G'day Mate

The moment you have all been waiting for, of this I am sure. It's not as if I talk about the awesomeness of the South Pacific everyday...actually, I really don't.

Cairns, Australia

You know when you're sitting in sacrament meeting and it just so happens you forgot it's testimony Sunday, until of course you are jolted into reality as your roommate goes up to the podium and you think to yourself, "what! she never told me she was giving a talk!" and subsequently you hear your stomach growl, but a different growl, this growl is more than the typical I-woke-up-late-and-have-15-minutes-to-shower-and-get-ready type of growl, this growl, along with its persistence to resonate LOUDLY throughout the whole room, is a reminder of the many hours of hunger you have ahead of you, thus making it all the more painful. Not to say that fasting is bad, or that I disagree with the practice, but I would be lying if the reality of feeling hunger pains, and knowing that I will continue to feel hunger pains, brought any sort of satisfaction.

Alice Springs, Australia

Anyway, as I was saying, when it's fast and testimony meeting and you sit there listening, or hearing, people speak, there is always one person who reminisces endlessly about their mission and you pray that maybe that person will one day find themselves in a situation that will allow them to relate a story that is slightly more tolerable than hearing about their companions and the spirit for the nth time. But again, I do not believe missions are bad or not worth talking about. My point is this: I know EXACTLY what is going through the minds of those mission-loving testimony bearers. All you want to do is relate an experience that consumed your life and that was indeed life-altering. And so to all those return missionaries I rolled my eyes at pre-South Pacific trip, accept my sincerest apologies. I would recommend, however, to come to an understanding of the significance it had in your life vs. the significance it holds to those who have not served missions or anything like them. Keep your audience in mind, is all I'm saying. And so, with that being said, I TRY to at least leave the South Pacific in my thoughts and only let such thoughts spill when appropriate.

Fiji

Tonight, however, my friend asked me to help him give a presentation on our experiences on our study abroad. Did I mention it was a study abroad? Well it was. And we went to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. All amazing, all my favorite in their own respect. Now that the presentation is done and over with, the desire to be back on the study abroad is...beyond explanation. I loved it. It simply, changed my life. Cliché I know, but saying that it hasn't changed my life would be a straight-up lie. I really hope that one of the last memories to fade as I grow old and senile, are those of the time I spent on this study abroad.

More to come. Promise.

GINORMOUS Australian Spider

Alice Springs, Australia

New Zealand

Fiji

Fiji - Brad and The Guides

Kadavu, Fiji