New Adventures

Well, friends, it’s been a minute. I interrupt the craziness of this world to announce some news that we are just jumping with excitement to share with you!

Yes, it does have to do with the pitter patter of little feet….

…..or big feet.

In fact, whichever shoes fit will do!

Because there’s no bump, but we’re still pumped!!

Because we’re doing foster care!! We found out today that we’re officially licensed! It has been a long journey to get here, and it actually began while we were still in Kona, Hawaii. It began with me (Monica) first, after seeing some startling statistics on social media about foster care. Facts, such as 74% of sex trafficked victims were in the care of social services or foster care when they went missing. In 2012, Connecticut reported that 98% of child victims of sex trafficking were child welfare involved, and, unfortunately, there are similar statistics throughout the nation. Another statistic that I heard (Disclaimer: I don’t know exactly how true this is) is that only 3% of Christians are foster parents. Three percent!! In a statistic from 2016, there were 430,000 children in foster care in the US. At that time, there were 348,067 churches in the US. If even ONE family from each church took in ONE foster child, we could home the majority of these children. This is when my heart for fostering began.

For Jason, it began after one of the leaders of YWAM Kona spoke one evening about foster care/adoption and God’s heart for it. We, as children of God, are adopted into God’s family. Not just included in His family, but we actually become heirs of God (Romans 8:17), as in full first-born-son blessing and honor. Foster care and earthly adoption is such a beautiful representation of this. Jason’s heart was moved by this presentation, and the seed was planted in his heart for foster care.

We thought that once we got back to Missouri, we would both begin working right away and get our own home again, but it was a year before we were able to have our own home. I thought we would finally be able to pursue foster care at that point, however, COVID hit, and foster care trainings were put on hold. I had contacted Child Services in August, and the woman told me that there would be a training starting soon, the following week, in fact. She said that if we could hurry up and get fingerprinted and background checked, we could probably still get in the class. I was able to get fingerprinted, and Jason had an appointment to get fingerprinted the day before the class was supposed to start. Unfortunately, he had difficulty finding the fingerprinting office and was late. The worker told him he was too late and that he’d have to make another appointment. I was crushed, because I had though this was what God wanted us to do, and it seemed that the door kept being shut in our faces. I had already come to grips with the fact that I may never be able to birth our own child. But I was okay with that, because I trust God, and I knew there was always foster care/adoption. At that moment, however, God was asking me if He was enough. If I was never able to have any children in any capacity, would He still be enough? So I surrendered completely my dream of being a mother and placed it into God’s hands (even though it was always there).

The following day, I received a call from the woman at Family Services. I had misheard her, and the training actually didn’t start until the following week!! So Jason and I once again prayed about it and decided to pursue foster training further. Jason was able to get fingerprinted, and we began classes the following week, on our anniversary! We had several weeks of training, then some online training, then completed about 8,574,003 pages of paperwork! And now we are officially licensed!!

I want to address the foster situation a bit more in depth. The goal of foster care is ALWAYS reunification. Ideally, reunification with the parent(s), and if not, then with family members. Less than 1/3 of children foster care become available for adoption, on average. If this occurs, we would definitely be open to adoption. However, it is more likely that the child(ren) would not stay with us forever. The average length of stay for kids in Jefferson County is 23 months. So, if you’re doing the math, yes, we will likely get our hearts broken at least a couple of times, or maybe over and over as we get attached to children who then go back to their homes. Despite this possibility, I am looking forward to loving on these kids, no matter how much their trauma wants to push me away. Because showing them love, showing them they are worthy, worthy of love, worthy of affection, worthy of having a voice, a place in society, is God’s heart for them- for everyone! So I will take my chances with my fragile heart and do my best to love freely. Because, “and if you spend yourself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:10-11. And that is a promise I can hold onto. So, here is one more cute photo to announce ‘Hallquist, Party of ??, Coming at Some Point’!!

Thanks for reading!! – Jason and Monica

To Those Hurting on Mother’s Day

I was going to wait until we had an adoption announcement or maybe a pregnancy announcement to talk about our infertility struggles. But, as I was analyzing the reasons behind this decision, I realized that it was mostly pride that made me want to wait. I don’t want people to feel sorry for us or think I’m having a pity party, and I really don’t enjoy talking to people about it, because I will probably cry, which is embarrassing. Like I said, it pretty much all comes back to pride, so I decided to swallow it and share now about our infertility struggles. We have been trying to conceive for at least 3.5 years, but probably more like 4 years. We were so busy with missions and working and school that the disappointment didn’t seem too heavy. Now that we’re home, it feels so much more real. I hear the children playing in our subdivision, and Lucie wants to go play with them (she LOVES kids). I can see our parents longing to become grandparents, Jason’s for the first time and mine for the third. The reminders are all around us.

As more and more time passes, the longing and the pain grow. This week has been full of ups and downs as Mother’s Day approached and I still don’t have anyone to call me ‘mom’. Honestly, it feels like my bones ache to hold a baby that is mine. But I am reminded that even a sweet baby cannot bring complete joy, peace, or fulfillment. No, no human, no matter how longed for, cuddly, or adorable, can offer that. No human except for One who is also God. Jesus’ death and resurrection paved the way for me (and all) to experience true freedom, joy, and peace. Nothing else in this world can make me feel complete or fulfilled except for the fact that I am truly and fully known, loved, and pursued by the King of the universe. I know that God is fully good and that I am seen by Him. He sees my struggles and my pain and my longing. I know this was not what He intended for His children. But because of sin, this is my reality.

Romans 8:28 has been my favorite verse since I was at least 13 years old. It says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. These words have always brought me peace. The way I understand this verse has changed over the years, however. I used to think that the verse simply meant that God is working on our behalf. Although this is true, it is so much more than that. In all things that happen to us, the good, the bad, the heart-wrenching, God uses all these things for our good and the good of others. He uses these experiences to grow us and teach us and reveal things about Himself that we would otherwise fail to see. Just as wildfires bring first destruction and then seemingly unending new growth, trials and hardships strip away things that may have been keeping us from God and reveal fragile shoots of new growth that God so tenderly places in our hearts.

