August 4, 2016
The Crappy, Wonderful, Beautiful Pilgramage
Since before this thing even started Jesus had begun this journey in my heart teaching me how to "trust" Him. Now growing up a missionary kid, I know all about financial provision, support raising, and having faith in Him for our needs. So I moved forward without any fear or apprehension as far as with my
finances.
Within the first few weeks of being here on the island the Lord began doing so many crazy things within my heart, and some of those things I have already begun sharing here on the blog.
One night last week, I was sitting in the prayer room, seeking His heart for my future and my time here in this season. Just like when Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him, I heard the Lord ask me three times if I trusted Him. "Anna, do you trust me?"
Like I said before, I had this idea that I fully understood what trusting the Lord looked like but boy is it more than just praying for rent money and rent money coming in. He was asking me to trust Him in every aspect of my life. This included things/areas that I hadn't really let him into like my future. He was asking me to give him my friendships, my relationships, my future, my finances,my life in efforts to follow Him wholeheartedly and (to be completely honest) it really sucked.
This is no easy thing friends, and I'm not here to say that it is. I was under the impression that I could follow the Lord and have my own "possessions" and agendas apart from Him and still be in alinement with His will. Wrong. In order to be "all in" I had to let go; letting go of things in effort to focus on pursuing the Lord is one of the most difficult yet most rewarding things.
That leads me to my next point: now that I had let go of pretty much everything important to me, I was left waiting for the Lord to reward me. "Way to go my sweet, obedient, child. I will now reward you with everything you have ever wanted." This is also not always the way it works. We don't follow the Lord because we get things in return, we follow the Lord because He's worth following. Jesus called the disciples by simply saying "come follow me," there wasn't any definitive victory in the horizon when he called them. He simply called them.
And so, there He was, making me wait patiently. Empty-handed and abandon I like to say. There was peace knowing I was making the right decisions but that still didn't make those decisions easy, or the outcome smooth. And that's what I wanted to convey to you. The Lord has me on this journey of learning how to trust Him with all of it, and sometimes it's insanely difficult and hard. He never said it would be easy but He did promise to be in the midst of it, and I can totally testify to that. It was definitely rocky there for a second but now that the waters have settled I can say there is no better place to be than in the present time in His beautiful presence.
All of my love
-Awn
July 30, 2016
Loving Well
Week Three down.
This week's topic was entitled "Practical Peace Making And Worldview"
Now, for a lot of us, that tittle can make a stomach crawl. But lucky for you I'm not going to touch much on that.
I wanna talk about what it means to love people with intention. Not just people close to you, not just the sweet ones in your church, I'm talkin' everybody.
Easier said than done for sure. We have all heard the verse "love your neighbor as yourself" but can any of us say we really do?
The big one that hit me was my perspective on the issue of poverty and homelessness. We cannot open our eyes to see until we recognize we are blind in someway. I recommend taking 15 minutes and watching this TED Talk "The Danger Of A Single Story"
I realized after watching this video and discussing in our class, the vast "blinders" I had on my eyes which effected my interpretation of so much.
Anyway, back to the poor. I don't think Jesus was kidding when He told us to care for the poor. There are countless scriptures and letters all pointing us in their direction, but yet we see a homeless man on the street and turn the opposite direction. "Most of us read the gospel as if we have no money and most of us spend our money as if we've never read the gospel"- Abraham Heschel
I don't want to sound like some extremist but honestly Luke 12:33 "sell your possessions and give to the needy..." It sounds pretty clear to me.
For a lot of us it is very difficult to look suffering straight in the face and like Mother Teresa said "it's not that Christians don't care about the poor, it's just that Christians don't know the poor."
After this week I now see wealth and success differently and don't think I could ever live that way comfortably because if the abundance of someone is contingent on the abundance of another, something is seriously wrong. I want to learn how to see someone through Christ's eyes and how to effectively reach out to those in need all around me. It's just learnin' how to love well. All of this is just getting me more and more excited for Outreach in September. Jesus is doing crazy big things.
July 18, 2016
Learn About Him, and Learn Some More.
