Camp Wawona, Part I

It turns out that I was mistaken, and my new room mate does not arrive until this Sunday, so I've had my new, spacious room in the lodge all to myself for the last few days. My parents and grandparents gave me a lovely visit, and we went down to Big Trees and Glacier Point, which offered a spectacular view of Half Dome. They bought me lunch and a really cute shirt, but I did not realize the full extent of their generosity until they revealed that they had fixed my beloved computer's screen and had it here for me. More importantly than that, though, I enjoyed just spending time with them.

The next day we did housekeeping all over the place, getting ready for the campers to come. Some of the cabins were pretty nasty, due to some rather unpleasant pranks some very immature people decided to play on each other. As we signed out for the afternoon, the kitchen staff was given six staff shirts each, each one a different color and all with the camp's name spelled Wowona because the printers got it wrong. I took these and my belongings up to the lodge, where I had fun arranging my new room to my taste. The campers arrived; they're so cute! They are so short that I have to serve soup from the side of the hot decks instead of over them so that they won't spill it. We did our play that night, and despite our worries, it was a great success.

Monday, I spent some time in the crafts building, just looking around; there's all kinds of wonderful ceramics and ceramic molds in there. Since then, I've been spending a little bit of time here and there just coming in and helping them clean greenware--there's always tons of it to do, and it never runs out. That night was the premiere of the staff video, which was well put-together by the videography department.

Tuesday night, I was so tired I could hardly make it to bed, I was so tired. It was hard to get up yesterday morning for the 6:30 shift, which was insane--lunch went a lot more smoothly, thank goodness. As I was relaxing, I heard a knock on my door and was pleasantly surprised to find my aunt Shirley there. We had a nice visit, and she invited me to take a watercolor class with her later in the summer. After campfire, we had a staff party, which was fun.

Well, I've enjoyed my day off so far--laundry, email, and the like. Today was our health inspection, and I hear we passed with flying colors--a source of great relief for everyone involved. I've been glad to hear from all of you as you tell me of your travels--some of you are in pretty exotic places like France, Egypt, or India, and I wish you well.

From Idaho to Wawona

The travel day that took us from Idaho to Wawona was long. We flew from Boise to Reno, and from Reno to Las Vegas, where we picked up our car and started driving. We drove into the night, stopping at Walmart for supplies and at Denny's for food until we gave up the chase and stopped for the night in Fresno. After breakfast at IHOP, we finally crossed into Yosemite National Park and made it to Camp Wawona.

As it was my parents' anniversary, they were happy to show me around the camp, telling me about how it was when they went there. They met, fell in love, and actually got married at Wawona--which made them somewhat nervous to send me here for the summer. There is so much family history here. Up until today, I was living in the Illilouette cabin, where my aunt and uncle lived when they worked here.

I was happy that my parents were able to spend a romantic evening at Tenaya Lodge while I settled in. The next day, I started work. It's not so much cooking food as assembling food, and there's also a lot of dishwashing involved. The people here are very nice, very fun to work with, and make the kitchen work enjoyable. An added bonus to all of this is that between the kitchen work and the very steep hill the camp is built upon, I have already lost five useless pounds. If I'm lucky, by the end of the summer I'll be as fit as I was as a freshman.

As I was walking along, minding my own business after work one evening, I came across a group of counselors who were practicing a play. Since I like that kind of thing, I sat down and watched their rehearsal. They invited me to join them, and now I am officially a part of their play. It goes up tomorrow night I think, which makes me somewhat nervous--I haven't had a lot of practice with them yet.

We also did some housekeeping work yesterday, helping to turn camp as the Epilepsy group left and we prepared for regular summer camp to begin. Last night, we had a pool party where I got to be a judge for some of the contests. Then, after dinner, we had a prayer walk through the camp ending in a communion service down by the river.

Today I'll be moving to the Lodge, where I'll receive a new room mate, another kitchen girl. Also, my parents and grandparents will come to visit, which will be wonderful.

I'll continue to send these emails and to update the blog as I can. I'm having computer issues at the moment, so the frequency of the updates are completely up in the air. I appreciate it when you send me messages telling me what's going on where you are as well, and I would love it if you would keep me filled in on all the latest news.

Disneyland to Idaho

After the adventure of graduation, we had a scanty two and a half days to close up things at school before we left for Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth, for Gradnite, a Disneyland party that starts around midnight and goes until six in the morning.

We were excited as we entered Main Street, loud music blaring, strobe lights flashing, and banners congratulating the Class of '07. It was my friend Hye Jeong's first time at Disneyland, and it was wonderful to see her expressions. On our first ride of the night, the Matterhorn broke down with us on it--very exciting. We waited in line for a very long time at some of our favorite rides--Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, and Pirates of the Carribean among them.

The night passed happily, riding all the rides we could until the gray light of dawn touched the castle as the DJ said, "Grad Nite is over--but so is high school!"

We slept a few hours that morning, then drove to Las Vegas to see The Phantom of the Opera at its purpose-built theatre in the Venetian. I had actually looked forward to this more than to graduation at one point--and my anticipation was not wasted. The sets, the costumes, the band, the voices, the pyrotechnics! Every moment was spell-binding. I ate it all up, a visual and musical feast.

