Ooh Rah

Chris Clark, a good friend of my brother and I (and many of you), is a Marine Recon currently in Iraq. Last week his grandma passed away. He and his brother were pretty much raised by his grandparents. His parents were in to a lot of bad stuff and were incarcerated for a while, so his grandparents took him and his brother in. His grandpa (Hank) had no way of getting hold of Chris to give him the news. He called my mom to give her the news and to see if she had any contact with Chris. My mom and brother prayed that Chris would call in the next couple days so that they could get him in touch with his grandpa. Chris called Saturday at 5:00 am. Totally random. He told Justin that he is in Kuwait and about to begin a covert mission entering Iraq undercover. He told Justin that he was scared and asked him to have people pray for him. Justin then told him about his grandma. Chris then hung up and called his grandpa. Pray for the safety of Chris and his unit as they are probably doing this mission as you read this. Pray that he will be challenged to grow in the Lord as well and that people will be brought in to his life that know God and can encourage him.

Charlie requested that I post this ridiculous drama from last year's mission trip to the Rez. We were in charge of creating (no pun intended) a drama during our training sessions last summer and this is what we came up with. During the creative process we had no idea that I would be doped up on Hydrocodone when we actually performed the skit. It really brought the drama to a whole new level. My narrating, as you can see, was really top notch.

KIndergarten, not Kindersmarten (Trees, Trucks, and More!!!)

I helped out in Mel's class today. I like going in there. The kids are pretty funny and it sorta makes me feel like a celebrity when I show up. Kids clamor to sit next to me, stare at me, ask me random questions, and think pretty much everything I do is cool. I picture a similar relationship with my yet-to-be-born child. Mel asked her students to give suggestions for baby names. Some of the highlights included, Spiderman, Loop (Pakistani suggestion), Star Wars, Anakin, and Joe. No joke. Those were real suggestions. Classic. I worked at one of the tables in the room helping students fill out a paper about their dad for father's day. The questions were pretty basic (dad's age, favorite thing to do, food, etc.) but the answers were classic. Most kids assume their dad's age is in the 80-90 range. I am pretty sure that is not accurate. One of the kid's dad spends a lot of time at the tapioca shop apparently, and if given the choice to have anything in the world, his dad would choose tapioca. I believe him.

Last night at the church a tree fell down. It was exciting. A bunch of high school students placed the tree in the back of Rob Calame's truck. We then tried to put the tree in Deej's car but someone tipped him off and he came out and caught us in the act.

Here is the church segment of the Immanuel Mission Promo DVD. It features clips from their basic church service in addition to some footage from Christmas time. Oh the splendor of it all.

How do you say "basketball" in Navajo?

I just finished another segment for the Immanuel Mission Promo DVD. You can check it out if you would like.

Today I will probably end up destroying Jake in tennis yet again and will likely revel in my victory for an extended period of time before meeting Melissa for dinner. It's gonna be a good day.

Melissa and I are going on the staff retreat today for VBC staff. That was redundant. Anyway, I just finished editing the Immanuel Mission promotional video that I filmed back in December on the Navajo Reservation. If you have been on a mission trip to Arizona before you will like this video (I hope). It shows what the mission looks like in the winter and when school is in session. Let me know what you think. I am still tinkering with it and have not delivered the final copy to the people at Immanuel yet so if there is anything that you think should be changed or added let me know so I can make the proper adjustments.

After I finish this video I am going to start working on the Ukraine Orphanage Project so I will keep you posted. Kosonom.

I got up with John at 5:30 today to film him pick kids up in the school bus. This is quite the affair. It takes about an hour an a half to pick all of the kids up. I got some okay shots but I was half asleep.
Melissa woke up with me at 5:30. However, she did not intend to. She had a bloody nose. She is recovering though. In a little bit we will be joining the kindergarten class to decorate cookies. Should be funny. Melissa went to observe the junior class that she will be subbing for tomorrow. Kinda funny...On my way home from the airport with John and a girl named Megan, they told me that Mel would be subbing for Megan's j-hi class on Tuesday. They asked me if I thought Mel would mind. I said that I didn't think so. They said good because Megan already booked a flight for early Tuesday and they were counting on Mel to sub. I did inform them that Melissa was a kindergarten teacher, not a junior high teacher as they previously thought. Kinda funny. Already said that.
We are hoping the weather stays nice so that our flights are not delayed on Wednesday. We will be leaving the school at 3:30am in order to get to the airport on time. Awesome.