The very next day, someone brought up a 6 foot, living Christmas tree to my school. The other teachers asked ME if I wanted it! Then they busily began finding me a tree stand, ornaments, decorations, and even someone to trim it for me! So when my parents arrived here for Christmas they were in shock! I felt so blessed that God would go out of His way to give me the things I ask for. Seems a little crazy, since He says numerous times in the Bible that He wants to bless us! My favorite example was the day I was walking to my school and random people whom I didn't know kept saying hello and good morning to me. I thought, what's going on today? God said to me "IT is because you are so beautiful!" Then, when I arrived at school, there was a very very large banner about my classroom (put there by my Secret Santa) that read, "Ms. Elliot, you are BEAUTIFUL!"
Ha! God really knows how to get a point across to us!
It is as if God has been saying to me, "See? I can provide for you the small, specific things that you need and want! Don't worry about the big stuff! I can definitely handle providing you with money to pay you bills! I want to show you how creative I am. I want to give you the desires of your heart!"

And I believe that God wants to give you all the desires of your hearts too! He loves you so much! So, expect some unexpected things from Papa God today. Ask Him to bless you in a creative way. He will!

Kenna

Kenna has such a passionate, and kind spirit. Her smile encourages me each morning. Her "Hang Ten" hand sign is indicative of the Hawaiian culture....just about everyone uses that sign here! She is a brave girl who is becoming more and more confident in who God has created her to be. Her mom is also a teacher here at the Learning Center...and her grandfather is the founder of YWAM. How amazing is it that I get to pour into the lives of the family that began this mission?!
Kenna, just like all the staff children in this mission, has a battle to fight in the Kingdom. As always, Satan is out to kill, steal, and destroy God's children. Please join me in prayer for Kenna, and all of my students, as I impart love and knowledge to them.
Kenna definitely has my heart, as she is such a girl's girl....but also has a fiery passion!