Afterwards, we had fun getting lost on the strip in search of an In-N-Out. In the process, we saw the fountains of Bellagio, the Luxor, Treasure Island, and all those other brilliantly lit hotels that make the strip sparkle.

This morning, my family said good-bye to Las Vegas and to the rest of our party as we left for Boise, Idaho. Christian Edition brings us here, and we were very happy to see some of our friends meet us at the airport and whisk us away to PF Changs--we were starving. Our evening concert at the Idaho Campmeeting went well enough, and we enjoyed eating pie at a restaurant close to the hotel afterwards.

Now, the sun is setting in front of the hotel in beautiful colors. It has been a delightful trip. As soon as we get back to California, I will be immediately dropped off at Wawona for the summer, the end of a truly epic adventure.

Graduation

If you have never received a Jillian's Journeys before, this is my way of keeping family, friends, or anyone else who's interested informed of where on Earth I disappear to when they can't contact me. Although this started as a simple way of staying in touch with a few of my frustrated friends, it has blossomed into this huge monster of a thing with over sixty subscribers, plus frustrated friends who complain that they never get it, perhaps because they've never given me their email.

If you are one of these, just reply to this email and tell me you want to keep getting it. If you've been getting them, and you want it to stop, don't be afraid to tell me so. These are sent out either during or right after I go on a journey, whether that's to a foreign country like Paraguay or a metaphorical journey like a long, difficult performance weekend.

This last weekend marked a huge event in my life: high school graduation. The preceeding month had been an insane whirlwind of saying goodbye to so many things I've enjoyed at Pleasant Hill--my Pathfinder unit, school banquets, discussions in Economics, and singing for my dad's choir. Now, it was time to seal the deal.

Friday night was Consecration, where we read our Parent Tributes and passed the flame on to the next senior class. Some of my beloved classmates could not get through the first sentence of theirs without dissolving into puddles of tears, so I was quite happy to get through mine without doing so. My parents loved it.

Sabbath morning was Baccalaureate, or the last church service of our high school careers. I hate to admit it, but I do not remember what in the world the speaker, my now former Pathfinder director, was saying, but I sure enjoyed the clay he had us playing with as his visual aid. Also, I played Ennio Morricone's "Gabriel's Oboe" from The Mission for offertory, something I'd dreamed of doing ever since I first heard the piece. Playing that song fills me with the strongest emotions, with the beautiful memories of the Iguassu Falls in South America.

For lunch, we had a lot of relatives over here at my house. After some awesome Chinese food, I showed them a slideshow of many of the different activities that I have been involved with this year. They were a bit out of sequence, but people claimed to enjoy it anyway.

Class Night came in with a bang as we marched in to a 007 theme. As a part of the plot of our skit, we exploded a hydrogen balloon like we had in Chemistry class many times before. As we rushed to tackle the "villain," I noticed a microphone cover shooting rather alarming flames. I probably stamped on the thing for a solid minute with my little high-heeled shoes before someone finally came along and put it out. Later that night, I recieved awards in Science, Music, and Foreign Language. The Class Video was absolutely incredible.

Commencement was pathetically easy in comparison to everything else. After being showered with a ton of leis, we marched down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance. My dear friend and former teacher Mr. Van gave the address, making us all laugh as always as he compared each of us to a different type of beverage. He gave me a nice, big bottle of Inca Cola, a Peruvian soda that brings back many fond memories.

Then, we all recieved our diplomas and entered the whirlwind of photos and gifts before we could finally breathe free. A large group of my family and my friend Hye Jeong assembled at the Spaghetti Factory, where we ate well, gaped at a marvelous cake my cousin Amy made especially for the occasion, and enjoyed each other's company. Afterwards, Hye Jeong and I visited our class president's party.

When I finally got home, it was nice to just relax a bit and open up everything. A special thank you to all of you who sent me cards or gifts--they will all come in handy in the future. Two days from now, I take off on another epic adventure spanning three states and ending with a summer working as a part of Camp Wawona's kitchen staff, and I look forward to it with great anticipation.

