LESVOS (the place you see in the news)

Hey everyone! We have finally made it to Greece. We are currently working on the most well known island for refugees, Lesvos. About 10 kilometers (6ish miles) from Turkey, all of those little boats carrying refugees arrive on the north, east and southern parts of the island. Completely overcrowded, and sometimes traveling during rough seas many boats have problems in the water. There are volunteer teams of rescuers covering much of the coast to do their absolute best to make sure that people make it to shore alive. They then place the refugees onto buses which take them to camps to get registered for asylum. And that is where our team comes in...





This is a snapshot of what life looks like here in the refugee camp Moria that we work at everyday from 4pm-12:30pm. Refugees wait in this long line to be registered for asylum and given papers to travel through Europe. While waiting on papers this prison you see in the background has been converted into housing for them, however it is not enough to hold all the people awaiting papers. Everyone who does not have housing in the prison some (somewhere above 1,000 people women and children included) has done there best to make camp around the prison. Our outreach team is currently doing our best to help the organizations already here serving the overflow of people with food, clothing and blankets. More refugees come in wet by boats everyday and are unable to leave until they have proper papers and the cold is becoming increasingly unbearable as we move into January. However in the midst of all of this we are seeing joy, where people from all different nations, languages and religions are coming together to serve and bring hope to those who are fleeing war torn countries.

Thank you so much for reading and following us!

There will be more updates soon, and to keep up with us on a more daily basis please follow us on Facebook!

it's the final countdown

(7) seven. days. until. outreach.

it's so unreal that we leave for Greece in 7 days. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that we leave in exactly one week, to fly across the world and work with Syrian refugees for 3 months. It can only be Jesus. I cannot believe anything differently because despite the fact that I'm still trying to work out housing for our team next week, we still owe thousands of dollars just to get on a plane.

but Jesus.

I know he's called us, I know he has a plan. I have to continually believe these two things, make them my daily even hourly reminder, or it would seem impossible. So this time next week I'm excited to tell everyone the miracle the God did in getting our entire team on a plane, and the favor that he's given us in being able to find housing in Greece.

So this week, this stressful next 7 days, I choose F A I T H.
When Connor and I need to go and get international licenses in between lectures: I choose faith
When we go and buy presents for all the people hosting us in Greece: I choose faith
When we pack up everything in our room into boxes: I choose faith
Whether I'm able to find housing for us before or after we get on that plane: I choose faith
When I'm reminded that our entire school still owes $12000: I choose faith

In choosing faith, I consciously am choosing Jesus over my circumstances. So this week while you're reading this or if you think of us, pray for us, I promise we'll need it.

----> p.r.o.g.r.e.s.s r.e.p.o.r.t

     Well tomorrow marks exactly TWO WEEKS until we leave for Greece! The amount of support and supplies that have been donated in the past month continually blows me away and has been a daily reminder of God's faithfulness in mine and Connor's life. I wanted to personally thank every single person who has donated money towards us getting over there and to anyone who has donated to the sock drive. This has only been made possible through the sacrifices you all have made.

Just to give you guys an idea of how much has been brought in I wanted to show you the numbers:

Connor & Sarah's Grand Total to get to Greece: $7530.00
Total still needed to be raised: $2958.00

This means we have raised a total of: $4572.00 in only ONE MONTH!

Sock Drive Stats:

Pairs of Socks: 154

Blankets: 22

Hats: 16

Mitts & Scarves: 9

Money donated: $400.00 (This amount has been given in cash to go and buy the socks ourselves)
*The money donated above has not yet been spent*

This is our supply so far!

Kids socks from Target!

Every single person who has sacrificed their time and money to support this cause is going to be a part of something so much bigger than them. By clothing someone who is not able to clothe themselves you have brought the love of Christ. One single pair of socks can change one person's life and you have all been a part of that. This mission is not just about Connor and I or our team, because the people that send and support are just as much a part of the mission as the people going. So I wanted to acknowledge the people behind the scenes, because without your love and support the mission is never possible.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.'"
-Jesus

For those of you who have read this and not had the time or chance to be a part of supporting financially or through the sock drive it's not too late! There's still 2 weeks left and every single bit makes a difference.

Love you all,

The Hendrixs

S o c k D r i v e

As our outreach team prepares for Greece we have been presented with a tangible way to help all of the incoming refugees. Winter is quickly approaching around the world and the problem with that is many of the people making the trek across the Mediterranean Sea are arriving with hypothermia.

