Babakau not Bomacow

So, I found out today the proper way to spell Babakau. I believe that on my last post I spelled it 'bomacow', because that is how it sounds like 'bomb a cow', but who would have thought that it would not be spelled how it sounds. In Fijian, a 'b' makes an 'mb' sound like in bomb. Ohhhh Fiji language.

I also lied to you about going to the prison. We were going to go today, but some other YWAM team got dibs because they are leaving Fiji before us. So I think we are going next week sometime. Yesterday (Tuesday) we got to work on the new church building. We started scrubbing the walls and the floor within an inch of their lives. There was a lot of grime. We got some chemicals donated for the cleaning extravaganza, and they were supposed to arrive at 10:30 AM (yes Dave, it is at and not for). But they didn't arrive until lunchish time. Ohhhh Fiji time.

Once they finally came, I was kinda sketched out by them. There were no labels on the bottles saying what is in them and no warnings like 'caustic' or 'explosive' or 'flamable' etc. The wall cleaner smelled so much like this chemical called pyridine, that I swear it was pyridine. I worked with pyridine in my organic chemistry lab. It was super dangerous. We had to always keep it in the fume hood so that we wouldn't inhale it, because it is really bad for sperm. If boys inhale it they may lose thier ability to have children. So I will now be praying for Van, Jacob and Dave. Ohhhhh Fiji chemical regulations.

Pastor really doesn't work us too hard. It's quite nice. yesterday we worked until the early afternoon, and broke for some lunch. There was a lot of people there from the church that were helping out too, so it was a good time visiting at lunch. There is this small child named Joy that has been hanging around us. Her parents are friends with the Sumasafu's. The other night she was literally hanging off of Van for the entire evening while he was trying to play with his gameboy. It was really funny because Van is afraid of children. But despite his fear, he is actually really good with them. It's cute.

But at lunch yesterday, Joy decided that she would hang off of Steph. Now, Steph is not really afraid of children so much as they annoy her in large doses. Steph got sort of annoyed. But Sarah and Hannah told me how good of a mom I will be one day. Oh good. Joy's favorite game was jumping from me to Hannah to Van and then back again. Me Hannah and Van didn't love that game so much. Van was actually terrified that she would fall and hurt herself. It was so cute. He will totally be that super cute overprotective dad one day. Ohhhh Fiji children.

I can't remember if I posted about this, but on Monday we went shopping in Lautoka. We got church clothing. Girls got Sulu's and boys got Bula shirts. We look darn good. I also got some sweet hippie pants that I know my mother will be fond of, and an epic 80s jacket for a steal of a deal. Van got the same jacket but in a different colour. Now we will be even more twinsies. Dave is our dad and Sarah is our mom, and Van and I are twins, except he stayed in the womb for 4 more years than me. Sarah carried him around for a LONG TIME. But we are the most beautiful set of twins anyone could ask for. Tall and blonde and such. I don't really know how we were the children of two short people with non-white blonde hair or freckles. But it happened. Ohhhh white twinsies.

We had a fashion show on Monday evening after shopping and showed off our new church clothes. We forced Thomas to watch it. It was hilarious. But I don't think that Tom enjoyed it as much as us. It was so awesome. We had a catwalk and a photographer. Jacob should be a model. He knows how to strike a pose! Ohhhh Fiji modeling.

If you can believe it, that is not the weirdest thing that we have subjected the Sumasafu family to so far. The other night, Van and I were having our voice lesson from Hannah and she had us laying on the floor and breathing with a book on our stomachs, so that when we breathed in we could see the book rise. And we counted to ten on each exhale. It was pretty cute. I think they thought we were really weird. We also learned proper singing posture. You have to really have your shoulders back and chest out, and that way you can sing with your chest voice. It actually makes so much difference!

I had a chance to practice my chest voice last night when we went to a worship thinger majiggor at the Lautoka hotel. A guy from Hawaii is speaking here for 3 nights. Tonight will be the last night. The worship part was super awesome. The talk he gave was really boring. I had difficulty listening to him. But he had two kids from his youth group give little sermonettes. They were 15 and sounded like professional speakers. He should have just let them speak the whole time. And the AC was SO COLD. It was uncomfortable and distracting. Also, it was actually really funny when we walked in to the room at the beginning. We were the only white people in the room, and we were dressed in our church clothes so we looked like obnoxious tourists. It was awkward. Later I observed that Van and I were the only blond people in the entire room. I felt like I was in the 60s in the South in a black church. Ohhhh Fiji skin colour!

I'm actually really curious about the history of Fiji. Because they have the queen on their money, like Canada and New Zealand and Belize. I think that it used to be a british colony perhaps. There are lots of Indian people here (From India), and lots of people with African heritage, and then more polonesian looking folks, but no white people. I think that the British must have brought slaves when they colonized, and that the African slaves mixed with the native people, but I don't know why so much of the population is Indian. Curious. Ohhh Fiji heritage.

Auntie has been feeding me well. There is lots of deliscious rice, lots of pineapple and various other things. Oatmeal and peanut butter for breakfast. Mmmmmm. I am going to get fat. Did I tell you that Van and I are competing to see who can get fatter by the end of outreach? I am going to win.

Anyways, this morning we cleaned more walls and started painting. I get to paint a mural of the world map on one of the walls. I am super pumped! I don't know what we are doing for the rest of the week, but it will probably be awesome.

I was reading the book 'Culture of Revolution' by Sean Feucht and another guy. It was talking about intimacy with Jesus. And how we were created to be intimate with God and to walk with him in the shade of the garden. And how the garden of Eden was a paradise created for this intimacy. Paradise, now is a place that people escape to to find intimacy with God. I am in Fiji right now. AKA paradise. I am so blessed to be staying with such a loving family in such a beautiful tropical island paradise. I had the revelation that maybe the reason I am here is not so much for hard work and to make a huge impact on others by pouring myself out on them (which is what I had wanted/invisioned when I thought about an outreach mission trip), but it is actually God pouring his love into me through the Sumasafu family while in paradise. So that I can get a firm foundation of intimacy with God, so that I can be one of the virgins with the oil of intimacy in reserve for the arrival of the bridegroom. And once I build that foundation, then I will be able to serve others fully without draining myself. Cool!

Also, we found an internet cafe with 1 hour of internet for 50 cents. Score! And we all managed to get on facebook this time! Ohhhh Fiji internet.