Hawaii

To kick off our seven-day Senior class trip to Hawaii, my father gave each member of my class an eyelash lei he crocheted himself for us. Our flight to O'ahu was uneventful, and we were grateful for a good, solid meal at the International Market Place before shopping there. We did a swim test at the pool at our hotel in Waikiki that afternoon to ensure everyone's safety in the ocean.The next day was my friend Hillary's birthday. We surprised her by taking her to Starbucks, where we ordered her favorite drink, gave her gifts, and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. We played in the nice, warm waves at Waikiki beach before heading to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the rest of the day. There, we saw a colorful canoe pageant of native dancing from Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, and the Marquesas. The afternoon was spent learning more about those cultures, from the Tongan spear-throwing contest to the Tahitian dancing. We attended the luau that evening, which had some delicious native food, and the night show Horizons, which was spectacular.The highlight of Friday was the 'Iolani Palace, the only royal residence in the United States. As we explored the palace in booties to protect the century-old floor, I was deeply touched by the stories in this building--of Queen Kapiolani, who bitterly wept on the veranda to see the body of her dead husband carried in, how the next queen, Lilioukalani, was forced from her throne and eventually imprisoned in her own palace because of American greed. To stand in the room where she had been imprisoned, to see the quilt she had made, was powerful.We had dinner at Duke's, a lively spot by the sea in Waikiki. It was like one of those daydreams I get in class--laughing, eating key lime pie, and listening to good music on the beach. We walked along the beach a bit that evening, and enjoyed a team-building vespers while the sun sank beneath the waves.On Sabbath, we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, which was full of wonderful fish. In the afternoon, we went bodysurfing at Makapu'u, which was fantastic. It truly felt like a "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride." We had vespers at the light house there. Unfortunately, the same waved I enjoyed at Makapu'u blasted off my sunscreen and gave me a nasty sunburn I enjoyed for the rest of the trip.On Mother's Day, we headed out to Pearl Harbor very early, where we saw the USS Arizona memorial, honoring the lives of the men who died during the surprise attack on the US fleet there during World War II. It was a sobering sight, all those names. We brightened up a bit to tour a submarine in the harbor, the USS Bowfin, that actually managed to have only one casualty (to the leg, nontheless) in its entire service. Having had enough history, we went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, which had killer deals on many things. I bought a dress there to wear with my dad's lei that evening at our dinner cruise. The food on it was delicious, the music was good, the dancers all right, and the company spectacular.We spent Monday on North Shore, feeding the koi fish at the Dole Pineapple Plantation and hanging out on the beaches at Turtle Bay and Waimea. We also went to the world-famous Matsumoto's Shave Ice, where I got a li hing mui shave ice with beans. It actually turned out quite tasty. The next day, we left, sniff sniff. All of us got home safely, just to be reminded of all the work we have to do before graduation. It is the season of projects, papers, and sending out those pesky graduation invitations, a process I haven't even started. Please pray not just for me, but for all the seniors at my school. Thank you for all your support.

From Seattle to LA

What a week for travel! In the last seven days, I have traveled over 2,000 miles all the way up and down the west coast. Little sleep, but lots of amazing things to see. It started with the choir tour to Seattle. We were at the school all night the night before, but were able to catch a few winks of sleep on the plane. Our first appointment was at Skagit Adventist Academy, where they served us a good lunch before we performed for them. Their choir, who was studying two of the same songs as ours, joined us for those numbers. Afterwards, we went to the incredibly cool Boeing Flight Museum, where I actually got to sit in a pilot's cockpit. After a quick supper, we returned to Skagit for their vespers, a service which deeply touched us.On Sabbath morning, we performed at the Chehalis SDA church, with its stone floors and glorious stained glass of the Orion nebula. They fed us an incredible potluck afterwards, which made us cheery as we visited the Washington state capital in Tacoma. We sang inside the building under the third largest masonry dome in the country. The echo was amazing, lasting almost two seconds. Then, the pianists in our group got to play the century-old instrument in the State reception room, which was gorgeous. Our next stop was the Bridge of Glass, where a famous glassblower had displayed colorful sculptures of cherubs and sea creatures. We then had a snack stop at a park in Seattle to end the Sabbath. Saturday night was spent at Gameworks, where I had a great time on all the racing games.Our Sunday morning concert was at a church with a glorious organ. We then went to the Chittendem Locks and saw the botanical gardens next to it, which featured a mysterious black tulip. We had lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory, then spent a good deal of the rest of the day at Pike Place Market, famous for its fish vendors. After purchasing some tea there, we took the Seattle Underground Tour. This was fascinating--Seattle is built on a tide flat, and to avoid the problem of people swimming to work, they raised the street level by a story. What was left was a vast network of underground tunnels all over downtown Seattle. We finished up our day at St. Mark's Cathedral, where we heard Compline, a choir specializing in plain chant, performed. The sound was so beautiful, it nearly lulled me to sleep.The last day's appearance was at the conference office, where I was overjoyed to see my former principal Mrs. White again. We went to the Experience Music Project after that, where my friends and I got to pretend we were a rock 'n' roll band. Inside the same building was the Science Fiction Museum, which I found fascinating. Then, we had lunch in the Space Needle, dining in grand style (portobello mushrooms and butternut squash, o my!) looking out at the skyline of Seattle. We took one last group photo, then flew back to Oakland.The next day, my family flew down to LA for the funeral of our dear friend Joyce Gutche. She passed away a week ago, on the morning of the largest fundraiser of the year for us. She gave me my start writing articles, and she had a newsletter, "HSD," very similar to my Jillian's Journeys. It encouraged us to see so many people come to honor her memory. Unfortunately, we missed the flight back to Oakland, and had to drive back in the rental car. We arrived at home around 3:30 AM, leaving my father and I barely functioning as we went to the BART station to go into San Francisco to hear the symphony. I was in charge of a small group of 6th graders, which was fun. The San Francisco Symphony is considered one of the top ten in the world, and they were having a good musical day. Their playing was nearly perfect, incredible to hear.

Paraguay, Part XI

We woke up insanely early on Sunday morning, took a final group photo at the hotel, and headed for the Asuncion airport, where we said goodbye to our new friends. Once through security, we did some last-minute shopping, which was quite an experience. I have never bartered in an airport before. I managed to get a store clerk to reduce the price of a hat by a third of its price, which astounded me.

