Some friends from around the way

On July 1, 2011 I left Kauai with a rough plan of where I would go and what I would be doing for the next ten months.  I had a plane ticket to Sri Lanka and an itinerary for the first five weeks, but after that the calendar was wide open.  My hope was that the money I had saved over the past year would last until at least March, and anything beyond that would be a miracle.

Tomorrow I head back to Kauai.  Reflecting on the year the one thing that stands out above everything is PEOPLE.

In Israel I got to hang out with two rad couples.  Jon and Stasia were one (they’re from Kauai), John and Una are the other (they live in Israel).  Being around John and Una was like watching the best history channel documentary of all time because we were walking around some of the most significant historical sites in the world.  John would say things like “Oh, the ark of the covenant sat right here for a few hundred years” or “this is where King David and his boys snuck up to capture Jerusalem.”  You kidding me?!

Before I left Israel Una grabbed my arm one day, looked straight into my eyes and said “You’re a lover Nate!”  Una is probably in her 70′s and her statement caught me a little by surprise. She went on to explain how she had observed over the past few weeks that I am very passionate about people and try to be friendly when I’m around others.  I hadn’t put much thought into that before, but as soon as she said it I knew it was true and could see evidence of that in my life.

I use to tell my Mom and Dad that I loved them each night before I went to bed.  When I’m home I still do.  On Kauai I always tell my youth boys from church that I love them.  For some it’s a little weird at first, but hopefully they understand what I mean by that and why I say it.  I think they do.  Some people don’t get to experience love too often in their life.  I hope that the people I’m around never feel that way.  This year I had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of remarkable people.  In every country I visited there were marvelous sites to see and I got some awesome photos of things that I’ll probably never see again.  Often I found my lens turning from the sites before me to the people around me.  As I look through the faces that I got to know this year each one has a story behind it.  I feel tremendously blessed to have met these people that became my “family” around the globe.  I truly love them all.

Today Kanoa is five years old.

I’d like to think that I was just like Kanoa when I was a kid, but I know that he’s way cooler, smarter, and cuter than I ever was.  He’s a middle child and does a good job of keeping his older brother in check but also looks after his littler brother new baby sister too.  Some of Kanoa’s hobbies include playing all kinds of sports (I think football is his favorite), boogie boarding (next week buddy!!!), and throwing rocks with his brother and cousins.  One time we went camping up in Koke’e and Kanoa and Asher threw rocks into the stream for two hours straight!  I think the only reason they stopped was because they couldn’t find any more rocks to throw.

Kanoa is also a really inquisitive guy.  He often asks really thoughtful questions, and after he gets a response you can see him thinking it over in his head.  It’s a joy to watch him get bigger and more brave, especially when he’s out in the water surfing!  Happy Birthday Kanoa!  See you soon!

-Uncle Nate Dogg

Last night I showed up on my parents doorstep for the first time in two years.  That’s the longest that I’ve ever been away from Eugene.  It was a nice spring evening and there is a really fragrant plant out front that smells really good and always reminds me of my Mom.  My sisters and Dad were hoping that I could surprise my Mom on her birthday, but she knew that I was coming.  I lied to her a few days ago, telling her that I would be back in Eugene on Friday.  She said that she knew I was lying because there was no way that I would come home two days after her birthday.  She was right.  She usually is!

I remember walking in the door on summer afternoons and having the entire house smell like basil because she was drying it on the food dehydrator to use later in her homemade pasta dishes.  I have never once seen my mother buy jam of any kind because she always makes her own, and it’s better than any jam I’ve ever tasted.  Especially when it’s spread over her homemade bread.  In middle school I remember my friends wanted to trade their Capri Sun and store bought cookies and chips for the vegetables and homemade cookies that my Mom packed in my brown bag each day.  If you’ve never tried one of my Mom’s cookies you’re missing out on one of the better experiences in life.

As we got older and the costs associated with bringing up the four Smith kids increased my Mom got a job at our church as the receptionist.  Even when she held down a job for a few years she never missed a beat.  In high school she put a quote on our bathroom mirror by Charles Swindoll.  I remember thinking that it was really dorky and rolling my eyes when she taped it up, but then I found myself reading it every night as I brushed my teeth.  The essence of the quote was summed up in the final line:

“I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you – we are in charge of our attitudes.”

