May 2016

I watched the "National Day of Prayer" online "live" from my house after finishing up some yardwork. I was about to attend the special service locally, but wasn't able to finish mowing in time.

The first weekend of the month, I brought some of my ESL students (Caio & Luciano from Brazil) to the cities to stay with me at my parent's house. We first went to Hudson, Wisconsin just so they can say they've been to another state. We then drove a little north across back to Minnesota to the beautiful river town of Stillwater.

We were waiting for my co-workers/friends (Oray & Olga) to call us to meet us at the Festival of Nations late Saturday morning. However, due to family circumstance, they wouldn't meet us till 2:30ish. I would give them a tour of the riverfront in downtown St. Paul. To kill time, we walked around the big outdoor annual "Cinco de Mayo" in the beautiful sunny day. We still had some time, so checked out Como Zoo for awhile before they told me they were on their way from the west area of the Twin Cities. Ironically, they happened to get lost and saw us coming out of Como Park's parking lot..coincidence?..not! God divine baby..hehe!..Praise the Lord!

We ended up driving together to the River Centre in downtown St. Paul. Along the way, I accidentally led them to a Wrong Way street, which was my 2nd time doing this in the Twin Cities (1st time happened in Minneapolis..hehe!). When we finally got to the parking lot, we met my sister and my niece & nephew outside of the parking ramp...

We all hung out at the Festival of Nations, but it was hard to stuck together as a big group. We ended up going our separate ways to see the rest of the event.

After the event, we visited a mass service at the St. Paul Cathedral, where we met my parents at the end. We toured around the beautiful church building before heading back to my parents' house for the night.

The next day, Caio & Luciano wanted to go shopping at the Mall of America, which I would see "Sea life Minnesota Aquarium" for the first time. We would walk all floors of the mall from 11am-5pm or so. It was nice to see some new additions and the remodeled front area (north side)..

We then drove back to Morris and went through downtown Minneapolis along the way. However, the guys were too tired, so we didn't stop to take any pics around the city.

When I got back to Morris, I picked-up my new fixed lawn mower, so I'm ready for the new year. On Thursday (12th), I had a "challenging" day at work, but it worked out. I would spend 3 hours of yardwork after going home, which is somewhat relaxing to just be outside.

On Saturday (14th), I missed the local college graduation for the first time that I can remember. They started a new rule that you need tickets (invite from students) to attend. They've had some over-crowding issues indoors in the past, to it was probably a way to cut down on congestion. I ended up working out at the nearby gym and would see the guest speaker (former Minneapolis mayor) coming out.

I painted the garage in my backyard of my house, which was supposed to be my summer project. However, due to the early nice weather. I decided to start early.

We had no work on Friday starting the last week of the month, so we had had a 4-day Memorial Weekend. I spent it by catching-up on many of my on-going projects. I was supposed to do the paper route on Saturday (28th), but the door to the local paper place was lock. I decided to ride my bike around Pomme De Terre and caught a lot of great footage of various birds. I love the wildlife and nature!

April 2016

I started the first weekend by going to the annual "Taste of Asia", which I used to take part in organizing this event when I was attending the college here at Morris. It's nice to see this event still go on since graduation and enjoy watching the new students of ASA each year organize this...

"Picture of Kevin C., who I got to know through my current renter"

I spent the first weekend doing my taxes, which is a little later than last year due to no snow days this past winter. I like to do it on days with bad weather, which there weren't that many. I was then able to have some "fun" by going golfing on Monday (4th), which I took a couple of my English students from Brazil (1st time)...

"Trying" to teach golf (driving range)

The second weekend of April, I joined thousands online around the world watching the #Azusa Now Revival 2016 that was being web telecasted "live" via online. This comes in a critical time in our nation-world with the up-coming "crazy" Presidential campaign election.

I went to the cities the 3rd weekend to celebrate both my mom and sister's "be-lated" birthdays. We celebrated at a Chinese restaurant (House of Wong) in Roseville, which was a good quality time spending with family.