He is good. He is kind. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. He is generous and does not keep good gifts from His children (Matthew 7:11). I don’t know the reasons behind this pain of infertility. But I do know that whatever He has planned is worth all the current pain. I know that we will have children, one way or another. I do believe that I will some day birth my own child, as well. BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT (cue the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3!), He is still good. He has proved His faithfulness to me over and over and over and over again! Only He can turn mourning to dancing, give beauty from ashes, turn shame into glory, graves into gardens, and bones into armies (thanks, Elevation Worship- awesome song!)! So, for my friends struggling with infertility, or grieving from miscarriage, or a loss of a mother, or any struggle, big or small today, remember that He is faithful and that He is working it out for your good! The end result will be so much more beautiful and crazy than you could have imagined. In the mean time, its okay to grieve and cry and feel sad. Just don’t lose sight of the hope of what lies ahead. Much more than that, don’t lose sight of WHO He is and what that means to us, as His children, who are fully loved and known and seen.

Happy New Year!!

As I reflect on the past year, I am overcome with gratefulness. We want to thank all of you who have so generously supported us over the past 2 and a half years, whether through finances, prayer, encouragement, and just checking in on us. Jason and I are completely overcome by the generosity and the friendship of Good News Community Church. I’m sure there are many who have blessed us financially and prayed for us that we don’t even know about, so we thank you for your support!! We truly felt your prayers and know that we could not have done what we did without all of you. You have been a tremendous blessing to us.

The past 2 and a half years, since we left home and joined YWAM, have been an incredible journey. When we left home in July 2016, I was full of expectancy of what God would do in our lives. Even though I had that expectancy, I was not prepared for the crazy plan that God had in store for us. Our journey was far different than I ever imagined, as well as far greater than I had imagined. The past 2 and a half years have been both the most difficult and the most fulfilling years of my life, and our time was filled with many struggles, triumphs, and lots of tears!

Celebrating the New Year reminded me of last New Year, when we were in Hawaii. We had already been in Hawaii for about 6 months by then. Although Hawaii was beautiful, I really did not want to be there. Our first 6 months in Hawaii was very lonely for me, and I constantly missed home and the people we had met in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Manila. I didn’t have much community, and I was too busy, or so I thought, to try to create community. I was doing school full time and serving at the YWAM campus, and pretty much every spare moment I had was spent studying. I was trying to do things out of my own strength, instead of relying on God. (I’ll explain that in a minute.) As a result, I was feeling a bit defeated and dry, and I blamed it on Hawaii.

However, on New Year’s Eve last year, my perspective completely changed. Jason and I were standing on the back lanai (porch) of the house we were staying at, watching fireworks. All of a sudden, I was completely overcome with love for the people and land of Hawaii. It was as if my eyes were opened to the beauty of Hawaii for the first time. From then on, I absolutely loved Hawaii and its beautiful and diverse people.

Now, back to doing everything from my own strength. It really is quite confusing, relying on God. How do you rely on Him for something like school? I mean, it’s up to me to put in the effort and learn and get good grades. So, I went through cycles of doing it all in my own strength, putting the weight of the world on my own shoulders, and then realizing I couldn’t do it all on my own and crying out to God and feeling defeated and guilty for trying to do on my own.

After several cycles of this and some mini melt-downs, during which Jason would be amazing, letting me cry on his shoulder and comforting me, assuring me that I was intelligent enough and able to do it, I finally realized what it meant to rely on God. Sure, I did have to take it upon myself to learn and work for success, but relying on God, for me, meant to truly trust Him. He is the one who nudged me to get my Master’s degree as a Nurse Practitioner. He had brought me this far, and he wouldn’t leave me high and dry now. Philippians 1:6 assured me: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”. I learned that the key to doing school through Christ’s strength was to just stay surrendered to Him. When I trust the work that He is doing in and through me and trust in His promises, then I am drawing from His strength and not my own. I learned just how incredibly weak and fragile I am through this process, but, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, weakness is actually a blessing that allows us to see God’s strength work through us. Although it sounds a bit counterintuitive, realizing my weakness was quite freeing. I know I can’t do it all on my own, so why carry the weight of trying? Instead, I can embrace my weakness and trust God for the strength to do what He has called me to.

When we left home, I was about half way through my degree. When God told us to leave, I was shocked. He told me to do this, and now that I was half-way through, He tells us to leave, not knowing if I would ever be able to finish it?! But God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, made a way for me not only to finish it, but to do it while being in missions.

While in Hawaii, I was part-time volunteer staff with YWAM’s health care clinic. The clinic was open to YWAM staff, students, and their families 3 evenings per week, to get health care for a very small fee. Affordable health care is such a huge blessing to YWAMers, who are constantly relying on God for finances. For only $10, they could come see a provider at the clinic. All of the health care professionals that staffed the clinic were also employed by Aloha Kona Urgent Care, an urgent care that is YWAM-affiliated and that serves the community of Kona. I also worked here occasionally. All of the staff at the urgent care love Jesus and are committed to providing holistic care for patients through the scope of Christ’s love. Working here opened my eyes to what Christian health care can and should look like. Everyone, from front desk staff, to nurses, to providers, were quick to offer prayer and emotional support to patients. It was an incredible experience, learning how to care for people’s emotional and spiritual needs in a US health care setting. I never imagined that anything like that existed!

