Coconut Festival

The weeks are flying by so fast!  I cant believe that I am starting week 5 of classes.  This past weekend Kauai held a coconut festival right here in Kapaa.  A lot of the bible college students helped out at the church’s booth.  Sara and I helped out for the first 2 hours of the festival.  We presented the gospel on coconuts with the verse Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  We started the conversations with people by asking them if they wanted to take a survey about the missionary history of kauai.  If they took the survey then they were entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card to wal mart or de-jevu.  At the end of the survey it asked them if they were concerned about their life after death.  Thats when we were able to tell them how they could be 100% sure they would go to heaven by explaining Romans 6:23 on the coconuts.  I was able to lead 4 people to Christ while I was there and able to pray for a hand full of people who were already christians.  It was really encouraging to be able to be used by God in this way.  Not everyone is receptive to what we have to say though.  I talked to one lady who was very closed off and did not want to hear anything I had to say.  We cant let the people who are closed off get to us.  It’s easy to let the few people who are rude and not wanting to listen get to us and then we believe that God cant use us anymore.  We can’t believe the lies that Satan feed us.   Satan is not very cleaver and uses the same simple lies over and over again because we believe them and he gets us every time with them.  As Christians we cannot just jump right into going out and seeing huge victories for christ before we have personal victories in Christ.  Elijah was a prophet of the Lord, but before he went out before king Ahab of Israel to prove his God is ruler over their god Baal, he did as the Lord commanded and hid himself to be ministered to by the Lord himself.  That is what we need to do as well.  Elijah was so obedient to the Lord.  The Lord commanded him to do something and he did it, as simple as that.  I believe that God is using this time while I’m in Hawaii to minister to me and for me to be submersed in his word constantly.  I am excited for this time here and I’m also looking forward for God to use me when he feels that I am ready to go out and prove that my God is the one true God.  I want to be like Elijah and do as the Lord commands for my life.  Elijah is just so COOL! :] 

an epic weekend

this weekend me and 15 other students went camping on the west side of kauai in pohihole.  this was real camping, we slept under the stars on the sand at the beach.  it was so fun! we left kapaa about 3:30 on friday afternoon and got there about 5pm.  in order for us to get down to where the beach is we have to drive down a dirt road about 5 miles thru the mountains.  it was so different from home to drive in the middle of mountains and then bam! there is a beautiful beach there! as soon as we got there we jumped out of the van and ran to the water.  we swam/surfed for a couple hours and watched the sun set. here are a few pictures that i took and dont do much justice but at least you can get the idea.

 this was the beautiful sun set that we sat on the beach and watched.  after it was dark we went up on the bluffs got our stuff and made a fire to roast some hot dogs and make some smores.  we all sat around sang some songs and enjoyed our time around the fire.  we eventually went to sleep on the sand under the stars.  i got up and was in the ocean by 7am.  i dont think i have ever been swimming in the ocean at early before.  the waves were so strong! it was fun until i thought i was going to never get back to the shore.  thankfully i made it in after getting pounded by a good amount of waves.  we packed up and left the beach at noon and started up the mountain to waimea.  we went up 4000ft to the top and looked over into the mountain.

This is a snipit of what we were able to see at the look outs. it was so amazingly beautiful! after we saw everything we went out for some fish tacos and headed back to the school campus.  one of the off campus students wanted to cook dinner for everyone so we all went over to his house soon after we got back.  today we slept in till about 7 and then got ready for church.  we are going to be helping at a coconut festival next week so we had a little training to prepare for that.  then it was on to homework! since we have had fun all weekend we decided to dedicate the afternoon and evening to getting homework done.  i am a little distracted by this blog but other than that i have been getting it done! :]  on that note i should go and finish up because i have class in the morning.

Pictures!

Since I have not posted to many pictures so far I thought I would share some with you! 

        
                                        This was the first beach we went to when we got here

 
                                      One of the first weekends we went to shipwercks beach

                  One morning as I was walking to class this is what I saw when I got to upper camp

                                       

                             These are some of the wonderful girls I have become friends with here

                                         This is Sleeping Giant...I will hike this before I leave

                                      These are the nice bathrooms at upper camp...be jealous

                                              This is Chelsea, also my tentie and bunk mate

                                                   Part of the view from upper camp

                                                               Me, Sara and Chelsea

                                   Once we fit 11 people in this mini van...not this time though!

