TAVEUNI To SAN DIEGO -- 26+ Hours!

Thursday morning (August 25), up at dawn for our early morning walk -- after masu (prayers) -- to watch GOD-splashed colors against Matei's tropical skies...

After watching GOD's artistry, we went back to Naselesele for a quick visit to our bush farm -- and for Vili to get me fresh bu juice right off the tree!

There's a saying in Taveuni: Plant a file in the ground -- it will grow! These string beans and cucumbers are tasty proof that Taveuni is indeed the Garden Isle of Fiji!

Vili also climbed our backyard mango tree so that i can bring some sliced mango back with me to snack on at the airport...

From our bush farm -- cucumbers... fresh and cruncy!

Nau Tuvi and Ana... with Vili preparing these tangy mangoes. (These fruits are green on the outside, but are actually ready to eat.) We have to pick them half-ripe before the bats feast on them all!

A last look at my "home away from home" -- with Ana's just-washed laundry already on the line.

Kuro, Sai and Mai waving a "moce mada!" as they paused from building the new Naselesele Village Catholic church building. (There were actually about a dozen men from the village working on the church this morning and many other men and women are also involved to cook lunch and afternoon tea for the workers -- truly, a community effort from-the-heart!)

Bird's eye view of Matei and Viubani island... as i watched after Pacific Sun's take-off.

What a nice surprise! Serenia and Ana (the two ladies from the right, my friends from Naselesele Village who were visiting Viti Levu) were people-watching in the Nadi Airport lobby. What a blessing that i got to while away some time with them (i had nine hours until the 10pm Air Pacific departure).

After the 10 1/2 hours aboard FJ810 from Nadi to Los Angeles, 1 1/2 hours at the passport-control/arrival area (we were herded like cattle), 45 minutes by Fly Away bus to the Union Station train depot...

...i entered the "wrong" side (this was for the MetroLink -- serving the Los Angeles area).

But there were signs everywhere... sega na leqa! i caught the 4pm Amtrak Surf Liner -- and watched with tired eyes as the concrete scenics of L.A. slid past the train's windows. i was emotionally and spiritually refreshed when the blue waters of the Pacific finally came into view...

This very courteous train attendant kept her balance as the train swayed and rocked to its own beat... like a giant iron snake winding its way southward.

Last stop! At last -- the three-hour ride to downtown San Diego a done deal! It was the last stop for some, but i still had one more to go.

Inside the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego... then i caught the San Diego Trolley for another 30-minute ride southward.

i was quite famished, so i couldn't help but notice that this young woman ate non-stop all the way from downtown San Diego to the Palm Avenue trolley stop. The Wednesday Ladies' Bible Study at Ocean View Church have seen me eat four or five servings plus dessert at the all-you-can-eat salad and soup restaurant (Soup Plantation) -- and they would always ask me, "Where do you put all that food!?!"

Finally home! After Mom picked me up from the trolley station, it was already 8 pm -- still Thursday. She had chicken adobo and fried tilapia and bangus paksiw and ginisang upo... with rice! Aren't mothers great?

GOD is too wonderFUL! Every good thing is from Him -- even these mangoes. Even in the little details, GOD is in control.

...who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103:5, RSV)

San Diego Downtown ODDities

i have a friend who likes to wear wigs...she doesn't like the Tina Turner style i gave her -- i wonder if she'll like this one?

Being invisible is part of a photographer's role...but sometimes i like being in the picture, too. (What did the Psalmist say? "Vanity of vanities...all is vanity!" (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

This is definitely NOT the usual red San Diego Trolley! i've never watched The Simpsons. The only cartoons i think cool are Pink Panther... and Mighty Mouse -- who always saved the day.
(Now that i'm a grown-up, i know Who really saves the day!)

This wig store is just a couple blocks from San Diego City College. Again, i couldn't resist adding myself in the composition.

Funny how all of humanity want to leave their mark in this world -- immortalized somehow -- hoping that maybe after they die, they'll be remembered by this or that legacy left behind. But we're all vapor...never knowing if this breath is the last. Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. (Psalm 39:5)

When i was waiting for the bus to Balboa Park (for my Botanical Garden GODventurez), i saw this artsy-fartsy looking car parked in the San Diego High School parking lot, next to the bus stop. i joined a couple tourists in taking a photo of it -- what a colorful, attention-getting distraction!

When i was a child, i spoke as a child, i understood as a child, i thought as a child; but when i became a man, i put away childish things. (I Corinthians 13:11)

GODventurez in Giving

GODventurez is about opening a door of opportunity that GOD has orchestrated, and then stepping through boldly. It's about the privilege of adventuring with the indescribable Maker and Giver of life.

This recent GODventurez in Life 101 is about giving...beyond tithing. Malachi 3:10 says, Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My Temple. If you do, says the LORD Almighty, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let Me prove it to you!

