Hurley and Ben just left the Island for a couple of special tasks, so they've left me and Sheri temporarily in charge of the Island until they get back. It's the first time that Hurley and Ben have both been gone at the same time since Hurley became the Island's protector. Gosh, it's hard to believe it's been almost three years! And I think I'm the only person on the Island who still calls him Hurley, as opposed to Hugo. But my life has been going great ever since I decided to stay on the Island. Sheri and I got married after just three months on the Island (and Hurley officiated the wedding), and we spent an entire year after that building a nice cabin for ourselves in the jungle not too far from the Temple. We even managed to adopt a stray cat that we found in the jungle one day. The two of us have been leading a weekly Bible study group that includes Nancy, Mark, Zack and Emma. The Island population has been steadily growing. Cindy, Nancy and Mark managed to find three more of their people living on the Island shortly after they began searching. And every so often, Hurley or Ben would bring in a few people at a time from the outside world. They've brought a total of twelve new people to the Island in the last three years, each with special skills that benefit our community as much as the Island fulfills their lives. Oh, and I'm way more physically fit now than I've ever been in my entire life!

But anyway, one of the things that Ben is doing off the Island right now is shutting down the Dharma facility that's been dropping food supplies on the Island at periodic intervals. Apparently there are workers there who have no clue where they're even sending the supplies or why they're doing it, and since we've now learned how to be completely self-sustaining here, there's no reason to make those workers keep packing and shipping supplies to a mysterious destination. The other thing that Hurley and Ben left to do is to bring another person to the Island, but they haven't told us who it is. Whoever it is, this person must be really special if both Hurley and Ben are leaving the Island to go get him.

Anyway, Sheri just brought the laundry in and reminded me that it's time to go check the rabbit traps. This is far from the type of life I would've wanted to live three years ago, but I'm really grateful to be here now. In so many ways, the Island has made me a much better person than I ever would've been otherwise.

Last night, Hurley and Ben gathered us together inside the Temple (which it turns out is inside that huge ancient wall that we came across last week), and Ben told us that Hurley has basically accepted the role of protector of the island, and that Ben would be assisting him. He said that those of us who wanted to stay could continue living as a community just as these people were before, but that we could pretty much govern ourselves, and that for those who wanted to leave the island, Ben would lead them to a place that he thinks would provide a way home. It was not an easy decision at all for me to make, and I didn't even decide until this morning whether I wanted to stay or leave. But now that I've made my decision, I'm very confident that I've made the right one. As much as I may miss the luxuries and technology in the real world, I know that I can make much more of a difference in people's lives on the island, so I definitely sense that God wants me to stay. In fact, right after Ben's speech last night, Nancy approached me and told me that while I was praying the sinner's prayer on the mesa yesterday, she silently asked Jesus Christ into her heart! She basically wanted to know what that means for her life now. Mark overheard us talking and came over and said that he didn't exactly make any commitments but had some questions about my faith. Both of them said they would stay on the island if I stayed and helped them find answers to their questions.

Desmond has been doing better since he woke up this morning, and he's anxious to get back home to his wife and son. Jim and Eli have decided that they've lived on this island long enough and would like to take a chance at life back in the real world. Zack and Emma practically grew up on the island, so they would much rather stay, and Cindy has been taking care of them like their mother and plans to continue doing so. Sean definitely still wants to leave to finish up his college degree, but he promised me that he'll find a church to attend once he gets home. The person whose decision surprised me the most was Sheri. I thought for sure that she would leave with her brother, but after talking with me this morning and hearing about my decision to stay and teach these people about Christianity, Sheri decided she wants to stay and help me with that! I wasn't expecting that at all, but if that's what she wants to do, then I certainly won't object!

Right now, Sheri, Zack, Emma and I are the only ones in the Temple. After some sad goodbyes, Desmond, Sean, Jim and Eli followed Hurley and Ben to whatever mechanism is supposed to get them off the island. Cindy, Nancy and Mark decided to start the long process of searching this big island for more of their people that may still be alive. I'll probably help them with that in the coming days, but for the rest of today, they've left me and Sheri to look after the kids.