                                                     Welcome to Calvary Chapel Kauai!

                    
                                                                  Me and Miranda!


      This is a little look as what I have been doing and what it looks like where I'm living right now.

I serve a great God!

Well I have been here in Kauai for 19 days now and it feels like I have been here a lot longer than that!  The days seem so long but the weeks go by fast! I have been a little tired because we have to be up by and ready by 7 everyday and sometimes I don't always get to bed on time.  It's so hot here that you almost can't take a nap in the day time.  It has been raining more and more so we have to keep the windows zipped up on our tents which makes it even more hot in the mornings.  Even if we could sleep in I don't think that we would be able to because it gets so hot as soon as the sun rises.  Other than it being really hot here I am still enjoying every minute of being here.  I am still in awe that this is my home till December.  How can you not love it here when you can go to the beach and still enjoy your time there at 5 in the evening?  Today I had my 1 Corinthians class and my 1 and 2 Kings class. As I said earlier I have been more tired than normal so I was happy when I accomplished staying awake in both of my classes today. After my classes me and a few friends went down to the beach and swam for about an hour.  When it was starting to get cold we decided to come to The Coffee Bean and get some homework done (and update my blog :]).  It's so awesome to be able to study the bible especially the old testament and see how God still loved his people and was always faithful to them even though they messed up over and over again.  When I was in my Kings class today it was cool to see that God was still fulfilling his promises that he said he would.  God is always faithful time and time again.  King David was called a man after Gods own heart.  David was in no means perfect, he messed up a lot and big time yet he always came back to the Lord.  When he was king God told him to ask for anything and God would give it to him.  Do you know what he asked for?  He asked to know God better and to be close to him.  How many of us would ask that as our first and only request?  That was not the first thing that came to my mind.  It is in human nature to ask for selfish things of God, but not David.  When God asked the same question to Solomon when he was king he asked for great wisdom.  That too is a great thing but king Solomon did not do as well as king when compared to his father David.  I wonder how the kingdom would have gone if king Solomon would have asked for the same thing as his father.  I do not mean to say that what Solomon asked for was wrong or bad in any way because great wisdom from the Lord is indeed a great thing.  But just think and ponder for a moment how or if it would have been different.  David is defiantly someone in the bible I look up to.  That is such a humbling thing to ask for in my opinion.  I really like the old testament and enjoy reading about the people who were worthy of making it into the bible.  When I think about my life sometimes I wonder if what I have done and will do would be worthy of being in the bible if it was not written yet.  God is showing me some really cool things and I am reminded time and time again what a great God we serve!

Week one

I have now finished a full week of school.  I have lots of classes, we only have class once a week.  I'm taking 1 Corinthians and 1 and 2 Kings on Mondays, Systematic Theology and Inductive Bible Study/ Hermeneutics on Tuesdays, On Wednesdays I have worship class in the afternoons and then on Wednesday night the students lead worship for Wednesday night Church, on Thursday nights I have a discipleship class and Friday mornings I have a class on women of the Bible.  I also have to do 8 hours a week of M199's which is service hours to help the upkeep of our property and to cook meals so we have food to eat.  When I look at it like this I think to myself wow thats a lot of stuff but when I am living it day to day it does not feel that bad.  I am still getting the hang of balancing my time between doing homework and having a social life with some of the other students here on campus.  My goal for the semester is to get my homework done in the week so that I will have the weekends to hang out more and go to the beach.  Something that is hard for me is not having electricity so I am not able to do my homework when the sun goes down and that is when I usually like to do my homework, after dinner before I go to bed.  So I am adjusting to changing that so I don't have to do it on the weekends.  I don't have time to write more but when I get the chance I will!

Labor Day!

 Sept 5, 2011 

Today is labor day and also our first day of classes.  I had 1 corinthians this morning and 1 & 2 kings this afternoon.  1st Corinthians seems like it is going to be a great class!  I’m really excited to see how this book of the Bible is going to relate to our world today.  It may seem like the times now are very different from Bible times but when you really take a look at it you can see that times are very similar.  

