February 2014

I started the month by driving to St. Cloud to see my 9 yr-old niece (Alyssa) compete at a gymnastics tournament. I brought a cheering section with me from Morris to join with her favorite fans (family). She won a position (3rd) medal too in the individual floor competition! It was a blessing to hangout with family (bro and his family) and friends (housemates and another UMM college student from Japan).

The following day (Groundhog Day) was the Super Bowl, which some friends (Ed & Aisanne) invited my housemates and I over for a party. I stayed for only for the first half and half-time show (Bruno Mars!)as I had to do some other stuff at home and jump start (one of many times during this cold-winter season) my other housemate's (Jin's) vehicle.

On Monday morning during my overnight shift, I had some dispute with a particular individual. It started to get "unfriendly", but I kept praying for this individual despite my anger was building-up. I'm glad I've been asking God for patience, peace, etc.. (fruits of the spirit) over the years since I became a Christian. It paid off several days later...see story-> How to Overcome Offense (through forgiveness) .

The following day (4th), I went to Jane Adams with my housemate (Rai). During the 2nd weekend of the month, I went to visit family in the cities to celebrate my younger brother's be-lated birthday. We went to a Japanese-Chinese "buffet" restaurant in West St. Paul. I got my food "freshly" cooked (see shrimp-seafood imitation crab noodle dish) , which I've started to do this instead of going through the buffet lines. While I was in the cities, I took advantage of the automotive services, like getting an oil change at Firestone (great discount with coupon from the back of the receipt of Cub Foods).

I got a discount card (50% off) from my workplace for Pizza Ranch, so I treated (Buffalo Chicken) my housemates on Thursday (13th) with a large pizza there. The following day (Valentines Day, I celebrated a friend's (Ed) birthday with some friends by going bowling at Crystal Lanes.

During the 3rd weekend (February 15th), I walked two blocks with my housemates to Dairy Queen's annual "50% off everything Customer Appreciation" sale for lunch. Then I went back with the same housemate and joined another friend (Chris) for supper later (to avoid the "meal rush hour") in the evening and got two different sandwiches (e.g. fish & Chicken). On Sunday, a friend (Ed) and I played some football indoors. I made a youtube video of Ed making the "Longest Football Throw into Basketball Hoop..in Morris (as we know of yet.).... ".

Temperatures were the warmest (mid 30's) in months on President's Day (Monday, February 17th), so I took advantage of this time to continue my car project (replacing new headlight covers-just did my right-passenger side). It started to get cooler, so I went inside and cleaned more of my attic (going through all my totes of ESL stuff). On Wednesday (19th), my housemate (Yuu from Japan) joined me in my weekly ESL-GED classes, which we a great conversation with a couple of students (Cambodian and Ukrainian). The "nice" warmer weather lasted only several days, which was a nice break during this "long" colder than average winter season. We ended up having a blizzard on Thursday (20th), which wasn't too bad as we had only a 1-hour late start the next day.

On Saturday (22nd), I had a family (Michael, Kerri, and son) from my local church over to hangout with my housemate (Rai) and I for lunch (e.g. Willies' Jo Jo's). We shared videos (e.g. Germany) from youtube as our educational and fun entertainment. The following day, we had our annual guest speaker (Jim M. from City Hill in Eden Prairie) come from the Twin Cities to encourage us. He actually brought a challenging "reminder" message on "Who is your #1 passion?...Jesus? We (muah) get so busy in life that we fill our time with all these "things to do" and forget our Creator. This challenged me to analyze where and how I put my time each day.

I ended the shortest month of the year with the annual fish fry (with Yuu, Ed, and Aisanne) during the start of "Lent Season", which I'm currently challenging myself to "fast (eating healthier, prioritizing my time that's more "purposeful", and sustain from certain foods also to improve my eye sight for next month's eye exam for my every two year bus driver license certification) and pray" during the 40 days to seek my "Heavenly Father's heart" more (e.g. David in Psalms).

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..).

Gratitude: March 2011

This month is my birthday, so I would like to start of by saying I'm grateful for another year of life. Life is so precious and with all the "challenges" we see in the world right now, I'm just thankful for the life God has given me no matter the circumstances I'm challenged presently or in the future. My month started with some good "getting to know" more of my friends. I had some good times where friends opened-up (e.g. email, meeting at the local coffee shop, etc..) more about their life, which it has taken years as friends. I'm thankful for the friends God has put in my life as they have spoken words of encouragement to me.

I was also encouraged to keep doing what I'm doing (writing my on-going life story through websites like these to inspire or encourage others that may benefit from your life experiences) through an inspirational movie (e.g. Antwone Fisher-see Life: Adoption) and a visiting speaker during a post-movie discussion (see Native American)during the local campus's annual event (World Touch Cultural Heritage Week)in the last week of the month. Basically, we all got a story to share and it goes to waste if we don't tell about it...

"We need to learn from history to prevent it from repeating itself"

In order to know where we are going, we need to learn our past. Some people don't go far enough (e.g. family genealogy or family tree) in the past as they stop there. How far in history can you go? (see Creation story)

I also enjoyed the "nearing" Spring-like weather some days of the month despite the first day of Spring started the 20th of March. I had the opportunity to ride my bike, which I'm going to try to do more as it reached it's highest ever for a long-time today (Tuesday, April 5th 2011) at $3.63/gallon!! Crazy, huh? We need to find ways to conserve gas (e.g. walking or riding a bike-great health benefit too with all this exercise).

I can't leave sports out of this too as it was the month of "March Madness"! It was more basketball as a nearby local town (see Stevens County) h.s. girls basketball team went to the big State Tournament. They actually beat a #1 team in the first round, which was very exciting for my workplace. Several of my co-workers are from Hancock, so we followed (via radio at work for 2-days) their local team very closely during the end of the 3rd week. Unfortunately, the lost the 2nd round, which a win would've been a great birthday bonus. I'm very blessed with great co-workers as they gave me a great celebration (e.g. pies, cake, etc..) and I ended up bringing the pies back to the cities to share with family. My family blessed me with a lunch outing at Red Lobster-great seafood!

That same weekend I was in the cities was the annual "Philippine Day" (see GoodnewsMinnesota.info- Minnesota Filipino Community)..

24th Annual Philippine Day St. Paul, MN-Part 1 (March 20th 2011)



Other highlights included one "Snow Day" (saw the 2nd of the "Bourne Identity" trilogy series, which I would watch with a good friend the 3rd part later in the week -see Issues: "Low" Self-Esteem, -Image, -"ish", etc... as I wrote about finding one's own "identity" in life) of the month, which happened 3 days after the "first-official" day of Spring. Went to a couple of "fish fry" with Lent season as I did some fasting once a week during the month and will continue till Easter as I "try" to seek my Heavenly Father's "calling" in this season of my life. I went to an event to learn more about Judaism, a foundation of my Christian faith! I then had my faith built more during a local radio (see Music-Hymns, Praise, Worship, etc...) banquet I was invited (along with a couple of co-workers, friend, and others in the Praise FM listening area) to as faithful sponsor for many years. Lastly, I had a great time with several new students (from Brazil) of my weekly GED-ESL classes the last week as I showed them the "new" town!

During the state girls basketball tournament, there was an unfortunate deadly earthquake in Japan. Currently, as I write this today (Tuesday, April 5th 2011), they are still battling the radiation leak of their nuclear power plants (see Science: Chemistry). Please keep these folks in Japan and their national catastrophe in prayer!