Austin Ochs

This week has been pretty legit. Austin Ochs came and talked to us. He is really cool guy. He told us a little bit about his past and growing up what things were like and if I could say one thing about him is that he does stuff. He will come up with an idea. Often a pretty big idea and act on it. Why not right? I was inspired, what is stopping you. He had an idea to form small groups at his school his softmore year and by the second semester 100 out of the 105 kids in his cool signed up wanting to be in small groups. It was amazing, he a softmore God used in a mighty way. Now he is a part owner of a few companies, his primary company being one called seat king. They build industrial seating, seems kinda boring and pretty basic to me, but the catch is the employees are all in prison. The manufacturing building is in the prison and they get to work for 8 to 15 dollars and hour, to send to their families or buy various approved amenities for their cell. They have started a seminary through that, and nine inmates are a part of it, they are studying and learning and changing that prison. Everyone who comes in that prison is given an opportunity to work and share in joy of Christ. Some are in for life sentences, but are content in the place that God has them, have repented from old sin and are now trying to help others. It is amazing some of the stories that come out of there. Then He is also working on a project in Honduras for hydro electric power. It is pretty cool. It was like an 8 million dollar project that will provide energy for a village they sell the electricy back to the Honduran government to provide energy there. His wife has now come up with an idea of praying scripture over others and started a website that will email you a verse each day as you go through different books of the Bible and you just insert the name of the person you want to pray for an it will incorporate it into a prayer based on the verses for that person. You can also go through it quicker on the website looking at the verses and the prayers they have written from that. It is really cool. Today is my little sisters 18^th birthday so that is crazy. She isnt allowed to be 18, but I knew she was gonna grow up on me at some point. So that is exciting, we will get to be in college together next year at pepperdine. Legit! So pumped. Tonight I went over to the Chanceys and cooked some venison for them and brought Matt Lydia and Xenia, we had a great time getting to know them better and sharing a little bit of our stories. We also had our pancakes and praise deal, which was fun. The song the more I seek you has just been really moving me lately. I cant get enough of it, but the versions on youtube are just ehhh. Live worship with my Link Year family is where it is at. Shout out to Sarah Emerson :D she probably doesn’t read my blog, but that’s ok. Austin challenged us with something I am going to take very seriously. Think of one thing you would do for God’s kingdom, if you had unlimited resources. I challenge anyone reading this to think about this as well. I don’t know what kind of following I have, but I would love to hear what you would do. I believe that God would provide me with the opportunity to gain whatever resources I need, so sky is the limit, lets go, I just gotta come up with a need and a God size idea.

Weird Week

It is weird to think that Link Year is almost over, this week has been unusual. I wasn’t here for class Monday morning, I was still in Dallas flying back. Had a cool conversation with the woman I sat next to o the plane about Link Year and about Jesus. It was awesome that God gave me that opportunity to share with her. She knew about Jesus and had been to church before but she didn’t really open up about where she was at with God. Anyway I’m praying that God will continue to work in her life. Class on Wednesday was with Rich, he runs Joshua Wilderness which is a different gap year program. It is in Hume Lake California kinda near Fresno. They are in a lot of ways very different than Link, partly because of location/isolation, but he spoke to us a lot on his trips to Israel and teaching about Jewish and Israeli culture. That was interesting. Then on Wednesday we had our small groups, which felt weird because that is normally on Mondays, we went through the study we are doing on identity, confronted some issues about times in my life where I am trying to be God is some way, trying to control things, or change people, or not wanting to ask for help from others. Our culture tells us a lot of things about what men should or shouldn’t do and a lot of times it contradicts the Bible and so we have to be careful not to get caught up into what we have always heard and what we are used to, but instead match it with the word. I got a ton of stuff done that afternoon, trying to get some things sorted out for the fundrasier I am trying to do for Fiji missions (Island encounters). Hitting a few road blocks, but nothing I think we cant get around. This morning almost all of the guys got up and we had a time of prayer together. It was really cool, we are going to do this every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of Link Year. I cant believe that it is almost over. It has been a blast. Choosing between Pepperdine and Westmont probably in the next week or so, by next week I will either be a Wave or a Warrior. Either way I am pretty pumped. I gotta go get some maintenance done, Later.

Brady White

This week we heard from Brady white. He shared with us a little bit about several different topics. He talked to about how passionately he pursued his wife while dating. How he loved her and took every opportunity to show it, but in his first year of marriage that dropped off and she felt like the whole dating thing was just a big show. He told us that to show us how our culture only understand love as a feeling. Reminded me if Joshua straub teaching us how to love better instead if feel better. Love is a commitment. The love that marriage is, the unconditional love, the love that is til death do us part. It is not going to always be rainbows and butterflies. It is hard, his wife spoke to in chapel about their move to Disney as she pursued a job there. The sacrifices they had to make for one another and how she got to impact the lives of kids there was awesome. She told us a story of a little girl who was born without the ability to hear and when doctors found a way to give her hearing, she told them that the first thing she wanted to hear was the Disney princesses. Well Blair got to be on of those Disney princess that sat and had an imaginary tea party in the magic kingdom with this little girl as she heard for the first time.  It was really cool to see how God has used their family up to this point to make a difference in the community God has placed them. This weekend I am home for a college acceptance function. Hopefully this will help shed some light on the college decision I have coming up between Westmont and Pepperdine. I think that God will use me at whichever school I go to but a decision still has to be made none the less. Til next time 

New Zealand/Fiji/USADay 35

And The journey home begins, we got up at like 5:30, got ready and headed to the airport, we were on a tiny plane to start out with. No security, like 18 people on the plane, 8 of them being us. Morgan was practically sitting with the pilots. Then after we got to Auckland we walked to the international terminal, which felt like a long way since I wasn’t feeling well. We had our layover, then flew to Fiji, we had to enter the country to get our bags from Laura Pitman, then we went back through security had another layover and then got on our long flight to LA, I tried to sleep most of the way and was pretty successful, watched a little bit of the movie Taken, but mostly just slept and woke up and went back to sleep. Then We got on our flight to Denver and in Denver Laurel got on a different flight home and we got on our flight to Little Rock, we got to Little Rock and the Moreheads were there to pick us up. They took me to the Doctor to make sure that I was alright, which I was, then they took me back to their house where everyone else had settled in for the night, they made me a grilled cheese and I had some fruit. Then we watched wrath of the Titans before going to sleep. Finally home in the US.