My 1 & 2 kings class is very fast paced.  We have a lot to go through in only 16 or so weeks of class.  For our first day of this class today we went thru the first 4 books of 1 Kings.  A lot goes on in these 2 books of the Bible but it is very interesting to see how God is still merciful on His people who continue to sin and do things that are not pleasing to God.  

You might be thinking well what do your class rooms look like? Well we sit in a big white tent for every class except one, where we get to go to the pastors house and sit on couches, feel the ocean breeze and look out the “window” and see the ocean in the distance behind the palm trees and grass fields.  This might lead you to ask about my “dorm” situation.  I live in a tent about 20 feet by 10 feet. Currently the zipper to my screen is broke and as you can imagine it gets pretty hot as soon as the sun comes up and never really cools down to where we feel cold.  I have 2 roommates and we are getting along pretty well for the little amount of space we have.  We have almost the same class schedule so we are usually all there or no one is there at all.  We will have to see as the semester goes on how that will work out with the three of us.  As i mentioned before I do not have hot water or electricity and we have porta pottys for our bathroom.  We do have a shower house that has 2 very small shower stalls and 2 little sinks.  It seems to be going better than I had thought.  There are many many different kinds of bugs here.  I’m not used to that yet, I have slept with ants for the past 2 nights and the bugs seem to be multiplying.  Spiders are everywhere and they are massive!  Despite all of the ruggedness of where God has me right now I feel at peace about it all.  I’m sitting at the beach as I write this listening to the waves crash against the shore and am reminded how blessed we really are.  God is so good! 

                                                                     Babies Beach

                                                Ship Reck Beach with lots of new friends!

                                                     Jumping off the cliff at Ship Reck

                                                                                     The view from my tent

First few days in Kauai!

Aloha!
I have finally arrived in Hawaii! It is so beautiful here! I left yesterday about 6am from my house in California and landed here in Kauai about 2:30 Hawaii time.  It was a long day but I'm glad I made it safe and sound.  We started the semester off with a BBQ at one of the pastors house last night so we could get to know everyone and have a little fun with a nice homemade slip and slide, which I did not do but it was fun to watch.  When we got back to our tents we went right to bed because we were so tired and had no lights.  It's a little more rustic here than I thought, we have one porta potty for the 16 girls that our here and 2 showers with no hot water.  There are lots of bugs here, I have 12 bug bites already, bug spray is at the top of the wal mart list!  We have orientation today and tomorrow.  So far we go to the beach whenever we get a free hour or so! It's so great here! The coffee shop is closing so no more internet. I will try to write more when I get internet again!
9-1-11

summer time!

so as you can tell im still not so good about this blogging thing.  i better get in the swing of it because i leave for hawaii in 9 1/2 weeks! it is going to be here before i know it! the sad thing about that is it means that summer will be over :[  it feels like summer has hardly started but it started over a month ago for me which is crazy! Since the last time i wrote on here i have..

• completed my Sign Language Interpreting program at Golden West College
• worked in a Juvenile Hall as an interpreter
• volunteered at a middle school helping in a deaf classroom 
• went to San Diego with the Herd
• hiked to the Hollywood sign at night
• watched my brother win 1st place in tournament of champions in baseball
• gone to the beach several times 

im defiantly keeping busy and still have many more plans for this summer! this is probably one of my very last summers i can enjoy without having a grow-up job and no school.  so im going to live it to the fullest.  summer is my favorite time of year, BBQs, the beach, warm summer nights, hanging out with friends, swimming all day long, camping and road trips are some of the things i love and summer is the best time to do them! i can't wait for hawaii, but i also don't want to let this summer pass by me, so im going to live in the moment and enjoy it! 

if you REALLY knew me, you would know that...

i want to do something a little different than what i have been writing.  i have been thinking lately about what people know about each other, to put it simply.  there are always things that people dont know about you.  i think its fun to learn more about each other so here are a few things that you might not have known about me... i like to call it "if you REALLY knew me, you would know that..."

so, if you REALLY knew me you would know that...

