On Sunday, January 22, 2012, Island Grace Church hit a milestone! God graciously provided us with a building to meet in. For the past 2 years we've met in a home. It's been wonderful to be meeting in a small home setting. But we quickly out grew the living room, then the kitchen and the garage! It's a good "problem" to have.
Many have been praying for God to provide a building for us to meet in and He did! BUT...not only did he provide us with a building, He provided us with a new, beautiful building, in the current town we meet in AND..get this...way below our budget!! Isn't He amazing? AMEN!
Below you'll find a link where you can see a few pics from this momentous occasion. Before you scroll down, I wanted to share with you a story on how the process of us moving into this building began. I wanted to notate this because it's just simply too amazing to forget!
It started when Ray asked me to contact Wayland Baptist University in Mililani. They were in the middle of renovating an empty building that was centrally located in Mililani Mauka. I made a few calls but since it was still under renovation we had to wait until the new Dean of the school was assigned there. So wait we did....
In the mean time, Al and I were praying for God to provide a part-time job for me. One that will not interfere with my responsibilities as a homemaker, more importantly one that will allow me to be home when my children were home. Oh, also, it needed to be within walking (or trolley) distance since we're still waiting on God to give us another car. Anywho, God graciously answered that prayer and gave me a job at the kids school! Not only did He answer all our requests, He went above and beyond. I get to see my children throughout the day, build relationships with their classmates, friends and the school staff. After all, we did move to Hawai'i to build relationships with the people of Hawai'i and spread the Gospel, yeah?
A few weeks had passed and we were still waiting to hear back from Wayland. I made more follow-up calls and emails but still nothing. Then one day, during the lunch shift (I work as a Meal Count Assistant in the morning and an Adult Supervisor during lunch), I saw a Wayland business card on one of the tables. "What's that? Who left this here?" I kept wondering. But when I took a closer look at it, it was the NEW Dean's business card with his, name, number and email! I couldn't believe it! So when I finished that shift I went home and sent an email to the Dean inquiring about their building. I received an email back within minutes asking if I would be available to meet with them that afternoon. I quickly contacted Ray with the news so he made an appointment to meet with them the next day.
This was back in October. Fast forward to January. We hear news that we may have the building, so all of us as a body continued to pray for God's direction. There was another place that was a possibility too so we needed God to direct us to where He wanted us to go. On January 17th, Ray had a meeting with Wayland to confirm our contract with them. Then that following Sunday, we were in the new building!! What an amazing thing God has done!! It is so wonderful to be a part of this, to witness God's hand in everything...it brings tears to my eyes!
As promised here are some pictures from our first Sunday at the new building...
Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
~Psalm 106:1~
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