mobile like the wind

It was probably bound to happen sometime I guess. The fact that I have made it this many years here without a bike accident has actually always surprised me. It was not a fun experience.

I was coming home from a dance party with friends from church at the Bali Surf House. It was around 10 pm, so it was dark and not many people on the road at the time. I was on Bali’s main highway and probably going about 60 or 70 km/hr when I see a guy crossing the highway with his back towards me, not even checking first to see if there is traffic. I see him and slow down and try to go to the left to miss him, but he doesnt see me and continues to walk right in my direction. When he does see me, he is so surprised, and having to make a split decision on what to do, instead of moving away from me, and probably avoiding collusion altogether, he steps towards me, throws his hands up and pushes me off my bike. I go flying, all I see is gravel. My face and glasses are wet from water on the street. Then I stop. I feel someone come and grab me by my shoulders and pull me off the road. There’s a bustle and I’m now surrounded be people who have come to help. I take off my glasses and look at myself, my arms are bleeding, my legs are bleeding, and theres a huge red swollen and bleeding cherry on my hip bone from being scraped across the concrete. The man that pushed me didnt even leave his feet and he’s fine. I start to yell in indonesian, just random sentences.. where are my sandals? where is my purse? They tell me I must go to the doctor but Im scared. Im by myself and my phone is broken because it was smashed in the accident. I dont have any money on me. Someone volunteers to drive me to my friends house and I park my bike in a safe place and leave. Just before I drive away the man who pushed me apologizes. As soon as we drive away I just start to bawl. I cant explain my feelings in indonesian to the man driving and he is a bit scared. I dont want to speak Indonesian because Im too shook up. I go home and wash everything with soap, clean my cuts and try to sleep but I didnt really sleep much.

This morning I woke up and went to The Artawans house. They are like my family and I knew they would know what to do, if I should go to the doctor or what I needed. The minute the see me they are rushing around trying to look at my cuts, decide what to do, get me water, get me fed, make sure im comfortable. I start to cry again because Im overwhelmed by this families care for me. At this point my hip bone is so swollen my stomach looks lopsided. They take me to the doctor and get me some antibiotics and pain killers. Mbok Kadek, (shes like my aunt) Sits with me all day. She comes in and cleans all my cuts with some crazy indonesian medicine that smells so strong you just know its gonna burn like the dickens the second it reaches your raw skin. When she gets to my hip bone I cannot handle the pain. I cry. Little Dina starts to cry when she sees me cry, they tell me shes sad because she doesnt want to see her sister Michaela like this. They brought me food, water, tea, fruit all day long. I watched tv and hung out with the girls and slept a bit. When it was time to shower before dinner, Edis mom boils water so I can have a hot shower. By dinner time my hip is almost back to normal size. Its crazy how much some serious TLC will do. Theres a local carnival in town and the girls and I go together. I am the only foreigner there and its hilarious. You think you’re scared to ride the sketchy rides at the traveling fair in the states, try riding the rides at the traveling carnival in indonesia. Will really make you reflect on your life while youre on one of those things. hahaha We get peanuts and grilled corn and I had a blast.
Im gonna be totally okay. The main reason I tell the story is that I am seriously overwhelmed by Edi and his family and they care they show towards me. I dont think Ive ever felt so blessed in one day. Its pretty special. I have pictures from the ceremony I went to with them the other day that I will post soon. They are such an amazing family.

Anyway this accident has put surfing in a good place for me. I am kind of happy to have some time to really rest beneath my father.
Will update again soon!
Love and quick healing from bali!
yeeww

And I have 9 pictures!
enjoy !

This little boy is always hanging out at uluwatu, barefoot and running through all the warungs. He is sooo funny. The whole time I was trying to take these photos he was poking me repeatedly in my reef cuts… Hes such a little brat but I love to play with him during the day when Im not surfing!

So this is pretty big news.

