Moloka'i and Honolulu outreaches

On Moloka’i there is a peninsula that is cut off from the rest of the island. It is surrounded by ocean and 2,000 ft high cliffs. To King Kamehameha V this was the perfect place to isolate those affected by the outburst of Hansen’s disease (leprosy) in 1865. The first patients were dumped off the side of the boat and would swim to shore. This place is called Kalaupapa and I got to make the 2 mile hike down to see this “colony”. (The first picture above is looking down at the peninsula from the starting point of the hike, the second is of looking at what we just hiked down)
At first I was like I don’t know, I feel like this is going against the Global Studies handbook. I would be going to a human zoo. But actually, it was a God given gift to me to be able to go. Its amazing how we got the opportunity to go. Christy (one of the leaders) saw park reservation instead of preservation and so she called the number and left a message. The guy was so confused when he got a message about 10 people visiting Moloka’i, but called back anyways. They talked and he informed Christy on how we could do some volunteer work down there if we wanted, instead of paying the fees for a tour.
We left at 8 in the morning and got to the bottom at about 9 and were ready to start our volunteering. We were assigned to working in a patient’s garden, Paul Harada who passed away two months earlier and painting a picnic area. Working in the garden was amazing. Paul loved working in his garden. He grew poinsettias so he could give them away to the other patients around Christmas. The National Park Preservation people aren’t sure what they want to do with the garden-I think they might keep it nice so that it can be one of the exhibitions of the park. But as I sat there pulling weeds out of the extremely dry land I couldn’t help but think of Paul looking down on us and smiling. (first picture is what i was looking at as i pulled weeds, the second picture is of the ground around paul's garage-it was full of little trinkets and things everywhere. it looked like an eye spy picture. I think i would have gotten a long well with him, i don't think he threw anything away)

We took a lunch break by the dock and got to jump into the water and go for a little swim which was quite nice. Then we went to the other side of the peninsula to paint. Below are the pictures of that side. The first one is the end of the drive to the pincnic area, and the second one is a look out to where the people were first kicked out of the boats and had to swim to shore and climb up to land. It was such a privelage and blessing to be able to paint the picnic area because we got to drive across the peninsula and see more of the land. We passed Father Damien's church and grave where his hand is burried (weird. i know). We got to see where the people burned sacrifices to the gods, where some people were burried and many churches. This place was the most beautiful place I have ever been. It has a heartbreaking history but yet is full of life. Everything is so simple. It hasn’t been invaded by tourists. Looking to the high cliffs to the ocean is the most beautiful view. Even the hour hike up 2,000 feet was beautiful.

As for the rest of my time in Moloka’i; I think I painted almost everyday. I painted the skate park, at Kalaupapa, and one of the rooms in the church we were staying. Since we are Surfing the Nations, we went to the beach a few of the days we were there. I don’t surf, but I loved being at the beach because it is such a great place to have my quiet times.
Moloka’i was like a vacation for me. Even though we were working a lot, it was all relaxed working. Didn’t have to deal with Filipino and Korean Aunties trying to cheat the system and get twice as much food as they are supposed to get from “Feeding the Hungry”. Didn’t have to sort through salvage food at the Food Bank, or do yard work around the house. It was a good time to learn more about God from the people I was around.








Now I am back in Honolulu on the Feeding the Hungry team which I hate and love. I think it is the hardest team. I don’t get to go to the beach and chill at UH like I did on College Team. I do get to give out loads of food in Kalihi every Thursday. Sometimes we go to Barber’s Point and give out food too. For our outreaches we go to the community that lives under the highway. There’s a neighborhood down there. People living in tents or tarps made into houses. We hand out bags of food and invite people to our other events and of course we pray for them.

















1. a couple getting married at Once a Month Church in North Shore
2. Vasiliy and Galina, a couple from Ukraine who have left everything to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. I met them at Feeding the Hungry
3. Freddie praying for someone before they get food at FtH
4. Willa and Atti-a grandma and her grandson who are from the Marshall Islands and come get food on thursdays
5. Do you want oreos or nutter butters?
6. Waikiki Outreach-we have a bbq at Waikiki every wednesday for the homeless.


Thank you to all you who pray for me. God is making me into a new person. Its kinda weird. I’m too lazy to read through this again, so you can get over the mistakes.

oh and i can't take credit for all the photos. the one at the skate park and 3,5,6 aren't mine. I think they're james's.