God was preparing me for Christian health care through my clinicals that I did for school, as well. My nurse practitioner program through SLU was primarily online, and I was required to do a certain number of clinical hours with a primary care clinic in the community. As you may remember from a blog that I posted over a year ago, it was extremely hard for me to find a physician’s office that would allow me to do clinicals with them. I was afraid I may have had to withdraw from the program, because I couldn’t find a clinical site. However, God not only provided a site, but it was a physician’s office in which all of the providers were Christians who would pray with their patients and provide spiritual and emotional care, in addition to medical care. I have never witnessed a doctor’s office like it. One time, one of the doctors and I were seeing a patient together, and after the patient mentioned a near-death experience, the doctor said, “I’m going to take off my ‘doctor’s hat’ here for a minute. Do you know what would happen to you if you died? Do you know that you can be sure about where you’re going when you die?” It was awesome! I think that Christians feel like they have to hide their faith in the ‘real world’ at times, but I got see what it looks like to display it boldly within a US health care setting.

As our time to return to Missouri approached, you can see why I was reluctant to leave. I was in the perfect environment to exercise my faith while providing health care. The doctor’s office I mentioned even offered me a job there as a nurse practitioner. In my eyes, that is the most ideal place I could dream of to practice. I couldn’t help but feel like we were leaving the ‘Promised Land’ by leaving Kona. We had an amazing Christian community around us, Jason was thriving in his Bible school, and I was loving health care in this Christian environment. I shared this with Jason, and he asked me, “What if this is the desert? What if we’re leaving here to enter the Promised Land?” Jason, who loves the Old Testament, gave me some perspective through the eyes of an Israelite. He explained that the Israelites really came to know God while wandering in the desert. It was here that they learned to trust God as their provider and saw His faithfulness and power first-hand. That is exactly what we experienced in our time in missions. We really learned who God is and learned to trust Him. Jason went on to say that the Promised Land wasn’t all milk and honey. The Israelites had to continue to trust God and fight many battles to claim the Promised Land as their own. We feel that this next season back in Missouri will be much like the Israelites claiming the Promised Land. We will have to fight many spiritual battles to claim our ‘land’ and take hold of all that God has for us here.

As I was reflecting on my time in Kona and how I was consistently in the midst of Christian health care, I realized that many people who came before me had to fight to establish the climate that the urgent care and the doctor’s office have. When I was there, I was simply standing on the foundation of faith that someone else had already established. To experience that kind of environment here, I will have to be the one in the trenches, fighting to establish a foundation of faith wherever I end up practicing. It is a bit daunting thinking about it, but I have seen God’s faithfulness for myself, and I know that it is possible. And the result is oh-so-sweet!

I have very little idea of what my career may look like. I honestly have not even started looking or putting out any feelers as to what the job market for nurse practitioners here looks like. I would really appreciate prayers for direction and for doors to open where God would have me practice. I also need prayers for boldness to establish the kind of faith environment that I experienced in Kona. Other prayer points include finding a car and a place to live! Our parents have been generously housing us, but I’m sure they don’t want us around forever! Haha!!

Thanks for reading as we begin to process all that God has done in our lives the past couple of years. I’m sure there will be more posts coming, as we reflect on our time in missions. Thank you again for all you’ve done!!

Blessings,

Jason and Monica          

Wonderful Deeds

Hello! Jason and Monica here with an update on our ministry in Kona, Hawaii. We have officially been gone for over 2 years!!!!! I can’t seem to wrap my head around that. It has definitely been the most challenging and most rewarding 2 years of our lives. While I was contemplating on what to write about (there is so much to say, since I’ve been delinquent about writing posts), I read Psalm 9:1, which says, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds”. As I read this, I felt that God was saying just to share about His faithfulness to us since we’ve been in Hawaii.

The Lord’s faithfulness…..where do I begin?! If you read my post from about a year ago, I, Monica, was struggling to find a preceptor in order to do clinical hours for my nurse practitioner program. I had literally tried every place I could find. I was a ball of worry! But, the Lord showed His faithfulness, and I eventually found a site. This has been the story for every semester thus far. I am now heading into my FINAL semester of school (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and wouldn’t you know it, I still don’t have a clinical site. I have been working on getting into a couple of places for months now, but everything seems to be at a stand-still. But the Lord is faithful, and He called me to this, so He won’t desert me now. Philippians 1:6 comes to mind, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”.

As I look through my journal from the past few months, I am reminded of God’s goodness and kindness to me. He has taught me so much about myself and about His character!! My journal entry from March 9, 2018 says, “I AM DROWNING. I am drowning in a sea of self-doubt, fear, insecurity, and anxiety related to these things [referring to school and general life performance]. Why can’t I let all my insecurities go and hold onto the truth? Why is this a constant struggle for me? Just when I think I’m good, Wham! Hit and paralyzed by a wall of fear and insecurity”……….”But why am I so afraid about what other people think and about my Performance? Even after I get an ‘A’ on a test, I still don’t trust that I know anything”.

After crying out to God to show me how to break free from this, He reminded me of times I had felt rejected and wounded by others throughout my life. He showed me that I needed to speak out forgiveness for all the people who’ve unintentionally hurt me, especially during my fragile teenage years. All these things had left scars on my heart, making it harder for me to stand firm in my identity as a child of God and feeling like I needed to perform well in order to be accepted. Verbally letting go of every situation I could think of allowed God’s healing to wash in over these scars and begin to pry away at my performance-based attitude.

During this time, I was fighting against my weakness and trying to be strong out of my own strength. You can see how well that was working out for me! Ha! God was showing me that weakness is actually a wonderful thing, because it forces me to lean into and rely on God to be my strength. He is so much better at it than I am!!!

