travel log : hawaii

this past week josh & i had the pleasure of spending a few days in hawaii!  we were flown out by surfing the nations, an organization we've worked with from a distance through our friend russell who's placed josh's music in films he's created for them.  

we flew to hawaii to play a show (at the grand opening of StN's coffee shop) + take a day or two to celebrate our 5-year anniversary (belatedly).  we didn't expect to be so impacted by the people or work of surfing the nations!  we ended up choosing to spend most of our time with the StN folks, along with our friends maleah & matt who live just 10 minutes away from StN headquarters, & "vacationing" became a real afterthought.  we just wanted to spend all our time with these amazing people who live in community together, surf, make art, love jesus, & serve their neighbors!  

surfing the nations headquarters are sort of in the hawaiian "ghetto", as our host mikaela called it.  they own an apartment building in wahiawa, 15 minutes inland, where all the staff & volunteers live, & they just bought up a city block adjacent to their living quarters.  this block housed a seedy bar, a porn shop/theatre, a liquor store, and & strip club.  they have since turned the bar into a coffee shop (where josh played), & the porn shop into their office + gathering space (which became an art gallery + craft fair on grand opening night).  they are awaiting other "family-friendly" tenants for the two other spaces.  

wahiawa reminded me very much of pucallpa where i worked with food for the hungry in '99-'02.  (i also grew up on a missionary base about 20 minutes from pucallpa, '76-'87).  not the hawaii we've heard about.  but we were so glad to experience this side of hawaii on our trip.  & blessed to see the changes taking place in this neighborhood through the work of surfing the nations.  along with their international work that we were familiar with (gospel/humanitarian work in the uttermost parts of the earth), they have begun feeding programs & kids programs in their local neighborhood, & are transforming wahiawa (& beyond) through love & hope.

: some of the surfing the nations folks :

: mikaela & janelle :

: mikaela, from sweden, & sam, from hawaii, hosted us + organized the event :

: josh & his new friend john :

: some scenes from opening night :

: janelle selling her earrings & journals :

we got to hang on saturday with our friends matt & maleah.  we went to the local craft fair in haleiwa on the north shore, then went for thai food at a truck i'd just read about in sunset magazine on the plane.  delicious!  then they toured us around the north shore.

later that weekend we met up with matt & maleah at church, then accompanied them to their friends' house/farm up in the hills of pupukea for brunch.  pupukea offered breathtaking views, & i was enthralled with all the familiar foliage from my childhood (& goats!).  

after two days with surfing the nations & the duncans, we moved to a resort on the north shore.  the north shore was calm (wave-wise and crowd-wise) this time of year, so we claimed some time for just us, & relaxed on the quiet beaches.  maleah loaned us her car, so we were able to explore the coast.  (we still hung out one more time with StN folks, josh leading worship on their weekly prayer + fasting day)  

we loved hawaii & can't wait to go back (& take the kids!).  it was a refreshing trip--the perfect combination of community time & josh + mitchy time.  we left feeling invigorated by conversation with new friends & each other.