SDA Youth Valentine's Day Party

I asked Judith and Mai to share a devotional for the youth at our Valentine's Day Party. Mai started off with a touching story about a father's love. He worked for a train station operating a bridge that would let the train pass through.

One day his son was with him at work. While working in the booth the father got a call that a train full of passengers was coming through. He had to put the bridge down. He looked frantically for his son and realized he was playing near the bridge. There wasn't enough time to go down and tell his son to move. He knew he had to make a decision. To make sure his son was safe by not putting down the bridge or to allow a train full of people go over the edge.

The father couldn't bare to let a train full of people go over the edge so he made the agonizing decision to put down the bridge and hope that his son would get out of the way. Sadly the story ends with the son dying but the train full of passengers safely made its way through the bridge.

Valentine's day is overshadowed by candy, flowers, and other gifts. Sometimes we forget what the meaning of true love is. God sacrificing his son's life so that we may have the chance to live eternally with Him.

We closed out the Sabbath with this devotional and to Riki jammin' on her guitar while we sang praises.
Amy helped me prepare Haystacks for dinner and for dessert we had chocolate fondue with bananas, apples, oranges, and broccoli! Yum!

Who's Line Is it Anyway?

Ever watch that comedy show Who's LIne Is It Anyway? Those comedians are brilliant making up the script out of scratch in front of a live audience. They're truly an inspiration to me. The Pressure is on. My first drama performance is this Wednesday night in Kagman. Its a monologue between three readers entitled "One Minute". Eeek, I've got a lot of lines to remember. Tonight we rehearsed the play and did okay. I forgot a couple of lines and just stood there. Grrr, I hate it when your mind goes blank and the worst thing is you have to keep a straight face. We still have to smooth out a couple of transitions but for the most part I think we've pretty much got it down. The true test is performing in front of an audience with your nerves creeping up on you.

Its not so bad when you mess up or forget your line because the audience won't know that you have messed it up. The key thing when you mess up is executing a great recovery from the mistake that was made. Thats the hard part because when you fidget or look to someone else its a dead give away.

Sean suggested I stand in front of a mirror and practice my lines. Peforming in front of a mirror has been really helpful for me even though I just keep cracking up at myself! But when I'm serious sometimes I forget my lines. So I watch my facial expressions and see if I give away clues that I have just messed up. Surely my hands tend to fidget and when I mess up I want to just hit my forehead and say "doh"! heh The kids have been so encouraging and have been giving me some really great advice about relaxing. I just need to remember to b r e a t h e. If i can swim with sharks I can surely say some lines in front of a large audience, right? Lets hope so.

Just what I needed. More Drama!

Real Christian Theater with the kids has been so fun! We have met three times already and finally got most of our scripts last night. The directors have casted me in seven short plays! Oye! I have alot of studying and memorizing to do on the plane to California. Alot of these plays make me laugh and I have no idea how I will be able to get into character. I think its all about letting go and being "in the moment". Something that I am learning to do in my life right now.

One of my favorite actors is Mr. Bean. His timing is impeccable. I just love how natural acting comes to him and he cracks me up so much! Here's a youtube clip of him at the dentist! lol I can't wait to be a dentist.

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Anyway, last night we went over our lines and I was really impressed with the kids. They're brilliant and very funny. We are going to have alot of fun performing for the kids at the public and private schools.

Another reason why I am happy is because I am leaving for San Francisco early Wednesday morning for the American Dental Association conference for a week! Did I mention that Lance Armstrong will be our guest speaker?! I am going to do my best to get him to sign my book. Looking forward to learning about the new cutting edge tools and information on Dental Hygiene. Also looking forward to the cool weather, my run across the Golden Gate Bridge, Shopping, Starbucks, and Wine tasting in Napa Valley! Peace out.

Grant's Grotto

My number one reader demands more entries from me! lol This one is for you Mng J!



On myspace they have a section that asks "Who would you like to Meet"? My answer is anyone that can teach me something new. There are a couple of great life lessons Grant has taught me. One of them is you snooze you lose! The other lessons I learned from him you'll have to read about when I blog about my personal influences: the catalysts in my life.



I think its really tempting to take Sabbath naps after church especially after a long hard week at work and all the activities during church. Grant helped me reevaluate why Sabbath is so special and that it shouldn't be wasted on sleep or you'll miss out! Nature is a place that I feel like I can experience how awesome God is.



