First Wednesday ROCKS!

I just came back from the very first 'First Wednesday' at church and I must say that IT ROCKS! I like everything that they did including the song selections, the drama, the videos and the communion. I was a little late so I just stood all the way at the back of the auditorium and just felt the whole experience from there. It was an amazing feeling! Now I can't wait for the Journey Bible Studies to begin. I will be attending Dr. Bob Laurent's class "The Radical Jesus" this whole of September and "Reasons for God" by Rob Wegner and Chad Meister the whole of October.

Not much happening...

... around here lately. Summer vacation's almost over for the students and most of them are not ready to go back yet, but oh well, such is life.

Updates...

... or let me just say NO updates. TGIF! Lately, not much really is happening around here though. I stayed inside the house today as it is VERY HOT outside. Evan came over and we just played Rock Band. Besides that, nothing... nada... zilch...

Tomorrow, me and a couple of friends might watch Isaac play music at a coffee shop. I don't know where yet as I am still awaiting for his reply to my email. It'll be cool to see Isaac play before he leaves for college on August 10th.

UPDATE: I just got a hold of some pics of Rock Band 2. I am so excited about this game that I really don't care about the also upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour. Here's a list of the 84 tracks that will come with the game when it comes out, all of which are master recordings. I am looking forward to playing Pearl Jam, more Red Hot Chili Peppers, more Bon Jovi, Linkin Park and Duran Duran (my childhood favorite band). I totally think that RB2 will kick major butt against GHWT! Just look at the instruments that comes with RB2...

The box art for Rock Band 2

more crisper graphics

the shweeet drum set (and it's wireless now!)

the new RB2 guitar, shweeter!

Announcement

This goes to all Chicag08 leaders, students and their friends. We are going to do a prayer circle on Thursday, July 31st at 6:15PM (just before New Community) by the pond behind the church for the Mexic08 team. We'll pray together and head to worship afterwards.

The Shack

I will finally get to read the book "The Shack" by William P. Young. I've heard so many good reviews about this book from friends and our church so I am excited to get the chance to read it. I am not really an avid book reader but every once in a while, some books do interest me. The last one I actually read was "The Da Vinci Code" from Dan Brown, which I liked very much.

Thanks to Kathy Trusty for reminding me about this book and lending me her copy.

Hang-out time pt.2

Today,... Grant, Josh, Lucas, Evan, Austin FW is hanging out with me and will be playing flag football tomorrow afternoon. I'm excited! I will pick up a bunch of kids to go with us... mostly from my flag football team.

Hang-out time pt.1

Me and some students will hang-out this afternoon around 1 PM and maybe go swimming and play some basketball and video games. Afterwards, we are going to see the new movie The Dark Knight (which I am really looking forward to) at around 4 PM. Then off to church for the New Community service hopefully before 7 PM. That will be my day for today. Good plan I believe.

UPDATE: It turned out better than I expected. I had fun today hanging out with the students (Nick, Corey, Nathan, Neil, Jake & Chris) and Isaac (one of the cool leaders at our mission trip). I was tired when the day ended after going to the movies, swimming, church service and playing.

I'm refreshed

Wow, I think I slept over 12 hours! I remember hitting the sack before 12 MN last night and if it wasn't for the phone ringing around 12:40 PM then I would've probably slept more. I had a little headache when I woke up probably because I slept longer than usual, but now I'm refreshed. I'm rarin' to go to the bible study later on at church and see some of the students I was with at the mission trip and those that weren't but close to me.

I just posted a bunch of Chicag08 mission trip pics on my Facebook account for all of you to enjoy. Check it out, here are the links... Batch 1 and Batch 2

Last week I posted that the new Batman movie (The Dark Knight) will have to wait... I've scheduled myself and some students to watch it tomorrow. I can't wait to see this movie, many say it is better than Iron Man shown just before summer. If it's true then I'm gonna have a great time watching this!

Chicag08 Day 7 - Tuesday (last day)

Today's the last day and I'm bummed-out. But at the same time, glad that I get to go home, see my dog, and get some extended sleep/rest. I'm tired but could probably last two more days. God has been awesome in providing us with what we need everytime. If you read the main Chicag08 blog and Pastor Rob Wegner's blog then you'll know what I'm talking about.

We got back around 6:45 PM and we were surprised by a welcome home signs everywhere at the church. I thought that was very nice of them.

All in all, this was an amazing experience. Our students stepped-up big time. I am so proud of each and everyone of them. Many friendships were formed. And they all acted as one. This is probably one of my best mission trips yet, if not the best.

Here are some pictures...

The baseball field.

Jeff ready to play some ball. Pastor Bone is the catcher. DC's shooting the video.