I got back on Sunday evening, so I can attend a concert some friends were putting on at the Platform. I bought a CD and was flattered to see my name on the credits (thank you)...

The Platform Present: Matt O' Leary & Friends (Nina & Kurtis) 4.16.16 Pt1

I then came home to upload this video (above) and realized my name was mentioned in the song ....aww :)..thanks Matt O!..

Passover (around the time of Jesus' resurrection) was the 4th weekend of the month. I "tried" to recognize this "feast of unleavened bread" by not eating "bread" for some days as a rememberance of God's blessing. I attended a concert by a guy from IHOPKC on Sunday name Ryan Kondo, who will be going to New Zealand by the end of the summer for a mission calling.

The following day, we had our annual staff board -appreciation supper, which my co-worker's husband (Fred M.) cooked some great ribs. I rarely eat "red meat", but was opened to it just this once ;) Thanks Tammy & Fred M!

November 2013

I started the first weekend of the month by visiting family in St. Paul. I helped a family member move into her new place in the Twin Cities. The weather was great for moving. I spent some quality time with my sister while putting up her new dining room table. It was Daylights Savings time (Fall back), so we gained an hour of extra sleep! James' family treated all of us movers at Perkins in Roseville before I headed back home. Along my way home, I went to get windows in Menards in Alexandria. I took the "chance/risk" by putting one of the large windows on top of my car with the strong 20-30mph winds. Well, I was so focused on not wanting my window to come off from the "well secured" (bungee ropes) roof that I lost focus on the up-coming stop sign just 1/4 mile north of Menards on the back roads that I went through the stop sign!...nearly hitting an up-coming vehicle going east on the stop sign. I just swirved in front of the car and turned right going east too. THANK GOD I didn't hit the vehicle avoiding a near serious car accident!..weh!

On the 4th (Monday), I did more raking (after arriving from my Benson route) in my yard before heading out to the weekly ESL classes at the local campus to join some friends there.

On Friday (8th), my housemates and I hosted a sushi party again. It cool to invite friends of ours from the college. The following day, I took some friends to Don's Café after the recent award for "best grilled cheese sandwich", which I had to try my self..

On Sunday (10th), my local church hosted a guest musician (Tim Daniels from North Carolina). See photo-videography-> Tim Daniels in Concert.

After close to 2 weeks, I finally found (a client from my workplace was being sleazy-joking around and took it off from my jacket pocket when I wasn't aware...lol) my nearly broken cell phone. Fortunately, I was in the process of ordering a replacement (smart phone instead) prior to "losing" it, but I wanted to take out the smart card from the "old" phone and put it in my "new" smart phone. It was International week at the campus, so I would attend several events: Fashion Show, International Country Spotlight, and a movie-"American in China.

On Thursday, November 14th-I brought my housemate (Yuu) to his 1st parade in Morris->

Annual Parade of Lights (November 2013) Part 1

The weather was fairly warm-compared to previous parades!

On Saturday (16th), I went to Alexandria for my quarterly teacher's training. I picked-up some items for our "Japanese-theme" food party my housemates and I hosted to some friends (Marta, Bailey, etc..). The next day, there was a church potluck at my local church. The guest speaker (Jim M.) shared about the story of Baal (false god) in the Bible and how people can "call-upon" the "real" God through His answered prayers. During the service, pastor Pat led prayers for a young couple in our church that lost a newborn :( and also the tsunami in the Philippines. I would make a couple of tribute videos for this historical natural disaster-> Philippine Typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda 2013 Awareness Video & Philippine Typhoon Haiyan-Yolanda Relief Thank You-Salamat to show my prayers and support living this far in this part of the world.

I wrote down "snow" on the 21st (Thursday), so this was probably our 1st "significant" snow fall. I remember going to the local library to do some errands and then I rode my bike to Subway to meet a friend (Eric) that I haven't had the time to "sit down and talk" for a long time. It was good catching up!

