The Osterhus Times

“Madness” as in, “a state of frenzied activity”. During 4 weeks of the month of March, Tom was teaching at 4 DTS programs at various YWAM bases around the country.

The first week, I headed to Washington DC to speak at the Fire & Fragrance DTS on the topic of Christian Worldview and its influence on America. This was my first visit to DC and I was unprepared for how this time would affect me. Personally, I have been burdened for years with the direction that the nation seems to be heading in. During my time in the capital city, I was so encouraged by what I witnessed. Without going into detail, I was privileged to meet and join with fellow believers who are strategically and intentionally interceding for our nation’s leaders. Hope is now the best word to describe my feelings about the Lord’s work in our Capital city.

Following the week in D.C., I returned to Maui to teach in our DTS on the topic of Bible Survey. The goal of this week is to see how the person and work of Jesus Christ is woven throughout the biblical narrative and to reveal God’s heart to redeem all people to Himself. It was great to be home and to spend time with an amazing group of students who are hungry for the Lord.

After this, our whole family went to the neighboring Big Island of Hawaii where I taught in the Fire & Fragrance DTS in Kona. The topic here was Introduction to Worldview. It was so nice to have my family with me for a change. We were able to connect with friends we’ve made over the years in YWAM and to spend time with Hoku’s sister, Lahala, and family. While we were in Kona, we celebrated Elias’ 6th birthday.

We flew back to Maui on Friday afternoon. As soon as we got back, I met with our Leadership Team for a few hours before returning home to pack and take the red-eye flight to Alaska late Friday night. In Anchorage, I was picked up by an old friend from my early days in YWAM. Scott Frerking and I served in the leadership at the Maui base in the mid-90’s. Scott and his wife, Sarah, and family are living in Wasilla where they serve at Church on the Rock. It was such a great time to catch up as it had been over 16 years since our paths had crossed. After a day with them, I flew to the town of Homer, Alaska to teach in the Arctic Mercy DTS on the topic of Introduction to Worldviews. This was my 5th or 6th time teaching there. I had a fabulous time with the students and staff of this YWAM location. It’s always nice to get a short dose of winter weather and an occasional moose encounter. My DTS friend, Ken Farnen, lives here and we had our yearly reunion. Now I’m back and am looking forward to staying put for awhile while we run the Spring schools at the Maui Base.

After a very busy month preparing for the the Fall DTS and SBFM schools, we began the schools on September 10th. It is such a privilege to have staff and students here from around the world (Asia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. We are full to capacity in the DTS program and have 14 students in the SBFM.

Before the schools started, the staff were very busy bringing our property into compliance with some county regulations. It was a lot of work, but we got the job done by the deadline. Tom has been teaching for the past 3 weeks in both schools on topics such as Intro to Worldview and the Nature of Truth, State of the World, and Bible Overview. It is nice to have a bit of a break before he heads to DTS’s at neighboring YWAM bases in Kauai and Kona.

Timothy turned 12 years old on September 15 and is in 7th grade. He’s doing well in his classes and enjoys being on the volleyball and Lego Robotics teams. Elias is in kindergarten. He says it is not as much fun as preschool was, but he still likes it!

Our family outreach to Asia this summer was fantastic! It was the boys first time out of the country and they did so well with everything from travel, to new foods, to adapting to cross-cultural settings, to helping out where possible. We were so proud of them.

It was Ohokulani’s first trip overseas since before we were married. We began our family journey to Asia on our 14th wedding anniversary and traveled from Maui, to Honolulu, to Japan, to Taiwan, and on to our final destination in Asia. While there, we visited our long-term team in one city and then took the train to another city to involved in what our colleagues are doing there. We have some great family memories from the journey and our boys had a great introduction to what we do. They were in no hurry to return home.

Thank you so much for your prayers for us while we were there. It was surpassed our expectations in almost every way.