New Zealand Day 34

This morning we got up and went to Taupo, the city of fun if you will. We had a great day planned. We got to Taupo and got in a limo to go skydiving. It was really cool white limousine. We all got geared up, decided what video packages we wanted and got in a plane. Morgan Jon Giovanni and I were in the first group. We took off and I thought they weren’t going to close the door. And I was right by the door so I was a little concerned, then they closed it. It was really cool, as we went higher we could see Mt Doom and the whole lake area, it was intense. Then they opened the door he was alright swing your legs out, so we did then it was 3 2 1 and we were out. It all happened so fast I didn’t even have time to freak out. The first 3 seconds was crazy and indescribable feeling, then we were in free fall, the camera man was getting shots as we fell, and It was pretty cold at that altitude, but it got warmer as we fell. Then we pulled the shoot and coasted to the ground, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life, Im really glad I did it. Later that night we went sailing which was really fun, the wind wasn’t really strong but strong enough that we didn’t need to use an engine or anything. We saw some neat rock carvings ate huge burgers and sailed back. Then we went back to the hotel and got some sleep.

New Zealand Day 33

We got up early and got on the bus and went pretty far drive through the country side where we saw some cows and a few sheep, passed a bunch of farms and mountains. We ended up in this valley where we stayed at Lake Aniwhenua. I was feeling pretty sick so I opted out of the activities there. The group that went eeling though, which is what I would have done got stuck out on the lake, it was kinda an issue, I didn’t hear to much I just know they didn’t catch an eel and it took a long time to get back. I mostly just rested there and tried to recover.

New Zealand Day 32

We got up in the morning went down to meet the bus and starting waiting….and waiting until we eventually decided they told us the wrong time so that they could leave the Americans behind. Oh and I forgot to mention it is raining. So we got on the bus and headed to Waitomo where we went caving. They had us crawl through a box to make sure that we would be able to fit through all of the tightest parts of the cave, it was pretty easy for everyone in our group. Then we put on wetsuits and got helmet and boots and headed out to the cave. The entrance to the cave was probably the tightest squeeze in the whole cave. We saw the glow worms and floated in our inner tubes, the water was freezing though, but other than that the whole tour was pretty chill just walking around and checkin out glow worms. It was really neat, then we got out and took our gear off and got back on the bus and headed to Mourea. That was our cultural night, they preformed for us, songs dance ect. Then we all slept on the floor in one big room, except for our girls, they had their own room that was locked up at night, that gave them some privacy and security.

New Zealand Day 31

I ended up not sleeping very well and having a bit of a fever, I threw up early that morning, before having to pack all my stuff and get back on the bus. I was feeling a little better, but far from great. Loaded up on the bus and just tried to rest. We stopped at another grocery store, this time in Hamilton and got some groceries, then continued on the Raglan. We stopped in the city for about an hour and a half, went into some surf shops and what not. Then we went to the hostel, we were staying a different place down the road. Morgan Jon Giovanni and I rented vespas and followed the bus over to our accommodations. We then took our backpacks up to our rooms, it is definitely the nicest place we stayed yet, it only cost $45 a night per person though. I still not was feeling to well and decided not to go surfing, I rested for a bit, took a shower then went and drove around, I met up with the rest of the group and we took to vespas back and got a ride from one of the employees at the hostel, she was really nice. She is originally from Boston and came over here with her brother on work visa and here she is. We got back and found out that the rest of the group didn’t start the grill yet by mistake, so we are working on dinner now. Made us some burgers finally and ate and then I went to bed.

New Zealand Day 30

We got up bright and early at 5:45 to pack up our stuff and go to the bus station. We got there and found out that the bus doesn’t run as early on Sunday. So we had to bite the bullet and call a couple of cabs. We got down town with plenty of time to spare, got some Duncan Donuts. The bus arrived, we got checked in and began our journey. We went to an office building and heard a talk about how the bus worked. Then we headed to Hahei, we stopped in Thames and went to the grocery store. Then we continued on to Hahei, it was low tide so we went straight to the Hot Water Beach, it was fun the geothermal sports were really hot in some place. Then we went into the ocean, the waves we pretty big, the water was kinda cold, but had a blast. You get used to the water pretty quick though. I think I got some pretty cool GoPro videos as well. Then we went to Hahei and got checked into our cabin, which was cool. It was really close to the beach. Then Morgan Giovanni, Jon and I went kayaking. We kayaked through a marine reserve and to a couple different cove, we stopped at a famous one called Catherdral Cove. Got out explored a little bit in a small cave and big archway, our guide made us cappuccino and hot chocolate. Then on the way back we went around an island and through a cave, that was fun. Morgan and I both had our GoPros going, I think between the two of us we got some good footage. We got back, cooked some dinner, garlic salt and lemon pepper on some chicken breast, and some chicken and cheese quesadillas. It was really good, that night we watched some GoPro videos and then I got a headache and went to bed.

