Where in the World--Day 3

Today was another travel day. We left Denver around 8am and drove to Grand Junction for lunch and to get gas in the car. We then started on the stretch of road with no services. We only saw one gas station for about 200 miles...but the scenery was great. Tonight we are staying in Sandy, Utah just south of Salt Lake City. We got here about 6:00 pm.

We are very tired and looking forward to a day with very little driving tomorrow. We've never been in Salt Lake City so we are hoping to go and see some of the sights. One of my favorite "sights" from today was the speed limit sign. On most of the drive in Colorado and Utah the speed limit was 75 mph. We don't ever get to drive that fast in Hawaii (or in Kansas, either).

Snow covered mountains as we were leaving Denver












We followed the Colorado River for miles












Alex and Fitz at a scenic canyon overlook in Utah











Tim's favorite "sight" of the day

Where in the World--Day 2

So, today was a casual day to relax from the travel yesterday. Scattered thunderstorms were forecast for Denver so we decided to spend the day at Colorado Mills Mall. We walked the entire mall to give our legs a good stretch after the car ride yesterday.

Tonight we are going to relax in the hotel pool and get to bed early so we can hit the road again tomorrow. We are planning to drive to Salt Lake City via I-70 through the mountains tomorrow. Our AAA triptik says that we have a 276 mile stretch with no gas or services at any of the exits. That should be a fun drive!

Here's a photo of the girls and Fitz relaxing in the hotel. Have a good evening! I'll post another update tomorrow...hopefully from SLC, Utah.

Where in the world is the Johnson Family?

OK...I'll admit it. I'm a big fan of NBC's Today Show. I watch part of the show almost every morning. Recently Matt Lauer did his 7th or 8th Around the World trip. The Johnson Family isn't going all the way around the world, but we began a major road trip today. I'm going to try to post a daily update on our travels from Kansas City to Honolulu. The trip began this morning at 6:50 am as we left the home of our friends The Casler's. After a quick pit stop at the Vet for Fitz to have his final health exam to allow him to enter the state of Hawaii we were off.

Today's journey was 616 miles and would have taken about 9 hour had we driven straight through. Of course, we decided to stop for a nice lunch at Quizno's and with Fitz along we had to make regular doggy walking stops. Here is a map of today's journey.


We had a nice drive until the last hour or so when we drove into thunderstorms. They had hail storms earlier in the day in Denver. We thought it was snow on the side of the road, but found out later that it was an accumulation of hail.

Tomorrow we are either going to the zoo, the aquarium or the Colorado Mills mall. It all depends on the weather. During this week of travel, we request that you pray for our safety on the roads and in the air. Also pray that our "stuff" is making the journey successfully. It left our home last Friday and is scheduled to arrive in Honolulu sometime in June. We are scheduled to arrive on June 6.

Here are some pictures of the move from Overland Park.

The Empty House













The Container holding our stuff












A full container load.


Even though the container looked full, we managed to "squeeze" several boxes of books in for a friend who is moving back to Hawaii. It should be fun to open the container upon its arrival in Honolulu.

Our house is sold!

Praise the Lord! We sold our house yesterday. Now we can start packing for the arrival of the Matson container on May 23. Thanks for praying.

District Assembly Report

Tim and Debbie had an amazing, whirlwind trip to Honolulu for District Assembly. For any non-Nazarenes reading the blog, District Assembly is a yearly gathering of delegates from all of the churches on the district/state. There are business meetings and conventions throughout the day with worship services each night. We arrived late on Tuesday, April 10. We had to get up early on Wednesday morning to go through Honolulu traffic for Tim to interview with the Ministerial Credentials board. Debbie had a job interview with the public schools that morning as well. Both meeting went well. Thank you for praying for us.

At lunchtime on Wednesday, Debbie had another interview with the Principal and Pastor for Windward Nazarene Academy. It went really well and she was offered a job teaching either 1st or 2nd grade next year. We are really praising God for this. After a brief tour of the campus on Friday the 13th, Debbie accepted this job. We are planning for Alex to be tested for admission to Windward Nazarene as well. It would really be great if they could both be at the same school. Please pray for Alex as she doesn't really enjoy these middle school admission tests.

On Wednesday evening, the District Superintendent gave his annual report to the district. It was an inspirational call to "change the climate" on the district and to "equip churches for health". At the conclusion of his report, one of the folks on the district read the history of the Kaimuki Church of the Nazarene. They had many good years of ministry in the neighborhood where we will be starting a church. Gordon Wong then briefly told the story of his connection to Kaimuki and church planting and told how I was called by God to be a pastor during a weekend of services at The Bridge Church. I then spoke to the Assembly briefly and told them of my call, preparation for ministry during these past 3 years at NTS, and our plans and dreams for the new church called The Point.

Our good friend Gary Wong then came forward to dance a hula to the song "Thank you for giving to the Lord". That song is used all the time at the close of missions services, but until you've seen a strong guy dancing a hula in praise to God you've never really heard that song sung. While Brother Gary was dancing, they took an offering to help with our moving expenses. PRAISE GOD--over half of the money that will be needed was given that night. Debbie and I were unsure how we were going to afford the move, but we knew that God would provide. We just didn't know that He would provide so much all at once.

On Friday night we were able to attend a Bible study with a couple of families from The Bridge that live in East Honolulu and Kaimuki. It was great to have the opportunity to share the vision about the church and what God is doing so far.

The week ended with Tim doing some work at the parsonage painting Alex's new bedroom. That pastor who interviewed Debbie on Wednesday was even so kind as to come and help and bring painting supplies. Thank the Lord for Kevin Kaya! Sunday was a great day of worship as Tim drove out to Ewa Beach to preach for that congregation and share the plans for the new church. They sent in an offering to help with the moving expenses. Tim was also able to see friends at The Bridge on Sunday morning and even attended the other new church on the District, Living Waters.

It was an amazing week and we were both overwhelmed by a sense of peace from God that He is taking care of all the details for us. The people of the district expressed such love for us throughout the week. There is a great sense of excitement on the district for The Point to begin.

At this point, Graduation day is just weeks away. The container will be delivered in less than three weeks for us to move. We will be leaving Kansas City driving to Oakland on May 29 and on June 6 we will be on a plane to our new home and future in Honolulu.

Other than the request for Alex and her schooling, our only prayer request for this week is to Thank God for his provision for us. Please spend some time in prayer thanking God for what he has done and is doing for us and The Point.

Thanks for praying!


To see older posts, visit the former blogsite (http://newhawaiichurch.blogspot.com)