Do people blog anymore? When I get the rare chance to post some content I mostly do it on instagram and facebook. Someone shared with us about a year ago that it was hard to find evidence of our ministry through our blog and updates. I think that person forgot what it was like to have young children. I wish I had energy to formulate a thought after I put the kids down much less write an update or a blog. The only reason this is getting cross posted right now is because “Baby J” woke up crying at 445 this morning so I just got up after her getting her back down.
Also some other people have shared that they aren’t getting our updates. Our last update that we sent out did indeed struggle to get to peoples inboxes, and then people responded and I didn’t get their responses. Please add jimjessbaker(at)jimjessbaker.com to your address book in your e-mail. (Why did I write it like that? Because bots surf webpages and if you have your actual e-mail listed out and you can get added to all kinds of spam lists. I once thought our newsletter was gaining popularity when I saw that we had hundreds of new subscribers and it was just a Russian bot.
Anyway… here’s what I recently posted on the socials.
I feel like I get these tiny glimpses of what Paul meant when He wrote this in Philippians:
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
Last week was our anniversary and I asked a question about hotel hacks on Facebook because I was looking up hotel stays here and everything was $600 a night. That isn’t in the cards right now. But someone reached out and asked me what we were doing Saturday and booked us a night at a hotel in Waikiki.
I thought it was the hotel that we stayed at when we had to evacuate our single wall, on stilts home during one of the hurricanes. But when we arrived we realized it wasn’t. This hotel was beach front. Jess giggled as we were checking in, and said this is crazy. I thought for sure we were at the wrong hotel and were going to have to walk to the hotel I was thinking of that was further inland. Nope. It was the right hotel.
We had 19 hours of uninterrupted conversation and a full night of uninterrupted sleep. We played tourist and ate dinner in Waikiki. I actually prayed out loud that we wouldn’t run into anyone we knew. God’s better than that and sometimes says no to my dumb selfish introvert prayers. We walked into a restaurant that caught my eye. I felt led to it for some reason.
Jess really wanted coconut shrimp and this one had that on its menu. I walked in and made eye contact with someone working in the back. It was the barista from our local Starbucks. I don’t frequent Starbucks anymore but I used to and knew a few of the baristas. He had switched jobs and was working here, we caught up a bit and I asked him for some recommendations on food. He asked if we were drinking and I said maybe and he said he’d take care of the first round. We didn’t chat after that, Jess got her coconut shrimp and since he didn’t come back I thought, eh, probably won’t happen that’s okay. Our waitress brought us our check, and he said “our boss thinks he kind of knows you so he took care of your drinks.” So my $3 soda water with lime was comped. A very kind gesture.
This was our first time away from our kids. So it’s been years since Jess and I have had more than a couple hours to ourselves. Aunty Sandi hung out with our kids. We asked her when she picked us up how the night was. She laughed and said, I was up 6 times between 2am and 6am. She said “I got a little taste of what you guys have been going through.”
I pumped the a/c the whole time we were there. The room was spacious and luxurious, clean and tidy. The toilet seat was even heated. Jess brought a book, I brought my Bible and my journal and 2 books, neither of us touched them the whole time.
We came home and Jess moved everything out of our kids room closet because termites have been destroying our floor. The exterminator is coming tomorrow to spray. We’ve been hearing rats in the ceiling, I set a trap outside where Jess saw what she thought was the biggest gecko on our window screen, when she realized it was a rat. I caught a mongoose in the trap, but no rats. And we aren’t even third world missionaries.
Jess has been working hard this last quarter prepping for her largest Bible Core Course that starts in 2 weeks. Reworking her staff manual, adjusting assignments, all of the admin things and e-mails to accept her students. Her staff is gathering today for a week of staff training.
This upcoming school has 17 students. All who have already been overseas sharing the gospel and are coming back for more training.
This is Jess’ 9th Bible Core Course that has run as her being the director. I’m so proud of her. She’s given birth at home, breastfed both of our children and when other schools weren’t running because of a global pandemic she still ran schools and is fulfilling all of the goals she set for this program, all in under 5 years.
She’s raising up Bible teachers through YWAM training in the Bible Core Course (BCC) besides new students, over 90% of the YWAM Honolulu staff have done a BCC now.
Her second goal was to get inductive Bible teaching seminars in local churches. Her program has run in two churches and they are in talks with a third.
Her third goal was to see an impact overseas with raising up inductive Bible study programs and teachers and it’s very exciting to see the ball start rolling there too.
Hotels, termites, rats, ministry. Life is crazy, God is good.
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