What if...

Throughout the day I prayed...
Lord, If it can’t be easier, help me to be stronger.
Lord, be my distraction!
Lord, help my life to attract people to You, not myself!
Lord, help me to lose all attachments to this world and my possessions!

and i asked myself...
Are my life goals being accomplished by what I’m doing today? in other words,
Am you who I want to be?
Will I regret this later?
Ten years down the road, what should i do that is going to have the most effect?

Lord, help me to keep life in perspective!

Marriage Triangle

Surfing and Good Times!!!

Me catching a wave!!!
I have been surfing like mad this summer. I am actually making a chart to keep track of how many times i do things and once i figure it out i will post the chart and update it, but i honestly think i am up to surfing about 12 time in two and a half weeks. Oh and that picture really isn't me surfing, but you believed it right! You really do think i'm that good right! This is actually the Wind and Sea, a local surfing spot where you do not want to cut a guy off or make him mad because they are not friendly when it comes to waves... i still try and surf there anyways... you know spread the love! It is nice and sunny inland, but the June gloom still makes the coast cloudy with its marine layer as you can see in the pictures.

Wind and Sea

The Perfect Spot
Sunday afternoon i went down to La Jolla beach to surf with Trace and met up with a lot of old friends. Lance & Sarah Young, Travis Hobbs, David Bell, Michael Liebernecht, Joe & Amy, and just a few of the people i saw down at the beach! It was awesome to say hi, talk to them, and surf just like the old times!

I Got Stung!!!

if you zoom in on the black dot in the whitewater a surfer is standing up! kinda fun
Pacific Beach
Don't ask me how or why.... i saw two jellyfish today surfing at PB and one on Monday in Del Mar. On Monday i saw a jellyfish about volleyball size and told Trace to watch out. After riding two more waves, i am paddling out and sure enough, THAT was not seaweed! It started to feel like the bottom of my arm was in a prickly bush where i had brushed the jellyfish. it was only minor, but Trace tried to get get me to pee on it and he swore it would help... personally i think he just wanted something else that he could point at me in laugh. I didn't do it. Man , am i accident prone?!? My count is up to hitting myself in the face with my board once, Trace in the face with my board once, lost a tooth, stung by a sting ray, and stung by a jellyfish after about 3 years of surfing! You know, it's kinda like Puff Daddy's wise words, "Can't nobody take my pride, Uh-uh, uh-uh, Can't nobody hold me down... ohh no, I got to keep on movin." All I ask is that i can end up like this couple without a care in the world!

The life...

You know you've got a problem when...

Animals start making faces at you!

Today was Trace's Birthday. We made our rounds in the day went out to T.G.I.Friday's and had a good time at night. His favorite present by far though... his new surfboard!

Trace's Birthday present to himself!

Church

I went to trace and his mom's new church that they are trying out. It was a very sharp church in the Mission bay area. Probably several hundred people. The pastor goes really deep into the text of the verses and history and life and then wraps it all up in the end. I liked it.

Scott Memorial

Talk about animals!

cute
THis is a picture of Taneil and her boyfriend's puppy. He sits in the palm of my hand and is SO cute! Not in my trailer, but up the hill in Trace's mom's office, they also have 2 other dogs, 2 cats, and horses out back. One of the cats is a sphinx(a cat with no hair). It is probably on of the scariest things i have seen.
Sphinx catI will try and post a picture soon. I tried to go surfing today, but the waves were too small... quite sad. So we went and sat in a jacuzzi instead... quite good! Life is chill right now. I am running and trying to get in shape. After getting together with all of my high school friends and realizing we were fat, i decided to start running! haha.

I Like food!

Oh yeah!
I am trying to cut down on what i eat... but everything just sounds so stinking good! Give me a shout out if you know what i am talking about!

Think about it...
I thought of this while i was in China and back here. In China i often passed the homeless and needy and told myself that other people who were more knowledgeable about the situation would help these people... i didn't know what they were asking for, what their situation was, etc... now i am back here and passing homeless or needy people on the street telling myself that i will help them the next time i pass or that someone else will stop... the question is who? if i am not willing to go out on the edge and help some of these people, am i almost being so cautious with my money that it is almost selfish and even stuckup? If i do not help these people, who will? Isn't that what God called us to do? Something to think about!

Trace- he's single!
This is the guy i am staying with all summer. He can sleep through an alarm longer than anyone i have ever met! Luckily i am a heavy sleeper so i usually put a pillow over my head and dose off for 10 minutes, literally, and then i get up and tell him to either get up or turn off his alarm! It's amazing! He lays tile and is a waiter at Black Angus and he is my surfing buddy on the side so he keeps busy! He also constantly tells me that he just wants to find his wife, so if anyone can help me, that would be great! just kidding.

Playing Pool
An old friend(Tom Sherlock) and I went down to a billiards and entered a pool tournament for the fun of it. We figured what could we lose... except for our pride! Tom and i were both out after the third or fourth round and it was double elimination! It's all good, at least we took the picture before so we were still smiling! just kidding it was fun!

The California Downlow

Need i say more?!?!
So here's how it is: Gas is $2.19, the weather is in the 70's and gorgeous, the ocean waves are amazing, there's palm trees everywhere, the people are beautiful, the view couldn't be nicer, i have seen at least 20 random friends in a matter of days, and the food is gonna make me phat (or as Trace calls it Pretty Heavy And Tubby)! Well i would talk more but i am off to go surfing!

