Taking the SAT (part 2)

Well, I took it today... I think I did ok, but it'll be a couple weeks before I get the scores. Man, that is one tough test... seriously, four hours into it, it's like, what was I thinking to take this on.

But, I certainly felt all of your prayers. I really think God helped me through it, and I know I did my best, so we will see how it turns out.
Thanks for praying!

-Danielle

Taking the SAT

Well... I took the last practice test today and.... didn't do so good. I'm so tired from studying... I'm not going to do any thinking whatsoever from now until I take the test.

For those of you who have absolutely no clue what on human earth I am talking about, I am taking the SAT for the second time in a couple days... I am really trying for a certain score, because that scholarship would SURE be nice. So, I've been studying pretty hard for the past month, and I've improved my average scores on the practice tests by about 40 points... which is about 60 short of the grade I need. So, I've accepted that if I get the grade I need on this test, it will be because God helped me to... like, really helped... so I'm praying hard, and I've been making my friends promise to pray too. Beyond that, I just have to accept that if I don't get the score, it's because God has something else in store. Don't you hate it when you want to pray for God's will to be done, but you have this sinking feeling that His will might turn out to be not what you think you want? But, the truth is, if He has other plans that He wants to have happen at this point, those are really what I want to have happen, not some thing which I have decided would be best.

Ah well... He's in control. And I suppose... He knows the plans He has for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me a hope and future!

-Danielle

Do you know the people around you? Do you know what they believe? Do you know how it affects them, and why? ...

Diwali: The Festival of Lights

There are many legends... the goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) is incarnated; Lord Vishnu as Vaman-avtaara rescues Lakshmi from King Bali's prison; Lord Krishna kills the demon-king Narakaasur; the Pandavas return from banishment; Lord Ram, Ma Sita, and Lakshman return to Ayodhya... stories are in abundance. But my neighbor tells me only one, so perhaps that is the one I should tell. (note: this is the best I understand the story, forgive me if I get some of the details wrong)

In Kosala (now northern India) many millennia ago, King Dasaratha ruled in the capital city of Ayodhya. (yes, your tongue will need some therapy after this blog to get untwisted) King Dasaratha was good and wise, and the country was prosperous and at peace. The king had three queens: Kaushalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra, but no children. The royal family held a sacrifice, and begged the gods for children-- four sons were soon born.

Kaushalya's son was the firstborn, Ram. Bharat was Kaikeyi's son, and Sumitra had twins: Lakshman and Shatrughn.

Our story skips forward to the marriages of all the sons: Ram won the hand of the princess Sita, daughter of Janak, ruler of Videha. To do so, he strung and broke the bow of Shiv, which no other man could do. Lakshman married Sita's sister, Urmila; and Bharat and Shatrughn married Sita's cousins: Mandavi and Shrutakirti.

Tongue-twisting names now for the most part taken care of, the princes and their wives lived in Ayodhya with King Dasaratha and his three queens. The king was growing old, however, and decided to appoint his eldest son, Ram, as regent.

Kaikeyi (mother of Bharat) was convinced by her evil maid, Manthara, that as soon as Ram became king, he would become jealous and would remove her as queen and kill her son. She panicked, and decided to take drastic action. Many years ago she had saved the king's life, and he had promised to grant her two wishes. She decided it was now time to use a wish. She requested that the king send Ram into 14 years of exile in the jungle. The king was broken-hearted, but he could not recall his promise, so Ram was exiled. With him went his wife, Sita, and his younger brother, Lakshman.

When Bharat learned what his mother had done to his half-brother, he was furious. He ran after Ram, and begged him to return, but Ram insisted on honouring his father's promise. Bharat returned to the city, but refused to be king. King Dasaratha died, however, and someone had to rule the kingdom. Bharat consented to rule Ayodhya in Ram's name, but would not sit on the throne. Instead, he placed there a pair of Ram's shoes, to remind the people that Ram was the true king.