1. I FULL HEARTEDLY LOVE JESUS CHRIST
2. i really like the LAKERS
3. derek fisher is my favorite player
4. i secretly love country music
5. if i could go bare foot i would 365 days a year
6. i don't like small cars at all
7. i LOVE my family
8. i hate being alone
9. im pretty sarcastic
10. i cant stand it when people chew with their mouth open

that is just a few things that you might not have known about me.

technology

what would happen if you had NO technological devices right now?  would you be able to finish your conversation? would you miss that e-mail? would you not be able to get to where you are going? I think in this day and age we, including myself, relay on our cell phones, computers, ipods and what ever else we use on a daily basis too much.  if all of that was taken away for just 24 hours without any notice that it would be gone would you be fine with that? or would you feel disconnected and not know what to do with yourself?  cell phones are great, but i think we depend on them more than we might think.  we dont even realize that we carry it around EVERYWHERE we go.  with the technology now, we dont need anything else, all we need is on that one device.  but, what happens when you suddenly dont have that device anymore? our world gets turned upside down and we dont know what to do with ourselves.  we let our mind wonder if you are missing out on anything because you cant text anyone back if they texted you.  or you have to actually go onto your computer to see if you have any new e-mails.  eventually we wont need to leave our house because you will be able to do ANYTHING if you have access to the internet.  its kind of weird to think about. so think about it! how attached to your phone are you?

moving day!

it feels so nice to be able to get back on the internet after not having it for about 5 days.  we did not have internet or TV or anything of that matter because we MOVED!! 4 years in waiting and it is finally here! we officially moved in 4 days ago so we are still living in boxes but slowly we are unpacking everything.  this new house is such a blessing, and only the Lord could have made this happen.  we have been looking and looking at different houses over the past 4 or so years. we looked at this house over and year ago and had to let it go because there was no way we would be able to swing the deal.  a year later the Lord is still so faithful and the deal was going to work this time! so after praying and praying, here we are! it feels like we are living in a dream or on vacation. it does not seems real yet.  im sure that will wear off but for now we are all loving it! it is a little bit of a bummer that i will only be here for another 5 months but im happy that my family is able to have more space and we no longer have to live on top of each other.  the Lord is faithful to answer always, we just need to be patient to wait on HIS timing and HIS answers.

happy adoption day!

today everyone got to miss school and we all went to the court house to sign adoption papers for Skila.  it was so great! this is now the 5th time we have all went to go sign adoption papers for the members of the hatten family.  its such a great celebration. a bunch of people/social workers come that have kinda walked through the whole process with us.  its fun for them to come and see that a case has finally ended and the child is in a good home.  after sitting in traffic for an hour and a half we finally got to the court house and all went through security and went up to the waiting area for our court room.  usually it doesn't take to long but today everyone was on their own schedule so we ended up waiting another 2 hours to be seen by the judge.  if you know anything about kids you know that you cannot tell them to just sit down and wait patiently and we will go in as soon as they call us. so everyone was getting a little antsy. finally some volunteers came and had some coloring pages for everyone so that was a good time passer (even i was coloring :))  finally they called us in.  we all took a seat at a long table in front of the judge.  the judge says his thing and my parents raise their right hand and say their thing. its really neat.  then my parents sign the papers and bam! just like that she is officially adopted.  she is now officially a HATTEN.

after everything is signed we all get to go where the judge sits and take a picture.  so if you couldn't guess that is what this is a picture of.  we then all went out to brunch to celebrate.  Skila has been a joy to everyone she meets and im so glad to call her my sister.  LOVE YOU SKILA MAY!!

a day of love

all to often people think of valentines day and think "i love valentines day!" or "i hate valentines day!" you know this is also singles awareness day or S.A.D. day. either way you look at it you people all around you are happy and lovey or sad and grumpy.  so take your pick, either be lovey or grumpy or you could just make the best of it.  we have so much around us that i think its only fair to make the best out of what ever situation we may be in.  if we want this day to be about love, we should think about the love that jesus has for us. i mean it is valentines day, the day of love and the ultimate lover would hands down be Jesus Christ.  so why dont we make this day more about him?

can you not listen to this song and really think that jesus DOES really love us? i cant, its so great.  i think we know it but we need to be reminded of it because we lose sight of what really matters.  so i hope that you think about the real meaning of love this valentines day.

