Life Guard saves...

Fun fact - I don't know how to swim. Deathly afraid of water, unless it's in a cup then I'm fine. I take risks like kayaking on the ocean hoping and praying I won't tip over, or going to the pool and swimming as long as my feet are touching the floor, and even using a life jacket. #kidsdontfloat Half the time it's because all my friends are doing it and I want to be a part of the cool group.

If you haven't noticed any of my instagram pictures, or facebook, I upload pictures of Malibu Club probably atleast once a month. I was lucky enough to have spent a whole month serving with the coolest people on earth in the Summer of 2013. We had the chance to spend the day in the ocean, aka water that never ends and my feet can't touch the ground, on one of our day offs since we worked so hard in the 85 degree weather (dude, that's wayyy hot for someone who lives in AK). I figured I should put on a life jacket even if I knew I wouldn't jump in, but I knew someone would eventually try to push me in the water. There were so much going on, kayaking, caribe, and cooling off in the water.

"Dolena, jump in!" said everyone on the the dock. I was afraid, my feet can't touch the ground so it was an automatic no. But they never stopped bothered me to jump in until they eventually pushed me on the caribe. Which looked a little bit like this...

As you can see, I'm screaming my lungs out and was already thinking of how am I going to get back up if I can't swim? So what's the point of this whole caribe thing? There are 5 people, and the caribe is dragged by a boat. When the boat turns, all 5 people have to lean the way the boat turns, otherwise it'll flip over. When it did flip, everyone let go. Except me. I was holding on and screaming under water. I never wanted to let go. I was too scared that I would never be at the top of the water. Eventually, I did let go. GUYS I WAS AT THE TOP OF THE WATER, and my feet weren't touching the ground (good thing I used that life jacket). I was on the other side of everyone else because the driver had to drive around to pick us up. Then ofcourse after I got the hang of this whole thing, I started enjoying the next couple rounds of riding the caribe.

"No more dark, no more hiding, no more caves. What's the point of all this, to follow the light. " - The Croods

God gives us so many opportunities and it can be pretty scary to jump in the water because your feet can't touch the ground. Summer 2013 was when I first left Alaska, actually I even left America. Who knew there was an airport(Seattle airport) so huuuge it's 100 times bigger than the village you grew up in? So many people, so much rush, so terrifying. I went from knowing everybody in my town, to absolutely nobody. In a whole month, strangers became family, I gained a real relationship with God that I never knew was even possible. So when God has something for you, it's worth the jump.

Even if I could swim, I'd be a bad life guard anyways.