2017 Year in Reflection

January

"Shine your "light" through each of us"
https://youtu.be/v1oZtN7HBag

Sal w/fam at Afton Alps Snowboarding (Hastings, Minnesota) https://youtu.be/6VfZOqZ-SyU

I also went with my family to Mall of America to celebrate my younger brother's birthday. We went out to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant and walked a little around the mall. For work, we did our 2nd annual BINGO game with the kids at St. Mary's Elementary School. It was nice to see folks I work with mingle with the local kids. Great exposure for both sides of our diverse community.

February

I wore shorts on February 10th of 2017 as it was an unusual "above average" warm winter day. We had our annual "Valentine Dance" at Clinton, MN with my workplace. Usually, it's single digits or below zero each year during the dance.

"This Child is Yours" https://youtu.be/q8FCrCQwMME

March

I went to the cities on my birthday weekend to attend my older sister's future brother in -law's "Bachelor's Party". We did geocaching in Bloomington and did various activities in downtown Minneapolis. We had a unique encounter with a guy begging for money as we were heading to our car in the parking ramp...

"Satelite Guy" asking for money in streets of Downtown Minneapolis-What would you do?
https://youtu.be/R6ie5W0jg7M

Went to the annual "Philippine Day" at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood, Minnesota. This event grew out of the St. Paul Landmark Center, so they started this in a bigger venue at it's current location 2 years ago...

I saw a former college friend, Andre and a high school friend, Sean (no picture).

Music: New Song-“Deliverance”
https://youtu.be/uUNLVK9EuvY

April

The biggest highlight of the year was being part of my older sister's wedding with James in Chanhassen Dinner Thetre in Chanhassen, Minnesota..

Pictures are personal, so not posting it here. However, I'll post this selfie snapshot (click on pic for video) when I visited Prince's Paisley Park Studios in the same city.

I just wanted "thank God" for an awesome wedding and to see the whole family present, which was an answer to prayer!

Music: Karaoke-“Unforgiven” (originally by Metallica) by Crazy lil’ Sal creativemusicartsy.wordpress.com

May

The Minnesota Vikings (several current players) visited our town of Morris, Minnesota on May 3rd..

"MN Vikings @BigCatStadium -Kai Forbath Personal Interview

https://youtu.be/wPwug0MYMm8

"Stop F'n & Start Prayin' for the World" by Crazy lil' Sal youtube.com

June

I created a blog on installing a ceiling fan for the first time, which I hope viewers/readers can learn from some of my installing mistakes-> Home: Installing a Ceiling Fan Step by Step autohomeandgarden.wordpress.com

Praise the Lord, I won tickets to this annual family music concert festival. I never ever been to this annual event in Blaine, MN. I won a pair of tickets (via Minnesota Gospel Twin Cities that ministers and feeds the "poor"), so I even bought extra as a gift to some family members I took..

Joyful Noise 2017: "Life Challenge" to All by Nick Hall from youtube.com

Please prayfully consider donating, giving your time or blessings to the "poor" or the "least" amongst you throughout 2018 and beyond!

I took a day off from work to attend one of the 2 day Morris Local Flavors Celebration -Rural Arts & Culture Summit Conference hosted by my local college alma mater .

I visited my sister and her husband in Mahnomen and then we drove together to watch a baseball game in Fargo..

North Dakota: Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks vs Gary Railcats Baseball Game

https://youtu.be/T5tnLaFwAl8

Here is another Praise God report: We were walking to the ball park to buy tickets when a couple in a motorcycle (I saw this as a "symbol" and reminder of this book a college friend wrote called-"About Face", which was my first book to read in it's entirety in one setting!) came by offering their tickets for FREE! They said they weren't able to watch the game and just wanted to give it away! What a blessing from the Lord!

I would later doing my annual visit to the North Shore by going to Duluth, Two Harbors, and the surrounding area with some college students that one was my renter at the time...

Minnesota: Duluth-Lift Bridge Visit youtube.com

We visited this place called "Fitzgers Brewhouse, which we found via "google map" as my friend Wahid was looking particularly for "good root beer" (see foodsofallkinds.wordpress.com blog I wrote afterwards.

