NO more PICTURES!

My camera broke yesterday. The lens is stuck and I tried to take it apart, but I can not fix it without proper tools. I didn't drop it, nobody abused it, I had taken a picture, and then out of the blue it stopped working. It has been acting up(I think there might be some sand in the camera...it has been making a funny noise every now and then), but it finally just stopped. I have taken thousands of pictures so far, and other people will have cameras...but not me. It should be fixable once i'm back in the states, but apparently there are no camera shops "in fiji" but someone said we might find someone in Suva...4-6 hours away... I will post some pictures once I can gather them.

As far as the spiritual burden goes, it is not gone, nor has it been lifted, but it has become a little more bearable. But things keep happening (Big and small) to toy with my sanity. I know that I am in God's hands, yet last night I was overwealmed with fear and anxiety. Keep praying that I am able to understand what He's trying to teach me. He has been speaking clearer than ever...yet I feel like there is more junk that needs to come out of my ears in order to truly hear clearly. Keep praying.

Back to Lautoka

I arrived Fiji safe and sound, but my last few days have been quite the roller coaster ride. While I was in Kona, I was told that one of my biggest strongholds (spiritual weaknesses that I am vulnerable to) is fear that leads to apathy...and for the first time ever, I experienced that in full force! I have no idea why i was so scared...so being scared made me more afraid...and the fear compounded until I was so scared that I cared about nothing. It is hard to find alone time...especially since the building is required to always be locked(to prevent intruders). God has made it clear that I am to be here now, and my (limited) alone time has been good. I have had a few people pray over me(and many more unknown praying for me) and God has spoken comforting words to me....well....more comforting than not. Basically He has told me that He is going to smooth out my anxiety, not take it away(whatever that means).

Good news on my health though: I was working at a medical clinic yesterday and today, and yesterday at the end of the day, I went to get my ear checked out, and she pulled out the largest piece of earwax i have ever seen! I was going to post a picture, but it was way grosser than my pink eye. So she flushed my ear out with warm water for a while and it gradually loosened and came out. This was why i have been getting dizzy, why I have had headaches, why i was having trouble hearing and why my ear made noise like a speaker cutting out from time to time. The medicine is really strong and makes me REALLY drowzy, yet I woke up just fine, so no hangover(as was expected).

thanks for the prayers...it's truly a battle in my mind right now...pray that I have the endurance to fight and not be too tired to love at the end of the battles.

Leaving for Fiji

My heart is heavy again. I only have 10 minutes left online, so I will do my best to explain. I have very much enjoyed my time here and the freedom allowed. The people are amazing and once you get past their initial shyness, they are a giving and loving people. I have had my own hard times that most of you don't know about, but it was these times that made me draw closer to God...and the alone time at the beach has helped enormously! I found God on the beach at night here, and almost daily had revelations in my walks that would go from 30 minutes to 3 hours. However, I return to the city of Lautoka, Fiji tomorrow. No more walks at night because they lock the building at 8pm(?...it keeps changing) and because it's in the city. My heart's burden is only heavier due to my sudden loss of freedom to have my alone time. I know that God is teaching me something, but I don't know what yet. My desire is to follow where He leads, and my burdens have only gotten heavier. I need prayer that I can have my alone time in Fiji and that my heart will be set free from this burden somehow. I trust God knows what He's doing, but I am still scared because my heart is so tender and vulnerable. Pray that I have discernment and wisdom in my actions. I love you all.

Day of rest...

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Sometimes I wonder if people even read my blog besides the 4 of you who normally reply...it is very encouraging to hear that my ramblings have blessed some of you...your prayers blessed me yesterday. For those of you who have been reading my blog, you know that I had been begging for a day off, and hadn’t got one…and once God had given me the rest that I had been begging for, it POURED down rain SO bad that we couldn’t do any ministry and yesterday we had basically just for praying and journaling and playing games with our team. It was amazing. Our morning activities these last two weeks have been a school for the kids in the village who can't afford to go to school, and afternoons has been going door to door, and last weekend was a "revival"ish thingie. But yesterday we had SO much rain. Not only that, but we had buckets and bowls all around our little shed to catch the water comming through the roof. It was funny until all our stuff was wet and the power shorted...I'm still laughing about it though. The rain made it so that we couldn't do our ministries as normal, and then just before dinner time, it cleared up and I went to my beach again for 2 1/2 hours and just walked down until I went around the point and then saw part of the sunset peering out between the rainclouds and listened to the ocean as God continued to sing to me.

