So many adventures! So many surprises!

    Hey ya'll! so i just got back a few days ago from my adventure which happened to be three days long! really cool experiences filled with lots of surprises. the first thing we did was get up at 6 in the morning and they checked all of our bags to see if we brought something we weren't supposed to; this meaning only the necessities! we had some lovely breakfast and off we went to begin our first team challenge! of course, once we got split up into groups the creativity inside me burst out and we won the group cheer/ name challenge.
    we were the mighty moses's.. moseses? not too sure how to spell that, but our routine consisted of some killer roundoffs by miss austraila, parting of the red sea, a renditon of we are the titans (moses) AND  we whip our hair back and forth. let me tell you, we blew them right our of their seats! 
     Soon after that, we got prepared for a scavenger hunt around the island, full of hitch hiking, and random photos around the various big cities, man was that adventureous! the more hitches we got, the more points we got! we got four hitches and the last one we had, we had to cram our team of four into the back of a car, with a baby in the car seat in one seat and the four of us squished into two seats! we ended up gtting second out of the eight teams which was pretty good still!
    after that, we found ourselves on Mount I'ao where Auntie mamal told us about the island's history and how she has found it difficult to grow up with here cutlure being lost. that place was super pretty with chinese and phillipin inspired countries:)
      finally they piled us into the two 15 passenger vans which held 45 of us crammed in total and.. k wait let me tell you about these vans! Apparently a  van just retired before the beginning of our DTS, named Gumbi which was the same one as one of the other green ones. The green one that carried us there had on seat row and the rest were taken out to make more room for the students! there are rusted holes right in the middle of the floor! Hello road! dont worry none of us fell out, they arent THAT big! it's actualy quite fun in tight quarters like that! and with no air conditioning you really do begin to really get to know some people. :) the roof is like falling in too and we joke that its a sign that people were trying to escape! hahah it was tons of fun and despite the other van being completely normal, i always ended up being in the "fun" van!
        The location we ended up going to was absolutely gorgeous. right by the ocean, we set up our tents, got firewood, and made bathrooms! -It was outdoor school alllllllllll over again:)
        God did some amazing stuff in those three days where all 45 of us strangers from around the world became great friends:) we all shared our personal testimonies which really was a great opportunity to get to know people right off the bat to be vulnerable with one another and really challenge each other. we had quiet time every morning, and my favorite spot was up this mountain cliff side that i climbed and overlooked the ocean which was super beautiful. I wrote down my expectations for my DTS and i really want to learn how to hear God's voice, and to be challenged with my knowledge from the lectures to come. Also i want to be able to bring my faith back home and really help my friends with their relationships with Jesus:)
      That first night, i didnt have a good sleep at all. i felt like i stayed up all night because i wasn't very comfortable. in the morning we realized we didnt open any of the vents in our tent so it was like a sauna! plus, the ants here are bazurk! but i was feeling good because the next night i could be prepared to change it to make it better now!
      Another hard thing about those three days was the food. I mentioned before but this journey was called exodus, and in exodus the Israelite's live off the same food for 40 days, so that's we we did. all we had was the same cup and chopsticks for every meal with hot water and plan oatmeal for breakfast and icheban noddles for supper and lunch. it really was humbling to see and experience how other people live in the world to say, and we are so privileged:) however we were hungry and our stomachs were not always satisfied. but it was fun:)
     Every day we had quiet time with God and had campfire worship sessions, and ever since last Saturday night, i have loved the worship here. It is so free and God has really spoken to me:D i can't wait for what's to come ahead.
      Some other highlights we had included some "dirty games" with mud, river swims, the view, personal time with god, cave climbing, laughing until we would explode! it is so cool, to think that it was just three days but it felt like a lifetime of fun. there was no one to tell us what time it was, people opened up and we just had so much fun! i got my homies from Washington, and my Aussies, Swiss, Chinese friends, danish and fellow Canadians and Americans now a part of my famjam:) it is so cool to see how God all brought us to Ywam Maui; we all have a story.
       On Tuesday i was expecting to stay longer, i didn't think it was going to be done, but after our hike in the mountain, they said they needed to get more water before we hit our next location. So we go to this place, with all of us just so tired and dirty, the doors flew open and people cheered at us as we walked in. I was completely shocked! i love surprises and i actually was like is this a dream!? the other part of the base were all dressed up and here we were dirty with mudd on our faces and just hungry out of our minds! they put garbage bags on the seats we were at with name tags cause they knew we'd be dirty. I felt so special.
     it took me a while to snap back into it, but when they announced the meal, OMG. my mouth was like drooling from excitement! we had salmon, coconut rice, chicken  Norwegian tomatoes, wild rice and the most amazing dessert. I loved it! i was so hungry but my stomach must have shrunk because i couldn't eat a lot! then after they washed our feet and each individually wrote us cards of encouragement. I had a girl named Ashley wash my feet and it was so awesome, she was one staff that i hadn't really gotten to know yet, but she said she has been praying for me ever since i was looking into the program. In the card she explained how God wanted to show me that he was my protector and she prayed for me. it was so touching, she prayed for me long and deeply that i felt so blessed. we ended the incredible Tuesday night off with amazing worship:)

   It's crazy to think that i have yet to be here a whole week yet! so much has happened and i can't wait to see where Go will take me in the upcoming weeks and lectures! please pray for me as i am wanting to grow closer in my relationship with Jesus, and be willing for what he asks of me! love you all! and thanks for being there for me! until next time!