As some of you may well know, I am currently serving at Windward Church of the Nazarene in Kaneohe HI as an intern here at their school. Now in of itself this was already a sweet deal to even be able to serve in such a place like this. However, reality is a close friend of mine so I like to remind myself of the reason I am here and that has taken me very far.

I’m gonna skip the boring parts of my early experiences here, but needless to say I had a few rough days where I couldn't quite figure out where I fit into this new dynamic group of young adults that I now had to surround myself with. But seeing as how I start off this post like that, I guess it’s pretty important that I start with who I am working with from the first people that I met to the last of them. Now I know a few of them might just read it so if I miss any details forgive me.

Jasmine

I got to know Jasmine very quickly and I could identify the important things to her: family, friends (Come to find out that her best friend Meg, whom I shall get to later, was also coming), and God. She is a prayer warrior if I ever met one. Whether it is a minor sickness, the Dodgers (that we now know she knows nothing about), or major family troubles, Jasmine is there with her spirit already lifting her requests to God. She’s always got a lot to say, and whatever it may be, we’re always listening. Many a story that she told always left us laughing till dawn. Now when Meg finally arrived, we got to see a different side of her personality that lit up the room with a positive spirit. Even after she had to deal with a pretty painful injury in her foot, she still mainted this positive attitude that never kept her going.

Tarynn

Now we get the next intern, Ms. Rydel. Now as we soon found out, Tarynn was a woman of many talents that we would all soon be shocked by. Her love for metal, a black belt in the first degree, a quite soul, but always thinking of something. I never could quite figure her out at first, but with conversations here and there, I started to figure out she had quite a sense of humor. A little twisted at times, but as am I so it all worked out in one way or another. Tarynn is a young lady of many talents and a wide variety of skills. You ask her to head to the garden, she’s there. You ask (well in this case it was told) her to teach a class of 3rd graders, she’ll rule with a gentle and firm hand. No matter what though, she’s got a heart that can only come from God.

Quinton

This young man, well he’s something special. I quickly got acquainted with him as he and I were coming out of nearby gates at the airport. From a quick introduction to chicken katsu at L&L and then onto the best host home that we dearly miss, Quinton and I soon became good friends. This man has quite the personality. He knows how to get a crowd of teens amped up for youth group and wow he is the poster boy for youth ministry in my mind. He has a flare for adventure and that showed with a few of the daring feats that I would rather stray away from, but that’s good for him. He does have a love for Jesus that I do admire and that I hope will take him places and teach him many of life’s lessons. We shared many good times together and I pray that maybe God will meet up again.

Madison

The next intern I soon encountered was a young and energetic southern gal who had such a positive presence to her it was impossible to miss. Now it would be easy to say that most of Madison’s walk to life would be happy-go-lucky, but she’s a woman with the plan and she knows how to execute it. From conversations on conservation to fair-trade to ridding the world of human trafficking, she was on it. Like Quinton, she too had a flair for adventure whether it was jumping out of a plane going skydiving or just scaling Pali Puka she wants to do it all. However, beyond all of that, she loves people with a passion that only God can give. I had to ask myself if she felt any other emotion other than the joy that God gave her which was plenty for the whole group. I thank God for her patience, because there were a few times looking back that she could have well slapped me for something crazy that I said or did, but she knows restraint and that is a real gift. Moreover, she’s someone people should be around to learn and grow and think about ideas that maybe most of us would look over. Next we’ll get to her dearest of friends Hunter.

Hunter

Like her best friend before, she too has this positivity about her that is nearly impossible to miss. There were many times where I swore she was Madison’s mother; from the numerous times she would tell Madison “Hey that may not be a great idea” Madison would soon respond, “Yeah you’re probably right Mom”. Things of that nature always made me laugh on the inside in just the way they reacted to each other. All that aside, Hunter has this connection with God that is pretty hard to miss at times. The way she works with the youth her at WCN is incredible. She’s never afraid to say what God is doing in her life, and that is her greatest strengths that I have seen in her. I know God is going to do some amazing things that will shape the lives of hundreds of kids in the years to come. If Quinton was the poster boy she is the poster girl for youth ministry work.

Darja

Now I get to talk about one of my favorite people. Darja is quite the character, in the best way possible of course. It wasn’t until later we got to know each other better, but we soon ran into some differences. However, I think we established a better relationship as time went on. Darja has a lot of opinions, some contrary to mine which in and of itself I admired. She’s got a love for nature, sustainability, and most of all God. I have never met a person so wrapped into this love of gardening and just this desire to change the world all inside one person other than her host mom Sarah. It wasn’t until I figured out why we butted heads so much that I finally in my heart started to understand Darja better. Like my sister at home, we just were different people with different plans and once we finally figured out that maybe in some divine way God could use the two of us to work in his world. That is why Darja is such a baller.

Meg

There’s not enough room to write the admiration I have for this person and the heart that she has in and out of ministry here at WCN. Meg is our children’s ministry intern and boy does she ever fit the description. I haven’t known her for very long and there is still much I would love to learn from the places she has gone and the people she has met, but God is doing some great things in her life. Alongside that, anybody who knows Meg will always have a smile on their face when they talk about her and the gifts she brings to the children in this church and the love she has for every child that she meets. She is a very diligent worker whether it is delegating me and Issac on how the banners look or even just giving time to prepare for soul’d out when Pastor Joy (our children’s pastor) is out. Regardless, she is a special young woman of God that I admire very much for the things that she does for the church with a love that only comes from Jesus.

Crystal

Along with Meg, Crystal is the other Child Development major of our little ohana, but her job is a bit different. Along with myself, there are four other teachers that teach at Windward Nazarene Academy or as we just call it WNA. I will say, Crystal has got a lot of skill for taking a group of young kids and putting on a play for the summer showcase that they put on display here at the school. For never being involved at all, she ran with it very well. When her co-teacher Leah left for Big island it was just her all by herself and it was hard for her I could see; however, she did exceptional job polishing up the work Leah had done already. Like many who desire to work in children's ministry, she’s got a heart for every child she meets. Some are harder to work with than other, but she’s back at it every day with a smile on her face.