The new year has officially begun. We have been Praying into 2025 and asking God for His direction over the year. As we are praying, I find myself filling the calendar, setting big goals, and filling out to-do lists. My husband pauses me and reminds me “don’t forget a day of rest.”
Of course I put it in our weekly calendar but to me it’s more out of habit than conviction.
Taking time to rest is a struggle. Taking time off is hard. I tend to bring paper work on family outings, I always have one more contact to reach out to, and feel guilt from a sense of responsibility if I don’t complete certain tasks by a certain time. This has brought about some long discussions between Gabe and I, as I struggle to find the balance between all the work that is needing to get done, and often feeling mentally and physically exhausted.
Well isn’t Gods timing impeccable. Wouldn’t you know that as I was struggling with trying to figure out how to fit more things into my schedule that God would place a very timely video “Recommended for me” on Instagram. You can check out the 2 minute video below.
“Why is the devil your role model? Jesus rested”
That isn’t some excuse to be lazy and sit on a couch doing nothing all day, but Jesus took the time to rest. He didn’t run His physical body ragged, instead He walked with a Kingdom cadence. He could have been performing miracles every minute of every day during His time on Earth, He could have over filled His calendar and still would have found more work needing to be done. However, He knew the importance of rest, and spending time with the Father.
The devil wants us to be busy and overwhelmed; he wants us running so hard that we forget to prioritize time spent in His presence.
I want to learn to walk at the pace of Jesus.
Christmas
Christmas came and went and it was a wonderful time filled with family and fun adventures. We especially appreciated time spent with extended family who flew in to visit us during that week. While they stayed, we got to visit Santa at our local library, visited the erupting volcano, enjoyed our children’s involvement in the Nutcracker ballet at our local community center, played many games and ate a lot of food. Our hearts were happy and we felt refreshed by the time spent.
Christmas morning, we read the story of Jesus birth, like we do every year. This year we chose to read from the Hawai’i Pidgin Bible, for a new perspective. I think sometimes we get into a routine with reading the same Bible stories from the same version and we stop paying attention to how amazing they are, and we lose our awe and wonder around them. We then opened the first gift of Christmas, Jesus, and placed him in the manger of our nativity scene. It was such a beautiful reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.
Planting Hope Ministries
We are very excited about some of the progress we have been able to make as a non-profit and some of the upcoming projects we have begun work on. If you want to check out Planting Hope Ministries website, click the button below
Building Projects
We shared last month that the A-frame home is on pause as we are waiting on materials for the trusses and roof which will cost around $60,000 in materials and we were going to begin taking steps forward on building a worship and prayer center with an attached outdoor kitchen.
We have begun to dig into the ground and have taken steps towards flattening the area where we intend to place the center. We also received enough funding to be able to pour the foundation once the ground is flattened. We are so thankful for all of those who have pledged to support what we are building here in Hawaii.
Bulldozer
One of our big needs to effectively continue with building projects, not just this project but future projects, is a dozer. The tractor we have been borrowing is not able to handle the load and we keep having to put money in to repairing it, currently the hydroids are leaking and we put a hole in a new tires due to lava rocks. The tractor has served us well but we have been pushing it beyond its capabilities. After some research we are hoping to raise $50,000 for a bulldozer.
I know this seems like such a big number, and it is, BUT We did some math and it is totally feasible with some help from partners like you: The average person spends $8 on a cup of coffee, IF 120 people pledged to give up ONE coffee outing a week for ONE year, and donated that to this fundraiser, we would be able to achieve getting a bulldozer. If you want to support this campaign click the button below.
Hawaii Mission Trips
We are looking for individuals or groups who are wanting to be apart of a mission trip to Hawaii. As we are breaking ground, there is so much opportunity to be apart of laying the foundation for the ministry. We are asking people to pray, and reach out to their friends, family or church to see if they would be interested doing a mission trip to Hawaii. We would work closely with you to build a trip that suits your team best in a way that would utilize your God given skills to build His kingdom in Hawaii. Check out Planting Hope Ministries mission trip info page
If you have questions about what this could look like, or feel God is calling you to come to Hawaii, please reach out to us via email at plantinghopeministries@gmail.com and lets talk more
Support Raising
We are currently funded at about $600 a month, we have a goal of raising $10,000 of support for the ministry. We are looking for monthly partners to come along side us as we work to build here.
If 500 people pledged $20 a month we would be completely funded.