I’ve had the opportunity to share this thought with some of my students over the past few years in Hawaii and I am totally convinced that it is true.  Sometimes life sucks, sometimes life is wonderful.  Either way, we have a choice of how we will react to the circumstances and situations which are thrust upon us.  My Mother, Laura Jo Smith, has chosen to live a life filled with joy even when times aren’t the best.  She has embodied this lifestyle as long as I’ve known her, and has chosen to take an attitude of putting others first, loving unconditionally, living with character, and been the best model of a Godly woman that I have ever seen.

Today is her birthday and she is awesome and I love her very much.

Last August while visiting Israel I had an opportunity to visit a place called the Garden Tomb.  It sits just outside the wall of the Old City of Jerusalem near Damascus gate, and is one of the possible sites where Jesus may have been crucified 2,000 years ago.  The exact location is disputed among historians and scholars and the staff that work at the Garden Tomb do a really good job of presenting that this is a possible site, but may not be the exact spot.  Rather than focus on the physical location of where the event took place, they were really intentional about presenting the fact that it DID take place, and that is what is important.

In my opinion the death and resurrection of Jesus are the most significant events in the history of the world.  Today is Good Friday, which marks the day when Jesus was crucified.  According to the Bible this had to take place in order for sin to be paid for.  That is a very short version of the most amazing love story that has ever taken place.  I think that a lot of people don’t understand that it is a story of love because, unfortunately, there are a lot of misunderstandings about the Bible and Jesus and God and Love.  I hope that my life speaks about the truths that are found in God.  To celebrate Good Friday I climbed a mountain behind Pepperdine University in southern California with my friends Sheadon and Garrett to a spot with a large wooden cross (see pic).  We read from Luke chapter 23:26-56 where Luke describes the crucifixion.

Thank you Jesus!

“Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.  I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.  For great is your love towards me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.”            Psalm 86:11-13

Check out photos from China and Thailand on the new pages above!

I’m visiting some friends in California for a couple of weeks before heading up to Oregon.  Not sure when I’m coming back to Hawaii yet.  I’m planning on getting my passport stamped one more time before I make it back to the Aloha state!

Nine days ago I flew from Brisbane, Australia to Honolulu, Hawaii.  Back in the states for the first time since leaving here in July, 9 months ago.   Leaving Australia was tough because over the past 5 weeks I’ve become good friends with several people on the Sunshine Coast.   There are lots of wonderful people that I had the pleasure to meet through my friends Richie and Antje, and the church that they attend called Goodlife.   We planned to have a little get together BBQ before I left but the weather didn’t cooperate so it turned in to a smaller gathering at the CS girls house and an introduction to the “name game” for my Aussie friends.  A good way to go out.

I didn’t tell too many people of my plans to come to Hawaii because I wanted to surprise my youth group friends when they came over to spring break camp on Oahu.  I arrived last Wednesday, and stayed with a good friend at the Surfing the Nations headquarters in Wahiawa for a couple of days.  There is lots of good stuff going on with the STN crew here on Oahu and elsewhere. (STN is the group that I went to Sri Lanka with in July)  For anyone in the late teens to twenties looking for a way to experience community living, serving, and some adventure overseas with good people I highly recommend checking them out.  Especially if you are into surfing.

Coming back to Hawaii I was a little anxious – very excited to see all of my young friends from the Hungry (Lihue Missionary youth group) crew, but also coming to the realization that my international travels are over for the time being.  I love Hawaii and teaching and the things that are happening on the island of Kauai, but after a trip of this magnitude coming back to the routine of life can seem a little dull.   Good thing that I don’t have to start teaching until July.   Even better that I had 90 kids from Kauai (and about 100 from Oahu) to spend four days with up on the North Shore!

My buddy Randy and I were out on the street walking around when the first bus of Kauai kids came rolling by towards camp. We hurried back because I was so excited to see those kids!   A bunch of them have grown several inches, all of them look a little older, but the awesome thing is that it felt like I hadn’t been gone too long.   The next four days were spent like every spring break camp with my team dominating the games (especially dodgeball), lots of good wisdom being shared, a little catching up, great worship sessions, and really good in-depth conversations with some very mature students.   There are also several new leaders from LMC that have stepped up in the past few months so I got to catch up with more people than I expected to here on Oahu.  What an awesome crew.

