May 2015

I started the new month by heading out of town to St. Paul for my once a month visit. It took me awhile to get out of work (long story)..;)...I'm just thankful to get to the cities from Morris and back safely and sound each time. I decided to go to the cities this particular weekend because of the events going on. The first one was going to the annual "Festival of Nations" at St. Paul's River Center, which I brought my mom, niece, and nephew this year. I've appreciated the diverse cultures more and more after living in Morris each time...

It was such a beautiful sunny day too, which it was hard to be inside for 2 hours. We enjoyed walking to and from our car to this venue, which I took some great scenic pics along the way if you click on the photo above.

Then, I went to the UofM-TC campus for this birthday celebration of a former UMM faculty member. It was somewhat a UMM reunion too, which it was a blessing to see many familiar faces from different years I've been in Morris as a student and after..

I then had to leave early so I can attend the "BIG fight" that my younger bro was hosting at his family's house Saturday evening. I played some "night" basketball with some kids out in the back driveway to "kill some time" before the main event. It's always fun playing with the kids of my "other family"..

Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather 2015: Scorecard, Live Round By Round Coverage Of Fight

more.... Good News Sports

I worked out on Monday (4th) and felt great as I benched 185 lbs, which I haven't done this since my college days! However, the bar is "attached" to the machine, so it might not be as heavy as a "free weight" bench. On Thursday (7th), it was the annual "National Day of Prayer", which is always a blessing to join other churches in the Morris community. The next day, I continued this digging project, which I started earlier this Tuesday. I've been asked to do some digging projects by a particular friend after seeing my "solo digging project" I did around my house (front and back). It's a great side-job and workout!

On Saturday (9th), it was a beautiful sunny day and warm enough (not as windy as past years) for the UMM Graduation to be held outdoors on the Campus Mall...

It was great to see some friends graduate-including my housemate (Jin) from South Korea.

I wasn't able to be home for "Mother's Day" (Sunday 10th), but I made it up by celebrating the weekend before by buying pizza (Dominoes) online for my parents. It's always a good time to reflect how we are thankful for our mothers and to show that appreciation with this significant "holiday". However, we need to do this daily!

On Tuesday (12th), it was our last day of the "season" to go swimming with my workplace. This is one of the best parts of my job! :)

We had a huge "downpour" on Saturday (16th), which caused some minor flooding around town. However, not as bad as some past years. It was "somewhat" better than the tornados (southwest in Swift County) that touched down "not too far" from Morris. I'm just thankful for the big projects I did around my basement to prevent water "overflow". I remember, I would have a "lake" in my backyard, but all the landscaping I did paid off!

On Sunday (17th), it was a fun day at church and after as I was part of the worship team, which I enjoy doing! I then joined some friends (Matt, Nina, and Tony) at the Ranch House for their "noon buffet" (both breakfast and lunch)! It was the young couple's first time there as I wanted to treat them as they were moving and they both graduated, and it was a blessing to be in the worship team with both of them the past year and a half. I then played a short game of tennis with Matt at the Green River tennis courts, but we played like less than 30 minutes or so due to another wave of thunderstorms. I even started seeing lightning in a distance, so we quit before it started pouring.

On Tuesday (19th), I did close to 3 hours of yardwork, which Spring is a busy time of the year -especially with our frequent rain lately. It keeps the grass growing, which one has to mow their yard at least once a week for awhile.

I attended the annual "Women of Today" Prom Dance on Thursday 21st, which a lot of people from my workplace loves to go each year. I too myself as I love dancing. The next day, I helped my pastor (Pat) and his wife move to their "new" house and then I had to leave early to attend a school program my student (G.E.D.) invited me to her church/school that she teaches at. It was a pretty cool experience as I never went to a "Mennonite Church".

On Saturday (23rd), I started a "gutter" project, which was my first time to do for someone else. I've done a small one for my garage, but not for a house. It built my confidence to do more future similar house projects. The following day, I went to Don's Café with a couple of friends from church. It was packed, so it took a "little" longer to get our lunch (waited an hour or so). It was a great fellowship time! It was Memorial Weekend, so I had the next day off. I took advantage of this day to catch-up on "house projects". I even scanned some "old pics" from a photo album I found in my sister's room when I last visited family in St. Paul.