Ram, his wife, and his brother lived in the forest for many years. They faced many trials, fought with demons... at one point, Ram's wife, Sita, was kidnapped by a demon named Ravan. Ram and Lakshman had to find her. All the animals in the forest helped them, as well as Ravan's brother, who disapproved of what Ravan had done. Together, they assaulted the castle where she was held prisoner. Ram and Ravan fought for ten days, until Ram shot Ravan with a special arrow given to him by the gods and succeeded in killing him.

Finally, the 14 years of exile were over. Hanuman the monkey (who was also the son of the Wind, with power to fly) preceded the trio to the city, announcing that Ram, Sita, and Lakshman were returning. The city of Ayodhya was decorated with lamps and flowers, and when Ram arrived, he was crowned king. He ruled long and well, and many thousands of years later, his coronation is remembered and celebrated as the Hindu festival of Diwali.


Outside, the fireworks are bursting; I can hear them. My neighbors are getting ready for the prayer tonight. People are shouting, and laughing at the fireworks.

-Danielle
"Father, it is my desire to love You, the Lord my God, with all my heart, and with all my mind, and with all my soul.... and to love my neighbor as myself."

(right: my neighbor)

Youth!

So, as most of you know, last night was youth group. It was awesome, as always.

We had a guest speaker, from the west, a former Math and Physics teacher, and also a former Hindu firewalker. He was talking about deciding for yourself who Jesus is, rather than just following the crowd... that your relationship with God has to be a personal thing. Well, as he was talking about how easy it is to follow the crowd, he started off the service with a bunch of games, in which many of us made fools of ourselves by "following the crowd" ... such as the one where he says, spell "silk" ... say it five times... spell it again... say it another five times ... silk silk silk silk... what do cows drink? .. and everyone says : MILK!! ... no wait.

Moving on from there, he quoted CS Lewis' famous logic about Jesus from Mere Christianity: That Jesus was either a liar, or he was a lunatic, or he was Lord... his claims to be the Son of God make those three choices the only ones.

He also talked for a while about exactly who Jesus said that he was, and who others in the Bible said that he was, and ended with an altar call. Course, we wrapped up the service with a rousing rendition of "Forever" ... we have some awesome singing at youth!

Now, in case you all were thinking that Malcolm must have forgotten about his order to memorize the books of the Bible, he did not. Those of us who recited them in front of everyone got a big bag of cookies to share.... yum. Course... we shared them with everyone else, too.
Quinton also won a coke by reciting a memory verse up front... and the kid would not share it with the rest of us! No wait... I take that back. He did offer me some, I admit. Those who did not win goodies (and some of those who did) headed for the snack bar after the service. One of these weeks I need to take a camera to youth and get some pics... I was going to this week, but my camera is quite dead. I need to remember to buy new batteries. What are the chances I'm gonna remember THAT?!

-Danielle

Homeschoolers and Youth Blog

Well, as today is Thursday, we went to homeschool group!

At homeschool group, some of the kids played volleyball outside (Q did that for a while), some of the kids watched Lord of the Rings III (Q did that for a while, too), and SOME of the kids (namely, me and Hannah) worked at the computer in the corner.

What would be so very important as to keep us working for three hours at the computer in the corner? Well... last week at youth we promised Malcolm that we would set up a blog for Vital Connection youth group, so that he could post upcoming events, stories about what's happening, prayer requests, etc. So that's what we were doing! It was actually fun, and we got it all nicely set up, and the first post posted about what's happening tomorrow. The site is (in case you want to keep track of what's going on at Vital Connection youth group) VConnectionFiji.blogspot.com.

Having completed the blog, we have also been working on our books of the Bible. While doing the dishes the other night, Quinton and I recited them to each other.... did you know the prophets work best when memorized in groups of three? If you get into a rhythm you can get through all 66 books of the Bible before you lose your train of thought and forget what you were doing....
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy...which reminds me I forgot to read the passage in Deuteronomy for Economics class... oh I really need to check on my schedule in that class... I think I'm behind in British Lit... that last stupid book... had to look up the Cliff Notes to understand it... got sidetracked by the browser update I had to download... which reminds me I really need to get the new version of iTunes... and before you know it, the books of the Bible have faded in the far away background... Joshua, Judges, Ruth... there's a Newsboys song about those three books... it's quite funny.... I need to get that new music video... what was I doing again?..........