To get to Santiago de Chile, we flew over the Andes mountains. Wow, even seen from the air one cannot help but appreciate the majesty of these snow-capped peaks. I actually enjoyed this flight, thanks to the great scenery.

Then, in Santiago, we had an 8-hour layover. We made the most of it, shopping (again), having a nice long lunch, and watching movies projected on the wall (since we had so many projectors along anyway). Doing that actually attracted the attention of passersby, and we had a few Australians and a New Yorker join us, probably grateful to hear anything in English at that point.

I was irritated at the Chilean airport security, who took my water as I got onto the plane. Another long flight with almost no water, grr. It wasn't as bad this time because I was actually tired enough to sleep, thank goodness.

In LA, after fixing my customs form, I was so delighted to be back in the USA that I accidentally took the custom agent's pen. Quite a way for me to start my time back in the States, don't you think? It was nice to have a Starbucks, some San Francisco bread, and some LA water before boarding the plane that took us to our home airport. We got home around noon without problems.

I finished the school day, immediately plunging into the thousands of things to do, even attending Pathfinders that night. It's kind of ironic that it took me longer to get this update out here than it did in a foreign country; there's just too much to do here. Thank you for all your support; it has been a good trip, and the lack of damage to people (as opposed to electronics) has been largely due to your prayers, I believe. I look forward to seeing many of you soon.

Paraguay, Part X

This is the last Jillian's Journeys I am sending from Paraguay itself. I have so enjoyed my time here, and am sorry that it is drawing to a close.Before the programming last night, our pastor took us to see the monument that overlooks the city, honoring the fallen heroes of Paraguay. It was impressive, especially as it was silhouetted by the sunset. What we thought at the time was the last children's meeting went well, and the adult meeting went well, also. I met someone who wants to come to California and study to become a conductor. He was very interested in the LA Philharmonic, and I just had to marvel that they luckily asked me. I was glad to answer his questions.Afterwards, our pastor had us over for pizza and ice cream at his house. He introduced us to his wife and daughter--both are incredibly beautiful, and showed us excellent hospitality. Today was insane. We woke up to torrential rain (the first rain we've seen the entire time) and got ready to go. We stopped by the children's site to drop off a Sabbath School quarterly, and discovered that we had to present an entire program that we somehow had to fabricate straight out of our heads. Fortunately, the rain offered a great retelling of Noah's ark. It was so loud, beating on the tin roof, that we could hardly hear each other speak.Scott, Shaddai and I all team-preached the final sermon (after getting lost on the way there, but that's another story). It was sad to say goodbye to this church--it was small, but its members had large hearts. We enjoyed a brief rest for lunch at the hospital, then it was time to go to the women's prison to give a VBS program to their children. This involved even more improvisation, as I finished telling my story, ready for the craft, just to discover that Shaddai had left the craft supplies at the security checkpoint. So, we got out the puppets and completely winged a second story, which was exciting.I was already tired after that, but there were still two more appointments. First, we spoke before a group of leaders from the district of our first church to motivate them for their next efforts in evangelism. Then, after a brief stop at the hotel, the conference president and the pastors threw a party for us at the hospital. They had pizza, ice cream, and everyone we had worked with there. They showed pictures and had a musician they'd hired in play guitar and harp for us. I've never heard the harp played with such incredible life. They made speeches thanking us for coming, and gave us going-away presents (including a comb for Pastor T., who is bald). We said good-bye to everyone there, and I believe I will miss them.Well, the bags are mostly packed now. Although our first flight leaves at 10:00 AM tomorrow morning, we don't arrive in San Francisco until noon on Monday. It's a long journey, with long stopovers. Pray for our sanity and for our hydration. Thank you for all your support throughout the entire trip. I look forward to seeing you all when I return.

Paraguay, Part VIII

Yesterday, we intended to go shopping, but there was some miscommunication with our transportation, and as a result, we had a very relaxed, laid-back day at the hotel (during which, yay, I finally succeeded in tanning). The children at the site last night really enjoyed the craft, taking all the blue glitter we had and putting it not just on the craft, but everywhere--faces, arms, clothing--everywhere. Scott's sermon that night went so well that he had me convinced. He opened with a story, which was great. Some little girls about Pathfinder age came and chatted with us afterwards, which was fun.I didn't send this update out last night because, other than the complete and total lack of newsworthy info, we were watching the movie Hook projected on the ceiling of the room. There's something very trippy about watching that movie late at night--we're thinking, no more movies; we need to sleep.For that reason, I'm probably going to start sending these out during the day instead of at night. I had to wake up at the crack of dawn this morning to go and speak at a motorcycle factory. This was fascinating, as we were in the vast warehouse where they assemble the frames for these motorcycles. The workers in this factory are all guys about my age, and the company is actually paying them their regular wages to listen to someone from our team to speak to them every day, which seems pretty awesome to me. This was my first time doing a motivational speech, and it didn't go too badly.Later this morning we had the fun of crossing the street to get some water. Sounds simple, eh? But they don't seem to believe in pedestrian right-of-way here. Mr. Van and Scott had to watch for nice, wide gaps in traffic so that we could run across. In a way, there was something marvelously fun about doing this. Don't worry; it's not like I'm going to take up jaywalking in the States or anything stupid like that. They just don't seem to have traffic laws of any kind here, and the accidents here are pretty nasty--be grateful for stoplights in America.