Minnesota: Jay Cooke State Park Visit-Drive https://youtu.be/NDdicRpP-KU

"Let Your Kingdom Fall"

July

Minneapolis: Boom Island Park-Bridge "Chillin'"
https://youtu.be/FrWFoSUB47E

I had a week off during July 4th, so I took advantage of that time spending with family down in St. Paul. We rode bikes around Minneapolis. Afterwards, we went to see fireworks at Maplewood Light It Up Fireworks

I then biked more by going towards the St. Paul Bike Trails (Battle Creek-Pigs Eye-Mounds Park), but they were closed by the Highway 61 underpass bridge.

I work part time for a company called Prairie Community Services, which I started full-time back in the summer of 1999 after graduating from the local university. I was asked to fill-in and work a weekend as they were short staff. It was probably my funnest time of my job as I got paid to supervise the "developmentally disabled clients" (young kids-teens-adults) at this annual camp they attend called Camp Confidence Learning Center in Brainerd, MN. Awesome place as a resort "escape away" for this particular population. Please consider donating your time and and money to see what this place is all about and how you can make a difference!

August

“Smiley Face” (originally “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga) by Crazy lil’ Sal

I went to the cities several times this month, which was the most of all year. I drove my renter a couple of different weekends to the UofM TC Campus looking for his new "home". I then went to the Minnesota State Fair with family, which we went to our favorite area-"Midway: Games"..

My parents rode the Sky Ride for the first time since we were "kids". I would also go to Red Lobster twice with the family to celebrate my dad's birthday and another time with just my parents...lots of seafood this month!

September

I started the month with my only softball game(s), which my friends from my former softball days decided to do a "last minute" weekend tournament. Unfortunately, we were double eliminated , which I felt very bad as I had a poor batting average (1-2 hits out of 10 or so???).

I then celebrated "Ramadan" with my renter and friends by going to Alexandria to a former ESL (English as a Second Language) student of mine.

I drove my work 15-passenger mini-bus to Chanhassen Dinner Theater to watch "Grease". It was great weather and the whole trip went well..thank God!

The Minnesota Twins baseball team were getting hot, so I wanted to watch as many games at Target Field..

First game was on 9.15.17

Second game was on 9.30.17 with a friend (Chris, who doesn't like pictures), which I left in the middle of UMM Coming Weekend (despite friends came all the way from Florida and St. Paul). This is how HUGE of Minnesota Twins fan I am.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Twins didn't make it past the Wild Card (against the Yankees) :(, which I watched with some friends at the local bar in Morris, MN.

October

I went through a drawing streak during fall, which here is one of my favorites

I attended "Grandparents Day" with my parents at Capitol Hill in St. Paul, which my niece and nephew showed us around. It was nice to see the school where my younger brother went to when he was growing up.

November

For work (ft-job), I was asked to drive some clients to the annual regional Special Olympics Bowling tournament in Moorhead, MN. It was very windy driving back, which I'm thankful to God for getting us safely home!

“The Stand” (originally by Hillsong) by Crazy lil’ Sal


https://youtu.be/krtlwd17gPQ

I went home for Thanksgiving (every we should be thankful and grateful!) and did some "family time" (e.g. went out to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant, walking around Como Park/Lake, and "window shopping" at Rosedale Mall)..

During the weekend, my sister wanted to workout, so we decided to go to Maplewood Community Center..

Fitness: Plyometric-Jumping Exercise w/ "HealthFitnessLifeGuy"

*this is the launch of my youtube channel focusing on health, fitness, and lifer overall as my instagram account is named after-> #healthfitnesslifeguy

Fitness: Various Plyometric Training Exercises goodnewshealthandfitness.wordpress.com

December

Fitness: Warm-up Stretches while Standing Up to Psalm 33 Reading Pt. 1

I went with some friends "early" Saturday morning to watch "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"..

It was actually not that bad as I didn't bother to read/watch any reviews-> Movie: Star Wars -“The Last Jedi” Reflection goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com

But, a "better" movie I went to see later in the month down in the Twin Cities with my younger brother's family was...

Movie: “Jumanji-Welcome to the Jungle” Reflection goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
This movie ended up beating Star Wars the 3rd week I believe??

