The Point One Vision Kauai SERVE mission team spent one week on the island of Kauai to support a local network of programs working with youth. Although most tourists won’t see this side of “paradise” and some might wonder at the necessity of a “mission trip” to Hawaii, the reality is that these islands deeply struggle with some of the highest rates of suicide and drug addiction in the nation.

The Keala Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit organization primarily focused on prevention of these modern culture traits by teaching the youth of Kauai principles of discipline, accountability and responsibility in after-school CrossFit programs, among other extensions of the organization. Our mission was to equip them with the necessary and qualified persons to help facilitate their quarterly “Wellness Assessment,” a comprehensive evaluation of each students physical, cognitive and emotional wellbeing. This team also facilitated a special Full Armor session to use breath awareness and cold exposure as a means to integrate spiritual health with a biblical perspective.

The Kauai SERVE team also provided manpower to the newly established Old Koloa Regenerative Farm, a local resource for fresh foods that works closely with the Keala Foundation and aims to provide the means for Kauai to be self-sustaining. The import shortages of the COVID-19 pandemic exposed Hawaii’s vulnerability to a global crisis and the OKRF is ensuring that such events do not risk the livelihood of it’s community.

This guest article was written and submitted by Heidi Poppens, a member of our Kauai SERVE mission team and graduate of the Full Armor Leaders Course. This is the testimony of her experience.

It seems like a wisp and it’s gone. The magic of the moment. The provision. The culmination of work-driven process, selfless love for one another and dedication - it was beauty, taking the leap of faith and venturing into the unknown. Twelve hours of travel. Who knew it would be so life changing? Who knew it would be exactly what was needed?

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,” it says in Jeremiah 29:11.

I’m Heidi, 42, a single parent raised by a single parent. I’m from the Midwest - middle of nowhere and everywhere. Meeting the Kauai SERVE team, I soon discovered that I was the oldest person on the team. I was the only person that was a parent of teens, the only person that was divorced and the only person that didn’t already know everyone. I was the puzzle piece that may have belonged in a completely different puzzle. I stuck out. My head was on a swivel and the combination of beauty mixed with the unknown was overwhelming. I was alone, and I was stuck in my self-created identity.

I love meeting new people so meeting the SERVE team was exhilarating. It prompted me to have questions and the questions needed answers. It’s an insatiable desire to know and be known, which in itself was a contradiction as I truly am afraid to be fully known. It furthered the oddity of me and drove my identity further into a hopeless hole of believing that I’ll never fit in. During the middle of the week, I began questioning if I was useful. Am I even helpful? Do I have belonging and value here?

During that time, two very specific things happened. I met Jaron and Sarah.

Jaron is one of the youth that attends the kids program at the Keala Foundation, the partner organization that our team served. I’ve never been able to freely love someone without questioning everything, but Jaron can. Jaron connected with me for unknown reasons and it just clicked. He wasn’t afraid - he just loved. His hugs were kind and during a moment of homesickness - it was a relief. He was my son’s age and it made me a mom again. A tiny bit of identity that I longed for - being a mom. God chose that for me well before I did.

Sarah Braunsdorf is the Executive Director of the Keala Foundation. She is a chosen mom. The neighborhood boys chose her and are still choosing her. She isn’t a biological mom yet, but she’s an amazing “chosen mom”. Exchanging stories with her that may not have resonated with anyone else seemed to fit perfectly into my heart. It held a tiny key to my purpose and identity.

My chosen identity was that I didn’t fit or belong. My identity with God is that He has a place for me that is perfect for me. He tells me, “let me be your foundation and help you find your place.”

I discovered, through this SERVE team, not what I can do but what we can accomplish together. It was pieces and fragments tethered together. What one didn’t know, another did. Where one was incomplete, another completed. We were chosen for our gifts of varying areas and how God knit that together was nothing short of miraculous. He has laid out the beginning and the end, why would He not know the intricacies of the middle?

This SERVE trip was beautifully orchestrated by God through Sarah Loogman’s open heart to give and serve others. She’s a brilliant vessel that’s willing to be used. It’s in our willingness that God can create far more than anything we’ve hoped or imagined. And what seems like a wisp and is gone can actually span eternity and change lives forever. I’m so grateful for the adventure - thanks Sarah, Danny, Franco, and Ashley!