san fran!

our first flight went well.

i landed in san francisco at 5am (2am hawaii time), and Jillian (one of my leaders) had her parents came and pick us up. they had gotten us a hotel room to chill at for the 14 hour layover here in California. it's been sweet so far. i had REAL food for breakfast (the eggs were cooked, not hard-boiled...haha), and we have the chance to shower before leaving for San Fran airport at 5pm. i'm so thankful that they did this for us. it's been grand.

our next flight is at 9-something tonight, and it's  12-13 hour flight to Munich, Germany.
after that, we fly to Thessaloniki.

by tomorrow evening, i'll be in Greece.

y'all, i am so stoked for this. :D

i can't wait to get there and experience the culture and the food...and meet the people!

today's the day!

i leave for Greece today.
the past 12 weeks went by so fast.
i'm so ready to go to Greece and serve Jesus there, but I can't believe that i'm actually going!

week 12

week 12.
where did the past 12 weeks go???
i leave Hawaii in 3 days.
say whaaaat!?!

i'm SO stoked for outreach.
i can't wait to post some photos and videos from Greece. :D

i've never been to europe...and now i get to spend 3 months there!!!

i don't even know how to explain how excited i am. :D :D :D

live & julie. :)

meet Live (LEE-vuh) and Julie (YOO-lee-uh).

























their mom asked me to take some photos of them a few weeks ago, and of course i said yes!

it was so much fun to play with these girls for a little bit. they're so full of giggles, smiles, and joy. i'm so blessed to be able to be in Hawaii, and take photos of the cutest kids ever. :)

To see more photos from this shoot, go here.

what, it's already week 10?

so we just finished week 9 (of 12) for lecture phase.
say what??
the time has flown by...but gone super slow at the same time.

this past week was "corporate week". (all the separate Discipleship Training Schools were together for the lectures in Ohana Court.)
we learned about applying what we've learned to our outreaches.
we also learned some evangelism tools to share the Gospel on our outreaches, and then we practiced them on each other. i think i got saved about 5 times on wednesday...haha!

i liked this corporate week, but i have to admit that i'll be glad to be back on our "normal" schedule next week. i've been craving some semi-free-time. :)

i probably wouldn't have made it through the past two weeks if it hadn't been for the joy of the Lord as my strength. battling exhaustion and distraction, i fought to stay awake during class. but the Lord gave me strength and joy, and He has blessed me so much the past few weeks. :)

i'm so excited for what the next three weeks of Lecture phase hold.
i just want to soak up everything i can before leaving on Outreach.

there were some things i wanted to do before leaving Hawaii, but the time has gone by so fast...i don't think i'll get the chance. but it's okay. how many people can say that they lived in Hawaii for 3 months? i'm so blessed to be here. :)

Blessings!
~Valerie



PS. we finally got some team photos done!
so...meet Team Greece!
back row, l-r (Emily, Chelsea, Tegan, Monica)
middle row, l-r (Jillian, Campbell, Christine, Bee)
front row, l-r [Valerie (that's me :D), Julia]


we will leave Hawaii on June 28th,
and arrive in Greece on June 30th.

please keep us in your prayers. :)

just Jesus.

the other day, i prayed and asked God to reveal a little bit of Jesus to me, so He did.

as i was praying, i saw a man (it was Jesus).
he was attractive, but not physically (if that makes any sense).
i wouldn't describe him as "good-looking", but he was...in his own way.
he had dark hair and a round face, and he was wearing normal, 2012 clothes. :)
it didn't really seem like it was Jesus, until i looked into his eyes.
as my gaze met his, i was overwhelmed with the depth of kindness that i saw. i don't think i've ever seen that kind of compassion and kindness in someone's eyes before.
however, i didn't just see kindness, i saw love.
and i also saw something like fiery passion...which reminded me of a lion.
all in his eyes.

it was amazing. :)