Paraguay, Part VII

Our trip to the center of the city was wonderful; I had a chance to see the local handicrafts, and I was enchanted by the fine, multicolor lace for which the Paraguayan craftspeople are famous. We also saw local buildings, such as the Parliament building, the Governor's Palace, and a monuement to the fallen heroes of Paraguay. When we came back, we had a bit of a movie night, but I fell asleep in the middle of it.We resumed eating at the hospital today, which was delicious as usual. We headed out to new sites today, us with Pastor Vidal. The childrens' ministry was in a place right on the border to Argentina and so poor that they could not afford to have a bathroom in the facility. The children loved everything though, especially the puppets, which we had to do in real voice because there was no way to amplify the soundtrack from the computer. Because there was no other place to sit, I sat on the electronics bag. While I spoke, the bag fell from under me, and I though nothing of it.We drove past a very rich section of town to get to the preaching site, and I was amazed because they were the kinds of houses that would be considered nice in California, too. The actual church was very small, and only thirteen people came, but they were incredible kind and took well to us. One of the men was a singer and had heard of Faith First which surprised me. To my horror, when I went to turn on my laptop, there were cracks and ugly big black splotches on the screen. They are still there as I write this. I'm hoping it's covered in the warranty and that the warranty hasn't expired (mom or dad, could you check that, please?) and am rather annoyed, to put it mildly, especially since I have been planning on, no, counting on taking this computer to college. Everything is still in perfect working order except for the screen, so fortunately none of my data is lost. I just have to consider my amazing luck.As icing on the cake, I returned to the hotel and realized that I had left the adapter at the church. What a genius I've turned out to be, grr. Anyway, I hope that you have better luck in that area and as much luck in all the other areas in which we've been truly blessed--with the love and appreciation of kind people.

Paraguay, Part VI

We are back at the hotel now, and the trip was incredible. We did wake up at an insanely early hour, and enjoyed a very good local bread along the way, as well as some of the famous yerba mate, a delicious beverage that Paraguayans can't seem to get enough of. We had the cold kind, called tesere, that was cool and bitter. I wish I could bring some home.To our relief, they didn't stop us at the Paraguay-Brazil border, so technically we were illegals in Brazil. As a result,we didn't have to pay the nasty 60 dollar visa (broad smile). We had lunch at an all-you-can-eat buffet that actually had some of the hummus I had started to miss.Going to the Iguassu falls was an amazing experience. The Yosemite falls look like a hotel shower in comparison. The sound is indescribable, more thunderous than a thousand choirs. In addition, there were butterflies of all colors everywhere, landing on people and railings, decorating the place like gems. This creature that looked like an ROUS (Rodent Of Unusual Size, if you haven't seen The Princess Bride) came right up to people to eat whatever food a person would give them.We had supper at a pizzeria where you pay a flat fee, then they bring pizza to you and you decide whether or not to take it, as much pizza as you want. They had all kinds of flavors, including this unusual but tasty banana pizza. I wonder if I can make it back in the States.We stayed the night in the dorm of an Adventist college, which gave me a profound sympathy for the students who must live there when they're not on break. We left at another insanely early hour of the morning to come back to Asuncion, and slept most of the way. We had lunch at their version of a mall, and I was amazed to hear that a movie ticket only costs about 5 USD here, and lunch was only 3 USD. It was a good lunch, too.Anyway, we've been relaxing at the hotel for the last few hours, with unsuccessful (on my part) attempts to tan. In a few minutes, we'll go and enjoy a tour of the center of the city by our driver from the trip to Iguassu. I'm glad to hear how well so many of you are doing, and hope that things continue to improve.

Paraguay, Part IV

Today we moved the VBS site to make it closer to the kids' school. The children loved the puppet shows we prepared for them, and while I worked on the craft with them, I was finally able to really get to talk with them, especially this one girl, Carol. The only problem was that I was taking pictures with my camera, then I left it on a table next to my Bible to use later. When I returned, it was goneThat's three cameras in two months. At least this one was cheap. Please pray this one returns to me; it irritates me to go without photography, always seeing good photos I can't take.The president of the Paraguay conference came to the meeting tonight, and I was preaching. He listened to all of it attentively, and showed great appreciation for our work. The topic tonight was the judgement, something I feel passionately about, so it went well. I did a call, and was astounded to see people come up. I've never had that experience before. Afterwards the conference president invited us out for ice cream, which was incredibly good after being in the sweltering heat all day. I enjoyed trying flavors that I'd never heard of before--they were mostly delicious, especially the flan flavor.