I have been realizing more and more how when I refuse to surrender anything, it proves my lack of trust in Him. He is GOOD by nature. "God is Good." Yet, when I do not surrender something, my actions say "but I am better..." So as I sat there, I wrote things in the sand that God wants me to surrender, and then His powerful waves came up and washed the sand clean...just as it was before I wrote the words down. It is the same with us. When we surrender something, it is washed away completely, and only when we rewrite it in the sand does it need to be washed away again. So this old lesson was a good reminder that God is so eager to wash us clean. I just don't know what I am going to do when I move back to Fiji next week...I love the beach here, and in Fiji, we will be in the city and no more alone time...pray for me for that.

Learning to worship...

I have become accustomed to going to the beach at night to pray. Living in quarters as small with so many people makes it difficult for me to concentrate while I pray. I have tried doing a quiet time on the beach in the morning, but whenever we walk around during daylight hours, we are followed. Sometimes it is by little kids that don’t speak English, so it is just difficult to know what they want. So my quiet times have been at night on the beach when it is dark because then people are intimidated by the “creepy guy on the beach.” My prayers have been a little different too. I always open the door to God, close the door to Satan, and then tell God that I will obey whatever He tells me to do, and I will pray for whoever He brings to mind, and I will talk with Him about whatever perks my interest…keeping in mind Philippians 4:4-13. (if you don’t know it, look it up!!!)

This last week I felt like God told me to put my guitar down for a while. It has been a little difficult for me to worship, because it has been a growing part of my life. As I was at the beach last night, I had an interesting conversation with God about worship. It started with talking about how long I am going to go without playing guitar. He asked me “If you were dating someone and the only nice thing you ever did for her was write her songs and sing love songs…how would she feel? Wouldn’t she get bored with them after a while?” Then I understood that although music is good and helpful, worship is FAR more than just music. It is not even what I thought it was.

I always played the role of the seeker and pursuer in my songs. It only made sense to me. I am the male…I am to play the role of the male. The man is to pursue his love until she will receive him. His job is to prove his love, and to show that his love is real, because she doubts his sincerity. He is to be persistent, displaying over and over again until she lets her guard down and allows him in her heart. It was at that time that God showed me that I had it backwards this whole time. WE are the bride of Christ! HE PURSUES US!!! It is not our job to seek Him out, nor to prove our love. He doesn’t expect us to pursue Him. SO OFTEN we talk about how we found God and not how God found us! He has been seeking us out this whole time!

So worship has to begin with listening to His love song over us. We will not hear this song unless we are still…thus it says “Be still and know that I am God!” He is trying to sing to us. We overlook His songs to us too often. But EVERY sunrise, every sunset, every cloud and star, from the tiniest of organisms to the largest of mountains, he uses all that He has made to serenade us with His songs. This creation is His love song to us…but when we walk away in the middle of His song, we do not need to fret, because just as anyone who is in love, He will continue to sing to us until we acknowledge Him and listen to His love song.

Some songs he sings daily, like the sunrise and the sunset, other songs he sings in season, like the colors of fall, or the fragrance of spring. Regardless of what song He is singing, we need to realize that He will not quit singing ever…EVER! Once we hear these songs, all the worries and burdens of the world fade away. All our hopes and dreams melt into the desire of knowing God. We do not need to try to convince God to fall in love with us. Our job is not to romance God, but to listen to God as he romances us!

After we hear this song, we respond like any bride would respond to her loving husband who expresses his love to her. She doesn’t need to say “Give me a little while before I respond to you.” NO! She runs to his arms and expresses her emotions right then and there! Of course there will come a time where she does something in response to this love. But so often we have the mentality that when the music isn’t any good, worship is “bad” or “we don’t get anything out of it.” Well NEWSFLASH: Worship is NOT FOR YOU!!! If you have to discipline yourself to worship, you’re not listening to His song. Worship will naturally happen as a response to His love for us. If you have not had this revelation, continue to pray and ask God to sing you His song.

I have not had a day off yet, and I have not had my rest yet. We’ve been doing a school in the mornings and going door to door in the afternoons and bible studies in the evenings…so despite my lack of sleep, He has been granting me rest as I walk in the dark on the beach. So your prayers continue to change my life. I have been praying for God to reveal His love to me…and it became so obvious that I was shutting Him up in my attempt to hear Him. He wants us to just sit and be with Him. He wants to hear about my day, to catch my tears, hear my silly songs, and hear my inside jokes. So I hope and pray that you can stop long enough to hear this love song.