Fast forward to the end of April, as I was preparing to fly back to Missouri for on-campus residency for school. At this time, I was again very stressed out and almost dreading coming home, because I was trying to complete my clinical hours for the semester, plan Jason’s birthday (I had to be in Missouri over his birthday), get ahead on my homework so I could spend some time with family, prepare for residency, and prepare for a big test and a project that had to be completed the week after returning to Hawaii. The night I left for St. Louis, I had such tunnel vision that I told Jason I was flying Delta. He dropped me off at the Delta terminal, and I waited in the line for about 45 minutes. Once I got to the kiosk and scanned my itinerary, it could not find my information. I approached the desk, and the woman asked if I was sure that I was flying Delta, at which point I realized, in horror, that my ticket was for United. I ran down to the United counter, and the woman informed me that I would never make my flight. Crying, I explained how I had thought I was flying Delta. Unamused, she graciously changed my ticket to the next and final flight going that way for the day, saying that I may or may not make that one. I got in line and frantically sent up a prayer. Just then, a friendly man, with his family, asked if I was going to make my flight. I explained the situation, and he allowed me to get in front of him and announced my situation to the people in front of him. Every single person in the line let me go in front of them. I was sobbing as I thanked each kind person. I made it on the plane just in the nick of time!

God used a seemingly hopeless situation to show His kindness and goodness, as well as to bless all those people who let me in front of them. My entire time at home went like that. Just when I thought that something wasn’t going to work out that I needed to do or had planned, He made a way. My time home, which I had worried would be stressful, turned out to be incredibly refreshing.

Another area that God has been so faithful in is finances. We really didn’t know how we would pull off living in Hawaii. Jason worked at Home Depot for several months while staffing the Discipleship Bible School full time. He was exhausted, and he had to miss out on a lot of things that were going on in the school, not to mention we were hardly able to spend any time together. We weren’t sure how much longer we could go on like that. But God provided some faithful givers, and Jason was actually able to quit working at Home Depot and focus on the school!

Hawaii has proved to potentially be the most dangerous place we’ve been on our journey! Haha! We had a nuclear missile scare this spring, which was a mistake, thankfully. Then the volcano began erupting in May. Although the lava was nowhere near us, the vog (volcanic fog) encompassed Kona for a few months. The lava has now stopped, and we’re back to blue skies and beautiful sunsets! The most recent threat was Hurricane Lane, which was predicted to bring destruction to the Islands. Although the other side of our island had significant flooding, we literally got no more than a very small amount of rain and a few flashes of lightning! The mountain behind us acted as a shield and diverted most of the rain to the Hilo side of the island. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed that there was no wind or heavy rain. Then God reminded me that I got exactly what I had prayed for- the storm to weaken and turn away from Hawaii and for no one to get hurt. God is good!!

So, what’s next? Jason is currently working on building projects to house the influx of YWAMers that will be coming in September. It is shaping up to be the biggest quarter yet! He will again staff the Discipleship Bible School and help illuminate the Bible and spark a passion for the Word in his students! I am about to start my final semester of the NP program. Please pray that I find a good clinical site soon! I continue to volunteer at the YWAM campus health clinic and occasionally work at an urgent care that YWAM oversees, as well as provide weekly wound care/first aid for the homeless. December not only marks the completion of Monica’s nurse practitioner program and Jason’s third time staffing the Discipleship Bible School, but the end of our 2.5 year commitment to YWAM. To think that it is so close is almost unbelievable!! Please pray for direction as we prepare to go back to Missouri in December.

Thanks for reading! We love and miss you all and are excited to see many of you in December!

~ Jason and Monica

 

Life to the Fullest

Hello friend!! It’s been entirely too long since I’ve written an update. When we first got here to Hawaii, we didn’t know what things would look like as far as our everyday lives. Then, once things started happening and falling into place, I didn’t take time to write about it. Jason let you all in on what he’s been up to here in Kona in his last post, so I’ll give you a glimpse of my time here!

After an unexpected and much-needed visit to Missouri in July, we arrived in Kona. Actually, it’s Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, but everyone abbreviates it to Kona. I (Monica) became staff at the YWAM base here in Kona, at the Campus Clinic, which serves the health needs of YWAM Kona’s students and staff. Things were pretty slow at first, because we were only able to offer physician services a few hours per week at that point. When the Campus Clinic leaders prayed about accepting me as staff, they didn’t need me. It didn’t make any sense to take on more staff when they didn’t have anything for me to do! However, they sensed a nudge from God to say “Yes”. So, I began working at the clinic, mostly cleaning and organizing at first.

The leadership of the clinic and health services had a much bigger dream in mind for the clinic, however. They envisioned a fully-functional and self-contained clinic that would be able to serve the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of the students and staff full-time. This group of leaders were already serving the community in this way through an urgent care, Aloha Kona Urgent Care.

Although not a direct YWAM entity, the urgent care is managed under YWAM leadership. It functions as a ‘normal’ urgent care, except that all the staff are deeply concerned not only about physical ailments, but patients’ spiritual well-being as well. The urgent care is covered in prayer at the beginning if each day, and the patients are offered prayer. The staff gets to minister to the heart, body, soul, and spirit of each patient, if they are willing!

After the city approved all the necessary zoning for the campus clinic building, and the campus gave financial and legal approval, the dream started to become a reality. We were able to utilize some of the providers and staff of the urgent care to start seeing patients at the Campus Clinic, renamed Ola Pona (‘health’ in Hawaiian) Health Center, on a regular basis. This came none-too-soon, as the largest quarter of students EVER arrived on campus in September, with well over 600 students and staff! We began seeing patients from the campus almost every week night. It has gone over really well and has helped fill a huge need for the missionaries on campus. They can be seen by the physician for only $10, regardless of insurance!

So, that is one of my ‘jobs’, volunteering as a nurse at Ola Pona Health Center. I also became involved with the large homeless community of Kona. The church Jason and I began to attend serves a weekly meal at the local homeless shelter. We joined in serving the lunch, but I couldn’t focus on the food I was supposed to be serving. Time after time, a person would come through the line with cuts, scrapes, and gaping, infected wounds. My nurse eyes were drawn to them, and I felt I had do something. I asked the leader of the program if I could bring some supplies and start providing wound care while the meals were served. He not only agreed, but gave me a budget to purchase would care supplies!