New Zealand Day 29

Got up this morning, didn’t have the energy to go out to Rangitoto, so we took it easy in the morning, and got dressed up to go to the sky tower, went downtown, walked around some shops for a while, then went to the sky tower. Morgan and I came in together, so we went up to the observation deck, took some picture and then went up to a higher deck, then met the rest of the group at the Sugar club restaurant. It was sooo nice, my mom was treating the group to eat there, it was sooo cool. The view was amazing, the food was really good and we had pineapple smoothies that were amaaaazzzing. Thanks so much mom if you are reading this. Our table was on the harbor side so we could see the bridge and boats. It was great. Then we went to the observation deck and got some group pictures. Then we went down and back into the city. Went into a mountaineering store that was really neat and now I am at starbucks journaling a bit. We are talking about what our plans are for the rest of the night, some people are ready to go back, but I’m tryin to make sure there isnt anything else I want to see. Most of the group went back to the hotel. Giovanni and I decided to walk around some more and go to dinner, it was fun we got a chance to get to know each other a lot better. Then we took the bus back up to Henderson, the bus didn’t go all the way to our hotel, but since we were the last ones on the bus he just drove us the rest of the way.

New Zealand Day 28

We slept in until about 9, then moved our things to a different room for the second night, then got on a bus into the city. We saw starbucks and got off, some people got some drinks and this is where we decided who was going to go where. Morgan, Jon, Giovanni and I went down to the Harbor, Josh and Kelsey went to do there thing and Hannah and Laurel went their own way. My group went down to the Harbor, walked around a mall right by the water, saw where the ferries go out from, then we walked over to a Mexican restaurant and got a bite to eat. Then we went out on the pier and took some pictures. After that we walked over to the Maritime museum, that was pretty cool. I bought a map of New Zealand, then we went to a coffee house and I got a milkshake. Then we went to Mt Eden, which is like a park before all making our way back to the hotel.

Fiji/New Zealand Day 27

Well we slept in a little, I went and sat with some people at breakfast, talked for a bit. Then I went back to my room and finished packing up. My room then prayed as a group, for those of us going to New Zealand and those who were going back to the US. After that we headed up to the front, checked out and started saying our goodbyes to the rest of the group. We got in a shuttle and went over to the airport. We were like second in line to check in. We got up there and they told us that our flight would be delayed from 10am to 5pm. So they gave us vouchers to go back to the hotel, we each got our own room and a free meal. It was pretty good. I rested, then checked my email, found out I needed to meet a deadline for a college app, so I got a few things taken care of. We ate some burgers and headed back to the airport. Got on the plane and went to NZ. On the plane we had some significant turbulence, but not too much to worry about, we couldn’t lose. If we made it to Auckland we would enjoy our trip. If we crashed and died we would go to heaven, if we crashed and didn’t die, we would have an amazing story about that one time we survived a cyclone in the middle of the pacific ocean. But we made it to Auckland, and were greeted by a large statue of a dwarf from Lord of the Rings. We proceeded to get our bags and get a shuttle to our hotel. Fortunately they had rooms available for us even though we were arriving a few days early. We settled into our rooms, then went and got a bite to eat at burger king. Aftetr that we went back to our rooms and went to sleep.

Fiji Day 26

So 5:00am up and going, went out got some breakfast, then once we could see a little bit we headed out into the field with cane knives, shovels and bags of pineapple plants. The first big task was clearing out the grass, it is about 5 feet tall and we had to clear an area of about 20 square yards. So we got to work, some would stomp on the grass, then we would cut a line, and starting uprooting from there. Because of the rain the night before it ended up going fast to use the cane knives less and just pull up the grass. Normally you cant do that because the ground is too dry and hard. So we do that and it takes us until about 8:00 to clear everything, then the group gets split in half so that some could work on the chicken coop. Kimmy, Josh Ong, a Giovanni and I stayed in the field though. I dug holes, a 1yrd radius, put them into rows. After a few hours of planting we were finished, then I went and helped Thomas and tyler finish the wiring around the chicken coop. After that we showered, got our stuff together and headed to our hotel. We stayed at tokatoka across from the airport. It was nice to have an actual bed, air conditioning ect. For dinner we all went out for pizza. After dinner Josh O, Giovanni and I went to the grocery store and bought ice cream. Took it back to the room and chowed down, it was great. Watched some random soap opera based in Australia. Then we all met up in the other boys room for poetry night. We all shared our poems, then I went back to the room, ate more icecream and went to bed.

Fiji Day 25

Today we went to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes, which was my research place. We went and toured the dunes and the associated rainforest. We got to see some of the pottery that had been excavated there which was cool. They told us that we couldn’t swim because there were a lot of tiger sharks just off shore. They said during high tide you can see them swimming around fins out and occationally leaping as they attack fish from below. So that’s awesome. Then we went over to a school and put on a short kids club, we told the story of Jesus healing the blind man, I was the blind man John was Jesus and Tyler was the Narrator. Then we had them memorize Isaiah 35:5. Then we played some games with them outside until they had to get back to class. Then the group went to the Tanviu fort. There we learned about a particular establishment that is now a historical site. It was pretty neat, not a lot to see, mostly just got a tour telling us what used to be there. The view from the highpoint was awesome though, the rolling hills, farm below, and river cutting through. Unbelievable. After that we went into the town of Sigatoka, I got a snack and drink, and bought a couple souvenirs and a bunch of bananas. Now we are back at the farm we have cleaned up the kitchen and are now packing to leave. New Zealand here I come. We are staying in a hotel for our last night, so that will be nice. I gotta get some sleep though, we have plant some trees at like 5:00am tomorrow morning, so night night.