Our desire is to have a "Sock Drive" so that we are able to give these people something warm for their feet upon their arrival. We are not limiting donations to socks, winter hats, mitt's, scarves and blankets will all be welcomed.

The last day we would like all of these items in is December 1st so that we are able to box them all up and bring them with us for when we leave December 7th. If you have been looking for a tangible way to help people who are in a lot of need, this is your open door.

Socks can be sent to:
Sarah or Connor Hendrix
2707 Hipawai Place
Honolulu HI
96822

*Please no used socks

the U N E X P E C T E D

For anyone that has come across my latest Facebook post they will know what this is about, and for those who do not I'll re-post it here to get you up to speed real quick.

B R E A K I N G N E W S from the Hendrixs:

This past Monday during prayer our base prayed for the refugees flooding into Europe from Syria and surrounding nations. The Lord spoke so clearly to me and told me that I needed to GO. I had no idea what to do, I had already planned an entire outreach for our team to Indonesia & Papua New Guinea. Within the past 5 days every single thing that needed to fall into place to change our 3 month outreach has happened. Now we are GOING TO GREECE. We will be working with Syrian refugees, giving them food, water and blankets and ultimately sharing Jesus with them. Right now there are 6,000 refugees trying to cross into Greece EVERY DAY. These people need help & they need hope. 

If you want to give specifically to the refugees that we will be helping, message me.

To fill in the blanks that come with this post I want to take a minute to answer the obvious questions:

When are you going? How long will you be there?

We leave December 7- February 20. So we will be there for just under 3 months.

Where in Greece will you be?

We will begin in Athens and also be in the island of Lesvos (in-between Greece and Turkey).

What exactly will you be doing?

We will be handing out supplies to the refugees, water, food and blankets. We will also be spending time with them individually in hopes of building relationship to share the gospel.

How many refugees are in Greece?

Over the past while 6,000 have been crossing the border into Greece everyday. Just as of last week that number jumped up to 9,000.

How can I help?

The best and most effective way to help is to donate. Our Paypal account is a link on the side of our blog, you can donate using debit or credit. If you would like your money to go towards only buying supplies for the refugees you can message me and request that. 

If you would like to write a check you can address it to:

Sarah Hendrix

Mailing address: 2707 Hipawai Place Honolulu HI 96822

Below is a video made by Samaritan's Purse. The work they are doing over there is exactly what our 3 months in Greece will look like as well. 

Hopefully this answers a lot of the questions regarding our change in outreach. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. This is such a real need in our world today and anything you can do to help makes a huge difference in people's lives.

Love,

The Hendrixs

lend a helping hand

Last Thursday our school had the privilege of working with another ministry on the island that dedicates every Thursday to feeding 600-700 homeless people that live in Honolulu. It's titled "Feeding the Hungry" but they do so much more than that. They also clothe them and provide an atmosphere of trust and respect where people can talk about their lives. Dozens upon dozens of bags of clothing were given away, and two truck loads of food were brought in. Over a matter of 5 hours we had given everything away. The food brought in was not just a ridiculous amount of non-perishable cans, there were mountains of fruit, milk, yogurt, bread, desserts, literally anything you could possibly find in a grocery store. The clothes given away did not have holes or stains, but there were items for all shapes and sizes. I realized in working with this ministry that trust and respect were not only given to these people through our words and conversations, but also in the food and clothing that we gave away- we gave them our best.

Some of the team unloading the first truck load of food

Prayer for some new friends

Working at the clothing table!

As this becomes the month of Thanksgiving for all my Canadian friends and family, and in the following month it will be Thanksgiving for Americans, I just want to encourage everyone to serve the homeless and hurting in their community. It honestly is such a blessing to be able to serve someone, or even a group of people who might not have the means to help themselves this time of year. For the next three months my team and I will be doing this every Thursday, this isn't a ministry that we've personally started, we chose to find something that was already happening in the community and lend a helping hand. So my prayer for everyone reading this would be to find something happening around you, to join in and serve people that aren't currently able to help themselves.

Much love,

The Hendrixs

S.O.M.E

We've found ourselves beginning our next 5 month adventure with all of these beautiful people featured below.