There is a indonesian girl that goes to my church named Dewi. I met her a week ago when I got here. She is adorable, covered in tattoos which is something you dont see from an indonesian girl, EVER. Last night after church we all went to dinner and she was sitting next to me. I knew she had to have a pretty gnarly testimony. She comes to church with a guy name Indra. Indra is a professional skateboarder and really famous in Indonesia, and God just completely radically changed his life from drug addiction and partying.. He was really lost. Now he is such an on fire, passionate man of God.
When we sat down at dinner I saw Dewi was crying a little. She was talking to Indra about how she doesnt have any where to stay tonight. I started to talk with her and she shared her testimony to me-
She moved to Bali by herself from Java two years ago. Shes been working in tattoo shops all around the city of kuta as an apprentice. 6 Months ago her boss started encouraging her to try meth. She soon became an addict. On December 29th she heard the audible voice of God and began to pray. Then Indra happened to invite her to our chuch. She came to the Lord and hasn’t used drugs since December 31st. She was telling me about how stressed shes been lately. When she stopped using meth, her boss fired her. She had to leave her apartment because she could not pay the rent. She was staying with people from her circle of friends. Two nights ago the guy she was staying with told her that if she wants to stay there, she must give something in return.. sex. She refused and he kicked her out. Last night she had no where to go. When I heard all this my heart was breaking. She told me how her friends tell her she is “shit.” How could this beautiful girl be on the street tonight? When I saw all her tattoos I assumed she was older than me. I asked her how old she was… She’s just 17.
I knew I had to have her as my little sister. I knew she could not be staying at a place where a man would use her, or where she would be influenced to use drugs. I asked the pastors if I could take her in and if they thought it was okay, if it was safe. They said they’ve seen a radical change in her, and that I could trust her. That they were praying for someone who could spend time with her. Well I guess that someone is me.

Shes asleep right now in my bed. When we got home to my house she showed me her journal. Full of proverbs that she wrote down when she was crying after getting kicked out. She told me about how every time she sees her friends using drugs, she just prays for them. Shes lived so much, but shes so young. I know its a risk to have her in my place, but I know it was what I was supposed to do.

Dewi has 30,000 rp in her pocket. Thats the equivalent of $3, and she only has that because our pastor gave it to her last night. She has applied for a new job and finds out about it in 2 days. I dont know how long she will be with me, but I dont think I could let her move back to Kuta knowing the situations this sweet little girl would be in.
Im faced with some realities. How will I feed her and what if they raise my rent? I need you all to pray for this. Pray for Dewi and God to continue to provide for her. I also want to ask that you consider giving towards this. So that I can buy sufficient groceries for us, at least until she gets a job.

We are having a bible study in a little bit. We were comparing bibles last night and I realized this isnt just what she needed but what I needed too. I have someone to lead, to love, to be an example for. We can have devotions together, and she can help me with my indonesian. Im happy about having a little sister around, but hope that I’ve made a smart choice. I just want to ask that you guys lift this up in prayer, and especially pray for Dewi. Pray that I would have wisdom. Wisdom in loving her, and wisdom in leading her. She needs to know that we really care.

This is a photo of Dewi and I last night.

Learning to slow down is a hard thing for me. I have been here for just 5 days and I feel like I have been here a month. Ive had 5 surf sessions. Ive been from bukit, to kuta, to sanur and back. I fill my gas tank, EVERY DAY. Ive been to ceremony. Ive eaten rice with my hands.. even at mcdonalds. Ive had fried squid with my balinese family. Ive gotten so sunburnt I thought surely I was going to need medical care. I lost the surf rack to my board. Got rained on. Got my slippers stolen by a monkey. Ive surfed good waves, and ive surfed bad waves. Well, you get the picture.. its been nuts. I was talking to my girl Asa on skype just a couple a minutes ago and I was talking about how sometimes its easier just to find things to occupy yourself with, than learning to slow down, listen to your thoughts, and listen to God. Im about to stick a big piece of paper on my mirror that says SLOW DOWN on it. Ive been doing alot. And I dont want to ignore what my heart is longing for.. time with christ.

I got to go to a baby dedication ceremony for my friends Ado and Clair. Their daughter alana just hit 3 months, and in Bali there is a big ceremony when a baby reaches its 3 month mark. My friend Edis family dressed me and it was the funnest thing. I was with Kadek, Edi’s sister-in-law, and her 2 daughters. And they were just ecstatic to see me in Balinese dress. They just kept talking about how beautiful I was. It was such a cool thing to be apart of.
I have been hanging out with Edi’s family alot and I feel I’ve kind of reached a new level with them. I think they really see me as family. Every time I’m there I get fed, which is great since you may know, I am not the best cook. We spend lots of time on the front porch, on the grass mat, just talking about life. Its a real blessing to me.

