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.

Fiji Day 6

Well today was a great day. I accidentally overslept, which really just means I didn’t wake up at 5:00, someone else’s alarm went off at 5:45 so we all got up then and caught the actual sunrise and had a short quiet time. I am going through Ephesians right now, it has been super powerful to me. Especially in chapter 4 verse 13 through 16. I think next year (2015) I am going to memorize the book of Ephesians. Today was another work day. I started out with Russie out in the field taking down a fence on the corner of the property about 6 posts to allow for an Indian farm who owns about an acre between that part of the creek and the oasis farm. He has decided that he is going to plant some vegetables there, so we were making space for him to get through, after that we re place new posts and reset the barbed wire.  Then we took a short break before going out into the papaya fields to clean things up. All of the holes had been filled with fertilizer and we just picked up the fruit that had fallen and branches that had died. We move them out to prevent insects and mongoose from disturbing the healthy parts of the tree. Then I went over to the other side of the farm house to help with the chicken coop. All of the bases have been set and today we finished most of the frame. After that we had lunch and rested for a little bit before going out to run kids club projects. It was really fun, we played some games with the kids. Duck duck goose, freeze tag, telephone, capture the shoe (capture the flag) then we told Bible stories and acted them out. We did jonah, noah, david and goliath, Jesus walks on water, and Jesus feeds the 5,000. Then at the end the kids did a short song and dance for us that they had learned at church, we the got back for dinner. I sat a talked to Salah for a while then ate the most normal food yet. Sloppy Joes essentially. They had a few bones that you had to make sure not to bite into too hard, but it was good. Then I got in my hammock for a few minutes before the bugs all came out. Then Lydia and I went in the farm house and played a little guitar talk to salah and flora and her two kids. Josh came and played the guitar for a little while too. Then we went back to our rooms I took a shower and started typing this while visiting with the boys. All in all a good day.

Fiji day 5

This mornings sunrise was really different than yesterday. There were almost no clouds so the color changes were not quite as dramatic, but still really pretty. Now we are getting ready to roll out. I saw the box of sandwiches for the day and there have got to be like 80 sandwiches. Got Morgan’s and my gopro batteries all charged up and ready to go. We went out to Scuba Bula Fiji to go scuba diving it was sooooo tight. Had a blast, we did a training and orientation in the pool, then after that we went out on the boat to head out to our dive site. On the way there I used the clamp mount for my GoPro to video us going out to the dive site. I think it turned out really well. They split us up into two groups. While one was diving the other group was snorkeling, my group went first we went down a rope until we got to the bottom, had to repressurize several times to maintain equilibrium. But we got to the bottom and began exploring, I followed my guide and he would show me where to swim and things to look for and video with my gopro. Some of the highlights were a stingray, a giant clam, an anenome, some fish hiding in coral, a moray eel, there was a white tip shark we saw when we got there, but not while diving. Some saw it but I did not and there was a sea turtle that I only saw as it was swimming away. I am not sure what the footage would be like on that. Then after that we came up, it was about 40min under water then we took off our tanks ate some fresh pineapple and coconut , some people drank tea, then the other group started diving and we started snorkeling. It was pretty fun, scuba was definitely way better, but I swam down into a kind of underwater tunnel about 15 feet down swam about 25 feet across and then back up. It was really exciting. The other group saw some baracuddas on their dive which is super cool. Then on the way back I set up my gopro clamped to the boat to video us going back and as I turned on the camera a piece of the go pro mount broke popped it loose and down into the ocean it went… I may or may not have had a panic attack/ had a decent outburst of frustration. I don’t get worked up much, but I was pretty upset about it. They told me that it was about 20 meters deep in that place, but they would try and look for it. 8min and 16sec later (GoPro time) I had my go pro back in my hand. It was amazing, we were moving pretty fast when it fell off and only had a vague idea of where it fell when we circled back, but scuba sam had no problem finding it. As Adam Donyes said “you went from a three year old having a tantrum to a 5 year old on Christmas morning.” The joy in that moment was AMAZING. It was only 8 min and 16 sec in the water. I cant believe they found it that fast, nothing short of a miricle as far as I am concerned. We then returned, I bought him a drink and gave him some money to say thank you. We then returned to the farm and got dressed up in our sulus and bula shirts to go to a village acceptance ceremony. We gave them a root, which is traditional and they met us showed us around the village and gave us permission to climb up the mountain. We have not met the chief yet because he was busy, but it was really neat. Now we have returned and are headed to dinner.

