monday july 13th 2009 me, amanda and becky left from san diego to fly to maui. we had a layover in seattle then flew into kahului, maui, hawaii. i was so excited to finally be there after all the preparation. we were the last ones to show up. so we got to pastor dave and brenda's house and the whole gane (ryan, tj, chris, lauren, and cramer) were already there. mirta flew in like 30 minutes before us and the other 4 people came later that week. so we had dinner at the bray's house with our host families. at first it was kind of weird because amanda and i didn't really know anyone. but it was fun nonetheless. so we stayed with wayne and iris is wailuku which is about 20-30 minutes away from the church in kihei. the house we stayed at was amazingly beautiful with an awesome view and an amazing host family. so tuesday we went to the church and just got things ready for music camp. then we went around to different malls and passed out flyers for music camp and vbs. we also had a birthday party for anna, one of the pastors daughters and her friend riley. so that was fun cause it was a good opportunity for all of us to just have fun and meet some of the families from the church. then wednesday came and it was time for work. we started music camp and it was pretty fun. i was in a group with cramer for the first day. we had pepper and sid and we taught them the words to one day. then we all went inside and had to perform it in front o f the other groups. that was pretty fun. then us girls got to learn how to hula.. i absolutely loved it. after music camp (every day after) we passed our more flyers. that was everyone's least favorite thing to do because we had to sit in the hot shuttle. so day 2 of music camp was a little different. mirta taught us how to sing, like the real deal singing. that was fun because i've never had singing lessons but it also got frustrating. because once i hear a song and start singing it, i have that way stuck in my head and it's hard to change it. but becky and mirta were trying to help me sing it better so i had to work really hard on that, i think i did pretty good. one of those days we went to the beach. all of my days and what we did are pretty mixed up.. i wish i would have been blogging throughout the whole trip, oh well. then friday after music camp and passing out flyers a few of us went to the beach. it was just me, amanda, rhett, tj and pastor dave. we had soo much fun. oh rhett, ashe, their daughter izzi and larry came on thursday/friday. so the beach was a blast. me and amanda just sat on the beach while the boys swan around and tried to catch crabs. it was hilarious. oh and yes i do still like tj... stories about him will be coming up!
so saturday pastor dave took us to honolua bay and the olivine pools. it was so much fun. the olivine pools are lava that overflowed into the ocean and made little pools that you can swim in. so we stayed there for a while then went snorkeling in honolua bay. that was a lot of fun too. we got to see some neat fish. then we went to lahaina to shop around and had dinner at bubba gumps. i sat next to tj :) and kristal (she goes to kihei baptist and was the best person in the world). so i was super excited that i got to spend that evening with tj. we walked around lahaina together, cracking jokes, taking pictures, and eating great food. he was constantly making me laugh and i loved it. so then sunday we had a big mission on our hands... church. during the sunday bible lesson cramer and tj gave their testimonies. i loved being able to learn more about them, it definitely helped us all get close. then tj and chris played some songs (tj on piano, chris on guitar and vocals). during regular church me, amanda, anna and rachel did our hula. it was sooo much fun! after that we went into kids church. tj and chris led worship while i lead the hand motions. the kids loved it! then me and amanda were in charge of doing the lesson both weeks. the first week we talked about gideons fight, the second week about the wise man building his house on the rock. it was a lot of fun! sunday after church we had a pot luck at the church then i think we just had free time. i think that's when the boys and lauren went to see harry potter and me, amanda, becky, larry, rhett and ashe went to the lava fields. that was a lot of fun. the water was sooo blue.
monday vbs started. me, amanda and cramer were in charge of the 6-9 year old marines. we had a love hate relationship with them. they were pain in the butt kids but they were so much fun when they weren't being a pain in the butt. we got to teach them cool songs, do skits, teach them about God, and most importantly love on them. over the whole week, we had 109 kids register (for every age group) and like 39 kids accept Jesus! having 109 kids through the entire week was a huge deal. our goal was 100 and i honestly think everyone was skeptical as to whether we could reach that goal or not. but God has bigger plans than we do. it was cool to see the church members come together and help us make the vbs happen. i really believe the kids had a blast and will continue to pray that some of their lives were changed and that it will be a week none of them will be able to forget.