On the 27th (Wednesday), I had a surprise guest as I was about to head out to go for run at the UMM track as part of my long distance running exercise (cardio). I was running late as I was working on my "house refinancing" via online. I was somewhat frustrated it was taking long, but realize it was for something as my neighbor introduced me to a guy that wanted to come see my house. He was the first owner of my house and whose family build this house. I gave him (along with his daughter and daughter's husband-Severson) a tour of his "old" house (built in the 50's), which he gave a brief history (e.g the carpet in my attic was the same one when he lived there..lol).

The last weekend of the month was another "productive" one. I helped a friend (Paul) moved some furniture on a sporadic "last minute" call. Then I returned home doing some interesting research on mental illness, which has been "opening" my eyes on the controversy of "prescription medication" and the whole diagnosing. For the last day of the month, I continued more of my biking challenge as I'm trying to get as many miles before the summer ends. I end up riding my bike to the West Central Research Outreach Center, which I saw a deer unexpectedly. I have a video of it too, which I'll be uploading hopefully soon as time permits.

December 2013

I started the last month of 2013 with my mom making pancakes during my "Thanksgiving Weekend" visit "home" (St. Paul) with my housemate (Yuu from Japan). Before heading back to Morris, I went to visit my sister and her boyfriend. My niece (Alysa) had a gymnastics competition in the Highland neighborhood in St. Paul, but wasn't able to make it :(. It was a good "holiday" visit overall! On the 3rd (Tuesday), I attended the "last" Jane Adams gathering for the Fall of 2013. The following day (4th-Wednesday), my workplace (DAC) closed 1 hour earlier due to the winter storm (2-4"??). To keep warm during the winter, one of my favorite "physical workout" activities is playing racquetball! Due to cold wind chills (30 below Farenheit), my route to take clients to and from Benson was cancelled. After work (full-time job), I went out with my housemates (Kazu & Yuu) to go grocery shopping. Wind chills were still high (35-45 below), but I rode my bike 3-4 blocks to Bella Cucina to help celebrate my friend's (former ESL student, from Kyrgyzstan). I just came for dessert (Nacho Ice Cream? and had an appetizer.

On Sunday (8th), my local church was invited to join another family of Christ at Hossana Worship Center for a healing service. It was just another faith builder in my "daily growing walk" with my Heavenly Father as it taught me to seek my potential gifts through Him! See stories-> (Hossana Worship Center Healing Service with Paul Rapley, please feel free contact me to add you to my list to view or Good News Thankful).

I attended my weekly (Wednesdays @7-8am) "bible-study fellowship", which Neil & Ruth shared about the importance of applying the "spiritual gifts" (e.g. word of knowledge) daily to "encourage" others. ON Friday (13th), I used my "vacation" (day-off) time before the year ends, so I took advantage of this with "catching-up" on many errands (house cleaning) and multi-media projects. Later in the evening, I attended my housemate (Yuu's)'s end-of-the-semester "University Choir Concert. The following day, I went to do my every other month (or so) visit of a friend at Moose Lake Prison. I meant to go much earlier, but the schedule for my friend's father didn't work out and "worse" weather the weekend before. However, the weather wasn't as good too. Despite the less than 1" inch of snow falling between Moose Lake and Mora, it was still challenging to drive. Just driving slowly and carefully (using 2 hands on the wheel) was key!

On Sunday, December 15th, my local church had their annual "Family Christmas Program Service". It's a time for folks to "show-off" their God given talents to bless the rest of the church family. I then had to leave early to get ready for my job's annual trip to Willmar for the "Christmas Fundraiser Play-"The Voice" at the Assemby of God church there. I would take a picture of their Nativity set to be used as my personal Christmas Card.

Due to the past cold days, my housemate's (Jin) car needed a jump start (see miracle story)! Our 1st time was unsuccessful, but the 2nd time (after meeting with a friend at DQ about our weekly ESL Classes)-we got it, thankful to God! The following day, we had our weekly ESL/GED classes, which we had a new student (Rai from Pakistan), who will be here for 6 months or so (till April)-like his many predecessors (other USDA Soils Lab Ph.D seeking college graduates).