It's pretty weird to think that this long and crazy journey started when the plane that I just happened to be flying home from Australia crashed on this island, but I'm now convinced that it was way more than just a coincidence. There's no telling exactly what's in store for me as I settle into my new life on this island, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

We were on our way back to my old beach camp, when we ran into Hurley, Ben, and, to my surprise, Desmond, who looked like he was in pretty bad shape, barely conscious and being supported by both Hurley and Ben. Apparently, Desmond came back to the island on Widmore's sub. But anyway, Hurley told me about a lot of really rough things that he experienced over the last few days. He said that Jack, Sayid, Jin and Sun are all dead! Sayid, Jin and Sun died while they were all trying to escape the island on Widmore's sub and a bomb planted by Fake Locke exploded. Jack supposedly died a few hours ago while saving the island -- something about Locke using Desmond to turn off a "light" at the center of the island to try to destroy it, and then Jack having to turn it back on. I don't know, that part was really confusing the way Hurley explained it, but he said that was what all the intense island shaking was all about. But Jack apparently fixed the problem, and he also killed Fake Locke, which is good to know. I also asked Hurley if he knew who was on the Ajira plane that flew off the island, and he wasn't entirely sure, but he knew that Sawyer and Kate were trying to reach it, and Claire might've already been there. Sheri asked about Widmore, and Ben said that he shot Widmore when he came into his house yesterday. Sheri and Sean were both relieved to hear that and thanked Ben for avenging their father's death. (For some reason, Ben seemed a little uncomfortable, but he simply said, "You're welcome.")

Anyway, when we told Hurley and Ben that we were headed toward the beach camp, they said they had just come from there, and that entire portion of the beach was gone, much like the Others' beach camp. And since Ben didn't think the Dharma houses were built to withstand the kind of seismic activity the island experienced today, he suggested we go to a place called the Temple, and Cindy and the rest of the Others knew what that was, so we're all headed there now. The plan is to settle there for tonight, allow Desmond to recover, and then use everyone's collective knowledge to figure out a way to get Desmond home, along with anyone else who wants to leave the island. I guess that would include Sheri and Sean, but I'm still on the fence about leaving. I'd first like to see how many out of the 13 of us decide to stay.

Well, if there was no other reason why God brought me to this island, I'd say it was to lead Sean and a few of these other people to the Lord just now! And all I really had to do was to quickly answer Sean's question and explain that the way to get to heaven is to believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and to accept him into your heart. I doubt that would've been nearly as convincing if the island wasn't falling apart and these people didn't think they were about to die! But I led Sean in the sinner's prayer and welcomed the rest to join us, and then Emma came and sat next to us, and Zack followed her, and the rest just kind of gathered around while I prayed. I have no idea how many of them actually accepted Christ, but that's not my job to know; I know my job is to just pass on the message, and I feel great just knowing that at least one of them accepted. And Sheri seemed to really appreciate it.

The funny thing is, it stopped raining as soon as I was done praying! But the island still continued to shake violently for a while. Actually... you know, I just realized, we haven't felt any tremors in the last several minutes. Maybe they've stopped! I think it might be worthwhile to go see if there's anything left of my old beach camp, since that's not too far from here, and we know for sure that these guys' camp is completely obliterated. Wait... what's that noise?

Oh, woah, the Ajira plane just flew over us! It looked like it had just taken off. We just watched it fly away from the island and disappear into the clouds. I didn't even think that plane was still capable of flying! I have no idea who would've been on it, but obviously somebody just left the island. Too bad we didn't know about it; there would've been more than enough room on that plane for all of us!

Anyway, I guess we're about to head back to my camp.

