mobile like the wind

See you in 6 weeks America!

So some of you may know that surfing is a form of release for me, and since coming here, an amazing way for me to be alone and worship God. Before I moved to Hawaii I was sponsored by an awesome surfboard shaper who made all my boards, and 4 days before I left my boards got stolen. So since I’ve been here I have been on the look out to find a shaper here, when I finally found one that would shape me a nice board for a great price for Bali. So I have been riding a kinda junk board just waiting and amping for this new one. Well the board was supposed to be done Monday because I’m leaving Friday. And yesterday morning I got a message from my shaper basically saying I wasn’t going to have a board for Indo.

I was so upset. So stressed out. With everything combined, like applying for my visa to enter Indonesia, last week, a week before I left, to my board, and finding out that I am only allowed to bring a carry on for the trip. I felt the enemy nipping at my heels and that I was without control of my own life. How would I surf? Enjoy the water with my friends? Where do I put all my clothes? Did I get my visa? Will my passport be back in time? If I started to think about it yesterday my eyes would start to well up and I could feel the anxiety in my chest.

I was crying and our leader Chris, who I have a huge amount of respect for, comforted me, but challenged me. He told me how my feelings are real and valid, but it is up to me to allow this to be a bummer, or cast my cares and trust onto the Lord. He had me read 1 Peter 5:6-7
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, That He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all of your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.”

He helped me get past the things I was stressed about and not only helped me find a solution, but helped me understand that of course these things are happening right now. These are the things that God uses to grow us, and I am worth it, and going through this is worth it. Cindy says that God cares more about my character than my comfort. Well amen. So last night I fit everything I wanted to bring into a carry on. Dont ask me how. God provided a board bag for me, and Im trusting Him for my board. And while I was writing this blog, Fed Ex showed up with my passport with my 60 day Indonesian visa stuck inside.

Thank you for all of your prayers, God is making me victorious! Also thanks so miss Sarah Peters who sent me great encouraging words right in the time of need. Awesome to see other girls going for the heart of God.

anyways, PRAY PRAY PRAY!

Hey!! I first off want to say thanks x a million for Leah Cherry putting together an awesome video to show at my church on sunday! She didnt have alot to work with except for video from my macbook in our hotel in Waikiki. But she made it look awesome. So definitely watch it! Life has been good, God has blessed me with an amazing church to attend here that is encouraging and reminds me a bit of home so thats exciting. Anyway I leave on Friday and really need everyones prayer as I feel the enemy is on my back. But I understand while he’s afraid, I mean, I’m awesome! But yeah Im just packing up and getting ready and helping our team leader with some Indonesian language and culture stuff. PRAY PRAY PRAY!

So I was just writing in my journal about the exciting feeling it is to enter into a relationship with my heavenly father that’s for life. I started thinking about all the beautiful things I’ve seen and all the things I have yet to see, that have all been because of the journey He’s taken me on. Small pictures and precious moments flash to mind, so I thought I would share. Ill try to be descriptive to let you really see what I mean, and some I might have pictures of. Some of these might be cheesy, but it’s just little pieces of travel that come to mind.

* Beautiful sunset on the beach of Bingin where the sun streaks through the clouds in such a beautiful way.

*The side of a cliff at the uluwatu temple. I remember this day I swore this was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

*A beautiful bamboo forest the other day hiking with my family on the east side of oahu. So cool.

*An amazing sky one day in Nusa Lembongan while I was having a great dinner with friends.

*watching a group of kids from an orphanage that had come right off the street lay hands on our team and pray for all of us individually in indonesian and then sing worship God.

*Flying across the world by myself right after I graduated highschool.

*picking through balangan reefs at low tide one day with some friends from YWAM Bali. This was such a beautiful and memorable day.

*the first day I arrived in Bali this year there was a big cleansing of the temples which is a big social event. I was dressed for the first time in traditional fashion and met everyone in my village.

*living in my bathingsuit and brushing my teeth in the shower outside in nusa lembongan.

*meeting Edi’s mom

*first kuta sunset

*first time i visited lanikai beach on the east side of oahu

*working in Kalaupapa, molokai’s old leper colony.

wow. So I hope you guys liked that, I guess its just cool for me because every picture has an amazing story behind it of what God was doing through me in that time. He is so good!