Karaoke="Hark the Herald Angels" (originally by Charles Wesley)

This is just some of my reflections from 2017, how about yours? What were some of your highlights? What are you looking forward to in 2018?

more coming soon!

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!

December 2015

The last month of 2015 started with a presentation (Sal's Presentation on the Philippines: Spanish Connection) I was invited to do at the Jane Addams Project, which I have been attending since it started 3-4+ years ago at the local university..

It was an interactive presentation I wanted to do to bridge the diverse attendees. The karaoke idea would ended up being part of the end of the semester's party too (Friday, December 4th). I bought this microphone at the local Radio Shack and just attached it to my electric guitar speakers, which made an easy "homemade" karaoke machine that I can use for the future.

Going back, I would attend the local college campus IVCF service as a friend came back to lead a "healing service", which was just a faith builder for all. He would lead a bunch of other college students to do a "Treasure Hunt" the following day, but I wouldn't be able to come since our local church had our once a month group worship practice.

On Saturday, December 5th-I went snowboarding (my friend Chris came along, but he skied) for the first time in 2 years. I wasn't able to go to Andes Tower Hills earlier this year because it was just too cold. When it warmed up in March, all the snow melted quickly :( I had to warm my self up, so I went on the bunny hill first. After awhile, I would end up going on all the hills that were open and ended-up in the biggest hill! :)

I would spend most of the 2nd week by working on the videos for the recent musical I videotaped for the local high school-> The Addams Family Musical .

During the 2nd weekend, some long-time friends that moved out of Morris came back to visit. We would hangout at the newest Mexican restaurant in town..

It was good to catch-up and to know my friend Eric is doing a lot better since his surgery. The following day (Sunday 13th), I played a video (Spoken Word: “Who Am I….”...

... I previously recorded with a short -testimony at church during the annual "Christmas Program".

The month of December has many great holiday parties and one of them is the annual "Tea Party" at my workplace. On Wednesday (16th), the weather was "horrible". In fact, many schools around the area cut out early, but we kept going. We thought the numbers were going to be really down, but we had a better turn out than expected with the weather. The next day, I would play some indoor soccer with a couple of friends (Michael & Chris), which was my cardio workout for the week! :)

On the 18th (Friday), some co-workers (Paul, Oray, and Olga) and I went to see the highly anticipated movie "Star Wars: . I was so pumped up after the movie that I ended up making a whistling video of the theme afterwards-> Music: “Star Wars” movie theme (whistling). The next day, I went to Andes Tower Hills again and took a friend/co-worker (Oray) and "tried" to teach him to snowboard..

It was a little colder than 2 weekends ago, so I actually wore my heavy winter jacket instead of my fall one.

The day before Christmas Eve, I was invited to videotape the Christmas program of St. Mary's School at the Assumption Church. Prior to videotaping, I went to a co-worker's party she hosted for us. Unfortunately, I parked on the side of the road and got stuck. This caused me to be late and ended up having some technical problems with my camcorder. Fortunately (thank God), I was able to correct it in-time, but missed several performers (kids playing piano) :( .

My work (pt-job) called me the day before Christmas Eve that I didn't have to work the over night, but I ended up staying in Morris (instead of going to St. Paul early) to work on the recent Christmas Program video and other "catching-up" projects (e.g. cleaning my house). It was actually a great start of my 1 1/2 week vacation. I would end up going "home" (St. Paul) to visit family during Christmas vacation-weekend. It was good to see family and help my aging parents out.

I ended up coming back to Morris to deal with some home appliance issues (water heater got old and was done) after my housemate/renter emailed me the problem. I came home to find a "leak" around the water heater, which was sign it was definitely finished and "NOT" fixable. Prior, I stopped at Menards to scout out the available water heaters, but didn't pick one yet as I didn't have the dimensions. I look back and wished I just took the chance and got one, IF a friend/Morris resident (I saw there) that happened to be there could've been able to load it back to Morris. Anyways, I ended up paying this plumber (Chris from Elbow Lake) to do the job after a couple of friends weren't able to.