Vanuatu update

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for me. Our team has spent every morning with the children of the village who can not afford school (it is about 300 bucks us per term), and afternoons we’re going door to door. It is very tiring on me, and our team is already worn thin from the first 2 months of outreach. We are planning on staying here for 2 more weeks, then back to lautoka for 2 1/2 weeks, then 2 1/2 weeks in one of the outer islands, then the last few days in lautoka before we head back to kona. We had been talking about going to samoa, but it does not look like God will open the doors for us to go. So unless we get an invitation and a blessing from our leadership, we will not go.

Keep praying that we will somehow get the rest that our spirits need. I don’t even know what would do it. We need more than sleep, probably more than a day off (it has been about 2 weeks since we had a whole day off), more than something fun to do (I haven’t even played a game in weeks). I am just bored of being serious. I rarely learn or do anything new or fun and all we do is walk around talking about Jesus’ love and I’ve been struggling to feel His love personally, so it has been really hard for me to share it. I’m bored with movies and even getting bored with music. I have 7 more weeks of outreach and it’s not like I don’t want to be here, it’s just that I don’t want to do anything. The only time I have enjoyed honestly has been my times alone with God on the beach. No music, no people, no distractions…just the sound of the water and the feel of the sand between my toes…and sometimes stars or rain. Yet God keeps telling me to spend time with the people here…and I feel like they are bored with me. It’s quite the vicious cycle.

So pray for life for me and my team. We have plenty of things to do, but after so much being serious, I want to enjoy life and God’s creation…because that’s how I enjoy God. I almost went swimming the other night in the ocean during the lightning storm, but then I thought if the lightning didn’t kill me, my mom would. So I opted out.

I am learning how to surrender all, which has been a surprise how easy and hard it is at the same time. It’s as easy as saying the words, yet you need to conform your desires to God’s, and so it’s a daily process. Surrendering the same things daily was something that I thought was proof that you hadn’t really surrendered. Yet God has been showing me that it is impossible to completely surrender some things. So as a result, we need to admit that we’re not capable, and admit that God knows best. After we surrender it, when we leave our prayers, we will gradually forget that we gave it away and it sneaks back in, and as soon as you see it in your possession, admit it to God and give it back. Basically, we’re spiritual kleptos.

I will keep up the fight, because I see that good is coming of it despite my fatigue, so I will trust that God will give me strength until he gives me the rest I need. I hope this is insightful and helpful for you in more ways than just how to pray for me. I love you all.

Haggardness

Please pray for my team. We are all tired and weary...well not all of us, but a lot of us just need rest. We haven't really had a full day off in what seems to be a long time. We need prayer for our team to have life revived in us. We haven't laughed in a long time, nor done anything that brings a smile to our faces...i haven't felt joy in a while. We have had a lot of spiritual attacks and we're reading our bibles and praying and resisting the attacks, yet we have just been SO tired. Pray for wisdom for our leader in how God plans on reviving the life in our group. We're doing good as a team, getting along well, and God has been healing our pains (He healed mine sunday night). But i'm still just so tired. More than sleep, more than getting a meal that isn't rice, more than homesickness...just tired. Thank you all for your prayers. They continue to change my life...this last week was another extremely hard week for me. I would post it, but I believe the details are not suitable to post online...and would take too long. What matters is that God healed my pains...now he just calls me to obey. I am eager to obey, but I'm just so tired. Keep praying.

Pongo Village

This week has been a good one….VERY hard for me, but good. Pam and I have been leading. It has been nice to have some order to the schedule and more than 30 minutes of free time at a time. We have put all of our events back to back so that we get all of our free time at once. It has been terrible to try and go to town to check the internet or take a nap with so many small blocks of free time. This has made everything a lot easier for me.

In our scheduled time we have been doing a lot of things in the local community. We have done some prayer walks, painted a few houses (and each other simultaneously), as well as hosting a bible study a couple times a week. Vanuatu is a great place for our team right now. We were doing a team building exercise Tuesday and all the neighbor kids (and a few adults) came over and watched (and kinda got in the way)…but they are SO eager to learn what we’re doing and what we’re about.