Pastor Baize gave a message at Midway about tithing and putting to the test Malachi 3:10. It was during Midway's World Outreach Week, with missionaries from the Philippines, China and Africa asking the church to help make a difference in those countries. i was impressed with the mission outreach called Impacting Asia, with Luke and Kelly Lyons (along with Marc and Jessica Buxton, of Honest Deceiver) who help plant churches in metro Manila, Philippines.

GOD provided this door of opportunity to be of help -- so i gave them the $100 my sister gave me towards their evangelizing efforts in the Philippines. To some, $100 is not much; but to me, with no regular income to count on, it meant much. But GOD lit a fire in my heart for this mission...and i was glad to give. SPIRIT filled me with joy -- He made me a cheerful giver!

After CHRISTmas, i received monetary gifts...enough to buy that digital camera i was eyeing at CostCo. But GOD checked me...He asked, What about your glasses? i've been putting off getting new glasses (the prescription was four years old). And i really wanted my own digital camera, especially after deleting all of Mom's pictures while trying to "fix" her camera. Having a camera to illustrate my blog(s) was very important to me. GOD knew that...and He also knew how much fun i got from doing photography.

Again, i obeyed GOD...i followed His guidance -- prioritizing need, versus desire. GOD provided the new glasses -- after all, He is the bottom line Source of all that i have, all that i am. AND...

On the day i was at CostCo to get my eyes checked, i was at the display case of digital cameras, yearning for that low-priced, pocket-sized digital Canon, when i overheard that this Mexico-born German, Herman H, was looking for a lens for his Canon digital body. As he was walking away, i called him and told him that i had what he was looking for!

After a couple of criss-crossed e-mails (even trashed), we met at CostCo. My used Canon lens was priced at $300+ new, and Herman's asking price was $150; i countered with $175 (though i had prayed for $200). i also gave him zoom-extensions i didn't need anymore. And praise be to GOD, Herman gave me $200! (Bless his kind heart.)

Instead of buying the Canon, i bought a higher priced Nikon. i had just enough cash in my wallet for the required tax, even down to the 11 cents. GOD kept His promise in Malachi 3:10 -- i did my part by obeying when He prompted me to give...to let go that $100 i was holding on to. And i trusted Him to keep His promise -- He gave me what i needed (new glasses) and even what i desired (my own digital camera). The LORD is my Good Shepherd, i have everything i need. (Psalm 23:1, NLT)

Of course, the true blessing was not the new glasses or digital camera, but that SPIRIT grew my faith in CHRIST through His orchestration of these events. Who but GOD could have put all the pieces in place so that Herman and i would meet at that very exact moment that we did so that both our prayers would be answered? Who else could have engineered such perfect timing?

Pastor Charles Stanley says, GOD is responsible for the consequences of my obedience; and i am responsible for the consequences of my disobedience.

i'm having a lot of fun with the Nikon CoolPix GOD provided. i've already tested it to document my San Diego Trolley ride into downtown and Balboa Park (including a gad-about in the Botanical Garden, which showcased these orchids), as well as trying my hand at shooting a video (rln's FirstEverVideo).

And the best consequence of my obedience is a closer, deeper, more intimate fellowship with GOD, in CHRIST JESUS.

San Diego TROLLEY -- Blue Line GODventurez

Palm Avenue Station (Blue Line)

The first leg of my SPIRIT-led GODventurez...

The San Diego Trolley has actually been a movie prop (though it escapes me which movie).

Coronado Bay Bridge...not as pretty from this angle, eh?

(Barrio Logan Station)
Since coming back from Fiji to San Diego, April 2009, i haven't really ventured much out into the "real world."

i've sort of cocooned myself around South San Diego, Chula Vista, and Imperial Beach.

My world had shrunk to Midway church activities (worship, Bible studies, Rose's), 24-Hour Fitness (Zumba and TKB), and being a homebody (painting, blogging or housekeeping).

(Imperial and Market Station)
The gas prices didn't encourage me to get out there...and i was no longer interested in those things that used to interest me before.

(PetCo Park Stadium)
But Tuesday, i broke out of my cozy routine and went on a GODventurez -- which to most of you is really no big deal -- i took the trolley downtown!

For just $5, i got to ride around for a whole day (including the bus system).

i had to ask a cyclist headed for Balboa Park to help me get the ticket out of the machine...duh!

(Fifth Avenue Station)
Yep, i'm a bush-woman from the boondocks!

Most of these (full-frame) photos were shot from inside the trolley, as seen afresh through eyes agog with a spirit of GODventurez.

i savored the experience, my face unusual amongst the crowd because my smile was practically a fixture from ear to ear -- i couldn't stop smiling! i must've looked like i was high on something -- i was! High on CHRIST!

GODventuring shoes...

i wonder if she still sees new things on her route -- back and forth, north to south, and back again on the same tracks...i wonder how many times in the course of her shift she goes back and forth, north to south and back again on the same tracks. i wonder if she still sees new things on her route...

Back at the Palm Avenue Station...longer shadows marked the nearing sundown.

There's a train a-coming...i can hear the whistle blowing! What are my choices? Get on the train? Let it pass me by? Or let it run over me?