Some call me the space cowboy Others call me the gangster of love

Well hello there friends. This be Sterling and Alex jammin on the keyboard, typin' you a lovely little blog. We've been on Yap for about two and a half weeks now. Not much time but it sure does feel like longer. So much has happened. This is actually our first post for the blog. The earlier one was an email that we sent out before the blog was up so this is FRESH OFF THE PRESSES FINGER LICKIN' GOOD!

This is Sterling writing. I think the most important thing to tell you all about is that school is closed down! The government shut us down for three weeks to try and stop the spread of the N1H1 i mean H1N1 virus. I actually didn't know what that was until my class told me because I'm not a scientist but apparently my class is. So H1N1 is actually science slang for SWINE FLU!!!

So we taught for a sum total of one week before we were shut down. I miss my class. In the mean time we've been doing maintenance, being lazy, and killing big bugs. I'll pass the computer over to Alex and let him lay some knowledge on you.

This is Alex speaking. Typing. So if school is out for three weeks, what've we lads been up to? Well let me learn you.

The most exciting slice of adventure has been our dear Parma. You know that we taught a whole week of school, but did you know that it was pouring that whole week? Well I'm telling you now. It was raining like mad our first (and only) week of teaching. Being the very perceptive survivors that we are, we took notice of the water. If California got all of the rain we got in that week, it would be green all year. One night, us SM's (student missionaries) were in the school library watching a movie when Anna bursts in with a pack on her back and tells us to "Pack all your valuables and come back to the library. We're spending the night here because a typhoon is headed our way." So we ended up spending the night in the admin building, deemed the safest building due to it alone surviving the last bad typhoon ... Oh dear! Luckily, we had Sterling. With a guitar, he strummed softly, sang sweetly, and soothed the scared souls of the silly SM's. It turns out the most intense part of the night was the rat and hand-sized spider. The typhoon never hit us. Indeed, it was headed straight toward us, but curved around under us before continuing its path. It was kind of like one of those fake 'arrow through the head' rigs that you wear during Halloween. It turns out that this was quite a miracle, as the tropical depression-turned-tropical storm-turned typhoon kicked mother nature in the face and went against its governing laws to go around us instead of decimating us.

Back to Sterling!

So I hope you're not losing interest yet because there's more. "REALLY STERLING! How much more?!!" Oh so much more! So go take intermission. Grab a bathroom break. Stand up! Stretch! Ok here we go

We've been cleaning up the school and our apartment in our free time. A few days ago I hopped on the roof of my class and fixed a leak!!! I am FIXER MAN! Its a very manly name. We also bought machetes and have been climbing up the big coconut trees.We're like monkeys with knives! Today we found a couple bikes and fixed them up. They're pretty cool! Other than that we've been trying to find adventure wherever we can. I've been writing songs and soon will be recording some stuff on equipment I brought. Alex has been reading a lot and hopes to soon be the first SM ever to win the much sought after, prestigious busy beaver book club reader extraordinaire award.

A couple days ago I thought I'd be very efficient and get up off the couch to do some chores. I got a big can of raid and sprayed all the cracks and holes in our kitchen to make sure no creepy crawly things were creeping and crawling all over our food and dishes(because that's the definition of cleaning up teenage boys). A few minutes afterward, THE BIGGEST MOST EVIL LOOKING CREATURE came spazzing out from under our fridge! It had jaws like a shark and the strength of 100 tarantulas! It was a giant centipede as long as my forearm and about a half inch wide. They're poisonous. I immediately decided to kill it because thats what TV and movies tell me that men do. MEN KILL THINGS. I called Seth, our other roommate, to let him see the monster. He is much easier to frighten than I am and while I kept my cool calm composure, he grabbed two cans of RAID. While Dual Wielding the cans, he sprayed the centipede right in the face! It died... we left it on the floor overnight because that's what men do. That night a had a dream about it getting up from its raid induced coma and coming back for its bloody revenge. In the morning it was gone! My best guess is a rat got it but perhaps soon you'll be reading the story of the vengeful Centipede. That is if we survive to tell the tale. Oh two more facts. Our rats are bigger than our cats. Second fact, the morning after spraying the raid we found 13 dead roaches in our kitchen. Oh and here's an extra fact. We found an octopus spider in our room yesterday. They're about as big as my palm. We took it outside and I chopped it in half with a machete. Don't tell PETA. I just really really hate those spiders.

