When I was in High school I heard a poem called ‘The Vision’ By Pete Grieg.I would listen to it over and over. One line in particular always stuck out to me”

“They pray as if it all depends on God, and live as if it all depends on them.”

From the moment I heard it, I wanted to strive to do that: Work hard, give my best, push forward, leave it all on the table. However, I found I often missed the first part: Pray as if it all depends on God.

Naturally, I am a Martha(If you remember the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10) I can do a lot of things, I enjoy being busy and accomplishing tasks. But, as I reflect on this last year, I can say with absolute confidence, when I tried to solely rely on my own capabilities, things around me fell apart. I would run in circles and get no where. I would become frusterated and be absolutely exhausted. Time and time again I would be brought back to this place and Jesus would remind me “sit in my presence”

Before I do anything, I need to begin by sitting at His feet. My life and my efforts are dependent on Him. I recently shared with my prayer team: If I am to be the hands and feet of Jesus then my life is an extension of Him, and I need to find myself in His presence, first. I need to continue to get to know His voice, and get to know His heart for people before doing anything. When I do take the time to sit with Him, My efforts go further and I have more impact then I could have imagined. What a cool thing, that not only do I get to spend time In His presence, but I get to reflect Him to others!

But it has to start with prayer. It has to start sitting at His feet. It has to start in His presence allowing His word to wash over me.

One year on Big Island

This month we have officially been on big island for one year! It is incredible to look back at where we started and see how far God has brought us on this journey. As we reflected back on the last 12 months we put together this reel of some of our favorite memories.

Thanksgiving

We had the opportunity to join with several other families and make a meal for our church over Thanksgiving. It was such a joy getting to make a turkey to share; especially since, this time last year, we were traveling and unable to host our usual thanksgiving get together.

One of my favorite parts of the whole afternoon, was everyone taking part in writing down something they were thankful for this past year. Before going through the food line, each person was handed their marker and a slip of paper. It was delightful getting to watch as each person paused to reflect, and even more fun reading through them later as we stuck each response on our thankful tree(a long standing tradition in our home).

There has been so much to be thankful for this year. Although, I don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to give gratitude for the incredible things that have happened, It was so nice gathering with our community to give thanks together. I cannot wait to see what happens in this next year.

Planting Hope Ministries

The last month has been slower than we would like as we have had to pause building until we can get enough financing to cover the next steps. The A-frame home is waiting on materials for the trusses and roof which will cost around $60,000 in materials. We have begun reaching out to various businesses to see if they would be interested in donating materials to bring down the costs, but it is still a slower process as we can’t build with out materials.

We have begun to draw up plans for our next project. We are working towards building an outdoor worship center and kitchen. We are still pulling together costs for that but are hopeful that we can build a space that can be utilized for gathering on the property and bringing community into the space through out 2025.

Gabe and Randy prepping the tanks to go pick up water

The third project we are working on is the garden/green houses; this has continued to be a complicated aspect because of the lack of water. We have several acres set aside, and have drawn out a vision for multiple green houses and are praying about developing aquaponics around much of the garden area that could be used as a water source. Impact Ministries International(the owners of the land we are developing on) recently hired a man to help lead the agricultural aspects of the property. So as we develop plans, we are working closely with him to move things forward.

Vehicles

We had a scary situation occur a couple weeks back. Gabe and Caden were driving home from an event: upon turning to come down our gravel driveway, Gabe went to press the brakes and they didn’t work. He was able to slow himself down and eventually was able to safely maneuver home. Once home, we discovered the brake line had a hole in it.

It was a very unexpected problem, and a problem that could have easily been much worse. The entire day we had been hauling several hundred gallons of water up and down our road to fill up our tank. A few days prior, we had been driving the windy road to Kona. Had we been hauling water, or been on the Kona roads, this situation could have lead to severe injuries. We were so thankful of the timing of the problem; and thankful with how quickly Gabe was able to identify and fix the brakes.

Kellys Kitchen

The last few weeks, as we have been baking, we had been discussing ideas for how to cut our stand around time down. If you bake bread, you know that so much of baking is spent waiting for bread to rise.

I had told Gabe that we needed some 20 or 30qt bowls, but the cost of them are so high, I couldn’t justify it. Well two weeks ago we went to Kona to pick up some items, as we walked around a store I saw them: Three giant 20 and 30qt bowls. I could not believe it!! I flipped them over and the price was just right, so I snatched every single one! I could hardly contain my excitement. If you have never seen a 30qt bowl, please reference the above picture. They are huge! We washed them(of course), and utilized them last Tuesday. The baking process went so smooth and we were done in time to sit down and have dinner as a family(minus bread slicing and clean up). It was such a fun surprise to find.

We have started to make 2025 goals for bread making, one of which is introducing whole wheat options. This has been a huge request since we started. Many people love the bread but find they cannot handle the bleached flour. This past week I was able to put in an order to purchase an organic grain from a reputable company and will have that shipped in by January. We will be purchasing a mill and begin milling our wheat to provide the best options we can for the local community. We will still offer the white bread options for those who prefer it, but adding the whole wheat options to our menu is an incredible sign of growth.

We continue to nearly sell out every market, and are still able to giveaway/donate what is left over to our local community. This has led to building incredible relationships as we continue to try and get to know people. We love that we get to provide a staple for our community and love the opportunities we get to talk and pray with people week to week. Our prayer through this journey is that God would use the bread as a blessing here.

Friday Youth Night

As we have been joining Purpose Ministries at the park, we’ve been praying about how to best support the work they have been doing. They have built amazing relationships with the youth over the past several years, and have been a consistent presence at the park. We love that they have allowed us to be involved in what they do. One of the ways we learned we can best support them is by helping to provide sports equipment that can be utilized at the park. We would love to also help provide craft options for those that are not wanting to play sports.

As a non profit providing equipment, there is always a risk that those things will have wear and tear, items will get damaged, or lost. We would love to come along side and be able to help in this area. By providing these items and building relationships with the youth we are being put on an incredible position to speak into these young lives and show them Jesus.

Take a look at the video below to see a glimpse of how this ministry is effecting the youth in our community.

Prayer Requests

**We are currently looking for 100 people who will commit to pray with us and for us. We firmly believe that everything we are doing here has to be rooted in Jesus and we want a team with us who will go to Him on our behalf and intentionally take time to pray with and for us. We do send out separate emails and updates to that specific group. If you are wanting to be apart of our prayer team please reach out to me via email, or fill in the link at the bottom of our “Support Letter” Page. Thank you to those who have already said yes to partnering with us through prayer!**

-Pray that God would bring the right financial partners to join us. We threw out a big number asking for $10,000 a month in support. We received several one item donations, and have $600 of on-going monthly support committed. We don’t know how God is gonna provide financially, but we are 100% trusting that He will. We felt very confident that He was telling us to trust Him, so we are praying that our personal needs will be taken care, and all funding will be taken care of for building materials, and land development moving forward. If you would like to financially support us click the button below!

-Prayer for a consistent water source. As we move forward water is one of our biggest hiccups. We would love for a well to be dug, but the cost is steep(around $80,000 and they are booked about 2 years out). We are entering the rainy season, so pray that we would have our tanks filled during this season, but long term we are continuing to seek out other options, and need prayer for wisdom, and practical solutions for the present and future growth.

-Pray for a tractor. We have been borrowing Gabes parents tractor, but the availability is limited, and the work that could be done with it, is a lot.

-Please pray for continued health of our family; continued protection, wisdom and that God would continue to speak clearly to us so we can walk forward confidently.