Thailand

So I'm still running late on my blogs, but here's some news about my recent trip to Thailand. We went to Thailand for 8 days for a Malachi Ministries Conference. After a night at a Japanese hotel, Nate and I flew out from Tokyo to Taipei. We met the Lambert family and their intern in Taipei and then flew from there to Bangkok and from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I enjoy flying, but my favorite parts of flying are taking off and landing. I don't really care about the whole in-between part, so it was cool that I got to do both of them three times. Anyways in Chiang Mai we were picked up by Paul Bradley and taken to our hotel. The purpose of this conference was to spend time and get to know other Malachi staff, hear about the ministry of Paul Bradley, spend time praying and in the Word and to relax a little bit. I can say that we did all of the first three, but this trip wasn’t really relaxing. (I'm not complaining because the other option was great.) We didn't spend too much time on the pool deck lying out in the Thai sun, but we did do a lot of other things.

Some of us bungy jumped on the first day, we went mountain biking, rode elephants, rode ATV's through the jungle, and more. Once you get to Thailand you don't need too much money to do all these things because everything is so cheap. A couple of the night we went down to the night bizarre and went shopping. It was a lot of fun (at first) because you get to barter with the venders. You can get a lot of cheap stuff (whether its real or not I don't know) and you get to play a little game in the process. Food in Thailand is really cheap also. We ate almost all of our meals for under $10. It was a special treat for me because I don't like to spend a bunch of money on food, but here I could get seconds and it would still be cheaper than a meal in Japan.

Thailand was a lot of fun. We got to hear about the amazing things that God is doing in the military in Thailand and the surrounding countries. Paul Bradley and a couple of other guys there have a great ministry trying to reach the military and their families with the Gospel of Christ. I will hopefully have some more blogs up about the specific things we did in Thailand in the next couple of days.

My Last (Full) Day

The day after Christmas was my last full day at home. I hadn’t packed yet and we still had some errands to run, but it was a great day. My dad was still sick, but was well enough to hang out with everyone for the day and did all of the activities with us. After running some errands in the morning, my family and I picked up some bagels and walked on the beach. It was about 8 to 10 feet that day, with waves scrapping the pier and lifeguards on duty, and it was a lot of fun to watch the waves and spend time with my family.

We went up to the cross and hung out there for a little while. It was really cool to see the huge swell lines roll in from the top of the point all the way through the pier. It was quite a view. This day was a sad day, but was filled with joy. My emotions were bittersweet on my coming back to Japan and I wanted to get all the time I could get with my family. After the cross we stopped by Corrales one more time and got some burritos.

After that we went home and soon after people started coming over. Our friends, the Short’s, whom we always spend New Year’s with came down and spent the 26th with us as New Years. A lot of friends came by and hung out. We threw the frisbee at the park, played games (yea for Catch Phrase), and just spent time together. I was in and out of my room because I was still packing and getting ready, but I had a lot of fun on my last night seeing everyone and spending time with everyone. I stayed up till about 3 in the morning packing and talking with my buddies Sam and Alex and then woke up about 6 to make sure that I was all ready to go by 7. About 7 or so we got into the car and drove down to LAX.

Christmas

So Christmas came on way too fast this year. I was excited about Christmas, but I knew that two days after I would be flying back to Japan, which meant the end of my time with my family. Anyways Christmas Eve came and we had our annual Christmas Eve Service thingy at our house. We have families come over and we always have soup and salad and then we (the children, Jake you’re still a child) put on a little show for the adults. Seven years ago we used to do all this skits, sing songs, and other things (which include mine and Timmy’s infamous dancing in tutu’s (yeah)), but its become more and more of a struggle to put things together since all of the children are growing up.

Anyways, we put some things together and put on a short show for the adults. That was a lot of fun and after that, when everyone else leaves, my family always meets the Schmechel’s at the 11 o’clock candle light service at CPC. That’s probably one of my favorite things that my family does around Christmas. It’s always so nice to get out of the service past 12 and be focused on what Christmas should be all about.