a great weekend

last weekend i went to winter camp with my jr highers at forest home. wow! what a weekend it was! so many students so many laughs so many fun times.  i hung out with my girls just about every moment of the weekend. it was one of my girls birthdays on saturday when we were there so we all had so much fun singing to her and celebrating her 13th birthday. the best part of camp with hanging out with everyone 

this is a picture from our cabin. 

paulina, natalie, karla and paris

love these girls! 

living for what?

it has been a while since i have last said anything, partly because i still dont exactly know what i want to say so that the whole world could read it if they wanted to.
yesterday my mom went to a funeral for a little girl who was 4 years old.  so sad.  she died in a freak accident where a TV fell on top of her.  it is so sad when you think of that. 4 years old so so young, she still had her whole life to live.   why jesus wanted her to come home to him im still not sure.  in my eyes she was robbed of her life, she had 2 parents who loved her and took care of her every need and a brother and sister who loved her dearly.  i wanted to go to the funeral but i was unable to go because of work and school.  the word "funeral" has the word "fun" in it. if you ask me there is NOTHING fun about a funeral. i guess you have to think of where she is going to be going, she gets to meet jesus! that is an amazing thing i cant wait till i finally get to meet him! i do hope that its not for some time though because i feel i still have a lot to do with my life before i meet jesus face to face.  i have heard of so many freak accidents lately that i have been think a lot about what am i doing with my life and does it count for anything.  am i living for myself or for something more.  i believe that i am living for something more. i believe there is a wonderful God out there who has this whole world under control even though it does not seem that way if you look and see all that is going on.  i would like to say that i am living every moment of every day for jesus but in reality that is not true.  there are times that i feel ashamed to be called a christian.  i know for a fact (thankfully!) that i am not the only one who thinks that but it does not make it any better.  if i believe whole heartily in jesus why do i not let it show sometimes?  i also believe in the devil and that he has a lot to do with that.  im allowing him to take over what i am feeling.  i do not like that and fully want to change that about myself.  so that is what i have and will be working on in my personal life.  im going to conquer the devil and not let him into my life.

right now

So im now to this whole blogging thing, I still don't fully understand it yet, I still don't really know how to work this whole thing.  My intent for starting this blog is when I move to Kauai I would be able to keep my friends and family updated on all my adventures, and possibly some hardships.
Anyways im sitting here listening to my brothers and sisters play in the front yard and im realizing that we wont be here very much longer.  My family is moving in about 4 or 5 weeks to a new house that is bigger and more compatible to my family.  If you are wondering I am the oldest of 7 children and I still live at home with my parents.  To break it down more I have 3 sisters and 3 brothers.  You might think thats a lot, well im here to tell you, YES it is a lot but it is also so fun! There is never a dull moment around here.  Im the oldest and the littlest one of our bunch is 2 years old, there is 17 years between me and the little one who runs around and thinks that she is the boss around here.  Sometimes that is true but im hear to tell you that she is not the boss when im around!  Sometimes it is a little crazy around here when there is 9 people who live in your house.  It's usually pretty loud here, the quiet time is from midnight to about 4 or 5 am.  So a few hours a day but i never hear it that quiet because like you probably I am sleeping at that time.
So we are moving where I will for the first time since my sister right under me was born that I have ever had my own room.  Im excited for that considering that I am in my second year of college, so its been more than a few years.  Although we are all moving in a few weeks I will also be moving at the end of summer to go to school in Kauai.  Yes, Kauai is in Hawaii, and im SO excited!  This is the reason I wanted to start this blog as I already said.  Im going to be attending a Bible college there and could not be more excited!  I am a little sad and don't like to think about all my friends and family that I am going to be leaving behind here in California when I move across the ocean to Kauai.  But I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me.  So this is a little about me and I will keep posting things so you could possibly understand more about me, but for now this is it.    

a new semester

Well, a new semester has started.  It's hard to believe that we are already in the spring semester of 2011.  I had my first day yesterday and my professors kept me the whole class time in all my classes and I already have homework that is due tomorrow.  What happened to the first day of school where you went and the teacher just called roll, gave an overview of the class and that was it for the first day?  I guess we just have to get as much as possible in every semester.  We will see how the semester goes, all I care is that it is easier than last semester.  I will never take 17 units, work and be involved with a ministry ever again.