Contacting Me

I will have phone service in El Salvador. However, there is a $1.99 per minute rate whether I am calling another line in the US or El Salvador. These charges also apply to checking my voicemail. I will only be using my phone for emergencies and will probably not be able to communicate by calling you. The good news is that text messages cost 25 cents, which we can use sparingly.

I'm not sure what internet service will be like in El Salvador. Limited I'm very sure. But please feel free to email me at thokama@westmont.edu, and I may be able to check it from time to time. Otherwise, look for occasional updates on this blog.  

Overwhelming Victory

At our last meeting with the other Emmaus Road teams, Benji Bruneel, Westmont's Campus Life Coordinator, shared briefly on spiritual warfare. He mentioned that according to reports from teams that have come back from previous trips abroad, the one thing they could have better prepared for was the spiritual warfare they faced. We broke up in small groups by teams to answer what was this warfare that many Christians today know little about. "It is real" was the general answer we all agreed was true. Spiritual warfare is a reality. During this time it is especially crucial that we understand the intentions of the enemy and also recognize the power of God and the overwhelming victory we have in Christ.

Benji continued in sharing four ways we could be "shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves" (Ephesians 6:10-18).

1) Prepare for it

2) Pray against it - Prayer is the most effective weapon!

3) Pursue holiness - The chief opportunity for the enemy to attack is sin. The enemy will use the cracks in our character - pride ungodliness, selfishness, etc. - to his advantage.

4) Remember our Lord - We are going in the name of Jesus Christ. We know that he is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

In the midst of an exciting and hectic week, our team will not forget that we are bearers of truth and that we need to be pure vessels of His love. Therefore, how must more so are we to be steadfast in prayer and immovable in the face of the treats of the enemy? I know that victory in Jesus Christ is sweet and so very blessed. I look forward to sharing these victory stories with you as my team embarks on this journey away from home.

As a first report of God's faithfulness, I just finished taking my Political Economy, Race, and Gender final, the last exam I will ever take as a sophomore!

Peace,

Trin

Oración Por Favor

Dear Family and Friends,

On Monday morning at 2am, I will be flying out of LAX with my Emmaus Road team to El Salvador. For six weeks until we return on June 13, we will be working as interns under local doctors and other professionals with an organization called Cideco, which is located in the city of La Herradura. Five members of the team - Amanda, Jordan, Mariah, and Andrew - will be working with local doctors, while Jolie, Jill, and I will be working with a local family to begin a recycling business. 

In our last few days here in Santa Barabara, as we finish up finals and continue to take our typhoid and malaria pills, I invite you to join us in prayerful preparation. I thank you for remembering me in your prayers and would greatly appreciate your continued support for my team throughout the next month and a half. Your prayers are powerful, and our remarkable God has sustained us thus far during our semester-long training. Over the past four months, as we learned more about El Salvador and prayed over each other and this country, the Spirit has been conditioning our hearts to better love our Latin American neighbors. 

I am so encouraged by your vigilance in prayer. There are a few things I would like to specifically request:

1) Physical and spiritual strength for each of my brothers and sisters and myself:

Amanda Bakker (Team Leader) from Quincy, IL

Mariah Kimbriel (Team Leader) from Littleton, CO

Jolie Bernal from Encinitas, CA

Trinity Hokama from Kaneohe, HI

Jordan Johnson from Beaverton, OR

Anna Molinari from Salinas, CA

Jill Partridge from Alta Loma, CA

Andrew Schwemmer from La Quinta, CA

2) Transportation safety for Amanda and Mariah who will be leaving on Friday and the rest of the team who will be leaving on Monday.

3) Team unity 

4) We will be good ambassadors of truth to the community of La Herradura - the churches, patients at the clinics, the locals, and our host family 

5) We will be receptive to the training we receive from Cideco and serve whole-heartedly in full obedience to whatever God wills

6) Sensitivity to God and completely willingness and flexibility to whatever He asks us to do

7) The work that we do abroad will be effective and uplifting to those we will be serving 

8) We will be victorious in spiritual warfare

Thank you for being in this together with me. 

Peace and Grace, 

Trin