It has been a busy quarter… After teaching for a week at the DTS in Homer, Alaska in March, the following month Tom taught for 3 weeks straight at DTS’s here in Hawaii (Kona, Maui, & Honolulu). 2 weeks after that, he was privileged to speak at the Transformations conference for Global Harvest Church in Dallas, Texas. In addition to all of this, Tom has been filling in the Sunday morning pulpit at a local church here on Maui (Hope Chapel North Shore).
Last week, we graduated our Winter DTS. It was so encouraging to hear their stories of how the Lord used them on their respective outreach teams. It made us excited to be going to Asia ourselves. Tomorrow, June 14th, Hoku and I will be celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary as we fly to Asia along with our boys for our first overseas family outreach! We’re all so excited to be doing this together. So much is happening over there that we can’t share on this site. Please keep us in prayer.

We were surprised to see a picture of our local gas station on the front page of the Drudge Report (one of the most viewed web pages in the world). It seems everyone is feeling the pressure of skyrocketing fuel costs.

This gas station is in Paia, the main hub where we live here on Maui.

However, we prefer to focus on the new DTS which just began this past weekend. It is a smaller school than usual, but we are blessed with these students who are beginning their 6 month school here at YWAM. Please pray for them that the Lord will given them grace to adjust to the busy schedule and that the work He wants done in their lives would be unhindered.

Although Hawaii is under a Tsunami warning (first wave expected to hit around 3am HI time on Friday, March 10) we do not live in a Tsunami zone. We are far enough inland.

Please pray that the waves will dissipate and not cause any more damage in the Pacific Rim.

We’ll update with the situation here when there’s more to report.

Thank you for your prayers and concern.

- Tom, Hoku, Timmy, & Elias

If you’re wondering why the posts are so old, it’s because we’re having technical difficulties – all the posts, additions, and updates from the past year have been deleted somehow. Hopefully we’ll get them fixed soon

For the first time since 1994, we came under a Tsunami warning here in Maui.  While our home is in the safe zone, there are a couple of YWAM staff homes that are in the Tsunami zone in Paia. These folks were packed up and moved to high ground at the Haiku facilitiy.  The surges hit the islands but thankfully, none weren severe. No damage was caused and no one was hurt. Thanks for your prayers and concern.

We hope all is well with you and that you had a wonderful Christmas. 2009 had been a very busy year for us and 2010 doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.  Timmy had 3 weeks off and he and Elias enjoyed playing and fighting with each other. On Christmas day, we had about 10 staff over to celebrate (most went home for the holidays).

Our outreach teams have recently returned from ministering in Borneo, Thailand, Nepal, and another big country in Asia.  Graduation was on February 26th. On the home front, we have had a number of experienced leaders move on to other things such as marriage, university, or overseas ministries. This has left a greater leadership burden on our shoulders. Our DTS school leader (from Thailand) was not allowed back in the country and it took some time to find new leaders to take up this role.  Besides leading the Maui base, Tom has been doing a lot of teaching this year. In addition to teaching here in Maui, he has also been blessed to teach at YWAM bases in Kona, Honolulu, Alaska, and Asia. Next week he will be at the YWAM base in Honolulu teaching in the DTS on the topic of Christian Worldview. One of our ministry highlights has been commissioning a long-term team from Maui to a city in southern Asia to pioneer a permanent ministry. It has been thrilling to see God’s favor on us in our endeavors there.

This Summer, we will be in Minnesota for a time of rest and reconnecting with family, friends, and supporters.  The last couple of years have been extremely busy and we are in need of a change of pace. Please pray that the time will be relaxing as well as productive.  When Timmy was asked what his favorite part of going to Minnesota was he responded, “Everything!”

 

 

 

Sunday night, July 12 at 6:30 there will be an Open House for us at Crossroads Evangelical Church in Forest Lake, MN.  This will be a great time to reconnect with people and to share what has been happening in our lives and ministry.  Please feel free to join us if you’re in the area.