First two weeks of DTS! The first week we did what most would do and went through our manual together as a class. We discussed a lot about what actual community looks like within our own lives as well as within the church (which go hand in hand btw). Our school leaders and staff are by far some of the most inspiring people and over the past few years have really sought the Lord's heart on the topic. They have created a list of "culture pieces" that make up intentional Christian community. I'm not going to take up your time by listing them all (though I'm so down to discuss them with you at another time), but I will highlight one in particular that has really latched onto my heart.
Disclamer: these ideas are straight from my "A Life Together " manual and I would not be writing any of this if it hadn't been for the eloquence of the writing in said manual and the power of the Holy Spirit giving me clear understanding.
A culture of awareness and stewardship:
A fancy way to say "keep your eyes, ears, and hearts open to reality." Be an active learner. This applies to several things; be aware of the issues in the world, those around you, your own heart, as well as the Lord's. Actively purse a deeper understanding of God, the world, and our place within it.
As our school leader Steve so eloquently said "refuse the tendency to solidify discovery." Cultivate a lifestyle of "open minded-ness" meaning never quit seeking out new understanding or knowledge.
For such a long time I would discover something new about the Lord and leave it as that. I created this mentality of thinking I had figured God out (which is impossible by the way). It wasn't until I got here and was introduced to this idea that I realized it. It's true the Lord is constantly enlightening us with new revelation but don't be so quick to end it in a period (i.e. "."). Be open to receiving new knowledge and end it with a comma instead (i.e. ","). Get my drift?
"God is most easily lost when thought to be found"
^If that ain't the truest thing^
So yeah, there's that.
Hope everyone back home is doing well.
I would love to hear from you as I continue these little updates.
Also, my mailing address is attached if you would like to connect via snail mail
As always, love you big
-Awn
Anna Concepcion
A Life Together DTS #213
75-5851 Kuakini Hwy
Kailua- Kona, HI 96740
July 15, 2016
Quick Update: Life In Kona
I totally live here now...for the next three months at least.
Dang, I can't believe it has already been a week since I arrived here on a plane last Thursday. The Lord has honestly done so much in my heart since arrival day. Lots and lots of tears, lots of laughter, and lots of discovery.
I have already started to bond with fellow students in my DTS, and when I say bond I mean it feels like its been years of friendship in the making. I really dislike the heat and try my hardest to not be irritable, but all of that aside, here is a real quick overview of what I'm up to:
The University Of The Nations, YWAM Kona.
I am overwhelmed by the amount of spiritual history and culture here. I am surrounded by different nationalities and languages. I think during my walk from my room to the prayer room here on base I overheard at least four conversations in different languages.
My favorite thing is seeing the little missionary children (who probably have more stamps on their passports than I ever will in my entire life) playing and giggling on base. The amount of diversity here is amazing.
Another thing I am loving is the plant and animal life (I know I'm such a geek). If you know me, you know my love for plants so of course I'm going to point it out. Everything is tropical, its Hawaii for goodness sake. The palm trees are gorgeous and they have some of the most beautiful, vibrant flowers. Something else that I've noticed is this little creature they call "Mongoose" which are pretty much the Hawaiian version of a squirrel. I love it all.
This is our cafeteria that happens to be right outside our front porch (as pictured below). This is where we eat all of our meals and enjoy lots of good conversation over coffee.
We all lucked out because our DTS is so small (7 girls total), we have 3 girls in one room and 4 in the other. These rooms are made to fit 10 girls each with one bathroom...so know that we are grateful. Like I said earlier, we have all bonded and enjoy spending time together in this shared community space. Please enjoy this picturesque image of our new rug and cascading hammocks.
Sadly, these rooms do not have any air conditioning except for the ceiling fans so I'm definitely trying to learn how to cope. First thing I bought on this island was a portable fan...
Something might be wrong with my sleep schedule because of the jet lag but I have been up every morning around 5:30am right before sunrise and have had the pleasure of watching the sun come up right behind this lovely volcano. I am enjoying every bit of being here and can't wait to sit down and process all that the Lord is doing in my heart. I am learning so much about community and the way that we are created to love one another and just the way that we should pursue Jesus in our day to day lives. It is honestly a beautiful thing.
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