The Pearl

The Pearl is a local resort about an hour outside Suva. Our team took the liberty of crashing the Pearl and using their pool and facilities yesterday. It was very relaxing!

The view from my hammock

Enjoying a good book

Paradise?

I do not have a single creative or artistic bone in my body. Because of that, I haven't been able to do justice to what life in Suva looks like. Thankfully, God did not make everyone like me and there are people out there who can do really creative and artistic things. One of those people is my new teammate, Kyle Post. Kyle is an incredible photographer. He takes pictures like it's his job and they are all amazing. Below is a compilation of time lapses that Kyle took in and around Suva. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of Suva looks and feels like. Enjoy!

Smorgasbord

My life over the past week hasn't really been that exciting. So I thought I'd serve you up a few random details for today's post.

Back to School


Tomorrow marks the beginning of the school year here in Fiji. We'll be at the University of the South Pacific (USP) for Orientation all week and at Fiji National University (FNU) for the first week of lectures. I'm really excited to finally start ministry. The past few weeks have been a little bit slow but life is going to change start tomorrow. Please pray for us as we launch a new school year tomorrow!

Flashback: Last year during Orientation, our picture was taken and put up on the front page of the USP website. I don't think they knew we weren't students.

Personal Development Plan


I am currently in the process of making a Personal Development Plan (PDP) for myself. Our whole team is doing this and the point is to make goals for ourselves (mentally, physically, spiritually and socially) so that we can help measure our growth this year. Here's our motivation:

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.   Luke 2:52

It's natural for people to grow and we want to be more like Jesus. I'm not sure exactly what is going to be on my PDP this year but I'll keep you posted on that. I'm excited to see what areas of my life God will choose to grow me in!

Reading


I have become a reader all of a sudden. I got a Kindle for Christmas and I have been reading non-stop ever since. I think I've read at least twelve books in the last month and a half. Some of them include:

The Biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (which I recommend for all you nerds out there)
The Hunger Games series
Water for Elephants
Unbroken
A plethora of Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories

I've really enjoyed reading even though I've never been much of a reader in the past. If you have any good books you've read lately, please let me know. I'm always looking for something new!


Video Chat

I got to chat with both the Brady Fausts' and the Matthew Fausts' today. The first one was planned and the second was a pleasant surprise. It was great to talk to everybody and see how their lives are going. It was also a blast to get to see my niece and nephew. They always bring so much joy to my life!  Here's a picture below (the Brady Fausts' video was not working so I wasn't able to take a picture of them).

Las Vegas Sevens


This weekend is the Las Vegas Sevens Rugby tournament. If you've been tuned into NBC at all, you may have seen some of it. Fiji has an incredible sevens rugby team and is currently ranked second in the world. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the semifinals and finals of the tournament. If you're free, you should check out NBC at 2:54 EST for the semifinal matchup between Fiji and Samoa. If Fiji wins that game (which they should), they'll play again in the finals at 5:28 EST. Sevens is a lot of fun to watch and the games only last fifteen minutes. Check it out if you have time and root for Fiji!

Boar Hunting

We didn't catch anything nor did we see a pig. But we did slosh through the jungle for two hours in the rain. We also looked sweet with our spears and knives.

'Nuff said.