Christmas morning we woke up at a surprising 9 o’clock and did all the gift opening, breakfast eating things that we do. Typically we don’t get out of our pajamas till the evening and we just kind of take naps, read books, and watch movies all day. It’s always a lot of fun spending time as a family together knowing that no one has anywhere to go or anything to do. The Brett’s came over on Christmas day to say good-bye because they were leaving for the Grand Canyon the next morning and wouldn’t see me again before I left. For dinner that night we went over to the Fuller’s.



It was a bummer on Christmas though because my dad came down with a cold and wasn’t able to go with us, but he decided that he still wanted my mom and all of us kids to still go over to the Fuller’s that night. We went over to the Fuller’s a couple of times while I was home, all of them, which I loved. We always have such a great time together and it’s a little scary how close we are and are so comfortable as families together. (I’m pretty sure that if anyone were to watch our two families together, that they would think that we’re all crazy and weird.) Anyways we spent the evening, watching home videos, laughing at Jacques jokes, and eating good food. It was a great end Christmas day, but I still wish that my dad was there with us. Christmas was a lot of fun and I was so happy to spend it with all my families and friends in Ventura and not in Japan. Anyways here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

The Sinclair's

Another highlight from being home was seeing the Sinclair family. Amy and Charlie Sinclair live in Iowa and have four boys. I don’t remember how our families met or how our friendship originally began, but since being in Japan I have kept in contact with them quite a bit. I remember playing Legos with the boys a long time ago and they used to draw pictures for me and a lot of other fun stuff. Anyways they moved to Iowa a couple years back and I hadn’t seen them since then. Before I came home Amy and I emailed quite a bit to see if we might be able to get together. (The Sinclair’s were planning a vacation to so cal and would be in the Ventura area.) That made me very excited and I really wanted that to happen, but the day that they were planning on being in Ventura was the day after I left to go back for Japan. To my surprise, they came up grabbed some In-n-Out and came by my house without me knowing till about 10 minutes before they showed up.

It was a lot of fun seeing them. All the boys are growing up and getting taller. They are really into sports, which is awesome because I love sports, and it was fun to hear about football and everything else they did. We jumped on the trampoline, played in the front yard, and played Legos. So far, we have tried to build a boat that floats. We can build the boat, but we haven’t made one that floats yet. Seeing the Sinclair’s was a treat and I was so happy that we were able to get together even though both of us had very busy schedules. Thanks for coming by guys!

The Campout

So these next couple of blogs will be the wrap up for blogs from home. There is a bunch of stuff that I want to blog about, but I can't keep up with everything. Anyways, while I was home one of my favorite things that I did was have another “group” campout at my house. "The Group" has kind of become the name of all my really good friends at home. We don't really have a name, but I think every time that we were all going to hang out and our parents asked us who was going to be there, we would say "The Group." (I don't know for sure if that’s what everyone said, but that's what I always said.) We have a lot of good memories together, the campout being one of my favorites. At the very beginning of the summer, I had a campout in my backyard with all my closest friends before everyone went off and did all their summer stuff. We had a lot of fun hanging out around the fire, remember good times and bad from high school, but mainly just being there with everyone else there. Its kind of sad being out of high school now with everyone going their different ways and all that. I think that now that we are out of high school, the times that we are all together are even more special. This campout will hopefully become a little tradition in our group and will help keep our group connected. I plan on having a campout at least once, if not twice a year for a long long time. So far we are planning on having one in the summer and one over Christmas break.

