February 2015

I started the month by going to a friend’s house for a Super Bowl (football ) party. It was good to get together in this national “holiday-like” special occasion. I never watched a full football game this season and this was the closest as I watched the first half only. The game can get too long, so I watched the first half as I wanted to just hangout over "great food" (chips and salsa dip) with friends. I wasn’t interested in watching the half-time performance, so I left and decided to "last minute" workout at the local fitness gym. I would catch glimpses of the half-time show at the fitness center and would leave after a good short 30-minute workout!

The following day (2nd), I had to drive to Alexandria for our quarterly consortium training-meeting with my GED-ESL teaching. It was good to see several folks from the Morris area helping with our program at the meeting.

On Tuesday (3rd), it was that time of the year to donate blood, which is always a great cause. I also feel an need of a new replenishing of my blood in my body, so this is one of the reasons why I love doing this too.

Despite the below zero weather on Wednesday (3rd), we still had several ESL students that came to class at the local elementary school. It was good to see some students we haven’t seen for awhile due to the cold weather.

On Thursday (4th), I had my first meeting with my voice lesson instructor (Kurtis) as we talked about my goals and expectations I want to learn for the next 4 weeks. I’m looking forward to learning new tips as I haven’t had voice lessons for several years or so when I took it with another person (Bethany) in our church, but I did it for only 2 -30 minutes. I plan to do 4 weeks -recommended by Kurtis himself to get more effective. I then would come back to the church building for worship practice as it was my turn this weekend for my once a month worship team cycle.

On Friday (6th), we started our every other Friday fitness class with some clients from my workplace. This is the one of best parts of my job! :) It was more focus on watching the safety of the clients or assistance (e.g. wheelchair clients needed help getting some exercise equipment) during the 30 minute class. It was very fun to watch them participate and have fun!

I would do my "lower body" workout the next day at the local gym after playing basketball as part of my cardio workout too. As part of my singing leisure fun, I did a karaoke song to Backstreet Boy’s “I Want it That Way (Karaoke by Sal on 2.14.15)

On Sunday (8th), I was part of the worship team and one of the songs ("Jon Thurlow Mighty Hand".....Ring in my finger") would stick out to me (usually comes after singing a particular song many times after numerous practice). This comes an ironic time as I was currently working on a wedding video project for a friend/former co-worker. One of the pics was this "ring" on the finger, which is very symbolic of a committed relationship.

I would pray for one of the people I work with at the group home and his back wasn’t feeling good. Well, the next day, he was moving around (sometimes too much and got in trouble) and didn’t have any back problems! Wow…praise the Lord for God’s healing!!

On Tuesday (10th), we had a winter storm , so work was 2 hours late due to the ice and slippery road conditions. I took advantage of the 2-hour late start by cleaning my basement apartment. Later in the day, I went to this "Black Lives Matter" forum at the local college which was a huge turnout. They had to divide into 2 separate groups to be able to better hear everyone’s voices on the latest national issue of Racism and law enforcement (e.g. Ferguson in Missouri and N.Y.C.). I couldn't stay longer as I had to leave for another event going on that same night-Spaghetti Feed Fundraiser for local UMM-IVCF mission trip to Arizona.

On Wednesday (11th), I met with my financial adviser (Allan from Thrivent), which was a good meeting on future finances!

The next day was my first of four voice lessons, which I learned some great exercise tips for my voice. The great comparison Kurtis shared is , as an athlete needs to stretch before his/her competition, they need to "exercise/stretch" to get their muscles ready-similar to our voices !

On Friday the 13th, I would drive the workplace bus to the annual Valentine "theme" dance at Ortonville. It was sunny, but cold and windy-just like it has been almost every year lately. The dance was fun and it was always great to get out of the workplace and our routine. I thank God for getting use to and from the dance venue safety as it was pretty windy (kept moving the bus as driving the flat prairie land does that around these parts of the state).

It was cold on "Valentine’s Day" (Saturday), so I spent indoors at home finishing some errands (house rental stuff) and projects (wedding video). I manage to go to the local fitness center to do my tricep workout.

On Sunday (15th), we had our 1st church potluck in our very new building (opened last summer)...for indoors! We had a potluck like event during the Storm the Planet Conference early September last year, but it was outdoors in the spacious green yard along the side of the church building along California Avenue.

