MV YWAM PNG's First Outreach for 2016

FALL 2016

The fall quarter here at YWAM's University of the Nations Kona is underway and there are over 450 students that have come to be equipped to serve in all spheres of society and in all nations, applying biblical truth practically and to fulfill the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20.

Just a bit of further information: U of N operates in 650 locations in 160 countries, providing programs in approximately 100 languages around the world.

Here on our campus in Kona, there is a Korean Discipleship training school and it is such a joy to hear the Koreans worship with such passion and pray with such fervor.  Be sure and look up University of the Nations or YWAM and read more of the rich heritage of this organization and the impact that is being carried out all over the world.

Just within the past year there has been an open invitation from Prime Minister Peter O'Neil in Papau New Guinea (PNG) and his cabinet members to the Univ of the Nations to PLEASE COME and help our nation.  

YWAM Ships and students from the U of N are answering the call and funneling teams and volunteer medical and dental personnel to go this nation via ships and small boats.  As you can see from this map shown at one of our campus meetings, there is a huge need.  

This video shows some of the work being done through YWAM and Univ of the Nations.

(If you are unable to view it here go to youtube and look up MV YWAM PNG's First Outreach for 2016)

Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM & U of N, continues to share the vision of reaching every people group with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He inspires people from every nation that come here for training to "hear the voice of God" and "GO".

Jim is part of the ministry in maintenance here on campus and has had a good group of young volunteers from many nations that came and he was able to teach them how to assemble small chest of drawers for the dorm rooms.

MUCH NEEDED finished projects. 

He also oversees a variety of repairs and has the privilege to work with young people with limited skills but a passion to serve.  

As he works with such a diverse group of people, he enjoys learning about their lives and what made them pay the airfare to come all the way to Kona to volunteer.  He also has to work with language barriers to communicate instructions but he loves the interactions.

Recently a group of volunteers came to work on the old swimming pool on campus.   Yeah!!

Look at those smiles. Lyndsi & Jamie are teachers with the Learning Center on Campus. Lyndsi is from Canada and lives with us. We met when we first came to Kona and now she is back volunteer teaching for a year. Jamie is a student teacher from Florida who is doing her practicum as an intern for a few months. They are so full of passion and creative ideas working with the kids.  Our place smells so good at times as they create birthday surprises for the students like these creative surfboard cupcakes for one of their students who loves surfing.

I have had the privilege of reconnecting with some past students from the Primary Health Care School that I taught in years ago when we were here on staff.  Jennifer, on the left, is helping staff the school this quarter and Christine, on the right, has moved here with husband, Tony (also a former student of mine), from New Zealand and they are on staff with the Natural Farm on the U of N campus.  I continue to serve in the Campus Clinic to meet the needs of staff, students, and volunteers.  I help with travel clinic immunizations, patient education, and hands on wound care from sharp lava rock and vanna (sea urchin) encounters.  I am praying about being a part of the next Primary Health Care School.

            

We thank you for your prayers and your support for
the University Of the Nations as we serve here. If you are interested in supporting us and the work done here, please click on the link for tax deductible giving. 

http://www.uofnkona.edu/support/missionaries/?id=6319

Overwhelmed by God's Goodness

Well we got to explore the 4th floor deck of the building we live in and got a beautiful view of our church next door and YWAM ships in the distance and the tourists on Alii Dr.  

Such a nice sunset and the breeze was great.  We pulled up chairs and enjoyed the view.

Lyndsi and I taking it all in.

This is the view from the other railing looking out over the Kona Inn to the south.

 

Got to hang out in our pool for the first time with friends, Christine & Tony Arcus. He just arrived from New Zealand and she had helped us so much get new place ready for Lyndsi's arrival. 

