Hello Everyone!
I’m sorry this is running so behind, but school preparations got extremely busy and there was just no time to sit down and write. The Engage DTS is now underway, we are in the middle of our second week, and everything is going amazingly well. We honestly have the best group of students you could possibly hope for. We have a group of 39 students from 8 different countries and they are all so on fire for the Lord! Even on their times off you can find them all together, without any prompting by staff, in the classroom praying, in the prayer chapel together, or assembled together at the Banyan Tree Café just worshiping and fellowshipping. I love them all so much already and they are truly an inspiration. God is doing beautiful things here in Kona.
Our school has now started their community outreach projects! Last night both Emily and I loaded up our vans and drove our students to their first community outreach project. We took them to a middle school where they worked with children in an afterschool program. Other community outreach projects we will be working with are an organization called Deep and Beyond and also with the homeless within our community. This is a very special part of DTS as it gets the students outside of the classroom, outside of themselves and just lets them selflessly pour into the lives of others. I have attached a video here to give you an example of what community outreach projects consist of. Deep and Beyond is an amazing organization that we will be doing work with…enjoy!
We will also be starting our training for the outreach phase of our school. We will have training in the areas of primary healthcare, world sports ministry, children’s ministry and my favorite of all which is Justice Water. These training classes will help us prepare for our trips and will get us ready for situations we will encounter while abroad. We want to make a positive impact on the communities we will be working in. In the country our team is being sent to the most urgent needs are primary healthcare, water issues and human trafficking. It is our desire to serve those we come in contact with effectively, so I’m very excited for these training opportunities. Also, to reach the children I’ve been informed we need to know how to play cricket! I haven’t played that since the first and second grade while living in Adelaide, so I foresee a lot of practice time coming my way. Here is a video that shows the ministry of Justice Water:
Well, we have made the announcements, so I can now reveal to you where I will be traveling to for our outreach phase. I am heading to CAMBODIA!!!!! I will be leading a team of 5 beautiful ladies and we will be working in the areas of Siem Reap and possibly Phenom Penh. Next week the six of us will sit down and start to work out the details of our trip and the area of ministries we want to work in. Sex trafficking and water issues are on all of our hearts, so we will see where the Lord leads. I will be sure to keep you up to date on what has been decided and requests for prayer we might be needing during our preparations. Here is a picture of our team:
These beautiful ladies are (left to right) Annie Rollins (Illionois) Grace Smith (Laguna Beach, California) Saida Sampson (Oceanside, California) Me (I have no home :), Esther Kang (Redmond, Washington) and sweet Hessu (South Korea).
Well, I have decided after this letter I will start making weekly/bi-weekly video blogs instead of letters and I’m hoping that will be ok with all of you. With all my staffing duties it is so hard to sit down and write. My day starts at 5:30am and I’m usually crawling into bed around midnight. Life is full of classes, one-one-ones, reading student journals, outreach prep, community outreach, errands, driving the vans, night services, and the list goes on and on…so very tiring for sure, but so incredibly happy at the same time. I’m just wanting to make sure you are all up to date on what’s going on, so I’m thinking this is the best option. Be forewarned that most of the videos will be made on the go, but on the bright side at least you’ll get to meet my students this way too!
As all of you know I was having a hard time adjusting at first to my life here in Kona because it was just such a huge change. I was dealing with different types of losses, missing my green/cool Salem, missing friends and family, but God has came in and has done an amazing transformation and my heart is full. I finally got to the point where I was willing to turn everything completely over to him, and with that complete release He took it and made it all new; all shiny like a new penny. Through the past six month I learned a very valuable life lesson; when we are finally able to let go and just trust, God can come in and do the most amazing things! Like I shared with a dear brother the other night, it’s just me, my little pink moped, the most amazing students, UofN’s awesome staff, places waiting to be reached, people waiting to be loved, sun on my face, wind in my hair and a heart FULL of Jesus…can’t get any better than that! Again, thank you all so much for your love and support. Like I’ve said before, this is a team effort and all of us together are training these young students, young missionaries, to go out and share the love of Christ and in fulfilling the great commission! Thank you for partnering with me :-)
Allisan Grace
Our Staff Team!
Team Nepal!
Team Sri Lanka!
Team Bangladesh!
Team India!
Team Kyrgyzstan!
Students hanging out in our classroom!
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