MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 09-03-2008

Aloha! Our trip to Hawaii is going very well. We started out on Maui, and had a meeting in the island's only Independent Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church with Pastor Azra Brown. It went great. We showed up for Work Day on Saturday, and helped chop up some out of control greenery on the property. Sunday's meeting went great, and we got to serve the LORD and minister to His people. Pastor Brown is a missionary to Hawaii, like many Pastors here. Like so many resort islands, what you see on the brochure is very different from what actually exists. The islands are beautiful, don't get me wrong, but they are true mission fields all the same. Behind all the glamor, you still have sinful people that need to get saved. It's extraordinarily expensive to purchase land, build buildings, and just live in Hawaii (they're currently paying 4.60 at the pump on Maui), so it is a challenge getting a ministry going. You have both the Buddhists and the Mormons to contend with, as well as lots of very comfortable people who don't feel a need for the LORD. Pray for the churches in Hawaii as they contend for the faith in this very needy mission field.

Next, we flew to Oahu (about a 25 minute flight), where the remaining meetings are all located. We're staying in Friendship Baptist Church's missions apartment here, which is a tremendous help. Our first meeting on this island was at Windward Baptist Church with Pastor Kevin Akana. He is a BIMI missionary to Hawaii, and is doing a tremendous job also. Becuase of Hawaii's enormous problem with crystal meth (top in the country), to which his own Father succumbed, he started an addictions ministry called R.A.M. (Rebuilders Addictions Ministry). They have recognition from the courts here, and are working to liberate men from their chemical addictions, as well as the underlying sin that led to it. We had a great service, and three were saved, including a street hustler and drug dealer who is infamous in the area. God greatly blessed, and it was a powerful service in which we got to play our small part.

I've preached in a couple different chapels at Friendship Baptist's Christian School. This past Sunday, we visited Calvary Independent Baptist Church with Pastor Larry Kaneshiro. The service also went great, and God met with us in the service.

As soon as I send this letter out, we are shoving off for a meeting in Ko'olau Baptist Church with Pastor John Sass. That leaves two more meetings on Sunday, and then we return to the mainland next Tuesday. Pray for us as we seek to minister to these churches. Pray that we will gain more support in the months ahead. Pray for Hawaii, a paradise on Earth that is nonetheless full of lost people who need the LORD. Pray that the LORD will send more laborers to this worthy field where behind all the tourism are people who are precious to the LORD and need a Gospel witness. Pray for the churches, who are prospering here in spite of the high cost of living and the often indifferent people along with the opposition of cults and false religion.