Paraguay, Part III

Today as I was working on my sermon notes by the pool, I met Herman, probably the only other person around here who speaks English and isn't in our group. He's a German from Argentina, and is living at this hotel for business reasons right now. It was just surprising to hear someone local speaking English, and he seemed just as surprised to hear us talking in it.We spent a long time practicing puppet shows we didn't use before it was time to go to the SDA hospital for our first radio interview. It's a very small radio studio, not much larger than a person's bedroom, and loaded with microphones and sound-editing equipment. The interviewer was very nice, not asking us too ridiculous questions, and we were recorded, not broadcast live, though we may be broadcast live later in the week. They seemed to appreciate my bad Spanish, which is getting better every day I'm here (as in, I'm having a hard time thinking in English right now).After another one of those amazing three-course lunches the hospital serves, we went to Remancito, our site, to do the VBS program. We had to start almost immediately, as many of the children were already there (as was the cow from the day before, a chicken or two, and some dogs). It actually went fairly well, although at one point a local teacher stood up and asked us why they had to be there. Luckily, the local pastor had some very eloquent words to say about cultural exchange and teaching children ethics, which satisfied the teacher, who didn't bother us anymore.I enjoyed talking with some locals afterwards, who taught me words in Guarani, which was fun. Tonight, all the electronics were working properly, and Scott's sermon went off well. When he gave an altar call, half the church came forward with a genuine interest in baptism. This was amazing. We unwound tonight with more incredible pizza. I cannot believe that for two decent-sized gourmet pizzas, you only have to pay $10 US. Thank you once again for all your prayers. I hope I haven't overwhelmed anyone with all these emails--I just don't want anyone to feel out of the loop.

Paraguay, Part II

After I wrote last night, we went out for a meeting with the local pastors and conference officials to coordinate our efforts. It was a fun meeting, where they served us pizza with really good vegetables on it and some of their tasty soda. This morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, which was actually quite decent--they had oatmeal, cereal, fruit, yogurt, bread, and hot drinks. All in all, it won't be hard to eat it every day for the next two weeks. We had another debriefing, then Shaddai and I spent the rest of the morning working on my sermon for tonight. It's a long process, involving lots of translation work. There's no way I can get out of this trip without improving my Spanish. Around 1:00 we left to have lunch at the Adventist Hospital here. The food was incredible, and they even laid it out in a very attractive presentation. It was like dining at a five-star restaurant without the excessive number of forks and formal dress. We went shopping for supplies then, which was interesting. We had to speak Spanish as much as possible, because the people who sell things here will sometimes raise the prices if they hear English. Oddly enough, they didn't sell any usefully-sized construction paper, so we had to buy large sheets and cut them out by hand later.After dropping those supplies off here at the hotel, we left to our preaching/Vacation Bible School site. The VBS site is a soccer field with a cow in it. Our first program of that will be tomorrow, which will be interesting. The local woman who was showing us around gave us a tour of a nearby school. Parts of the small building are 70 years old, and its 5 classrooms serve 190 students, some of which have to meet outside. Other, newer schools get better funding, and this one has been threatened to be shut down. I was shocked at the poverty of the school--they definitely didn't have enough desks, which looked like one breath could knock them down, and most of the crude blackboards weren't even mounted to the walls.When I started to set up, I discovered to my annoyance that I did not have the right cable to connect the projector to my computer. So, I had to preach without the beautiful power point slides I had worked so hard to create. That's life. I enjoyed faking my way through song service; they were mostly songs I knew in English, but had to pick up really quickly in Spanish. We had a great turnout--about 150 people, many of them children. The sermon went really well, despite the technical difficulties, and the people were very kind as they left. Most of them are Guarani natives, and Spanish is their second language. When we came back to the hotel, Shaddai, Scott and I enjoyed a nice, long, refreshing swim in the hotel pool. Tomorrow will be even more busy than today was, including a live interview on one of the local radio stations. In the meantime, we will sleep very well.

Paraguay, Part I

Right now I am writing from my hotel room in Asuncion, Paraguay. This is the beginning of a two-week mission trip that has taken months of preparation and lots of support from all of you back home. Our group is composed of Shaddai Aguas, Jackie Jee, Scott Wilson, Sonia Barajas, Carlos Gomez, Pastor Ron Torkelson, Barry van Iderstein, and myself I said goodbye to my parents on Sunday morning, with them reminding me to buy a card for the cheap digital camera I'd bought the night before that did not come with one (surprise, surprise). We made it through security with no problems, and our first flight to Los Angeles, California was safely uneventful. In the airport, however, the lady at the electronics shop tried to sell me a card that cost more than the camera itself and did not hold very many pictures. This annoyed me greatly, so I will be borrowing a card from Shaddai until I come back to the states.The next flight, however, tops all my records for most brutal flight ever. It was a very nice plane with a good entertainment system, but the flight attendants only served water three or four times in the entire 13-hour flight to Lima, Peru. Plus, when we arrived, we were not allowed to disembark because we were on the same plane going to Santiago, Chile. The plane sat on the runway getting repaired long enough for me to watch an entire feature film. The flight to Santiago was not as bad, as they actually served us a decent breakfast and it wasn't quite as long. When we arrived at Santiago, we had a nice, long layover in which I got some exercise by walking to the end of the terminal over and over again. It attracted strange looks, but it felt so good after being trapped in the plane for so long.When we arrived in Asuncion, there was a group there to greet us who had brought a folk singer along, who serenaded us in welcome with songs about Paraguay. The city reminds me a lot of LA--lots of traffic and lots of American business franchises. Shaddai, Jackie and I are sharing a room here at the Hotel Bavaria, and it's actually quite spacious, made for three people. I am in the process of attempting to put pictures of it on the photobucket account, but as I am new to this camera, this may or may not work.I would like to thank all of you who made this trip possible, whether it was through your prayer support, financial support, love support, or all three. I will continue to send updates when I can, and I would like to ask that you keep our mission team and the people we will be serving in your prayers. Thank you.

