Aloha - e komo mai

Aloha! It's the well known Hawaiian greeting that doubles as hallo and goodbye. Like the Hebrew "shalom," the literal meaning of aloha is something along the lines of affection, peace, compassion and mercy. So it's not only a greeting, it's also a way of pronouncing a blessing.
Another phrase we've been hearing since arriving on the University of the Nations campus yesterday is: E komo mai! It means "welcome" or "come on in." In true Hawaiian style, we were welcomed last night with the placing of a beautiful floral lei around our necks. Mine just happened to colour coordinate beautifully with my T-shirt, and the lovely fragrance was all around me for the rest of the evening. Sadly, the flowers are dying now, but the sweet perfume still fills our bedroom.

This morning, after a time of worship and prayer together, our little group (25 ILT members, plus around 15 other family and friends) headed out in several vehicles. We went to some of the locations where the very first King's Kids children and teens heard from God and took steps of obedience, back in 1976. As those who had been there forty years ago relived some of the stories and testimonies of that time, we spoke out prayers of thankfulness for the way that God had led then, and over the four decades since then.

One of our legendary stories is of the very first KKI outreach experience, which happened right here in Kona. As the children learned to hear God's voice, and waited on Him in prayer, they received a variety of different impressions and Bible verses. One child had a scripture from the book of Isaiah; another had a picture of a green frog, and still another child saw a picture of a rainbow. In the end, the children prepared a musical programme to share the gospel, painted their own scenery (the rainbow) and made a papier maché frog which they painted green.

We all remember the story of how a summer storm made their performance a washout: the colours of the rainbow all ran into each other, the green frog became rather soggy in the torrential rain, and the children themselves looked like drowned rats. It felt like a disaster…. but not a single person in the audience left. Quite the opposite: several came forward, knelt down on the wet ground and gave their lives to God that day. It was the start of something that would multiply over the coming years, and we in KKI know the account as "the green frog story."

When we reached the location where it had all happened, and had taken time to pray, worship and thank God in that place, I surprised everyone by producing a mid-morning snack, and calling out, "Get your green frog chocolate bars here." In anticipation of hearing the story again, I had taken forty Freddo bars with me from the UK, and this produced a laugh from our very international team, most of whom weren't familiar with our British chocolate bar. Someone even asked me if I'd had the green frog bars specially made for our group. This afternoon, we'll continue our consideration of the ways God has led us and the lessons He has taught us over years of ministry with young people and families, before moving on over the weekend to consider the things He is saying to us for the future.