Fiji Day 24

Today we were supposed to have a work day, but due to some future weather conditions they moved our charter boat day to today. We went out to the Mamanucas, which is an island group not too far off shore from Nadi. One of the islands out there is the island that Cast Away was filmed on. Unfortunately we were unable to stop there because of some problems with the Jet ski. Oh yeah we had a Jet ski, so we took turns driving it around as the boat went along. It was a blast. Unfortunately it ended up having some mechanical problems, but I got to drive it around before that time. While I was on it I got to jump around behind the boat on the wake, slow down to look into the crystal blue water at fish. I saw a small reef shark eating something and I saw two manta rays. As they skimmed under that water I could drive right with them, they were pretty fast. About 20mph. We saw some flying fish jumping out of the water. Then we stopped and snorkeled for a while at a reef. That was awesome, we saw tons of fish, a couple of sea snakes, which are super venomous. But before you get alarmed, it is almost impossible for them to bite you, they have such small mouths that they cannot open wide enough to bite anything other than an earlobe or the webbing between your fingers. Josh Ong was a little bolder than myself, he was grabbing them and moving them around. He dropped it when he pulled it out of the water because it really flipped out. Then I got to try spear fishing, which was awesome. After about 15min I had a fish. It was really neat I have some pictures of it. Then I let some other people give it a try. We cruised around, took some group pics, ate food and headed back. All in all one of my best days to date.

Fiji Day 23

We got up this morning and went to church at revival. After the service we went to the head pastors house for lunch, it was great. Their were trays and trays of fruit. Pineapple, papaya, watermelon, and bananas. There was also some fish, which was whole. Then there was some peppers that DLaw and Jon tried, they said it was pretty hot, like my mouth was on fire for several minutes. Then we headed back to the farm and just chilled. I took a nap in my hammock, then chatted with people on the porch until dinner. For dinner we had an American dish. Spaghetti and meat sauce. It wasn’t quite like home, but it was decent. Then we got to hear Russie’s Testimony. He told us about how he grew up with a really strict father. Then we ended up in jail for several years where he had an encounter with God. From then on he began to read the Bible and talk to other cellmates about the grace of Christ. He was then released by order of the prime minister, where he went home to Salah and began to live for Christ. He studied theology in the Solomon Islands then ended up working for island encounters as a property management. They have been a really great family to get to know. I will miss them very much. Between the Pittmans, Russie’s family, Shawn and Talei I really want to come back someday and see how they are doing and how the farm is doing. I hope an opportunity presents itself some time down the road.

Fiji Day 22

This morning I got up and helped with pancakes. I stirred up the batter for Auntie Salah and we started cooking. Everyone got a couple pancakes then we ran out of propane, so that was a bummer. The Nazeil and Laura came by and picked us up to go into Nadi, we started at the Hindu temple where we went in and prayed for the lost people there and prayed against the idol and demon worship. It was a sad and heavy time. After that we went into Nadi on a scavenger hunt. We got points for getting to know people and taking pictures of different foods and souvenir type items. Then we took a cab over to McDonalds. My team got second place, which was fine. First place got McFlurries. Then we came back to the farm changed clothes and headed out on our hike. We met up with a local who would be our guide his name was Esa, he was pretty cool, we were laughing that we brought like backpacks with gear and water ect, he had a knife and an apple haha. Also he was wearing flip flops. He quickly took them off and went barefoot though. We went through a river first in which Snodgrass fell and was being swept away by the river, so I threw my pole up to our guide and he held it out for Snodgrass to pull him back over, it wasn’t a dangerous size river he just might have been swept down a hundred yards or so. We were all carrying our backpacks over our heads, unfortunately I thought my go pro was recording, but I missed the first river crossing. Then we hiked up a ways where we got some guavas, a fruit with a pinkish red center and a lot of seeds, tastes good. Then we journeyed into the rainforest it was muddy and slippery but we were having a blast. Then we came up to a large rock that we climbed up on top of, from there we had a view of the whole valley area, we could see the farm and the airport, and even the next island over. Then we began our descent, on the back down we went by a stream where we could drink fresh water, it began to rain, but none of us really cared, we had already walked through a river and deep mud, we were about as wet as we were going to get. Then we passed a sugar cane field so we cut some cane and snacked on that. We then came to a new part of the river where it was a little deeper and we had to walk upstream a little ways. We all made it, after we got our bags across we messed around in the river, trying to swim against the current and pushing each other, it was fun. We passed some pigs in a pen, which smelled terrible, not surprisingly, and then we came up to the Muslim school, which is the turn off to head back to oasis farm. We thanked our guides and gave them some money, then a big 18 wheeler pulls up with a bulldozer on the back, so Giovanni asks them if we could ride on the back until our turnoff, they agree and we all jump on, it was hilarious at the turn, they didn’t really stop, but they had to slow down enough to turn we just jumped off. We walked it the rest of the way in got showered, up, clean clothes and some warm chicken soup in our bellies for dinner.

Fiji Day 21

Today was really chill; we got up and had our devo time, Tyler and Donyes shared. Then we went to the mud pools, which was muddy, as you would imagine. The mud pool was really warm also; we helped cover each other in mud and then began the baking process. We had to wait for the mud to dry which is probably a part of the exfoliating process and detox. Then got in the water and washed off. After that we got in the hot spring, it was really hot there, so after that we got in the pool and rinsed off in a cool shower, then we came back to the farm and chilled this afternoon. Russie and Shawn left to go to Suva for the celebration of the 100^th day since Russie’s dad passed away, this is a common practice in the Fijian culture. Then I went back to loloma and played with kids again, not as many were there this time, but we had fun. Played elbow tag and did some jump rope. I made arrangements with Laura to stay an extra night in Fiji for the New Zealand group and also figured out how we can leave our bags in Nadi and she will bring them to the airport when it we come back through after our trip. I think it will work out well. Had dinner and visited with some people out on the porch for a while. Now I’m going to sleep. Night