Yuma, Arizona

We were pleased to discover on Friday morning that Dad's bag, along with his CE music and calendar, had been returned. This was especially fortunate since we left that afternoon for Yuma, Arizona, a drive that took about twelve hours. After night fell, I was enchanted to see the swirling lights of the dune buggy drivers doing late-night driving on the dunes in the desert. It was about that time (around 1:30 AM) that I called Mr. Villar, my Bible teacher, as a part of the insane flour baby project. We arrived in Yuma at 3:30 AM local time. After all that time in the car, it was heaven to walk to the hotel room.The next morning, CE had appointments at the Yuma SDA church. The people there were warm and inviting, and I enjoyed listening to an environmental scientist talk about the cool explosive things you can do with duct tape over potluck. It was also wonderful just to be with all my "uncles" in CE; it's been a while since I've seen them. The director, Calvin, had a bit of trouble as the drycleaners sent him back the wrong white shirt that was over five neck sizes too small. Fortunately, one of the women was able to go get him one.On Sunday, my family had an interesting breakfast visit to Jack in the Box. First of all, it took my dad about a quarter of an hour to explain to them how to make a Breakfast Jack with eggs instead of meat. Then, we saw an INS border patrol agent enjoying his breakfast. I hadn't realized we were so close to the border; I discovered that the Mexican border was only ten miles away. The concert that morning was at a very hospitable Sunday church, but unfortunately, Calvin became ill and one of the guys had to step up to take his place. He was nervous, but he did an excellent job for both the morning and afternoon concerts. The two appointments were so close together that everyone was late to the call time for the second one.To enjoy our last few moments outside of California, my family ate at Cracker Barrel, a restaurant that serves delicous food but exists everywhere in the US but California, it seems. Then, we headed back to Desert Hot Springs, passing the dunes once again and the gigantic Saltan Sea, which was accidentally created when some genius decided to reroute the Colorado River. Our relatives in Desert Hot Springs received us warmly, and we enjoyed giving my grandparents a new television--their old one was in nothing but shades of green. We played a nice, long round of Hand and Foot, a game using Rook cards, which gave us a chance to catch up. The next morning, we had a wonderful breakfast with lots of fresh fruit before starting the long drive back. We arrived home safely after a weekend of 13,000 miles of travel, thanks in part to all your prayers for my family. Thank you for that.

Week of Strange Events

It may seem odd to be emailing you so soon after my Valentine's greeting, but minutes after I sent it out, something incredibly irritating happened, if you haven't heard already. We went to the car to discover that it had been robbed. The thief took Justin's video camera, the camera bag that contained most of the remaining film of Justin preaching, and the still camera, which had sorely-needed pictures of an event I need to report on in the school newspaper. They also took my dad's briefcase, which had his and my mother's passports and the gift he had gone to great lengths to procure for my mother for Valentine's, an Aloha pendant from Maui Divers.Other than that extremely disturbing event, it was a fairly good Valentine's Day. But then, this morning I was practicing my oboe, and something else incredibly unhappy-making occured. As I finished, I set it on my bed so I could touch my computer keyboard. The oboe rolled off the bed and hit the floor, snapping it at the cork. I seethed inside, wondering "What's next?" Fortunately, the oboe is being fixed, at the loss of two weeks of practice and 200 dollars. The stolen goods. . . who knows? I would just hope that the film somehow finds its way back, even if the cameras never do. This weekend we go to Yuma; please pray that we do not lose anything else of significant value before we return. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day, with better luck than ours.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Alrighty, I have to go to school, so I'll make this quick. This last weekend I got to visit my wonderful great-grandma Anabel in Placerville; it was really nice to get to enjoy her company.

The next day I got to attend a teacher's convention at the Radisson Hotel in Sacramento with my parents. My old teacher, Mr. Van, who works at the conference office now, was able to secure me a nametag, so for the day, I was able to pose as a teacher, which was fun. It was all about the Valuegenesis II study, which I found to be full of fascinating information and very helpful.

Anyway, enough about my silly weekend, Happy Valentine's Day--may the day bring you love, luck, and all the other true blessings of God.

Honor Choir

The last half of this week was spent at PUC for Honor Choir. It was four days of brutal but rewarding rehearsal. We arrived early Wednesday afternoon; I enjoyed seeing some old friends as our group signed in. Then, the director, Bruce Rasmussen, auditioned us. I believe it went well.

After the evening's rehearsal, my friend Hye Jeong and I checked in with our PUC hostesses. They were two very nice girls in Andre who had decorated their room with glorious shades of red, black, and white.

Thursday was work, work, work, with some socializing. I just kept on running into people I knew all over campus, which was both encouraging and slightly creepy.

On Friday, I somehow wound up singing a piece I'd only gotten two days earlier in front of the entire choir with only one other alto. That was interesting. We also moved into the church in order to practice in their acoustics.

That night, PUC's music department put on a concert for us, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Their bell choir and brass ensembles were particularly good.

On Sabbath, we performed at church, then later in the afternoon. That final concert was the culmination of everything we'd learned. The music was glorious, especially this really great piece involving two choirs answering each other back and forth.

