somebody turned 4 today...

celebrating lei':)

it's time to start bloggin' again......

wahiawa is great and one of the perks of being a part of the community are all the cute local kids. our community impact team organized a bbq at the apartments down the street and a couple of us were able to go out and hang out with our neighbors and eat some good food (also a perk). it was quite the chilly night, and i learned that it actually gets cold in wahiawa and while complainin' over the weather, a swede told me...."if you were born a swede that wouldn't be a problem." as if i could fix anything about that. i also learned that there is such thing as a blind man's camera, shell and kristin (the couple in the front) are blind and the whole time this picture was being taken he was makin' fun of cobe tellin' him that he doesn't even know how to work a blind man's camera....the camera actually talks and tells you what to do.

the cute little girls pictured above (well, besides me...) are selena and jazminn. selena is a dear and has a big surgery on her vocal chords next week, and jazminn is a big bunch of sass and likes to make you chase her around.

a new day:)

another glimpse into stn off-time....plus this is a great song:)

some wahiawa lovin'

God is doing some amazing things in Wahiawa, and I just wanted to take some time and share a little bit of history of where I live and work. When I first flew out to Hawaii, I was asked where I was going and when I answered, "Wahiawa," the lady sitting next to me offered me to go to her place and told me not to go there. Little did I know that God would lead me there several months later. HA! Wahiawa is the gateway to the North Shore, and has been avoided due to the drugs, violence, and sex trafficking that takes place (directly on the street we live on). Most people avoid walking the streets and just last night, I listened to one of our Aunties (who grew up here) share about the gangs that would just walk this street with their guns, this has always been a place where you don't want to tell people you live....and I live right in the center of it, and LOVE IT. so it was pretty exciting when Tom Bauer (founder of STN) pulled out this sign, and our hope is to get more local businesses to sponsor the I LOVE WAHIAWA campaign and show their pride for this town and bringing back the hope of transformation to this community. As we walked over, a couple of the Ulupono kids followed and were so excited and already striking poses in front of it before Tom even had it up. It was adorable to see these kids with the biggest smiles on their faces, pose in front of this sign, and be proud of where they live and the positive change that is happening here. we expect EXTRAORDINARY things for Wahiawa and hope that one day you can come visit and be a part of the change:)

support for bangladesh....

The countdown to get support for Bangladesh continues.....and for a limited time I will be selling headbands, here is a preview of a few....if your interested in purchasing one, you can email me at venessa.rude@surfingthenations.com and I will post up some more pictures once they are finished. if you would like to help me go, you can donate at www.surfingthenations.com.

baloha!!

support me in going back to bangladesh:)

the bangladesh team leaves stn in exactly one month, which means that God is going to do a HUGE miracle and blow me away by providing $2,100. i have been selling baloha shirts, headbands, journals, jewelry....and i even made my debut dressed as a Oreo Cookie at the fair taking pictures with kids. my next step, is to ask you, my supporters, friends, and family. please partner with me and surfing the nations and help get me back to bangladesh.

if you are interested you can donate at www.surfingthenations.com and enter "support" and "venessa rude" in the note. any amount of support would work, prayer support or financial support....pray for a miracle....and please be a part of this miracle! i will keep a countdown going til the day of departure.......thank you and baloha!!

how we spend our lunch breaks....:)

so emily thought it would be fun to teach le'i how to leg wrestle...we each took turns and it was a great way to end our lunch break and i just had to capture it all on video:)