I’ve been far too busy living out the experience that we are having here in Fiji to update this or to even check anything online, but I wanted to try and get some pictures or something out at least. Today was amazing and to try and capture it in words or pictures would be beyond impossible. However, of course I spent the whole day just trying to capture a brief moment of what we were seeing and experiencing on film. The past 3 days we have gone out to different villages (Nsolo, Sorokoba, and Nvala today) and into each home to show them how to use the water filters we are giving them. Each day we have left knowing an entire village now has access to clean water. It is an amazing feeling. What is even more incredible is that this organization (Give Clean Water) in a very short timeline, can tangibly provide clean water to every person that lives in Fiji and that is their plan.

In the past 3 days I have played soccer with the kids in the village, sat on countless woven mats on the floors of homes, heard “Brittany Spears” screamed across a village so that I would come eat the sugar cane or drink from a coconut. I have been given a necklace of shells as a gift by a girl that didn’t want me to forget her; and in return I gave her my bracelet. I have sat with an entire village for a meal as they sang to us and offered their food. I have prayed with families, drank filtered water from a river, been asked to marry a families’ son (they were joking), sat inside a Fijian home by myself with only the pastor and the family and talked about differences in life, and faith, and culture. Then today’s experience was beyond words. We went into a village that pastors haven’t been allowed into for over a hundred years but we were welcomed in to bring clean water to them. This village looked exactly what you would picture of Fiji, complete with straw huts and incredible mountains in the background and a river flowing through. I am in awe and still can’t completely take in this experience.
This week I have met amazing people in the villages and have made new friends in the team that we are working with. All the while I have been continuously reminded of my family in Australia and my own family memories as I look up into the sky and see the southern cross again and walk into a grocery store to see all of the things that I would have with my grandparents on my visits to their home over the years.

Tomorrow is our last day of installing filters and I’m sad that this part is ending. I have been reminded that I never want to be a tourist at a resort or on a bus taking pictures as I pass by. I would much rather be sitting on a grass mat on the floor of a hut with a child in my lap while sharing stories and laughter and praying together as we help them to be healthier for the rest of their life. I want to hear my name called in a village over a game of rugby because the chief’s family wants me to come and see the drum that is used to call the village together.

I hope to get up pictures soon although I haven’t even had an opportunity to go through and look at them myself. The time change is exhausting as it is 4:30am El Paso time right now and I’m about to go to sleep. Continue to pray for us as we go out to help another village tomorrow. I know we will have many more adventures to come. It’s been an amazing trip so far.

BULA

all is well. we're in fiji after a long day, or two of traveling. i think two days have passed now in the states but somewhere over the ocean we lost one- so i'm excited about a long night of sleep. i don't have much time, but i think steve and the group blog have both been updated although i haven't read them yet. we arrived at our hotel to a beautiful sunrise over the ocean and just watched the sun set. we prepped buckets with filters for tomorrow and will be heading out to a village in 7 different groups to start work. it seems too nice to be a "mission trip" because the accomodations are amazing and like a resort. i'm trying to learn i don't have to be covered in concrete to serve God and that these people speak English and i can communicate with them! the transition is funny. however, the ties to Australia are awesome and i had no idea how many similarities there would be. ended my day at the grocery store stocking up on cherry ripes, violet crumbles, lollies and our favorite jar of cream cheese for breakie.
much love to all. check out the other blogs, there's probably more info there!
BULA

well we're at LAX. i'm on my way to Fiji in a few hrs. but i'm not sure that i'm there mentally yet. it's been a whirlwind of a month and i feel like i haven't really had the time to finish one thing before the next is beginning. i'm literally ripping off one flight tag to replace it with the next. i love that i've had the opportunity to go and do so much lately, but i want to be fully present with what i'm doing and not have my foot in one place and my mind in another. that is one of my main prayers for this trip. i hope that by the time we meet the rest of the team and i sit on the plane for 11 hrs. that somewhere over the ocean it will all sink in. i've never been on another mission trip outside of building houses for families in Juarez so i'm excited about the opportunity to serve in a whole different way. i'm excited to help others in a way that doesn't involve dirt, concrete and shovels. i'm excited to do it all in such a beautiful country and to see a part of the world that i've never seen before. honestly i feel a little guilty about the places that we will be staying and where we will be working. somehow in my mind serving God doesn't seem like it can be done in a place that doesn't feel like a sacrifice but more like an opportunity. i'm also excited to be serving God and not having to sleep in a cot and being in a poverty stricken desert all day. i have a feeling this is going to be a huge learning and growing experience for me. i hope so.

i'm not sure what kind of computer access we will have or how much i will update this while we are away. i want to take this time to pour myself fully into this experience and the work that we are doing and the families we will be working with and not feel the pull to the world of technology and America, so we'll see how much this actually gets updated. there are a few other ways to keep up with what we are doing.

- while we are away the organization we are working with (www.givecleanwater.org) is going to be keeping an up to date blog of our work and updates from us. there is a link to that on the left side of this page and here (http://gcwjuly2009.wordpress.com/). feel free to check that for updates as it will probably be the most up to date.

- i'm traveling with 3 other people from my church and we are meeting up with a team of about 20 others. one of the guys from our group (Steve) has his own blog. i'm not sure how much he'll update it while we're there but he's pretty good about that stuff. it is also linked on the left side of the page as well as below and will have info probably more specific to our el paso team.
http://www.jollyshouse.com/.

here's the link to where we'll be staying during the week while we are installing the filters.
Mon. July 27th - Fri. July 31st
www.tanoawaterfront-fiji.com

here's where we're staying the last couple days before we leave. it looks like we'll have a day or two to play once we are done installing the filters throughout the week.
Fri. July 31st - Sun. Aug. 2nd
www.rafflesgateway.com

it's a lot of info i know. so read what you want and my mom will read the rest :)

thanks for being a part of this opportunity with me!

to say i've been running crazy the entire month of July would be a gross understatement. i think that i've been in el paso a total of 3 days the entire month of July. i showed up back to el paso with two days to turn around and get on a plane to fiji. i had to go and get the last of my shots; 3 more. i should now be protected from everything that could possibly be ready to attack me in fiji now that i've had 10 shots!