Another Interruption: Women's Other Rights!

Check out this blog entry from Allison about her lactivism. It never ceases to amaze me that in women's fight for equal pay, equal opportunity, etc. that some very basic rights would be thwarted.

Kauai, Day 6 (July 20, 2005)

I am so grateful for those who have held me up in prayer and those who have been my spiritual mentors. Besides my parents, Joe Barnett, Marita Jackson, are among those who have discipled me. They have both heard me cry from the depths of despair. They have nursed my wounds and listened patiently to my hopes and dreams, my regrets and my disappointments. Lately, I have enjoyed sharing with them about what God is doing in my life.

Marita called me this morning to see how everything was going. It was great to hear from her. I left a message with Joe and he called me back.

My friend N is hurting. Her husband suffered a stroke and has been acting eradictally. He filed for divorce. She is confused and deeply troubled. Who wouldn't be? She has resigned her position with the school district. Her children and grandbaby live in Houston. I have connected with her 3 times so far since I've been here.

There is a young man who showed up at the Kauai church about the time we arrived. His name is Christian. He is staying at the homeless shelter and has attended every single activity. His knowledge of the scriptures is remarkable.

I am interupting my Kauai entries to catch up on some family events. Today, my precious daughter is 28. Happy Birthday, Lorena.

In two days, her husband, Jeff will also celebrate his birthday, which he shares with my father-in-law.

Lorena and Jeff also got married in August, as did we, so August is just filled with reasons to celebrate!

Kauai Mission - Day 5 (Tuesday, July 19th)

Mark and Beth Hatley have been a super couple to have on our team. Mark is quick-witted and highly creative. On the spur of the moment, he created a sock puppet called, Uncle Rico for the VBS kids. This guy wears sunglasses and a baret and has an accent that is a cross between Jamacan and Italian.

The teens and some of the adults have been involved in various work projects. Some went to help a woman set up her shop area to sell clothing and other objects. Another group trimmed the hedges and plant growth behind the carport that is used for classrooms. The growth was blocking the flow of tradewinds through the windows, making it quite stuffy in that area.

Kauai --Mission, day 4 (July 18, 2005)

I don't have many anytime minutes left, so I have been getting up at 5 am, PST, which is 10 am TDT (Texas Daylight Time) to make calls to friends and family. It is always a guess as to where I will be able to pick up a signal. I usually have to find a place outside, which is still dark this early in the morning. As I was wandering around, I nearly stepped on a brood of chickens. More accurately, it was a hen who had gathered her chicks underneath her wings. Well ... there were chicks under her wings, next to her wings and hanging from her wings. I didn't grow up on a farm. I had NEVER seen this before! But it brought to life the passage in Luke 13:34 where Jesus laments, "How often would I have gathered your children under my wings as a hen gathers her chicks......."

When I got back to the room, I told Tepi what I had just seen. She immediately shot back, "Did you take a picture?"

"No, at 5 am, I didn't think I would need my camera." I said, matter-of-factly.

"Serena, how many times do I have to tell you: NEVER LEAVE WITHOUT YOUR CAMERA!!!"

Ahhhhhhh! That parental tone! She has it down pat. But that is okay. She has heard quite a bit of that on this trip. Her mom and dad have called nearly everyday to make sure she is okay. They did caution her not to go near the ocean. Tepi, did you tell them you went snorkeling? (Tepi is an adult, has graduated from college and is close to the same age of my own kids.)

It reminded me of a time when I was 15 and about to go on a mission trip to a neighboring state and my dad gave me his list of instructions. You know the ones: Always have a buddy when you go anywhere, don't go into any yards with dogs and last but not least, DON"T TALK TO STRANGERS! Well, it was a mission trip and we were going to go door knocking to invite people to attend services, so I looked at him weird and he said, "Well, you know what I mean". Yes, I did. It meant that he loved me.

Tepi spoke tonight at the ladies seminar on "Seeing Yourself the Way God Sees You." She did a super job. It is easy to forget that Bible heroes like Abraham, Moses, Joshua and Gideon were frail human beings like we are -- that they had their fears and excuses, but God saw through all of that. An angel of the Lord once greeted Gideon by saying, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!" (Judges 6:12) Can't you just see Gideon looking around and asking, "W-who, me?"

Kauai -- mission, day 3 (July 17, 2005)

Today we celebrate the Lord's day with our Kauai brothers and sisters. Scott and Calvin taught and preached. The emphasis was on communion with Christ and with our brothers and sisters. It was a precious time. There are two Mikes at church. They call them Mike 1 and Mike 2. Mike 2 led singing.

We had a potluck after church. There was a type of raw fish dish that was not sushi, but was surround by rice and wrapped a seaweed rice paper. I think it is called Poke. There were dishes made with glass noodles and something called lomi, lomi salad (I think), which has shredded raw veggies and some kind of fish, and haupia, which tastes like sweetened coconut milk squares set w/geletin. In fact, there were lots of desserts. We have only been here 3 days and my pants are feeling a bit snug!

