Fun in FIJI

I finally had to say good bye to the sun and my friends in Fiji...I soaked up the last bit of heat and rays as I walked onto the plane. I was full emotion as I left Fiji. Some trips leave you excited to come home, some leave you with vision for your future, some leave you with saddness about people's present, but this one oddly enough left me with confusion and questions and a ironically a new part of my heart opened up.

This was me and Luke the morning we left...the last day of good hair, showers, and feeling clean.



The trip, like many, was an experience I will never forget. Parts of me were forever changed and forever healed. It is funny how much there is to learn in life. Some of the lessons won't be realized until much later in my life I believe. I left with so many more questions about life and God and myself. There were moments on the trip I was shocked at how insecure I am. I had thought I had sorted and conquered some of these issues. What I realized as the trip progressed is that I hadn't conquered the issue, but the defense/coping mechanism that hid the issue. I decided to just roll with it and allow my paradigm to be shifted a bit on some issues instead of using my defense mechanisms to handle my insecurities. The Fijians taught me so much about this. They loved extravagantly, gave generously, and lived free. They became a mirror for me, and instead of running from what I saw I listened to their teaching of how to love, how to accept yourself, and how to value others. Sam and Luke were the same for me....they both looked so much like who I know and have read about Jesus to be. I have so much respect for Luke and the things he is doing, but mostly how he humbly loves and embraces his Fijian friends, no judgement and no arrogance. Sam reminded me of the importance of listening and trusting people. Luke and Sam were filled with acceptance and often times blew me away in how they gave beyond themselves.

As any 10 days with the same people there were plenty of FUNNY moments, a few conflicts and a lot of memories. It was a trip that I will be looking back on for years to come I believe. Oh and I obviously made it back into the country :) It was touch and go there for a second, but then they stamped my passport with a visa and I finally breathed again. I don't think I realized how much I was holding my breath until I was able to walk through and into NZ.

Here are some fun pictures from the trip. My friend Sam took TONS--and he is a photographer so I will add some of his later, but here are some of my highlights!

This is me making "tamale" like things the first day...Lori you would have been so proud!!! There was tuna, onions and coconut milk--made straight from the coconuts on the tree outside the kitchen, wrapped in a taro leaf. It was almost the same process as making tamales.



This is my favorite little guy Serva. He is the one who bought me candy in the blog I wrote ealier--I wanted to kidnap him and bring him home, but I decided that would hinder me getting back into NZ so I didn't...



This is the truck I rode 4 hours into the village where Tavita lives.



Then we walked down this hill and towards the village...notice the horse--that is Tavita's little brother.





This is the river we had to cross to get to his village



This is the kitchen...their kitchens are outside and are just a room put together by iron and a grass mat with a fire in it. All their cooking is done over that fire. Even in the other village we were in this is true, but they have a stove in the house in the other village. Tavita's village is like something out of a movie. This is where Luke helped build the building, get a water source and build a road so they don't have to carry all their supplies down the valley, but will be able to drive straight to the river and build a raft to get their supplies to their village.



This is the building Luke helped them build. It is almost done. The Fijian's are almost done with it and it will be ready for them to use as their source of a community hall to hang out in at night and for special occasions.



This is the last night I was in Fiji...notice how burned I am! Yikes we spent too long at the sand dunes. I was doing so good and just getting tan, but this day we were in the sun for over 5 hours! Oh well its a tan now....that no one can see because it is SO cold in NZ!


This is me and Sam at the beach by the Sand Dunes


This is Nicha (the 16 year old of the family we stayed with and Tima (who is her cousin) at the Sand Dunes.


How cute is my little Serva in his grown up Sulu and Shirt for church. This is what the men wear for formal occasions.


My 10 days summed up in a picture...guys will be guys! They were annoyed I was making them take pictures. But this is our friend Tavita!!



Here is a picture of the bridge we crossed into the town every day from the village we were in the longest.



This was the Kava Bowl...it just doesn't do it justice. Just picture brown dirty water that taste worse that that!



This was the kids having a mock Kava Ceremony with Juice. It was Luke's idea to do a good bye "kava" session with them. It was so cute and fun for them. A great memory. And I have to say that juice was harder to drink than kava. Kava taste bad but after drinking 5 HUGE cups of the most sugarry tasting juice, I think I will stick with Kava.