final preps

hey everyone, sorry it's been a little while. i peace out for outreach early tomorrow morning so this is the last you'll hear from me in a while. the last couple of weeks have been really awesome as we've really dove into basic Christian doctrine and the Godhead and Trinity and all that, as well as exploring different world views and really picking apart what people think and how they go about life. The last couple days we've had a couple of lectures on evangelism and how to approach it and really what the Great Commission means and entails (Matthew 28:19-20). I've learned so much over the past 3 months and I really can't wait to apply it all and teach others what I've learned.

talking about this just makes me that much more excited for outreach. i feel like i'm as ready as i'll ever be in a classroom/sheltered environment so now it is definitely time to put everything into practice and see what the Lord has in store. it is really an exciting time around the base here though since this is the day that every student looks forward to and is pushing for. i don't have a lot else to say to be honest other than.. i really really really appreciate all the prayer. when we pray, things happen in the spiritual realm. prayers do not go unnoticed at all. so ya, please keep that up because ya, it's so so huge.

a couple things you could pray for could be... safety traveling and for us to get into our outreach countries with lots of ease, for discernment and wisdom when ministering and talking to people, and for the Lord to prepare the hearts of those who we're going to run into. It's the Spirit who does all the work.. we're just vessels. So ya, I would really appreciate it if you kept the prayers flowing because ya, it's huge. Anyways, that's about it.. I will be back in Hawaii in the beginning of June sometime and then back in Canada later on in June. I'm excited for the summer and to hang out and talk and share with all of y'all but yes. that's that. i love you all so so dearly and ya, God bless! thank you so much for your prayer! Payce

rain rain rain

hey everyone. so while it snows and snows at home, it has been raining and raining here the last couple of days. but i'll take it i guess. anyways the last couple of weeks have really flown by. we are now two and a half weeks away from leaving for outreach (we leave on the 23rd). i'm so ridiculously excited. like i said, if you haven't found out from anyone as to where i'm going, send me a message or email and i will tell you in some way. so there!

the last couple weeks have been really awesome though. our speakers have been amazing as we've talked about our identity in Christ as well as cleaning out our hearts and legitimately receiving new hearts because of what Jesus did on the cross and ya. It's been so awesome and refreshing and i realize that it is a continual process throughout life to keep working through things as the Lord brings them up in His time. But either way it's awesome. I'm excited to sit down with whoever wants to when I'm home so I can share some of the sweet revelation i've received on a lot of things. when i say excited, i mean super super pumped. so the teaching over the last little bit has been really, really, really good. for example. i'm learning to live from a spiritual perspective and not from the flesh (aka from our sinful nature). so that just is like trying to see life and everything how God does. We underestimate how spiritual we are. and ya, we're super spiritual. so i want to view life from that perspective. everything makes way more sense that way and ya. i now realize it's quite difficult to explain over the interweb but basically... Satan focuses on sin and our sin nature but God focuses on the life that we can have in Him. So if we focus on that life and all the abundance that is the nature of God and not on our sin nature and shortcomings, then it's all good! it's really hard to get across how alive and amazing this revelation is but man, it has legit changed my life already. we'll talk about it sometime.

anywayssss, the last two weeks of lecture are on basic Christianity so I really have no idea what that will entail and then we have Worldview week so i think that will be something along the lines of what the world thinks and other religions and that sort of thing. I'm sure these last couple weeks will fly by so fast though.

A couple weeks ago the other outreach teams from the fall school got back so it was really cool to connect with them and hear lots of their stories. it was really good to get an even more accurate description of what i may be doing on outreach so ya, it got all of us current students so stoked. and in a few short months we'll be doing the same for the next school! it was also really cool meeting a couple people who are friends with people i'm friends with back home. i like the "small world" mentality at times. connecting with others is best! so ya, there's still a couple students from the previous school hanging around for a few more days so ya, new people are awesome! you should meet new people sometime. it's fun haha.