At Sunday evening service, Mike 1 preached. I would say that Danny, the regular pulpit minister, who also works for EMS, is training these guys really well.

After church, we went to KFC. One of our rental vans had died, so Kathy Smith, one of the church members, helped shuttle us to eat and then to our motel in her van.

It is now after 11 pm, but in Texas, it is 4 in the morning. I think I have been running on autopilot since 5 pm PST.

Kauai -- mission day 2 (July 16, 2005)

Didn't Dick Van Dyke have an episode called, "The Rooster Crowed at Midnight"? There are roosters all over this island. And accompanying the roosters are the hens and the chicks. They are everywhere! And they crow all hours of the day and night, including midnight. Tepi went out and took pictures of these "rare" birds. Indeed, they do have an interesting history.

Brought over to the islands for the purpose of cock fighting, these chickens and roosters managed to escape when their coops were destroyed by the hurricane of '93. Now, they are "jungle fowl". And, they are treated with the utmost respect. Motorists stop when they cross the road. There are even signs admonishing the public not to chase the chickens.

Our Ladies' Seminar and Luncheon got off to a good start. Tepi gave the first lesson called, "Writing God's Word on Your Heart", about memorizing passages of scripture; I followed with, "Prayer Journaling", which recounted my experiences of actually recording prayer thanksgivings and requests with our family and how that helped our children to develop their own relationship with God; and Ranise followed with "A Fresh Look at Proverbs 31". Ranise had a lot of great handouts and "gifts" to go along with her lesson. She and Tepi both have been eager students in the same Monday night ladies class and now they are avid teachers.

Our seminar/luncheon lasted about 5 to 6 hours, after which we visited and then went back to the hotel to regroup. I never was quite sure what the guys did that day. Did they go fishing? Or did they just "hang out"?

That evening, after the Kauai church prepared us supper, we met together while Wes and Teresa shared about God's faithfulness during a difficult struggle in their lives.

I climbed in bed that night with a full heart.

Kauai -- the mission, day 1

I was hoping to sleep in really, really late Friday as we didn't even get to our rooms until after midnight, but NOOOOOOO! We were on a schedule from day one. But it was good. We had breakfast at a local hole in the wall and I fell in love with coconut syrup. Mmmmmmm.......

We met with Danny, the preacher and some of the other members on hand. We also set up for the Ladies conference and luncheon that was being held at a room Karen had booked at one of the local hotels. As we were decorating the room, I was inspired by how everyone's gifts were coming together to make it a memorable event that would bless the women who would attend. Beth Hadley, with the help of Sarah Butcher and Staci Donaghey had made denim covers for the ordinary notebooks we had bought for the women to use as prayer journals. The denim was accented with red bandanas and had a built-in pocket for a writing pen. There were also "Agape" gifts that went along with various lessons we were going to be presenting: Refrigerator magnets with key verses or quotes, simple hand-made necklaces and bracelets, etc. I don't think any one person knew how it would come together as everyone made free-will offerings of their time and talents toward this activity until after the event was concluded.

At the end of the day, some went to check out the beach by the hotel. Tepi, Ranise and I worked on our lessons that we would be giving the following day.

Kauai -- Pre-trip and flight

My family had gathered in Abilene for a few days. Michael, Jill, Mason and Jenna were moving and in route from Greenwood, SC to Sacramento, CA. Lorena, Jeff, Dacia and Saidee joined us, along with Mom, Granny and cousin Sandy. Granny is 93 and once again, we had 5 generations under one roof. Pretty scary! But, we had a great time.

Early Thursday morning, July 14th at around 6 am, Michael got up to drive me to the airport in Abilene where 20 out of 21 of our team were booked. Rick and Dianne Bennett brought breakfast burritos. Their son, Brett was one of the teens who went with us.

The hop from Abilene to Dallas was short and sweet. From Dallas, we had a direct flight to Honolulu. We were in the air close to 7 hours and then had a 6 hour layover in Honolulu before proceeding to Kauai. The layover was a welcomed respite. The airport was lovely and had many cultivated garden areas where one could sit, walk and otherwise relax. Ruth, Tepi and I did just that.

We arrived in Kauai around 9 that evening and started the long process of assembling luggage, getting our rental cars and shuttling members of our team to the hotel. Needless to say, I was glad to get to my room and finally get to bed. Taking into account the 5 hour time difference, the 6 hour layover, the 3 flights and the time it took to check in to the hotel and get our luggage to our rooms, it had been at least a 24 hour day. But, we were FINALLY in Kauai! More later........

Our Kauai team is all back from our IATW mission trip. Twenty-one of us went. The VBS, men's and ladies seminars and follow-up activities were great!

Our brothers and sisters in the church there in Kauai were so hospitable to us. They fed us wonderful dishes, some of which I had never heard of and still cannot pronounce, even though I lived on the island of Oahu when I was younger.

After the mission trip was concluded, Tepi Retherford and I stayed on and extra three days. We saw the Kauai "Grand Canyon" and did a bit of snorkeling. We also stopped along the way to visit several of the members either in their homes or where they worked.

As soon as I unpack, I will recount my journey in more detail.