The culture here is different than the other islands. Similarities include: Boys and girls can not be together 1 on 1 otherwise they assume you’re sleeping together, no garbage cans…they just burn it wherever, they are very shy until you know them, girls are required to dress VERY modestly, and how eager they are to listen to what we have to say because we’re white. Differences include: Guys can wear basically whatever they want to…even for ministry and church, the people here STARE at us wherever we go and watch everything we do. If you do one thing somewhere, and walk to the other side of the village, you do not need to tell them, because they already know. The missionaries here call it coconut wireless. News about anything we do (good or bad) travels faster than you can walk. It’s really creepy. So we need to watch our actions extremely closely.

We are still praying about where God has called us for the last month of our trip. We are thinking about Samoa because it was the original plan, but we have not heard from God yet. Our plan is to focus on prayer until we hear what God wants. This last week I have had a heavy heart. Not a depression, not a sadness, not self pity or anything similar. It has had a few different forms this week and some of you know about that…and I thank you so much for your prayers. The specific forms of heaviness have gone away, yet the heaviness has remained. I know that God is doing this intentionally and I’m not sure why yet. So please pray for me that I can learn to hear God’s voice. He wants me to understand this heaviness beyond any circumstances. Your prayers have been changing my life, and I’ve been doing my best to change the lives of all those I encounter. So thank you for all you have done for me.

Our Plan...

These last few days have been focused on settling in, getting to know the people and area, resting, and team bonding. The area we are staying in is right off the beach in an area where witchcraft is not completely hidden or thought of as bad. People who go to church will be the same people who engage in witchcraft. Our Plan is to pray for the people in the area and tend to their needs. We will be needing prayer for spiritual protection as we become vulnerable to those who practice witchcraft that oppose us. Your prayers have sustained me thus far, and for this I am eternally greatful! My prayer is that your blessing may be double the blessing that you have prayed over me. Thank you so much for standing by my side and fighting even if/when you don't know why or about what. I can not describe the times I have felt your prayers at the most unusual and needed times...from the 4:26am earthquake to the mid day crisis to the 17+hours on a boat when there wasn't any more motion sick medicine and I volunteered to be the one not to take any.(and didn't get sick)...your prayers are more powerful than you know.

Trip to Santo

Thursday night my team parted ways and the 14 of us going on extended outreach said goodbye to the half of the team staying in Fiji. We packed up and left for the airport around 7pm for Vanuatu. We arrived Vanuatu around midnight and drove to our sleeping quarters. Once our luggage was offloaded, we had a team meeting where we found out we were leaving at 5am for a 10 hour boat ride…that would have been nice to know in advance…but so would have the next few days. We got up at 4:45 and left around 6 and waited at the dock from 7 until 9:30 and then about 60 people loaded on with all their stuff onboard a 30 foot catamaran. The seas were a little more lively than our last boat ride and on a MUCH smaller ship.

We arrived Santo around 8pm waited for half an hour to load our things on the truck, then jumped on the bags and rode to our sleeping quarters where we dropped our bags, then left for dinner. We didn’t get back from dinner until midnight and we waited for half an hour for the director to look for a second room because it’s not kosher for boys and girls to sleep in one room together…but after that mission failed, the girls slept on one side and the boys on the other. So 50 of us slept in a huge cement room that echoed a lot(with the snoring and the children in pain(one with pink eye, one with boils, and a few with diarrhea.)) with the lights on all night to keep the centipedes out of the room(they are poisonous), using a water bottle as a pillow since mine disappeared and we were awoken at 5:30 to eat our 1/3 beget for breakfast before loading into the back of a truck to ride an hour ½ to go to a presentation all day long. Once we thought it was done, we drove downtown and it just continued downtown until about 9pm and then we ate dinner, got back around 11pm because we had to wake up at 5am because our truck was leaving at 6am. This time the journey was 2 ½ hours, so the 50 of us loaded in one truck bed because we were going to go take vans…but the vans were gone, so we rode like that for the whole time…I stood up the whole time with 5 other guys who didn’t have room to sit…both ways.

We got back the second night about 10:30 because our boat was leaving at 4am the next morning….but we were late and it waited for us…thank God! This time we were on a little bit bigger one hull boat, but the seas were BAD! We were avoiding 2 weather systems and the swells were on average 4-5 feet the whole way. In some of the bays it went down, and on occation we had some swells over 10 feet! After 17 ½ hours of this grueling part of our journey, most of the people on the boat threw up more than once…(luckily I was sitting on top of the boat with the crew so I got a lot of air and water for most of the journey…but it was really slippery. There were a few times I thought I was going to fly off the boat…God kept me safe and my stomach calm. By the end of the trip, I could see the salt crystals on my skin.)

