Marsha's Blog

 Good Morning Friends,  If you're reading this, that's good, because we 'moved house' today and we’re not sure we'll have internet where we're going. We find that living in guest houses sometimes has calendar problems, such as previously booked guests. So with the two weeks gap we’re looking at, we’re going to move out to where a friend has graciously made his apartment available. He spends most of his time as a missionary overseas, so it’s a real God send for us.  If there’s a downside, it’s just that the apartment is WAAY out on the wild and wooly west coast of Oahu; but we’re looking forward to a little respite from Big City Waikiki.   Thank you all so much for your encouraging letters after my last rather whiny blog!  I didn’t mean to come across as so needy, but you seemed to know what I needed.  I mentioned on Facebook how blessed we were last week to meet a young man who’s gone from a newish Christian last year when we were here, to, thanks to t...

 Hello My Friends! Here I am again, still in Sunny Hawaii.  We laugh at the weather forecast which always seems to be the same, "Sunny, about 28 degrees (80 F), light winds......."  ...... and that's about it.  Who cannot say Life is good here?     But even paradise has its downsides.  I mentioned to someone the other day that my blog seems to have fewer responders lately, and the suggestion came, "Why don't you write about something more relevant than about being a missionary?" For a minute I was stumped for an answer.  Then I realised that being a missionary is about the only thing that really floats my boat. I could write as I did last week about how "hard it is living here with Tony immensely fulfilled and me just tagging along", but somehow I don't think most of you would relate or would even be interested.   However, Missions and evangelism will always be who I am.  I remember being nudged by God when I was a naïve 17 yr old i...

We'll, I think we've passed the middle of our time here in Hawaii since the calendar says we only have about 7 weeks left!  It's been quite a bit different than our stay last year.  This time we've been at the church guest house in downtown Honolulu which creates a very different living situation. We still wake up every morning to the sound of crowing roosters. We learned this time that the thousands of feral chickens all over the Hawaiian Islands is the result of a huge hurricane back in the 90's that totally destroyed the industry and carried the chickens freed from their coops to every corner of the state.  Along with the roosters, we are now greeted with the sounds of the city: doors slamming, cars racing, drunks yelling and the almost constant scream of sirens. I guess this is true in any city, but it’s a new experience for us. Fortunately, we're finally acclimated and are sleeping well.  But being right in the middle of things here has given me an opportun...

 Good Morning, Last week Tony preached at yet another church that we didn't know about until they called him for pulpit supply.  I love this life we have, constantly meeting new brothers and sisters and enjoying time spent with them.  During the service, they showed a video announcing Hawaii's call to prayer for evangelism.  After a moment, I realized that the speaker was a young kid we’ve known for over 25 years! He came out as a teenager as part of a mission team when we lived in Sydney. He and our son bonded immediately, and still stay in contact to this day. But here he was on the video, a distinguished mature gentleman with a GRAY beard!  How's that for making you feel old? Looking at him on the screen, it occurred to me that in many ways, Hawaii's been in our blood even longer that Australia.  Our initial visit to Honolulu was on our first trip to Japan as career missionaries in 1978. Any way you cut it, that was a LOONG time ago!  Over the years...

  This weekend, you have the option of celebrating TWO holidays, depending from which continent you're reading this.  In Australia, it's Father's Day.  Mother's Day is the same no matter what hemisphere you happen to be in, because after all, we mothers operate on a different level, where “things” are not as important as relationships. Just give us a flower and a kiss on the cheek, and we’ll be happy. Father's Day, on the other hand, has to remind our men that it’s spring time out there. So naturally that brings to mind power tools.  So Father’s Day south of the equator is today, at the beginning of spring. For those of us in the north, we’ll have to wait until June 16th. Whichever, I trust all of you today are either enjoying a great barbecue prepared by a father with a new set of utensils, or else an equally great Labour Day picnic.  For myself, I find both holidays have their own similarities. Besides the food and family time, both days seem to shout out a gr...