All Saints Day

Aloha from the northern tip of the island of Hawaii!   

We have settled into the Hale Kahu (pastor’s house) of Kalahikiola Church in Kapa’au. We’re thankful for the welcome of the congregation and friendships we are making in the Kohala community – the lady from Hilo who gives Dayna a great price on papayas, the postal clerk who knows where we live and home delivers our boxes, the lawn guy who comes back when the mower is too noisy during a teaching session at church, the friend who takes our food scraps to feed her goat, and the townspeople who fill the stands for high school sports – most wearing T-shirts with the school logo. Welcome to small town life! 

Photos: Kohala shoreline, statue of King Kamehameha – he united the Hawaiian islands - was born here in 1758, the Hale Kahu.

Passion Life comes to Hawaii

Our first guests were Mark and Dana. Yes, Mark and Dana Nicholson – he’s the Executive Director of Passion Life - https://www.passionlife.org/. They shared their global ministry with leaders around our island.  We worked with Passion Life in China and Kazakhstan, now they’re in more than 20 nations! They see that rescuing babies is a vital mission strategy. Many babies that God saves become agents of His grace to save entire families and communities. Only about 3% of all abortions are performed in the USA, while 97% of the globe’s prolife resources are spent on the USA. So, Passion Life’s strategic focus is on the 97% of global abortions committed outside the USA. They share Jesus and salvation as they resource global leaders to apply the grace of the Gospel to the guilt of abortion.

Our Kia Soul was off-loaded onto the Hilo dock just in time to drive Mark and Dana around our Big Island. They had some great meetings and connections with leaders for life in Volcano town, Hilo, Kailua-Kona, and here in Kohala.

Zooming IDEAS around the World

Even from the middle of the Pacific we have a thriving connection with our IDEAS team. In September we joined in the Global Leadership Team meetings. It was encouraging to hear how the Lord is creating communities of contagious hope through our colleagues in thirteen nations. We appreciate the leadership of our new President, Gabrielle Thompson. We hope we made some positive contributions to the discussions, even though the meetings began at 3 a.m. Hawaii time!

Our monthly micro community meetings are at more reasonable times. We have had several meetings with two groups of colleagues in different nations. One group offers prayers and encouragement to Associates with responsibilities for older parents, on the opposite side of the globe.

Our other micro group has been enjoying reading and discussing, Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung. With humility and humor He describes the challenges our jam-packed schedules have created.

We are also making connections here in Hawaii as IDEAS “Church Ambassadors.” IDEAS global work of demonstrating love by meeting holistic needs through our professional skills in Agriculture, Business, Community Development, Education, and Health & Wellness is not widely known in these islands...yet!

“A Man who Makes Coffee” on Sunday Mornings?

For the last two months Mark has been preaching through the book of Hebrews (“A Man who Makes Coffee”??...terrible Bible joke) on Sunday mornings at Kalahikiola Church. It is wonderful to see how God’s Word to an ancient church on the other side of the globe speaks with relevance and hope to our island church today.

At this point we are here on a six-month pastoral assignment, at least. We and the church members are praying for the Lord to make His future plans clear to us all from March 2023 onward.

As we celebrate All Saints Day on November 1 we think of you with gratitude. You don’t need to be a statue or a stained-glass window to be a saint! You do need to be in Jesus who makes us holy. Across many years and miles, we praise God for countless brothers and sisters we have made in the Gospel. Some have “crossed over” already, we’re all booked too as we know “the way, the truth, and the life.”

Many thanks for your prayers and partnership in Christ over many years.

“For all the saints who from their labors rest, who thee by faith before the world confessed, thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia! Alleluia!

From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia!”

“For all the Saints,” William Walsham How (1864)

 Gratefully in His Grip, Mark and Dayna Blair

 

 IDEAS (International Development and Educational Associates) is a 501 © (3) public charity. Contributions are tax deductible. IDEAS also receives Donor-Advised Funds, Employer Matching Gifts, Stock, Mutual Funds, and IRA contributions.

https://ideasworld.org/associate/blair-mark-and-dayna-support-0471

Support by mail: Checks (no cash, please) made to IDEAS (our name should not be on the check, but attach a note: ‘Mark and Dayna Blair’) and mail to:

IDEAS, 7852 South Elati Street, Suite 202, Littleton, Colorado 80120  www.ideasworld.org

Our Phone Numbers Mark 808-218-4872 / Dayna 808-218-3698

Emails blairstan2@gmail.com / mark.blair@ideasworld.org / dayna.blair@ideasworld.org

Blog http://blairstan.blogspot.com/                            Web Site https://pastormarkblair.org/