Anyway, things are slowing down in the travel department a bit, being replaced by research paper season. I hope all is well for each and every one of you.

Albion Field Station

Ah, I've been getting lazy--not writing this trip report until it's time to prepare for another. Anyway, I spent this last weekend with my Pathfinder club at PUC's Albion Field Station, located on a river letting into the scenic Northern Califoria Coast. It was a great trip, with lots of fun activities and chances to earn more honors--and, of course, a chance for us to bond as a club.On the trip up, I entertained my unit, the Cheetahs, with games. When we arrived at Albion, we unloaded our gear, then set off down the Albion river in canoes. It was wonderful to be out on the river, the sun reflecting off of it as we peacefully slid between the shores. We saw a group of seals really up close that way, which was awesome.Then we got in the cars and went tidepooling at a Mendocino beach. Oh, the wonders we saw there! There were lots of green sea anenomes, purple sea urchins, sea stars, and also some less common creatures, like the small, bright sea lemons and little orange clown inverterates we saw. When we finished scanning the beach, we climbed back up the cliff and the sky was alight with the most gorgeous sunset, tinting the foamy waves with shades of pink and blue--a perfect open to the Sabbath.When we returned to Albion, we had a very satisfying supper, but I think one of the desserts really made my unit go crazy. I had a hard time getting them to go to bed that night, as they were a tad rowdy. I could only laugh and say "I told you so" when we had to wake up at 6:30 the next morning to prepare a grand breakfast of quiche and cinnamon rolls for the club. After that and a brief worship, we went canoeing again. I was somewhat surprised, however, to find a good deal down the river that our canoe was taking on water--fast. We paddled as hard as we could to make it back to the dock, and luckily, the thing didn't sink. I'm sure the fine volunteers at the station are fixing the leak as we speak.Returning from a less exciting canoe ride with a fresh boat, we settled down a bit and did some candlemaking. We made sand candles, ice candles, gel candles, and candles of beaded wax. After a quick lunch, we went to Pt. Cabrillo, a historic lighthouse, which was fascinating. We also enjoyed seeing Glass Sand Beach briefly, its green, white, brown and blue pebbles illuminated by the afternoon sun. Finally, we proceeded to McKerricher Beach to tide pool. It had many anenomes, and the girls in my unit enjoyed feeding black turbans (a type of sea snail) to them. All in all, a good weekend, launching into another. Tomorrow I leave for Honor Choir at PUC; it promises to be a great experience, like all others.

Take It To the Streets

I spent this last weekend in San Francisco for "Take It To The Streets," a special program that focuses on training youth in practical ministries. Hosted by YWAM (Youth With a Mission), it was a unique opportunity to learn about the poverty here in the United States--poverty that had previously been invisible to me.After school on Friday, we loaded the cars with not only our luggage, but with bags full of clothes and toiletries for the homeless. We took off for San Francisco, where we unloaded everything at YWAM's building there. The bulk of the afternoon and evening were spent just settling in and getting to know each other. Then, we were shown some training videos before being sent outside, into the Tenderloin district, to talk and pray with the homeless. The next morning, my group went to the Glide Memorial across the street to help them with their soup kitchen. It was breakfast, so it wasn't soup, but a fairly decent meal, and each person was allowed to have two trays. I got to work in the dining room for the disabled, which was quite an experience. One lady had a book with a bunch of Da Vinci drawings in it, and we talked awhile about them. Another lady jabbered away enthusiastically in Korean, and even though I didn't understand a word of what she was saying, she was so friendly that we still sort of managed to communicate.When we returned to YWAM, we were given "Justice Education," where we learned about how people become homeless and what we can do to combat poverty. My blood boiled to hear that the 500 billionaires in the world have fifty percent of the world's wealth. No country has as large a gap between the rich and the poor as the US--on one hand, we have Bill Gates, the world's wealthiest man; on the other, we have the people we saw in the streets this weekend, who probably don't have even a dollar to their name.Then, we started out on a Skyscraper Safari. We walked to the financial district and prayed for the people and the businesses there--the Transamerica Pyramid, US Customs and Immigration, the Embarcadero, even the headquarters for USA Today--we wanered all over. We ended up in a park in China Town, where we prayed for the whole city. When we returned, we went out again and did a Living Water ministry where we handed out bottles of water with verses on them on Powell Street. We then went to supper at Naan and Curry, an Indian restaurant which served just that, with excellent Chai tea as well. After that, we had a commitment service, where we sang, listened to one of the pastors give a talk, then went through three stations--foot washing, writing something we wished to give up and nailing it onto the wooden cross they had there, and writing in a journal they provided how we wished to commit ourselves to God. Our last morning, we went out and served coffee and doughnuts to the homeless. One man said, "There's no U-hauls going to heaven." That's sure the truth. As my group was headed back to YWAM, we stopped to offer two women on the street doughnuts. It turned out that one was having a seizure, and the other said she was trained to handle this, but would appreciate prayer. We did so, and fortunately, someone called an ambulance and they came. Soon after, we left. It had been an amazing weekend; I have never seen so much of San Francisco before. It gave me the energy to study for the finals that are this week and to deal with whatever bug I've caught that's making my throat feel as though it's on fire. Wish me luck on the finals; we've never had them so late in the school year before.