Saturday morning we were planning to do some cleaning and moving from our old place. Lyndsi and Jim & I were talking about what we wanted to do that day and we asked God to lead us in our day.  We remembered a need we heard about regarding a family on campus who had just rented a house and needed furniture. We thought about our futon bunk bed and kitchen table and a few other things that we had and felt challenged to sow them into this family. We made contact and off we went on a great adventure.  They were receptive to the items and we took Jim to the old place to dismantle the bed and Lyndsi and I were going to look at a couple of resell stores for some other items.  We stopped at a yard sale, that caught our eye, and there happened to be a man parked with a twin mattress/boxspring/and frame in the back of his truck. He was on his way to give it to the Salvation Army.  He gave it to us and tied it to the top of our little SUV. The ladies at the yard sale GAVE us some pots/pans/pillows/blanket etc for our special family.  Off we went back up the mountain, a short distance from the yard sale and left our goodies with Jim.  We really wanted to find a table so this sweet family of 7 could sit together for meals.  Two times the Lord nudged me to call a friend who was off the island and inquire about a set she had that she was possibly going to get rid of but I ignored the nudges. The 3rd time, sitting at a stoplight, I told Lyndsi I felt the Lord wanted me to call this friend.  Lyndsi dialed her number while I drove and she answered right away and said immediately that she wanted to give the table with 6 chairs to this family.  We were able to rent the last van available for the day and the husband was picked up and he and Jim were able to fit all the stuff in the van and bring some of our remaining things to our new place.  The Lord also spoke to Lyndsi and I some other special things to do and reminded us that all things come from Him and if we are willing to funnel HIS funds to those who have a NEED now, then HE is ALWAYS faithful to meet our needs WHEN they come due.  It's such a journey learning to live with hands open and trust Him.  Our precious family we were ministering to are from another country and have no relatives here to help them.  We all saw how God was allowing us to be those white haired grandparents and a sweet big sister that pitched in to make their day and remind them of how much God loves them and knows their need.  Faith really IS the substance (the tangible thing) hoped for and the evidence (the proof) of things not seen.  We all had our faith built up Saturday and our worship to the ONE who brought us all together was so much deeper and sweeter.  

Sunday we had a great time at Mokuaikaua Church and fellowship in the afternoon at their church picnic on the church grounds. 

Move back to town from the mountain

We have been really busy the past 2 weeks moving down from the animal pasture and cooler climate to right in town in Kailua Kona. This is a real answer to prayer to be closer to campus & the church we attend.  The 6 mile drive each way was becoming more challenging as our responsibilities on & off campus were unfolding. Also the brakes on our SUV were being taxed with the steep hills.

This is our living room kitchen in our new place.  Much more room for having company and so nice to have a place for everything in the kitchen.  No earwigs or centipedes either. Yeah !!  Our dear friend, Lyndsi, arrived this past Monday from Calgary Canada and will be living with us for the next year. She will be teaching in the Learning Center on campus.  We are so thrilled to be back together since we lived together in Hale Ola while we were in Kokua Crew, volunteering, when we first got here.  

This is the entrance. We have underground parking and an elevator.  There are shopping carts in the garage for bringing stuff up to the condo.  It made moving so much easier.  

The recent tropical storm dumped mostly rain and occas strong wind gusts last weekend.  The tent in front of the GO center on campus collapsed on one end and Jim was called to fix it.  He ended up talking with the guy from the tent company and he walked him through raising it with special straps.  He did a great job.

This is the view from Alii Drive of our place. Mokuaikaua Church is on the left, where we attend, and our place is on the right. For those of you who know the area, Poncho & Lefty's Mexican restaurant is on the front of our place and Kona Market Place is under it.  We are so grateful for God giving us favor with the landlord to live here and be so close to the little shop areas, pier, and international market.

