Caption: The Bluewater Mission Church youth team introduces themselves on the first meeting of the Guam Vineyard Youth conference. There were more than 200 local youth in attendance.
In January, while middle and high school students were gearing up for Spirit Week, two HBA seniors were getting ready for a mission trip to Guam. On January 13, Sophie Chong and Lauren Espiritu, along with other students from their youth group at Bluewater Mission Church, departed from Hawaii to fly to Micronesia to serve at the annual Guam Vineyard Youth Conference.
Led by their Senior Pastor Jordan Seng and Youth Pastor Connor Hendrix, the Hawaii students were in Guam to help with conference logistics and participate in a variety of ministry opportunities at the conference, including sharing messages, praying for people, and organizing games. This trip was part of Chong and Espiritu’s training in Bluewater’s Youth Leadership Council. One aspect of their development as youth leaders is learning how to listen to the Holy Spirit and to exercise spiritual gifts like prophecy and healing. Espiritu explained, “Prophetic words are when you’re praying for someone and you receive a message from God that you’re supposed to relate to the person or community you’re praying for.” Chong recalled a prophetic word she received about a lonely fly on the wall when she asked God to reveal someone to her that needed guidance. There were many people around her at the time and she felt unsure about who the word was for. But, after more prayer, she felt that “[God] pointed out this one guy surrounded by friends.” When she went over to him to share her message, many of his friends nodded in agreement, and she realized that what she had said resonated deeply with him. Chong was pleasantly surprised and encouraged. “I learned that even when I can’t see it, God needs our eyes and our trust in the things He asks us to do.”
Similarly, Espiritu was inspired after seeing someone being healed through prayer. During a game, one of her friends (named Ella) on the Youth Leadership Council sprained her ankle. Espiritu and other youth leaders gathered to pray for her and Espiritu recalled someone telling Ella to try using her hurt foot. “She takes off the bandage, fully rotates her foot, and starts walking around and jumping on, and she’s completely healed,” Espiritu said.
Unlike school trips, which take place during school breaks, this mission trip required Chong and Espiritu to request for a discretionary absence from HBA. Coincidentally, the trip took place at the same time as Spirit Week, which meant that they had to miss out on classes and their senior year experience in Spirit Week. While this wasn’t an easy choice for them, Chong and Espiritu felt that it was for a worthy cause. Espiritu said, “It was a chance we took so that we were able to grow in our faith and minister to the kids and the people in Guam. Staying for Spirit Week would only give me this fleeting excitement, but going to Guam would give me everlasting memories and a lasting impression of how I can go about ministering to others in the future.” Chong added, “I got to go to a camp and really experienced what it was like to really experience God’s love. And I wanted to be able to do that for other people too.”
Ethan Wut, an an alumnus of HBA, was also on the trip, and shared that while there are many opportunities to minister to others on mission trips, students shouldn’t neglect opportunities for growth at home. “There may be problems that God wants you to solve first,” Wut said. He also shared this verse from Proverbs 16:9: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