anyways, when i'm off on outreach i will be very limited with internet access shtuff. so if you want to ever hear from me while i'm off the island, send me your email addy through facepage or whatever and i'll do my best to fill you in sometime. you guys that are reading this are my closest friends so ya, i do want to keep you all updated but it will be extremely difficult. that's my disclosure haha. i'm listening to mumford & sons right now. boooom! anyways, that's that. the Lord is doing awesome things in all our hearts and He's gonna do some crazy amazing things during outreach and all throughout life. I'll throw another blog up oh say in another couple weeks or so and then maybe a short one right before i leave or somethin like that.

if you could, please keep praying that the Lord will continue to reveal stuff to me as well as prepare my heart for outreach big time as well as those that the Lord wants to minister in the country that I'm going to. so there. that, in a nutshell, is what has been happening the last couple of weeks. i miss you and love you all and whatever you do, don't freeze :)

media fast!

this is blog post number 3. hurray!

so time is really flying by. i can't even remember what has all happened in the last two weeks. but i'll try. last week we went on a media fast which was super awesome. we weren't allowed music or computers or phones or interweb or anything which was awesome because it just happened to be during the week we had teaching on hearing the voice of God. i definitely was confirmed in hearing God's voice which was super cool so yeah, I'm pumped to say the least. it was such a good week of teaching. soo good haha.

last weekend we went whale watching. pretty much our whole base went, and then some. it was so much fun. you may or may not have seen my ridiculously dirty mustache and the ridiculously dirty pictures that resulted. but it was so so awesome. we had some excellent whale action. aww yea. the night before we had a valentine's day coffee house thing (although it wasn't the 14th) so a bunch of people did talent show performance thingys. 3 other guys and i created a delicious montage of music and choreography, singing parts of doe a deer (sound of music), some beach boys, hard knock life (annie), and favorite things (sound of music). if you haven't seen pictures on facebook.. look at them. it was disgusting. between the 4 of us we used a whole bottle of aftershave and yea. it was soo funny. not gonna lie, we looked good. i mean, really good. kidding.

this last week we had teaching on relationships which is always the one that everyone is excited for yet not at all at the same time because it's so convicting sometimes. but it was good, i definitely learned lots. i'm growing in God a lot lately and really finding myself amazed at all the blessings He's poured down on me throughout these first 21 years. i'm more and more amazed at how good He is everyday it seems. so ya, everything is super good here. i'm getting so excited to leave for outreach, too. i wish i could say where i was going on here but yea, if you don't know yet and would like to, ask my family or my super close friends and they will definitely help you out. it's a security reason, so ya. sorry haha. i really am. 

all of the outreach teams from the last school came back yesterday so there's about 45 new people on base for the next week or so. it's crazy hectic now. i'm really excited to hear their stories of what the Lord did wherever they went. i've already heard a couple super awesome ones so yeah, this week will be awesome I'm sure. 

we went camping last night up Haleakala (the volcano crater on the island) and then went spearfishing this morning. i didn't kill anything but a couple other guys did. i will though in time. it was so fun though.

so ya, i'm learning lots about God everyday and it's all been very applicable which is really awesome. i'm growing lots and i get more and more excited for what's to come everyday, even though i have no idea what that may be. only the Lord knows, but i'm really learning about walking in faith and growing in it huge amounts so ya! everything is wonderful. i miss all of you guys dearly. i hope that it starts warming up soon over yonder. summer will be awesome. i'm so pumped for it. but ya! let me know if there's anything specific you want to know! 

keep the prayers coming in too. they are so so appreciated and definitely very needed. you guys are amazing. i absolutely love all the support i have at home. it's unfathomable. that's a big word for me. so ya, please continue because man, God hears your prayers and is definitely answering them. that's all for now, i will throw something new up in a couple weeks or so! thanks for reading peeps, i love you all so much. God is good!!

cliffs, knees, bugs, and trees

hey everyone, it has been a couple weeksish so i thought it might be about time to give an update. plus, i'm going on a media fast for a bit so i can't really do this kind of thing so a couple days early.. it's happening.