I began offering wound care each week, which became a hit. The need is soooo great! The homeless are especially at risk for injuries, due to a number of factors, including fighting (or protecting their few possessions), animal bites, falls (especially if intoxicated), and being out in the elements 24/7. They are even more susceptible to infection of these wounds, due to lack of showering facilities, lack of antibiotic ointment and clean bandages, and the humid environment. Staph infection of wounds runs rampant here, especially in this population. A simple cut or scrape can easily turn into a life-threatening infection if left untreated. It is so rewarding to treat a wound that is on the verge of becoming or is already infected, and the person shows up the next week, after caring for it themselves the rest of the week, with the wound almost healed! Praise Jesus! The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but Jesus came so that we may have life TO THE FULLEST (John 10:10)!!!!

Through a former housemate, I was also introduced to the planning committee of the West Hawaii Faith-Based Summit to End Family Homelessness. This is a mouth-full, but basically, the committee meets all year-long to plan this Summit, which gathers all the faith (and some non-faith-based) organizations, churches, etc. in the area that provide any kind of aid/services to the homeless in order to learn from each other and brainstorm how to help end family homelessness on the island. The committee recognized the need for wound care for the homeless, so they were trying to find someone to head up a first aid kit ministry. Naturally, I jumped at this opportunity to do and teach what I love, although I was a bit nervous at first! I was also back in school at this time, and time was a hot commodity! However, with God’s grace, I was able to find the time, courage, and resources to make the First Aid Kit Ministry a reality at the annual Summit, which was in September.

Through left-over money given in a grant for the Summit, I was able to purchase the supplies needed for the kits. At the Summit, I taught those who were interested about basic wound care, and we assembled first aid kits together. I called my first aid kit ministry ‘More Than Skin Deep’, because physically, wounds move beyond just the skin, and infection can invade the entire body through them. These first aid kits are not just physical, though. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, especially to ‘the least of these’. These first aid kits can minister to heart wounds as well, as I pray with someone who desperately wants to overcome alcohol addiction.

Later, I gave these first aid kits out to the homeless at a Thanksgiving feast. The kits were a huge hit, and I gave 100 of them, which was just enough! Now, unfortunately, I am almost completely out of supplies. If we are able to get another grant to help with this year’s Summit, and if there is enough money left over after covering other costs, our ministries will probably be given an allotted amount to spend on supplies. However, I don’t want this ministry to just be a once-per-year event! I want it to be a real ministry. I want to be able to give out first aid kits at all the homeless events, not just the Thanksgiving feast. I wish to be able to send first aid kits away with those who come to me weekly with wounds, so they can continue treating them the rest of the week and greatly decrease their risk of infection. I want to help these homeless live life to the fullest in the area of health.

Sooo, I’m asking for your help. I desperately need more antibiotic ointment and bandages to hand out at events or to people I see on the street or to those I see at the shelter with wounds. If you are interested in helping, I have set up an Amazon Wishlist of supplies for the first aid kits. The most critical things are antibiotic ointment and bandaids. I love the individual packets of antibiotic ointment, but tubes are great too! Regular-sized and large bandaids are also really critical. I am super partial to fabric bandaids, as opposed to the plastic ones, because the plastic ones don’t stick, especially in the humidity. If you don’t have Amazon or would rather buy some supplies from the store and mail them, you can send them to me at this address:

Monica Hallquist

75-5851 Kuakini Hwy #365

   Kailua-Kona, Hi. 96740

Or , here is the link to the Amazon Wish List. You can also go to the Amazon website, and there is a place to search for Wish Lists. Just type in Monica Hallquist, and it will pop up! Thank you so much for considering donating to the More Than Skin Deep first aid kit ministry!!

So, that’s what I’ve been up to, along with school, which was quite stressful after being on a year-and-a-half leave of absence. But, God lavished on the grace, and I had a successful semester.  Thank you so much for reading my long post and being interested in my life!! You all mean so much, and it is so encouraging to know you support us in this crazy adventure!!

We love and miss you lots,

Monica

Jason Writes a Post!!

This last year and a half, God has taken Monica and I on an incredible journey with him. We started out last July, traveling to Australia and doing a 3 month Discipleship school; then we took what we learned to Papua New Guinea for 3 Months.

After that, Monica and I traveled to the west coast of Australia, where we split up our time and did two separate schools. I did a 3 month discipleship bible school, and Monica, being a nurse, did a 3 month medical mission school. After this, God gave us the opportunity to go with a team of doctors, nurses, and a dentist to the Philippines for 3 months. As you can probably see, we have been moving around every three months. There is something unique about the number three, though (this is the bible nerd coming out in me, sorry! In Hebrew, as you may know, numbers have meanings, and the meaning for the number three Is Divine Completeness or perfection).

So all this moving around has been a big change of plans from our original plan. When we started this journey, we thought we were going to stay for two and a half years in Townsville, Australia and fly back and forth to Papua New Guinea, but God has stirred our hearts every couple of months and told us somewhere new to go. Needless to say, we quit making plans; now we just ask where and when, God. Now we are in Hawaii, yes, Hawaii- not my plan, but his. You can even ask my wife, I did not want to come to this beautiful place. But we are here now, and I know this is right where we are supposed to be. Right now I am staffing the same bible school (discipleship bible school) that I took in January. As of now, there are almost 20 of these schools around the world, and it is the fastest growing bible school, with the projected number of 100 schools by 2020. There are 17 students in my class that range in age from 18-62. As of now, we are halfway through the bible. There are students that came to this class hating to read the bible, because they were afraid of what God would show them. Now they are saying ‘I can’t believe I use to hate this book! Now, even in my free time I am reading and rereading, trying to gain more knowledge and have more of a relationship with God’. It is seriously so amazing to read with my students and watch them get thrown back in their chair with excitement as they have these deep, new revelations of God.