Our whole team was physically and emotionally exhausted from the journey so we all stayed in a motel for the night. It is really expensive here. The ride from the dock (half a mile) for one van to take 2 trips was $30 US and its $90 per room per night here. We arrived the motel at 1:30am and unpacked and showered…OH the GLORY of a hot shower!!! I hadn’t showered since I left Fiji, and it has been almost 2 months since I’ve slept in a bed. So today I’m checking my email for the first time in a week, resting, reading, swimming in the pool, and I’m going to go to town and buy me some good food…It has been a week since I have actually had a meal. I’ve eaten a grapefruit here, some rice there, and an occasional cookie or cracker.

In this journey, I encountered a few men of God that were such a delight to meet. Two of them are locals to Santo and knew everything about the area. One of these two (Pastor Ben) had been there for his whole life and knew everything about everywhere and everyone. The other (Lester) was a graduated college student and one of the highly esteemed intercessors for the island. I learned a lot from these two and if I ever go back, they will be the first two I look for. Another powerful man I met was actually on the stage as an official guest to the ceremony. He sat a few rows behind the president and prime minister of Vanuatu. He challenged my faith very strongly and I will be keeping in touch with him.

Through these travels, there were certain specific times of the day that I felt some of you praying for me. It has been happening more and more. So either your prayers are becoming more and more powerful, or I’m just sensing the prayers that you’ve been praying for me this whole time. I can not tell you how thankful I am for your prayers. They have sustained me through this time…I don’t know how I would have survived without you fighting by my side this last week. Thank you all so much for being a part of my life and my adventures.

Arrival in Vanuatu completed!

I will be updating my blog soon...I just wanted to tell you all that I am okay. Everything is either VERY cheap or VERY expensive here. I got 3 of the HUGEST grapefruits I have ever seen in my life (about the size of my head) for a dollar, and a can of Coke is $3.00. Internet is $8 an hour, so I'll type up my last week's adventure and post it soon. It was one of the most memorable trips of my life. The story is soon to come.

Vava'u Pics

Here are the promised pictures from Vava'u.

http://wwu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022416&l=30c5c&id=25902808

NEWSFLASH!!! 8.0 EARTHQUAKE!!!

This morning at about 4:30 I woke up. I turned in my bed and started praying and then the room started shaking. I jumped up by the doorway and waited for a little bit hoping it would end...we had a earthquake a couple days ago that was a 6.5 and we thought nothing of it because it was so deep, and it just felt like someone jumped and the house briefly shook. I was thinking this one would be the same. I was wrong. The house kept shaking....then I started shaking really bad...everything was flying off the shelves...we were on the 2nd story of a 2 story building...that doesn't seem to strongly built. After about 25 - 30 seconds, a few of us made a mad dash to the front door(the steps are outdoors, and not covered). The quake just kept shaking. It had to have gone on for over a minute. Nothing seemed to have broken though. Not sure how. We were running around getting flashlights and candles so we could see since the power was out. It wasn't until about 15 minutes later that I realized I was still in my underwear...everyone was so shaken up that nobody even noticed....Ooops.

The power was only out for a little bit, and then we gathered supplies, but none of us have cash and almost none of the stores that accept credit cards are open. THe 2 ATM's are shut down too for some reason. So our goal is to find cash because we were planning on getting it this morning. Everything is closed today in honor of the Prince's birthday. There is a party tonight on the pier for him and our plan is to have a prayer booth there.

Diane, the lady we're staying with is amazing! It seems like she is on every major committee. She was talking to prime ministers and the red cross, hospital, police, and even NBC. She is going to meet with a bunch of people tomorrow to help set up an aid relief for the Nation. Everyone is so chill here. They don't fret too much about it. They are all over it...or so it seems...the nature of a kingdom leaves those under the king to supress their feelings. Many people were afraid, but appear to be over it. I hope our prayer booth will be good. We leave for hte main island of Tonga tomorrow morning 10am. Thank you al lfor your prayers. Please email me with any questions or comments. I should have internet a couple times the next week. So please let me know what's going on. If there are tremmors, I'll let you know what's up.

Pictures from Tonga

The computer lab has a very fast connection and very slow computers. The server just went down, but luckily it came back up again. I am uploading some pics, so click the link below if you want to see some pictures from Tonga. None from Vava’u yet…no captions either. I wish I had time to write the stories I have left out. I figured I was lacking in the photo department more than the story department.

http://wwu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022060&l=023df&id=25902808

if the link doesn't work let me know...sorry that it wasn't there. I will try next week to get you pictures from Vava'u.