Soon I’ll start studying language and hopefully I will be able to help out at the school down the street from my place. Its funny how this isnt even work to me. Me and one of my friends from global church were at a bike place to get my motorbike tire fixed. We sat down with the an old man working there, and started talking with him. My friend Brit doesnt know too much Indonesian so I was running the conversation and helping to translate to Brit. I talked with this man about everything.. his family, his work, his son.. and then he asked me if I had practiced a certain religion. We shared and he told me how his wife was christian and he is hindu. It was my first really deep conversation in Indonesian since Ive been back. When I walked away Brit told me something really nice. He said I just have a way with the Balinese people. It was so nice because I can feel it. When talking to Pak Udi I could feel the joy, the smile I had, just to speak with him. But to know that other people see it, well that means the world to me.

And the only reason why I look so small this in this is because they wear a corset-like top underneath!

Do you ever ask God for like, the smallest stupid little things, like deep in your heart? And although it feels kind of childish that you ask the Creator for like, green lights on the way to work, or a good parking spot at the movie theatre, when it happens, you just know how much He cares? Like when I used to live at surfing the nations, we would get boxes of food for our apartments every Thursday from the Hawaii foodbank and I would always be asking God, “please Lord, let there be non rotten vegetables today..” And then when it came, and all my roomates are stoked, I would smile deep inside knowing, I asked, and it came. And my heavenly father is so rad that he cares about me having fresh veggies. I love that feeling.
Well, about a week ago I was driving in my car, I remember I was going over the Destin bridge, and I kind of prayed, “Father, I would really love to have a new journal.” Super quietly, it wasnt like something I was gonna cry over if I didnt get it. But in my heart I really wanted a new journal. I had lost my old one. And I even pictured it.. could it please be something with brown leather, gold pages. I desired for something beautiful to write about the beautiful things God was doing in my life, thats why I like to journal.
So Tuesday, the day I left for Hawaii, I had to take my swedish sister Asa to the airport at 4 am. Super early. We woke up and got packed and drove to Pensicola. After that I met with a friend for breakfast and then drove back to Destin. Well when I got upstairs I saw it.. on my bed. Brown leather, gold pages, and jeremiah 29:11 carved in the front- “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.” I starting bawling. It wasnt really the journal, but the love and care of my heavenly father, that he cares about the small things. How he knows us so well. Skyler came in my room and saw me just holding the journal and bawling, probably thinking I was the weirdest person ever, but to me that had meant so much.

So yesterday I arrived and I christened that journal with its first entry last night. I’m staying with my friend Samia, who is also a missionary in Bali. Our lives have kind of crossed paths alot. I met her in 2007 at my first visit to surfing the nations. Saw her again in Bali in 2009 and stayed with her at the Bali Surf House where she works. And as I was planning to come back to Hawaii on my way to Bali, she had happened to write me telling me she was staying on the north shore for the winter surf season. Turns out she had a mattress on the floor, and me needing a home base, it worked out perfectly. And when I say she’s staying on the north shore, I mean literally, we share a fence with the volcom pipe house, and it is steps from the beach. What a blessing to me! I got to meet up with the old surfing the nations crew yesterday and even paid a visit to my old stomping grounds in Wahiawa. We sat around in my old apartment, talking story and baking brownies. It was awesome, but kind of weird not to see my things hanging in the closet and my dirty, and usually unmade bed in the corner of the room. There is also a comfort in moving on to your next chapter in life but also looking back at where you came from. Although my times at surfing the nations were amazing, fun filled, and taught me so much, I know I am right where I am supposed to be. And when I miss coming back to my apartment in Wahiawa, getting in my old toyota camery to go surf kaisers, or hanging out with the homeless kids on the west side, I remind myself to look at the future, and how good God is, that I have an opportunity not alot of people get to have. To do what I love and be where I love to be.

My church has played a big part in this. I cannot tell you how much it means this past Sunday to feel the support, the smiles and excitement my church had for me as I was saying goodbye. All these small things, like countless hugs from the church members, to the small leather journal, and the sound of the waves breaking at pipeline while I sit on the couch in this house, has reminded me of our fathers care for us, and what a joy it is to be following your dreams with Him supporting you all the way.

Lots of love and aloha from Oahu. <3