Alaskan Airlines flight,
somewhere over the Pacific Ocean
September 23, 2014
Today was day two of the
beginning of our journey from Texas to Kailua Kona, Hawaii where we will spend
12 weeks at Discipleship Training School with YWAM(Youth With A Mission) followed
by 10 weeks of Outreach in Uganda with YWAM, followed by a minimum of 3 years
in Africa.(exact location TBA) We have been so encouraged over the past months
and especially the past couple of weeks as friends and family have held us up,
loved us, and spoken so many encouraging words and scripture over us. We pray
that we have been the same for all of you. You are all greatly loved and no words
can truly express how much you all mean to us.
And for memory sake…
We traveled from Midland, Tx
to Seattle, WA with a change of plane at DFW yesterday with 10 people + 32
checked bags + 10 backpacks + 2 guitars + 1 dog kennel + 1 service dog. It was
an uneventful day of travel. Seriously;) We picked all the previous mentioned
luggage and loaded it into 2 shuttles and headed to our hotel for the night. Super
fun! Then because we weren’t exhausted and hungry enough we got on the seatrac
at the airport and rode to the end of the line in Downtown Seattle, walked a
couple of miles, people watched, saw a beautiful sunset on the bay, ate at the
Hard Rock Café at 9:00pm, bought gum at the City Target, walked to the ‘Gum
Wall’, blew bubbles, stuck gum on a famous wall with millions of other pieces
of gum (gross), road the seatrac all the way back to the other end, walked to
hotel, and finally crashed at 10:30pm which felt like 2am. Ha!
This morning we loaded all of
the above mentioned people & items into two shuttles, also known as
passenger vans and headed back to the Seattle airport, where we turned in approval
for Charlie’s service dog and where 4 amazing Alaskan Airline employees checked
32 bags at NO CHARGE. It saved us almost $1000 and I cried! As I sit on this
flight surrounded by my family snoring, talking, reading, and arguing I am so
blown away at God’s timing and how he continues to be in all the details. We
have been able to share our story with half a dozen people already as we’ve
been traveling & pray that they might see just a little bit of Jesus and
want more of Him. Thank you again for your continued prayers. This afternoon we’ll
turn in our Hi Ya’ll for Aloha.
Next up arrival in Kona and
settling into our apartment on the University of Nations campus.
Let the adventure continue…
**The upcoming weeks will be busy & updates on the
blog may be few,
you can see quick updates on our
Instagram: @harpers_all_in and @waharper
OR
Facebook: Harper’s All In
Our Apartment, U of N Campus, Kona, HI
September 27th, 2014
We arrived in Kailua Kona, Hawaii around 2:30 on Tuesday. We were greeted by our DTS team cheering as we pulled onto campus. We hit it hard and got unpacked, settled in & picked up some things we needed from Walmart including some extra box fans because it is so humid here right now & we have no AC. Everyone has adjusted well. Jetlag is beginning to disappear and we are learning our way around the campus. It has been amazing here. We are all Ohana (family) and you definitely feel that way. We have met people from all over the world already. There are 44 countries being represented this quarter and it truly is sweet to be in community with people from so many other cultures.
The kids spent a few hours at Foundations school orientation followed by a birthday celebration for one of the students and sang in 4 different languages. Emmy said she is going to help her Norwegian friend learn English and hopes to learn a little of her language as well:) We toured the campus, went through orientation and spent time worshiping in the prayer room. Our day concluded with a Luau complete with Hula & Fire Dancers, testimony from Lauren Cunningham the founder of YWAM followed by amazing worship.
Charlie & Levi had their first day at Kahakai Elementary school yesterday where they were welcomed and are looking forward to riding the bus soon.
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Please continue to cover us in prayer as we continuing to adjust to life in a new culture & with new schedules. Pray that while we are here people will see Jesus in us, that they will see we are just an ordinary family that loves, argues, serves and wants to bring God glory in all we do. Pray that God will draw our family closer together as we grow to know Him more.
To know God more & to make Him known...