Talk about Power....

I just found out the reason why my internet hasn’t been working. Strange story: It began on Sunday night, the Prince’s right hand man urinated in public and offended many (since it is illegal to wear a sleeveless shirt in public…palangi’s are exempt for some reason). One of the people offended was the chief editor of the Tongan paper. He told the owner of the restaurant that he was going to publish what happened. The Prince’s right hand man called the right guy and shut off all internet and telephone on the whole island. It could be days before the internet works. Very different from America. (what’s even funnier is that I was at that restaurant and left 10 minutes before that happened.)

Millionaire Ministries...

This last week was pretty crazy. Being in Vava’u is very different than being on the main island. Many things are the same: The people are friendly, they all call themselves Christians, and they still drive on the wrong side of the road. However, unlike mainland Tonga, this is a Coral island. We hiked yesterday to the highest peak and it was all coral. So there are hills here, whereas mainland is completely flat. The environment is even more relaxed here…though I didn’t think it was possible.

Friday, we went to a school and did a 40 minute presentation. Friday night we went to a youth rally (30 kids) and many of them were the same kids at the school that morning…so we improvised with theatre sports and a few other things. At the end people had some time to laugh, think, and worship. One girl dedicated her life to the LORD!! We were amazed at how God can use anything.

Saturday we went for a prayer walk in the morning, then went to help an organization with building trash cans, however we mostly just stood around. Most of our time was praying. After dinner 4 of us (Ryan, Callie, Ashawnae, and me) went to get home made Italian Ice cream! We sat and had too much, and just as we were about to leave, there were 3 guys who offered to buy us a round of drinks. We declined because we were about to leave. They started talking to us (in their inebriated state) and they insisted we sit down. So we sat with them and talked to them for at least an hour.

After we had declined drinks a few times, I realized that if I turned him down more, I could offend him, so I took a sprite(I had already had 4 scoops of ice cream and 2 dinners). They kept buying drinks and talking and we found out much about them. The “main guy” turned out to be one of the wealthiest Tongans on this island. He is a multi millionaire (Which is good in a country that has an average annual income of $700 US) and owns the hotel where the Prince of Tonga is staying. His name is Tommy. Everyone knows Tommy.

We went home and found out from Diane (the lady we’re staying with) that he is indeed a wealthy and powerful man in Tonga. She said that what we found out about him is very useful information in praying for him, so we told our pastor what we knew, and we prayed and prayed that he would come to church on Sunday.

Sunday morning we did the children’s church then packed up and went to the Hard Rock Island to relax for the afternoon. Since Diane knows everyone, we got a ride to a place where we got a boat ride for free(we gave them gas money though). After unpacking everyone went to the hardrock hotel. I stayed in the shade to put on my sunscreen(yes mom, I use sunscreen). As I was finishing, I couldn’t believe my eyes to see Tommy and his two buddies coming ashore. They came up and I asked if they remembered me. They said they did. UNBELIEVABLE! So this time I was certain it was a divine appointment.

We sat and invited them to join us, and they did eventually and we sat and talked about all sorts of things. They paid for anything I wanted (I just had 2 sprites and a juice) and then the owner started talking with us. After a while I found out that the owner was the keyboardist from the old British band “The Cure.” I thought it was hilarious. It just dawned on me that I was sitting at a table with multimillionaires talking about real estate, music, and adventures. I didn’t need to talk about God because they all know more than me. I just sat and spent time hanging out. The owner of the Hard Rock offered us a few days for free if we just wanted to hang out and explore…I couldn’t believe I had to decline. I have to fly back to Tonga on Friday.

The culture here is a Christian one, and their view on Palangi’s is not good. It does not matter what we say. They do not listen to a word we say. They only watch what we do. So we are planning on going to the hospital to pray and cleaning up the streets a little just so they see white people working. They think that white people are incapable of work. No exaggeration. They truly believe that work is for non-white people. So we are told that if we do something as simple as picking up trash people will do a double take and ask themselves “what are those white people doing?” Then when we talk, they will listen.

