I will tell you a bit about my daily schedule! At 6:15 am we all head out to the vans to go to breakfast which is 6:30 am. By 7 am everybody goes off to work. From 7 am to 8 am we have bible study time in our housekeeping department. From 8 am to 10 am we clean the public toilets, get rid of the trash in the whole building, and start on our to-do list. Next, at 10 am we have a 15 minute break. Then, at 10:15 am, we continue to do the to-do list. At 11:30 am we leave for our lunch time and stay there until 12:30 pm. Then, we are off to continue to work on our to-do list or do extra chores if we finish the list early. At 2:30 pm we get ready to go to the vans back home! Lastly, at 2:45 pm the vans leave from campus to our own little base, Hale Ola.
As i touched on above, I'm assigned to the housekeeping department with a few of the other girls. I was really curious about what it would be like but also very excited to experience the daily life of a Kokua Crew member! After breakfast we went straight to the go center (our work area). They have 43 bedrooms and 5 offices that we are responsible to have cleaned. I work alongside a group of 5 people, Lucy, Yejee, Leticia and Simona. They are the best people to work with! We have a lot of fun during cleaning. We sing Christian songs non stop and are always praising the Lord while working!
Everyday we start with an hour of bible study and prayer. One of the staff from housekeeping leads us during this time. Today, Giane lead us, and she is an amazing women from Brazil. We read the bible and she asked for prayer requests. I asked for prayer for my missing luggage and the moles that were removed before my trip to Hawaii. I would be receiving the lab results soon and if it would turn out to be a dangerous mole, then I would need to come back home for further treatment; However, I truly believed that I should be here in Hawaii! I also had found my tracking code from my luggage in my photo gallery a few days back which brought me really high hopes to find it back!
She started her prayer and it was so powerful! She prayed that the luggage would be found in the upcoming two days and she prayed with expectancy that it would come in with the first flight to Kona. She also saw in her prayer that I'm a strong minded girl. God brought me here for a reason: to restore me and start a new season. He gave me talents that will be used for His glory. He is shaping and molding me more and more into my calling. The devil should not have a say into my stay here or keep me away from my time here in Hawaii. She prayed that the results from the lab would be good and that if they're not, that Jesus is possible to change the results right now. She also felt very strongly to tell me that I'm good enough!
I just broke down after this prayer. Everything was so spot on. It touched my heart on such a deep level. I'm so thankful that God confirmed the things people told me back home. It's amazing to know that I'm on the road He wants me to be on and even when I'm afraid of things, He is there right with me to care for me and love me and speak over my identity. He speaks saying that I'm good the way He made me.
We started the work week and I'm point person for this week, woohoo! That means I'm the leader of the group and also carry all of the responsibility to deliver good work. With that, I check all the work everyone has done, assign the duties, and keep track of the check list. We start everyday with the public toilets and get all the trash out. One of the girls stays at the laundry room to wash and fold everything. I'm very happy I don't need to do that right now because there are a lot of mosquitos there and they LOVE me (yay)! We clean all of the rooms on the list and do extra duties around the building. At 10 am we have a short 15 minute break with some nice snacks!
I took my phone during break and saw the best message I had seen in such a long time! It said THEY FOUND MY LUGGAGE!! I was SOOO HAPPY! It really felt like it was an answered prayer! Judy, one of the staff, was at the airport at that time and went to the desk to get it for me! Unfortunately, they said that there was a mistake and it looked like my last name but it was actually the luggage of someone else.
This really felt like another slap in the face. I was so disappointed. I told Lucy (one of the lovely housekeeping girls I work with) and I started crying. She was so kind to me! She gave me a big hug and was so understanding. I feel very blessed with all the lovely girls here who are supportive, encouraging and kind! I keep my hopes up to get it back, but the chances that it will actually happen are getting smaller and smaller.
WEEK TWO
During the second week, Lucy was point person! If we get any tips from our guests we put them in a jar and save some money for birthdays or farewell parties. A guest gave us 20 dollars and we really wanted to get some smoothies at the campus cafe with it! Lucy asked one of the leaders if this was okay and she approved, so we got her a coffee as well! It was a lovely celebration! Hard work pays off. I love my days and the work I get to do in the housekeeping department!
WEEK THREE
Today, the third week, is starting and I have the best news ever!!! I was preparing to go to the vans for breakfast when all of a sudden, my phone went off! I looked at the screen and saw "Seattle"! This could finally be it! I answered as soon as possible... "Hello this is Lisette Karten..." I waited with anticipation for the person on the other end to reply. "Hi, this is Seattle airport! Is this Lisette Karten speaking?" I immediately replied, "YES it is!" I wondered if they could feel my excitement through the phone. The airport representative replied, "Do you maybe have a missing bag?" Jumping with joy I excitedly said, "YES, I have been missing it for a very long time now!" The woman on the other line followed my excitement with, "We found it here in Seattle! We will send it to you on the first flight to Kona, Hawaii. It will be there in the evening." No words could come out of my mouth except, "Thank you so, so much!"
When the call ended I started crying happy tears! I didn't know it still meant so much to me! I am so happy to finally have my luggage back! We went to the airport that night and, YES, it was really my luggage! I still can't believe that I have it with me again! I want to say a huge thank you to my mom and dad for so many phone calls to the airports and flight companies! Also, a huge thank you to the Lord for providing for me, being faithful and teaching me to trust in him more and more even when things don't go my way! I am so thankful to God for letting me grow in my patience and for teaching me how to lean more on him every day!