SOME (School of Missions & Evangelism) is the school we are currently working with in YWAM. During the next five months we will be spending the first 11 weeks here in Hawaii preaching the gospel in Honolulu and learning how to realistically live out missions long term in other nations. Our heart as a school is to see the lost saved.

WHERE ARE WE GOING? ---------> INDONESIA & PAPUA NEW GUINEA (PNG)

We will be leaving for these nations in the beginning of December and will return at the end of February.

DETAILS: Ministry has not yet been set in stone so the details are soon to follow.

SUPPORT: We need prayer more than anything:
                    -Unity as a team
                    -For finances ($5000)
                    -That the students would gain Gods heart for the nations
                    -Safety (specifically in the nation of PNG, there is still a lot of war and conflict)

Wendell's 4th Birthday

       It was a normal morning at River of Life (the homeless feeding program we work with) and just as we were closing up for the morning we had three people walk in at the end. It was a father with his two children. The children were clearly excited as they came in, the father looking relieved. As they sat down at the table with their cereal and juice I walked over to greet them because I had never seen them come in before. I found out the boys name was Wendell, named after his father and the girls name was Miley. Today just so happened to be Wendell's 4th birthday, hence all the excitement I had noticed with their arrival. As I talked to the father he began to explain their situation, that they had all been homeless for the past couple of years and have just recently been able to move into an apartment about two bus rides away. Today for Wendell's birthday his father used his bus pass to get the kids into town so they could get a meal from the shelter and hopefully make it to the beach for Wendell's birthday. I asked the father if Wendell would be having cake for his birthday and saddened he told me they had absolutely no money for that. So at that point it became my own personal mission to go and find Wendell a cake in the next 10 minutes for his birthday. I went outside and River of Life just had a whole new shipment come in, with a full box of individually sliced pieces of Chocolate Fudge Cake. I grabbed three pieces for Wendell, Miley and his father and then searched the kitchen for 4 birthday candles. As I came back into the room holding a giant piece of fudge cake with 4 birthday candles Wendell's face immediately lit up the room. We lit the candles which he blew out before the birthday song was even finished and began to devour his chocolate cake. Laughing with more cake all over himself than in his mouth we were able to give Wendell a birthday. His birthday only lasted less than 10 minutes but it was the best birthday I've ever been to. At the end, his father with tears in his eyes gave me a hug and said "Thank you. I know no one else today would have done that for him." 

      The irony of the entire thing is that this whole story has nothing to do with me. At a birthday party that lasted 10 minutes for a little boy I had just met, I was able to see Jesus. His heart is with the poor, the people that don't have it all together. He is with a single father doing everything he can to provide for his two children and He lavishes his love through chocolate cake. I know that Jesus loves everyone, but I believe he has a special place in his heart for the poor. It's because Jesus becomes the most evident to me whenever I am with them, serving them, and loving them. I know Wendell will eventually forget about the chocolate cake he had on his 4th birthday, but I know I won't because that was the first birthday party that I knew Jesus was celebrating with us. 

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me...Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me".

-Jesus

a day in the life (C.S edition)

Recently my husband promised our readers a post on what a day in the life of YWAM looks like for us, and this is my attempt to deliver. Viewer discretion is advised.

On a windy morning here at YWAM Honolulu Sarah wakes up to the sound of her obnoxious alarm set for exactly 5:54am. After her routine of stumbling into the bathroom only to brush her teeth she makes her 40 step trip to the YWAM Honolulu kitchen where she will begin making breakfast for the base.

Upon her arrival into the kitchen she hears a clanging sound underneath the fridge and immediately becomes aware of the situation she has walked in on: a rat has been trapped but has not died (for those who are unaware rats are very common in Hawaii but just as disgusting as you can imagine). Due to the indecent hour this is happening at she decides it's best to wake up her loving, sleeping husband to dispose of this inconvenient issue. Bravely Connor enters the war zone (the kitchen) and begins hand to hand combat with our trapped rat. The battle was fierce and lasted longer than necessary, but ultimately Connor came out on top. The kitchen was then sanitized and to everyones joy breakfast was served on time. (Side Disclaimer: Our kitchen staff have been at war with the rats for the past while, and yes we are coming out on top and the rat issue is getting resolved).