Had a great trip back to Illinois and to Michigan for our grandson, Austin's wedding. He came to the Univ of the Nations in 2013 for a 6 month school and met a lovely young woman, Austyn Louise. There seems to be a YWAM theme in our family's lives:-) We were able to spend some real quality time with family. Also enjoyed seeing friends at Navigation Church. We are looking forward to seeing Kathy Murphy later this week. She is coming to teach preschool teachers here on campus for two weeks. We are short on volunteer MDs in our clinic on campus, so I am doing nurse triage in our campus clinic and helping out at the Urgent Care up the road. Jim is busy in maintenance. He is the star of this blog. He works with so many volunteers from all over the world and adapts to their knowledge skills and gets a lot of work done. The campus is buzzing with activity this past week. There are about 200 young people that arrived for two weeks of Infusion Camp and their excitement is contagious. There are other schools running and many schools just left on short term outreaches to places like Thailand, France, Papau New Guinea, Korea etc. We appreciate your continued prayers for strength and God's grace. Thank you so much to all that helped us with transportation while we were in Illinois, for the yummy meals and fellowship, and the monetary gifts. For those that are looking to help with our missionary support: you can send checks to payable to University of the Nations 75-5851 Kuakini Hwy Finance Dept #256 Kailua Kona, HI 9740 Just put note on check: For Jim Galloway Mission Account 6319. This allows you to receive a tax deduction.

Jim working in the maintenance office.  Keep him in your prayers. He is the number one maintenance guy overseeing volunteers and maintenance requests for the campus.

Alec, Uncle Peni, and friends with coconuts collected from trees on campus. The volunteers help get them down so they don't fall on people.  Alec (in the center) was a volunteer in landscaping for almost a year.  He is now doing a DTS in California.  His Mom, Laura, works with the Foundation School on campus.  We knew her back in the 1980's.  Such a small world. Thanks Laura for keeping our car while we were on the mainland.

"Uncle"Peni showing the younger ones how to open coconuts. He makes it look so easy :-)

Jim in the wood shop showing one of the young volunteers how to make handrails for some of the  campus buildings.

Jim enjoys teaching the young volunteers and it makes him feel very satisfied when they get the hang of it and can do it themselves.

Mr & Mrs Austin Galloway  

We returned the first week in January from visiting family and friends in Illinois for 3 wks.  What an amazing memorable time talking with friends and spending quality time with family.  We got out of town just in time though, since the temperature had been unseasonably warm while we were there, and dropped to 20 degrees the day we left.  We did not realize how much our joints and overall wellbeing enjoyed the warmer temperatures in Kona.

We arrived back just as the January quarter at the Univ of the Nations was getting in full swing.  There were about 400 students from around the world and now the April quarter has begun with about the same number.  It is exciting to see the passion in these students as they go through the intensive 3- month modular classes in the seven colleges and then see them leave for their 2 month practical outreaches in many nations.  Please enjoy this link to see a variety of the ministries here at the University.  https://youtu.be/Xq86vJu-1mw

Jim has had more help the past two quarters in maintenance with a great group of volunteers from many different nations who came to fill the many support ministries on campus in grounds, maintenance, kitchen, hospitality, learning center & preschool helpers, and construction workers for the many building & rehab projects around campus.  Jim is amazing in his trouble shooting skills and enjoys the challenge of problem solving problems all over campus.  Recently he fixed a bunch of lights that involved getting up in a basket.  It made me nervous as I watched from my office but he was enjoying the experience.  Last week he had a very important machine that was needed for a project that broke.  A replacement machine was not available on the island and neither were parts.  As he prayed about it, the Lord showed him two wires that had broken and the cause for the problem.  It was a huge hallelujah moment in maintenance.

I had an amazing conversation a few weeks ago with two young girls, one from Canada and the other from Denmark, who had paid their own way to come and volunteer on the campus for 3 months.  They spent 5 days a week, about 7 hours a day, raking leaves, picking up palm leaves, and doing other landscape projects. The volunteer program here feeds and houses them and on the weekends they enjoy the island.  I was able to share with them that they were making an investment in God’s economy that pays greater eternal rewards and every team that goes out of this place, these young girls were sharing in the work done in all the nations where the students go because they had come and invested their time and energy in this  missionary sending organization.  They had huge tears in their eyes and had never thought about that.