What the heck is going on with the island?!? There's been a series of massive crazy tremors shaking up the whole island for the past hour or so... like, bigger than any earthquakes in recorded history! And believe me, I grew up in California; I know what earthquakes feel like, and these are not your average earthquakes! And whatever they are, they're causing huge chunks of the island to break off and sink into the sea! The ten of us had to evacuate our camp on the beach because the beach was breaking apart! At Cindy's suggestion, we headed for the mesa, in order to be safe from any trees or man-made structures falling on us, and that's where we are now while we wait this thing out... while it also happens to be pouring rain, harder than I've ever seen on this island! But I have no idea if these tremors are going to stop, or if something seriously catastrophic is happening to the island. All of us are pretty scared right now.

Well, at least we're no longer alone. After walking along the beach for a few hours, we came across that same camp full of white tents that I first encountered during those time flashes, only this time, there were some people at the camp. They were part of that group of Others who were following Fake Locke the other day. And what's even more interesting is that all seven of these people were originally on Oceanic Flight 815! They were in the tail section and had spent the first two weeks on the beach until they were taken by the Others, and they were eventually convinced to become permanent members of their community. One of them, in fact, a woman named Cindy, was a flight attendant on the plane, and she actually remembered me. And that explains why she looked familiar the other day! The other people among this group include two kids named Zack and Emma, a woman named Nancy, and three men named Jim, Eli, and Mark. Two days ago, they were all getting ready to head over to the other island (which they call Hydra Island) with Locke, when their group was hit by a missile that exploded on the beach, killing some of them and wounding others. They don't know what happened to Locke, but the rest of them who survived basically scattered into the jungle. These seven stuck together and decided to come here, since they'd lived here before, and they arrived yesterday afternoon.

So after Sheri, Sean and I told these people our story, they let us join their camp, since there are way more tents than there are us. Unfortunately, none of them know of a way off the island. Every way that they know of has either long been destroyed or taken to the other island. That doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a way, just that it's easier to settle here for now. But for Sheri and Sean's sake, I'd still like to try to find a way to leave. We've agreed to stay here for a day so that these people can wait to see if any other Others show up, and then they'll help us look for a boat or something we can use to leave.

One other interesting thing is something that Cindy told me just a few minutes ago. When her group arrived here yesterday, the little boy, Zack, apparently peeked inside one of the tents and found a man sleeping inside. When he told Cindy about it, she went and looked inside the tent, and there was no one there. She assumed Zack was just imagining it. Then after I showed up today, Zack approached Cindy and told her that I was the man he'd seen sleeping in that tent! Cindy still didn't believe it, until she came and told me about it, and I realized the little boy might've been right! I remember taking a nap inside one of those tents, and a time flash woke me up! He must've seen me right before that happened. Weird! This makes me wonder if there were any other of our people time-travelling on the island yesterday.

I had kind of a long talk with Sheri this morning, trying to figure out what we should do next. Clearly, Sean doesn't belong on this island -- he obviously doesn't want to be here, and he's supposed to start a new semester of college in less than two weeks. And since I don't even know if there's anybody else left on this island besides us, there's not much point in me being here, either. So we agreed that we should look for a way off the island... some kind of boat or plane or mysterious anomaly or whatever. The problem is, I don't even know where to look at this point, so I don't have much hope of actually finding such a way off, but we've agreed that it's worth at least trying. If anything, it'll give us a chance to explore the island further to see if we can find anything else that might be useful. We plan to start by walking along the beach in the opposite direction from where we walked from this camp last week.

Sheri also told me a little bit about her religious background. She was curious about mine after she heard me quote the Bible to Sean yesterday, so I told her about how I started attending church when I was in high school and committed my life to Jesus Christ just before my senior year but then sort of fell away earlier this year... or, I guess, three years ago, from Sheri's perspective... whenever 2004 was now... but then got more serious about my Christian walk while I was on the island. It turns out that Sheri was raised in a Christian home, but she's at about the same place where I was spiritually before I came to the island, only she's been there for several years now. But she said that after everything she's experienced over the last two weeks -- learning about her father's death and being in situations beyond her control, and also from talking to me -- she's now more interested in rebuilding her relationship with God, which I think is really cool. Perhaps this is why we were both brought to the island. Anyway, I guess we should begin our trek along the beach soon.

