LindsAy , Charlie and John

About a month ago, the Revolution Hawaii team did random acts of kindness at the mall.  A few people held doors for people and greeted them when they entered and a few gave out free hugs.  If you know me at all, you know that I love hugs so I was on the free hugs team.  We started in the food court and held up our free hugs sign.  We weren’t very successful and even got a talk from a security guard telling us that we couldn’t do this here.  So, we decided we would do it at the bottom of the escalator in the mall.  Some people would smile and laugh at us, some would completely ignore us, but some would go in for the hug.  We were able to give a lot of hugs. Unfortunately another security guard told us that if they had to tell us that we weren’t allowed to do it there again, we would be kicked out of the mall.  So, we stopped giving hugs at the mall, but went across the street to the beach to give hugs before it was time to go.

Now that you know that, I can move on with my story. A few weeks ago, on Sabbath I was supposed to go with a few teammates to meet up with one of the guys that was about to graduate from the Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC).  But, last minute I decided not to. While I was sitting there reading, John and I started to talk a bit, and then we’d go back to what we were doing.  We were listening to Jesus Culture while we were sitting there doing our work, sometimes between writing and reading we would just start singing.  During one of our talks, John started to talk to me about how his grandpa just lost his best friend of over 50 years. It made him think about if he would’ve lost his grandpa, which made me think about if I would’ve lost mine.  We sat there and cried realizing how much we take our families for granted.  I’ve always been grateful for a wonderful family, but it really hit me hard at this time.  After we finished what we needed to do, I called my mom and John called his. When I was done talking to her, I went into the apartment to ask John if he still wanted to go to the ARC.  To be honest, I thought he’d think it was too late and not want to go…but I asked anyway and he said yes. So, at about 4:30pm we took the bus to the ARC.

As soon as we got close to the ARC, we saw a beneficiary from the center.  He had all his bags with him, and he told us that he got kicked out.  We stood there and prayed for him, helped him bring his bags to the bus stop, and let him use my phone to get someone to pick him up.  After he made arrangements, John and I went back to the ARC.  We hung out with the guys there for a bit, and then we decided to head back home.  We saw our bus about to get to the stop that we were going to get on, so we started to run down and catch it.  We missed it, so we just stood there smiling.  A man on the bench by the bus stop asked us why we were smiling.  We were able to tell him we were smiling because we had Jesus.  After we said that, he told us that he could use some Jesus. So, we sat there at the bus stop with him for the next hour or more.  He shared with us about his life and struggles.  It was getting super late so we decided we should catch a bus to get home.  We said goodbye as we were getting on the bus.

The bus we got on was packed full.  It was fuller than a bus going to Wrigley Field on game day. It was crazy.  While we were standing there John started talking to a man on the bus about politics.  While they were talking a woman behind me told me that my bag was unzipped.  I took the bag off because it wasn’t unzipped, it was just ripped and I didn’t want anything to fall out of it.  It was from her saying that, we started talking.  She told me how she was feeling really claustrophobic and tired.  It was about 9:00pm and she told me she had been working since the day before at 4:00am.  I asked her where she worked and she told me that she worked for security dispatch at the mall.  I asked her if she remembered when there were people giving free hugs and she said yes.  I told her how John and I were the ones that were giving out free hugs.  She told me that she thought the rule was silly, but it was something they had to enforce.

I’m not exactly sure how the conversation got there, but we found out that she went to New Hope Church.  We told her how we went there one time with some of our friends from the ARC.  When we got off to transfer, she got off with us.  Out of all of the people on the full bus she was the only one that was getting on the same bus as us.  As we were waiting for the bus, we continued to talk to each other.  She told us that she works so much because she has a daughter back home with no father to support her.  She also supports her mother and her father.  Her dad has a job, but his job isn’t enough to support all of them.  Her stop came up, and we thought it was our stop too so we got off with her.  As we were saying goodbye to her, I gave her my phone number and told her that if she ever wanted to do anything or someone to pray with to call me.  Then, at the same time as I said that both John and Andrea said at the same time, “Let’s pray right now!”  I was thinking the same thing, but I didn’t vocalize it.  We stood there and prayed with her. While we were praying she began to weep.  I rubbed her back as we continued to pray. When we were done we gave her hugs and started to say goodbye again.  As soon as we finished hugging her, she asked if she could have another hug. We were like “heck yes” you can have a hug.  We shared with her how funny it was that she ran into John and me as, out of everyone on our team, we are probably the people that love hugs the most.  So we stood there for a little while more in a group hug.