Fiji Day 20

Today we had a half work day,  I got up and got ready had breakfast as usual, then I went out past the papaya field to an undeveloped area where giovanni and I started clearing fields with cane knives to plant some banana trees. It was really hard work, the sun was blazing and after swinging the cane knife for about an hour blisters were developing, so we stopped got some water and went out until tea time. After tea time Giovanni went back down there and I helped the girls paint the top of the doorways that they couldn’t reach, then I went down and began hacking away again, then someone in the papya fields yells to us that Donyes needs us…like NOW, like RUN. So we bolted up to the porch and asked Donyes what he needed, he said get in the car, we are headed to town. It was fun he gave us some pizza, then we took Tanya by the internet café, pretty sure she was planning some wedding stuff, we went with Donyes to pick up some stuff he wanted. Then we went back to the café which I forgot to mention is on the beach, chilled there in hammocks until it was time to head back, when we got back we put together a plan for our kids club, before going out that night. We were at the revival church again, which was cool we got to see the same kids, this time we told them the story of the blind beggar. Then we asked them questions about the story and for insight to help them engage in the story. I used the extra rope to make a tug of war rope with some knots in it, we also used it for jump rope after that. Then we came back and had some dinner. After dinner we heard shawns testimony. It was really cool. He is from Canada and a few months ago he felt really called to Fiji so he up and left. His family is finishing out the school year in Canada then they will be moving out here as well.

Fiji Day 19

Today I got up at 5, watched the sunrise and rested in my hammock, then we had breakfast and heard a devo from Hillary, she talked to us about the promises of God and took a little time to focus on a promise in 1 John that talks about the promise that God will hear and respond to our prayers, reminding us that it is not always in the way that we expect. Then we loaded up into the van the jimmy and the rav 4 and headed out to the village, we participated in the cava ceremony and dancing, they showed us the process of how they make pottery without a wheel or any formal tools, they used a paddle to shape the clay into a rounded disc, then they fused the two together and cut a hole in the top with a stick and began to form it into a pot. Then they showed us how after it come out of the fire they will put tree sap on it to add a shine and make it waterproof, then it is ready for use or sale. After that we ate a snack and went out to a beach, where I got some wifi and talked to my mom about some stuff. The signal wasn’t very good, so after we talked for a little bit I went out and started enjoying the beach with everyone else. I dug a hole and Adam and Thomas buried me, then the put a shirt over my head and would ask unsuspecting people to grab it for him and when they picked it up I would scream and scare them. It was hilarious; they got on video that Donyes might post on the blog.  Then I swam for a little while. Lydia speared a fish with Phil’s spear, so that was cool. I snorkeled for a little while which was fun, I saw quite a few fish. Then we loaded back up in cars and headed back. Im all showered up after a fun day at the beach and now headed to dinner.

Fiji Day 18

Slept through our alarms this morning and missed the sunrise so that was a bummer, but I probably needed the rest. Had morning devo, and then ate pancakes and fruit for breakfast, which was good, then we got to work. I was out in the papaya fields digging holes to put something in the ground, I don’t think it was fertilizer, but I’m also not really sure what it was. It was like a white powder for the conventional rows and a black pepper looking substance for the organic rows, it was interesting. We took a few breaks but finished by afternoon teatime, then went back out to pick off dead branches and double papaya buds. A type of pruning if you will. Then we sat and chilled for a while talking about kamp and where people hope to work ect, then we got changed into some clean clothes and I went with a small group to the loloma house again, this is similar to homes of hope, but much smaller and more about the kids. It was fun, we played tug of war, jump rope, duck duck goose and tag, it was pretty fun. Then we came back I got a shower went to dinner, which was really good, they cooked the chicken and cassava in a lovolo, which is like an oven in the ground. It was really good, then we heard from a pastor at a local church here. It was cool he told us little more about the culture, some of it was review but learned some new stuff.

Australia/Fiji Day 17

Got up this morning and got all my stuff packed up, ate my waffles and some bananas which was good, I couldn’t eat them all so I gave 2 to josh. Got all checked out and now we are at the airport headed to Fiji. Well we are in Fiji now and I got through customs alright, but I am now having to haggle my way through with some other people. I have confirmation information for all of the New Zealand people except for Josh, since he booked separately so I just did what I had to do. I made Jon Rodenbaugh’s old e-ticket look like Josh Ong’s haha, it was great same flight so it didn’t really matter. So I got everyone that was going to New Zealand through, so the only person left was Tyler. I thought about doing something similar, but I didn’t have anything on the group going back earlier so I couldn’t really do anything without risking complications later, so we had to get the airline on the phone to confirm that Tyler was leaving. About 15min later they got it all sorted out and we met back up with the group and headed back to the farm, now I am catching up with some other people, talked to Russie and Saleh heard a little bit about the resort some of the others stayed at and we have a work day tomorrow so I’m gonna go get some rest. Night.

Institute Teachers

This week has been incredible. On Friday I got to see the Parkers and catch up with them. Thunder varsity won their final game of the season which was great. JD had his best game of his career and it was an awesome one to end on, he played hard and left it all on the floor. So proud of him and his team. The championship ggame was really exciting, double overtime with 4 players on hcya fouling out then okc storm ending up with the win. Then I went to steak n shake like old times with the parkers. This week for link year has been really cool though. We have heard from three different institute teachers. First we heard from Joey Tisdale. I got to know him at kamp over the past several years, and he has spoken at the fort several time this year. We each submitted two questions about what college life is like and or questions about choosing a college or choosing a church when we get there ect. It was really neat. I really learned a lot of really practical things from him. Then on Wednesday Chad Hampch came and spoke to us. I don’t know him that well but after his teaching time I really look forward to getting to know him better. I am going to try and pursue him as a mentor for the last 6 or so weeks. Keith Chancey came and talked to us about sharing the Gospel. He used Paul’s second missionary journey to illustrate how he overcame adversity and laid aside what he wanted and did God’s will. Also about when we get to college we need to seek out someone not only to mentor us but we should be mentoring others. We have been fed so long at link year and are probably more prepared than we realize. We need to take that and pour into people. Engaged with people wherever we go, never eat a meal alone. Hear peoples story then they will want to hear yours and that will be your opportunity to tell them about how Jesus came into your life and changed everything about you. About how you died to yourself and now live your life totally and fully committed to furthering the kingdom of God by loving God and loving others to Jesus. At the end of his talk I was about ready to run through a brick wall and change the world. I want to go to college tomorrow and impact my campus. Then Tonight I looked up a whole bunch of scholarships and which ones I am eligible for and what kind of essays I might need to write. Now I am at Blakely and shelby’s 18^th joint birthday party. It is a ton of fun. Later crew. 

