It's a Small World

It is! They (the omnicsient They) say that every person is only six people away from everyone else in the world.... So, you know someone who knows someone who knows someone... and in six layers out, you know the whole earth. I think an exception must be made, though, for missionary kids... I mean, the sheer volume of people we know.... in the number of countries we know them in. Rarely does someone mention a country that I do not say "hey, I have a friend there!" (or at least think it) I mean, I have friends from everywhere from France to Argentina to Switzerland (hi Rachel!) to Dungog, Australia. (you knew that was coming, Olli.) 

Well, anyway, where I was going with this is that it's about time to leave Fiji, because we can't walk a block in town without stopping to chat with someone we know.... day before yesterday, in Suva, in one store-complex (what we call a mall...a tiny, tiny mall) we met 7 people that we knew... stopped and talked with, found out how their cousin-brothers were doing, etc. By the time we got to the car, we were laughing and saying that it was about time to leave this country and go make some new friends... we know everyone here! 

So, yeah, that's my random thought of the day.

Pizza and Youth

Well, as a farewell to the Q and I, Malcolm (our youth pastor) took some of us out for pizza before youth on Friday, which was great fun.
















Below: Malcolm and Abel

















Below is The Q, Olli, me, and Leah ...ehh, for those of you who don't know, Leah is this awesome friend of mine from youth; she's lived in Spain so we speak Spanish to each other just to frustrate Q and Olli ;)
















Me and Priteeka, Malcolm's wife.















And yes, I am going to post just a couple more pictures from youth... come on you guys, I have to,-- I just love my youth group!






























Anyway, we had a great service... I guess I won't be back at Vital Connection for a while anyway... but I would love to go back whenever we come back back to visit Fiji. God is really using that group of teens.

As always, more photos at my picasa album, and also there's some on Olli's.

Afternoon with those crazy people who are brave enough to be friends with us....

Well, yeah... so we got the whole gang together for one last...uh... get-together...before we leave.
Roches, and Schultzies.
So for those of you who don't know our (very) good friends, this is an introduction. Meet the Roches and the Schultzies, who have put up with our family for many years, the poor people. They are a huge part of what has made me who I am today... so, uh... blame them.

Now, I gotta esplain something about these pictures: I had a cold yesterday. Sooo, I look like I'm crying in all the photos. And I'm not. Not in all of them. Only in the last few, after we had group prayer and, thanks to Calli's prayer, I ruined what makeup I had left. In those I am crying. But in the rest I am merely the victim of a slight cold.
And yes, I feel better today, thank you all for wondering.

Well, the cameras came out right away, to make sure we all actually had documentation of the fact that we did know each other. Below is Calli (Roche) playing with Olli (Schultz)'s camera....
















then, Quinton playing with Olli's camera...
















and finally, Olli's camera back in the hands of it's rightful owner....















Of course, we had to get some photos together.. again, to prove that we know each other...

yeh... I'm crying in that one.
















And I dunno... something about this one just really captures our personalities..... :D
















Ok, so it's REALLY hard to hold the camera out yourself and get good photos, especially with my camera which is on the larger side.

After the required session of seeing-whats-new-on-each-others-iPods (I am so buying some songs by The Wedding, Olli!... and August Burns Red wasn't half bad either...and whatever Underoath song that was...eh, back to mah blog post...) and some quick xbox challenges, we headed to my room and played Taboo. Which is... well, you know what Taboo is, you have this card with a word on it and a bunch of words related to it, and you gotta get your team members to say the word without using any of the other words on the card. yeah, fun game.

Jemmi was enjoying herself...
















Annnndddd we also did a short round of arm-wrestling... I, uh, lost to both Calli and Quinton.

Below is Abel Schultz and Mark Roche...
















So finally at the end of the afternoon, Lynnie Roche suggested a group prayer... thanks a lot, Aunt Lynnie! I dunno for SURE, cuz it was kinda dark, but I think you could count the dry eyes afterward on one hand...

And the mandatory group photos:

the kiddos... ok, ok, I'll name them again, here we go, from left:
Acacia, Calli, me, Abel (in front), Olli, Quinton, Ed, Jemmi















and the mums and dads, of course:

eh, from left we have: Jill and Peter Schultz, Lynnie and Mark Roche, and dad and mom.
















Twas a fun afternoon, and the other photos are (as always) in my picasa album... or in the slideshow in the sidebar to the right...and there are also some in Olli's picasa album.

So, it's kind of caught me off guard how hard this whole goodbye-to-Fiji thing is... and then I realized that I've never actually done this before. See, I was pretty young when we left the states, so it wasn't too tramatic for me... more of a big adventure than a goodbye-to-home. And since then, I've only ever said goodbye for short times, or to people I'm used to being away from, or to people I've only known for a short time. So this is the first time I'm saying goodbye to home, and to really good friendships with some years of history to them, that I am used to having nearby and seeing every week or so. Anyway, I've been having a good cry every once in a while, mixed in with the excitement for this next "big adventure."