After we split ways we realized that we had gotten off at the wrong stop.  But, it was completely worth it!

Cat, Lauren, and Bridgette

So this week the team has decided to go and live with the people! The Kauluwela boys (Michael and Steven) are sleeping on the streets of China Town and the Waianae crew are sleeping at Keaau beach park. We’ve kind of got in mind that it will be for two weeks (we started on Wednesday night) but it could be longer depending on how we’re feeling. So far it’s been a challenge! There’s been a lot of rain all over the island, and last night we were flooded! We got back to camp after worship practice to find that out tent was getting filled with water, so the boys had to rotate it in the downpour! We had leaks in every corner and I pretty much slept in a puddle of water! I woke up, felt freezing cold and wet but didn’t know why, so I felt my pillow and doona and sure enough they were saturated! But there was nothing I could do so I just went back to sleep. We’re all a little delirious, tired and definitely sore from sleeping on the ground… Steven is like a zombie! But we are still so lucky and privileged that there is an “end date” to our homelessness, so really there’s nothing to complain about.

We’re hopefully going to get some excellent quality time with the people and families that are living in the beach park over the next week or so. We’re taking out pancake mix, bacon and eggs to have breakfast with them tomorrow – we’re only getting enough money to buy staples and using what we already have so that we can share food with the people out there. We’ve already gotten food donations and a cooler and lantern from Angel (she goes to The Salvation Army “The Rock” church) and lots of invitations to go and have dinner with our congregation members… But we mostly want to spend our free time with the Keaau residents.

Apparently there were gun shots over in the bush area (next to where we’re sleeping) over the past week or so, but “nothing that we should worry about” according to Uncle Bert (he’s lived at Keaau for 3 years) and there are psycho dogs near us that were chasing some guy down as he road past on his bike…So Bridgette and I decided it was safer to drive to the toilet block rather than get eaten There is only one toilet that works in the bathroom, and you don’t really want to touch anything in there! The showers are taps outside (like what surfers use to rinse off) so were probably going to shower when we get back to the dorms in the mornings because all of us girls are already sick and we don’t want to get worse by having freezing showers in the rain!

At the moment, we’re all kind of smelly, sleep deprived and hungry… but surprisingly in good spirits! It’s all an adventure and I honestly feel lucky to be doing it!

It’s definitely going to be an exciting and challenging experience and we would all really appreciate your prayers! But God is good and so faithful, we know that He’ll provide and we’ll be safe

Emily watering some flowers

by Emily Mayor
1.20.10

Imagine a place where caring for your brothers and sisters is a daily chore. A place where school is not encouraged. A place where there is barely enough to go around. A place where love is hard to find.

Loved starved children are plentiful in the community where I serve. These children that live in the low income housing project near the corps have a hard life. We see and feel it first hand. Walking through this run down neighborhood broken glass litters the ground while barefoot kids run and play. They are so full of endless imagination. Our attention and time are like life water to them.

While sitting on the steps at the foot of one of the small aprtments, six tiny, grubby faced urchins run up to Sarah and I, wrapping their little arms around us, each one fighting for a spot on our laps. So we stay. The kids play games with nothing but each other. I take a sip of water. They notice. Now they want a drink. Their smiles widen as each one tastes the icy life giving liquid. A line forms and soon my bottle is empty.

Every time we visit our desire is to water these little flowers with the hope that they will grow and blossom. We water them with the love of Jesus - His grace we hope to show.

Jeff Walters thanking God for another day!

by Jeff Walters
11.22.07

Wake from your sleep.
I’m drying all your tears, today. Today, we escape.
(Radiohead – Exit Music)

Tom was hard to find. He always is. But we found him as a product of our back-and-forth efforts, being torched by the sun and questioned by Honululu citizens baffled by our aimlessness here in rugged downtown China Town. I would have never thought my break-days would consist of spending time with broken people.

