My adventures in Hawaii

I´ve just come home from three weeks of adventures in Hawaii. It´s my 20th time to the big island (pluss 2 times on Oahu). I have never counted before, but Magnar asked me walking into the airplane on our way home, and I counted for the first time as we boarded the plane. 20 times, in 20 years, if I´m correct! For many years I wasn´t there at all, like between 2001 and 2005 and 2005 and 2011. That means that for a lot of years I came to Hawaii several times a year. And several times I´ve thought it would be my last. But for some reason I seem to be coming back.

It´s been three amazing weeks with a lot of fun and adventures. Hiking trips, long car drives along the volcano to come out to a nice beach or a small town with a totally different climate. Hawaii is one of the most ecologically diverse places in the world and has 10 of the worlds 13 climate zones, which means it´s less than an hour to get to tropical rainforest. During my stay I got to go back and visit almost all my favorite beaches; Kua bay (Mile 88) and Hapuna, where I even got to boogie board, a new beach Abay, and out to the Old airport, watching the sun set. I got to visit with several friends at all the different cafés where I sat and wrote my master assignment in 2016, and catch up on their lives, and reminiscence about the old days.

Visiting Kona means visiting Youth with a mission, which I also wrote about in an earlier blogpost: What´s so special about YWAM Kona Hawaii, with over 1000 students and staff training for missions in several spheres - arts, bible education, clean water, natural farming, human trafficking and so forth. A place that has grown tremendously since I first set foot there in 1997.

It was special to start the new year in a place that means so much to me and has been the point of many beginnings for me. I kept thinking and praying about what God has for me this year, like I usually do each January. I didn´t get anything specific, sometimes I will get words or impressions about what the year will hold, but not this time. But one day I thought about what my desires are now. I have been thinking about how the older I get the less I seem to be celebrating my life. And how easy it is to stop having fun. Life, for me at least, some times gets way too serious. And I become focused on what is wrong instead of what is good. There are so much of my story I could celebrate, so much has gone right for me to be where I am right now. My life is worth celebrating. I realized I have a desire to do more of that.

When talking to Christina, my sister, she told me she is reading a book - The resolution for women - where the author had a whole chapter on being content. I thought about it, how it is a state to be in that we often overlook in our days. We strive so much at becoming better; changing, transforming, and acquiring new things in our lives. We value not being happy with what we have or where we are to prevent us from stagnation. And the world constantly sell us the idea that we shouldn´t be satisfied. Christina and I ended up talking about the importance of simply being content with what we have and where we are at. If I can do that and make the most of it, I think I might have a bit more peace and maybe even be more present.

So what I´ve been thinking about and realizing, wandering from beach to beach, driving hours along the volcanic roads in these first weeks of January, is that my new years resolutions are to celebrate my life right now, from the story that has brought me where I am today to the little things, and to have more fun and being content with what I already have. If that is what I got from my trip to Hawaii, along with a tan and meetings with so many beautiful people, I am very happy with my adventures.

Adventures with Sam. I stayed with my good friend Sam for a week and we had such a good time, visiting local natural coffee shop, drive to Waimea, and Waipio valley, walking the Cloud trail, Aloha night with hula show at the YWAM base and just lots of good and fun talks.

I got to hang out some with my friend Kerry also, here we´re spending a whole day at Abay beach, which I went to several times and loved just hanging out, mostly under the sun, but also under those huge trees. The atmosphere was so chilled out. I also stayed with my friend Kari a week and hung out with her and her children. It was so good seeing them again!

I traveled down to Kona with the Olafsrud family and it was so fun to get to know their family better. We stayed in touch the whole time in Kona and I got to spend lots of time with Ingvild, going for walks down town, coffee shops, and slow afternoons by the pool. Marte from my home church is doing a DTS in Kona, and I drove her and some girls to Target one night and in general tried to look out a bit for her and make sure she was ok the weeks I was there. My friend Sylvia, also my student in July DTS 2014, was teaching on the Biblical book Hosea one day which I´m happy I got to sit in on. And the last days Magnar, my brother in law, came to Kona, and we explored Hawaii, bodyboarded and had a lot of fun!