Fiji Day 4

Today we had our first work day, My roommates and I got up as usual now, 5:00am and watched the sunrise as we chilled in our hammocks, it was nice, the sky was already a little red at 5:00 and progressively changed between purple orange and yellow over the next hour until the sun actually rose. It broke the horizon around 6:00, but it was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. I have a video of the first part and a short time lapse after that. I haven’t got a chance to look at them too much, yet, but I hope they turned out well. Then after breakfast we began work. I was out in the papaya fields with Hillary digging holes to put fertilizer in, it was fun we got to talk and get to know each other a little bit. It got hot very quick though. I got a blister on my thumb from the shovel, so I had to change how I was holding it a little bit. Then Donyes took over for Hillary for a while and I got a chance to talk to him so that was really cool to have that one on one time. At 10:30 we stopped for tea time of course, which we did not actually drink tea, but had some water juice and some fruit. Then it was back to work. The papaya fields only had two rows left so they moved me to a job where I was digging out and leveling an area to pour concrete. This is when I got to have a good conversation with Russie, he is awesome. I want to be like him someday. He is one of the hardest most efficient workers I have ever met, he studied theology in the Solomon Islands, which is pretty legit and then chose to become a part of the island encounters ministry when they started the farm last year. He is the grounds keeper and the backbone of the farm maintenance there. He wife and daughter Auntie Salah and Flora work in the kitchen and couldn’t be sweeter. They have taught me a lot of Fijian words and a little bit about the food and culture. After we were done with the concrete and leveling it was time for lunch, we ate lunch and drank lots of water. We then talked for a little bit and jumped straight back into working. I went out to the field to plant cavacus (sp err) it is kinda like a potatoe anyway, it was pretty hard work. We got to use Cane blades named for their use in the sugar cane fields to cut back the overgrown part of the field to dig up new holes with a pitchfork like tool to plant the seed. It is one of those jobs that is done whenever we have time to squeeze it in. Then my watch beeped at 4:00…which is when I was supposed to be leaving for kids club, so I ran back to my room put on a clean shirt and ran up to get in the car. Lara was running a few minutes late so I was ready before she got there. So then we went over to Wai Loloma house which is a place for women who had to get out of abusive relationship or orphans whose parents couldn’t keep them because of the culture if the baby was out of wedlock, or if there parents died and no willing reletives clamied them. So we played with kids, then I was asked to help change someones tire and it took forever to find all of the tools we needed, but when I did and removed the old tire and everything, the “new” tire they brought me, was old enough that it had a hole in it and the other one they had….same story, just a different tire. So it ended up being a lot of work not to accomplish much, but it was still fun, especially playing with the kids of course. They really didn’t want us to leave, but maybe we will get a chance to go back. Lara’s kids are adorable. She has a 4 year old an 8 year old a 10 year old and a 16 year old. I have spent the most time with the two youngest, but they all seem very nice and sweet. When I was looking for tools to change a tire I found a note from the 8 year old to the 4 year old telling her that she loves her and hopes she has a great day. It was so cute, her little handwriting and everything. We then came back to the farm and ate dinner. Then I finally got to shower felt so good. Now tomorrow we are having a fun day, we are going scuba diving, to a waterfall, zip lines, I think a mud pit. And hot springs, so should be super legit and a great day for the GoPro. Getting up again at 5:00am tomorrow so I will journal again later.