Fiji poem

This is a poem I wrote while I was in Fiji. We had a poetry night on our last night as a group before people headed back to the states and before my group went to New Zealand. Some people wrote funny ones, others serious and I like to think if mine as somewhere in between. I hope you all enjoy and I will post my other journal entries from the trip soon.



In Fiji there are frogs

They hop and hop on the logs

At first we all thought they were dumb

But they were just thinking yum yum

We went out for our first work day

It was so much fun might as well have been play

At work In the papayas, the fire pit or chicken coop

We knew for dinner auntie sala would have for us some nice warm soup

Russie showed us how to clear a field

He took that small knife he really could wield

After blisters and cuts and sunburns galore

Each night we remembered to thank our lord.

We want to Suva and to homes of hope.

I'm not gonna lie it was pretty dope

In Sydney to the zoo we went.

Seals, elephants and giraffes were present.

We returned to the farm, stories we shared

Opera house, zoo and hostels we faired

Jet skiing snorkeling and spear fishing.

To go back to those days I am already wishing

As we go home I will never forget

The lessons I have learned and the people I have met.

To Fiji I say moce moce

I hope that it is only sototaleh



Moce means goodbye in Fijian

Sototaleh means see you later

Australia Day 16

This morning we got up and went to Hillsong church, It was really neat. We met up with a kanakuk girl named Laura Browder, she is at the hillsong college, so she told us about how the hillsong system works with its student and church. It was really interesting. One thing is that the music we were hearing today is music that will be realeased in the US on CD in about a year and a half. They said we are usually about 1 to 2 year behind on releases. The service was really good, they talked about the places you are in and how the space you are in can sometimes feel smaller or larger depending on a few factors. Our place that we are in should be dependant on where God is. He used the example of when moses lead the iseralites out of Egypt and they follow the presence of God by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. As far as the space in our place he talked about keeping things in the light when there is light we will feel more free and open. The last aspect was about begin fully present in those places, don’t be anxious about things outside of your control or about things in the future. Then after church I came back to the hostel and took a nap, after that we all rode with Donyes down to Darling Harbor, it was pretty cool, we walked around there, had some food and walked into different little shops. It was fun, then I rode back with Morgan, Carter and Mary. We went by the grocery store and bought some food for our last morning. I cant believe our time here is just about over, I am excited about our last 9 days in Fiji then New Zealand :D so pumped. I’m gonna try to do some stuff in the morning before we have to leave for the airport, so im gonna head to bed.

Australia Day 15

Well I got up this morning, showered up and got ready for the day, Im looking into different activities since it is raining, but we are talking about going over to manly beach and watching some of the surfing open, so that should be really cool. I am going to try and go to the opera tonight. Well I went to Manly with the group and watched the surf open it was cool. We walked arund did a little shopping, watched some surfing ect. The weather wasn’t that good, a little rainy and overcast and the current was apparently pretty rough, so I decided not to try and surf. Then we went back to the room and I went out in search of a nicer shirt for the opera. There weren’t a lot of choices but I picked one out. Then came back to the hostel and got ready, the car everyone else was taking only had room for 4 so I caught a bvus down to the opera house, I went up to get a ticket and they told me if I came back at 6:30 I could get a student discount, so we went to this Italian place it was really nice, I had to eat kinda fast to get back up there in time, but it was good. I got my ticket and we went in, my seat was great for me I could see the surtitles well and the stage was pretty close, the people I sat next to were experienced opera goers. They told me a little more than I had read about the production. I really enjoyed it, it was easy to follow and the singing was amazing. Everyone in the production could sing so well. The theater itself was really neat too. Im so glad I decided to do that. Then afterwards I made sure that Tyler, Kristina, Mary and Hannah made it to the car, then I began my evening adventure home. I decided to walk over to the bridge from the opera house, which is a solid walk, when I got there I decided to walk across the bridge, there was a really cool view of the opera house and the whole harbor area. After crossing I noticed a rail station, so I decieded to hop on the rail. I took the rail down a ways and then switched to another train. I ended up at bondi junction where I got on a bus to Bondi beach. On the first day the kids we met told us that bondi was about a 30min walk from coogee on the coastal walkway, so it was 12:45am when I got to bondi, so I started my leisurely walk.  After about 45min at a medium slowish pace I asked some people about how much further it was, they told me I still had a pretty good ways to go. So I made less detours and started walking faster, I passed some other beaches and eventually at 2:30 I made it back to Coogee, I was sooo tired I just went up to my room and crashed.