Vava'u (Va va Ooo)

Thank you all SOO much for your prayers. Our boat ride was longer than expected, but we traveled faster than expected. We are currently in Vava'u, the northernmost major island in the Kingdom of Tonga. It is known as the most beautiful island in the South Pacific. On our way through the islands on the boat ride in, it was like we were boating through paradise. In all my adventures, i've never seen such beauty. I will have to come back here sometime to explore and adventure, becuase we are here for ministry this time. here's a scenopsis of our journey here: When we arrived the dock to leave the main island, it looked like a scene in a movie where everyone was trying to immigrate. There was a funeral and they loaded up the cascets first then everyone dressed up from the funeral. Everyone was squeezing through a small fence gate and once a few people were on the boat, everyone was passing their bags up to people on the boat. While loading one of the trucks, the forklift tipped over and the truck fell almost all the way in the water...it got pryed inbetween the dock and the boat, so we left at 7pm instead of 5pm. On the boat there were no seats, no trash cans, and one bathroom with 3 stalls labeled girls, one labeled males and two urinals next to the sinks. There were about 3-400 people on the boat so we all piled in a huge group with our stuff on the outsides and two sleeping bags in the middle where we layed in a huge cuddle puddle. The larger group got off at Hapai at about 4am and while offloading the vehicles, one of the barrels fell inbetween the dock and the boat and spilled desil(from what I heard.) So we left hapai around 6:45 instead of 5. (3 hours wait) Just before 1pm we arrived Vava'u. The seas were expected to be "rough. Not smooth like you americans might think, but really rough." I can not thank you enough for your prayers. Our whole trip we got smooth seas and not a drop of rain. The stars were amazing and the seas were so calm I was suprised. I remember fishing in a 15 foot boat with swells worse than our 100 foot boat was going over. It was amazing...seriously. Today we went to a high school and just talked for about 40 minutes and then went on a prayer walk through town(which is hard to do because everyone is so friendly and talkative it's hard to pray because everyone is so interested in the Palangi's (white people)). We found out that we can go to one specific internet cafe for free when we go with diane. So we are here now. Not sure for how long or when I can come back. But it was a plesant suprise. Our living situation is wonderful. We live with a older lady whose name is Diane and her dog Roger. Not sure her story, but she is from the states and lives here now. She has 3 bedrooms (3 beds) and we are sharing them appropriately. It is a nice appartment and we (sometimes) get warm showers, and she showed us the best places to get palangi food. Tomorrow at 10am we are going to have an extra girl joining us.(Callie) She is flying here(3x as expensive as the boat ride..but worth it for her since she gets so sea sick). Our ministry here is not set in stone like it was in Fiji. We have a couple things planned and the rest of the time we will be praying about what God wants us to do. So I would really appreciate prayer in the realm of our team hearing God's will for our day as each day occurs. Everyone here is so friendly. At the pastor's house last night we met the noble's son, Sampson (14 years old ) and it was an honor for us to be in his presence. Very polite boy. He will be the noble of Vava'u when his dad dies(his dad just became the noble). All in all, it has been tiring being here, but good. We will rest this afternoon and then join the youth group tonight at 8pm. We will be leaving here next thursday or friday...so we will only be here a week. I will post pictures from Tonga and vava'u as soon as I find possible. Thank you all for being a part of my life and my adventures. Joel

Internet, TV, and a long boat ride

The interent has been down on the island for a few days, and they had to come reset it or something. So tonight it finally started working. Thank you so much for all your prayers. It has been really relaxing to be here in Tonga. We have mostly been helping out at the U of N base here. We have done everything from gardening to working in the kitchen to cleaning the bathrooms and showers. Sunday we found out that not only are we not allowed to work, we are not allowed to play sports either. The people here laughed at us because we wanted to do our laundry and weren't allowed. We all were itching to check our emails, and I'm sorry that I didn't reply to any of you. I just didn't have the time. There are a bunch of people who want to use the internet and we're taking turns now that we learned that it works better with two or less people using te wireless network. So for those of you who gave me money, thank you SO much! I have been spending extra money on food just because i am losing weight and do not always get enough food. Also, money does go further here. So every little bit has helped.

Saturday we drove around the whole island in a couple hours making a couple stops....just to give you an idea ofthe size ofthe island. the highest speed limit is 40kph, as a result, they are allowed to pile however many people they want. kinda cool really. But we went to bed early to get up at 5am so that we could be read to be on tv at 7am. We arrived the tv station 6:45 and we were the only onese there....we found out there was a miscommunication and we were on at 7PM! Most of us laughed it off, but some were quite upset. We had 2 hours until we left for church and we sat through the church(all in tongan...no english at all) and they said it could be anywhere from 2-4 hours. It took an hour and 45 minutes. The church was beautiful though. All day most everyone slept or watched movies. I walked around campus. That night we went to the TV station and at last moment I was asked to do my testimony, so I went on Tongan TV live and told a brief part of my life story. I still hate mics.

