Don't hesitate.

Have you ever gone to an amusement park and you see this roller coaster that looks too scary to get on or too boring for your interest, so you just walk away from it and dismiss it from your mind? You spend the day having a great time riding all these other rides but the one roller coaster just keeps crawling into you thoughts. Once your fun day at the park gets close to coming to an end you finally decide to just try the roller coaster out- and come to find out, it's a BLAST. You just love it so much, but your day is almost over and the opportunities to ride it is few. Your heart drops as you realize you missed out on a whole days worth of fun being able to ride your new favorite ride because you were too scared, or uninterested in it.

Recently I've had similar experiences in my own life, but not with roller coasters. As my time here in PNG is coming so quickly to an end I'm trying to cram in all I can to make those "last memories"...but several times I do something and realize just how great it is. A piece of me is saddened because I realize what I've been missing out on for so long. Why didn't I discover this sooner?

Tonight after the Talent Show I went up to a friends house where a lot of my national girl friends where hanging out. They were frying up some kau-kau (a kind of sweet potato)fries. I've always liked these girls, but don't really get a chance, or make an effort to hang out with them. Tonight I just soaked in how much fun they are to be with. We had a blast teasing each other, doing the cha-cha slide together, eating chips, dancing to music and just enjoying each others company. As I took pictures next to their beautiful faces and sat on the couch watching them laugh, I was hit with a pang that I wish I would have gotten to do more with them this year. I don't have much time left with them. I missed out on a year of special friendships because it was "inconvenient" to be their friend.

Though I love the experience, adventure, people, etc. I almost feel sometimes like it's better to have not discovered this great thing because I wouldn't know what I was missing. (ridiculous thought, eh) "Better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all", right? ...MK's have to live by that saying a lot.

So I guess all this to say, don't be scared to jump right in, to get right on that roller coaster or to work hard at that friendship- you won't have forever and their can be a whole world of adventure, fun and love waiting out there for you. Milk it for all it's worth so you don't realize it when it's just about too late.

A picture taken with some of those lovely ladies at youth group the other day. Gonna miss these girls!

The cure for anything and everything...

Ok, I admit it. I. got. sucked. in. to Pintrest!
I'm not one really to get into fads THAT much so this makes me feel so...trendy. haha - On "the in" you could say.
But in a community where you pay internet by the megabyte its not really a good addiction. I don't want to think about how much my internet bill will be now that I've got hooked. But I have to say that Pintrest is pretty much the cure all. ;)

Need some encouragement? Pintrest.

Feeling fat? Pintrest.

Need a smile? Pintrest.

Need a fun snack idea? Pintrest.

Need advice? Pintrest.

Need some new hairstyle ideas? Pintrest.

Need a laugh? Pintrest.

Bored? Pintrest.
Feeling disconnected from the "real world"? Pintrest.
Feeling blue? Pintrest.

You get the point my friends. And this is just the beginning... ;)
Happy Pintresting! :)

DIY craft/gift idea

A while ago I found this craft idea online somewhere and the idea was always in the back of my head. When my best friends 18th birthday rolled around last month, I decided it was the perfect gift. So I printed out some pictures, whipped out the glue, found some paper and went to work.
It took a little while to get it all together, but I'm pleased with how it turned out and...she loved it! :)

The idea:

Some of my favorite pages:

Lunch out!

Living on our missions center there isn't many chances to eat out. I don't know if you'd count the (suppose to be) weekly teen ran "Hamburger Night" diner thingy a restaurant and class dinners only come around 2 times a year. (and we're usually working those) Our only other chances are on vacations to the coast or going to Kainantu (town nearest us) for lunch...which we actually don't get to that often. So it's a special treat when we do get to eat out, and as a class!
Today we borrowed a hostel van and got our youth pastor to drive us into town.
After a bit of second hand shopping (which I got some really cute shorts that will be great for the summer in the states for $2) we headed up to the Hotel for lunch.
I got a giant steak and it was surprisingly delicious- not just a jaw workout.

There also at the Hotel a wedding reception going on. We sat inside and they were set up outside but we spied through the windows ;). It was very beautiful and fun to see. It's funny though how westernized it was. We've influenced them so much. The bride had a real white gown with a veil and everything! Even men decked out in tuxes and boutonnieres and a band!

The girls. (I love their slogan- 'Experience the Difference'...oh yes, there is definitely a difference! ;) )


All part of the last term bonding! :)

Do you think so?

Found this quote on Pintrest (guilty!) the other day. I'd love to hear your thoughts & opinions about it! :)

Easter Soccer Tournament

I told you I would lace up my cleats again- but did you ever expect it to be so soon?
During the long Easter weekend I got to play in a valley-wide soccer tournament with some of my friends and some ladies of this community. It was great.

We started playing bright and early Friday morning at Aiyura High School (5 min down the road outside our center). Their field would hardly pass as a field as there was patches of gravel on some parts, and other parts were covered in little "hills" or even mud holes that would consume you're entire foot! And just inches from the edge of the field was knee high kuni grass that disguised the steep hill on one side that always swallowed the ball. It made for quite the adventurous game but we ended up coming out on top.
Our afternoon game and all the Saturday games were played at our school, and we all agreed we'd never complain again about the shape of our field! :P
We ended up coming in 3rd, though we should have made it to the championship game.
Due to some faults in the organization and honestly of some teams, we were cheated our spot in the championship, but se-la-vi ("that's life). Our final game we played was one of the most intense I've seen. We were down 2 to a very strong team at half time and when we went back in our coach went in and scored two goals. We had many more shots on but wasn't quite able to pull it off. The second half was definitely a fight to the finish and I'm so proud of my team as I've never seen a team fight so hard out to the end.

I loved my team. Made up of women, some of my past soccer coaches, old team members, ladies from the community and some national ladies who are so sweet.
I hope we can find another time to play with them again. It was a great tournament.
(Our mens team also went on to win the mens tournament through a strong weekend.)

Fried Ice-Cream!

Ever heard of fried ice-cream? Seems like a crazy idea, right? Nope- I hadn't heard of it until I was introduced to it here at a Chinese restaurant. Yes, a Chinese one. I don't know why, because it doesn't seem like it would have originated in China at all and I can't for the life of me figure out how you'd eat it with chop-sticks! Well I've had it a couple times here in PNG and when they ran out before I had a chance to order one on the Senior Retreat, I made it my mission to make my own.
SO over the break my girlfriends & I mastered the recipe. It's surprisingly easy yet tastes so yummy and exotic.

All you do is scoop balls of ice-cream, and make them round (beware- your hands freeeze) and put them in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
Before you get them out you throw corn-flakes, coconut & cinnamon (email me for exact amounts if your curious) in a plastic bag and crush them all up- dump in bowl. Mix eggs and milk in another bowl.
Roll the ice-cream balls in egg then in crumbs then repeat.
Then you just freeze it for at least 3 hours, or over night.
Heat up oil and dump in for about 10-20 seconds.
Add homemade strawberry syrup and some chocolate sauce and enjoy.
It's easy to just keep the balls in the freezer and dump in hot oil whenever you want a quick snack. YUM.

The scoops to be frozen

After the batter mixture is on them. Back in the freezer.

Being fried in the hot oil. Homemade strawberry sauce on the back burner.

Decorated & ready to be devoured

Us girls enjoying the late night treat :)

And there you have it: "Fried ice-cream: A tropical vacation for you mouth."