This past Sabbath was special because of Mai's homecoming and because we are trying to do everything before Rosana leaves next week for Texas. After church Mai, Rosana, Lorene, and me went on a Sabbath hike to the cliffs in the Dan Dan area. This was the first time for me to ever lead out on a hike. I'm usually the follower so I was alittle nervous because I usually get lost. Ok, I lied. I always get lost. Whatev.



So you take the road towards Dan Dan and then turn left on Sunset Road. You can just park the car where the road bends and head down the existing trail. Everything went really well except that there was one part where there was ALOT of overgrowth. Hmmm, that wasn't there before! lol The overgrowth was taller than any of us for sure. I couldn't tell where the trail kept going. So of course the girls made me go first and I was taking us through a jungle of tall, dry, and itchy overgrowth. What I really needed was a machete!



After falling a couple of times I finally found the rock path that lead to "Grant's Grotto". I named it Grant's Grotto because he took me there on a hike one Sabbath afternoon. There's a big drop off and the waves were crashing below. You could see Lau Lau Beach and Forbidden Island ahead. It was such a beautiful day for a hike. We sat on the cliffs, took pictures, and chatted about life.



There were a couple of times of complete silence, each of us in our own little worlds. I just kept thinking about how God is bringing me to places that I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever be. Seriously! I never thought I'd end up in Saipan!

The Young And The Restless

There's no doubt in my mind that my teenage years were some of the most trying times of my life. In my early teen years I had kinky hair, wore coke bottle glasses, and was extremely shy. I avoided alot of school/church functions because I hated being in crowds. Dumb, eh? Till this day some of my very best friends laugh at me and can't get over how "different" I look and act. If anyone was going through an awkward, fugly stage it was me!

More importantly as I look back, I remember that my walk with God was pretty nonexistent. Sure I was born and raised in a conservative SDA family but I didn't really start knowing God until about two years ago. Before I wasn't excited about being in church nor did I really realize the importance of having God in my life. I think I missed out on alot. I also think that if I were more equipped spiritually, I wouldn't have made some of the dumb mistakes that I made.

Learning how to become a youth leader here in Saipan has been challenging for me. I was a bit anxious to teach because I didn't know what it was that I could offer them. But God has a way with using anyone to accomplish things. So how do you get teenagers to want to come to church? How do you get them excited about God and what He can do for them? It's called putting their faith into action and getting them more involved in church and the community. I'm still praying about it.

So for now, I am just spending more time with them and trying to get to know them better. They're brilliant kids and so full of life. We study the bible together. We sing praise songs together while Kuya Ernie and Joy play the guitar. But I am most excited that they are starting to open up to me.

So here is the first activity I planned with the youth. We went bowling and had a blast!

Afterwards we headed out to the carnival. Joy and I rode the Octopus ride but I'd prefer to call it the "death ride". I felt like throwing up afterwards. I guess thats what I get for trying to be the cool aunt. Still had a blast though!

A Change Of Heart

Do you know whats amazing to me? How knowing and loving God can change someone's heart. We welcomed our new church member into our family after his baptism today.





Photo Credit: Rosana

Happy Sabbath!

Clinic With A Heart

Psssssst! Spread the word to low income familes and people with NO dental insurance.

The Saipan Seventh-day Adventist Dental Clinic on Quarter Master Road will hold a Clinic With A Heart this Sunday, June 17. The clinic will be open from 8:00-4:00pm and the volunteer dental staff will be offering free BASIC dental care. What I mean by free basic dental care is people with a toothache and who are in immediate real pain. Most of the dental work provided will be extractions.

Sorry, there won't be any free root canals, crowns, or bleaching trays offered=( We don't have enough man power and time to do all of that. Our goal is to get the patient out of pain. During our Health Newstart series we screened alot of residents in Kagman that were in need of dental work but couldn't afford it. This is our way of reaching out to the community of Saipan.

The Clinic With A Heart will be on a first come first serve basis. I would come early to start lining up and to fill out paperwork. The participating sponsors of this event are the Saipan Central SDA Church and the Saipan SDA School.

If you have any questions, you could leave me a comment. Can a contributor from Saipan This Week put this on the schedule?