What does financial support go towards? First, it goes to provide personal support for our family. As a family of 6 we have expenses and we are trusting God that as we build His kingdom He will provide for our family. The second part of that support will go towards providing building materials for various buildings and projects around the property. Currently we are working to build the worship and prayer center, but we have a vision for a Bible camp(which is multiple buildings), green houses(fencing, water tanks, structures), Sports field(lights, sprinkler system, bathroom facilities), and the A frame homes.
If you would like to partner with us financially and what God is doing in Hawaii, either one time or on a monthly basis, click the button below to be taken to our Planting Hope Ministries Donate page.
Prayer Corner
This last month, one of the projects we were able to accomplish was establishing the prayer corner. We mowed a path around the property, and halfway around there is this beautiful little cove, surrounded by tree coverage. It was very overgrown and required some TLC to clear out. We were able to take the tractor back there and mow the space, pull out stumps, and knock down dead branches. We had a local friend donate some large concrete pavers, which was perfect for creating a landing. We then built a bench, and brought it over to the corner.
Our prayer is that this portion of the property will be a place of peace and reflection; A place where people can go to pray and meet with God.
Kelly’s Kitchen
Kelly has become known lovingly as “The Bread Lady” by so many, as baking 68 loaves of bread, continues to be a weekly event. We have ordered whole grains, and are still waiting for that shipment to come in so we can begin milling our own wheat. We have begun making and selling Sourdough which has been received so well. The past two weeks we have sold out of sourdough before market even opened, which is so crazy to us.
As we have continued baking ,we have been selling out before market ends. The past three markets we have sold out before noon. We are still blown away by this. We received a text message the other day from a gentleman saying “the cinnamon swirl bread reminded me of my grandmas; it brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for making my day, it was amazing!”
Another lady who bought bread from us said that she “loves the sense of peace she feels when she comes into my tent at market.” This is such an answer to prayer, as we want people to experience Jesus presence. We don’t have to fight people or get in their faces, but We want to be intentional with our prayers and intentional with our actions, With the goal of being able to share Jesus with the community. Whether that’s through the clothing we wear promoting conversations, helping people with set up and tear down, or gifting people bread, we want to be intentional with our efforts.
Every time we get to invite people to church, every time people share their story with us or allow us to pray with them we feel honored by the position God has placed us in. We are constantly amazed at how something as simple as bread has opened so many doors to conversations, and allowed us to get to know our community on a deeper level.
Friday Youth Night
We continue to join with Purpose Ministries Friday Youth Night Event. This youth group continues to grow, this last week we saw over 40 kids. All of them were given a meal, and shown the love of Jesus. We love seeing the atmosphere of joy as the kids play, sing, and learn scripture. There is still a need for sports equipment, and outdoor activities. We would love to see more craft materials to engage, specifically, the young girls. We are currently praying for God to raise up a community of Christian men and women who come down with us and spend time with these youth, by engaging in sports(football, baseball, pickle ball, kickball, etc), meal prep, and biblical discipleship by being a christian witness and encouraging these young men and women in their faith.
We are so thankful for Purpose Ministries and the work they have done and the time they have spent to invest in and build relationships with the youth here. We are praying for creative ways we can better support the work they are already doing.
Prayer Requests
**We are looking for 100 people who will commit to pray with us and for us. We currently have 20 people who have committed to this role on our behalf. 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 send out separate emails and updates to that specific group.Thank you to those who have already said yes to partnering with us through prayer! If you are wanting to be apart of our prayer team please reach out to me via email: plantinghopeministries@gmail.com
-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!
-Pray for a Bulldozer. We have been borrowing Gabes parents tractor, but the availability is limited, and the work that could be done, is a lot. We need bigger equipment to properly work the land.
-Please pray for continued health of our family; We had been dealing with the flu over the holidays, and very high fevers that resulted in bringing one of our kids to the ER. We would love to just be healthy and not be sick(any other parents relate?) so please join us in praying for health and continued protection, wisdom and that God would continue to speak clearly to us so we can walk forward confidently.
-Please pray for our vehicle situation, we have two vehicles, one of our vehicle engines has been in the shop for 7 months, and we have no idea when we will get it back. Simultaneously, our truck has begun to make some concerning sounds. If you have followed us, you know our truck is critical to so much of what we do here, so we are praying that the Lord would help us find the problem quickly so we could fix it, sustaine the vehicle, or help us find a replacement truck with in our budget.
-Pray for the people we get to meet, that every interaction would be one that points people to Jesus and that we could love this community the way God loves them.
The Neufeld Family 
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