I was thankful to God that I got it fixed and replaced as soon as possible (within 3-days). Couldn't find a perfect time for this to happen. I would have to work my pt-job (overnight) once this last week of the month before I went back to the cities to watch a theatrical performance at St. Paul's Ordway Center -> Sound of Music. I've been anticipating in seeing this since I first heard about it coming to St. Paul back in August/early September. It was all God's provision as I tried to buy these tickets for last week's performance, but couldn't find any "good seats". I even was about to purchase some "bad seats", but the computer wouldn't let me charge it to my credit card. I look back at this and feel it was definitely ad "Divine" work of God as it's rare that my credit card payment didn't go through when purchasing online. I happened to be playing on the computer to check out other performance days later and found a date (31st) of an "added show" that was "last minute" added...Praise the Lord! I ended up inviting my parents and nephew. My sister ended up tagging along with her fiance (James), but couldn't get closer seats because they bought it later even though I emailed my sister the "last minute show added" the day I purchased it, but she didn't want to take the chance with the weather. I ended up taking a risk as I saw this as an opportunity that might not be open again!

My highlights of 2015..

March 2014

I started the month by going to the RFC (Regional Fitness Center) with my housemates (Rai & Yuu) and friend (Ed) playing basketball. Every 1st Saturday of the month, the local fitness center is open for FREE for community members. We took advantage of this day by playing pick-up basketball....

*see Good News Fitness

Jaime would join us in later game, which he would personally invite us afterwards to his presentation at Jane Adams later in the week.

My housemates would join me later in the evening for the community-wide monthly "Real Ministries Worship" at a local church (Hossana Worship Center). It was Rai's first time at a church "like" service, so it was cool to see him experience this event.

The next day, I went to the local indoor skating rink to ice skate my first, only, and last time of this winter season. I "hit" myself for not doing this more during this winter season, but I had a great time. It was fun to see a couple of co-workers (Johnnita & Lori) from my full-time job and other community members I know there...

Ice skated the last & only time this winter this past Sunday. Wished I did this more earlier! http://t.co/OSbpYP33qH pic.twitter.com/t4HISbQlKZ

— Dapalsal (@Dapalsal) March 6, 2014

While ice-staking, I was trying to learn how to skate backwards. This kid (friend's son) started to teach me, which I thought it was very kind and cool of him. He skates for a junior league, so he was pretty good!

On Saturday (8th), I did my every-other-month visit to Moose Lake. It was the "best" weather compared to the past 3 weekends, so it was nice to leave the prairie lands to the forestry part of northeast (e.g. Pine County) Minnesota.

The following day (9th), I went snowboarding with a friend of mine at Andes Tower Hills (Kensington, Minnesota). The weather was so nice (48-50 F) that I didn't even wear my winter jacket, just my workout jacket.

On Wednesday (12th), we had a special guest (Elvira) that presented about Kazakhstan during our weekly ESL-GED classes (Morris Literacy Project).

The following day (Thursday 17th) I participated in the MCC worship team practice as an "observer" in training before I start the next month. I decided to join after my Pastor (Pat) shared the "need" last month. I wasn't sure at time last Fall whether I was going to be around in Morris with my ESL career ambition. It didn't workout, so I stayed and decided to join this church ministry. I'm also looking forward to this involvement will help improve my singing as I've grown a passion for over the years (e.g. took voice lessons years ago). There are many other benefits of joining the worship team, which I'll probably add in future blogs.

ON Friday (14th), I had my every other year "physical exam" for my bus certification. I'm wasn't worried about not passing it, but just the eye-exam part. I've pass the last 3 exams, which I contribute to it to my change of lifestyle and eye patch therapy (I alternate covering my left-right eye almost daily throughout the year). I wanted to make sure I pass this year, so I did a special "fasting" almost a month prior to this exam. I "tried" to avoid any sweets a month prior to my eye exam. I also took this "detoxification" pill a month or so prior to cleanse my body of "toxins". I purposely scheduled it before my birthday, so I can celebrate "a little" after. Well, it paid off as I did pass the eye exam. Praise the Lord!

I started working on my taxes earlier this year after procrastinating last year (finished a day or two before the deadline). It paid off as I did more filing on the 16th (Sunday); Did my 2010-2013 carryover from my basement house projects on the 20th (Thursday). I did this after taking my housemates for supper at the Ranch House for a brunch buffet. It was such a blessed time as many friends from church were there the same time. Part of living in a small town!

