Part 3 (I split it up so many times because I need more blog posts.)

Weeks past and my playing hard to get, got me everywhere. It turned out that I was right, sonny did like me too. Ha! I had him in the palm of my hand....well, not really.  Though we both liked each other, we never pursued it, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. There were more important things to worry about. Up until that time, this trip had been the best vacation ever. Every time we went to town, people thought we were famous, because there was a famous gospel choir in town, and why else would actual real black people be in Fiji unless the were performers? As people would sneak pictures of who they thought were famous people, we would just laugh.
Later on my parents reminded me that we were indeed on a missions trip. Being on a missions trip, you're expected to minister, and though we had already done special skits at the church, it was mostly my parents doing the ministering. And they wanted to give us the opportunity to do so as well.  So we piled into a van and drove to the interior of Viti Levu. We got to the mostly Hindu school on top of a mountain and where we were served the most incredible Indian food we had eaten so far. After the incredible food, it was go time. All the children sat in their chairs with the utmost respect, Fijian and Indian alike.Though I had a lot of experience of being in front of people, no inkling in my body wanted to come to this school. My mom wanted me to mime to a song called 'Now behold the Lamb', though it was normally a christmas song. I did it kicking and screaming, as I mostly did when I had to minister through the arts. But I had to stop, why was I here? Because God brought me here. Why did he bring me here? He brought me here for his Glory, whether that was through relationships that he formed, or places that he took me. I was there for a reason. And I was not leaving without doing his call. After shaking off my spirit of reluctant-ness, we mimed, danced, sang, and then my parents, and another missionary shared the message. After giving the gospel, they asked for children wanting Christ to raise their hands. One by one hands raised, almost all of the children received and accepted the Gospel that day. God is Good.

Part 2

The plane touched down in Nadi, Viti Levu, Fiji  Wednesday morning. We were all confused when told it was Wednesday. Hadn't we flown out on Monday? What happened to Tuesday? It was gone, the international date line had been crossed. We were in the future. Tuesday didn't exist for me. If you think about it in a cool way, I only lived 364 days that year.
In the first day of being in that Paradise, I had already begun to meet some of my best friends for the next few months. I would say best friends for the next few decades, but alas, they have already forgotten me. Forgotten me like a footprint washed away by the waves. Speaking of the waves, the ocean just so happened to be less then a minutes walk from our new Fijian house. For the next 3 months we would live on the beach. The youth in the church welcomed us with open arms and amazing hearts, just the memory of them makes me tear. Vimal, the 18 year old youth leader, stayed in our house with us for a week to make sure we got settled, him and some of the youth took us up to The Point. A perilously beautiful place, it was like looking out at the end of the world. The man swallowing waves, the jagged rocks, and the beauty of a distant shore was too much.  God's creation was all too beautiful. As we looked out into the world we had lost all connection with reality. Which wasn't a good thing.
"THE CAMERA!!! THE CAMERA!!!" I awoke from my day dreaming to see my mothers camera get immersed by the ravaging ocean. "NOOOOOOO!!!!!" I sank to my knees in defeat. This was the second one of my mothers camera that met a tragic end on  my watch.  My walk back to the house was a sad one, we had only been there for a week, and I had already lost one of the most important things.

One night, we were walking the youth home, about a mile away,  when I dropped my earring. As I was looking for it, a car came out of no where and almost killed me. But in the nick of time Sonny rushed to my side, grabbed my lost erring and moved me out of the way. I looked lovingly into the eyes of my savior only to be met with, "Girl, you dumb!" and he walked away chuckling at the foolish vain American girl . I was going thank him wholeheartedly and even treasure the first time that a boy came to my rescue, but I decided to play hard to get. I knew that Sonny liked me, or, at least that I liked him. And I was convinced to make him feel the same way. Game on Sonny Boy, game on........