Three of us stand casting shadows onto his hungover body sprawled out the length of the bus stop bench. I kneel, becoming prepared to make level eye contact with a man who definitely doesn’t want to wake up right now. Last night he was drunk, as always, and that probably kept him up all night as it does every night. Still, I promised him this would happen. And I know he will love me in the end – though I don’t deserve the credit. So I nudge him once, twice, thrice. Finally his eyes crack open and pretend to see light for the first time in forever. Drool spills through and onto his shirt. But he sees me and I see him, finally, and I smile while a black duffel bag sits at my side. Blake holds a vibrant red blanket.

“Tom, you remember what I told you last night?”
“It’s you!” He sits up, using every last inch of energy.
“We brought you a bag of goodies.” As I unzip the bag I show him every item, from the first aid kit to the Bible, to the soap, and socks, etc.
Tom cries. He always cries, drunk or not drunk. “You brought this here? I needed a bag. And socks…”

Blake hands him the red blanket. I give him a hug. Before you know it, Tom places the bag to his right with the blanket on top and crashes into it. Asleep again. The ongoing effort to help him for a moment seems pointless, considering he’ll probably lose the bag or it’ll be stolen. And who wants to carry around a bright red blanket in the hardest area of the island? But I’m quick to reflect on the many times he’s cried and hugged me tight. What a good guy – spoiled by society. By alcohol. It’s unfortunate, and that’s how homelessness goes.

I stand and we walk away. Just another day. But this day will hopefully mean more than the previous days for Tom. He has no choice but to wake up sober, this time to find a handful of gifts at his disposal. And I pray that he reads that note that I wrote, stuffed between the two t-shirts, consisting of everything I feel and how God truly loves him.

by Janet Bailey

When we first got to Marshall Islands I was awe struck! Looking to both sides of me I could easily see the ocean. Majuro was small. Well, not so much small, but it certainly was thin. It would be paradise if you longed for dirty beaches, rundown shacks, children and people wandering rubbish filled streets, everyone staring at you.

Brokenness is apparent. Young children run wild on the streets with no one watching them. Young girls hold babies. Rubbish all along the road. Drunken men hang out by the green store.

There are a lot of people in Majuro. The area we lived in was literally house butted next to house. You could physically be close to so many people and not realize how broken the person next to you was unless you slowed down and took time to listen. This is a lot of how God spoke to me in the Marshall Islands. When I slowed down and really listened it opened up doors for bonds to be built. I really didn’t understand or see the deep brokenness at first. I just saw the dirt and the rubbish that filled the streets.

In the middle of feeling inadequate and not knowing what to say in a foreign land where we didn’t speak the same language God taught me that we are all bound in love. When I slowed down and focused on that and just listened, God opened up doors with people that really needed love who before were always really near but until I listened I didn’t know the struggle they faced.

God opened up a door for me to talk to one of the teens about drunkenness and how apparent it is in Majuro. My past experience came in handy as I had witnessed firsthand the drunkenness that plagues China Town Honolulu. Really I was just talking to this kid to encourage his friends to be careful because they are at risk… No one says “I want to be the drunk man wandering down the street” it just happens. I shared the sad things I’d seen but also stories of recovery and hope I witnessed through The Salvation Army Adult Recovery Center. It was a simple conversation but I found later that the boy I had been talking to may have needed to hear those stories more than I ever would have known.

Please pray for the teens in Majuro who so often start drinking young. Pray that they will stand strong in all the issues they have to face. Pray for my friend that he will have a sure place to lay his head and something to eat and that he doesn’t become another drunkard on the street. Pray also for all the men struggling with alcoholism in Majuro. They are broken and need to find God’s love and peace.

Dodgeball | WYI10 Video Track 4 from SayTV on Vimeo.

Juan Ramirez contemplating the future

by Juan Ramirez
09.26.06

Crazy as it is, I’m here in Hawaii, still trying to figure why it hasn’t it hit me that I’m 2500 miles away from home! It has only been a few weeks but I can already see how God is changing me and is going to use me.

Two days ago we went to Maili beach on the west coast near Waianae. We went around talking to the homeless that live in the park and getting to know them. Emily and I spent almost the whole time speaking to this guy named Jr. He was cool but he couldn’t understand why we gave up a whole year to come to Hawaii to serve and love God and others. We ended up in some real deep conversation, talking about life and each other’s past. He explained how he helped many of the homeless on the beach get stuff they couldn’t get themselves.

