March 2016

I started the month by accepting an invitation to check out the local Jehovah Witness service, which was actually "better" and "more interesting" than I expected. I still believe their philosophy (see notes) isn't "Christ" focus, but marveled about their presentation.

I felt led writing a "death" metal song that needed some drums, so I recorded various drum beats and spliced some of it this song I wrote..

Music: New Song-“Heal the Pain” (of my past)

On Monday (7th), I had my every other year physical exam, which I made my appointment before my bus license was about to expire. Well, I unfortunately didn't pass the "eye exam" part, which my personal doctor scheduled a last minute appointment to get an eye exam the next day. He was worried about my license about to expire soon. I learned not to do my physical exam to close to the expiration day next time. Well, I was worried and continued to fast more so I can improve my eye sight within 12 hours. I prayed and ask friends to pray while I researched online on what foods (e.g. high carbs or processed sugars->cereal, which I didn't eat and would later decrease my buying of this breakfast food) affect bad eye sight. Thank God for answering this prayer and concern, which my eye sight actually "improved" (went from 20/50 to 20/30!). Thus, I passed my eye exam the following morning.

After my physical exam on Monday, I rode my bike home quickly as my younger brother was making a stop-visit before going further northwest to Fargo. We ended-up going to Mi-Mexico..

It was Marcelo's first visit to Morris since he graduated back in 2001. The next day, one of my ESL students from China invited me and a friend of hers for supper. I didn't realize it was her birthday until that day, so I gave her a "last-minute" b-day card. She cooked some great authentic Chinese food and others!

I went to the cities on my birthday (18th) to spend time with family-friends during my monthly weekend visit. I would visit a high school buddy (Sean) as he hosted a birthday celebration part at his "crib". It was good to see "old" former high school friends there too. The next day, I attended the annual "Philippine Day" celebration, which was held at a new venue (Aldrich Arena) in Maplewood. It was great time hanging out with the family.

I was blessed by a "gift" on March 22nd (after my birthday) by a "resident" of Morris showing her appreciation of what I've been doing in the community. I'll just say, it was definitely a provision from God and I thank Him for it. Just like the story last month of reaping what one sows. :) So-called "Easter" weekend came early this year (last weekend of the month), but learned the actual Passover-Resurrection weekend is in April. I took advantage of the "holiday" (Monday 28th) by working on my photo-video project for Gary and went outside to play tennis to enjoy the "Spring" weather.

January 2016

I started the "new year" at my parents' home after watching Sound of Music at the Ordway Theatre with family the night before. My mom would watch the Rose Bowl parade with me as we relaxed at home. The next day, I went with my brother and his family to watch Alysa's gymnastics performance at Farmington, Minnesota. It was a good 30+ minute drive through suburbs like Inver Grove Heights, etc.. She has really gone better since she started in various areas of the sport! I had to get back to Morris the following day, which was a nice drive back from the Cities.

It was our 1st day back at work on Monday (4th) and it was good to catch up with co-workers and friends on what we did during our long 1 1/2 week vacation. I had my ESL-GED classes on Wednesday (6th), but no ESL students. We just had G.E.D. students for the next 3 weeks.

On Monday (18th), we had MLK Holiday off from my ft-job (2nd year in a row!), which I would go to the annual Community Meal at Faith Lutheran Church after a workout at the RFC. The day started cold and it got a "little" warmer, so it was nice to be out and about. I spent most of the day catching-up on my current video project (St. Mary's Christmas Program from last month).

We had our first ESL student on the 20th (Wednesday), so it gave us hope with this community program. It took awhile to get back to the groove. I would start a new "multi-media" project on Thursday (21st) for a resident in town that a friend in the community referred me to. My friend was too busy, so he asked me if I was willing to help out this particular long-time resident. I would ended-up helping this individual for a longer term project (more than 10+ hours suggested), which I'm currently working on at this moment. It was actually a blessing!

On Saturday, I would start the day with continuing this recent "multi-media" project in the morning for 3 hours. I then attended the monthly R.E.A.L...

There were some encouraging words spoken by the R.E.A.L. member of the worship team, which was a great faith builder!

I would attend a former friend's funeral wake service :( the next day (24th) after church in Benson. It was a time to mourn and reflect, which was a blessing to chat with his immediate family members. He (David) played softball with us for our church (co-ed) team back in the days during our summer church league in Benson. I would ended up getting to know him more as his family became members of our local church. I got to know him more as he became my supervisor at the group home, which I joined "last minute" due to some unexpected emergency circumstances. It became a blessing (financially-Praise the Lord-Jehovah Jireh!) as I would work to this day at, but a different type of group home now.

On Thursday (28th), I would go to Andes Tower Hills with a friend-co-worker (Oray) of mine...

as a make-up day from last weekend (due to friend's funeral wake service). It was an pretty good day despite the icy conditions, which I fell several times and hurt myself. It was a good practice before going somewhere bigger this coming weekend (Lutsen).

I would first go to the cities to visit family on Friday (29th) and stay overnight before leaving early Saturday (30th) morning for a 4 hour drive to Lutsen. I would hangout and meet my younger brother's family...

It was actually an ideal almost perfect day (too hot) as it was sunny and really didn't need all my winter gear. It was such a blessing and a great time..

I thank God for this time to spend with my younger brother as part of his birthday and his family-friends. We would end up visiting our older sister in Pine City along the way back and did an outing at KFC there. After hanging out at her and James' apartment, I took the back roads through St. Cloud back to Morris. It was a blessed weekend!

Gratitude: Teaching and Learning-What I'm thankful for on Monday, September 14th of 2009

I went to Alexandria with my supervisor that oversees the Morris Literacy Project I coordinate in town. We met with other teachers of Adult Basic Education-GED & ESL (English as a Second Language), which we get "equipped" for the new 09'-10' academic school year. It was a blessing to be part of this program where we help "dropouts" get their high school diploma and others learn English as a second language. We sometimes don't realize how we are thankful for the education we have until we meet others that are not as fortunate as us. We might "not" be "smart" as our "next door neighbor" (e.g. co-worker, classmate, family member, etc...), but we are "gifted" in different way. As the Bible states that "we should not compare (measure) our selves with one another" because God created us all unique. Like my previous blog, we all have something to share and we can also learn from each other too. It's a "two way street" in learning when it comes to teaching students. I challenge you to get involve in teaching someone out there what you know because we are all in this together. We can teach everyone and learn from everybody on something "new".

Volunteer with Adult Learners!


"Features volunteers and learners discussing the importance and benefits of adult literacy volunteers."

Q: Have you had any experiences where you were teaching someone and you were also learning from them too?

more...
http://liberalarts.goodnewseverybody.com/education.html