HI!!! Okay, yes I know, I suck because I haven’t been filling you guys in on all the exciting things happening in my life. Gah, I am not very good at this. And then I wait until times like now when I am completely overwhelmed with God’s crazyness and now I feel like whatever I possibly get out of my head and onto this computer screen will surely be complete nonsense. Are you ready to bare with me? Okay. Here we go!

So, as some of you may know, my family was just visiting and I had a friend here as well so I had a little time off. It was amazing, to say the least. Actually I couldn’t have planned it to be any better I dont think. Being with my family provided a really comfortable and relaxed atmosphere for me to just be with people who love me, and that was nice, but we still did alot of stuff. I mean we surfed and surfed and surfed, and then we hiked, and snorkeled, and jumped big rocks and climbed up to waterfalls, we went to a luau and well, I would just say we covered alot of ground! It was beautiful and definitely what I needed. Not to mention that I got to see Harbor, my big brother who I never see let alone get to surf with. And on top of that, Addie and I surfed pipe! Yep, her second day here pipeline was breaking, and we got to surf it together, an experience I will have with me forever. Now before I get to the embarrassingly true part, I’m going to explain what my role is here right now and what’s coming up.

STN now has a summer program. Basically set up for surfing the nations alumni and those who cant commit to a three month internship but want to come and serve for the summer in between school or work. And I am now on staff for the summer program. This means I have a different schedule than other staff members, but I get to work with our “campers,” to help make sure their time here serving is memorable. We have great fellowship together, and also spend our outreach time showing them the real need there is with Hawaii’s homeless through feeding programs and other outreaches to the homeless. We also get to do fun stuff like beach clean ups, learning hula, hiking and kayaking. I am excited because I really feel like I can help in this ministry.

Im leaving for bali in like 2 1/2 weeks! Praise God, isn’t he so faithful? I am excited because my indonesian has held up well and I feel like God has really spoken to me about this year being a benchmark year for me there, so I am believing for Him to do big things! I think it will blow my past years out of the water! Amen!

I’m also spending two weeks in Bali away from STN serving at the youth center I worked at last year, which Shoreline Church supports. I am excited to see the young boys there who have given there lives to Christ and see what God has done as they’ve grown. I really want to be a servant to them while I’m there, and I’m also coming with lots of goodies!!

When I come back and when summer program ends, I will then be officially apart of Hawaii’s inter-island outreach team. This is big because they do inter island trips every 2 or 3 months so I will be so busy. Its not like planning an annual trip where you have a year to prepare, so its alot of work. But I am so amped because these trips are mostly for interns at STN so I will get to encourage them and thats really exciting. Also, as one of the most avid surfers here, I will be trying to get STN’s surf team up and running.

So thats what’s happening now. Exciting, hey? Well anyways I wanted to share some embarrassingly true confessions with you guys. And mothers, if you have young daughters, feel free to refer them to this raw blog, I pray that they can learn from my stupidity!
So when my family came here and I was staying with them, a phenomenon occurred. See I live with like 25 boys and we could care less about being romantic because we’re all so focused on being romantic with Jesus. (haha amen. ) So when I left the base and was staying in Waikiki it was like, WHOAH, there are boys everywhere. Well there’s a boy that I think is pretty cute, I met him a couple years ago through surfing the nations. And well he invited me and a friend to hang out. And I TANKED. I mean absolutely TANKED. But all knew how to do, how to be cute and how to get his attention, was based on shallow things. I cared so much about the way I looked and what I said and what I talked about. I was like, what is happening to me?? But this is all I’ve ever known how to do, I feel like its programmed in my genes or something. Well, you ever get home from a date or seeing a guy and you get in bed and you just want to bang your head on the headboard like, “what was I thinking, and why did I say THAT! ahhhhh!” ?? Well that was the feeling I was experiencing. I was quite bummed actually. And Im pretty positive he will not be calling me. But then today I was worshiping God and kind of apologizing for worrying so much about what this guy thought about me when God showed me something. He was like, your heart after me is far more beautiful and admirable than any makeup or cute dance or anything you could do on the outside to gain recognition. And I was like, BAM! Whoah, so true! Its so amazing to know that after years of stupid relationships and guys and mess ups, I can finally see that my heart after God is worth far more than a heart striving for a boys recognition. Its a beautiful thing.