-Danielle

Kavala Bay

What a weekend! We left home early Sunday morning.... as in, 4:30 am. We cast off from the dock at about 6, and headed for Kadavu.

Most of you who know me know what/where Kadavu is, but for those who don't, it is an island about 60 nautical miles south of the main island where we live. We have had church work in Kadavu for several years now, and it is expanding every time we turn around.

There is new church in Kavala Bay, Kadavu: 6 weeks old. That was our destination. We arrived, hiked in to the new shed church building, and sat down for the service. That was at around 10 am. By 10:15 or so, the people had arrived. This 6 week old church has 62 people attending! We had a couple hours of items (dances) .


So, Pastor Aseri is speaking away in Fijian, and I am listening very carefully and following pretty well. It is very tiring to listen and understand a language that you do not know very well, and although I could understand most of what he said, if I lost concentration I would immediately lose track of what was going on. At one point in this process, Pastor was merely announcing each upcoming item, so I relaxed a bit, and looked around at all the people crowded into the little shed. Suddenly, the flow of words from the front stopped. I looked up, starteled. Pastor Aseri was looking in the direction of our family. I scrambled to reconstruct in my mind the last few words said. Something about Mom... me...song...now. hm. This was sounding like something that might require some kind of response on our part. I struggled to look intelligent. Fortunately, after a very long few hundredths of a second, Pastor Aseri translated into English.
"We are just wondering if maybe Radini Cindy and Danielle might have a song for us?"
I looked at him, and then looked at Mom. We were obviously both thinking the same thing. We had just gotten over a fairly severe cold... no voice, the whole bit... and had only recently re-aquired the fine art of talking. Neither of us were at all sure we could croak out a song... but hey... why not?

I quickly leaned over and whispered in Mom's ear the name of a Fijian song that we both knew very well... this was no time for fancy newly learned productions... and headed for the mike, Mom close behind. This particular song, "E na Mata i Jiova" calls for immediate singing by both parties of the duet. I began enthusiastically and heard not a sound from my side where Mom was standing. I checked to make sure she was still there... sure enough, there she was. I casually wondered for a while why she wasn't singing, until finally after a few eons, certainly comprising the space of at least half of the first word, she joined in.

Mom later explained that she had only heard the last two words of the title I had whispered to her, "i Jiova"... unfortunately, those two words refer to a different song, one which calls for the second singer to jump in on the chorus! ... so she was somewhat confused when I started a different song than I had declared... yes, very confusing, I understand completely. All worked out for the best though, we completed the song in a semi-croak-free manner and resumed our seats.

Dad preached, and Pastor Aseri translated... I really love listening to translated sermons. Everything is run by you twice, you get to hear every point from a different angle, you are given time to think between sentences, it's great. And it was a sermon worth listening to twice... of course the story of great-grandpa and the cobra in the fire was at the end, as this was a new group of people who had never heard that story before. I do love that story.

After the service... which ended at around 1pm... we had lunch. Oh such a lovely lunch it was... good Fijian food is... very good. I won't say hard to beat, because Mum's cooking can beat anything else on earth, but it is certainly worth consuming.

After lunch, we sat for a while and then had tea. Don't laugh. This is a former British colony, we must have our tea. After a few years, it becomes addictive and an afternoon seems somehow incomplete without a good cup of tea.

At around 4 or 5 we headed back out to boat, had a round of Rook (which Dad and I won, of course), and folded down our bunks for the night. We spent a little while examining stars... there is really nothing quite like stars in the outer islands. No city lights... no clouds... the Milky Way stretched from one horizon to the other... some planet hung low in the sky in front of us, so bright that it reflected in the water below...truly incredible. Makes you feel so small... and God seem so huge and majestic.