Australia Day 14

Got up this morning, got dressed and ready to go to the zoo, bought my ticket at our hostel to get the discount. It was really fun, we saw kangaroos, gorillas, elephants, giraffes, and lots more. We went to the sea lion show which was pretty cool. Aden was so captivated. Then we went down to the harbor and took a ferry across, ate lunch there with Mary, Kristina, and Hannah Grace. It was actually a Belgian chocolate place, but they had food too. It was really good. And I got a chocolate cheesecake brownie for dessert. It was delicious. Then we went back to the ferry to go back to the zoo, oh yeah and both ways on the ferry we went right by the opera house which was really cool. Then we took like a gondola back up to the top, Donyes then took us back to our hotel and he and Steph went to go get ready for their date. Tonight was the night that they went to the opera, Kelsey and Josh went on a date, then the rest of the girls were going out, but somehow laurel didn’t realize what time they were leaving, or decided last minute she was going to go, so I took Laurel to dinner at a pizza place down the street, we had decided the pizza we were going order, we started off with water and all of the sudden they started bringing food. They just offered us a piece of pizza, so we accepted, then brought some pasta by and this pattern of bringing different pizza and food, apparently there were 24 courses, but we only made it to 16 before getting dessert and leaving, it ended up bring a little more expensive than we were expecting, but that is alright. It was fun though, then we went and walked around down by the beach, avoiding the couples making out. Watched the waves for a little while, then met up with everyone else, most of them were back at that point. Then Donyes got back and we walked back to the hotel with him so that Mary wouldn’t have to walk back by herself from babysitting Aden. Now I am at McDonalds under out Hostel getting caught up on my journaling. Thinking about renting a 33ft sailboat on Sunday. Im pretty pumped, I decided not to do the lunch cruise because we already got to go by boat right by the bridge and opera on the ferry. We are talking about going to Manly beach in the morning to see the surfing open, and I might rent a motorcycle to get around for the last couple days, its pretty safe to say I am living the dream. Later crew.

Australia day 13

Well we are up bright and early to go to the airport. Australia time we flew over and landed in Sydney, we got a rental car and went to our hotel, Donyes is driving a 9 passenger van, which is fun, we all went over to the hotel and got checked in, then we went straight to get something to eat because we were starving. We got some big burgers and Moo Burger. I got a chocolate milkshake which was pretty good. The food we soon realized is expensive in Australia, the burger and shake cost me like $20, then after that we went down to the beach, it was a little chilly, but I swam out and then over to a rock point where I met up with Jon and Tyler. We walked around over there going along the bottom of the cliff exploring, seeing crabs ect. Then we free climbed up the side of the cliff on a scale of 1 to 10 it was probably only a 6 in dangerousness, because it wasn’t very difficult, but if we had fallen we would have broken something, that is for sure. Then we talked to two Australian 12 year old girls, they laughed at our americaness and told us about food we should try and things to do in Sydney. It was awesome. There names were Kiko and sam. Then we came back to the hostel and hung out with the girls for a little while. Some of them weren’t feeling very comfortable with the hostel sichuation, I didn’t really blame them though. There wasn’t air conditioning so they wanted to keep their window open but random people tried to keep talking to them through the window and some of were kinda drunk so Kristina and I went out looking at different hotels trying to find somewhere else they could stay, they ended up staying that night there, but they moved over to a different hotel in the morning. Went to bed

Fiji Day 12

Got to sleep in a little bit, got all of our bags packed up and headed over to the house for breakfast, after breakfast josh ong josh Snodgrass Giovanni and I walked to mcdonalds and bout oreo mcflurries, it was great. Then we loaded up the van and pegero and jimmy and headed back, we stopped at sandy point and had lunch and swam around, saw a small shark, so that was cool. Then we continued on and got back to the farm safe and sound, now we are all preparing to go to Sydney tomorrow morning, so that should be fun.

Fiji Day 11

This morning we got up and went to breakfast like usual, then we loaded up in the vans and went to homes of hope. Homes of Hope is a place that women and children go to get out of bad situations, usually involving either human trafficking or abuse. I do not have any pictures from there, because we really want to make sure that while serving there we are protecting the women that have taken shelter there. One of their big things is they have an education program that is focused for the kids getting well rounded and for the moms to learn a trade so that the can re-enter the workforce and provide for themselves and their kids. The goal is for them to get through the program in three years. The three R’s are Rescue Rehabilitate and Reintegrate. So I was initially assigned to clean up trash around the chapel they were building so that was cool. Then we moved all of the trash and wood to a dump area. It was cool we were riding on top of the truck and they guy driving was not an experienced manual driver. Then we started cutting down a bunch of ginger and clearing it out, we had to stop to eat lunch which was fish and French fries. Then we went back to the ginger field. It began to rain hard. We all got soaking wet, it was awesome. So for the next 2 hours or so it rained and we moved the vegetation to the dump and move some other building supplies down. After that they took the first group back to the hostel, and came back for me and the other group. We got back got a clean shower, sent out some laundry to be done and watched an episode of castle.

Fiji Day 10

This morning we got up and went over to the house in Suva for breakfast. After that we all got in the van and went over to the Fiji History Museum. It was pretty cool, the first rooms showed many of the different boats that came to Fiji either from southeast asia or when the british came. There was some pottery that had been found in the Sigatoka Sand Dunes that dated back about 3000 years ago. We could see many of there early weapons, bows and clubs ect. Then we saw the shoe of Thomas Baker. He was a missionary that came to Fiji and was cannibalized by the people, his shoe was the only thing left. After that his family ended up coming to Fiji and reconciling with village that ate him, their example of forgiveness brought them to Christ, showed them grace. After the chief was converted the entire village began to follow Christ. Through the British/Christian movement the people of Fiji turned away from cannibalism and began to embrace much of western influence. After the museum we headed back to the house for lunch, after lunch some people went back to the waterfall, but I went to the internet café where I got to talk to my family, post from this journal to update people on everything that is going on here in Fiji. Then I went and saw the movie Robocop, which was pretty good. Now im back in the internet café but they are out of wifi codes so I cannot post anything right now or talk to my family. I am a little sore right now, not exactly sure why, we haven’t been on the farm for a few days working, but it might be because of the beds, they are not extremely comfortable and the pillow is kind of awkwardly big, but all in all I am doing well and am looking our last few days in Suva before heading out to Sydney.