The work that we've done. God provided the dirt, which is the same dirt being used in major baseball fields around the country.

Restoration project that never happened. Good thing the people of God came.

Our girls talking to Pastor Bone and his ministry's kids. Pastor Bone is amazing, he invited us next month to watch the Sox' play.
I hope we get to go.

Here's Chris with one of the kids in there. They are really amazing! We get to be friends with them and treated us as family.
We even played football and baseball and had lots of fun. They can't wait to see us again.

Chicag08 Day 6 - Monday

Another eventful day. GOD is GREAT! Really! He is pushing us to our limits.

Here are some pictures from our night out...

We ate dinner at the world famous Giordano's Pizza. Yummy! Then...

... the group went to the Sears Towers to chill. It was a very nice day!

Here's a view from the top that I took.

Johnny, DC and Jeff was with us.

Hanna, Cody, Sara, Kirsten and Katie goofing around. Those are sugar packets in their mouths. Check out the vegetable salad.

Two amazing students: Hayden (our resident smarty) and Nathan. I am so proud of these two.

Waiting for the food to arrive. Amazing leaders Isaac, Tara and Carol.

Grant, Nathan and Tyler

Gabby, Halley, Chris B, Chris I and Jeremy

Chicag08 Day 5 - Sunday

It's morning and another good day. Done with breakfast and now we are getting ready to head on over to Pastor Bone's Good Seeds Ministry. The scoop I got is the previous days will be peanuts compared to the work we are about to face today. I'M EXCITED! And so is our students! Pray that we will have the strength and the endurance that we will be needing today. We're past halfway our mission so now's not the time to relax and fall back.

Ok, see ya' and I'll update you later.

PS. Austin Trusty says hi to everyone (and that he's Carole's favorite son).

Chicag08 Day 4 - Saturday

Hi'ya! We just got back from downtown Chicago where we fed the homeless again by handing out bags of sandwiches, chips and water. It was raining hard at first but everybody was game to continue on with the mission. I was blessed again to see the students work hard for Jesus! It was tiring but it was worth it in the end as we know that God was with us all the way. Awesome times!

UPDATE 1: We are getting ready to go to Willow Creek now to attend Saturday night service. I've been there before but many students haven't been there and they are really excited. All the stories of those who've been there just makes it more exciting as they've only got good words to say about that church.

UPDATE 2: Just got back from an awesome service at Willow Creek. The message was all about "Power" (meaning To possess control, authority, or influence over others), and how you should use your power the right way and the Godly way. The message was amazing and the speaker (Pastor Steve Wu from Willow Chicago) was very friendly as he shared some of his experiences with us and we also mentioned who we are and what we are doing here in Chicago when we met him at the church's food court. Speaking of food court, we had an amazing dinner in there also. Man got yummy pizzas but I got a cheeseburger, cheese fries and pop. When we got back here at the hotel, we talked about our experiences about our first part of the day (Downtown Chicago feeding the homeless) then the second part which was differences between our church and Willow Creek church. There were many positive and there were also some negative experiences but all in all, it was a good experience for many of us.

Tomorrow, we are gonna stretch our limits again and hopefully, everybody gets there safely and everybody will have fun.

Chicag08 Day 3 - Friday

Hey,

Pray for us today as we go back to downtown Chicago and do the prayer walk. Basically, each group will be assigned about three blocks and we have to walk and pray for each and every building, every employee, and every people that we see. It can get stressful after a while and we might lose our focus so your prayers would be of big help. Thanks.

I will update tonight.

UPDATE: We are back at the hotel and what an awesome day we had doing the prayer walk! Like I said in the first part, it was stressful and tiring, but IT WAS ALL WORTH IT! I see how incredible this team is and how they work so hard to please not only their leaders, but our Lord itself. He must be very proud of them all! Basically, three groups were assigned to pray for all the establishments within a three block radius at different parts of downtown Chicago. You can see the looks on the passerbys as they see our students hold on to the building and bowing down to pray for the people and the businesses in that building. It was incredible! They must think that we are different and or weird, but that is it, WE ARE DIFFERENT! We care and they matter to us as they matter to Jesus. Our students have many stories of their experiences that you have to hear to believe, and it was awesome how they share it during our nightly recap and you can see the excitement in them. You should be proud of your team!

As for the pictures, I will post many once I get the chance to copy the memory card to my harddrive. Right now, my card reader doesn't work and I've nowhere to transfer it.

