Manuia le Kerisimasi ma le tausaga fou
I’m back in Hilo. I spent 72 hours in LA this past weekend. Honored my aunty and closed her funeral with a spoken word. I gave her, her flowers then and now. I met with my girlfriends at Casalena a fancy restaurant in the heart of the valley. I spent the night catching up with my childhood friends. We share this beautiful bond of church and religion and hope that Jesus is still calling us by our names. It is remarkable to see how relationships still matter in a superficial world. No matter time and distance we can find grace in these conversations and be reminded about what matters. I needed it. It filled me up. The Potter’s hand is still moving…
Some part of me is plotting my return to the city. But do not mistake this for a bid to recapture my claim to stay. I am a stranger in LA. I try and make a left turn on a busy street in downtown and almost get hit. I hear their horns screaming as I grin my way pass. It is all I know and nothing I want. It is chaotic and nosey. It is loud and foggy. It is beautiful and desperate. It is mad and wonderful. It is addicting and sorrowful. I still love her but it’s a no for me.
Being home for that little time was the best ending to this chapter of 2024. We get to live. We get to forgive. We get to show up. We get to listen and bare each other’s prayers and hold each other up. We get to see humanity, enjoy the relish of listening to someone laugh after they have been crying. Appreciate the lightness being lifted off the ground during a hug, smile wholeheartedly when someone informs you that you were a character in their dream, pray mercy that the dream holds the authenticity of God’s truth.
There’s not a theology topic in today’s letter but a reminder as we move into 2025: if the gift of being alive was taken away from you now, what would you have to show God as evidence that you truly lived?
Live my friends, Salvation is free but it will cost you this life you love so much. Give yourself the gospel. Read your word, find God in the mundane of your life. Love, show up if you can, help one another, give Jesus to one another, share, pray, uplift, forgive and fill…
don’t try try to feel your words, but tame your tongue and guard your heart with all diligence. See you in 2025!
Manuia le Kerisimasi ma le tausaga fou!
I am writing you love letters from Hilo.
I pray you read this with hope and love. With joy and expectation— knowing Jesus loves you but more importantly He needs you to grow up— in your word reading, praying, believing, hoping, looking for His return.
All my love,
G.
