The Neufeld Family

Serving in Hawaii

  • July update

    I have a sweater that says ‘Faith over fear’. It’s one of my favorites, despite being a cream color, and attracting dirt so easily, because of how comfortable it is. But even more than its comfort level i love the conversations that have come up because of it. I had a conversation with a couple while at market this week, and the husband mentioned he loved the message and walked away encouraged stating: “so often we let fear of unknown effect our faith; really we just need to take the step (of faith).”

    Faith Over Fear

    I’ve taken to wearing clothes more intentionally, because I want to be intentional about what message I am sharing. That even if I’m not saying anything, I am still sharing a message. I have another shirt that simply says “Jesus loves you”. As I was walking around the park, a man coaching baseball goes “I sometimes forget; your shirt is a good reminder” we got talking and the conversation ended with an invite for him to come to church with us. He had been seeking a church community but just needed someone to invite him as motivation to actually attend.

    Jesus Loves You.

    Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and that calling isn’t difficult or overcomplicated. I once heard “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”-St. Francis our lives should be a reflection of our relationship with Jesus, if we are aligning ourselves with Him, I find, opportunities naturally occur.

    Kelly’s Kitchen

    This month we began baking bread to bring to the market. We are hoping that by pricing bread below what the stores market we can bless the community with affordable options, as well we are building relationships with local vendors. We have had great opportunity to talk to people and pray with people. It’s a lot of hard work but in the last month we have already been so well received and feel so encouraged to keep going.

    Our first market

    Building

    We have begun construction on the floor of the A-frame. It is a slow process, but we have been blessed with friends who have shown up at just the right time to help us accomplish work. One thing we keep bringing to God is “Lord, we are willing, but we can’t do this on our own”. And just like always, when we are faithful to move forward, He has such perfect timing in providing the help at just the right moments.

    As we are working in the A frame, we have also been doing research so we can establish a sports field on the property. We are hoping we can begin steps to build a baseball/soccer field in the next few months. The biggest issue we have in moving forward is working through getting irrigation for the field, because it requires a consistent water source.

    Outreach

    We are continuing to get involved in the community. Friday night youth outreach has seen a dip in attendance as many kids are out of school and baseball is no longer in season. But the kids that do come are still so excited to hang out with a consistent group of adults. That are excited to learn, and are engaged. Gabe taught a lesson a couple weeks ago and it was well received by both adults and the kids.

    Gabe teaching the Bible lesson on Friday night

    As we have been praying we are still looking for ways to engage the young girls in the community. One lady, a teacher with a heart to see children and the local deaf community encounter Jesus, has begun an ASL club, in the park in the hour prior to the Bible lesson and our girls have been super excited. We had our first club meeting this month, there were only a couple of us but as we have been talking to others and several girls are excited about joining in the future.

    ASL club first meeting

    I’m not sure if it will continue past the summer, I hope it will, but either way we will keep on praying for the children here and seek out ways to reach them.

    Travel

    Over Father’s Day weekend we had the chance to travel to Oahu. An organization Gabe had partnered with reached out to see if he could fix their roof which had been leaking and causing bigger issues due to an influx in storms. All other places they reached out to were booked out months. So last minute we decided to all fly out and make a weekend of it. They were able to provide us with housing for the weekend and Gabe was able to fix their roof in a day. During that weekend we got to use the time to connect with church friends and family in the area. We felt so refreshed by the encouragement from our community on Oahu.

    Celebrating Father’s Day on Oahu
    While traveling I made sure to bring my coffee along with so I could enjoy the good stuff

    Prayer Requests

    Morning prayer together

    We are still working towards getting established as a non-profit. It’s a lot of steps and thankfully we have friends and family who have taken them and are able to help us with the legal aspects of getting established. This is important so we can begin to receive donations and offer tax deduction’s. Please be praying that we can move forward quickly, and that we don’t run into any issues getting approved.

    Pray for financing, as we are moving forward into full time ministry we are seeking financial partners to come along side us and what God is building out here.

    We had been presented with an opportunity to take part in an intensive through Transforming Hearts Ministries that would help to better equip us for this season. We are still taking steps towards that, However we are not sure how we will pay for this intensive. It’s $7200 due by the end of July. So please join us in prayer that if we are supposed to take part in this that financing will be taken care of.

