Well it has been over 2 weeks since I have blogged last which is not good because I can't remember everything that happened!
All of our days on campus have been great. We are in the last few days in Suva so we are winding down and getting ready for Student Conference. I have played a lot of volleyball and talked to many students about Jesus Christ. It is always so awesome to see how open Fijians are to talking about their backgrounds and beliefs.
2 Monday's ago was a day off again and many students went to Mosquito Island. From what I heard it was a fun and relaxing day to go and hang out at the beach and swim. I got to Skype my roommate from Georgia twice and we had lots of fun catching up and talking. I miss her and hopefully get to see her soon! I stayed back at the hotel to babysit William and Sam, Bill and April Hendrichs kids. April had fallen Monday morning and hit her head and was taken to the hospital so I stayed back to help out with the kids. Tuesday and Thursday of that week were normal campus days where we went out and shared with students. Rachel, Sarah, and I met up with Maria again on Thursday and it is always so cool to hear all the questions that she wanted to ask us. She is so eager to learn more about God and his faithfulness. Wednesday was another Bible Study day and our group went and had Bible Study at Tappoo, one of the shopping malls with a food court. It is always a fun time spent together in a smaller group while digging deeper into God's word.
Friday and Saturday the group took a mini vacation to the Uprising Resort about an hour away from Suva. We spent time together as a team and just hung out at the hotel at the beach, played volleyball, and swam. When we arrived we immediately hopped into another van which took us to the zip line place. Our team got to choose between zip-lining and snorkeling. This was really cool because I had never been on a zip line before and it was fun going over rivers and little valleys. This was a blast and we spent lots of time laughing and joking as we all tried fun little tricks while we zipped across. We returned to the hotel in the early afternoon and spent the afternoon relaxing and hanging out. This resort was really cool because our rooms were like mini huts with an outdoor enclosed shower, and a bathroom that was attached to the room but you had to go outside to go in the bathroom. I spent a majority of my time playing volleyball and watching the stars.
Sunday we went to church in the morning again and afterwards we had to say our goodbyes because it was our last church service in Suva. We thanked them for allowing us to join them and I hope to stay in touch with some of the members. Afterwards for lunch, Marcia and I joined the STINTERS at their apartments for Jenny's birthday. We had some really good American food and then played a Euchre tourney. We played 6 games total and changed partners every time. We had a blast and I learned that it is ok to get last place out of 12 people...reason being I just had REALLY bad cards!! lol We finished the night with Men's and Women's time and spent time talking about relationships. This was really cool and we talked about what we look for in guys that we are dating or thinking about dating.
Monday we got to Skype the family back home and catch up on life back in Michigan. It was really fun seeing the whole family again and sharing stories of what was going on this summer. Marcia and I then went out sharing afterwards and had a very difficult and challenging time. We walked up to 3 girls eating lunch and sat down only to find out that they were Morman missionaries. I didn't talk much in that conversation because I had never been in a situation like that before but Marcia was full of questions. This was hard to listen to because everything we said about Christianity they said they agreed with but they also believed in the Book of Morman. We talked to them for about an hour before they had to leave and Marcia and I left to get ice cream and talk about everything that just had been said.
Tuesday was another campus day and I went to FNU with Rachel Sorrell and Halie. We walked around campus and prayed, asking God to lead us where we should go. We talked to two girls for a while before they had to leave for class and then started walking around again. It was funny because after we prayed we stopped at the bathroom where Halie started talking to two girls. We moved outside where we began talking about going through the KGP and asking about their backgrounds. They told us that when they were younger they accepted Christ because they had to, but when we asked them if they had made a personal decision for themselves they both said no. They said they weren't sure because they drank and stuff. It was really cool talking to them about how God forgives all our sins and wants us to accept him into our lives. After talking to them for awhile they both accepted Christ and we will be meeting with them again tomorrow (Thursday).
This all leads into today, Wednesday. Today was our last Bible Study day and our group stayed back at the hotel for awhile and ate lunch in the sunshine. We talked about what we learned about here and what God has really been teaching us. This summer I have been learning a lot about vocalizing my feelings. So often I bottle up feelings about how I really feel or about missing Dad. After talking with many people I have realized that this is really unhealthy. Part of the grieving process is to share how we feel and just saying, "I miss Dad." It has been really cool to see how God is helping me work through this and putting people in my life to help me. After Bible Study I got to hang out with Kyle. Him and I went and got ice cream and then watched the sunset together while talking. I shared with him what I had learned and he agreed and said that he had never really thought about it that way. For me I feel like most of us talk to others about our feelings about missing Dad but we never look to each other in the family to talk to. I am really excited to go home and talk with my family and just get everything out. We ended tonight with team dinners where the Encouragement team that I am on went out to Restaurant 88 for the last time and just had a good time sharing cool stories and telling each other about our time here in Fiji. I can't believe how fast time has flown by and can't wait to see what God has planned in the last week and a half of our summer project.
Thank you everyone for the support and encouragement. Please continue to pray for team unity as we are nearing the end of our trip. Also for Student Conference coming up and that many Fijian's will come and we can all have a good time learning more about our heavenly Father and hanging out together in community.
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