The setting for the campout is my backyard. We pitch a tent and have a bonfire and do all the camping stuff. It is just really fun to sit around the fire and talk about stuff. We always end up telling stories, jokes, or remembering other good times that we had before. This camp out Jake ended up telling a lot of stories. Everyone in the group has decided that Jake is a good storyteller and that I am a bad storyteller. Anyways we hung out, played games, made fun of each other, and had a great time. At one point we were all inside talking and doing whatever and David and Ryan Terra came in with their air soft guns and decided to shoot us with them. We didn't really expect it and I took a couple of bullets on the leg, but that was probably the craziest part of the night. (My dad ended up coming out of his room to tell us that we couldn't run around the house.) We also bbq earlier, had smores, played telephone, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now.

Anyways, when we all decided that it was time to go to bed we all went into the tent. My tent is a pretty good size and can fit about 6 people comfortably. That didn't stop us from sleeping 10 people in one tent. I got lucky and got put right next to the door with about 3 square feet to sleep in. It was my fault though because I was the last one out there. I don't know how late we stayed up, but I think we did get a couple hours of sleep. Everyone said that they had a lot of fun and look forward to the next one. It was so much fun for me because I had been away from everyone for three months and it felt so good to catch up with everyone and hang out with them for a while. Everyone's started school now, I'm back in Japan, and we're all busy again, but I can't wait till the next campout.

...a date with my sisters...

One of the days I decided to take my sisters out for a little date. Well kind of, it was a short date, but it was still a date. Sara and me just picked up Emily after her water polo practice and then we got some food. On the way there though, Sara and me played a little Catch Phrase. I've never played it with only two people, but it was surprisingly fun. Anyways after we picked Emily we went to Corrales, got some Mexican food, and went to the beach. While I was home I was at the beach almost everyday and this day was one of them. Anyways we enjoyed eating our food and watching the waves break and decided to take some pictures. This day in Ventura was so beautiful and was a reminding of why I love being home so much.


The following story is an example of how much my family loves food. Most of the time when I go get food I never worry about ordering too much because I know that if I don't eat it I can just bring it home and someone will eat. That day when we went to Corrales I got two burritos, a bean, rice and cheese burrito and a carne asada burrito in honor of Nate to be exact, but I didn't totally finish the second one. Emily took a couple of bites and then I wrapped it up in the foil and put it back in the bag. When we were leaving though Sara threw it in the trashcan and almost instantly Emily and I yelled at her, "Don't throw it away." Sara realized what she did and got it out of the trashcan, but honestly it was like two bites and we still freaked out about it. I guess it’s not that funny, but maybe it made one or two of you laugh. That was the conclusion of our date because we all had things to do, but here's a couple of pictures that we took at the beach. Aren't my sisters beautiful?

Family Night

So one of the nights while I was home was specifically reserved for a family night. As kind of a Christmas present we went to a movie and then to Wood Ranch. We saw "The Pursuit of Happyness", which is a very depressing movie (until the end), but a really good movie. We all enjoyed the movie a lot. (Movies are so expensive and so its about once a year that my whole family goes out to a movie.) One benefit of having access to a military base is all the movies are $3, unless you go on a Tuesday night and then the movie is $1.

Anyways after the movie we went to Wood Ranch. Wood Ranch is this super good barbeque place that we love to go too. I got tri-tip there. Tri-tip is a rare thing. A lot of people that I have talked to over here don't know what tri-tip is and I certainly couldn't find any in Japan. Dinner was a lot of fun. If anyone were to ask me what my favorite thing about being home was I would for sure say being with my family. I love my family and enjoyed spending time with them. Being in Japan is a lot of fun, but I know that it would be even more fun if my whole family was here with me. At dinner we enjoyed making fun of each other and of course enjoyed the good food. It was a good night.