We just worked around the base and went to town on monday and today we went to a beach and hung out as a team for the last time in a while. Tomorrow we split into 3 teams. My team will be riding a boat tomorrow night 5pm(9pm Washington time) and the ride will be up to 18 hours from what I hear to Vava'u. Rumor has it that Vava'u is the most beautiful island in the south pacific. I don't even know what we'll be doing there. I just know that everyone says I'm lucky to go....I sure hope this isn't a joke.

This will be the last update for 2 weeks. Rumor has it that there is no internet on the island. So here are my prayer requests these next two weeks:
-The ride to the islands are on an old desil boat. People are known to get sick solely from the smell of the desil. So pray for calm seas! This is my biggest prayer request. Calm seas can shorten the trip in half. I would hate to start my ministry there sick.
-Wisdom and strength for each of the 3 teams
-Relationships and unity in my team
-Our outreach team is praying whether or not to go back to Fiji like we planned, or if we should go to Samoa like we initially wanted(now that we're allowed to go)...or if God wants us to go somwhere else. If we change anything, we will need more money. As of right now, I have $200 after I pay off my credit card from my dental work in Kona(My tax returns came in so that covered the rest)....so prayer for direction and if we change anything, prayer for funds.

That's all for now. I thank you all for being a part of my life and my adventures. John 3:30.

Joel

Live, Watermellons, and the Kingdom...

We are staying at the YWAM base here in Tonga. The culture is very different in many ways. The people are very laid back(and some people are downright lazy) because the #1 source of income is money sent by relatives overseas. Things here are either dirt cheap or bucu expensive. This morning we spent a little while picking watermellons. The weather has been strong winds...I'd guess they are about 25 miles an hour with gusts above 40....and the rain goes from a sprinkle to a downpoar. It is difficult to sleep at night with the wind blowing through the room and the rain hitting the roof sounding like it is an army with hammers. But at lest it's not hot.

This afternoon 8 of us went to the Christian radio station and we didn't know what to expect, but all of us went into a tiny 8x10 ft room and we went on the air. We didn't get any prep time, but rather we were put on the spot to answer whatever questions the DJ asked. He knew what we were about so it was all about our testimony and the difference between religion and a relationship with Jesus. All in all, it was good. We found out that most ofthe people on campus tuned in to our radio show from 4-6...with music breaks, it didn't seem like it was 2 hours...but it was fun.

Now about the Kingdom of Tonga....It is the last true kingdom on earth. The king became a Christian when a missionary came and talked to the King about an all powerful God. The king dissagreed and said that if his god was real, he could save him from the sharks. The missionary agreed. So the king had him rowed out to the shark feeding ground (not sure how far away from the island) and dropped him off and everyone forgot about him. He swam to shore(no man had ever survived swimming in those waters) and had to hike back to the kings palace. The king was shocked. He had forgotten about the missionary. After that the king became a believer and so did his kingdom. The believers on the island call the King a "born again" believer, and they say that the prince and the expected king to be is not. So they pray and intercede often on the princes and the kingdom's behalf.

Our main ministry until we leave on Tuesday for the outer islands will be helping out their campus. We have done gardening, cleaning and random jobs they have requested. It only costs us $5 per day per person for food and shelter. Unfortunately as a result, we eat the same food, and I haven't learned to like it yet. I weighed myself yesterday and I weigh 167....when I left for DTS in December I weighed 187....so for those of you who want to lose 20 pounds, have i got the diet plan for you!!! I told the guys my goal is to gain 7 pounds...basically, that I need to eat more and excercize more.

It only costs $15 to use the internet here for a month...unfortunately i'll only be here for a week, but still it's not bad. The internet cuts out often and the connection speed is 1Mbps, but it's way nicer than not having internet at all. I have read all your emails(and sean, you're not a better bus driver than me) and will reply if I have a connection long enough to do so. we do not have much free time here...but I didn't come here to have free time....I came here to serve God! ...and I can not reitterate how powerfuly your prayers have effected me. I hope this update is helpful. God bless my friends and family.

Tonga

I arrived tonga safely. The internet is very fickle here and it took me a long time to get it up and running. It cuts out very often. I will try to keep updated, but it took me over 3 hours to check my email and update this blog. I can not tell you how much I appreciate all your prayers. i have felt them. I will have internet, but it's SO fickle! I will do what I can to keep you updated. I love you all so much. I'm off to bed because we start 7am tomorrow.