during the week after vbs we did a ton of stuff.. of course we passed out flyers every day but we got to have some fun too. we went to the beach a few times and watched the sun set almost every night which was awesome. one afternoon brenda, rhett and ashe took us hiking to twin falls. it was raining but that made it so much better. we got to one of the falls and some of us got in and swam. then we hiked to the second falls but we had to swim upstream to get to the waterfall. so only rhett, tj, lauren and chris went to that. while they were hiking everyone but me and brenda went back to the car. she had been taking me and amanda home most nights and while on our way, we'd always have really good conversations. of course most of them were about love and all that girly stuff. so i decided that i wanted to ask her how she thinks you know if i guy likes you. she said that it depends on the guy. some will be very obvious about it and others it'll be harder to tell. then she asked if i had someone in mind, i said yes, and she asked if his name was abbreviations, i said yes lol. then she started telling me how she can see how i'd be confused about it because tj is just an all around nice guy. he's very helpful, talks to everyone and is just super nice. so she told me to just wait and see what happens when we get back. then we were walking back to the car and we had to walk across a river. tj went first and i was behind him but i almost slipped on a rock. so i turned around to tell brenda and everyone else that it was slippery there. when i turned back around tj stuck out his hand and asked if i wanted help. of course i jumped at the opportunity and took his hand. it was great :) one day we watched paul blart mall cop (that's the first movie tj and i watched together). then one night (i think it was the thursday of vbs) we had worship practice for the youth night that friday. i was totally out of it and super emotional that day so i was just sitting around not really doing anything. then becky called me over and said that she wanted me singing but would understand if i didn't wanna go up there that night but that i would be up there singing on friday. so i said i'd think about it and went to sit back down. probably like 5 minutes later tj waved me up to the stage and said he wanted me up there singing. i ended up having so much fun. after we practiced we just messed around and had a blast. they boys (tj ryan and cramer) were cracking me up the whole time.
then that saturday we went fishing. this guy rich from the church has a commercial fishing boat and offered to take everyone out. even though pretty much every felt seasick at one point it was so much fun. tj was the only one who threw up. after a while of being in the back of the boat sleeping i decided to go hang out up front. that was the best decision of the day. i was sitting on this little sitting area with tj. then amanda came out and after a while tj stood up. then the waves started getting really rough and it was rocking us around. before we knew it, me, cramer, ryan, tj, anna and josh were at the front of the boat having a blast. i fell off the seat thing twice then decided it was time to just stand up. i got soooo sunburnt but it was a lot of fun.
on sunday we did the kids church service again. it wasn't as good as the first week because we were outside and got hushed a few times for being too loud. so then we pretty much had to whisper everything. after church we got to spend time with our host families. me, amanda, wayne and iris had lunch with the brays then went to the iao valley. it was soo pretty and green there. then we went back to the house and played mexican train with their niece suzie. after that rhett and ashe picked us up from the house to go to paia for dinner at a flatbread pizza joint. it was a lot of fun and the pizza was great. tj brought the ukulele so he was playing it and we were singing. then some of us decided to go see g-force in 3d. it was stupid. we were all really tired and the movie was lame. but it was kinda fun just cause we were with cool people!
on monday we went on the road to hana... holy cow it was great. me, amanda, rhett, ashe, ryan and tj went together in the red devil (the brays red van) and i couldn't have picked a better group to be with all day. when we left to get gas, ryan said "i love you guys. this is seriously the best group right here" tj agreed and said that he was glad he wasn't in the other car. so the whole way to the first hike tj and ryan were cracking us up. i seriously hadn't laughed that hard in a while and it was all over stupid stuff too. but they're just hilarious together. so the first hike we had planned was awesome. we got to hike through a bamboo forest to a set of waterfalls. to get there we had to climb over tons of rocks, climb up a wet rock wall while holding onto a rope, climb a wood ladder that someone made, jump into the water, swim upstream, climb a waterfall, hike over some more rocks then we were at the last waterfall. there tj, rhett, ryan and chris jumped off the big waterfall. to get back we all had to jump off a waterfall. i was scared at first but i loved it! then we just drove around to get to our lunch stop. we ate at this beautiful peninsula where the water was bright blue. before that we stopped at this little shack where they sold food and bought the best banana bread on the island.. it was to die for. after lunch we hit the road again but didn't get very far before we were turned around because the road was close. so we had to go back home. that night we had an appreciation dinner for everyone who helped with vbs and chris and lauren left to go home.
