When Buckwheat and I were on the Salem, Oregon, YWAM base this past summer, we ran into a couple of Mission Builders (They can work at a hundred bases around the world), and in our conversation we told them we were just visiting our children (The Vander Veens) who were working on the base with Mission Adventures, a training program for teens. We also told them that we were going to be Mission Builders on Kona, Hawaii, they said “We did that last year and we would never go back again,” we asked “Why?” they said “The Kona base work is so hard, and they work you so hard on the base, with little time to rest, physically and mentally it was too much for us.”
We thought them a little soft.
This is why Buckwheat and I like being here so much, despite those prophets.
We love the base’s massive, culture diverseness. Yesterday I chopped onions for two hours next to a 19 year old from Montana, and a 60 plus, beautiful single women, named Gloria, from Korea. I barely understood either one, but crying together was a true bonding experience. Gloria hung in there like a champion (all though she needed a few breaks from the power of the onion). The young guy was a true work horse.
I learned something about chopping onions for two hours, it’s like marriage, if you stay with it, it will get better and better, and you won’t cry as much as you did in the beginning.
We love meeting new friends from those cultures, like the church, you don’t get to pick your friends, which are a great thing, you get to grow in your appreciation for which everyone is, and they are ALL great. We have over 50 Mission Builders right now; it will grow as the 50th Anniversary approaches in late November.
We love the simplicity of living with less, it makes everything more.
We love working for something bigger than ourselves, in some small why we are sending out these beautiful, brave, faith driven, missionaries, young, old, married, single, husband and wives, whole, large families.
We love the Koreans who sing so loud during their KP duties, they are the happiest, most humble of all the peoples. They are an inspiration. They are wind beneath all of our wings.
I love working next to Germans, Canadians, Koreans, Samoans, Philippines, Australians, Americans, Swiss, and the Swedish. To work next to these culturally rich people is fun, informative, and inspirational.
I love my three bosses, the big man, Chef Vern (Buckwheat and I have a date with he and his wife Karen, this Saturday night. The food manager, Lukie, a wonderful Samoan (a bunch of us are going to his son’s high school football game next Saturday. And the floor manager, Joann, a fun, hard working, hard driving, beautiful Philippine.
We adore our Mission Builder heads, Larry and Joellen. They are humble, competent, lovely, faithful, and really fun. They are true, caring YWAMers, who love their jobs and live amongst us.
I love the fact that all these people have had great, successful careers that they gave up to help build a program of such worldwide substance.
We love Hawaii, when we get to see it.
We do love the hard work, everyone works so very hard here, even the young people who are drained, but every morning, there they are, sleep overwhelming their faces, but they have a strong resolve and commitment to keeping their promises.
Beautiful.
Its 5:31 A.M. Buckwheat is still sick and won’t be going to work this morning. I feel for her, as Hale Ola is a remote place with nothing to do, no T.V. to lay in bed and watch. They don’t have vans going back and forth, so I’m not sure how I’m going to keep and eye on her.
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