Finally, we all went to bed... well, no, not quite all of us.

I slowly drifted off into oblivion, settling into the soft rocking of the boat, listening to the gentle creak of my bunk, when SUDDENLY I hear this yelp. After the yelp came the peculiar sound of Fish On Deck. It's kind of a flappy metalic sound... hard to describe... comes from the frantic flopping of a fish that has been jerked up out of its watery abode and onto the metal deck of the boat. WHAP WHAP WHAP. Small sounds from Quinton as he scrambled to control his catch. Bright blinding light as he flipped on the lights and held up his trophy for all to see. Held it up... as in, oh hello, please get the fish out of my face if you don't mind. Finally the fish disappeared from view, the light went off, and I went back to sleep, thankyou very much.

I slept awesome... but then... I sleep awesome all the time. At 7:30pm, it's like, watch out, I am going to sleep wherever I am. Yes, 7:30. Don't laugh. I get up early, too.

Monday (yesterday) the seas were lily-pond flat for the trip back, but we caught not one fish, no not one, not even a small one. How sad. A moment of silence, please, for the fish-less voyage.

When we got back to dock, Mom and I took the truck and ran up to the butcher and Cost-U-Less for some groceries while Dad and the Q cleaned up the boat. We finally got home and I ran for the shower... something about salty ocean air, just makes a hot shower seem absolutely wonderful.

I have put a few pictures into this blog, but of course they don't all fit, the rest of them are in the october folder of my Picasa album

And so we reach the end of this delightful post, those of you who are still reading, congratulations, you have persevered through to the finish.

-Danielle

I guess I should post a post...

Well, this is my blog... I guess I should go ahead and post on it.

Today is raining like crazy, but that's just living in Navua. Navua gives the word "rainforest" a new meaning... it rains like a foot a day here, seriously. The rice fields around our house are more like rice ponds at the moment, and the rain is still merrily coming down. If you drive 10 minutes east toward Suva, the rain clears up. If you drive 15 minutes west toward Nadi, the rain clears up. It is just our own little pocket of the world that sits in a perpetual downpour. It's a good thing we live on the top of a hill, or we would have to build our house up on stilts like some of the other people on our road.

Today mom and I are stringing cots for the boat. I have blisters on three fingers from trying to pull the ropes tight... see, there are these aluminium frames and these rectangles of canvas with gromets in them, and the idea is to use the rope and wind it through the gromets and around the metal and pull it tight so that we can put the cots up in the boat and sleep on them and end up with something more like a cot than a hammock. Myself, at this point in the pulling-tight-ropes process, I'm thinking hammocks would be just fine with me.

Last night we went to youth group, Q and I did. That is one awesome youth group, I like it more every time I go. I don't quite know what it is about it... maybe it's Malcolm, the youth pastor. He so obviously cares about all the kids that come. I mean, really, he's pulling out 100+ teens on a Friday night to come sit for an hour and half to listen to... preaching! And it's good solid Christian teaching, too, awesome stuff.

He called out a few Bible verses that were a wee bit difficult to find... books like Amos (right after Joel, and before Obadiah, in case you were wondering)... hm... and he took note of the fact that some of us were wandering through our Bibles, a bit lost... and so he told us to all memorize the books of the Bible in order before next week. I think I shall have to brush up a bit... couldn't remember if 1&2 Kings came before or after 1&2 Cronicles... and I may have gotten Zepheniah and Haggai out of order in my mind. Nahum... is not right before Revelation, actually, that's Jude. And... yeah, we shall take another look that table of contents and get those straigtened out for next week.

Alrighty that was a very long first post for this blog, but I'm bored today, it's a rainy Saturday, what am I supposed to do other than ramble on? hm? But this lovely post has come to an end now, as I really have to go string another cot. *looks woefully at blisters on my fingers*

Later people, God Bless, and learn your books of the Bible before next week.
-Danielle