#1 This class was the result of my Leadership Internship last year.

Going into it, I

honestly did not know what to expect. Last year I spent a lot of time researching,
planning, and promoting, but at the end of Spring semester I basically handed
over all my work to Dr. Malakyan and Dr. Millard. I wasn't sure what changes had
been made between that time and now, so I was very interested to see how the
class would go. After our last class meeting I am very excited. I think there is so
much to look forward to for our time in Kona. After having several classes with
Dr. Malakyan, I know that he likes to have a plan in place but is also so willing to
be flexible and let his students have an experience that they want. I think the fact
that he gave us the opportunity to write down things we are interested in and give
him an idea of what we want to do when we are in HI was a great example of his
servant leadership mindset. Overall I am very excited for this class and can't wait
to see what is in store for the next semester.
#2 Looking back through a lot of people's post for this week it was interesting to
me to read people's questions, and anticipations for the trip. I hope that through
the trip people were able to grow, even if it was a way that they didn't expect. It
was exciting for me to work towards something for so long and to actually see it
go through. I had high hopes for the trip, some were exceeded and some did not
happen, but regardless I am thankful for the trip and the lessons and experiences
I had and how they have opened up opportunities for me to grow personally and
exercise some of the things I have learned in my other leadership classes.
#3 In class on Monday night I was really excited by the progression of our plans.
I was really happy that we got to meet Natalie and hear about her passions and
how she is going to contribute to our trip. She spoke briefly about participant
observation and how it involves actual participation in the culture for the purpose
of learning and study (as the name implies.) I know that this method truly works
because of the personal experiences I have had in my own life. Having lived in
two countries outside of the U.S., I have been able to see the benefits of
participant observation in my personal experience. When I lived in Japan, I
attended a Japanese public school. I was the only non-Japanese student which
meant I was completely immersed in the culture. I had absolutely no one else
who was like me at the school and I relied completely on my observations to
survive in the classroom. As a result the depth of insight I had by the end of the
year into Japanese culture was vastly more extensive than my understanding of
Italian culture. When I lived in Italy, I attended a DODDs school and honestly did
not have to understand the first thing about Italian culture. As a result I learned
significantly less about the culture and did not have the same appreciation for the
culture as I had obtained for the Japanese culture. All that to say...I am very
excited to get involved in various projects and to learn how to engage in
participant observation on our short-term trip to Hawaii.
#4 This week I mainly reviewed a lot of the content I studied before actually
creating this class. There is so much of Hawaiian history...it's hard to know where
to start or what to focus on, which is one reason I really loved reading the

book Hawaii by James Michener. As I mentioned in my review of it, the book

offers an in-depth look at the History of Hawaii, explains how each group of
people came to Hawaii and how their specific culture aided in the development of
Hawaiian culture as a whole, shows the success and failures of different
leadership styles and paradigms through the lives of the characters, includes
personal, informal, and positional leadership examples, and shows the damaging
effects of imperialistic witnessing and leadership. It allows the reader to invest in
the culture by connecting to the characters, instead of reading a history text that
is impersonal and dry.
#5 I think it is so exciting that we get to be a part of the first class to experience
LDR-265 in Hawaii! This past class we spent the majority of the time talking
about taking shots and framing. I have never taken any sort of photography class
or videography so I thought it was so interesting. I never knew that the simple
placement of eyes and the direction of the face could communicate different
things. It's really cool to think about the simple ways that messages are
communicated without the use of words...something that is important for us to
think about when engaging in an unfamiliar culture.
#6 I really enjoyed the exercise we did in class where we had to act according to
certain rules for our assigned culture. It was a little bit difficult at first, because
the cultural practices of our group were not things I am used to. It was
interesting to see how the people we sent over to observe the other culture
interpreted the actions of the other group and vice versa. Although it was a
simple take away...it became obvious to me that I would know absolutely nothing
about the other group unless I went to observe for myself, or if another person
who observed was able to clearly communicate to me what it was like over there.
It was simultaneously exciting and scary realizing that we have the opportunity to
learn and participate in Hawaiian culture. However, no matter how much we
observe and participate, we will never be true natives. I wish that we could
spend a truly extended time studying the culture and land, but I am very excited
that we get to participate in a whole weeks worth of experiences. I have no doubt
there will be many challenges as well as fun experiences throughout our entire
time there.
#7 I'm very much a type-A person, I like to have things planned out and
everything in order. Leading up to this trip, I kept telling myself I would be able to
relax and enjoy Hawaii. As it turns out, I have 2 papers, a presentation, and a
10-hour ride along, a test, and a quiz right after we get back to school. I know
that God is going to use our time in Hawaii for His glory, and I was hoping I would
be able to just sit back and let him do that. I'm worried now that I will be so
stressed about everything due when I get back that I won't be able to focus on
our time there. I have always struggled with being present and not worrying
about the next step/the future. I guess this is something that you all can be
praying for me--that God will help me to stay focused on him and His presence
during our trip. I want to be present so I can experience Him during our trip.

#8 Writing this after having been back now for a couple weeks I am trying to think
back to what stood out to me the most from our Hawaii experience. I had one
main interaction with a local that stands out in my memory. He introduced
himself to me and Sara as "Prince" and was so eager to talk to us. He wanted to
introduce us to his "family" and told us about each of their talents and who they
were. I don't think any of the others would have approached us, but once he
introduced us to them they were very willing to come up to us and talk. Carrie
was a woman with them and she was very sweet. One guy started to play a
song for us. I wish that we could have had more time to just talk to the, but we
had to get back to the Ships base for something else. I was reminded of how
generosity can be so prevalent even when people have "nothing" by material
standards. It was very refreshing.
#9 Coming back from Hawaii, I really struggled. I was physically, mentally, and
emotionally exhausted for a number of reasons but every time someone would
ask me about Hawaii I was immediately reminded of all of the great experiences I
had. While in Hawaii, I struggled with a sadness that just weighed on my heart. I
didn't want to be in Hawaii--as in present-day, tourist, YWAM, Hawaii. I wanted to
be back in the early days, when Hawaii was not yet annexed by the U.S. before
the missionaries came, I wanted to experience that Hawaii. The raw, native,
pagan Hawaii that I read about so often in my research. There was so much
"preserved history" but I didn't want to just read about the city of refuge, I wanted
to be there to see the people actually residing there! It is a bit of a strange desire
to explain, but I simultaneously wanted to live there forever in the paradise of
beautiful nature and culture as well as leave and never come back because of
the lost culture that was once there but never will be again.
#10 So I was trying to decide how to write this final post. I began to think about a
theory we learn about in Criminal Justice, it is Locard's Exchange theorybasically when talking about evidence he says that anything that comes in
contact with something else will leave part of itself behind while receiving
something from that other object. You cannot come into contact with something
without there being an "exchange" of evidence so to speak. I was thinking about
this theory both in relation to Hawaii and how it impacted me as a person as well
as in regard to the people in this class. I was impacted on the trip by each and
every person on the trip, and I am sure I also had an impact on others (whether
good or bad) as we interacted throughout the week. I am so thankful that we
don't live in a world of isolation where no one is changed by interacting with
others. I know that I am changed because of this trip, and for that I am grateful!