Be Thankful!

I have contemplated the title for this blog for a little while now. I have thought about titling it "Mexican food...or is it really?", "Mexican food, from the other side of the sea!", "Mexican food, without a hint of goodness in it" or "Mexican food...well not even close." Anyways the rest of my blog will explain these titles, but I want you to know that the reason I chose "Be Thankful!" is because all of you people in Ventura, California, or anywhere else remotely close to good Mexican food, should be thankful. Plus, it’s Thanksgiving in two days.

So I'll start my story. Today I experienced Mexican food, if you want to call it that, in Japan. Lets just say that it was below par. For those of you who know me, you know that I am very passionate about food and one of the things that I miss food wise, besides my mom's cooking, is Mexican food. I was rather excited to go to this place because I haven't had a burrito in over two months. Nate said that it had a decent carne asada burrito, (which by the way he loves them and if you ever want to same day mail a carne asada burrito from Corrales to Japan I can guarantee you that you be his immediate best friend) but I am more of a bean, rice and cheese burrito guy myself. So we went and I ordered a bean, rice, and cheese burrito, Nate got a carne asada burrito, and Chris got a carne asada burrito.

Disappointment #1: You have to buy chips and salsa here. Even when you buy the chips, you only get about 30 of them and the salsa bowl is big enough for about 4 or 5 chips. I really wish I would have had my camera because it was pretty funny, especially for those of you back home who can go to any Mexican food place and get all the chips you can eat and five or six bowls of good salsa.

Disappointment #2: So I got my bean and cheese burrito, which was kind of a bummer, but not a big bummer, because I
ordered a bean, rice, and cheese burrito, but it didn't come with rice. I mean, I'm in Japan and they rice at almost every single meal. They even sell rice out of vending machines. Why couldn't I get some rice in my burrito?

Disappointment #3: They supposedly said that it was the "super" burrito because the used a 13 inch tortilla, but to me it seemed more like a 13 cm tortilla. Most places that I have frequented in my life are able to fill me up on one, more likely two burritos, but hey, put some more beans and cheese and rice in that burrito.

Disappointment #4: So I took my first bite and was like, "ehhhhh" and I reminded myself that I was in Japan and they have a lot of fish and ramen and not Mexican food. But than it only got worse. As I ate more of the burrito it seemed to lose temperature toward the end. My burrito was cold on the end. Not only was the cheese not melted, but the beans were cold. Okay, it may not be the best beans or cheese in the world, but at least it could be cooked all the way.

I don't mean to be bagging on this place. I realize that I am in Japan and that it is the land of sushi. Honestly, it did have a decent carne asada taco and I would go back to try some more tacos. I might even dare to try an enchilada. It was a good try at Mexican food and I appreciate the cook's effort to give me a little taste of home. But, honestly, there's more to disappoint. I mean the beans could have been warmer and the cheese melted a little better, but nothing stands up to the next disappointment that I am going to share with you.

Disappointed #5 and the reason why you should never try Mexican food in Japan: When we walked out of the store we paid our bill, which came to a whopping 5050 yen. Not getting too picky about conversion and all that, that is roughly $50. At first I didn't notice because sometimes yen feels just like paper to me and I sometimes don't think that it really has cash value, but when Nate pointed that out I had a cow. $50 for 2 carne asada burritos, one bean and cheese burrito, a carne asada taco, and a couple of drinks, oh don't forget the chips and salsa that we had to pay for, is way too much. I mean I could get some good burritos, some free chips and salsa, and a couple of sodas for about $15 back home and go away full and not disappointed.

The moral of the story: All of you back home who have access to Playa Azul (my favorite: all you can eat good chips and good salsa, two cheese enchiladas, rice and beans and of course my family to enjoy the food with), Corrales, Taco de Mexico, Jim and Rob's, Baja Fresh, Salome’s (if it was still there), Compos Burritos, and all of the other good Mexican food restaurants should be very thankful. Go enjoy a bean, rice and cheese burrito for me this next week! Oh, and eat as much as you can because after I get home there isn't going to be any burritos left. This blog was way too long, but I hope you at least chuckled at some point while reading (I was cracking myself up) and or felt my sorrow just a little bit. I've surviving over here and just had a fantastic dinner of sushi. Its kind of funny because my mom just told me that Salome’s, the good Mexican food place that was in the Longs shopping center across my house, was replaced by a sushi restaurant. Interesting! Anyways thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing it.

