A week at Hawaii Pacific University

Hawaii Pacific University (downtown campus) is a small private school in the middle of downtown Honolulu, just a few blocks from Chinatown. It's only a few buildings here and there (the shaded ones in the little map and maybe 1 or 2 more) right next to restaurants, shopping centers, and business/finance buildings -- reminds me of NYC. HPU currently has no Christian groups on campus, so we are trying to launch CCC there by finding students or faculty who want to own that and start a movement.


This past week was HPU's finals week for summer school session 1, so our campus team got permission to set up a table on Tuesday to hand out free water and snacks. A few people stopped by to chat, including a biochem major originally from Georgia, but for the most part, the day was pretty slow and we didn't get into very many conversations. The team was a bit discouraged, but they decided that this approach (waiting for people to come to them) was probably not the most effective way to form relationships.

So on Wednesday, the team decided to be a little more proactive and pair up to survey students on their spiritual backgrounds and share the gospel if an opportunity arose.

One of the most encouraging parts of the day was running into a student (R) that we had met there the week before. Although he wasn't a believer, he really wanted to help us meet students - he told us what time summer school classes got out, what days were better for tabling, and where students hang out, etc.

In addition to being a fountain of information about HPU, he also seems to know everyone on campus, and has introduced us to quite a number of people. On Wednesday, he took us to meet his coworkers in the admissions office, where my student T was able to get into spiritual conversation and present the gospel to R and his coworkers! She was a total natural, even though she hadn't had much experience in sharing her faith and expressed doubt in her own ability to communicate the gospel. It seemed like every pair had some great conversations that day -- 15 people got to hear the gospel that day through our team's conversations!

Campus team with R and his brother M before we head out to the bus stop. Please pray for continued opportunities to develop our relationship with them and to continue the conversation on beliefs.

The team headed back to HPU on Thursday, excited about all the people they had met and talked to on Wednesday. However, campus was really quiet, and there weren't many people to talk to that day, so our team was a little discouraged. Please pray for God to connect us with students who want to reach their campus for Christ and a reminder that God is at work, no matter how many people we can talk to on a given day.


Thanks for praying!