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.