With all that being said, if you know me, what I struggle with the most is asking for help. I always try to do everything myself, because I don’t want to be a burden on other people. I have realized I can’t do everything myself. So now, when I think I can do something difficult by myself, that’s actually when I need to ask for help the most. At the beginning of our journey, we found enough supporters to fund us for 2 and a half years, PRAISE GOD. Well, that was for Australia, where the U.S. Dollar at the time was worth  about 0.50 more. Now that we are back in the states and living in Hawaii, where the cost of living is crazy and gallon of milk is over $5, we are looking for more supporters. I know some of you may be rolling your eyes and saying well, sounds like you need to get a job. Well, I have been working since August, and it’s been great. I like working, and I’m not afraid to work, but working and helping staff a bible school has been rather difficult. I feel like I haven’t been around to help disciple students like I should, and I have been missing out on a number of things, including having time to spend with my wife. So here it is. Below is what I would like our monthly budget to look like. My goal is to raise enough money so I do not  have to work, or at least work less so I can have more time with Monica and my students. I know this can be accomplished with your help.

 

Expenses						Income
		Planned	Actual	Diff.				Planned
Totals		$2,189	$0	+$2,189		Totals		$2,189
Food $2.25 per meal		$405	$0	+$405		Savings		$0
Tithes/donations		$100	$0	+$100		Paycheck		$0
Health/medical/ insurance		$500	$0	+$500		Bonus		$0
Home/Rent		$950	$0	+$950		Interest		$0
Transportation		$112	$0	+$112		Other		$0
Personal		$0	$0	$0		Monthly Supporters		$2,189
Pets		$0	$0	$0
Phone		$57	$0	+$57
Travel		$0	$0	$0
Debt		$0	$0	$0
Other		$0	$0	$0
Car insurance		$65	$0	+$65
Custom category 2		$0	$0	$0
Custom category 3		$0	$0	$0

As of now, our average monthly support is $1000, and our goal is to raise another $1189 a month for this next year, to make it to the total of $2,189 that is on the budget. This sounds like a huge amount, but this is living modestly. We rent a room in a house with 6 other people. Our monthly rent right now is $850, but our hope is to be able to rent the master bedroom when it becomes available in March. This way, we could have our own private bathroom! We also need to purchase real health insurance. Right now, I have insurance through work, but Monica is in a medical sharing program. Basically, it covers most new problems, but does not cover any existing ones. She has acid reflux and is supposed to get another upper GI endoscopy, because her last one 2 years ago showed some changes in the lining of her esophagus. This would not be covered at all by her current plan. All this might seem crazy to some of you, but God is so much bigger than this number.

How can you help?

First off, you can just pray that we reach this amount.

You can give monthly or just one time. It could be a one time donation or $1 a day or $50, $100, or $500 a month. Maybe you don’t go to a church but still feel like giving a 10% tithe, and you just don’t know who or what to give to. If you feel led, you could even give the complete amount, praise God! Seriously, any amount you can give is greatly appreciated.

How can you give?

 Here is a link to our church account just make sure to scroll down in the donate tab and click where it says Hallquist. All donations will go directly to us.

http://www.gnccjc.org/giving/

 I really, really encourage you to pray and talk it over with your family or church family and friends. I hate asking for money, so this month of December will be our support month for the next year. After next December, we will be going home to see friends and family and find out what God wants us to do next, so once again, we are only asking for support for the next year.

We would like for you to help cheer us on. I will try my best to send out updates twice a week so you know where we stand.

We really appreciate all your help and prayers!! We miss you all so, so much!!

Much love and blessings,

Jason and Monica 

Hope

I want to give an update on my nurse practitioner program and the preceptor situation. First of all, I want to thank all of you for your prayers and encouragement! It means so much to Jason and I to know that we have such a big family of supporters to stand with and to lean on when things get rough.

In addition to stretching my faith and trust, this experience has taught me hope. I’m a realist, and I don’t like to be disappointed. So, I tend to guard my heart in situations in which I think I may be let down. This often prevents me from truly hoping. Instead, I hope that it will happen, but I consciously prepare for a let-down.

My post on Saturday was me working through my thoughts and feelings with God related to the disappointment of losing my preceptor. I wrote it in my journal and then decided to share it, word for word. I often can’t verbalize what I’m feeling in a situation, but if I begin to write it out, it just flows. After writing it all out, I felt a sense of relief. God and I both knew how I truly felt. I knew I had to make a choice, then, to choose to have hope and choose to have faith. I wasn’t sure if a feeling of hopefulness would come, but it did. By Saturday afternoon, I had a renewed sense of hope. Even though I didn’t know how it would turn out, I knew that it would work out.

My school was very gracious and encouraged me to keep trying to find a preceptor. I sent out a plea to everyone I know on the island that may have a connection with a doctor. I chased several leads, but nothing came to fruition. A woman I volunteer with at the YWAM Health Clinic had told me that she was going to see a new doctor on Monday. I asked her to ask this doctor if he would accept me for clinicals. I had already called this office several times, but they said they weren’t accepting students. I gave her a copy of my resume anyway, along with a letter explaining what I needed. I didn’t hear anything back, so I figured it was another dead end.

On Tuesday, I went on an outreach with a group of people from a clinic in town, along with a police officer and an EMT. We went around to areas that the homeless frequently stay, and we gave out hygiene kits and offered wound care. I had already been communicating with an office manager at this clinic about doing clinicals there. The ladies that I went on outreach said that they would talk to the appropriate people to get me in for a clinical experience. I was so encouraged! I thought this was the ‘in’ I needed to finally find a preceptor!