Well, we're definitely not going back to Widmore's island anytime soon. When we got back to the beach, we found that both of the outrigger canoes were gone. I guess Widmore's men just wanted to make sure that we don't return to that island. Sean was pretty upset by it, because his only reason for putting up with this island with his sister and me for the last several days was the hope of getting revenge for their father's death, and he basically threw a temper tantrum on the beach for several minutes. At Sheri's suggestion, we just sat back and let him calm down on his own. After he finally ran out of energy and sat down on the wet sand, I decided to go sit next to him and, after letting him know that I was sorry for what happened to his father, I reminded him that Mr. Widmore is a very powerful man and that Sean and Sheri's father isn't the only one whose death has resulted from Widmore's actions. I suggested that I still have hope that Widmore will be brought to justice, but that the present circumstances may just mean that it's not up to us to make that happen. I even shared a Bible verse that I just happened to come across the other day when I was flipping through it -- Deuteronomy 32:35, where God says, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them." Sean appreciated me sharing that, but he wasn't sure he believed it, nor did he press any further when I told him I believe that the Bible is God's Word, but I told him I'd be available if he wanted to talk, and I left him alone.

At this point, I'm not really sure what we should do next. As far as I know, we're now stuck on this island, which means we need to start thinking about making a long-term home for ourselves. What I do know is that the three of us are way too exhausted, physically and mentally, to do anything else right now, so since we're already at the beach camp, we've decided to stay here for now, get some rest, and start figuring things out tomorrow.

As I'd expected, our encounter with Widmore didn't go so well. We barely escaped with our lives! As we approached one of the buildings, we saw one of Widmore's men alone, so Sheri demanded to speak to Widmore, but then at least four more guys with guns came out of nowhere and surrounded us. Widmore then came out of the building and asked who we were, and then Sean immediately accused him of killing their father. Widmore said, "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about, but I don't have time for this," and he ordered his guards to throw us in some cages, since we were obviously a threat to him, thanks to Sean and his big mouth. (From the orders that Widmore was giving his people, it sounded like he was in the middle of some kind of crisis, something about finding some escaped prisoners or something.) But luckily, thanks to Sheri and her quick reactions, she managed to grab one of their guns before they could lock us up, which allowed us to escape long enough to run back to our canoe and paddle away from that island.

Unfortunately, four of those guys got in the other canoe and kept following us! Since I knew that they'd probably find us if we tried hiding inside those Dharmaville houses, I decided to paddle the canoe back to our old beach camp instead, since I remembered an excellent hiding place about half a mile inland from there. It's a hole in the ground under a small rock formation, in the middle of a thick corn field, totally hidden from view unless you know to look for it. I'd discovered it by accident while I was wandering around the island during the time flashes. I remember thinking that it would've come in handy during the flaming arrow attack if I'd known about it. But anyway, that's where we've been hiding for the last 30 minutes or so, and it sounded like those men spent some time looking for us in the corn field and then gave up and left several minutes ago, but we're waiting here a while longer just to be safe.

The three of us have remained quiet ever since, but I hope that Sheri and Sean are now convinced that trying to confront Widmore is a bad idea.

All three of us slept a bit longer than we'd intended, which I guess we should've expected when there are no working alarm clocks in those houses, and even though it was still dark when we left the main island, it was already starting to get light when we reached the smaller island. Luckily, there was nobody on the beach when we arrived. There's another outrigger canoe on the sand near where we parked ours, and apparently someone has used it recently, because I found an Ajira water bottle inside. But anyway, now were proceeding to cautiously search the island for Widmore or any of his people (or ours).