A little further down the road

My Favorite Question Right Now

jennigillespie — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:29:21 +0000

We live with an amazing family here in Kona…the Byrds, as we fondly call them. One of their daughters is about 2 1/2 years old, and she has developed quite a liking for my husband, unashamedly so. Her big brown eyes, and bouncy blond curls can really provide some fierce competition for attention around here. But she is truly wonderful and adorable and so sweet, and we love her dearly.

↓ See what I mean??

Ever since John left on Tuesday night for a short trip, she has found opportunity each day to ask me, “Where’s Johnny?” But I think it’s necessary to spell out her phrase phonetically so you can imagine sweet Hadassah asking this question. What she actually says is,”Wayuhz Jawneee?” It’s absolutely, positively, perfectly delightful. And each time I answer her by saying, “He’s in Ohio.” Then she responds by making her best attempt to repeat the name of this state, as she says, “High-ohhh.” This little “Where’s Johnny,” exchange has become my favorite question right now, at least until John returns home on Sunday evening.

As I get ready to climb into bed tonight, I find myself looking forward to tomorrow morning when Hadassah greets me at the breakfast table and asks again, “Wayuhz Jawneee?”

Goodnight everyone!

Thankful

jennigillespie — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:21:26 +0000

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

I just wanted to write about how thankful I am. God has been so good, so faithful, so unchanging. All the good things in my life have come from Him. I am so blessed! I’m thankful for my husband who loves me. I’m thankful for the sun…I love being warm. I’m thankful for Hayashi’s Sushi. I’m thankful for our car here- it’s amazing to have a car. I’m thankful for random unexpected surprises that happen. I’m thankful for the beach at Kua Bay. I’m thankful for Real Simple magazine. I’m thankful for Jeff and Beth and Carter and Elijah who are here in Kona. I’m thankful for washing machines. I’m thankful for grace that has been given to me so generously. I’m thankful for the movie Nacho Libre. I’m thankful for MacBooks. I’m thankful for crisp mornings. I’m thankful for the Bible. I’m thankful for Mexican food. I’m thankful for friendships. I’m thankful for laughter. I’m thankful for family that comes to see us in the airport, even just for a short visit while we have a layover. I’m thankful for God’s faithfulness, His relentless desire to be in relationship with us. I’m thankful for the U.S. Postal Service. I’m thankful for Loren and Darlene Cunningham. I’m thankful for good music. I’m thankful for the DTS Office, where I’m sitting as I write this. I’m thankful for everyone who reads this!

Love to you all!

Everyday Lives

jennigillespie — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:41:11 +0000

I wanted to just post a couple photos from today to show our normal, everyday life here at the U of N, Kona. We love working in DTS!

←Here is a little picture of John in a meeting discussing the Kona DTS department. He’s working hard, along with other leaders, to make important improvements to the DTS program in Kona.

Another photo of John, leading a worship time in the prayer room today.→

Please pray for us when you think of it. There is so much we feel we need to prepare before the DTS we’re leading starts in April, and we need to have wisdom in how to use our time and efforts. And we are also feeling a bit of meeting-overload this week (great things are getting done, but we’re really thankful that not every week is so packed with meetings)!

We love you, and thank you for being part of our everyday lives!

Airport Picnic

jennigillespie — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:59:40 +0000

Writing from Kona now; we’re back home! It has been a packed week already, but a great one. Our favorite part about getting back home was meeting Kristin, who has come to Kona to staff the April DTS with us. We’re so glad she is here! You can meet her below.

A fun part of our journey home was our layover in San Francisco. Some of our family came and visited us in the airport during a short layover on our way back to Kona, and so of course we had a fantastic picnic lunch in a corner of the United terminal. Mom, Grandma, and our cousin Melissa along with her litle twins Dylan and Samara, brought us In-N-Out for lunch! This was a special occasion for us, because In-N-Out burger does not exist in our remote chain of Hawaiian Islands. It’s tragic. And my husband has been deprived of In-N-Out for most of his life, because he grew up in England. So we take advantage of any opportunity we have to eat In-N-Out. And John simply destroys an animal-style double-double cheeseburger! My dad also came to see us at SFO, and he treated us to Starbucks and brought us a bag of Hershey’s candies. He knows me too well! We had such a great visit with everyone who came to see us, and felt honored that people would make the trip to San Francisco to come hang out with two weary travelers for a little bit!

Now that we’re back it’s full speed ahead! We’ve got a lot to do to get ready for the April DTS we’re leading. Pray for us when you think of it, and stay tuned for more!

Gorilla of Love?

jennigillespie — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:39:36 +0000

Ahhh, yes, the joy of Valentine’s Day! John and I don’t particularly go crazy to celebrate this Hallmark holiday, but there were definitely some surprises awaiting me this year.

Throughout our short time in Colorado, I had been seeing these hideous/crazy/hysterical/HUGE white Valentine’s Day stuffed bears, holding a big red heart, being sold on the side of the road in honor of the holiday. Now, to be silly, I kept telling John that I really desired one of these “adorable” creatures. He and I joked back and forth about it for a couple days…but then I awoke on the morning of Valentine’s Day…to be greeted by the “Gorilla of Love,” as Johnny called it! Ha! Check out the picture below…

Mr. Gorilla is pictured beside another primate, who was purchased by Juan-Pablo for his wife, Sofia (one of the couples we stayed with while we were in Colorado).

Nothing says “I love you,” like an oversized stuffed animal, right? I have a very funny, very wonderful husband. Now, it is important to mention that he did write me a really amazing, encouraging, loving card, and we went out for a delicious dinner that night. It was really a fun Valentine’s Day. And a little silly, which I appreciate!