Anyway, isnt that embarrassingly true. Maybe I am just being dramatic, maybe I didnt tank that badly, but it was definitely pretty bad. Oh goodness. Anyways I hope you all can laugh at me so I can stop nervously laughing at myself.

See you on the flipside! Aloha

I am in the office right now wrapping up everything from our Freedom Surf Contest. I will have an update on me soon, but I really really really really want you guys to go to the contest site and click on the box where it says, Freedom Surf Contest 2009. Since I was on the contest team, the event was like our baby, so I really want you guys to see the photos of the event! I loved it and it was a great learning experience for me. Over all I’m mostly stoked about the friendships I have now because of it! Tell me what you think, I am so proud, but we couldn’t have done it without God ruling the whole thing!

HEY! Its been way too long I know. Its been a crazy time here. I graduated but I have still been plugging away with the surf contest. Well the contest is THIS weekend! I am so amped to see it all happen and see the kids get blessed with all the hard work we’ve put in to see them know how much Christ loves them!

Sometimes in a place like this, it commonly feels like your in a warped reality, or just time goes so much faster. Tom, STN founder, says 6 months at a program like STN or YWAM is like 2 years of normal growth in your relationship with christ. So you can probably imagine how hard it is for me to sit and write it all down here for you! Everyday is a new lesson, everyday God is showing me things that are nasty about myself and He’s like, “Michaela, fix that.” Its hard to know that on your worst days, you are also being watching by 50 other people. But its amazing to know the grace and patience God has had for me, and all my roommates as well.

There is so much going on. After the contest this weekend, I am moving out of my bunk in the intern room and moving into a room on staff. Flexibility is a main trait you must have here! I thought I was flexible, but sheesh, I sure learned some things last week! I am leaving for Bali in July and I still don’t have my $975 groundfees so Im just believing God for that, but I know it will come through. Then after Bali, I might be staying an extra week at the youth center Shoreline Church supports. I feel like God has made me an ambassador for our church there and those relationships are so important for me so I am praying I will be able to hang out with all the kids another week. After that I come home through August and then the 2nd half of September I am praying that I can join our team to Bangladesh. We actually have a Bengali surfer here staying with us and he’s a true example of the affect Surfing The Nations has been there and especially because it couldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for surfing! So I am hoping Ill be there and then I would come home in mid October. After that I turn 20 (oh my gosh!) and then Im just waiting for God to fill in the rest, but I know I’ll be home for Christmas. Its all so exciting but so overwhelming at the same time. I was talking to our Bengali surfer Jafar who is here on our base, after nearly 10 years of STN’ers being an example to him, and countless prayers from all over the world, he was telling me today why he wanted to come to Hawaii… “to change my mind. My country we are muslim, and we never really pray. Not like you pray. And we always thinking of sex and women and drugs and money. I dont want to think like that. I like the way you guys think.” And as I looked into his eyes as he told me all this it hit me, this is the affect I have the opportunity to make on people all over the world, in Bali, Indonesia, in Bangladesh or Iran or Sri Lanka or wherever I go. And I may not understand what God is doing by sharing a wave with a grom in Bali and showing him with my life the love of Christ, but maybe 10 years from now, he will be man of God, and his family will reap the benefits, and his village will know Christ through him, and so on. It hit me that God has commissioned me, to go, to be that hug, or to be that caring face. And even though I may not understand, God knows. I realized today how much it has nothing to do with me and what I want, and everything to do with God’s timing. I pray that my obedience allows doors to be opened that could never have been opened on my own.

So on another note, I was praying and asking God why I am supposed to be here for another whole year. I mean yes I am stoked to go on these trips, but I really wanted to know what my place in the ministry here was supposed to be, or what I am supposed to look to do. And when I asked God why I needed to stay here, He simply answered, “To know Me.” Not the answer I was expecting, but how cool is that? To KNOW God, to really know my father. Im praying that I always remember that knowing my heavenly father should be first on my list.