On Saturday (23rd), I went to a "friend's" jazz concert to support her as she's been a faithful volunteer in the weekly ESL classes on Wednesday nights at the local school. I then went back to my house to join another weekend party my housemates were hostingn(w/sushi).

On Sunday (24th), I had to attend a "make-up" inservice meeting with my 2nd job about "Fire Safety". I was somewhat "angered" about having to attend on a Sunday and miss church service. However, I was going to missed it if I was able to have friends join me to drive to St. Paul for a "Haiyan Typhoon Fundraiser" sponsored by the local Filipino community in the Twin Cities. Unfortunately, my friends were too busy with school work, so I decided to go to this inservice meeting that lasted only 15 minutes or so in Wheaton (40 minute drive NW of here). On our way back, my co-worker and I continued our "small-talk". I then had that "Holy Spirit" touch, which I felt this trip can't be wasted. There needs to be something more "worthwhile" of this trip. I felt the need to share the "Good News" with this co-worker of mine since I couldn't go to church. I ended up sharing my personal testimony with him after he shared about some of his own "personal battles" (which we all have). The lesson from this is "God is in control of all your circumstances" no matter if it's not going "your" way; as long you let Him have "His" way!

On Tuesday, November 26th-I attended the weekly Jane Adams community gathering, which they had a Japanese theme. I invited my housemates, which Yuu was able to go. We learned how to do oragami, which I've done already in the past. On Hanukkah (Wednesday 27th), I attended my weekly Bible Study gathering, but the host wasn't available. Thus, we met at Neil & Ruth's house for breakfast. The following day, I would go to the cities with my housemate (Yuu) for Thanksgiving after I got off my pt-job (overnight shift). Traffic was pretty bad as many were traveling to different holiday destinations, but we were thankful to get to St. Paul safely. We arrived at my parent's home before going to my younger brother's family's house for a Thanksgiving family (over 40+ relatives of my brother's in-laws were there) gathering (e.g. great Hmong food, football on t.v. with the guys, etc...). After our great time with family-friends, I refused to participate in the "early" Black Friday. Instead I took Yuu a drive around the Twin Cities, which we would drive by Target to show him the crazy lines (see The Short-Long Lines of "Black Thursday". The next day (Friday 29th), I took Yuu (1st time visit) with my nephew (Stefan) to the Mall of America. It was pretty crowded, which we had to drive to the the top (about less than 10 cars) floor (East Parking Lot side) because I didn't want to waste my time driving around looking for a spot. On Saturday (30th), we drove to Seed of Abraham (Messianic service-Jewish believers of Christ) in St. Louis Park. It was my second time there as I wanted to show Yuu since he has an interest in this particular religion. We then went to Lake Street in Minneapolis to visit several cultural places. I then took Yuu to one of my favorite eateries in East St. Paul-> Pappy's. By evening time, we walked around downtown St. Paul to see the holiday festivities (e.g. Hmong New Year, Rice Park, etc...).

August 2013

I started the month with continuing my Metal Roof Project. We (Ed & Adnan) did the north side of the roof, which we got 2/3 of the shingles off. Fortunately, we get Fridays off, so the next day (2nd) I finished taking 1/3 of the shingles by myself early in the morning. I then clean-up the yard of shingles by throwing it in the rented dumpster. I took a break during noon lunch by going to the 1st "Community Meal" of the 2013-2014 academic UMM season. I then worked on the garage, which I was able to take all the shingles within 2 hours by myself. I then started putting black tarp, which I wished I bought more as I was able to patch some holes of the previous old tarp. Ed then came over around 4ish to help put the circular sky window in the north side of the roof. He would help me finish tarping the garage roof before calling it a day. I decided to clean as much of the scattered "old" shingles on the ground until sun set as I wanted to prepare for tomorrow. It was a long day, which I slept good (overnight) at my other job.
The following day (Saturday-3rd), I started early preparing the garage roof for the metal sheets. Ed would help me later in the morning, which I had a slight accident (fell from the unstable ladder, which I took the risk before climbing it. I landed hard on the concrete sidewalk with my right elbow. I found out later after an expensive $250 X-ray that it wasn't broken...thank God!). My housemate (Adnan) would help me do the east side of the roof. We did pretty good overall (wo/ Ed's help) despite a slant angle as we did our best placing the the first sheet, but didn't know how to use my balancer tool right. We did this within 1 hour and a half as we wanted to check out the annual "Flekkefest" parade 30 minutes north-Elbow Lake. We were running late, so I drove towards the end of the parade route to catch as much of it