    Pray for wisdom and peace.

    neufeldfamily2013

  • June Update

    God is so good. I don’t think I can ever say that enough. Every time we start to question “God did you really send us here?” He answers so clearly, through scriptures we are reading, through people we encounter, and through perfectly timed unexpected help.Our testimony is constantly “Look what God did…” because there’s no way any of the progress here could have happened with out Him going before us, and that’s exactly where we want to be anyways.

    RAIN

    At the beginning of last month we were sharing how our part of the island is very dry, We have a water catchment system but if its not raining we have to go into town several times a week to fill up our totes with water. We can haul about 700 gallons, which lasts us about 4 days(between laundry, showers, drinking, dishes, toilet, and gardening)now that we have a trailer and a second tote. Every trip into town cost us about $10 in gas and 2 hours of time, which adds up and is hard on our vehicles. We could have a truck come and deliver 2500 gallons of water but that costs us $250. We are praying about other options but until then we keep praying every day for God to send us more rain. We look out we can see the clouds all around us, but we tend to get minimal rain fall.

    A few weeks ago, at our prayer and praise night, the kids asked everyone to pray that it would rain so we could fill up our giant tank.I kid you not, we stepped outside and it starts down pouring! We get all the way home, and had to run into the house because it was still down pouring(which wasn’t great because we left the windows open at the house 😛 )By the end of the night the tank was almost completely full. We continued to get rain overnight for the next week or so, which allowed that rainfall to mostly sustain us up until last week. Two lessons: First, Do not doubt the faith of a child. Second, ask God to hold the rain until you are home unless you were planning to wash your hair that night anyways 😛

    TRACTOR

    One of our prayers has been a means to clear the land. We have been slowly weed whacking, but the California grass eats through the wire, and by the time we finally finish with one portion its already growing back. Gabe’s parents bought a tractor and they have been so generous to allow us to utilize it for many projects as we are working to clear the property; Huge answer to prayer!

    The past several weeks we have been able to knock down several small trees

    mow the land, and even grade the road to allow for better vehicle access.

    BUILDING

    We are continuing construction projects as we have material available. The past couple weeks we have been able to get materials for doing the floor on the A-Frame house, and are hoping to begin that stage of project this week.We have been continuing to help work on the small cabins on the neighboring property. These cabins will have the capability to host individuals or couples who want to help on the property, which is exciting. We have one gal currently staying in a cabin, and will hopefully have one more cabin completed this next month.

    OUTREACH

    The church we are involved with has been a consistent presence in this community and has established relationships with the kids, primarily elementary and middle school boys, in the area. At church on Sunday, the kids out number the adults which is such an exciting sight to behold. Hearing the kids sing out the hymns with zeal melts my heart, I can only imagine how much more it touches the heart of God. This last Sunday, several of the boys asked the leadership about baptism, showing sincere desire to take that next step in their faith walk.

    We are so excited to have opportunity to help out with outreach events they have established, and partner with them by offering support. This past week, Gabe was asked to present a message at the Friday night youth outreach program.Our prayer with the kids is that God opens up doors for relationship. We are also praying about ways we can reach the young girls in the community, and how we can continue to be involved with what this church is already doing. We both feel a community doesn’t need more programs, but we need more christians to partner together to be consistent with the next generation.

    GROWTH OPPORTUNITY

    Gabe and I have been continuing education, and personal growth as we need to equip ourselves with tools so we can better minister to the community. God has provided the amazing opportunity to go through a class (Discovering MErcy) this past year, thanks to a friend who felt led to provide the finances to cover the cost.

    As we continue to move and take steps in obedience, Gabe and I are working to gain more tools that will help our family move forward in ministry. We have both seen many families torn apart in ministry because they had undealt resentment and bitterness, or they have placed the outward ministry ahead of or at the expense of the family. We want to place our family in the best possible position so we can pour into others from a place of health.Our relationship with God is always number one, then our ministry towards each other and our kids, any outside ministry comes after that. We have both agreed that if our family is not healthy, we can not effectively help anyone else, and have asked God to remove us from any position of leadership if the ministry ever comes at the expense of our marriage and/or kids.

