December 27, Day 2 - Out to Telunas

I woke up pretty early this morning... jet lag, excitement, and alarm clocks all playing a part in the time. Brenna's mom graciously provided me with the requisite two cups of coffee, thereby ensuring my good attitude for the rest of the day. The taxi came for us at 6, and we were off to the ferry terminal, where we were to catch a boat to Indonesia! There were 15 of us: 11 kids, and four leaders.















Above, from left: Ian Flemming, Zach Taylor, Rachel Ward, Andy Zane, Verne Ward, Seth Webb, Sam Fleischman, Brenna Rigsby (top row), me, Maria Kim, Fiona Fakaua, (bottom row) Noelle Fleischman, Esther Kim, Daniel Kim, Paul Kim

The Wards and the Fleischmans were our fearless leaders... a bit crazy, to volunteer to deal with a bunch of mks, but very cool people who made our week everything it was supposed to be.

We got some breakfast at MacDonalds and then boarded the ferry, where they were playing Tom and Jerry reruns... ha, I haven't watched those since I was like 9!

below: Noelle with MacDonalds!















We arrived in Indonesia... except for Verne, who joined us a couple days later... met Eric (an owner of the place where we were going to stay) and boarded a small wooden boat bound for Telunas Beach.















below: Maria and Fiona
















After an hour and a half or so of boat ride out towards the end of earth, we arrived at Telunas Beach... the most awesome little resort place ever!















The whole place is out over the water, including kitchen, dining room, lounge, dorms, showers, etc.
We were shown to our dorms, which we promptly made look like home... uh, for those of you who are not familiar with teenage decor, it usually includes clothes on the floor, iPods on the bed, cameras hung here and there, suitcases open (so you can access your stuff, of course)... etc.





























After dinner, we had our first meeting, in which we outlined what our goals and expectations were for this week... and something else, too: our fears. We defined what we had come to this place looking for, expecting, and fearing. I think most of us put down that we had come wanting to make awesome friends, grow closer to God, learn new things, and have a great time. I know that for me, my biggest fear was (and always is) saying goodbye to close friends. I have to make, and keep making, the decision that the joy of deep friendships is worth the terrible pain of goodbyes... that I am going to vulnerably trust God with the precious people he has brought into my life, instead of drawing into a shell for fear of getting hurt.

When our meeting was over, we headed over to the beach for a bonfire, and... oh my my...roasted marshmallows!!!















Falling into bed at the early hour of 10:30, I believe my last thought was something about hoping I didn't drop my iPod or Bible into the ocean through the spaces between the floor-boards......