God's still in control, though... and it's a good thing, too!

Birthday Wishes... and a Crazy New Year

Well... I turned 18 yesterday. Not quite sure what to think of that. 

One the one hand, I'm really excited and think it's so cool... like, I never actually thought I'd really turn 18... that's just... weird. I'm an "adult." ... yeah, the people that know me are laughing right now. I didn't think it would feel like this to be 18. Wasn't I supposed to be ... mature? Ready for adult life? ... I still feel like my age is hovering somewhere between 9 and 14. Most assuredly not 18. 

I had an awesome birthday... was awoken by my family singing happy birthday ... yeah, they actually came into my room, the brave people. And, if any of you have ever heard my family sing happy birthday... there is really no more to say. If you haven't... then, well... you are missing out. My family believes that all harmony and tune should not exist on birthdays. Therefore, the goal is to see how much we can murder the birthday song. yeah, anyway, so I woke up to that.

Then we went over to the Pac Harbour beach for breakfast, which was fun. Mum made a pumpkin pie for breakfast... hey, how many days of the year do you get pumpkin pie for breakfast? The week after Thanksgiving, and then no more pumpkin pie, which is really sad, cuz I really like pumpkin pie, so mum made me some. 

Theeennnnn, mom and I went into town and we met up with some of our friends at this awesome little Indian restaurant that I am gonna miss like crazy when we leave, because seriously, food just shouldn't be that good. So we had a wonderful lunch with Aunt Jill, Aunt Lynnie, Shekinah, Acacia, and Calli. 

Finally, my neighbor, Kaki, made us an awesome birthday curry dinner. And I ate waaaayyyy too much. Because Kaki's curry is amazing. 

Lots of wonderful people wished me happy birthday... Calli wrote me a letter that made me cry (thanks a lot, Cal); Olli posted a birthday post on his blog; Savannah sent me an ecard; my facebook wall has tons of posts on it from everywhere from Singapore to Oklahoma City to Papua New Guinea... so that was special.

Now, turning 18 is supposedly a big deal, right? I mean, this year I head off to college, moving to the US of A, kinda scary... but expected. Being the OCD control freak I am, God decided to throw a few curve balls my way this year. So this should be a rather interesting year....

See, my dad just got put in as the FSC (Field Strategy Coordinator) for the Melanesia and South Pacific fields of the Church of the Nazarene. Which means... we are moving. To Papua New Guinea. That happened kind of fast, so I'm still in a bit of shock... here I thought I had 6 months left in Fiji. BUT, I am really excited... it's one of those freak-out-one-day, excited-the-next kinds of things. 

First of all, my family and friends who are not from this part of the world need to learn a new term: PNG. Means, Papua New Guinea.

 Next, they need to pull out their old globes which they bought when we moved to Fiji, and find PNG... it's the other half of what used to be Irian Jaya and is now West Papua, right above Australia. Found it? Alright, that's our new home. And yes, it is as remote as it looks.

I'm really excited to get to spend some time around the hospital up at Kudjip. I can't wait to really get to know the missionaries up there that I have met briefly and know are awesome people. I want to learn Tok Pisin, because I just think it's the coolest language ever. I am proud that I will be part of the group of MKs that "survived Dusin" (the PNG orientation process). I am really glad that this is happening a few months before I leave for the states, so that I can be a part of it. So yeah, mostly good feelings here...

Of course, a couple sad ones: I'm gonna really miss my friends and my youth group. Because, I have the most amazing friends and my youth group is like... wow. However, with visits back, and with the wonderful world of internet (email, blog, chat, facebook), I won't be leaving them forever. And hey... part of being an MK is saying goodbye... haven't we already discussed this?

So that's what's happening in my life at the moment... I think that 2009 is gonna be one of those buckle-your-seat-belt-and-hang-on years. How exciting! Don't ever say that my God is boring!

January 1, Day 7 - Goodbyes

Well, we did actually wake up this morning, wonder of wonders... and headed over to the Flemmings' apartment, where the other kids-who-were-still-here were staying.































We still didn't know what we were doing, but we decided to head to chinatown and Vivo City, and see what happened.... ended up relaxingly hanging out all day, which was wonderful.

























































We finally had to say goodbye... yep, it was as terrible as I feared at the beginning of the week that it would be. But... it's part of the life God has given us... and I don't think that any of us would give up the awesome relationships we forged last week to avoid the pain of goodbyes.





























And now it's time to ... well... launch out on the next stage of life. It promises to be something of a wild ride, with some of the things that are happening.... well, but more about that on the next blog post. I think it has been a life-changing week. Isn't God amazing?!