I talked to an administrator from the clinic later on that day, and she informed me that they already had a student doing clinicals there, and they had just hired several new staff members, so they would not be able to accommodate me at least until mid-October.

My sense of hopefulness quickly faded. Even though my university was being gracious, I knew I had to have a preceptor at least before my first clinical assignment was due, which is this coming Monday. Jason and I were in the kitchen on Tuesday evening, cleaning our dinner dishes. I asked him, “At what point do I give up? Every single door that I thought would open has been slammed in my face. When do I stop trying?”. He said, “Well, I guess when God tells you to stop”. Not the answer I wanted to hear. God hadn’t told me to stop trying, but I felt that it was useless.

Five to 10 minutes later, my phone rang. It was a doctor from the office that my friend had taken my resume to! He said that he hasn’t taken a student in a couple of years, but he would like to help me, since I’m doing it for missions! I got all the information from him I needed and hung up. I ran to Jason, yelling that he’d said he would do it, and then I cried tears of joy. I laughed at God’s timing in the phone call right after questioning if I should give up.

I still don’t understand God’s timing, and I probably never will. But, I know that it is for His glory and for my good and the good of all His people. I don’t understand why, when you pray for something, it could happen instantly, or it could take a few days, months, years, decades, or a lifetime. But I do know that prayer changes things. It does something in the heavenly realms that we can’t understand. Sometimes it feels pointless to pray, especially if we’ve been praying for something for a long time and nothing has happened, or if you’ve prayed for a loved one to be healed, but they end up passing away.

 

I can’t tell you why it seems that some prayers are answered easily and others take years of crying out to God, and some are answered with a “no”. The Bible tells us to pray relentlessly. There is a parable in Luke 11:5-10 that Jesus told about the persistent friend. He instructs us to pray so much that it almost gets annoying! Persistence is key. God wants to help us, but there is so much going on in the spiritual realm that we don’t understand. Not to mention that Satan is trying to wreck everything. So, we must stand strong in our faith and “pray without ceasing”. I have seen prayer do incredible things right before my eyes. You just have to take a step of faith and have hope. God will ALWAYS meet you there, even if it doesn’t turn out like you expected.

Thanks for your part in this breakthrough of finding a preceptor! I hope it will encourage you to keep praying and hold onto the hope that God offers us!

Love and blessings,

Jason and Monica

 

Are You Letting Me Down?

I Trust You. 3 simple words. Kinda roll off the tongue for a ‘good Christian girl’.

But do I really mean them??

When the rubber meets the road, when my dreams are shattered, when my faith is shaken, do I really mean it?

When God brought us to Kona, I thought it was so that I could continue working on my Nurse Practitioner program. God is the reason I even started the program. It was His will and His prodding that made me decide to do it. And it just makes sense. I can do so much more as an NP in medical missions than as a nurse.

So, I began looking for a preceptor to do clinicals with for my school back in June, when we were still in Manila. I called several family practices, but no was was available and/or willing to accommodate me. I tried again when we went home for church camp. Again, a lot of dead ends. Then, someone finally called me back and said that they could take me. After that didn’t work out, I re-visited a clinic I had already tried. They changed their minds and said they could accommodate me, but then said maybe not, but that they would try. I tried one more doctor, who said he would do it! I turned in all the necessary paperwork to my university. Once I finally got approved to start clinicals on Wednesday, I called the doctor to schedule a time to start. He never called back. I tried again the next day. Nothing. On Friday, I got an email saying that, basically, the approval process had taken too long, and he was not willing to proceed as my preceptor.

I was crushed. Really, after all the ups and downs in this process, it all comes crashing down? My course syllabus states that if a student doesn’t have a preceptor by week 3, he/she may be administratively withdrawn from the course, and they would have to wait another year to take the course again. Friday was the end of week 3. And I’ve already called every doctor’s office in this town, as well as some an hour away. Even if I found another preceptor today, it may take weeks to be approved.

I thought this was your will, God! I’m doing this for You! Why is this happening??

I Trust You.

I certainly hope I mean these words. I think I mean them. I guess you never really know till it’s tested. Like gold, you never truly know it’s real till you put it in the fire.

Refinement.

It sounds like such as elegant word, but it hurts like hell.

I thought this was Your will, God! I literally left everything for You! And, honestly, it feels like You let me down.

I always think about the song, King of My Heart. At the end, we sing, “You’re never gonna let, Never gonna let me down” over and over. I remember singing that hesitantly the first few times, because I wasn’t sure that I truly believed it in the depths of my heart. After a couple of months, however, I knew it to be true with every fiber of my being. I still know it. So, why do I still feel like You’ve let me down?

I guess this is where faith, trust, and hope come in. I KNOW You’re working this all out for my good, even if I can’t see it yet. I KNOW you are always, always good, even if I can’t wrap my head around it. I KNOW I can trust in You, no matter what.

One of my favorite verses has always been Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”. I know without a doubt that, yes, God is working all things out for the good of His Kingdom, the Church. Us. The Body of Christ.

But what about me personally? Is God working everything out for MY good?? After all, I gave up everything to follow you, so I deserve………Wait. I don’t deserve. I don’t actually deserve anything. Because God sent His Son to DIE for me. He was the Prince of Heaven; Earth and all that’s in it was made through Him. He deserved nothing but a life of glory.

Instead, He chose to come to the earth, that “was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him” John 1:10-11. He deserved to be worshiped day and night, but, instead, he was beaten, spit on, and nailed to a tree.

So, why do I deserve to have everything work out the way I want it to? Don’t get me wrong, God LOVES his children and wants what is best for them. That’s why, sometimes, things happen, and we can only see them as bad, as road blocks, as dream-killers. But God can see the whole picture. And through that, He can work EVERYTHING out for the good of those who love Him.

So, whether I’m able to continue school this semester, or if I get withdrawn from my course; if I finish it 2 years from now, or 10 years from now, or maybe even not at all, I can trust that His hand is in it and that it’s all going to work out for my good.