Alex here. You may be thinking we're violent, bloodthirsty creatures after telling you about our animal slayings(actually it is more like self-defense), but we're quite the pair of pacifists. Our couple dozen knives and machetes are simply the result of good, wholesome Pathfinder upbringing.

It may seem like we are busy bees all the time, but there is leisure time too. One Sunday, pretty much everyone on campus piled into a van and car and we headed out on an adventure. Just driving on the roads here is exciting, as we have to constantly slow down and swerve to dodge planet-sized potholes and sleeping dogs. Principal Fonseka took us out to a beach for a lovely picnic and snorkel. We jumped right in. We were in the water for about an hour and some, maybe three-fourths of a mile out, when it started to rain. In less than a minute, we lost water and air visibility. It was so intense, we couldn't see the island! Only four of us were out there, so we stuck together like glue so we wouldn't get lost. Except we didn't stick together like glue because glue would be washed off in the water. But we did stick together. So, fending off sharks and pirhanas with our bare (more like 'bear') hands, Sterling and I led the other two snorkelers (funny word, no?) back to safety. If we were in the Navy, we would've been awarded medals for our stellar performance in this situation.

Oh. We saw some pretty fish and coral and stuff too.

Before I give up the keyboard, I want to say thank you to everyone who is emailing us, praying for us, thinking of us, or saying that they are doing any of the above. Also, extra thanks for the packages, and to the people who send an email every day (or four emails a day- you know who you are). You have no idea how much your support means to us.

I want to leave you all with something else. As a teacher and student simultaneously, I need constant guidance and direction. Two verses have really helped me out with both the teaching burden and alone-ness aspect of this mission.

Exodus 4:11,12- "The Lord said to him, 'Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and teach you what to say.'"

James 1:5- "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

These verses have been my two 'legs' thus far. Thanks to Mrs. McMillan for the second one, thanks to those who send me verses, and another thanks to everyone else for your help and love. Love you all!

So Sterling again. I wanted to second alex's thanks. It really does mean so much to us when we get to hear from you. We miss everyone a ton and its your prayers and support that have kept us going.

There's a book called Is that Really You God? by a guy named Loren Cunningham. He started YWAM (Youth With a Mission). He believes very strongly that each and every person has a calling. A message from God to direct them in their lives. He says that its a calling that, if we have a little faith, we can all hear.

I don't know what my calling is and I'm pretty sure Alex doesn't either. Maybe that's why we're out here. Just trying to find what God wants to say to us. But even though i don't know what it is, reading through the gospels, I'm convinced that each of us truly has that calling. I'm afraid to follow mine, whatever it may be, but I'm determined to face my fear. That's my prayer, to be given the strength to face those fears. I guess I think it should be all of ours. There's a vision of life here on this planet right now that is as beautiful as heaven. Jesus told his disciples to pray that God's kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven, so lets make an effort to see it here on earth. I just think that if we try, we'll hear God's voice and if we can dig deep enough maybe we'll have the courage to follow it and change OUR world. change this place here today. We're looking for a personal relationship with Christ, one that is not centered on a future vision of going to heaven, but one that matters to our everyday lives right now. Our religion is for our lives today. It can change our world here and it can change us. I kind of think that's really what following God comes down to.

So thank you so much for your prayers and support and know that you'll be in ours. Tune in next time to hear the horror of the kinds of food three bachelors living in our apartment make! oh and maybe we'll tell you all about the other SMs and our pets out here. See you then!