We hope all of you found fun ways to spend Valentine’s Day with people you love. I’d like to hear if anyone got a gift that they think can beat my “Gorilla of Love”…? Probably not.

Loving This Trip!

jennigillespie — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:18:15 +0000

Hello! Today we’re writing from the lovely town of Arvada, Colorado. This area is surrounded by gorgeous snow-topped mountains and nearby are the stunning sights of Red Rocks. At the moment we’re staying with our friends Jon and Jessie Davis and presently the two of them are cooking us a delicious dinner. We’re recounting stories from our DTS back in 2006…oh the memories.

Earlier today we also got to visit the Denver YWAM base and see our friends Temp and Christina. They were previously on staff with us in Kona and we haven’t seen them since 2008. Now they work with YWAM in Denver and have a little one-year-old son that we got to meet today. So wonderful how God continues to bring us opportunities to go deeper into relationship with friends, despite distances.

Tomorrow sometime we’ll head to Vail to see Pablo and Sophia for a couple days. They are both native mexicans, so we’re holding tight to their promise that they’ll make delicious mexican food for us when we get there. I know Johnny will be dreaming about tacos tonight!!

We are really loving this trip. I’ll write more about our time in England soon and post some photos too, but basically it was a fantastic time to reconnect with our british pals.

Well, I’m going to sign off for now, but sleep well everyone and dream of good mexican food tonight!

Love, jenni

Mr. & Mrs. Gillespie Go to England

jennigillespie — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:00:43 +0000

At the moment, we are on a layover in Washington DC and on our way to England. We have really been looking forward to this trip, although it has been a bit of a whirlwind getting here after John’s time in Haiti. We’ll arrive in London late tonight, 10:00 pm England time, and be reunited with some great friends and family. First we’ll spend time in Cornwall where most of John’s immediate family lives. Then we’ll head back to the London area for the last couple days of our trip and meet up with friends there. On our journey back to Kona, we’ll stop in Colorado for a few days to spend time with friends there as well!

Our last visit to England was in September/October 2008, just after our dear friends Liam and Rachel were married in Scotland. We had a few days in England and then we flew back to Kona just a few weeks before our own wedding. All that to say, this will be our first time in England as Mr. & Mrs. John and Jenni Gillespie! (But to be truthful, my passport still says my maiden name, Larsen…we definitely need to get that changed soon!)

Hope you are all well, and if you’re in England we’ll be seeing you soon!

Love,

J & j

Home Again, Home Again

jennigillespie — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:30:17 +0000

Johnny is home! Yep, I got to pick him up at our little Kona airport on Sunday. It’s so nice to have him home again. We grabbed a quick lunch together (at Taco Del Mar!) and then headed to our house for a nice, long nap. Well, he napped, and I cuddled up to him while my thoughts just kept going….I couldn’t exactly shut off my brain since I had so many questions to ask him and felt like we had so much to catch up on. But he was weary from his travels and needed some good sleep. He awoke feeling rested and we hung out at home for the afternoon while he spent time blogging and posting more about his trip. In the evening we had Beth and our nephews, Elijah and Carter, up to our place for dinner. We were all excited to hear stories about his time in Haiti and he did an excellent job answering our endless questions. It is amazing that he travelled to Haiti and back in just eight days- what an incredible journey. Throughout his time away, we both felt so encouraged, supported, and loved by many, many people. Thank you everyone for coming alongside us as Johnny stepped out in faith to make this trip happen.

Check back here again soon for more from him!

RHOP and Perspective

johnnygillespie — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:48:08 +0000

*Update* Please check out Jeremy Bardwell’s radical blog post on RHOP. We believe this to be the strategic key for changing the nation of Haiti!!!

Dear friends,

The following are a couple more videos of our dialogue in the bus. The first carries a solemn call to the Body of Christ to rise and and intercede for the Spirit of God to fill the land of Haiti. Now is the time for his Kingdom to advance in that nation, but it won’t advance by itself. Now is the time of the beloved to rise up and declare the heart of God over Haiti in intercession and acts of radical love. God is so faithful to humanity, even in the midst of a humanitarian disaster, he speaks his faithfulness.

The second is my process on walking in the fullness of God’s perspective. We walked into some crazy things in Haiti, and without God there is little hope, yet in Christ we were able to see the nation clearly, and declare truth by our words and actions.

You guys will be able to tell that we were a) pretty tired when we made the videos, and b) having a lot of fun! Thank you all for so faithfully reading and praying with us this week! It’s been such a privilege to journey with you!

(Feel free to re-post this blog anywhere and check out www.jeremybardwell.wordpress.com for Jeremy’s perspective on our trip!)

Haiti and the dialogue of Heaven

johnnygillespie — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 07:08:13 +0000

As we began our journey home from Haiti, Jeremy and I found ourselves beginning to discuss aloud what had been brewing in our hearts all week in Haiti. I can tell it will take a long time for me to fully realize all the lessons I learned and to process all that I saw, but yesterday in the bus we started to just talk. And here’s what happened.

Please watch some of these videos as you have time and take a moment to pray and respond in your own heart to these words. Ask the Lord for his perspective. Please feel free to comment, link, repost as you want to.

Jeremy and I are so privileged to have been able to be a part of this momentous time in the history of a nation, and we declare that Haiti will return to it’s first Love!

(Feel free to re-post this blog anywhere and check out www.jeremybardwell.wordpress.com for Jeremy’s perspective on our trip!)