Ohana, Aloha. So it’s been about two weeks since I have been here. It’s so weird. I feel like I have been here for so long and it was so long ago that I was in Azusa hanging out in parks and freezing my booty off in Denver. You all would be so proud of me because I don’t wear five thousand layers and I am always the only one who doesn’t think its cold-a change from always being the cold one.
I’m trying to think of what I should tell you but honestly I have no idea. I could tell you about how much sand I have in my dreads, or how much sun has been captured into my skin, or how hot the brazilian boys I met today were or how much I love riding in the back of trucks and how great Acai bowls are.

I could tell yo u how much beauty lies on this island from the sight of storms rolling in to the people to the orchards, hibiscuses and plumerias.

But I think I should cut through the surface and tell you what is really going on in my heart (naturally). I don’t know how many of you really know where I was before I came here, but I was in this spot where I questioned God and life so much that I had a hard time loving God-I had a lot of moments where I didn’t even think God was real. So you can imagine coming to a place so spiritually based pretty difficult. Mmmm…welp it has been. It has been a soul and mind battle-I feel like this is kind of becoming a daily pattern for me. But it’s really hard to go against the grain and not believe in God. I see God’s presence in so many people’s lives. I am constantly hearing people’s testimonies and constantly hearing incredible stories of how God has provided for STN. Who or what is it that provides free ipods and watches to people every week, donates the exact amount of money to people who are in need of it, and gives away cars, tvs, food, clothes and money to homeless people? There are moments when I want to resist and say that it is just coincidence but I have come to realize that is just stupid.
I have a hard time being here because I don’t know why I am here. I am not really into the ministry that STN does, although I think they do great things, its just not really for me. I don’t know if I really agree with a lot of comments that are thrown around. I feel really guilty because I feel like I am on vacation. I don’t understand the use of talking to a homeless person for 30 minutes a week. It scares me and trips me out though because I know I am supposed to be here. Someone told me the other day that “People don’t just show up at STN, God brings people here”. They went on to say that it is because of the prayer of parents, of friends, of people here that makes people come. It weirds me out-WHY AM I HERE? I am used to doing things because it will prepare me for the future in one way or another, so it is kind of weird being here and not really understanding how this fits into my life that I like to think I have planned out. Its weird because if you would have talked to me one month ago I would have probably told you that God didn’t do things for people-I liked to think of life more as a flow of coincidences. I don’t think I can really believe that anymore, and it is really hard for me to admit.
One of the requirements to finish this internship I am in is to do an outreach with STN. STN is known for its outreaches to Bali, Sri Lanka and all these crazy places that hate Jesus. There are also outreaches to the different islands in Hawaii. There is one coming up in a few weeks to Molokai. When I first found out about this requirement I thought to myself-I am NOT going on a mission’s trip. I feel like that would be sinning against Global Studies. And plus I have begged for money from supporters for too long and have never written thank you notes :-S…uh sorry friends. Anyways. As I thought about it though I realized that I shouldn’t put the creator of this universe in a box. At first I told myself that I would not send out letters to people-if God wanted me to go then he would provide. But I realized that I should put a little effort in, so here I am adding this into my letter/blog. From what I hear Molokai is the island where all the lepers were sent. It is the type of island where t he people live off the land. There aren’t too many people that live there and is a very chill place. I obviously want to go for selfish reasons. It seems like a dream place for me-where western society hasn’t taken control. But I guess I don’t want to go if it is not what God wants for me. And I don’t know if I want to go anyways because I don’t really know what the point of me going is, except for a great traveling experience. I think what I am going to learn from being here is that I don’t always have to do things that fit into my life shaping plan-its okay to do things that I don’t know what the purpose of them is. And I need to stop placing times in my life where God can use me and not allowing every moment to be God’s. Oh yeah, while on Molokai we will be doing random service-STN has gone for the past I don’t know how many years, and has built a lot of friendships with the people there so we just show up and are put to work around the island. I think they started to build a skate park last time and so maybe we will work on that, but I don’t know. So in all honesty, I don’t know why I should go and I don’t even know the point of going, but I am sure that our creator does, and I am doing what I should. I am saying “I’m willing to go”. The trip is $300. So I am asking that if you really feel God or whatever it is that you feel, telling you to donate some money to me, please do, or don’t I guess. If you want to donate money you can do it a few ways. You can write a check out to Surfing the Nations and send it into
Surfing the Nations
P.O. Box 29393
Honolulu, Hawaii
96820
You can also send me a birthday present too :) haha. Just joking. Or you can make an online donation by going to http://www.surfingthenations.com/ and going to the contributions section which will send you to an information page about online contributions. Funny how that happens. But make sure for either way you send money that you write Whitney Willett on the memo line.
Sorry this got pretty long-I’m sure a lot of you didn’t even make it to the end of this, but if you did, thank you for caring enough about me to read my long blog :)

