If you ask most people around here about Waianae you will often get very negatives comments. They will usually advise not to venture to that side of the island. Why? I guess because it has a reputation for being hot, dirty and full of crazy homeless locals who don’t really like haoles (White people) because they stole their land. Or something like that. Really. All I have been told by people not from Waianae is that nobody goes there.
Except me.
I go there just about every day and I am as haole as you can get. Let me tell you that you should never judge a book by its cover and this place is no exception.
I didn’t choose to serve in this community. God did. When I was deciding on where I wanted to serve for the year I decided to draw lots and let God make the choice for me. I wrote the choices on three pieces of paper, folded them up and put them in a hat. Then I drew one and it was Waianae. After all I had heard about this place I so didn’t want to spend my year there so I drew three more times. Every time it was the same answer. Waianae. Then my Bible fell open to Proverbs 16:33 which reads, “The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord." So I figured I better trust God and go to Waianae.
Thank God I did!
Every Sunday we have our church on the beach. We do not have a building that we call a church. Just people. The people are our church, we are our church. I have heard this concept many times over the past years because I attended a church in Oregon that did its share of moving. But it wasn’t until I had my church in Waianae every Sunday under a tent on the beach that I realized that it is not about a place or a building but it is about the congregation.
My new church has become like my Hawaiian ohana (family).
Every day I head out with two of my team mates to the west side. We all volunteer at the Waianae Boys and Girls Club three days a week. The first day we were there they put us each in a different area to help out. I was assisting in the teen center. As the teens entered the center they just looked at me and walked past. I felt as though they hated me being in their teen center. I don’t know if it was because I was white or what but I felt as though they didn’t want me there.
One girl who looked really tough came in with her Taco Bell, swearing and talking about how she got into a fight with a haole girl that tried to bite her. I just put my head down. Then this boy named Ryson came into the center and right away introduced himself to me. He started asking me questions about where I was from and what I was doing there. As I began to tell him I noticed that every teen in the room seemed intrigued with our conversation and they all slowly started opening up to me. Then one of the teens said something funny and I laughed and well...I "snorted"! The whole room broke out in laughter. It was then that I knew I had made some friends.
Every day that I am in Waianae I feel I am where God wants me to be. When I tell people where I am spending most of my time they tell me I am crazy. I just tell them that Waianae isn’t as tough as it lets on and God has me out there to bring out the soft side.
Pray that I can continue to love and build relationships with the people in the Waianae community.
