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