On my birthday (18th), there was another snow storm, just like last year! However, it wasn't big enough (only 1" or so actually stayed from the forecast 6"-12" of snow precipitation-uncertain amounts melted) to cancel work unlike last year. We would have another "overestimate" snowfall projection storm on the 27th, which 1-4" that fell melted right away too.

I did my annual birthday tradition of going to the cities during Philippine Day. I brought 2 housemates of mine (Rai from Pakistan & Yuu from Japan) this time to celebrate my 37th birthday with family and friends. I gave them a tour of Downtown St. Paul (e.g. State Capitol) and the surrounding area, which they seem to enjoy. One of my favorite stops was a trip to Mounds Park-Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood, which I was very excited to visit this historic archaeologic spot. Unfortunately, i got too excited where I slipped on hard ice and still feel the impact as I write this to this day (Monday, April 21st 2014). We also visited the other side of the river to downtown Minneapolis (see Foshay Tower Skydeck Pics).

On the last day of the month, I watched a life-touching theatrical performance of the life of "Christy" Huddleston performed at Central Square in Glenwood, Minnesota. I carpooled with a couple (Wayne & Julie) from my local church, which it was great fellowship time to and from Glenwood!

Gratitude: February 2012

I started the second month of the year doing more work in my basement. I worked on putting a vent for my oven/stove; however, I had to have some barriers (wires) in the path for this vent. During this particular project, I had to cut part of the joist (supporting the main floor) to move the wires away. Unfortunately, I got a little too aggressive with my handsaw and accidentally chipped one of the wires. Fortunately, I stopped short enough before any more serious further damage. It created a spark and burned part of the blade. Thank God it didn't electrocute me! The lights upstairs (bedroom) unfortunately went off and I had to just turn on the circuit breaker. I then had to patch-up (with electrical tape and duct tape) the small cut in the wire.

The month started with more "unusually" warm weather as it hit the 40's during Groundhog Day (2nd), which was fitting for the 1st International Student "Spring Festival" at the local university. The next day, I got an update by mail on my "close to borderline diabetes" level. It's been close to 5 years when I was diagnosed "borderline" and ever since I've been more health conscious in my eating. Well, the numbers turned out well as I'm in a good level and just need to keep maintaining it!

On Super Bowl (Giants beat the Patriots) Sunday, I went to a local restaurant to watch the game with a local resident (see frequently at the local fitness center) to just have a conversation. We see each other regularly and just wanted to "talk". Unfortunately this guy has full blown cancer and was very pessimistic about nearing the end of his life, so I encouraged him that he can still "fight" it. We ended up talking about my faith and ended up sharing a brief testimony how God has changed me.

The nice "warm" weather ended on Friday, February 10th as it was another cold day (below 6) during our annual Valentine Dance at Clinton, Minnesota with my workplace (D.A.C.). However, we had a great dance and it kept us all warm!

The second weekend, I went to the cities for my monthly visit. My mom, sis, bro, and I went to this new Korean restaurant (Fresh Korean Fusion) in our neighborhood. The following day, I spent quality one and one time with my nephew and then to Savoy's Pizza with my brother (along with his kids) as my be-lated birthday gift. It was a great time hanging out.

It's been a basketball frenzy this week with "Linsanity" and that inspired me during a "pick-up" basketball game (Thursday, February 16th) with my former softball teammates. My legs ended up hurting for several days due to cheap shoes (running) I used for playing, so I ended up planning to get basketball shoes before I play next. As I rested during the weekend, I watched the live funeral memorial service of Whitney Houston (see Pop Diva).

Most Sundays, I go to two different church services (English and Spanish). I was asked by the local Spanish church to help with day care, so I've been volunteering watching the infants on Sunday afternoons. It's been more training as a future father! On Sunday, February 19th-I came to Morris Evangelical Free Church for a birthday party by a friend. I ended up bringing my special camera to take pics.

The following day (20th), I went to special "Soul Food Dinner" (sponsored by BSU) at the local university. It was part of a African-American History month celebration.

I finally finished my ceiling tile project during the last weekend of the month. It was tedious work and was very content about finishing this project that I've been nervously planning for a long time. I turned out easier than I expected! Between my project, I would go to the local DQ (2 blocks away) for their annual 50% of "Customer Appreciation Day". I ate lunch and dinner throughout the day!

