Every year, the Sunland Navigators have a Road Rally. The purpose is to "Go somewhere with some friends and do something for someone else." This year, we went back to Las Vegas again and helped several non-profit organizations. Even though University of Arizona and Arizona State University didn't participate with us, the California schools (UCI, UCLA, UCSD, SDSU, CSULB, and Cal Poly SLO) had a blast serving the Las Vegas community.
Most of the UCLA students and 1 CSULB student served New Life Christian Center. We helped them shampoo the carpets, mop the floors, organize many shelves and storage rooms, dust, vacuum, clean the kitchen, pick up trash, and the list goes on. Even though some students expected to help feed the homeless, I was encouraged by their attitudes in serving this local church by doing some "fall cleaning."
We all slept in a local church's worship center. The guys slept on one side, the girls on the other. It's a Navigator event, we gotta make sure we regulate. =)
Masashi is a UCLA foreign exchange student from Japan. He's been coming out to Navigators and he really enjoys meeting new people. I was encouraged that he wanted to come to Las Vegas. He said even though he didn't help the homeless, which he really wanted to do, he had a great time meeting new people from different schools. I really enjoy his friendship and I hope we will continue to know each other better.
James Tsang is the fearless UCLA campus director. He has been stretched so much in taking on this new role as campus director, yet I trust that the Lord is teaching him how to lead well. One day, we so happened to wear similar clothing. Yuck.
Peter (left) and Cody (right) had their first experience in eating Korean BBQ. Even though Cody has a serious face, he really did enjoy his meat feast. I know I did. Meat is good.
I was in St. Louis for a week for my Edge Summit and the Navigators National Conference from Oct 29 - Nov 5. Of course I saw the infamous 630 ft. Arch.
The first couple of days, I had my Edge Summit and it was good to see my fellow Edge classmates. Can you find me?
While being in the Midwest, I finally realized that Southern California lacks seasons, especially fall. I never saw such beautiful colors from tree leaves. All I see are green or brown leaves in Southern California. But in the Midwest, I see not only green, but red, orange, and yellow. I miss the Midwest/East because of its fall colors.
Keigo and Ayumi came to visit California this past week and it was fun to see them. Unfortunately, I only got to spend time with them on Monday and the weekend. I wished I could have hung out with them the whole week, but I had a busy schedule at UCLA. We're at Coffee Bean early in the morning before going to LAX on Sunday. They are currently in Arizona, hoping to see the Grand Canyon. Then they're visiting New York for several days.
Not only did Keigo and Ayumi visit, but also some Arizona friends. Ariel, Mike, and Meaghan. It was good to see them as well. Ariel and Meaghan were on my SIJ team for the summer in Japan and these two are quality women. I'm glad they have quality boyfriends who know how to lead and pursue them well. Mike went to Japan last summer with SIJ as well. He's a quality guy too.
But do you know who I'm really excited to see in December for two weeks? This silly girl. Yep, I'm gonna go to Japan and visit Joanna during the winter break. I'm pretty pumped about it. I can't wait! You can call me crazy for flying to Japan to see her, but Joanna is worth it. She has truly been a blessing in my life and I can't tell you how wonderful she is. I've never met someone so gracious, thoughtful, considerate, and understanding as she is. God definitely hooked me up with a sweet gift that I don't deserve. Joanna, you rock my socks off!
That's my update, and hopefully it doesn't take me another month or so to update again. If it does, then sorry in advance. =)
