Home again - the end

i had to get up for breakfast this morning. there were five students who made it :) the latest someone slept in was 11:45 am. most were up by around 10. they really needed the rest.
everyone had class after lunch. i straightened up my room and... that was about it :) wasn't really up to doing much. pretty tired myself.
they didn't have much home work so a group of the guys played soccer after worship. its nice to have a bit more sunlight in the evening. i enjoy having sunlight in the evening.
that's about it. nice and relaxed. finished my 400 + page book about Alaska.
thanks so much for checking on my blog for the last three weeks. i had about 800 views! i know i wasn't very complete, i just reported on my view of how things happened. if you want i wouldn't mind hearing from you. you can leave a message here or email me at jonathonlarson@gmail.com. thanks :)
for those of you who are following this blog i just want to let you know this is my personal blog. you can still follow me if you want, but i must warn you that i might post some pretty random stuff. so happy viewing :)

April 5 day 23

it is hard to know where one day finishes and another begins.
we landed in LAX at 5 something am. we were all very tired. we had to find where the bus stop was so we could transfer to another terminal. once to our gate we waited for about an hour and a half. i hadn't worked out for the last couple of days so i did 100 push ups to get the day started :)
while we were sitting on the tarmac in LAX i started to think that we had been there a while and that we should have left a while ago. i looked out the window to discover we were already in the clouds! i had fallen asleep and didn't even feel the take off :)
landed in Seattle at 10 am. Mr Hinds was there to meet us, and while my guys went to eat breakfast at Denny's i went with Mr. Hinds to pick up the bus. it was about an hour round trip and when we got back i had about 45 min to rest my eyes before we picked everyone else up.
by the time we got the bus loaded up it was about 1:30pm. we stopped at Taco Bell to get lunch. the lady who took our order was very impressed with the conduct of the students.
we left Seattle at 3 pm. i drove the 10 passenger. we got to the border at 6pm but one to the students left her passport in the bus so we had to wait for them to catch up. we finally got through at 7 pm. the border agent was very nice and was a pleasure to deal with.
Miss Rainy took over driving as soon as we crossed and i took a nap. i didn't budge for 2 and a half hours :)
we finally made it to the school at 10:02 pm. the bus made it at 10:20 pm.
thankfully the students don't have school until after lunch. some time to sleep in.

April 4 day 22

Last night all the guys in my cabin packed all their personal luggage and we cleaned the rest of the cabin this morning before breakfast. Since there wasn’t anything else to do we played around for the rest of the day. I did some reading, played knock out for a while and watched the kids play soccer.

Earlier in our trip Jay had gone to a waterfall and met a very nice guy who made baskets out of palm frowns. That’s what got me started on the baskets and grass hoppers I made. Jay really wanted me to meet this guy so we drove out there after lunch. But the guy wasn’t there :( there was another fellow working on a basket so we chatted with him for a while. He said the other guy had gotten arrested! Something about driving without a license and insurance. The thing I couldn’t figure out with the baskets was how to do the bottoms. This guy showed me how. And how to make a bird. After talking to him for a while we found him to be a few fries short of a happy meal. But I did learn a few things so it was not all wasted time. On our way back we stopped at a store to get a dirt shirt and to say good bye to a shop owner Rosa had gotten to know. She was a nice lady and gave us each a lay (sp?). We had supper by 5pm and were on the way to the airport by 6pm. Four of the sr. guys stood by the side of the road waving white hankies good bye. All the seniors are staying another week to do a week of prayer for the school and to do the discussions for the DVD.

Everyone at the airport were very nice and helpful, even the TSA agents. Our group was so big that even though we arrived two hours early students were just getting though security by boarding time. I am on a different plane then the rest of the group and there are four guys with me. We all left about the same time but we have one less layover so we get into Seattle two and a half hours earlier.

It has been a very nice three weeks. We got a lot done! Now I am ready for a vacation :) the weather was very nice and I did enjoy it. But I am glad to be going home where I feel I have some elbow room. I could never live on an island. Too many people too close together with no place to escape. I want to be able to get to the top of a mountain and be able to look around and know that nobody has been there for at least 100 yrs. :) but that’s just me.

April 3 day 21

our last full day in Hawaii. after worship and breakfast we split up for the activities. i went with a group that went to a different beach then i had been to. other groups had been there before. the girls wanted to sit in the sun so three other guys and myself went boogie boarding. the waves were different here. they came in smaller but more often. some times it was hard to get out to the bigger waves. there was a rip current it one spot and we found it the hard way:) thankfully it wasnt a problem to get out of it. after about an hour and church member showed up to meet up with the group to teach everyone how to surf! so i tried my hand and that for a bit. it was fun, but i didint find it to be all that i hear its cracked up to be. i told my teacher how hard i found it and he said it is one of the hardest things he had ever tired. you have to keep the tail up so the wave can push you but not so high the nose gets under the water. but it was fun to try. if i had more time i would work on it. the other kids really had a grand time having fun on the boards.
having the lessons on the surf boards made it easier to boogie board, so that was nice.
i stared getting tired so i got out and did some more reading. then a bunch of us played volley ball.
i tried to get some photos but my battery died before i could do much :(
i told one of the students that one thing i like better about the other beach was that we were able to see sea turtles. but just as we were leaving we saw three whales spouting off way out! that was really neat.
we had a wonderful last supper this evening. the cooks have been wonderful. that really helps to more for a good trip :)
my cabin packed and cleaned up everything tonight so that we would be free for tomorrow. we leave at 8:45 pm.
because of the bad connection here i am going to up laod the rest of the photos when i get back.