Chicag08 Day 2 - Thursday

"Today has been an amazing day. We went to downtown Chicago to feed the homeless on the streets. We brought sandwiches, water, and chips. The students stepped up to the plate and showed multiple homeless people that they matter to us and God. At first when we were talking to Alex and Laura we were extremely nervous. Jake stepped up and prayed for Laura. He prayed that God would bless her and that she will get her kids back from her mother. He also prayed that her situation would improve. She then asked us to pray for her husband as well. Her husband went on to explain their story and how the two of them were trying to get back on their feet. The rest of the day was just spectacular! All of the food was handed out before we even sat down to eat lunch. As the day progressed, it became easier and easier to talk with the homeless. At the end of the day, we all were able to agree that the day gave us a whole new perspective. We learned to think of others rather than ourselves. We might have been nervous at first but it turned out to be quite unforgettable."

Those are words that came out from my students Neil, Chris and Jake's mind. I requested them to give me an idea on what to write on my blog as it was them who stepped up to the plate and showed me how other people matter in their lives right now. I am extremely proud of them as it was no easy task getting away from their comfort zone and just be leaders out there. We taught them about how Joshua was chosen by God to lead the Israelites after Moses died (Joshua 1:1-9). Joshua stepped up, followed God all the way without complaints nor questions. I believe the students did our Lord proud today. They did me proud! Actually, during our recap time in the evening, many of them told stories of their experiences with the homeless people they interacted with and prayed with and what stood out among all that they experienced. What stood out the most for me was actually the students and how they handled things and how they stepped up to interact and pray for them and how much they showed love and care for them.

I'm truly proud of our group this year... and it's only the second day! I wonder what God has in store for us tomorrow. I can't wait.

Chicag08 Day 1 - Wednesday

Our team arrived here in Chicago safely and we went straight to Little India. It is a place where a lot of Muslims and Hindus live. We get to learn more about their culture as we listened to Pastor Mark explain about their culture and beliefs, then we get to listen to Sanica, an India native, about her testimony and how she got to know Jesus and all the trials that she had to go through until she met Jesus. Then we ate lunch in one of their more famous restaurant and we got to walk around and meet people and see how they live their lives.

We are at the hotel right now and I must say that it is beautiful. I will post some pictures of it together with my student group tomorrow. I would've posted some now (together with our group picture) but my card reader seems to be acting up again. Hope it works tomorrow.

Hotel in Chicago where we will stay

Hey, here's the link to the hotel where we will stay at during our trip to Chicago... Comfort Suites Oakbrook Terrace. I think it is a step up from the previous hotel we stayed at, at last year's mission trip. And this one has an INDOOR POOL! I am so excited... it's already 1:30 AM and I'm still awake! Check out the link as it has a lot more info and pictures about the hotel.

The Dark Knight will have to wait...

Well, I was looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight at the theaters this Thursday midnight but I guess it will have to wait until next week.


I, together with our Chicag08 team, are leaving for a one-week mission trip early tomorrow morning. We will be back next week Tuesday the 22nd. Tonight, we are going to have our last meeting and packing party. I am very much looking forward to this trip and see what God has in store for our team there... I hope that He will do something amazing and awesome to impact all of our lives, and cement in our hearts and minds at how great He truly is.

Journey... in 3D

Later on today, I will be watching the new movie Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D at Carmike Encore Plaza Cinemas in Elkhart.


It's been a while since I saw a 3D movie and I'm pretty excited about this one. (As a matter of fact, I don't even remember the last one I saw! LOL!) Well, I'm excited because I've only read good reviews for this movie. The effects are nice and modern. Hopefully, I get to post some of my experience either tonight or tomorrow. Oh and another movie I want to watch is Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It's currently the #1 movie here beating Hancock.

UPDATE: It's 5PM and I just got back from the movie. It's just a lot of fun... don't expect a story. It's very wholesome so you can take your family with you. And I get to take home my 3D glasses! By the way, I went to watch it with Noah.

Hmmmm... Monday......

It's Monday already... our Chicag08 team's leaving on Wednesday... still haven't done my laundry and still haven't found someone to take care of my dog Dusti (pic below)! The first one's easy, the latter's always my problem. The good thing about it is God has always given me the answer to that one problem, usually in the last minute. Somebody would always volunteer when all my hopes' almost gone. I wonder who would it be this time??? Hmmmmm.....

Getting ready for Chicag08

In less than 3 days, I, and a bunch of awesome leaders and middle-schoolers, will be going on a short-term mission trip to Chicago, IL. It will be from July 16th to the 22nd. This is part of the ongoing partnerships that our church GCC (Granger Community Church) have with different organizations in Chicago. Our ultimate goal is to transform lives and introduce to the people of Chicago who Jesus is and how great He is. We will be there to show them that each and everyone of them matter to God.

I hope to be posting some pictures and stories here whenever I can. You can check out the main blog also.