Whisper Retreat

First off I want to thank everyone who prayed for the retreat this past weekend. God was definitely working through the weekend and I know it is because of all the prayer that went into it. Whisper was amazing. For those of you who don't know where the idea for the name of the retreat came from its from 1 Kings 19 where God doesn't appear to Elijah in the wind that shook the mountains, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a whisper. Our prayer was that each student who came on this retreat would experience God, that they would be intimate with God.

During the retreat I shared about my experience from Caleb and a lot of the things that we did were ideas from Caleb. My favorite part of the weekend was not the time that we spent together as a group, which was awesome anyways, but the time that we each spent alone with God. It was so cool coming together after our first quiet time alone with God and to hear that many students thought that the time was too short. Also, it was so neat to hear students share about what they read and what it taught them. We started off the weekend by taking away all their watches, cell phones and ipods. The point behind this was that we wanted all the distractions that we have at home to be put away, so that we are even more able to listen to what God has to say. Honestly, I had some of the best quiet times I have had in a long time while I was up at Negishi, the place where the retreat was. It brought back a lot of memories from Caleb, which made me sad, but at the same time all the more excited for where I am now.


We spent a lot of time alone with God, but we also spent a lot of time fellowship together. There are two duplexes that were our retreat houses. It worked out that we had one common house where we cooked all the food, played all of the games, and had all of our meetings. It was just so fun to play board games together, play outside with the soccer ball and football, and just to sit around and laugh together. I feel like each student who came up for the weekend came away with something new that God is teaching them, but also a group of friends who were a lot closer. The weekend had its struggles and obstacles, but I really feel, hope, and pray that God would use this to weekend to change our youth group. A lot of the kids are only freshman and sophomores so there is a good sign ahead for a lot of spiritual leadership. Continue to pray for the students and that they would continue to seek and grow in Christ.

My little buddies again!

The other day I was over at the Johnson's house. We had a princess birthday party for Ellie and enjoyed watching her wack the homemade pinata, blow out her birthday candles, and open her presents. Anyways during the day I made some of my favorite peanut butter bars. They are really really good and I had to fight myself pretty hard not to eat a lot of them. While Ellie and her friends were up stairs playing a game and giggling, the rest of us were playing a card game. While we were playing our card game, Kara was in the kitchen eating birthday cake. It was pretty funny though because after about 5 minutes she walked into the living room with what everyone thought was birthday cake all over her hands.

Luckily, she wasn't able to put her hands on the walls or in the carpet before Louise took her into the kitchen to clean them off. Louise starting to laugh and called the rest of us into the kitchen to show us what she had done. Kara had pulled the little step ladder over in front of the stove and had put her little hands into the top layer of the peanut butter bars. I guess she had walked into the living room with her hands covered to show everyone what she had done. It was pretty cute to see her covered in the peanut butter bars and smiling. All of us got a good laugh out of it and enjoyed looking at her handprints in the bars. Pretty cute huh?

Yokosuka

The weather for the past couple of weeks have been really nice here in Yokosuka. If there is one thing that I miss most about Ventura besides my family, my friends, the beach and mexican food is the weather. I don't think there is a place that has better weather. Yes, Ventura has the morning fog in June and has somewhat of a raining season, but as far as I know the only winter clothing you need in Ventura is jeans and a sweatshirt. I've heard in Japan that its a little different story. I was lucky enough to miss the hot season here in Japan where its super hot and as humid as it can get, but I think that I am going to run into the other end of the weather with the cold and dry on the way.

However, these past couple of weeks have been a taste of home for me. It has cooled down to the point where it is a little crisp. Its been really clear here to the point that we can see Mt. Fuji from Yokosuka, which apparently doesn't happen that often. There has been a good breeze coming off the bay which has kept any warmer day very pleasant. Nate tells me that the fall is the nicest time of the year and it really has been nice. Anyways that's enough about the weather. Here's a couple of pictures from the last couple of weeks here. Pretty nice place.

Karaoke

For those of you who know me, you know that I have the finest singing voice in the world. You know how much I love getting in front of a crowd and singing and dancing and you know how good I am too. Well, on this night some of my friends here got to experience Jeremy and his wonderful singing voice. I don't think I hit one key the whole night. It was fun though. At first, I was kind of like, "Man, I don't really want to do this" but I can honestly tell you that I would do it again.