After the breakfast festivities had finished we have some time to get ready before we head over to an area in Honolulu called China Town. We love this part of the island because it feels like you are on a missions trip over in Asia. Every Wednesday we volunteer with an organization called River of Life which is geared towards serving, clothing and feeding the homeless in our community. Upon arriving we begin setting up for the morning to feed anywhere from 150-200 people, many of which we have become friends with! Sarah is usually serving the cereal which is a fan favorite among the guests, while Connor serves food and cleans up. Other times they ask for him to play the piano or guitar to have some instrumental music while the guests eat their meals. 

Once we finish our morning serving at River of Life we walk around the block to do some China Town grocery shopping for the base. This may sound like a walk in the park until you realize that you're buying veggies for 60 people for the next week and your car is 6 blocks down the street. But like true overachievers we refuse to make more than one trip and accept defeat. Instead, we will carry all grocery bags and boxes of tomatoes which usually result in the loss of feeling in our arms around block 5.

By the time everything is concluded we end up back on base just in time for lunch! After lunch is finished Connor and I go our separate ways and he spends the rest of the day destroying weeds, conquering trees and scaling cain grass cliffs. While I jump on all the guest beds I've made for hospitality (just kidding..). And sometimes we even get featured in YWAM Honolulu's Facebook/ Instagram pages to show people who the staff are at YWAM Honolulu.

Usually our days wrap up around 4:30pm just before dinner. Nights are usually off but sometimes we go and babysit for a local Alpha Course group or Connor is leading worship for the students at night! Thanks for spending the day with the Hendrixs we hope you enjoyed it!

T R U S T always.

It is not always like leaning back in a recliner and forgetting about life's troubles. Sometimes it's work- a lot of work, it's believing for something you cannot see and sometimes you have absolutely no right to. It's accepting the fact that you don't have control over a situation or circumstance and realizing that He does. It's knowing that by trusting Him, that does not mean the situation will turn out the way you have planned, but the way He intends it to. Trust is not glamorous, in fact, it's usually terrifying. But even in all of this we know that in trusting Him, He cares. We can trust Him because in knowing Him, we know that He is always good.

We've been facing this reality a lot lately. Trusting that we're in missions because that's where God has called us and that he will provide all that we need while we're here. My greencard to stay in the United States is turning out to be a lengthly process which has required a lot more effort and expenses than we would have expected. But in all of this God is good and he has a plan. It's so simple to type it out, one sentence actually. But to live it out I'm finding is a daily decision to be made. For me to trust him, it requires fear and worry to leave. I'm learning that I cannot have both. I cannot claim to trust the Lord and still keep fear in my back pocket, that in itself is a complete contradiction. Trust compels me to release the grip I have over my situation and fear encourages me to tighten it. So today, this week, and this month I'm choosing trust.

I'll be posting sometime again in the next two weeks to keep everyone updated on what we're up to! But until then we would greatly appreciate your prayers, specifically that we would trust in the Lord with everything that we have! Love you all!

The Hendrixs

A L O H A

We've made it back to the rock in the middle of the Pacific! It's been a little over  two weeks since we've arrived and are now well adjusted and into the full swing of what our next six months in missions will look like. As we transition back into YWAM Honolulu as a married couple we are also serving the base in a different way than we did in the past. Because our School Of Missions & Evangelism doesn't start until September Connor and I are currently serving YWAM Honolulu by being base operations staff while we apply for my green card in the US. Connor is currently doing all of the construction/ maintenance/yard jobs needed on our base as well as leading worship, and I am working in the kitchen/ hospitality (guest house) and leading the special events team which organizes all of our major events that happen in a quarter (aloha day, commissioning outreach teams, graduation, holidays, and ohana night). Our schedules are both pretty full working Monday- Friday and we are both very excited to be serving our home base as it has served us so much in the past 4-5 years. We currently have a few very important prayer requests for anyone following our journey and supporting us!

Currently we are putting all of our own personal finances towards paying for the greencard for Sarah but we still have other financial needs that need to be covered. Our staff fees alone are $700/month which covers our food/ housing as we serve here in YWAM Honolulu. We are looking for people willing to partner with us monthly so that we can continue to serve in missions. The amount can be whatever you feel called to give, and the DONATE button on this page is the easiest and fastest way to give money and goes directly into Connors bank account. If you have any questions please email us and thank you so much for your support financially and in prayers for us! You are a blessing!!!