Jake

Jake will probably hate it that I am writing a blog about him, but I'm still going too. When I was home I got to hang out with Jake. For those of you who don't know Jake, Jake is a cool guy. He's on the way to becoming a firefighter and all that growing up stuff, but we still hang out and surf and eat burritos and In-n-Out and have fun with my dad together, and I was very happy to be able to hang out with him. I don't know how many times we have surfed together, but we surfed a couple of times while I was home and enjoyed some good waves. One thing that God blessed me with while I was home was good waves. I guess the fall was pretty flat for the most part and so I was super excited to hear that there was a good swell coming in the day I got back. Jake ended up being in San Francisco for a couple of days so I didn't get to see him till about Tuesday or so, but when he came to my door at 8 in the morning to go surf I remember him yelling, in his typical Jake voice, "Germ, its like you never left." So yeah, I was pretty stoked to see him and I even made him give me a hug. Jake and I have inside Jokes that go on forever.


Anyways Jake and I got to hang out quite a bit while I was home. He hangs out with this girl Jenny a lot, but I was pretty stoked to steal him away a little bit. (j/k Jenny. You're really cool too.) Jake's like a big brother to me and I always enjoy driving to check the waves together, surfing together (Jake didn't surf too much while I was gone, so we both had our fair share of bad days in the water), and hanging out together. Its always really fun because we go surf and then come back to my house and watch football, play baseball, and do other stuff, but most of the time Jake likes to hang out with my dad. Well, let me just say that Jake likes to laugh at my dad. My dad's a pretty funny guy, but to Jake, my dad is hilarious. Most mornings we spend hanging out with my dad and waiting till he says something funny, which of course, Jake will remember for the next year or two. Its always a good time when Jake is hanging around. I remember a year or so ago, Jake and I would come back after surfing and make homemade ice cream. My family has this old, crank ice cream maker bucket and for about a month or so we would make ice cream after each surf session. Homemade ice cream is the best. So that's Jake for you. I miss him already and look forward to spending more time with him when I get home. Oh, that's the only picture of Jake and I while I was home. If you ever get a picture with Jake, you should feel pretty special because he doesn't take too many of them.

CBC Middle School

One of the things that I enjoyed while being home was getting to hang out with my middle schoolers at CBC. On Wednesday I got to go to Anacapa and share about my experience in Japan at the Bible Club. That was really fun because I always go to the middle school here in Yokosuka and then I got to go to the middle school back home. I got to see a lot of the students who go to CBC and then I got to meet some more. I just shared with them about my experience in Japan and answered a lot of questions about Japan and the weirdness and all that.

That night there wasn't middle school youth group, but there was a little service project for the youth group. We all met about 5:30 and went over the the Rescue Mission in Oxnard to wrap presents. When we got there we were informed that we would not only be wrapping presents, but we would also get to shuck corn and decorate a house. It was a really fun night. The students were goofy of course and it was really cool to be able to serve with them and talk to them about life and all that I missed while being gone. I really like the students at CBC (and I think they all like me) and it was a blast to be able to spend time with them. It was also very cool to hang out with all the staff. I enjoyed shucking corn the best. We got a little dirty, but it was worth it. Everyone at the Rescue Mission was very thankful that we came and all of us from CBC were thankful that we were able to come and serve them. Here's some pictures from that night. We shucked corn for half of it and then we wrapped presents till the end. (I hope you like the picture Isaac.)

My Favorite Place

One of the places that I went while I was home was to the cross (aka Grant Park). It is probably my favorite place in Ventura. I like going there any time of day, but my favorite time to go there is either at sunrise or at sunset. It is just so beautiful being up there and being able to see all of Ventura and more, the islands (on a good day), and the ocean of course. Its a rather quite place and I often enjoy going up there to spend time with God and or just think. Being at the cross always reminds me of how awesome Ventura is and how much of a blessing it is to be able to live in Ventura. Enjoy the pictures!

I'm back...

So I am back in Japan now. After 20 days of people, places, and food in Ventura, CA I am back in Yokosuka, Japan. I flew back on the 27th of December and have been recovering from a cold and jet lag since then. Anyways, if you couldn't tell, I took a little break from blogging while I was home (I think I blogged once) and now I am going to do my best to catch you up on all the things that I did and all the people that I saw while being home.