I’m still here on Oahu for another couple of days, then I’ll be back on Kauai for about 4 days.   After that I’ll be spending some time on Oahu and then the mainland visiting family and friends before I come back to Kauai for good in May.  There are still lots of adventures to be had this spring and summer.   I’m also hoping to take some people overseas for some serving opportunities in the near future.  I don’t have a phone yet so if you’d like to catch up or buy me a dinner please e-mail me: naterob9@yahoo.com

Aloha!

Noosa on a nice day

More rain on the Sunshine coast the past few days.  Yesterday my buddy Richie and I headed up to Noosa to get some waves only to discover the road was flooded.  We had to take a roundabout way to get there but made it and found some fun waves.  The rain was coming down really hard and the wind was howling but the water was really fun.  Surfed and drifted my way about a mile down the point and caught some really fun waves.

I am continually blown away with the people that I’ve met on this big trip.  I have been to some really amazing places and seen wonderful parts of this world, but what really gets me excited is getting to know people, their story, and learn what’s important to them.  It’s amazing how the values and priorities that people hold come through in their character, speech, and personality.  Meeting new people is one aspect of traveling that I was really looking forward to and I feel like I’ve got family all over the world now.  I suppose I do have family all over the world.

The Sunshine Coast is my favorite part of Australia and I’ve been blessed by lots of people here.  My friend Josh has been letting me use his car, one of Richie’s friends loaned me a longboard, and my favorite Aussie/German couple, the Fagg’s, have let me stay with them and made me feel like I’m part of the family.  The crew of people at Goodlife Community Center are absolutely legendary.  On Sunday night Pastor Tim shared one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard.  It was on Leviticus chapter 26.  The podcast isn’t up yet but will be available here in a few days if you are interested.  Tim broke down this section that is pretty challenging to read and looked at how we often choose to define God by our own terms and don’t really understand his desire for us to turn wholeheartedly to him.  I encourage you to listen to it.  Stoked!

I’ve been arranging some of my favorite photographs from the past 8 months by country.  Over the next few days I’ll be adding new ones as I finish the pages.  You can click on the country name above to get to the pages.  If you really like one and would like a print let me know.

Today is my nephew Aaron’s birthday!  If you have been keeping up with the blog you’ve probably noticed that I have lots of nephews – Aaron is the 3rd oldest (I think…) and probably the toughest!  We share a middle name, Robert after my Dad, and like to fly paper airplanes together – he’s got quite an arm.  Rumor has it that he will be having an Oregon State-themed birthday party today.  Not too sure how I feel about that one, but I’m fairly certain that he’s gonna be a lot bigger than me one of these days so I’ll let it slide.  Happy Birthday Aaron – can’t wait to make you some airplanes soon!

It’s been a rainy week here on the Sunshine Coast.  Waves have been small too.

On Monday I got a letter in the mail from Afghanistan from one of my old youth boys, Justin.  After he graduated he went into the Army to join the Airborne division and has been in training for the past few years.  Justin is an awesome young man and by the time he had graduated from high school he had already traveled to Africa to help meet the needs of people there.  He’s got a real servants heart and is a great musician too.

He’s been in Afghanistan since December and wrote a little about what life is like for him at the moment.  It was really good to hear from him, but really hard to imagine myself in those same situations.  Justin mentioned that he’s happy with his decision to go into the Army and doesn’t regret it at all.  I’m deeply grateful to have people like Justin in our country who take a season of their lives to serve our country, regardless of how they feel towards the government or what our government is doing around the world.

Since reading his letter a couple of times I’ve been really purposeful about asking God to keep him safe while he’s overseas.  Sometimes it’s easy to forget how many people around the world serve our country through military service, and often they get overlooked in many ways.  I think it’s good to be mindful of the fact that there are people serving our country in ways that are really difficult.

I remember this one weekend a few years back when Justin was a senior in high school.  We had a “Spring Camp” at my house with a bunch of the boys and surfed together Friday after school, grabbed dinner together, and stayed up late watching Braveheart.  All the boys slept on my floor and couches – I took a photo in the morning and there were boys everywhere.  I think 3 of them piled onto the futon.  That day we all went down to a secret little beach on the south side of Kauai and boogied some fun little waves.  The photo of Justin above is from that day.

I really look forward to catching up with Justin when he returns back to Kauai next year.