I ended the weekend with this faith building service (1st-morning church service with 2 other local churches 2nd-evening) on "Faith & Home" (see GoodnewsEverybody.com Family, Believers, Brethren, Brothers, Sisters, Unity, etc...)...

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I highly recommend this message to everyone-especially parent(s) raising kid(s)!

The month ended with our 1st and ended up being our last (so far as of March 24th 2012) "Snow Day" (see GoodnewsMorris : Winter : 2012) we had a +8" inch snow blizzard. It was actually a blessing for folks at my workplace as we haven't had a day off since our one-week winter break before 2012 started. It was a great day to catch-up on house work and I was able to snowboard (2nd time only this whole winter season)!..

I invited some friends (one from Pakistan and two from Bangladesh), which it was their 1st time ever to go sledding!

Gratitude: January 2012

The warm winter from 2011 continued on till 2012. We had temps reaching 50's (F) on Thursday (5th), which I played football (catch & throw) and basketball at work during my noon break. I then played more basketball with a client of my mine at my other (part-time) job out in a nearby playground on Saturday (7th). That same weekend on the following day, I went to play baseball at the nearby campus with my friend/renter/housemate (Kazu). I can't remember ever playing baseball outdoors in this time of the season! Later in the evening on Sunday, I went to the see an inspirational film that's been talked about at my local church. I was glad I saw it (with a friend from Pakistan) as it really challenged me to be a better "man"...



"ABOUT COURAGEOUS, THE FILM AND THE SONG The Film: Courageous, the new action-packed movie from the creators of Fireproof, is a powerful reminder of the impact fathers have on their kids"¦and the legacy they will leave for future generations. Courageous:"


I'm also attending a weekly "men's bible study" (Spanish-speaking) with the newly local "Spanish-speaking" church (Morris E-Free Church's Iglesia de Nueva Vida->Church of New Life).

Our 1st two weeks of ESL/GED classes we just had one party after another! The first Wednesday we got back, two of our students (from China) made some dumplings (fish, pork, and beef). It was basically my supper that evening! Then the second week, a GED student brought a blueberry pie and some other "goodies". Then the 4th week, we celebrated "Chinese New Year", which we didn't have Chinese theme food (I brought some "mexican" theme snacks as a "last minute" thing and Ice Cream bars).

I"m taking advantage of the "somewhat" cold winter season by doing my basement remodeling project. I worked on ceiling tiles, floor tiles (wooden and ceramic), and putting a vent for my "hood vent" (oven). I cool "God-timing" story happened on Saturday, January 21st when I was getting more supplies at Menards in Alexandria. My friend (Chris) and I drove in my small Toyota to pick-up some "elongated" ceiling tile part, which I would had to maneuver and fit in my "dinky" small car. Well, my neighbor(Craig) happened to be there with his friend. I then "last minute" asked if he could put this "elongated" material in his pick-up truck..wow, huh? God is watching!

On Monday, January 16th was Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. After work, I participated in the campus-community march...





We then walked to the Morris Senior Center for a warm "home-cooked" meal for the monthly Community Meal (usually the 4th Monday of each month).

The nice "warm" winter came to an end for a short several days or so (18th to 20th) as we had 17 below zero (with wind chills reaching close to 40 below zero) Thursday morning when I got up for my monthly (3rd Thursdays) "Stevens Forward" meeting.

On Thursday, January 26th -I had the opportunity to take some clients from my workplace to the annual "Minnesota Twins Caravan". This year, it was held at Pizza Ranch.

We finally had enough snow to go snowboarding on the last Saturday (28th) of the month. It's been snowing off and on, but it would melt off and on. It wasn't the best amount of snow (some grassy areas-see video down below, but probably the best I can go snowboarding all winter so far behind the Morris water tower.



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The same day I went snowboarding, I was featured in the local paper (see Sal Monteagudo, Community Activist: Mentoring across cultures By: Judy Riley, Special to the Sun Tribune, Morris Sun Tribune Published January 28, 2012, 05:00 AM morrissuntribune.com) for my community involvement, which I would like to say I'm thankful for my "Extraordinary" God (Heavenly Father). I "try" to serve Him in everything I do, which I pray I continue to give Him the glory.

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!