It’s so awesome to see how this small community of people live and get along with each other, when we “home owners” sometimes cant even stand our neighbors. Simply put, as Jr. said, this is going to be a year of learning from each other.

I pray that all of our lives will be changed and that we will get to see the lives of others transformed by God.

Jeff Walters losing a piggy back race to Joey Arnold

by Jeff Walters
11.19.07

For the past month or so Blake, Kealoha and I have been volunteering at the Waianae Boys and Girls Club three days a week. Never would I have ever expected to see 11 year-old Maya here homeless on the famous beach called ‘Sewers’. The name suits it well, I figure – as I try my hardest not to breathe in through my nose. And I can’t imagine living here as she does, being so young and forced into such a rutheless lifestyle. Maya’s home consists of two tents built out of tarp and clutter while there is also dirty old carpet atop sand and even decorations. Make yourself at home.

Blake and I stand there with free tickets to the Thanksgiving festivities this Thursday at the Blaisdale. The wind is hot, typical Waianae, but I get the goosebumps as she greets us with a puppy in her arms.

“Maya! What’s up?” Blake says. He and Maya are good friends, where as I’ve maybe helped her with her homework once or twice. Maya has this kinda fake smile as if she’s either nervous or embarassed, but somehow we’re able to ease the situation by asking about the puppy. Sure enough she leaves the furry pup at our feet, enters the tent to the left, then returns with another. One after another she brings out these pups and with every dog I begin to grow both uncomfortably sad and inspired at the same time.

While Blake and I admire the show I begin to make a connection. Those kids at the club, the ones we help and play with – not all of them come from the same direction. Not all of these kids consider the club a burden after school. For some, it’s a retreat. And like I said, here and now I am uncomfortable enough to cry for this little girl, but then again the whole predicament sheds light on just how effective our volunteer work has really been. Just a few days with those kids a week, I figure, could amount to a better week or ever a better overall life… especially for a little girl like Maya. Homeless Maya.

Somehow, though unsettling, the scene instantly becomes heartwarming with a smile. This time it’s legit. She does it first. Maybe Blake said something nice or funny, I don’t know. I’d been shocked into silence from the get go, but nevermind my stunned state of mind. We smile back. And the hot dusty wind makes a whistle once more before we take leave after handing over five tickets for her family and also reassurance that we’re going to see her next week. Next week, I think, and three days in a row, with tons more passion for volunteering than we’d had since the beginning.

As Blake and I walk back to the van to meet with Kealoha, and to our even further surprise, another Boys and Girls Club girl waves to us, this one younger than the first. She must live here too. The mom walks the girl to the public restroom. I look at Blake, wanting to say so much – but I save the energy for another three days.

We thought we would take this opportunity to look back at the incredible teams of the past 4 years and “thank God” for all he accomplished in and through them. As you look over these photos, please ask God “who began a good work in them” to “carry it on to completion” and that their “love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that they may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:3,6,9-11

2006-2007 Revolution Hawaii Team

2007-2008 Revolution Hawaii Team

2008-2009 Revolution Hawaii Team

2009-2010 Revolution Hawaii Team

Matthew McQuade

by Matthew McQuade

1.26.09

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” This past weekend, God allowed me to see this verse come to life. You see, on Saturdays, we go out into different neighborhoods and visit with people in their homes, asking how things are, seeing if they want prayer. As a part of the Revolution Hawaii team, this is one of the ministries I get involved in throughout the week.

What was special about this particular Saturday, was a guy by the name of “D”. He lives in a low-income housing project, here in Honolulu. As I talked with him, I found out that he was what they call a “street pharmacist”, aka a drug dealer. The more we talked, the more I learned about him. In fact, he told me that he was originally from Portland, Oregon which is where I am from. That right there was a window of opportunity to get to know this guy and build a strong relationship.

He wants to get out of the drug business. At age twenty, I told him that he has such an awesome future; if he sets his mind to it. Later that day, I ran into him again, and talked with him some more. He said, “what you do is what I call the good life; I want that.” It was truly a God thing. The streets are rugged and fast-paced. It is so easy to get caught up. But in what many would consider a “saltless” environment, I saw the salt.

See, somebody had told ”D” who Christ was at an early age in his life. Now, there has been some more exposure to what following Christ is all about. “‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11. This is a promise to all people, I believe, especially for “D”.