On Tuesday, August 6th-We had another hail storm. Some parts of town had softball size. Ironically, I was doing my metal roof (1/2 of north side already done), which it was replacing the damaged roof shingles from last summer's storm. Well, this hail storm did some damage on my new metal roof. I decided to cancel my claim to my home insurance because it wasn't worth it. We would finish (I was trying to get it done after 2 rain storms and didn't want to tarp it again before another forecast rain the next day, which never happened) doing the last half the following day (7th) , which we had some challenges (Ed had a hard time seeing the screws, so I had my lamp light on-hand. He almost slid down the slippery newly "oiled" panel, but Adnan caught him as he was going down-thank God!) as it got dark (9:45pm). Once we got the last panel, we celebrated with pizza (Casey's). Hallelluah!

On the 8th (Thursday), I took Adnan to the Steven's County Fair, which was his 1st time. On our way there, I popped my bike by accidentally putting too much air from the gas station. Earlier, I thought of just using my regular pump, which I should've followed my gut earlier! We live and learn! On Friday, we (Ed and Adnan) did some last finishing touches (put sides, which we ran out-short ordered. I would wait for another month or so to continue this as the parts took awhile to be delivered-due to custom order) of the metal roof for the "major paneling" part.
On the 10th (Saturday), I went to the cities and attended a couple of cultural ethnic events-Indian Fest & Irish Fest-both in St. Paul. It was great time hanging out with family. It was my dad's birthday on the 13th, so we did an early family celebration while I was in the cities.
On the 14th, Ed and Aisanne invited Adnan and I over for a BBQ with other friends (Elena & Plamen), We would do some Bollywood dancing! The next day (sorry-it was moved to the following Thursday, so the 22nd), I attended another BBQ, which my softball team hosted. Despite an "ok" season, it was a great way to end the season with a picnic. I had the 16th off, so I spend most of this day and part of the following morning to help Ed with his work as my gratitude for helping me with my metal roof project. Ed's been teaching me a lot about carpentry, gaining handi-work skills!
It was that time of the year-State Fair! I would go hangout with family on the 24th, which we decided this date because it would be the "less hottest" of the rest of the fair while I was in the cities. We went 9ish in the morning and stayed till 1ish in the afternoon. I'm glad we went because the rest of the fair the entire last week of August had temps around the 90's, which had low attendance. Good timing!
Even though I had 1+ week vacation from my full-time job, I had to go back to Morris on the 27th because of work (pt-job) the next evening and I was going to bring my newest housemate (Yuu-referred by my current housemate-Kazu-also from Japan) from MSP-International Airport to Morris. I would "last minute" bring another UMM International Student (Hannah-from S. Korea). I spent my less than a week of vacation (from my ft-job) doing some errands and community stuff (e.g. annual "Feed my Starving Children" & "Welcome UMM Community Picnic" on Thursday 29th).

Gratitude: May 2013

The 1st day of the month started with NO snow, unlike the Twin Cities (they got 6-9 inches of snow)! I went to a fitness class called H.I.T on the 2nd day. On the 3rd, there was a community fundraiser for Lazos (Spanish-speaking community organization that helps fund activities to build integration),which was help at a local church...

I did a one-day trip to the cities on the 4th (Saturday) with my housemate to the annual Festival of Nations..

At my local church, we had a speaker connected with our church network; shared some encouraging words (e.g. prophecy, praise reports of healing during a recent mission trip to India, etc..) to our local body. It was awesome! After coming home, my housemate's supervisor (Russ G.) and wife (Pauletta) invited us for lunch. They would open-up more to us about their past and testimonies. It's always faith building to hear stories of how God has brought people from their past to now (still challenges, but they have hope)!