Fiji Day 9

Well we just finished breakfast, I had a couple small bananas and some toast, a couple hardboiled eggs and a piece of pineapple. It was pretty good. Now we are journaling and reading our Bibles before heading to church at 10:00. I was reading through 1^st Peter 5 remembering as I read it, memorizing it for chief princess weekend. I want to recommit it to memory. I do not think it will be too hard, it isnt a long chapter. Especially compared to the 48 verses in Matthew 5. Everyone has got there sulus, and bula shirts on ready to go. Today is Morgan’s birthday, so that is eciting, I am going to get her a cake today, I already bought some balloons and candles. I thinking about getting her something for a gift, but figuring out what she would really want is the tough part. If I see something that I think she will really like than that’s what I’ll get, otherwise I will just give her the cakenow I am chillin with Isla and Aden taking picture on my computer. They are so cute.church was pretty good today, the teachers were not exceptionally enthusiastic, but I liked watching the sign language interpreter and try to learn some of the Fijian signs, which is really different than American sign language. I was dosing off a little during the second part of the service, after that we had some lunch and just had a little time to visit with one another about how our time here has been so far. After that we kinda split up some people stayed at the house because they were really tired and others including myself, went on a waterfall hike. It was less like a hike and more like a short trail, only about 100yrds to the waterfall from where we parked, it was pretty neat though. There was a big swing into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. So that was fun, I couldn’t really do much tricks, but had a good time anyway. Then we came back to the house, I got to go with a smallish group down to the coast where Lydia Kimmy and I went on a walk through the park, it was great, we saw some mudskippers and crabs in the water, there were a bunch of mangrove trees, which we are told are very essential for Fiji’s fish population because that is where the go to spawn, which protects there eggs until they hatch. Then we walked back, on the way back we went by a basketball court where some people were shooting so they let up put up a few shots. The rim was so small though, It was almost half the size, which I guess would help you work on your accuracy, but it was significantly more difficult. Then we went back to the house and ate dinner, then birthday cake and ice cream, it was great. Came back to the rooms and now we are all just winding down for bed. Another successful day in Suva.

Fiji Day 8

Today we were out on the town in suva, we had breakfast over at Talai’s house here in suva, some hardboiled eggs and some bananas. After that we went to the deaf school, at the deaf school we lead a kids club there, which was teresting since we had to explain things all non verbally. We had a translator part of the time, but mostly just had to show them how we do things. I was the narrator for the story of Daniel and the lions den, which we acted out for the kids while it was narrated. At the end I played a game with them that was kinda like pool exept you were flicking checkers essentially into eachother to knock them into holes. After that we went back over to downtown Suva and went shopping, ate some lunch and did some more shopping because the weather wasn’t good enough for us to go to the waterfall. So tomorrow after church if the weather is good we are going to try and go, otherwise we will just go to the museum. My group I ran around with was great, it was morgan Lydia mason and I. We had a blast, found some great stuff too. Then we all met back at our hostel and went to Talai’s house again, had dinner, I gave the devo for the night on Ephesians 4, then we heard a little bit more about Ray and Lora’s story and some of his crazy story. Now we are back at the hostel watched some rugby and just talking now.

Fiji Day 7

Today I got up this morning got in the word a little, packed up for  Suva. We ate some breakfast then got in the cars. I used the rope I bought for my hammock to tie down the bags on top of the car. We got in the cars, I rode with Phil Analise and Hannah Nikels. We stopped at a small market for fruit, got some bananas, mangos and some fruit I cant pronounce. We continued on for a little while before stopping at a small souvenir shop. I didn’t get anything there, we then continued on to a picnic area where we went out on a pier first when we got there it was sunny, but windy, but the wind blew in a rain that was definitely horizontal with the wind speed. Then 15min later the rain had passed and we started eating lunch. Then we got back in the car, but Hannah and Lydia switched. So we continued on to fiji, when we were almost to Suva we stopped at a cultural center, and shopped around. I still didn’t have my money so I didn’t buy anything, but I browsed around at knives mostly, some in a dive shop and one that is for cutting sugar cane, technically it is a knife, but in my opinion it is a machetee. I might buy one toward the end of the trip so I don’t have to carry it around. Then we got to suva moved our stuff into the hotel then went up to the mall. Once we got there we went up to the food court and got some food. That is where I finally got that text message sent to laura lynn. I had pizza coke and chocolate cake. It is good, the chocolate cake was called death by chocolate. Now we are back at the hostel watching rugby on tv, so exciting, literally one of the best sports to watch on tv. Very active, a lot of scoring good contact and some wicked fast agile players, favorite teams are Fiji and New Zealand for sure, spain was terrible though. Im falling asleep though, later.

Fiji Day 7

Today I got up this morning got in the word a little, packed up for  Suva. We ate some breakfast then got in the cars. I used the rope I bought for my hammock to tie down the bags on top of the car. We got in the cars, I rode with Phil Analise and Hannah Nikels. We stopped at a small market for fruit, got some bananas, mangos and some fruit I cant pronounce. We continued on for a little while before stopping at a small souvenir shop. I didn’t get anything there, we then continued on to a picnic area where we went out on a pier first when we got there it was sunny, but windy, but the wind blew in a rain that was definitely horizontal with the wind speed. Then 15min later the rain had passed and we started eating lunch. Then we got back in the car, but Hannah and Lydia switched. So we continued on to fiji, when we were almost to Suva we stopped at a cultural center, and shopped around. I still didn’t have my money so I didn’t buy anything, but I browsed around at knives mostly, some in a dive shop and one that is for cutting sugar cane, technically it is a knife, but in my opinion it is a machetee. I might buy one toward the end of the trip so I don’t have to carry it around. Then we got to suva moved our stuff into the hotel then went up to the mall. Once we got there we went up to the food court and got some food. That is where I finally got that text message sent to laura lynn. I had pizza coke and chocolate cake. It is good, the chocolate cake was called death by chocolate. Now we are back at the hostel watching rugby on tv, so exciting, literally one of the best sports to watch on tv. Very active, a lot of scoring good contact and some wicked fast agile players, favorite teams are Fiji and New Zealand for sure, spain was terrible though. Im falling asleep though, later.