I Hate Blogs

   Indeed, it's true. I hate blogs. I don't care to read about people's lives, I'd rather hear about them. Pictures are about all I can handle. I'm creating this blog to give those interested in what I'm doing with my life at present what they're seeking, but truly this is my attempt at giving myself a smooth transition when I return to regular life in December. So, in the words of dear Julianna LePoidevin - "Here I gooo!"
   I won't go into detail on how this adventure came about, but long story short - the last year of my life has been a time of floating. Aimless, bored and kind of frustrated. I needed to grow and mature and learn - I wanted that, bad. After a lovely and inspiring phone conversation with my oldest camp friend a hand full of months ago, I set my sights on the 3-month internship program with Surfing the Nations. Here I am now, sitting on my top bunk in a room I share with seven other girls, in a tiny apartment that houses another two (soon to be three) girls and ONE bathroom. "What the crap!" you may say. I couldn't be happier! Let me tell you about it. 
  First off, a bit about Surfing the Nations (http://surfingthenations.com) - As you'll read on their website, they're a non-profit, humanitarian organization based in Wahiawa, Hawaii. "Surfers giving back" is their slogan and they believe in using their talents and passions to give back to the local and international community. Though the organization isn't Christian, it's run by awesome radical Christians, who love God and love to love on His creation. 
   So I'm here in Wahiawa, at STN for the September internship. I got here exactly a week ago and I'm here almost till Christmas. (September 21 - December 18). So far, life's already changed. I was the first intern here last Friday afternoon. Thankfully, after an day of napping and meeting what seemed to be a hundred people, another intern came in and she happened to be one of my roommates. The next morning, we woke up with a third intern in the room. She'd come late after we'd gone to bed. After throwing up from coffee withdrawal and taming a migraine, we got to know each other, plus a load of other folks - staff, staff in training (SLS) and other interns trickling in, then headed to the beach. Waimea. Yes. It was grand. We would hit the beach a couple more times over that weekend and meet, all in all, about 50 people. It was a lot. Thankfully, my experience in Spain was somewhat similar to this one at the beginning, and knowing what I was in for helped a lot. As did much prayer and God-granted willingness to be reeeal social. 
   I'll get more detailed in posts the more I catch up, but I'll make this past week brief. Our work week is Tuesday through Saturday. Sundays we're to go to church, but the rest of the day and all of our Mondays are free for us to do what we like. Tuesdays the whole campus fasts from 8am to 5pm. This is to live out scripture and practice "denying the flesh." Sounds weird, but it's totally great in recognizing what's really important and valuable when it comes to little things that aren't always actually little, like food. Food can be a huge idle and huge distraction for me. Always thinking about it, wanting it. Feeling like crap if I didn't eat well, or healthy. Being hungry for a day and not having to worry about what to make for lunch was so nice in that I was able to focus more on seeking God and setting my thoughts on better things than what snacks I was craving. 
   Continuing through the week: Each day, we start out with an hour of quiet time to read scripture, pray and/or seek time with the Lord. Tuesdays we've got two hours of teaching, an hour of bible study in groups, an hour of personal time, an hour of lunch, and then four hours of worship, prayer and the sharing of a testimony from an intern to finish the day. 8 to 5's our day. Wednesdays, we've got local prayer (for Wahiawa and the community), a testimony, intentional time (to do tasks around the apartment, get random crap done), lunch and outreaches. There's three outreach teams. Ten of us are in one that does Ulu Pono, where we hang out with kids after school - helping with homework, playing and hanging out with them. Ten of us do Wahiawa Outreach, where we do random tasks around the community. That's what I'm doing this month and yesterday we went to an old folks day care to hang out with some fogies, paint some cabinets and wash some windows. I made an old man friend named Gilbert. It was delightful. The other ten do Surf Outreach. Wednesdays they learn to surf, Saturdays they teach little kids to swim and surf. Every month the groups rotate so we all get to do each outreach for a month. I can't wait for Surf Outreach.
   Throughout the week we also have small groups, more teaching, international prayer (today we prayed for Libya, it was rad), more testimonies, more teaching, more outreach, and my favorite so far - Feeding the Hungry. This takes place under and overpass in Kalihi. We unload a fat truck from the food bank and another from Aloha Harvest and distribute it among around 600 people. These are mostly older folks on social security, who pretty much depend on FTH for food each week. The thirty of us are split into to group, Aunties and Uncles, that rotate each week. Yesterday I got to be on the megaphone, calling out letters to signal who could get in line next. Boy, those folks are feisty. They'll get crazy trying to get you to call their letter next. It was fun. God's teaching me selflessness with that one. I love it. So far, I've loved every part of this. Except CLEANING OUR ROOMS. I won't talk about that. We'll say it's a growing experience. 
   To wrap this up, God's already pushed me out of my comfort zone praying with people I just met, living with ten girls in a small space, denying myself food and understanding why. I've learned the difference between justification and sanctification. Between power and justice. How your skills are affected by your character and what discipline is. Every minute here is a blessing. Can't wait for tomorrow and the next day and the days that suck. It's all an experience I'm seekin' out. 
   Till next time!