Because He’s never gonna let me down.

Please join us in praying that God’s will be done in this situation, and pray for grace and peace for me, whatever the outcome.

Love and blessings,

Monica and Jason

Surprises

oh my! Where do I begin?! Well, surprise, we are home! It was a complete surprise to us as well! Last Saturday, we were talking with Justin, our church’s youth pastor, who said that he was in desperate need of more leaders for youth camp. Jason told him that we would pray about and consider coming home to help. We are in a transition period, so we have a couple of weeks off. Jason told him that we are already trusting God for 5 or 6 more supporters to give $100 per month, so what’s one more? Justin replied that we are crazy, then asked if we were serious. He then told Jason that he would try to find the funds to get us here.

We are so exhausted from traveling, so we wanted to be sure that coming home was God’s will. We both prayed and felt that it was right. Justin called back and said that he found someone willing to pay for our trip home! So, we bought plane tickets and left Hawaii about 5 hours later! Yes, I said Hawaii.

I have been trying to figure out the best way to explain that we will be missionaries based in Hawaii, without people thinking we’re just there on vacation. I have been quite nervous about announcing it, but then I realized that that fear is just Satan trying to discourage us. God clearly told Jason and I when we were in Perth, around March, that our next step would be Kona, Hawaii.

This was a very scary decision for us for a number of reasons. First of all, Hawaii is super expensive. When we look at the numbers, we won’t be able to afford it. But, we keep reminding ourselves that God called us there, and He won’t abandon us. He will provide whatever we need; we just have to trust! It’s also scary because Kona is by far the biggest base in YWAM, and we are country people who like small communities. Then, there’s also the fear that people won’t understand or take seriously what we’ll be doing in Hawaii.

We were only in Kona for 2 days before leaving to come home. When we go back this Friday, I will be on staff part-time with the on-campus health clinic as well as an urgent care that YWAM operates off-campus. This urgent care is open to the public and offers holistic care, including prayer, if the patient wishes. I am super excited to work with the local community while blending my faith and nursing. I will also be picking up my nurse practitioner program, from which I have taken a one year leave of absence to do missions. I don’t know what it will look like, doing school and missions at the same time, and I don’t know if I will work on it the whole time we’re in Hawaii. I will just take it one semester at a time and ask God what each 6 month block should look like. Jason will be staffing a Discipleship Bible School in Kona. He is looking forward to digging deeper into the Word while leading and discipling students.

We’re not completely sure how long we will be in Kona. The ‘plan’ is 18 months, but we will see what the Lord says and where He will lead us.

It has been so good to be home. Going to camp reenergized us and filled us up again. God is so cool! We’ve been saying for months that youth camp is the one thing we really wished we could come home for. We never thought it would actually happen! What an amazing God we serve!

If you would like to help support us in this mission that God is leading us on, you can donate through our account at Good News Community Church. You can do it online at http://www.gnccjc.org/giving. Just select ‘Hallquist’ on the drop down menu.

Thank you so much for reading! Oh, by the way, we were able to raise enough funds to give out 1,103 bibles in Manila! Thank you for all you do; we love you!!

~Jason and Monica

Miraculous Hope

This is our friend Boying. We met him and his wife the first week we were here. He fell 5 years ago and injured his back, causing spinal cord compression and spinal stenosis; he has been bed-bound ever since. He has a wheelchair, but he is quite heavy to lift. His son is the only person who can transfer him, and he works most of the time. The last time he was out of bed was May 9, 2016.

Boying and his family had lost all hope that he could ever recover. He hasn’t been back to the doctor since his fall, because they cannot afford it. Even though Boying is confined to his bed all the time, he is surprisingly joyful and quite funny! He is an amazing man!

We did a little research and found out that there is a hospital in Manila that would see him for free, since he is a resident. So, we took him there for a repeat MRI, to see if there is anything that can be done for him, but the hospital said that it would be a 4-6 month waiting period for it! We were so discouraged, but we waited for him to be seen by Family Medicine, at least. After about an hour of waiting, he was in terrible pain from sitting up in his wheelchair. I went inside to see how much longer it would be until they could see him. A woman pointed to a mound of papers, which were all people who were ahead of him and said it would be another 2 hours. I went back and told him in total defeat.

I felt so hopeless; we had just dragged him all this way in intense pain for nothing. He kept telling Jason and I that it was ok and that it is very hard for poor people to get good medical help here. I was about to burst into tears! Boying’s son, who came with us, went to try to find a jeepney to take us back.

Just after his son left, Boying said, “They just called my name!”. I couldn’t believe it! It was a miracle! I saw how many people were in front of him, and there’s no way his name should have been called, but it was! He was able to be seen and even got his blood drawn and ECG. The people and service was great, which greatly encouraged Boying. It planted a seed of hope in him that he had completely lost!

Even though we weren’t able to get the MRI, Boying got a thorough check up and was able to apply for disability benefits. More importantly, he and his family were able to see that there is hope for him!

Our team decided to pay the extra cost and get Boying an appointment for an MRI at a private hospital, so we could get it done before we leave. I called Boying the night before to tell him what time we would pick him up.

Much to my surprise, he said that the free hospital was able to get him an appointment for next week, instead of 4-6 months!! Another miracle! His wife even had the transportation set up already. I was overjoyed, because Boying and his family now see that there IS hope and options for him! It also allowed them to see that they don’t need us around to take action.

After Boying gets his MRI results, he will go to another hospital with a spinal surgeon to see if he is a candidate for surgery. If he is able to have surgery, he could quite possibly walk again, or at least be able to get in and out of bed and his wheelchair easier! Please pray that all of this will come to fruition, so that he can have a better quality of life. We would love to see our sweet friend walk again!!

Thanks for reading!

Jason and Monica