Fiji Day 3

Today I got up early to see the sunrise. It was a little cloudy so it didn’t turn out that well on video but looked pretty cool. I then ate a lot of breakfast, hard boiled eggs are pretty good. Then we went into Nadi and shopped around for a few minutes. I hung with Lydia and Hannah most of the day, then we went to this café and ate lunch and watched the superbowl. It started at 11:00 haha time change probs. Seahawks destroyed the broncos. Then we went down to the beach again, I went on a walk with Lydia down the beach looking for seashells sand dollars and stuff. When we got down to the end of the beach there was a ramp and a small plane with puntoons on the bottom for taking off on the water, they would fly people around to look at the mountains and stuff it was super cool. There is also a island not too far off that apparently is one of those super crystal blue water beaches. I am not sure if we are going to have an opportunity to go there, but we are going to a really clear water beach in a couple days. Pastor Neil came and talked to us about his ministry with the hindu people of Fiji, he was raised Hindu and converted to Christianity through his brother. He explained how the family is so connected that they would be disowned either directly or indirectly shunned by the community. It was a really neat story.

Fiji Day 2

 Now I am getting ready to go to breakfast and then church, so today should be an awesome day. Burns still hurt a little, but I have put some aloe on them. Church was pretty cool, it was called revival. We met the pastors and church staff there were about 4 of them, and about 25 in the congregation. When they realized that we did not speak Fijian they tried to accommodate us and had some of the service in English. I am learning some of the Fijian words and etiquette. One of the harder ones is that you do not wear sunglasses while talking to people, and the Fijian sun is strong. The rest of the we just chilled, Sundays we don’t really have much activities apparently. Tomorrow is superbowl Monday so we are going into town to watch it and do some shopping ect.

Fiji Day 2

 Now I am getting ready to go to breakfast and then church, so today should be an awesome day. Burns still hurt a little, but I have put some aloe on them. Church was pretty cool, it was called revival. We met the pastors and church staff there were about 4 of them, and about 25 in the congregation. When they realized that we did not speak Fijian they tried to accommodate us and had some of the service in English. I am learning some of the Fijian words and etiquette. One of the harder ones is that you do not wear sunglasses while talking to people, and the Fijian sun is strong. The rest of the we just chilled, Sundays we don’t really have much activities apparently. Tomorrow is superbowl Monday so we are going into town to watch it and do some shopping ect.

Fiji Travel/Day 1

Well I made it to Fiji, has been pretty awesome so far. Things were a little crazy trying to get my passport the morning of my flight, but sure enough I made it. Got my passport at about 10:00am and was on my 12:00 flight out that afternoon. We then were on 3 different planes. I was always sitting in an area with Kelsey josh Hannah Morgan. So that was fun. Then we got to Houston switched planes there, it was a quick switch, we kinda had to run through the airport. So this was a decently long flight 4.5 hours of something to LA, really nice plane though. Very comfortable, goo movies to watch. I watched the new wolverine movie and I watched after earth, but I kinda started falling asleep towards the end. Had some panda express in the LA airport so that was pretty legit. Orange chicken of course. They didn’t have the alacarte option so I ordered a triple entrée like a boss. Then we were on a 12 hour flight to FIJI! WHAT WHAT! Long flight but totally worth it. We got to the airport, got some money converted to FJD then loaded up in some vans and headed out to the farm. Apparently there has been a ton of rain in the past week especially on Wednesday. Which halted the final work on our dorms, so our dorms are kinda still under construction while we are in them. one of the girls rooms went to stay at one of the missionaries house Laura. We went to the beach and just chilled for a couple hours. I put some suncreen on but my back still got decently burned, so I am going to be mindful of that for the next few days and wear a shirt more. The beach was fun though, the food here is pretty good. It is a lot of fruits and some bread. Last night we had a chicken soup for dinner. The locals here that I have met so far are really nice. The people who work here in the kitchen and stuff have told me a lot about the island area. We are in the valley along side a decently large mountain range so that is pretty neat. I and some others expressed interest in doing some climbing maybe on our second day. After lunch I went down to the creek to explore, it was a little difficult to get over there because the vegetation is very overgrown. But once I got down by the water and could see where the cows came through to get to the creek. I ended up knee deep in mud at one point which was pretty funny. But I washed off in the creek and then climbed a big “rain tree” and chilled there, read my bible until heading back a little bit before dinner.