April 2 day 20

o blessed Sabbath day!
we have a young lady who always wanted to get baptized at a waterfall. the only time we had to do it was at 6:00am this morning. so a few students were able to attend that this morning.
about 60 students went to church this morning. they had the church service at the church were we went the first week.
Jay and i stayed back with the group that wanted to do something outside. Jay took a group up the mountain behind the camp and i took a group up the creek. this time we started where i left off last week. we went traveled for about an hour then stopped for an hour of solo time. great to sit in the sun by a creek reading a good book. doesn't get much better then that! after lunch we went four about another 30 minutes. we came to a place where a trail crossed the creek and it took us about 8 minutes to get back to the cabins :) but its all about the journey any ways. after we got back i went back to the creek and read some more while the others rested in their cabins.
we loaded up for the concert at 3:30pm. i had to wait for a van to come back for a second load so i spent some time feeding the ducks. i got them to take the food right out of my hand.
the concert was only about 10 minuets down the road. it was at the local college. after some warm ups and tuning we started at 6pm. a lot of people showed up. filled it about 3/4 full.
it was a very nice concert. God blessed. the students really had fun. the audience had a warm applause for everything.
unfortunately we didn't have supper until we got back at 8:30pm! after wards everyone headed to bad to be well rested for our rec day tomorrow!
its late tonight and i am tired so i will get pictures in the morning.

April 1 day 19

Mr James was able to take last night off so i was in charge of getting everything organized for the activities today, making sure everyone had a vehicle to ride in and we knew where everyone was headed. i think it put a few gray hairs on my head :) there were a lot of people that decided to change their plans since last night.
there were about a dozen students that decided to spend the day on campus so i stayed back with them. it was a very relaxing day. not much happened in morning. everyone came to the cafe for lunch and we all listened to a couple of episodes of Adventures in Odyssey. then we went outside and started playing basket ball. one of the guys slipped on the pavement and got really scraped up. big gash on his right hand, bad scrape on his left elbow, and a small scrape on his left ankle. i spent over an hour trying to get everything cleaned out. i even had to use a tooth brush to clean out his elbow. poor kid was in a lot of pain. but he was tough and we got it all bandaged up.
mid afternoon some of the groups stated coming back. they played soccer for about an hour.
no one got hurt today on the beach. praise the Lord for that.
i did a fair bit of reading again today. another 125 pages in the last two days. right now i am reading about Alaska. very interesting.
during breakfast there are some ducks and chickens that show up looking for hand outs. a pair of mallards show up first. they are very bossy towards the other fowl. there are two other ducks that also came by and they are not as skiddish and the mallards. but the mallards pick at them and scare them off. but they don't have very good eyesight. they miss a lot we toss to them. but the chickens get everything. i like to feed them grape fruit. one of the ducks picked it up, chewed it very rapidly about 50 times. swallowed hard, then shook his head vigorously. it was great fun to watch :) i also like throwing food in between two birds and seeing who gets it first. great way to start the day.
all the students really enjoyed having a day off. it has been a very busy two and a half weeks and it is nice to have a time of rest. only a couple of more days then its back to the cold north. have to get as much sun as i can before i have to go back to the "cold."

March 31 day 18

final day of filming! so exciting. after breakfast we headed out to a near by beach and had to pack in almost 3/4 of a mile! it was a very long haul. it sure was worth it because it was beautiful. part way filing through the first song a horse back ride tour rode behind everyone in the middle of a take. it was funny :)
we only finished one song before lunch. in the after noon we did three more songs! one of them was a retake of one we did a while ago. it was really hot and sunny. we put a ton of sun block on the student, but many of them still look very toasted. we should have taken before and after pictures :)
the beach we were at was very interesting. there was lot of water erosion and it made very sharp edges. some of the guys really had a great time exploring.
the last couple of days i have spent a lot of my down time reading. in three days i have ready 185 pages. i like to read :)
i had my second worship this evening. both times i spoke about Samuel. he was an amazing man. take the time to read about him in Patriarchs and Prophets. crazy stuff. very applicable lessons for us today. did you know that he preached for 20 years after Elie's death all over Israel before they repented and turn to the Lord. then they asked for a king! but he served the Lord through it all. that's a lesson for me.
we have another rec day tomorrow. i dont know how much time i am going to be in the water this time. i am really feeling the sun right now :)
sorry i haven't had pictures lately. the internet here doesn't work very well. you can check out my facebook page.