Typical Monday (6th)? I had one of those "just in time" (God) moments when I went to the RFC to check-in my workout. I was just getting of work and I arrived at the RFC when a co-worker (from my pt-job) was dealing with a particular "work-challenge". I was able to intervene and my co-worker was very happy of the timing. You just never know when you might be needed in an unexpected circumstances in day to day life! I "try" to remember to ask (prayer) God each morning, "Heavenly Father, show me how I can be used by you"!

The following day, many of the clients from my workplace attended the annual Women of Today Dance at Old #1 South Side. I brought my housemate (Adnan), so he can experience this unique event. It was another eye-opening experience for him as he was able to witness our awesome services we as a community provide for this type of population.

The same day on national news was the finding of 3 young (now adults) missing children in Ohio...Praise the Lord!

On Thursday (9th), my housemates and I hosted the 2nd Annual End of the UMM School Year Picnic, which we held it in our backyard this year. The day after, I realized I need to clean-up my garage, so I did some cleaning (since it was raining outside) and continued to do so on a later date.

On the 11th (Saturday), I went to another UMM Graduation Commencement Ceremony, which was unfortunately indoors due to the windy-chilly spring weather outside. After, I did a small farewell gathering for a friend (Andrew-from the Philippines), who has been working with some agriculture stuff (Ag Reliant) for a little over a year.

On Sunday (12th), it was Mother's Day! I wasn't able to visit "home" (St. Paul), but I did mail my card and gifts in time. I spent this day doing house work (clean attic) and yard work (tilled the garden after a "late" Spring).

I continued my spring cleaning by organizing my garage despite temperatures reaching 80's. However, it was great humid weather to do laundry, which I hung my bed comforters (save electricity without using my dryer). The following day (14th-Tuesday), I celebrated a current ESL student (from Cambodia) with many of her friends (from church, housemates, etc..) at Hancock's "Buddies Bar & Grill". We then had a great fellowship/chatting time at my pastor's house over yummy desserts!

On Thursday, May 16th-I played Cricket for the 1st time this season with many friends from our weekly ESL classes.

During the 3rd weekend of the month, I visited my family in St. Paul as part of my once a month visit. I took my mom to several garage sales on the East Side of St. Paul as a one and one time with my mom since she loves doing this. I then took my car to the shop (Tire Plus) with my dad and miscommunicated the location (Woodbury instead of Maplewood). Despite the error, it was good to just spend time with dad for that short time since he is very busy.

On Monday (20th), I did more basement stuff by painting the utility room, which I decided to do since it was plain sheet rock and I had some extra paint to make it more appealing before my inspection. This day was the first time to actually do the lawn after a late Spring.

The following day, my housemates (Kazu & Adnan) and I were invited to a family's BBQ. They have been volunteering with our ESL classes for almost 2 years now, which our bond has grown. I'm very thankful for their willingness to help in this needed area in our community and it was fun playing cricket with them last week.

I was able to join my 1st practice with the softball team on Thursday (23rd), which I thought my practice of swinging the bat and working out paid off as I feel very confident for this season when it comes to contributing what I can offer. Plus, it would be a great time to hangout with the guys!

At my workplace we celebrated a co-worker's 50th (half-century) Birthday. It was a unique celebration besides our regular snack on treats during break. We each gave a gift to this co-worker throughout the day at different times.

The last (Memorial) weekend of the month (25th), I was able to practice my photography-videography hobby at a friend's wedding (Aisanee & Ed). It was a great time and awesome fellowship with new and former friends. The next day (Sunday the 26th), my housemate (Adnan) and I were invited to go fishing at Perkins Lake (a.k.a "Pomme De Terre"). It was probably the most successful fishing experience I had in terms of quality fishes (I've caught more shoreline with a former housemate many years ago at Lake Minnewaska).