What I Really Want to do is Direct

One day we decided to do a youth group trip to explore the island and try to find a place to do some cliff-jumping. We drove to the other side of the island where we found a shallow stream meandering into the ocean. There were small, thin trees on the sides so we decided to climb the trees to jump into the stream. There wasn’t much water so we always hit the bottom. But if we landed shallow enough it didn’t hurt too badly. On the way home, we hit the jackpot. We found a waterfall about 20 feet high with a large pool at its base for some real cliff-jumping.

That evening when we got back…the ship was gone! There wasn’t a whole lot of room at the docks in Western Samoa so when another ship came along the Anastasis had to move out. Fortunately, it didn’t have to go too far. It had just anchored out in the bay. But, as of yet, there was no launch service to get out to it. We would have to spend the night ashore.

They found a place with the YWAM outreach teams for the girls to stay. For the guys - we found some picnic tables to sleep under on some grass at the edge of the bay. With no supplies, we had a pretty miserable night. We didn’t even have anything to eat.

After Western Samoa, we sailed over to the capitol of American Samoa, Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango). It’s set in a beautiful, large inlet, surrounded by dramatic cliffs. For school, we were required to do reports on the places we traveled to. It made it so much more real actually being in the place as we wrote the reports. These were the days before the internet so we had to find our information in actual books. Because American Samoa is American we got to go to the local library to find them.

As we traveled, I also realized how much better we had it than most travelers. Usually when you travel you have to pack up your things, leave your house and spend time getting to where you’re going. On the ship we didn’t have to pack, we traveled with our house and getting there was part of the fun.

Yet, despite all the exciting things we got to see and experience, we had our days of boredom too. In a community, we could always make an effort to find someone to do something with. But there were times, particularly on Sundays going all the way back to Venice, when you just had those lazy, boring days.

Growing up in YWAM, we were taught that you can actually hear from God. Although it is rare, sometimes God speaks audibly. Typically though, it is through thoughts in your head, through impressions, through the Bible or other people. There are three “voices” you can hear in your head – yourself, the enemy or God. It takes practice and experience to realize which one is which.

During our time in the islands, I believed God told me what He wanted me to do in life - to be a filmmaker. I thought that it must have been God talking to me because I didn’t have any great passion for films. I liked movies but I had not seen all that many. When I told my Mom she got excited because she had been praying that God would raise up good filmmakers who were Christians.

There is a tongue-in-cheek saying in the film industry, “What I really want to do is direct”. Directing is the most highly desired position because, despite all the people needed to make a film, the director is the one who has the power to create his or her vision. So, of course, when I believed I heard God saying He wanted me to be a filmmaker, I assumed that meant a director. Later on, as the other teenagers began trying to figure out what they were going to do in life, I felt a little superior, already knowing where I was heading. Little did I know what a long and winding road my path would be with many seeming dead ends.

After leaving Samoa, we stopped in at another French territory called New Caledonia before heading back to New Zealand. We just stayed in Auckland this time. We were picking up building supplies to take to the YWAM base in Hawaii to help build the university. Since we didn’t know when we would see our relatives again, we had a big send off. Some of them gave us kids a gift of some cash. It amounted to about $20 US which was very generous to us. Unfortunately, when we got to Hawaii, I made quick work wasting it.

Ah, the eighties


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