August 2015

I started the month in St. Paul visiting family. I went to the cities for my niece's (Disney theme) birthday. First, I took my mom to Dragon Star for "Asian" grocery food shopping. Both my mom and I got Bubble Tea, which was a good drink to keep cool in this warm sunny day. We ended up getting ingredients to make Halo Halo. Unfortunately all these "cool" sugary desserts increased my mom's blood sugar level, which didn't make her feel good :(. I went to a couple of Bike shops nearby (Woodbury) to "window shop" for a better bike, which I found a model (Shimano) that seem eye-catching. I would later find a cheaper version online since I would have to assemble it myself. I thought this was the better route!
The next day (Sunday, August 2nd 2015), I attended Alysa's 10th birthday, which they organized numerous variety of games. It was fun to see my niece have a good time and has grown a lot! Thank you Lord for a beautiful day!
When I got back to Morris, I continued my bathroom remodeling project, which took less than a week. I felt it was an answer to prayer to get this finish on time as I prayed that a "friend" would pick-up the materials from Menards in Alexandria on-time, and He answered it! I was able to finish ahead of schedule before my renter came back from his vacation overseas.
I attended my first ever auditions for a play called Aladdin, which I did on the 7th (Friday). I just wanted a small minor role with my "no theatrical" experience. I ended up getting the villain role (Jafar). It was more lines than I wanted, but this will be a great experience. I think they were so short of guys that this was probably the best fit character for me! I shared this with my housemate/renter and he confirmed this by saying I look like Jafar (e.g. big eyes, mustache, etc..)..lol!
During this second weekend of August, I did a variety projects besides working on my bathroom. I worked an old bike my "former" housemate (Yuu) donated, which was a lot of work. I would later find out it wasn't fixable. However, I did learn a lot of bike repair skills!
We had our 1st week of practice for Aladdin beginning August 10th. It was somewhat overwhelming at firs as the lines were more than I expected. However, towards the end of the week, I felt more confident. I ended up ordering this vitamin supplement (Tumeric) to help boost my memory to memorize these lines better.
I continued by bike challenge as I found some a couple of new friends (Chase & Dwyer) to bike with on Wednesday (12th of August). Then I went to the annual Stevens County Fair on Thursday (13th) to hangout with various friends. I would unexpectedly meet Eric & Sunny (visiting all the way from Watertown, South Dakota)!
I got my new bike I ordered online on Friday (14th) and got a new egress window pit digging job again. It would take two separate "hot" mornings to finish. I would later share at church the following Sunday (16th) that praying and singing worship songs (some that I was practicing for my local church worship team) gave me strength to finish...Praise the Lord!
On Monday (17th), I got a couple of "used" bikes worked on. I was able to do what I can do with fixing my bikes, so I had my friend/co-worker (Paul J.) use his handy skills. He was able to fix my current bike, which I used to have problems pedaling up the hill. The bike that was donated won't be able to be fix, but I can salvage the parts.
The next day we had some rain, which is always a blessing (compared to what our friends are going through in the northwest section of the country). I would go to the cities for the second time this month on the 21st. I was scheduled to pick-up my friend/current renter (flew from South Korea) on Saturday. I came on Friday early to do family stuff as I played basketball with my niece and nephew. We even saw the wild turkey that has been running around their front yard (was seen "pooping" on top of a vehicle in their driveway the other day).
My friend (Jin)'s plane arrived safely Saturday night despite the severe t-storms (and Tornado watch). Also, he left his country safely despite the threats of neighboring North Korea..thank God! Keep praying for that area of the world. I would attend Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul the next day with my mom before going back to Morris with Jin.
On the 25th (Tuesday), I finished my kitchen tiling project (using new grout). As I was finishing-up, I was getting inspired by a motivational speaker, Nick Vujicic, who is known for with "no arms no legs". A friend/co-worker (Paul J.) shared an inspirational video on his facebook, which got me inspired to listen to more of his speeches.

On Wednesday (26th), my workplace went to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre for our annual trip, which we saw "Mary Poppins". One of my favorite Disney movies growing-up. I was trying to skip this trip, so I can join my peers for our Aladdin (Act 1) rehearsals. However, there was no way getting out, but it was a win-win for me since this just inspired and equipped me more with this up-coming theatrical performance.

