Aloha!
This past week has been amazing! You may be wondering, "What would
life look like for the Lienau Family in Kona for Summer Surge?" The schedules vary depending on what
we are doing, but this should give you a good general picture.
Here is what a “typical” Monday
looks like :)
6:00 AM - It's a Monday morning after a beautiful and
restful weekend spent at the beach. I wake up, to the lovely sound of birds
chirping joyfully outside our dorm room window (and the sound of 10 other
people waking up), and the yellow sunlight begins to fill our room. I climb out
of bed, hop in the shower and get dressed, trying to stay out of the way of the
other family members vying for space.
Things get crowded in the mornings with everyone scrambling to get a
shower in before breakfast, but we love each other and we make it work.
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Esther doing devotions in the Prayer Room |
6:30AM - Breakfast - I wait in the breakfast line chatting to some
friends I have made around campus. One of the great things about living
on the base here in Kona is that you get to meet so many different people,
especially during meal times when other Summer Surgers, YWAM staff and students
from all of the different DTS classes and second-level schools enjoy eating
together. Breakfast is the same most mornings, with a selection of cereals,
yogurt, granola, hard boiled eggs and fresh fruit to choose from (papaya is
amazing). I grab a cup of coffee and find a space at one of the many tables in
the outside cafeteria, sitting with friends or family J
7:30AM – Mom usually calls a family meeting most
mornings. We share what God has been speaking
to us, talk though any issues, worship together and discuss the plans for the
day.
8:00AM – After our family meeting, we
all head to the community-wide worship in the Ohana Court. Everyone on base
gets together for worship every Monday morning, and it is one of the highlights
of my week. People do more than sing here. They really worship, and the
presence of the Holy Spirit is so evident during these times. Not to mention
the fact that we have some incredibly gifted musicians on campus!
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Mom sharing at the Voice for the Voiceless DTS |
9:00AM-12:00noon – This time is spent doing various things.
Josh, Esther and Corina go to Summer Surge Kids Camp Monday-Wednesday,
Bibi and Janey go with them to serve at the camp. The rest of us go to different meetings with GrassRoots
News, Global Virtual Studio, The Film Institute (TFI) or help out with IT
stuff.
12:00-1:00PM - Lunch is usually the best meal of the day. The food
served for lunch really varies. Since so many cultures are represented on this
campus, they aim to serve foods that reflect this diversity. Some days you will
love it and some days you will skip it altogether. In their great wisdom the
kitchen staff always provides bread, peanut butter, and jelly - just in
case.
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Prayer Room (becoming one of my favorite spots) |
1:00-2:00PM – Off to the prayer room! Dad and Mom have asked us all to try to spend
1-2hrs in the Prayer Room here on campus everyday. I have begun to love these times that I get
to go and have some alone time with Jesus.
It is open 24/7, but don’t have enough musicians/worship leaders to
always have live music, but there is always worship music on. Different ones of us might have meetings or
job assignments to do too. It is one of
the only air- conditioned rooms on campus, so I like to go in the heat of the
day.
2:00-5:00PM – Our daily training time with “Voice for the Voiceless” DTS. This group of students is preparing for
outreach to India and Africa and have come to learn skills in Media Advocacy. They are photographers and writers and
filmmakers who want to tell stories and bring awareness to those who can’t
speak out and we get to help train them how to shoot and edit and encourage
them in their adventures. Dad, Mom,
Jacob, Joseph, Tatsi and I have been plugging into this.
5:30PM - Dinner time. We try to
do dinners as a family, which can sometimes be difficult with everyone spread
out!
6:30PM – Sometimes some of us will walk down to the
water (only a 5 minute walk!) where there are lots of shops. Depending on the
night, we might go to the theater on campus, where they show different
films. Thursday Night is Media Advocacy
night, where they show a justice related film or documentary, Friday is Culture
Shaping Films (current “trendy” films, then we have a discussion about it at
the end) and Saturday night is family movie night.
9:00PM – A couple of nights, I’ve been able to Skype
with friends on my laptop or read a book and start the process of settling down
for the night.
10:00PM –Campus-wide lights out… and hopefully I will be
sleeping soon, as morning comes early for us!
We have a dorm right above the kitchen, so hear the cheerful meal
workers early in the morning :)
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Awesome beach (that I got burnt at :) |
Not all of our days here in Kona
will be easy or perfect. Some days my siblings will annoy me. Some days I will
be especially tired and feel overwhelmed. Or sometimes your perfect day snorkeling
at the beach may leave you with a painful sunburn (as some of us experienced yesterday!).
Living in Kona is amazing so far, I feel so welcomed by so many people and
can’t wait to see how God uses this time in Kona in my life and with the whole
family! (there’s a really cool Performing
Arts/Dance DTS starting in April…)
Blessings and Aloha!
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Did I mention the coffee shop? Yep, yummy! |
Anna
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Hike! So awesome to have my friends, Rachael Burns here for a few months!
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