I continue to oversee the Campus Clinic .  My responsibilities are to coordinate the schedule for clinic hours based on the availability of our volunteer MDs.  I serve with some amazing staff. Neneng Loseo from the Philippines is my teammate.   Recently, a wonderful RN from Korea, Kay Ro, came for 3 months and volunteered. We serve the students, staff, and volunteers for free who come for treatment of a variety of injuries such as scrapes from lava rock, sea urchin stings, sprains, etc.

We do a lot of patient teaching on how to stay hydrated in this very warm climate. At the end of each quarter we assist schools with immunizations for their overseas outreaches.  Below is a picture of Dr. Hoon Park, one of our wonderful volunteer MDs, he recently celebrated a birthday and another of our MDs, Dr. Jennifer Choi, made him a special Korean dessert.

Sherry/Neneng/Kay

Dr Hoon Park/Dr. Jennifer Choi

In the past few weeks I have had a health challenge.  I got a little cut at the beach that became infected and I ended up in the hospital with a severe blood infection that required IV antibiotics two different times for a total of 8 days.  I am still on oral antibiotics for another week or two.  I have not felt so weak in years.  It really took the wind out of my sails.  Would appreciate your continued prayers for this.

We have been here with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) at the University of the Nations in Kona for over a year and have had time to assess our budget living on our social security. YWAM is a faith-based volunteer organization where every person from the founder, Loren Cunningham, himself to the short -term missionary is responsible to raise their own support.  As we have prayed, we feel the Lord has challenged us to deal with our pride and to reach out and ask people to pray about partnering with us. He showed us that we are investing our time and energy to be part of this organization and we need to allow people to invest seed in this good soil.  We are asking the Lord for a $1000 more per month to help with expenses and additional funds for us to also invest seed as He leads us.

If you would like to support financially either though monthly donations or a one time gift simply visit the following link   http://www.uofnkona.edu Click on donate under picture. To donate online through paypal just search James Galloway in search missionary.

To donate by check click on Support Our Missionaries by check.  Follow the instructions and make check payable to University of the Nations Kona and enclose a note for James Galloway /Mission Account # 6319.   All donations to us are now TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

We pray a blessing on each of you and would love to hear from you.  We plan on being in Illinois for about 3 weeks in June for our grandson, Austin’s wedding.  We look forward to seeing some of you in person.

With much love

Jim & Sherry

Had a great visit with our dau, Randi, who came in March. She enjoyed seeing our daily visitors geckos and chickens and she got to experience “cow days” when the cows up the mountain are let loose to roam in the pastures near our place.

Our friendly geckos

The hens visit daily

Time for an update from Kailua Kona Hawaii

We are doing well and continue to serve the campus at University of the Nations.  We enjoy waking up to cool breeze up the mountain and seeing the lush foliage all around us and the rooster crowing in the mornings. There are so many sights and sounds that just put a smile on our faces as we drive to campus each morning to be there by 6:30.  The neighbor has recently tied up his two ponies by the road and the white birds love hanging around them.  They also are all around the cows on "cow days".  We are posting some of our recent pics.  Jim is still doing a lot of renovation of dorm rooms, general repairs in current dorms, and overall preventive maintenance all over campus.  (See pic) Unfortunately, his golf cart has not been running and we need real prayer for that issue. If anyone wants to donate money for one let us know.

I am busy in the clinic. We are doing a lot of nurse triage since we are short on volunteer MDs for a couple of months.  I work with a wonderful Filopino nurse, Neneng.  We make such a good team.  (See picture)

We recently sold our PT Cruiser and purchased a used Hyundai Tuscon which is 4 WD that has more room for people, luggage, and tools and seemed to be more practical for our needs living here.  (See pic)

It's great having Alyssa here for her school. She has 5-7 am work duty in the kitchen so Jim sees her M-F.  We get to see her at the Thurs nite service (see pic) and we take her and her friends to Walmart occas.  She is doing well. Very busy with her class and activities.  She is looking forward to her overseas outreach to Asia (not sure we can disclose location but keep her and her team in prayer !!)  We will probably get to spend Thanksgiving together. 

