Aloha to Missionary Mona

Lawai Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church

Family Ministries Messages

Family Ministries Director: Kay Kuzma; 808-652-1803; kaykuzma@aol.com

     When Mona (BeBe) Nicholas recommitted her life to God and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she said, "Lord, I'll go where you want me to go." 

     Last year, she joined Bob McNamara and the team from Habitat for Humanity on a mission trip to Nepal where they built homes for the homeless. That experience was thrilling, and she came back to Kauai wondering, What more can I do?

     Her thoughts kept going back to her homeland of Guyana, South America and the tremendous needs among the isolated Amerianda tribes deep in the jungles. Then one day as she was watching 3ABN (Channel 25 on cable on Kauai) she saw a program featuring the pioneering work of Adventist World Aviation (AWA) that had sent missionary pilots to that region to provide transportation  to medical facilities impossible to reach by ground transportation and fly in supplies and medical/dental and Bible workers who are volunteering to help the people in this remote area. 

     She was introduced to the LaBore family and their two Cessna 182s--one of which is called the Pathfinder, because it was purchased with funds raised by Pathfinder Clubs across the world. This couple not only pilots these planes, but are homeschooling their two children, recruiting volunteer Bible and health ministry workers, and trying to build a much needed hanger. 

     On April 15th, Mona (our own volunteer missionary) is flying to Guyana for 15 days to do whatever she can to help. She is willing to use her nursing skills, help take care of the children and even contact government officials which she knows in Georgetown who might be helpful in getting the hanger built. 

    AWA continues to build God’s Kingdom, reaching the unreachable who live with desperation, disease and death as constant companions, and introducing them to Hope, Health and Life. The process of meeting people’s physical needs and proclaiming a message of hope lays a foundation for the future, indeed, all eternity. This is what AWA has done since 1995:

•     68 tribal nations impacted
•     Over 43,000 people reached
•     More than 5,000 youth involved
•     23 churches and schools established or built
•     Over 35 epidemics stopped
•     In excess of 8 million missionary seat miles flown
•     Well over 2 million pounds of food and supplies delivered
•     Over 2,000 emergency medical evacuations conducted

   How is AWA funded? Totally through donations that come in monthly to take care of the missionaries needs and the operation of the planes. (It costs $500 to do one medical evacuation!) You may not be able to go to Guyana, as Mona is doing, but you can support this work. In fact, wouldn't it be wonderful if Lawai Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church saved 5 lives (or better yet 10) because we paid for these people to be air-lifted to medical facilities! Or, maybe we could help build that much needed hanger! Even though we can't go to Guyana, we can join Mona and mail our checks to:

ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION, PO Box 444, Sullivan, WI 53178-0444. To set up an automatic deduction from a credit card, call 414-226-5195.

Aloha Mona--And May God Bless and Keep You

Be A Husband Your Wife Can Brag About

OK, I've got your attention! Now let me share some advice Gerald Rogers gave in his Live Big blog. He said he wished he knew these things before his marriage of 16 years fell apart. So men, listen up! You're still got time! I've selected only a few of his suggestions. If you'd like to read his entire blog, go to: http://geraldrogers.com/marriage-advice-i-wish-i-would-have-had/

1: Never ever take your wife for granted. Keep courting; keep dating; keep falling in love with her again and again and again.

2: Commit to being the protector of her heart--and yours. Make a special place for her in your heart. "Keep that space always ready to receive her and invite her in, and refuse to let anyone else enter."

3: Accept her as she is with no expectation that she will ever change. It's not your job to fix her. Instead, see the best in her and let her know what you admire about her.

4. Don't expect her to make you happy. "You are responsible for finding your own happiness, and through that your joy will spill over into your relationship and your love." Don't blame her. Take responsibility for your own feelings, and if they are triggered by childhood wounds, get help to heal yourself.

5. Be honest and transparent. If you want to have trust you must be willing to share everything--especially those things you don't want to share. Drop the mask. It takes courage, but let her love you in good times--and bad. That's the only way to really grow together.

6. Be silly. Don't take yourself so seriously. Laugh and make her laugh. Have fun together.

7. Be vulnerable. You don't have to be perfect or pretend you have all the answers. "Be willing to share your fear and feelings, and quick to acknowledge your mistakes."

8. Fill her soul everyday. Learn her love languages and the specific ways that she feels important, validated and cherished. "Ask her to create a list of 10 things that make her feel loved and memorize those things and make it a priority everyday to make her feel loved."

9. Forgive immediately. Focus on the future. Don't let the past hold you hostage like an anchor. Forgiveness cuts you free to choose love.

10. Be present. "Give her not only your time, but your focus, your attention and your soul. Do whatever it takes to clear your head so that when you are with her you are fully with her. Treat her as you would your most valuable client. She is."

11. Give her the tender caress of words and touch . . . "to carry her away in the power of your masculine presence, to consume her and devour her with your strength, and to penetrate her to the deepest levels of her soul. Let her melt into her feminine softness as she knows she can trust you fully."

12: "Allow your woman to just be. When she’s sad or upset, it’s not your job to fix it, it’s your job to HOLD HER and let her know it’s ok. Let her know that you hear her, and that she’s important and that you are that pillar on which she can always lean. The feminine spirit is about change and emotion and like a storm her emotions will roll in and out, and as you remain strong and unjudging she will trust you and open her soul to you… Don't run away when she's upset. Stand present and strong and let her know you aren’t going anywhere. Listen to what she is really saying behind the words and emotion."

Gerald Rogers ends his blog with these words: "MEN- THIS IS YOUR CHARGE : Commit to being an EPIC LOVER. There is no greater challenge, and no greater prize. Your woman deserves that from you."