Aloha!
I haven't put up a new post since June so it is definitely a long time coming. This fall has been a whirlwind to put it simply. I spent part of the summer in Maryland and back in Alberta, visiting family & friends and meeting future family as well! It went by quite fast and sooner rather than later I found myself back here at YWAM Maui, cooking for our secondary school (SBFM) and a DTS team from the YWAM base in Kona doing outreach here on Maui.
First of all, Emmy and I are engaged! I'm sure you already know, but on September 22nd, I got down on one knee and proposed to my beautiful girlfriend on a beautiful beach in South Maui. We are having a small summer wedding next year on the East Coast and so I think it's safe to say that that has been the most exciting thing in my life lately!
We hadn't hosted a team in years and so it was such a privilege and blessing to be able to live around them, cook for them, and see how the Lord was moving both here on Maui and in their own personal lives as they were stretched and challenged in so many ways. They did all kinds of ministry in the community here, primarily with kids and youth all over the island. Joining up with some of the local churches here that we, as YWAM Maui, are also partnered with, the outreach team went day in and day out reaching out and spreading the love of Christ in so many ways for a month. They headed off to the island of Kauai after some time with us with the eventual destination of Oahu.
Besides cooking for the Kona team, I've had my hands full feeding our secondary school students as they balance quite a heavy workload. We have seventeen students from the United States, Canada, the UK, South Korea, and Norway. They are split into two outreach teams, with one going to Myanmar and Thailand and the other going to that big Asian country I've been to twice, as well as Thailand at the end. My fiancee is leading the team going to that big Asian country! It's pretty crazy to think of the twists in life we go through. Even though we may seem to have a good, solid plan to go with, it seems like it never ends up going that way. Maybe that's just some people's lives, who knows. Anyways, they are headed off for Southeast Asia on December 8th and return to Maui towards the end of February.
Beyond all this, our DTS is going strong too. There are four different outreach teams heading off to Asia the same time the SBFM teams leave, going to Nepal, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and that big Asian country! It has been so neat to see them grow, learn, wrestle, and mature in faith over the past couple of months. Since I live about ten minutes away from the main base this fall, I don't see them absolutely every day and so I can recognize the growth in them all the more. They are going deep. God wants to do amazing things in our lives and have such awesome relationship with Him, but He wants us to pursue Him. Are we willing to seek Him and find Him? Are we willing to go to those deep places that still need His light? Do we have the desire to even go there in the first place? I pray that we all want more of Christ in our lives - in every area of our lives. Friends, finances, work, everything.
This will be my last quarter on staff. I am planning on moving home around Christmas so I'm basically trying to go out with a bang here! It's been an incredibly busy fall thus far (the busiest quarter I've had on staff yet) and has flown by. Through it all, God continues to show me more of Him and more areas in my life that He wants to refine and redeem. People are being changed, impacted, saved, blessed, provided for. It has been an amazing time in my life to be a part of this significant ministry! So thank you for your continued prayer and support. You have played and continue to play a significant role in our ministry here and ultimately in what God is doing globally. I do appreciate all of your prayer and blessings and I pray that God pours out his love and blessings on each of you who read this. Please continue praying for me and for our ministry here, which is primarily making disciples, training them up, and a lot of serving! And please pray for Emmy and I as we plan a wedding and as she leads another outreach! If you feel led to contribute financially, please let me know so that I give you some information with regards to that (how to do it, tax deductibles, etc.) The most important thing is prayer. Thank you and God bless! I'll see you soon!
Dave Grabowski
I haven't put up a new post since June so it is definitely a long time coming. This fall has been a whirlwind to put it simply. I spent part of the summer in Maryland and back in Alberta, visiting family & friends and meeting future family as well! It went by quite fast and sooner rather than later I found myself back here at YWAM Maui, cooking for our secondary school (SBFM) and a DTS team from the YWAM base in Kona doing outreach here on Maui.
First of all, Emmy and I are engaged! I'm sure you already know, but on September 22nd, I got down on one knee and proposed to my beautiful girlfriend on a beautiful beach in South Maui. We are having a small summer wedding next year on the East Coast and so I think it's safe to say that that has been the most exciting thing in my life lately!
We hadn't hosted a team in years and so it was such a privilege and blessing to be able to live around them, cook for them, and see how the Lord was moving both here on Maui and in their own personal lives as they were stretched and challenged in so many ways. They did all kinds of ministry in the community here, primarily with kids and youth all over the island. Joining up with some of the local churches here that we, as YWAM Maui, are also partnered with, the outreach team went day in and day out reaching out and spreading the love of Christ in so many ways for a month. They headed off to the island of Kauai after some time with us with the eventual destination of Oahu.
Besides cooking for the Kona team, I've had my hands full feeding our secondary school students as they balance quite a heavy workload. We have seventeen students from the United States, Canada, the UK, South Korea, and Norway. They are split into two outreach teams, with one going to Myanmar and Thailand and the other going to that big Asian country I've been to twice, as well as Thailand at the end. My fiancee is leading the team going to that big Asian country! It's pretty crazy to think of the twists in life we go through. Even though we may seem to have a good, solid plan to go with, it seems like it never ends up going that way. Maybe that's just some people's lives, who knows. Anyways, they are headed off for Southeast Asia on December 8th and return to Maui towards the end of February.
Beyond all this, our DTS is going strong too. There are four different outreach teams heading off to Asia the same time the SBFM teams leave, going to Nepal, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and that big Asian country! It has been so neat to see them grow, learn, wrestle, and mature in faith over the past couple of months. Since I live about ten minutes away from the main base this fall, I don't see them absolutely every day and so I can recognize the growth in them all the more. They are going deep. God wants to do amazing things in our lives and have such awesome relationship with Him, but He wants us to pursue Him. Are we willing to seek Him and find Him? Are we willing to go to those deep places that still need His light? Do we have the desire to even go there in the first place? I pray that we all want more of Christ in our lives - in every area of our lives. Friends, finances, work, everything.
This will be my last quarter on staff. I am planning on moving home around Christmas so I'm basically trying to go out with a bang here! It's been an incredibly busy fall thus far (the busiest quarter I've had on staff yet) and has flown by. Through it all, God continues to show me more of Him and more areas in my life that He wants to refine and redeem. People are being changed, impacted, saved, blessed, provided for. It has been an amazing time in my life to be a part of this significant ministry! So thank you for your continued prayer and support. You have played and continue to play a significant role in our ministry here and ultimately in what God is doing globally. I do appreciate all of your prayer and blessings and I pray that God pours out his love and blessings on each of you who read this. Please continue praying for me and for our ministry here, which is primarily making disciples, training them up, and a lot of serving! And please pray for Emmy and I as we plan a wedding and as she leads another outreach! If you feel led to contribute financially, please let me know so that I give you some information with regards to that (how to do it, tax deductibles, etc.) The most important thing is prayer. Thank you and God bless! I'll see you soon!
Dave Grabowski