It was totally what I thought it would be like. I expected to it to be some big huge room with a bunch of people, but instead they give you (the karaoke place) a small room where you and your friends can sing your hearts out. I must say that everyone was very impressed by my musical talent, but I can't say that it was very sweet sounding. Anyways, I think you get the point. Karaoke was fun. I hope you like the picture of me rocking out because I really do. I sang some James Taylor, some Shania Twain, but my favorite was Michael Jackson. Anyways that's enough about karaoke. If you ever go to Japan make sure to put karaoke on your list of things to do.


Yokohama

On Monday I took a little trip to Yokohama with some friends. It was in honor of Rebekah's (the school teacher at the Lighthouse) birthday. At about 2 o'clock me and my buddy Red met them at the train station and began to explore Yokohama. The first that I saw was the Landmark Tower. Its the biggest building in Yokohama and has the fastest elevator in the world. I didn't get a chance to go on it, but I will eventually. Anyways we spent most of our time shopping. I normally don't like shopping, but its different when you are in a different country. Its cool seeing all the different stores and looking at all the different stuff. Yokohama is a big city and for the most part we spent the day in the mall type place. I bought a couple of things and enjoyed looking around and seeing all there is to see. For dinner we ate the Hard Rock Cafe. It was fun being there and I would recommend the Hard Rock Cafe Yokohama to anyone with a birthday. They played a special celebration song on the TV for Rebekah's birthday, had the whole restaurant involved in singing "Happy Birthday" and even gave her some ice cream. It was the biggest "Hey, its my friends birthday" celebration I've seen. Anyways we concluded the night we some karaoke, which you will hear about in the next blog.

Yummy

All I have to say is "Yummy." This was on window display at some restaurant that I didn't go to.

The BIG Overnighter

This past weekend we had a middle school event called The BIG Overnighter. My favorite part of it was that it was a joint event with the Yokota youth group. My least favorite part of it was driving in traffic almost all the way to Yokota. However, the drive was worth it.

The BIG Overnighter consisted of play, play even harder, and then play some more. The guys and girls had separate gyms, so Friday night was boys and and girls night out. I heard from the girls that they had endless rounds of dodgeball, watched some movies, and painted nails (till 6 in the morning). The guys played all night. We played basketball, dodgeball, fingerblasters, soccer, and some other games. I was reminded this night why I like playing water sports because I sweat so much. It was worth it though. It was fun just to go all out with the students. Most of our guys played the whole time. We got there at about 9 and went to bed at 2:30. (There was no way that I could have pulled an all-nighter. I don't think any of the staff could have either.) Besides a couple water breaks and one devotional break we played the whole time. We slept in the gym on some of the mats that were already in there.

The next morning we had breakfast with the girls and then enjoyed a performance by The Covenant Players. I had never seen them before Saturday and was glad that I did. They had some interaction activities with the students that were good and put on a good show. After that we got in the vans a prepared to drive home. The BIG Overnighter was BIG and the ride home was quiet.

Red the Nerd!

I would like to introduce you to Red. He is a super cool guy. So far me and him have hing out quite a bit and its always been good times. He is 19 and has been in the Navy for about 2 years I think. Anyways Red is a super duper awesome guy. He has just recently become a staff member for the youth group and is loving it. All the middle schoolers and high schoolers really enjoy have Red around. He is a really funny guy and always has a song to sing in every situation. Anyways Red and I probably hang out about once a week and either go bowling, watch a movie, or just get something to eat. Our friendship is building and I can see us hanging out a bunch.

Also, if you didn't notive he makes such a good nerd. This is what he dressed up for our youth group Halloween Party. My costume was below par, but I think Red makes up for it. I don't think he's nerdy in any way, but I think that anytime someone needs a nerd, Red would be your best pick. I learned that those glasses he has on are from boot camp. Pretty stylish frame I must say. Anyways the night was fun and I continue to laugh at his picture whenever I see. I know its hard to look past the nerd, but Red's a really cool guy and he loves the Lord. I think that's about it for Red. Oh, I almost forgot to share with you that Red knows everything about Forrest Gump. He could tell you who Forrest's great aunt's uncle's sister's middle name is and probably all of the things you can do with shrimp.