    All that to say, We have sought advice from several people we respect and they suggested we go through Transforming Hearts, a one week intensive being offered to a select few in August. The purpose of this intensive would be to gain tools to allow us to learn how to communicate to the heart of our family, and in turn others, and work through any roots in our lives we haven’t addressed that could become bigger issues later. We are praying and trusting God that if this is something He wants us to move forward in He will provide the finances for this intensive as it is a $7200 commitment, due by the end of July.

    neufeldfamily2013

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  • Joshua and Jericho

    UPDATE FROM KELLY

    I think the hardest form of obedience, is obeying when it doesn’t make logical sense. God and I, often have conversations where I think through what I perceive to be the best solutions or most practical course of action, and He goes “That’s great, but today I went you to do something else” It can feel frustrating because I don’t see how His version of A+B=C. It’s in those moments I have to put myself aside, and although it’s necessary, that isn’t an easy thing to do when I don’t see how this fits the end goal.

    I don’t see how this fits the end goal.

    This last week has been no different;I had my plans in place. I told God what I was gonna do, and I felt strongly He was saying: “I want you to focus on some other tasks this week”. Most of which have been admin related tasks that take time, to think and pray through, but don’t produce much visible results for anyone to see. “God why does this have to be done right now, when I see more important tasks in front of me.”

    The response, telling me to change ,what I thought made the most sense, frustrated me; even though we have been moving forward on projects and have seen a lot of progress with the building the past 5 months. The day to day stuff seems slow, and I so badly want to work on bigger projects; More to share with friends, More to get people excited with us. I want big exciting updates. Albeit, This month has been a blur of a lot of exciting things. We have been non stop going; fixing the oven, ordering materials, working on the property, building relationships, investing time in to the community. However, it never feels exciting enough, and I don’t always know how to share what we are doing out here. This week we are awaiting materials to arrive and parts to come in, for flooring that will make for “Bigger” updates, but until then I want to fill the small gap with more work in a way that makes sense. Shareable moments. I want to try and push forward to accomplish tasks, even if I don’t have all the tools to finish them yet. I just want to do, and I didn’t want to be told to hold off.

    I was reading through Joshua and took note: God didn’t tell Joshua to knock the walls down, God told Joshua to obey. Joshua didn’t labor attacking the wall with big machines or have to tear the bricks down one by one. Joshua was told to march around the city. Which sounds so silly. and counter-intuitive. If I were Joshua, I imagine myself saying “God, i don’t know if I heard you right. We need to remove the wall, not go for a walk. I would prefer a task that makes sense to the whole wall-coming-down goal”

    All this to say, Im constantly being reminded that He’s got this, and I need to do it His way. Even if it seems illogical, it will produce better results. When God says to do something it’s my job to listen, and do it quickly. When I obey the calling God has placed on my life, I can trust that He will do the heavy lifting to fulfill the promises He has made. That takes the burden off my shoulders.If I’m doing it Gods way, there will be walls torn down. My role in this season isn’t to force labor, but to obey and be faithful with where I am at and do the tasks He gives me daily.

    I’m not sure how doing the admin work will help with the tasks ahead, but I do know I trust Him to see the end goal.

    I trust Him to see the end goal,

    and I would rather do it His way.

    neufeldfamily2013

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  • May Update

    We are continuing to be thankful for all the Jesus has done. The Neufeld family has been battling sickness the past month, but it hasn’t slowed us down, much. We have continued to build little by little, and make more connections in the community. We poured the cement walls for the A-frame this past month, and were so blessed by the friends who graciously donated their time to help make that possible.

    We have had opportunity to join several other couples as we worship and pray together over the community and each other. This time has been very encouraging for our family as we have begun to form friendships with other local believers who have a heart for ministry.

    Another exciting aspect of our work here has been time spent volunteering with various Youth programs. One youth program in particular happens every Friday at a local park, we have been able to join a church as they hang out and play sports with kids in the local community, do a Bible lesson, and feed the kids dinner. It has been a beautiful time seeing the community come together to love on kids and form trusting mentoring relationships.

    neufeldfamily2013