Hey guys, it’s me again. You know, they crazy guy who wants to drop everything and move to a remote island in the South Pacific and volunteer. You know, like for nothing in return. Well that’s not entirely true. It really is quite a selfish move on my part. Although I won’t gain money, I will gain pride. Pride in serving others. Pride in serving the Lord. I’m extremely excited about this opportunity, and meeting with Pastor Fanueli Mataele, the Youth Director of Tonga Mission, things are starting to move forward.
As some of you may know, I’m active with our local Pathfinder Club, the Joshua Wildcats. I traveled with them to Oshkosh, Wisconsin last week to attend the 2014 Courage to Stand International Pathfinder Camporee, along with about 45,000 other Pathfinders. If keeping up with a bunch of 10 year olds in that crowd wasn’t enough, I discovered that Pastor Fanueli was also in attendance with 10 Pathfinders from Tonga. After walking through thousands of club’s campsites twice, the third time proved to be a charm. We had a wonderful conversation which ended with a prayer requesting travel blessings as well as guidance in planning this mission.
I was informed that there are a few Pathfinder clubs on Vava’u, but that there may be need to help establish more. It sounds like the primary goal is to have me help at the school though, which I already knew was short a few staff. Pastor Fanueli told me that ideally I would move to the main Tongan island of Tongatapu, which is where the main mission school, Bula College is located, as this is where they have a computer lab for me to teach computer courses. I’m still torn though, as my initial calling seemed to be to the northern islands of Vava’u. I’ll remain open to going wherever the Lord directs me though, which means I am yet unsure where I will be living.
As far as living is concerned, I was informed that in Vava’u there is a 2 bedroom house available to me, which I would not have to pay rent for. I was also informed that the ladies of the church would bring food regularly to help support us since we will not be drawing a local income. This would mean a considerably lower monthly cost to reside. I would have to cover electric, water, gas, insurance, and other bills; but with no rent and a good portion of the food bill covered it’s sounding more affordable. I still figure the trip will cost $10,000+ for the year, but this is considerably less than I first expected.
I continue to pray daily for guidance, and for the strength to fulfill the tasks given me. I know this is not a task to be taken lightly. I also know that traveling to the other side of the world with only half my family will be difficult. I also know, though, that if I am doing the will of our Lord, He will provide. He will protect us and comfort us. We will be rewarded by the warm smiles of the people we are able to reach for Him, as well as the satisfaction that we were able to do something, to make a difference.
On that note, I would like to introduce another theme song. Sure, I can have more than one theme song. After all, I’m the crazy guy who wants to drop everything and move to a remote island in the South Pacific, right? Just as Josh Wilson’s “I Refuse” touched my heart, so has this song.
I woke up this morning
