True Traveling Stories

So true stories...funny story, that’s also a side note, I was reading my bible the other day and found that Jesus often said “Truly, truly I tell you…” He might as well be saying “true story…” which is something I say. I only have two types of stories, true and funny. No really, it’s a true story ; )

Flights from Queenstown to Auckland: I sat next to a lovely couple on their way to France for a holiday, doing some cycling and viewing of the Tour de France. I was Oh so happy, how happy? SO happy to be sitting with people to whom I could talk to and listen to. And I shall not forget this little bit of information. “You can get a cooker, but she might not be a looker. So, if you find yourself a looker, she can learn to be a cooker; then you get a looker and a cooker!” I was also invited to experience the fine skills of this man’s good looking cooker the next time I was in Dunedin and I hope to get a chance to do so in the future.

During my layover in Fiji I got a chance to go into Nadi town which meant riding the rickety and packed bus. On the bus ride the thing I noticed the most was the smell and the memories that it brought back. The best of which is probably the wonderful meal the ladies of the DTS put on for the guys. Thanks again girls. I Also got to enjoy a couple of cheap blitz bars and I tell you what, they were most certainly the genuine article, not some counterfeit from New Zealand. I think one of the funniest part for me was when a Fijian started a conversation with me and when I told him I was shopping for my sisters he offered to take me down the street to the best shop, which means he wanted to take me to a Kava Ceremony and get my money. It just made me smile to be able to dodge that experience like old times.

(For you Dahvede) As I collected my bags in LAX after arriving from Fiji, a Fijian man asked me about my stay in Fiji. I told him about what I had done aboard the Pacific Link but I never once named it, or YWAM or DTS. He then asked me if I had been aboard the Pacific Ruby (The Pacific Link’s Predecessor). I was slightly shocked and then learned that this man had done his DTS years back and spent time on the Anastasias (YWAM’s first ship I believe). We were given an incredible opportunity to chat and pray for one another and I received another invitation to dinner and a place to stay, this time in the Cayman Islands. (This is all on one trip by the way).

While hitchhiking around the North Island of New Zealand to get travel papers sorted out and to visit friends got gave me a gift. Not one but two of the people who picked me up had travelled to India recently. Not only that but one of them had been there on a missions trip with his pastor. I was so totally blessed to be able to pick his brain for tips, and tricks and to get a better understanding of where I was going. God really does provide.

Well those are some of the cool things that have happened to me on my travels. Do you have any good stories to share? I'd like to hear some of them.

~Matt Clarke
Go Big or Go Home!