We had President’s Day (Monday the 16th) off for the first time since I started at the DAC, so I took advantage of this day-off by doing taxes. I don’t want to procrastinate like 2 years ago when I finished the day of the deadline..I think I had to apply for an extension since it took longer than I expected. I learned my lesson and try to do it during a winter storm day. It’s too nice to do it when it becomes Spring in April. I would finish filing after days working on it, which I finished late Tuesday/Wednesday morning (2ish). I wanted to finish it so I stayed up late and wasn’t able to attend the weekly Wednesday bible-fellowship group I attend at Neil & Ruth’s.

I went to the cities the 3rd weekend of this month (20th-22nd), which was great weather for driving. On the day I arrived, I hung out with my brother and his kids. My niece gave me her favorite "hair dew" style. The the next day, I took my car to the shop to try to fix this on-going issue with my car stopping (engine shuts off at the stop intersection or just when I’m leaving my garage). I've taken it to the local shop in Morris and they couldn't figure it out. I even had a tune-up many years ago. I finally got it fixed after the folks in St. Paul looked at it. I found the solution after watching several videos on You Tube, which I credit the Holy Spirit (Counselor) giving me this "ah ha" moment! I had another encounter with "Folks with Signs Along the Highway Exit Ramps Part 2" as I was walking to the local auto shop to pick-up my car, but it wasn’t ready at the time. I feel like this area (East St. Paul) is a great place to "reach out". Later on Saturday, I went to visit my nephew and niece to "hang out" with them. I had some great quality time with them as Uncle Sal! :) The next day, I would order pizza (chicken pizza online (Dominoes) for my parents before heading out back to Morris in the 25-35 below zero wind chill advisory. I was prepared as I got my car ready in case I got stranded, but forgot to leave a sleeping bag due to the up and down winter season (warm and cold temp change). Thankful to God that I was able to get home safely! :)

On Monday (23rd), I attended the monthly Community Meal at Faith Lutheran Church, which I always look forward to a great "home cook" nutritious meal and getting to know my “neighbors” in the community. I had a great chat with a lady that I see at the local library all the time and her friend (who is the mother of a guy I know around town too)...small town!

I would eat out again the next day (24th) as I joined a couple of friends from work at Taco John. I lost a “friendly bet” on the Super Bowl, so I had to treat this friend a meal at Taco John. It was a good time to hangout! :)

On Thursday (26th), I attended a small workshop on "prophetic worship, which Cherish from that Storm the Planet conference equipped some worship team members from church and I. It was awesome. I hope to share some songs that God lays in my heart in future blogs as I’ve shared in the past already as God is always doing a “new thang” baby..Halleluah!

On the last day of the month (28th), I attended a ESL student of mine’s wedding at my local church, which was the first wedding of it’s kind at our local “very” newly remodeled church. It was a blessing!

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!

Gratitude: February 2011

February was a short month, but it was full of blessings. It was an early "sport madness" with basketball (e.g. watch T-Dub Slam UMM) and weekly soccer games integrating different groups of the community, etc...).

Also, God has been using Facebook as a ministry tool!! I got a friend that "accepted" me that I have been praying for years to respond to my add. He didn't reply to an email I sent to him after wards, but it's "small baby-steps" in building our friendship back!

I'm still continuing my "new year's resolution of keeping healthy and fit, which I recently joined another class at the local fitness center called Zumba (see body, soul, & mind)! I've been going to this every Thursday evenings, which attracts from 50-80 people. I've started to do more dancing (e.g. work) including the annual Valentine Dance at Clinton, Minnesota with 1/3 of the clients from my workplace. Just to note, this was a week of unusual "spring-like" temperatures (30-40's) as lot of snow melted. Unfortunately, we ended-up getting the snow or even more back (21st-Snow Day) with a 14-15 inch snow storm!

Despite all the snow, I've learned to deal with it by sledding-snowboarding. I had to opportunity to do so with my sister, James (her boyfriend), and niece-nephew at Battle Creek Hill in St. Paul. Also, I went with several of my former students during UMM International Student Orientation last Summer to go sledding-snowboarding-It was the 1st time for all three! (see Cougar-Tiger Hill.

