Free from Quarantine!

Freedom

Friday July 24th was my last day of quarantine, so when I woke up on Saturday morning I was free!!!

                                                  

That morning I attended a 3 hour class/seminar hosted by the cafeteria staff about how to make sauerkraut and the concept of "food as medicine"; it was a lot of fun! Its amazing how much the food we eat can either help or hurt us. The cafeteria here at YWAM Kona has made many changes over the past year trying to make the food served to staff and students fresher and healthier. The 25 lbs of sauerkraut that we made during the class will be served on campus over the next two months; we got to sample some from a batch they made earlier...and even though I am still acquiring a taste for sauerkraut I thought it was really yummy! I will include the recipe we used at the end of this post if you want to give it a try yourself.  For the rest of Saturday I just enjoyed being outside walking around Kona and the YWAM campus. I did visit a doctor on Saturday because the day after I wrote my last blog post I woke up with really bad vertigo; so my ears are still having an issue. I have a lot of congestion which is causing continuous inflammation in my Esuatchian Tubes; the meds I have been taking lessen the congestion, but don't actually make it go away completely. I am still on some meds but I am also now trying to go dairy free for while to see if that helps!

This was posted in the doctors office!
Have you ever been to the doctors and had them pray for you?  Such a cool experience.

I am still figuring out what a normal week will look like but two things that I know I will be doing is learning about the prayer ministry, Restoring the Foundation, and also helping out on the campus's natural farm a few hours each week! The farm supplies produce to the campus cafeteria and to people in need in the Kona community; the farm also teaches staff and students skills and information about natural/sustainable farming that they can bring with them on outreach to the nations. I have wanted to learn about the natural farm since I was a student (2019 so I really excited and grateful for the opportunity now. Today (July 30) I helped to harvest lettuce grown by aquaponics.

                            
                                                  

Lettuce-grown by aquaponics

Cilantro-grown by aquaponics

Views and sunsets from the Condo complex where I am living:

Answered Prayer

1. My two weeks of quarantine were good! I am totally glad to be free but the time in isolation was mostly good.

Prayer requests

1. My ears :)

2. My laptop needs fixed eventually- the backlight is not working so even with the computer turned on the screen is black. To write this blog post I am using a computer in an office on campus.

3.  Dependence on the Lord to equip me as I learn about the prayer ministry

Sauerkraut Recipe

1. Rinse 1 medium head of green cabbage. Remove outer leaves and set aside. Quarter and de core the head.
2. Shred the quartered cabbage in long stringy pieces (Can use food processor or hand held cheese grater)
3. Add 1 TBS of sea salt. Mix and wait 20min.
4. Work cabbage with your hands until it sweats or until you have juice coming from it.
5. Place shredded cabbage into a fermentation crock or container and press until you have juice over the cabbage.
6. Layer the outer leaves over the cabbage and press until you have juice over the top of the leaves.
7. Place weights in crock and put top on with water seal. (If using another type of container you can use a plastic bag pressed over the top of the surface and down along the sides between the container and the cabbage to seal it off from the air, then fill that bag with water and tie it shut. The purpose of this is so that gas created during fermenting can escape but air cannot get into the cabbage. ** do not put air tight lid on top,  lots of gas is created during fermentation and the result will be messy :)
8. Place the Crock or container in a warm place (65-75 degree for 10 days to 6 weeks)-longer makes stronger more tart/bitter taste.
9. After desired length of fermentation remove top leaves and discard. If there is any mold on top remove this also.
10. Place sauerkraut in glass jars and in refrigerator (33 to 45 degrees). Enjoy!

Quarantine in Kona

Travel

My travel from Grand Rapids, MI to Kona, HI went really well; it was actually the easiest trip to Kona I have done so far. Thank you Jesus!

Wearing a face mask for 20 hours was a bit challenging, but one mask that I own is pretty comfortable, so even that wasn't too bad. :) I felt really pleased with how much care the airline and airports were taking to keep things clean and keep passengers/traveler physically distant from each other. I still had some pain in my ears during each landing, because of my right eustachian tube not functioning quite right, but a friend of mine recommended some special ear plugs and I think those definitely helped.

Kona - Quarantine

Today is my 5th day of quarantine, only 9 more days to go. I am healthy and have no symptoms of the virus; the state calls me every few days to check in.

The people I am living with are very nice! Before I arrived they found me a great mini frig for only $25, and a free hotpot for boiling water; they brought groceries to the house for me and they picked me up at the airport. Although I cannot really interact with them much yet (because I am quarantined) I feel very welcome.  I look forward to getting to know them better in the coming months. 

The other two times that I have come to Kona, my daily schedule felt really intense/busy right way, so I am enjoying having these days to adjust time zones and rest after long travel. I am also using this time to study the RTF prayer ministry training notes from the online seminars I did back in June, read the bible and other books, pray, listen to audio books, worship music and recordings of the DNA teachings that are happening a few times a weeks on campus. 

I watched a beautiful sunset from the back porch where I live last night; I will take a picture some night to show you all!

Here's a link to a recent video made by the campus containing an inspiring story from SunAwh Park, who is part of campus leadership, about how he first started to learn to hear God's voice. SunAwh was one of the speakers one week when I did DTS as a student in 2019 and he was one of my favorites!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zqcg6BOLPM

Answered prayer:

1) I felt well pack and organized to leave Michigan and head back to Kona

2) I am very healthy so far!

Prayer requests:

1) Good health for me and the people I am living with

2) That I would have open ears and soft heart to what the Lord wants to do in me or speak to me in this short season of intense quarantine.