Oh yeah, I want to tell everyone to go download the Josh Garrels Over Oceans CD on itunes, or whatever illegitimate downloading source you may use, , and then make sure you come back and tell me how much it has changed your life, because I cant stop listening to it. It’s gotten me through these 4 months for sure!

Thanks everyone for continuing to pray for me! Please pray for peace and clarity in my mind this week, Ive been in a slight funk!
Im trying to post pictures but my internet is too darn slow. So I can tell you that a really good way to keep up with me is add me on Facebook or Myspace. Search my full name Michaela Partin and you shall find!!

Have an awesome day and awesome week!!!

Saturday we spent the whole day working for the Hawaii foodbank at their annual food drive. Surfing the Nation’s feeding the hungry ministry is the number one distributor of the Hawaii Foodbank’s food, so when they need volunteers, we’re at the top of their list. Saturday we worked a big intersection in Pearl City collecting money as cars stopped at the light to support the foodbank. I feel like the community here is way more aware of the needy and the part the foodbank plays in making sure they have food, so everyone was pretty supportive. We worked from 7 am to 4 pm, which didnt sound that bad until I was actually doing it, and the sweat began to build and we all became quite aware of eachothers sweaty-ness! But in the end it was a great way to be involved, to give back, and to really be apart of serving Hawaii. Anyways, this is me and my friend Luke at the beginning of the day Saturday before we hit up the streets, becoming the dancing foodbank signs. YES!

Here it is, I hope you enjoy my long talks and amateur video editing. I did it all to show you how blessed I am by your support. Please allow this video to show you how you can continue to sponsor me!

All donations can be made out to Shoreline Church marked “Michaela” and are tax deductible. Please send to: Shoreline Church, PO Box 457, Destin, FL 32540.

Okay, so I am sorry If I have let you down by my lack of communication. Truthfully, God did SO much in Molokai and Lanai that I could not even begin to explain it here. Your fervent prayers for me and this trip have resulted in so much fruit. If you would have told me when I left Destin that I would have grown this much in 2 months I would have not believed you. But God was sure to rock my world when I was away on this outreach, and lives were definitely changed, including mine. I want to thank you all for your continued support and prayer, it means so much to me. I want to tell you all what and who you’ve affected by being obedient in support with your prayers and finances to me. But my camera broke right before I left for Molokai, and the best way I can show you what you have helped do in the advancing of the kingdom is by pictures, and I dont have any. So I am in the process of putting together a Molokai and Lanai collage of pictures and hopefully some video. So please continue to check in the next few days/weeks for that.

In other news, Indonesia is coming up again. One of the many things God showed me while I was away was that I needed to give up my desire to be in Indonesia to Him. Because although He has, and still continues, to speak truth into my life about His desire to use me there, He will send me there full time when I am ready to be there. In the meantime, I am allowing Him to show me how to be a true disciple. We fast every Monday and we always pray for what God wants us to fast for each week. Today I felt God leading me to fast for my village and the youth center in Bali, Indonesia. I know God has awesome plans to revolutionize and grow former relationships of mine in Bali when I return in July. And He has also put it in my heart to travel to Bangladesh in September. This is different than any other year I have gone to Indonesia, because every other year I have had a job to raise my own money. Here I am fully committed to STN and work here from 8 AM till 6 PM every day. I want to ask that as the time comes for me to begin to pray for this trip and my future influence in the country of Indonesia, I ask that you, as my friends and family, can lift me up in prayer as well. Please pray and ask God to show you if He desires you to partner with me financially. I know God will provide. And although I sit now eating a free bowl of ramen noodles from the Hawaii foodbank, I know in July I will be on a plane to Indonesia because it is where He wants me to be!

So, I made this picture in my journal and I wanted to share it with you guys so you can remember to pray for my beautiful family and friends and the wonderful Indonesian people that need to know how much God loves them!

The top says, “He will make a home for me there.” And the bottom says, “Lord, show me the steps I should take. Show me the doors You’ve opened for me to walk through. I give this country to you.”

Thank you again for your love, prayer, and support. More to come soon.

Terima Kasih
Michaela Jade