I started my once a week "fast" mid-February as I shared this email (with some wording changes for confidentiality) to folks in my local church:

From: Sal Monteagudo [mailto:saldapal@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 2:14 PM
To: Goodnews Everybody
Subject: Sal-power of your stories...

Hi friends-family,

I just wanted to share some awesome stories from the past week or two and I pray this will encourage you all. I've been working at my current job (Stevens County DAC) since December of 2005. I feel "opportunities" happen for a reason and I've been praying for ways to share (more of my lifestyle-"actions speak louder than words") God's love to my co-workers and the clients (mentally-physically challenged adults). He has "opened doors" for me to pray for many (e.g. healing) over the past 5+ years (relationship evangelism) and share my faith. However, I never experience so many "open doors" until the last week or two. A couple of my co-workers went from "short-chat" to "deep-conversations" that enabled me to share my "testimony" with a couple of co-workers this past week alone! Wow, God is awesome! I love to share how God has "worked" in my-life and feel we all do have something to share (e.g. a lady in my local church encouraged all of us on this with sharing our own stories) with others around us because many are looking for "hope" and "encouragement" in these days. I just want to encourage you to seek God daily on how you can be "His light". I look back and I feel my decision to "fast" (e.g. vegetables and fruits-haven't done this for awhile) earlier this week (inspired by my local church message to "seek Him") was very helpful in these "open doors". I've decided to "try" to do this in a weekly basis, which I used to do in my "early" years walking with the Lord.

Lastly, the week ended with me sharing part of my "testimony" with an international student of mine (taught during a week of orientation to 60 international students at the local university) during my 3-hour drive to here ( St. Paul ) to do my "monthly" family visit. Please pray for this student I'll call "Fay" who is currently going through some "academic challenges" (opened-up on this to me, which I feel was started through many relationship-building activities. People start opening-up to you through time and trust) that may cause her to be "expelled'. She's been to Bible studies (went to one last night at the UofM Twin Cities campus), which I feel God has been using others to "plant seeds of faith" since she's been here in the US . Isn't that awesome? We don't have to go abroad , God is sending them and others from around the world to our "backyard" or "front door steps"!! However, some of us are called and I'm praying to back to the Philippines someday!!

Feel free to email me any comments, suggestions, questions, prayer requests, etc.. relating to this.

Brother in Christ,
Sal:)
http://testimony.goodnewseverybody.com/

p.s. If I haven't really share my "testimony", you are welcome to read and share this with others. In fact, feel free to write your "testimony" and share it with me. Let me know if you would love to have me "publicize" this to encourage others (e.g. I just emailed this site and others to a couple of those that I shared with this week) because we all have different stories that can encourage different people with different situations.

My local pastor encouraged me to share stories like this at church, so I shared another story of my mom's recent eye doctor visit. The doctor told her that there was no diabetes in her eyes. She credited it to me praying with here the weekend before I left back to Morris. Also, I've been telling her how I've been fasting on fruit and vegetables once a week, so she tried it and her blood pressure was the lowest it has been.

God has also financially provided in various ways this month with my current "financial situation". I was able to be given hours from my "on-call" part-time job in various days of the month. One of the days seem to be "strategic" as one of my clients at the group home had a "death" in the family, which I was there to give him and his peers "spiritual counsel". I also did some "house cleaning" (sorting my recycle mail) and found a 2 month-old rebate check (Tire Plus). Then I found a coupon for $5, which doesn't seem much. However, it was very timely as I used to help pay for the increasing gas prices ($3.27-Cenex in Morris) for my trip to visit a friend in Moose Lake.

Protector-He was a protector during the last weekend of the month as I was almost involved in a head-on-collision (see GoodnewsMinnesota.info- Outdoors: Winter)going to Moose Lake from Mora. The drive back home didn't end "smoothly" as He opened doors for me to help bystanders on the side of the highway (see Are You Available? February 27, 2011 from goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com).

"My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praise to you...24 My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
all day long,... -Psalm 71

The month ended with a great gathering of three different local churches for worship (see Community of Morris) and a guest speaker for a 2-day conference on Creation, which opened-up a great "blog" (30 comments) on Facebook!