Oh yes. And for those of you who really care about me and pray for me I have a few prayer requests.
As I kind of mentioned I am having a hard time giving my whole life to the creator of this universe and father of Jesus. Pray that I will lay my pride aside and surrender my life.
My first prayer that I prayed for myself when I got here was that I would find someone who I could talk to and have real conversations with. It has gotten better but I just haven’t really found that person that I really connect with.
That I wouldn’t be swept up in the greatness of all this-I don’t want some spiritual high or anything, I want my feelings to be real and I don’t want to be brainwashed into believing whatever everyone around me is believing. (I hope that makes sense)
Mahalo and Aloha Ohana.
P.S. I thought of you Mzzz Betty while I was walking around UH’s campus-you went there for a while right? I hope so or else I just thought of you. : )

been in hawaii for 2 days

So i started this as an email for my mom and dad and then of course i started to go into detail, i was going to email it to you all but that would have taken too long so i decided to make a blog..so if i forgot to delete something that has to do with my mom and dad..get over it :)
I'm kinda in the mood to not be very social...i just like thinking that i am away away not using my phone and staying away from the internet.... i barely have time to talk on the phone anyways because my days are filled with things to do. dad you mentioned something about probably not having a lot of quiet time. ohhhhh don't you worry i have probably at least one hour a day and probably more everyday. we wake up, have quiet time for an hour, worship or prayer as a group for an hour, teaching for an hour (thursdays we do testimonies), and then in the afternoon we do different kind of work..soooo its a little bit different than i thought it would be. its really a lot of prayer and it is kind of overwhelming for me but i'm just going with it. i've been here two days and i am already really comfortable, but i wish that i could get past this first week or two so i feel even more comfortable and don't have to stand around awkwardly or try to keep busy haha. its weird being here...on friday everyone leaves for china, so that is like 15 people that are leaving. there's about 55 people that are here right now-short term interns like myself and then more committed people as well. i am living in a house with probably 30 girls. there are two other houses within 3 minute walking distance that have the boys. there are probably 20 swedes that live here. all blonde hair blue eyed with the accents that i know you would love mom :) i hear things like yared (jared) and yulia (julia) are going to SHina (china) in two days. its funny. there are i think 8 girls in my room-4 bunk beds squished in there. i really actually don't know all the girls that are living in my room. i feel like i am back in taiwan with the green trees, beautiful smelling bushes and flowers everywhere with hills off in the distance. i love it because i have not been exposed to all the tourists here. i've only been in my neighborhood and then i walked around china town for a little bit this afternoon-but only like 5 blocks. its weird because i just got here and the two nights i have been here we have had going away parties for people. there were 18 people who graduated tonight from the internship that i am in. its kinda weird because everyone is so sentimental and i have no idea whats going on. I'm surrounded by all these people and i just want to jump into their lives and know everything about them but i am trying to be patient and not come off as a creepo. I could probably go on for a long time about my thoughts and critique on this place but, its just the second day so i think they are all judgements and i think i am probably wrong about a lot of them so i will just have to wait a little longer to say more of my thoughts and everything. ok. and for all you girls who think i am going to find ma man here...let me just tell you. these boys are very fine (you're supposed to read that wtih one of my accents) ok.

oh actually i have learned something cool about the history of hawaii since i have been here. i guess that when the first missionaries came over from new england, the ruler at the time decided to get rid of the religion they had been believing in and said that the new god they would praise would come in a black box and land on this rock on the big island...what do you know these missionaries came, got off their boat and stood on this rock-holding bibles in a little black box. and Hawaii used to be the most literate place in the world (like 100 years ago) and this is because the missionaries wrote down the language and everyone wanted to learn how to read and write so they could read the bible. They knew how to read sideways and upside down because everyone would crowd around the bible while everyone tried to read it.

anyways. i hope you all are enjoying whatever place of life you are in :)
dad can you email me to let me know of any contacts in hainan??

and my address is
p.o. box 29393
Honolulu, HI
96820

peace.