tuesday was a more relaxing day. some people had to go do last minute shopping and others didn't wanna go. so me, tj, amanda, josh and cramer hung out at the house and watch ironman. i tried sooooo hard to stay awake because it was actually a good movie but i was way too tired. then i remember starting to wake up when rhett, ashe, izzi and rachel got back. when they walked in tj was hushing them because i was asleep, it was really cute and i couldn't help but smile. later that afternoon we hung out at the beach then after dinner rhett, ashe and izzi went home :( it was really sad. im so glad they live in lakeside.
on wednesday the boys went kayaking with pastor dave while me, amanda, becky, larry, mirta, and brenda went shopping. then mirta had to go to the airport to come home so brenda took us to becky and larry's condo. eventually everyone ended up there and we had a bbq/swim party. after that was over pastor dave dropped us kids off at the mall cause cramer wanted to get an 808 all day shirt. so we went on a missions to find it and our missions was a success. after the mall we had dinner at the brays and watched hook. it was hilarious. i forgot how much i love that movie. at the very end when they talk about flying and the old guy says "and me too!" then starts flying tj and ryan started cracking up. they thought it was hilarious. so then everyone else was laughing because it really wasn't that funny but they thought it was the funniest thing ever.
on thursday we went to haleakala in the shuttle. we stopped in kula for lunch and got to pet the horses :) that made me happy. then we went to the summit of the volcano and it was freezing! but on the way up tj had his guitar and was playing worship songs. it was so much fun to just hang out with everyone that was left and sing. being on haleakala was incredible. you don't realize how big the island is until you can see it from 10,000 feet up. after haleakala we had to go home. i was soooooo sad to be leaving. we had to say bye to brenda which was the hardest thing to do. then the kids came with us to the airport so we said bye to them, joy and pastor dave there. the 3 boys left an hour after me amanda becky and larry on the same airlines. their terminal was right next to ours so we told them that they should hang out with us until we had to get on the plane. so they did. it was good to be able to hang out with them for a little longer before we had to leave. then it was time for us to say bye. i was sooo bummed. i got the closest to ryan tj and cramer because i spent the most time with them. so i was standing next to tj and he was like, well i guess this is where we say bye. and i said ya i guess so. then he held out his arms and i went and gave him a huge hug. i seriously didn't want to let go. then i gave ryan and cramer a hug bye, they all said to have a safe flight and just like that our trip was over.
i absolutely loved being in hawaii. i love the team that went us. i wouldn't trade this experience for the world or the people i got to meet. it was so much fun and i will never forget how much fun it was and what God did there. i will be talking to brenda over the next few months about going back out next summer and interning there. i can't wait to see if it works out.
as far as me and tj go.. well there isn't really a me and tj at the moment. i talked to him for a little bit on friday afternoon to see how his flight was but other than that we haven't talked. it makes me really nervous that we haven't talked. i mean i like this boy so much that is probably isn't healthy lol. seriously when he would play the piano after lunch i had to force myself to not stare it him. everything he says has me listening. i'm physically attracted to him. he makes me laugh. and most of all he loves the Lord with all that's in him. he his very respectful and respectable. everyone on the trip respects him and it's obvious. i don't understand how i could not like him. lol. brenda told me to just wait things out and see what happens when we get home. well we're home now... maybe i'm just being impatient. but i really want something to happen with this. i'm definitely praying about it. i pray about me and tj that if this is what God has in store for us, that we'd see that and act upon it. but that if it isn't in God's plan for us, that we wouldn't do anything stupid. or maybe that it's not the time right now, so that we'd wait for God's timing. i also pray for my future husband. i pray that he would be a Godly man. one who is seeking God's will in every aspect of his life right now while he's single. so it's a bummer because i find myself in the same spot as always. liking a guy soooo much and i have no idea how he feels about me. but i will continue to be praying about it and seeking God's face and other people's advice. i just hope we at least hang out as friends, i would be bummed if we weren't at least that.