I didn't go to work 2 1/2 hours later the next day as I had some hours left of "vacation" time to use up before the end of the year. I ended-up working on some Christmas pictures that I plan to share with my co-workers, which many do holiday greetings cards to share amongst my workplace....

It was pretty much an easy day at work as I "worked" for 2 1/2 hours before our annual "DAC Christmas Party", which we exchanged gifts. It was fun and blessed for the many gifts. On Friday (20th), I invited my future housemate (Rai) to hangout, which we (Yuu along) watched "Hunger Games (1st)". It was my second time watching this since my 17-hour plane trip from the Philippines back in November 25th 2012.

It was the "first" official day of Winter on the 21st, but it feels like it started earlier this month. In fact, it feels like January-February with the recent "frigid" temps. To keep warm, my housemates (Yuu and Rai) and I played a game of Racqueball) on Saturday afternoon.

I got a 1 1/2+ week vacation from my full-time job, so I took advantage of this break to "catch-up" on my multi-media projects. I had to work my part-time job (group home overnight) during my 1 1/2 + week break (from ft-job), but it was a "financial blessing" with the holiday season. I biked a lot to work (just less than a mile according to my odometer when I measured it one day) during the night (for my 11p-7am shift) as I didn't want to bother starting my car for 5 minutes or longer with the cold. It was great exercise!

On Christmas Day (25th), my housemates got together to celebrate our housemate (Kazu)'s going away back "home" (Japan). We had a potluck first at our house before going bowling-my first time to do this on Christmas! I was scheduled to take Kazu with me to the Twin Cities the following day, but he was waiting for a package (economics book-> see college student discounts). It was being delivered late due to the crazy winter we've had all over the nation. He finally got the book the following day (Friday) just minutes after our scheduled time we hope to leave no matter if the book came...thank God!.

We (Kazu & I) left around 1ish on Friday for the Twin Cities after our "tearful goodbyes" to our other housemates. It was a beautiful day (30's), which we couldn't pick a better day to travel 3 hours to the Twin Cities. Kazu had the hunger for Korean food, so we went to a restaurant on Snelling in St. Paul. It was a great snack (late lunch) before heading to my parents' place. Kazu went to "hangout" with his other college friends during his 4-day weekend in the Twin Cities before leaving to Japan on Monday (December 30th). I was fortunate to stay in the cities for 4 days as a co-worker and I traded shifts together-another answer to prayer (God's provision)! Earlier, I was somewhat frustrated that I had to stay "longer" in Morris after Christmas, but it worked out with this shift change. Plus, it was somewhat "better" weather on Monday (warmer, but slicky with 1" snowfall in Twin Cities). I'm just grateful that I was able to get out of the Twin Cities before it got worse (300 car accidents according to the news when I got home). While Kazu spent most of the time with his friends, I was able to spend quality family time as a "late Christmas" get-together. I took Kazu and my nephew to the batting cages on Rice Street before doing a "last minute" video project for Kazu's friend (Ace-> Oromo Community of Minnesota 2014 Agenda). We then went to one (eggrolls on University Ave & Dale St.) of two more (spring rolls in Duc Restaurant in Woodbury) Vietnamese restaurants the next two days. On Sunday (December 29th), I took Kazu to Mall of America to get some "Minnesota memorabilia" for family-friends back at home. We when went to downtown Minneapolis to visit the Original Baseball Museum (across where the Vikings were playing the Lions in their "last game" ever!). It was very cold this day, which I can't imagine what it'll be like the next two years for the Vikings outdoors (TCF Stadium)!

For New Year's Eve, I took my housemates (Yuu and Rai) to a family's house (local church family that lives outside of town) that invited the rest of the Morris Community Church family to ring-in the New Year! I was a little hesitant about going with the cold weather (below zero) , but we (housemates and I) were tired of being indoors most of the weekend. I'm glad we went as we had a good time (eating, fellowship, playing pool, etc..).