LET THE ISLAND LIFE BEGIN!

I'M HERE!

It is currently 11:15 and I've only been here for about 7-8 hours...but I am LOVING it.

Traveling today was a little stressful. My first flight from Chicago to Phoenix was delayed like an hour and 15 min which meant I had about 10-15 minutes to get to my gate for my flight from Phoenix to Kona! I was stressed for a good majority of the flight but kept telling myself that this is where God is calling me to be and he will get me there eventually. Doesn't matter if I'm there at 2 or 7. I was sprinting through the airport to get to my gate in Phoenix and I had made it with just a couple minutes to spare. There was about 10 people left boarding as I walked up. One of them happened to be from Michigan who was going to YWAM also. I met her at a lunch a couple weeks ago and she said hello and introduced me to the other 9 people with her who were all going to Kona also! There was at least 15 other people who were on my flight going to Kona for YWAM which was such a fun surprise and I could hear God saying "see I got you".

We landed in Kona and I literally could not stop smiling!!! The airport was completely outside and FILLED with plants and flowers and super happy smiley friendly people! The YWAM Kona base is absolutely incredible. I got this overwhelming sense of peace and I felt so at home.

After waiting for about an hour in registration, I got my ID and my key and was ready to get moved in! The girls I am living with are all super sweet!! I didn't know any of them going in but have some friends right across the sidewalk/hallway/thing. Lol.

My favorite part of the whole day was worship night tonight. I found myself smiling with my hands raised through every song. Every lyric and every song hit so close to home. After a couple songs, a speaker came up and we had a whole "come to the alter" moment which was so so powerful. He explained to us that he had a feeling there were some people who were experiencing some sort of knee pain. He asked them to raise their hand and everyone else was supposed to go lay a hand on them and pray for them. After a couple minutes of praying, each person was able to say their pain lessened dramatically or went away completely. Then we moved onto neck pain, and then back. People with crazy stories of previous trauma that led to the pain were sharing their version of the praying that went on tonight. One girl got in a car crash three years ago and has had several surgeries on her shoulder and wasn't able to move her arm around in a circle and tonight she could do that.

Throughout the whole day I have just been in awe of Gods presence even if you're not sure it's there or not. And trust me he is there all the time! Whether you have MINUTES until your next flight takes off, or your couple year long pain is relieved, or just in your everyday life God will always be with you. I thought that traveling alone all day would feel lonely, and a little scary. But I didn't feel lonely or anything the whole day! And I definitely think that is Gods way of telling me as I start the next 6 months that He's got this and he is with me and I will never be alone. I hope as I continue to share what is going on in my life, and more of what I'm learning that I can help you and encourage you through what I'm learning.

So many things to take away from today.

And it's only day one.

-jam