ummmm things have been good here though. last week we were learning about the Bible and kind of like the groundwork and foundations of it. so we went through the main eleven books in the Old Testament and really dug in to all the stuff that you would never catch on the surface. we explored a lot of the prophecies that were given as early as the fall in Genesis and how God was revealing in some pretty crazy ways the coming of Christ. my mind was blown in a lot of ways so i guess i'll have to elaborate on that sometime because it was just so cool. some really really cool stuff was said in places you never would have expected it to come from. super rad!

then last weekend we went cliff jumping. it was wonderful until i decided to climb up another cliff so i could climb down a huge tree that was growing into the cliff. it was fun until i blew out my knee dangling off this cliff. well it was still fun, that just added a bit more suspense and drama to the whole thing. but yea, if you could pray for continued healing for my knee.. that would be so appreciated :)

so. this week.. i was sick in bed monday and tuesday which was super lame. so i missed the first 3 lectures. but it was a good time of rest and just focusing on God's Word. and then.. yea, last night and this morning my life was spoken into big time which was rad, confirming some things that i had been asking the Lord about and then prophesying further into my life which was super rad. if you want to know details, then you should ask :) i will gladly let you know. it would just take forever to type out. anywayss. yea, God is definitely moving in my life and in everyone else's here so that's really sweet and awesome and wonderful. umm yes. i hear you're freezing of late! i feel sorry for you.. i'm burning of late!

but yea, there's not a whole lot else to say.. God's given me the opportunity to be involved with worship at my church a decent amount which is definitely an answer to prayer. also... i get to lead the youth at my church! so rad. i love it. myself and another guy and another girl are leading and discipling all the youth so that's really rad. they range in age from 13-18 so ya, it's going to be a lot of fun. i definitely feel blessed to be a part of that.

but yea, i'm just stoked for what God is doing and what He's going to do in the next however many months.. i can't count. sorry dad. it's really exciting. so ya!

anyways ya, thanks for reading and yea! if you could pray for healing for my knee and that i'll continue to feel better that'd be super super awesome of you and i'd love that a lot a lot. and also for team unity as we continue to bond together. if you haven't heard where i'm going for my outreach at the end of march... i can't put it on the internet because of security reasons. but it's a large country. ask my family or those that i'm uber close to. but it is a large country! i have now repeated that. i am going to stop. okay, i love you all. i will talk to you in a bit. stay warm!

with much love, dave

p.s. i am still sorry for my inability to write a good blog. maybe one day i'll get better

wind, water, the Way, and the Word

Sup! So I figured that it was about time to make one of these for all of you pour souls getting lost in the snow. There has been quite a lot that has happened in the first few weeks so it's definitely hard to figure out what to tell you guys but I'll talk about something.

On the first Sunday we were here, we were told that we were going on a little bit of an adventure. We were only allowed to pack a pair of pants/shorts, one shirt, one jacket or hoodie, one sleeping bag, no toiletries at all, and then our Bibles. We were split up into teams and ended up having to hitchhike across Maui. It was kind of like the Amazing Race. Really fun. We then ended up camping on the northwest shore with nothing to eat but plain oatmeal and ramen noodles. It was definitely a challenging eating experience. Some people got quite miserable. It was funny.

Ummm but yea, this week was the first actual week of lecture. A guy from YWAM on Kona came and spoke to us. He spoke on intimacy with God which was cool because it was definitely a week in which the Spirit was definitely moving in me and among all of us. My life was spoken into a couple of times quite significantly which was really sweet. So ya, I've been learning lots about myself and the Lord and it's only a week. But the days are starting to blend together pretty fast. Everything will be over so fast I know. Which is weird and I'm not too sure how I feel about it. But yes! I love it here and this is definitely where I'm supposed to be for this season of my life. I will update this in a couple weeks once more stuff happens. I'm jumping off cliffs tomorrow. Pray that I don't die :) k thanks. I'm out. Peace and love

If you have any questions.. email me. dave.t.grabowski@gmail.com i will answer them as soon as I can. Thanks :)