Prayer requests:

For Sarah's greencard application/ process, that all the necessary paperwork would be filled out properly and that all finances would be able to process through quickly

That Connor and I would continue to serve the base in every area that's needed with joy and passion

That God would provide financially for our monthly needs




    This is our home on base that we moved into!

    Sarah wants our room to be a fort...

A huge part of Sarah's job is helping to remodel the Hospitality house where guests to the base stay 

(these are before and after pictures)

                                                                                
    Connor is helping in the yard to cut back all of the insanely fast growing trees to prevent damages to the houses (It's a messy job!)

    This is another couple of pictures to give an idea of the things Connor is doing to help renovate the houses! Connor and the work crew are tearing out carpeting and walls and laying down new flooring due to termite damage on the previous floor. In the last picture you can see there are holes going straight down to the ground and it is part of Connor's job to repair these.

C A N A D A : Chronicles of living in an arctic tundra

We arrived in the Great White North mid December just in time for a 3 1/2 month winter (I know what you're thinking... you guys decided to endure the coldest winter in 30 years instead of living in tropical Hawaii... yup we go wherever the Lord calls us). We came to Canada knowing one thing, that the Lord wanted us to take over the youth group at the church that I (Sarah) grew up in. We started up the youth again on the first week of January and we had 5 kids show up. We knew the group needed a little TLC and we were more than happy to do whatever we could to serve them. Every Friday we would spend the first hour playing some type of game; dodgeball, kickball, handball etc. (the youth is primarily boys...), continue with an intermission of hanging out and some form of snack and then finish the night off with a message.
Some of the main topics we hit on with the youth centered around the basis of our faith, and trying to paint a picture of who Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit are. We spoke on the supernatural, healings, what worship is, and ultimately tried to center and ground them in their identity in Christ. We've seen so much growth in their individual lives, and the Lord has given us such a huge heart for them as a group and some much hope for what he will continue to do in their lives. They've blessed us this entire winter, given us the privilege to be a part of their lives, and taught us so much about ourselves and our leadership as a married couple. These amazing, energetic, crazy youth have been the reason the Lord brought us to Canada and we wouldn't have had it any other way.



                                         The Youth!

Connor teaching.

Weekly dodgeball

                                          Team contests

                                                    Sparklers!

                       Connor also coached a Jr high basketball team in the community!

en Peru : Honeymooners

At the beginning of December we decided to give South America a try and ventured down to Peru for our honeymoon! After a full days worth of traveling we arrived in Lima, Peru at around midnight and were shuttled to our apartment. After spending a couple days in Lima biking around the city, practicing our Spanish (or lack there of...) and spending time on the coast, we packed our bags and headed on a 22 hour bus ride to Cusco. Winding around the andes, through the desert, and throwing up in my pillow were some of the many adventures had on that bus ride. When we arrived in Cusco, Connor was having horrible headaches because of elevation sickness at 11000ft, so we found him some local Coca tea which happens to be the only thing that gets rid of elevation sickness. While in Cusco we travelled around to a ton of ancient Inca ruins, got caught in the craziest hail storm at the top of a mountain and wore awesome Peruvian sweaters. The peak of our trip was seeing Machu Picchu one of the oldest standing civilizations today and one of the seven wonders of the world! Our honeymoon was a blast, exploring South American culture and starting off our marriage with adventure!

    Traveling the coast of Lima by bike

The streets of Cusco

    One big happy Incan family (llama included)

                      The storm approaches between the ruins...

                     Hailstorm hits!

                      Awesome Peruvian sweaters!!

             
    Train ride through the Andes

Machu Picchu: 1 of the 7 wonders of the world.

November 28, 2014

 Hey everyone! Just to catch everyone up to date I'm going to rewind a bit back to November! Connor and I got married on a beach on the westside of Oahu, surrounded by our closest friends and YWAM community! It was absolutely gorgeous and such an amazing setting for a wedding that was completely planned from 2000 miles away. We rented a ranch house for our friends and family on an organic farm called Kahumana. The people there were wonderful and completely accommodated our entire wedding and even supplied us with extra things that we ended up needing. The wedding turned out to be even more beautiful than we had hoped, thanks to our amazing friends and family.



                          Our crazy/ fantastic wedding party!

Aaron Larson officiating!

                                                                         

Jumping in the ocean after the "I do's"

Our backyard reception!