Great trip (drove da work bus) overall 2 Chanhassen Dinner Theatre 2 watch "Mary Poppins" http://t.co/K6QjOwr2hy pic.twitter.com/Z1nQ7pdem9

— Dapalsal (@Dapalsal) August 29, 2015

..it was a great road-trip with my boss and a couple clients on the 16-passenger bus (Big) that I was in charge of driving back and forth. The next day (27th), I would get a visit from a former ESL student of mine from Uzbekistan. It was good to sit down and eat at Grand Buffet in Alexandria with him and my supervisor from our literacy classes.

I would spend the last weekend of the month by going to St. Paul for the 3rd time within this month (most that I can remember). This time, I chose to go in order to help my sister and James move out of their old apartment to their new one. It was good to visit them and a great time hanging out with my parents while driving to and from. I also took advantage of the weekend for my 20th (Harding Senior) High School reunion, which it was a blessing to catch-up with "old" friends-classmates.

September 2014

I spent my Labor Day (holiday) doing some house project as it showered a little in the afternoon. I put in the pipes and "bird seed" gravel over it in the right side (south eastern) of the month plus long trench project. I'm just glad I finish digging! I filled it in by hand using my neighbor's (Craig M, who is moving :( ) borrowed wheel barrel..a great workout! I continue to do this on Thursday (4th) as I did little by little like the month long digging project. I would do a little more of filling this 6-8 foot deep trench during the first weekend of the month between the workshops of this conference (Storm the Planet-see notes by joining Good News Ministry). This was such an inspiring motivational conference that I'm still "trying" to apply as I write this, which I'll be sharing more through this month's and future blogs.

Through the 2nd week, weeks after, and currently-God laid a "new song" in my heart, which was planted during the Storm of the Planet. I never ever thought I'll be doing this. Many years ago, there was a "prophetic" encouraging word that I'll be doing this, but my friend and I joked about this. Here is one song I wrote recently that took a month as I had to get a new piano to help me..

"Don't Be Afraid to Step in Faith" (October 6th 2014)

I don't spend too much time to "edit" the music as I usually just do one recording and then add my piano playing (still in the works too). Stay tuned for more as the "new songs" are to encourage people.

On Thursday, we had another anniversary of 9-11 , which I will always find "new" findings of what "really" happened in this unfortunate event.

The 2nd weekend, I went to Moose Lake for my once every other month visit. I took pics of the "early-stage" of Fall colors at Moose Lake State Park in Carlton County. The next day (Sunday), our local church had a share by missionaries from India. Then we went to our pastor's house for more shares of this country and the mission experience overall, which prayer was the theme message that was heavily encouraged.

I finally found the "sewer pipe" by the foundation where I dug the trench on the 18th. It was by the water line that was marked, so that helped! The following day, my workplace was another challenging day as we were short-stuff, but thankful to God to get me through one of many more! What helps me to get through long hard workdays like this is looking at the future, I was looking forward to my once a month visit to the Twin Cities. I was planning to attend some events, such as..

Harding Senior High School's 1st Spirit Walk/ Run (Fundraiser)

Also, the same weekend was my nephew's birthday, which we celebrated at my younger brother's house.

When I got back to Morris, I would attend a special guest speaker at a church my friend invited me to. He shared a message that was a theme (e.g. social identity, gifts, etc..) from the conference earlier this month.

I started a new house project on the 23rd (1st day of Fall), which I put special rubber pavers in my garage driveway. I just did a little as I want to test how it work with the coming winter season. The next day, I bought pies from the the annual Faith Lutheran Church Bazaar. I shared one of them with my students at my weekly ESL-GED classes. I noticed my students didn't like it as it was too sweet, which I've noticed from the past that many international students feel the same way. America's "unnatural" desserts are really too sweet with fake sugar! On Thursday, I went to my local church worship practice, which I always look forward too with a "new song" perspective after the latest conference. On the 26th, I treated a new UMM student (Jackie from Idaho) to the famous Don's Cafe. I met Jackie online through one of my facebook group's (Good News Morris, which she joined almost a year ago when she first applied at the local college and wanted to learn more about our college-community. We've been in dialogue since and it was great to meet her in person (face to face) the first time.

During the last "Fall" weekend of the month, it was the 2nd day in a row with 80 degree (Farenheit) weather, so I had to take advantage of it since I wasn't able to do everything that I wanted to do during the summer. I invited a friend (Chris) to a game of tennis, which I would later go with him to celebrate his early birthday with his family at Pizza Ranch.

After making a long list to the "new songs" that the Lord laid in my heart since the conference earlier this month, I tried to come up with the lyrics to the titles and recorded my first song...

"Lord's My Healer"

It would be the first of more to come....