We have had an outbreak of Dengue Fever here on the Big Island and have about 25 cases.  This is spread by mosquitos and not person to person.  The Health Dept is having everyone be aggressive with protection from mosquito bites and dealing with standing water etc.  Be praying for this.

We love being here and meeting so many amazing people. Young people, older people and families with small children that are feeling called to go live in remote places overseas to love and reach people with the good news of Jesus' love for them.  There are so many technological advances that are being developed here for sharing the Bible in so many languages and being able to take the "Jesus" film and show it in villages with a solar backpack.  It is crazy to see all the amazing things God is doing on this campus.  We feel so privileged to be a part of it.

We are planning a trip back to the St. Louis area from 12/9-1/5   We are looking to connect with people and work on raising about $1000/month missionary support.  Life is more expensive here for basic needs and we are finding that our monthly SS does not cover all of it. Join with us in prayer as we seek the Lord for that need. We are now official self employed missionaries with the University and anyone who gives money to us will receive a tax deduction.  

We also are looking forward to seeing our granddaughter, Brittany and her husband Joe, who are going to be home from Japan for Christmas. 

Until next time  Blessings to all of you who care for us and pray for us.  

Jim & Sherry

Time to catch up About a week and a half ago, we moved off campus to a small one bedroom, one bath duplex up the mountain from the Univ of the Nations campus. We are 6 miles and about 10-15 min away. No one on staff gets paid. Everyone actually pays to serve here except the volunteers who come for a few months at a time. We were praying about moving since more rooms were going to be needed for fall and winter semesters. We became aware of the front half of this duplex coming available and God opened the door for us to be accepted to rent it. Jim and I both work 5 days a week on campus and the rooms are not air conditioned and we were feeling the "heat" more and more. Jim drinks about 4 quarts of gatorade a day. He's so excited to have his new "used" maintenance golf cart and that will help alot. We are grateful for the cooler nites up the mountain for sleeping. It goes down to 63-65 degrees at nite and by the time we reach the campus near the ocean, it's 78 degrees and gets to 86 or 90. We were able to buy some cute used furniture from Habitat for Humanity and a couch from Craigslist. Jim is looking forward to being able to do some gardening in a large area the landlord said was his to do what he wanted. There are about 200 coffee trees on the property along with banana, mango, lemons, and breadfruit. Next door as we drive down the road there are chickens, goats, some ponies, and 3-4 days out of the month, there are about 35 cows that are released to graze on some of the pastureland our road goes through. On those days, we use a code to go through a cow gate so, technically, we say we live in a "gated" community. On campus, Jim continues to repair and remodel dorm rooms and offices. He is helping hang a new sign at the Urgent Care and put up a cell phone signal booster on the roof. I am learning more of the admin side of running the campus clinic and scanning records into the electronic medical record and being nurse on call for triage. We have clinic 3 days a week and myself and another nurse work with doctors who volunteers their time. Jim and I attend Mokuikaua Church in Kona. Sunday nite we start a DVD series for 13 weeks called the "Truth Project" from Focus on the Family. We are helping to lead discussion groups afterwards to challenge all of us to live by a Biblical Worldview. Our down time is spent reading, going to the Kona pool, and having friends over for game nights. We are looking forward to Alyssa coming at the end of September to do a 6 month school here at the Univ. Wow it was so sunny most of today and now it is clouding up and getting ready to rain again. These tropical storms are causing rain almost daily and the campus is doing some sandbagging around some of the bldgs due to the gushing water in the outside drains. We will close this chapter for now, until next time. Keep us in your prayers. Jim & Sherry