Gratitude: October 2011

The first weekend of the month ended a 4-day visit of some friends here for homecoming weekend at UMM. One of them wanted to visit the dairy farm, so we checked out one of them outside south of town. I then took them to one of the group homes I worked at just to show them where I worked at. One was interested in the work I did.

That same weekend on Sunday, it was very nice out! A friend and I went to play tennis and then checked out the 1st of a 4 Sunday series of Spanish films. I'm very interested in films of this particular country because of my family's roots (great-grandparents in my father's side). This particular film ("Bitiful") had a sad ending, but it gave a great message about compassion for family in desperate times (nearing death) and it brought up a global issues of the treatment of "migrant workers". This was very relevant to my work I and others personally do here with the ESL classes I do at the local school.

The following day, I was able to spend some quality time with my housemate as he' a very studious guy. We were able to play golf (driving range) as we try to enjoy the "last warm" days of Fall.

The next day, it was a very close friend of mine's Birthday,so some other friends and I had a small party for him. My other friend made some pie dessert crust, the other bought pizza, and I made a cake as we watched t.v. and hungout (with a bonfire) at their place for most of Tuesday night.

The second weekend of the month I went to Fargo, North Dakota for almost 2 whole days. I was invited by a church connection there to help ushering, which turned out to be a great experience (see Dream Deja Vu Experience: Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota, from goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com)... ...

Impact World Tour Day #3 (Fargo, ND on Sun., Oct 9th 11') -Island Breeze-Hawaiian Performance Part 1




*this is just one 20+ videos I've uploaded "so far" on youtube

It was another nice Fall day on Tuesday (October 11th), which I had an "ideal" project at my work (raking leaves in 74 degree temps)! I took a 4-day weekend vacation during the 3rd weekend of the month to spend time with friends and family. I saw the movie "Soul Surfer"(see Xtreme Sports) at the local church I attend in St. Paul with my mom and sister on Friday. The following day, I went to hangout with my brother and his family with my sis & mom at a nearby mall. That same evening, I got a rental from Red Box and watched "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Green Mist" (3rd movie of the series by C.S. Lewis). It was a great movie about ways to "avoid" temptation (e.g. greed, selfishness, etc..).
The last day of the weekend, I went with my sister and her boyfriend to the Wabasha Street Caves (across the river from downtown St. Paul).

The 4th weekend I took advantage of the time staying in-town by working in my car. My confidence built from last month when I had a friend oversee my work in replacing my rotors and brake pads. This time, I replaced my own spark plugs (with another friend to oversee, which I haven't done since my first vehicle (mini van) back in college (with a college friend overseeing my work during a cold wintery day)!

My workplace took their once in a blue moon trip to Chanhassan Dinner Theater by Minneapolis on Wednesday of the last month. We haven't seen a show here since 2006 (saw "Singing the the Rain"). This year, we saw "Hair Spray", which had a great message about reconciliation amongst different race groups in Baltimore. It was a great performance and awesome bus trip to and from..

I was referred by several people in the community to "welcome" a new guy in town, who is all the way from Pakistan to work at a local place to do research. A good friend of mine was able to meet him first, which he introduced him to me by coming over to my house Thursday. We chatted a bit getting to know one another in my living room before heading out to the local gym to get some exercise (e.g. bench press, basketball, soccer, and racquetball). I'm looking forward to showing him around our small rural college town community, which is part of the groups (Stevens Forward) goal that I belong too!

I forgot (updated Dec. 8th 2011) to mention my Halloween (not many would agree) outreach, which I've been doing the past 4-5 years now. I read this article about what Christians can do during Halloween. Instead of turning the lights off to avoid participating in giving candy. I decided to give juice and gum (instead of just candy) with Bible verses. This year I had some friends from different countries, another friend, and I over at my house for Filpino food and a movie (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang..lol) and passed out these "treats" with Bible verses.

Gratitude: May 2011

It's getting close to the end of June as I write this, so I decided to do my May reflection now in this early cloudy Saturday morning. I begin my reflection of May with my last vacation days of my Antonio, Texas trip. The day after the wedding, I wanted to see more of this city. I went to a Filipino-American "majority" church close to my motel and was "ministered" to on "Your Words Will Dominate My Life, from Pastor Joe of Lord of the Harvest Church" (see notes)! I had the opportunity to "hang out" with my friend's (Bride) friends. The temperature dramatically got 40 degrees colder (97 TO 57) from the "day of the wedding"! It wasn't nothing to unusual as I've experience this similar many times back in Minnesota. While hanging out at the house, we would find out the "infamous" Osama Bin Landen is dead as he was "supposedly" (see other 9-11 theories!!) killed during a "U.S. attack". I continued my own way and ignored this news like many other "propoganda" news. We would later go to this "cool" place called "Orange Leaf", which was a "make-your-own" yogurt dessert place. My eyes were literally "bigger than my stomach" as I got more than I could eat!

I returned back to Morris with a great community gathering called "Cinco de Mayo"...

Cinco De Mayo Celebration (May 5th 2011) in Morris, MN from GoodnewsMorrisInfo on Vimeo.

It was awesome to see the progress our small rural college town community has made in building the relationships with this growing "Spanish-speaking" community of Stevens County. God has grown the passion in my heart since help starting ESL classes for them back in 2004 and answered my prayer on having others in the community "jump on board"!

This month was a time of doing a lot of landscape work (see slide-show pictography) in my backyard after that 3-month long project (e.g. Drain Pipes & Sump Pump) last Fall. I'm blessed to have a great "new" neighbor who borrowed me a tiller (for the 16 square yards of black dirt in my backyard)in "perfect-timing" before the many long streaks of precipitation later mid-may. I'm just thankful to God for having this blessing and don't want to forget to share this through "hosting friends" over to hangout. The on-going house projects overall can be tiring and draining (e.g. financially), but I need to keep remembering to ask God how I can use this to "bless" others!

My housemate (Anthony) had a very significant dream that I don't want to forget myself as I was in it. We both felt it was a "warning" message from God on using more discernment on how to make use of our time and not to have "others" we feel are helping-"eat away our resources" (e.g. time)!

After practicing my photography at my friend's wedding, I wanted to try the graduation at the local college I attended...



*click to see other photos

I'm also thankful to have another part-time job, which I was able to "pick-up" some extra hours this month. I saw it as "God's provision" to meet my financial needs from the debt I created through my recent "investment" of the camera I bought and my trip to my friend's wedding in Texas. After working at the group home (see physically challenged) since graduating back in 1999, I don't really see it as a job anymore. Building longtime relationships with the folks at the group home is like getting paid spending time with "family"!

Mid-May I got an unexpected email (via Facebook) from a friend's mother, who I would later found out I was randomly picked. My friend told me that he hasn't seen his mother since she left him since he was a kid. This is currently an on-going story, so I'll update you all with their permission.

During the third weekend, I went to the cities again (three times in a month-span). This time, I had a friend (housemate) with me as I drove Friday after work to pick a friend of his flying from Arizona. I would do my favorite "showing-off my former city" of St. Paul and then took him (like many tourist to Minnesota) to the Mall of America. It's been a spring stormy season, so we encountered some hail on our "scenic-route" way back to Morris...



...I'm just thankful that we can pray and ask the Lord for protection, which my housemate reminded me in this situation. The following day, Minneapolis got hit with a tornado and caused damage that they are still cleaning-up to this day. In perspective, it wasn't bad (deadly) as a town called Joplin in Missouri. May was a month of bad weather!