The Beach is this way!

Remembering China

My Trip to China was amazing. Thank you for your support and prayers!


local
This is in the Garden of Heaven. A beautiful place to paint or draw a picture of.

China team
Can you find my baby face... i can't be mean even if i try!

Dragon building
The architecture was amazing. They had so many different styles of buildings

Planting trees with students
This was the day that God was most evident on the trip. He had done amazing things up to this point but this day it was windy, cold, and rainy to the point of being unbearable. We would not have been able to meet up with the mayor, students, and newscast to plant the 220 pine trees if this continued. So we prayed. We postponed the project one day. The next day the weather was decent with no rain so we started the project. Literally right as we were planting the last trees, the rain started and the miserable weather continued. God definitely opened a divine window of time.

Me stuffing my face
This is a typical picture of me still eating while everyone else was done. I love food. I ate silkworm, seaweed soup, mutton(lamb), mutton intestine soup, sushi, and octopus all for the first time. quite interesting!

Esther and her new friend

jian zi
This is game is exactly like hacky sack. It's made up of circlular scraps of tin tied together with feathers. This was a huge way for the team to connect with locals. Not only were the guys good, but most of the women over 50 could take me at jian zi!

Our interpreters

The China Team and Mayor's team

orphan...Cute
Two teams were able to hold orphans and minister to them. Some of the orphans had horrible diseases others just had some kind of problem with their leg, but they were all considered "defective" in a sense. A sad story and yet so many beautiful faces and children that are loved by God

The Great Wall of China

We saw the Lord work through answered prayers, conversions, and plenty of other areas. It was an amazing time to grow and a great learning experience.

Summer Home

Ahh home sweet home for the summer! Drive up Crest hill, down the dirt road jump over the 3 foot ditch, and this is what you see... oh, and the blue port-a-potty over to the right... definitely the bathroom.


summer home

my room

my backyard view

What more could you ask for! Got the essentials, got the wheels, got two weeks off before work, and nothing to do but enjoy California to the Fullest. I haven't been able to stop smiling since i arrived! Life is good.

First Day Back

Colorado Canyon
amazing and yet just another typical sight driving across country

46 hours later i came in to San Diego at 2pm Sunday.
My first plan of action... get an AMAZING carne asada burrito at Los Panchos. From there i met up with Trace and unpacked for a half hour. Then we were off to the beach. I met up with some old friends and went surfing! Oh yeah, surfing! and although Lake Michigan waves are good, they do not even compare! Then we went to Flood(a sweet church service for college students). From there i went and saw Chronicles of the Riddic with some friends. Good action, kinda violent...ok really violent, the endings a little weird, but an overall decent movie. From there Trace and I went for a late night IN-N-OUT run! Two double doubles, some real fries, and a chocolate shake later i could not have asked for a better first day back!

Quick Question:

Flag half down
I just figured all the American flags were half down because of Ronald Reagan's death. Just wondering if i was right or just completely off?

Road Trip!

I'm off to Cali for the summer and i am driving out by myself, but it is a little weird because it is not in the normal car. Yes, to most people's delight, The Van That Can... can't. It's a sad sad day. So here is a tribute to the one the true Van that Can!

The van that can
But... here are the new wheels for the summer! Yes, i stole my parents new SUV and loving every minute of it! This picture needs the movie music that comes down when the lights shine down from heaven!

the car
Thought For The Day-

Deep thoughts Why does everyone looks mad when you are driving...Your Challenge for the day is to be a happy driver. Every person you pass or passes you smile and wave. IT's not only spreading a little love, but it's a whole lot of fun!

My quick thought...

Are we becoming "Convenient Christians"? We say we would give up everything for God, but yet if we don't feel "guilty" about burning cds, then we for sure won't get rid of those potentially stolen songs because "that's my best music." What about evangelizing? We say that if the Lord told us to we would tell people about the Lord, and the Lord did tell us to(Matthew 28:19). And yet we rarely share the gospel with any of the strangers we pass because we are waiting for the "right timing" or when we feel led by the the Spirit! Sounds more like a way to be lazy and do something when we want to make ourselves feel better rather than taking the burden of the world on our shoulders and trying to carry it with Jesus! Are we convenient Christians?

NIce Try!!!

B- I thought i would put these pictures on the internet so you could see the difference between an original and a poser. Now you can show all your friends how you got shown up by an amateur in 4 moves compared to your 6! Just joking brotha... you know i couldn't let you leave that easy!

trying...

trying...

trying...

trying...

trying so hard...

To be like ME!!! Haha!

My New Skating Trick

I'm cool...

power slide...

pose for the camera...

buttshot finale...
and That, my friend, is how it is done!!!

A New Stage In Life- June 9

As the truck pulled out it was one of those moments where we all knew that the kids were grown up. Jen and Brandon were off to their job at New Life Wesleyan about 10 miles outside of Washington DC. Kelly will be going to Biola University in sweet home California to get her Master's Degree. She still plans to end up on the mission field when the time is right as well. I am heading out in two days to California for the summer with two more years at Indiana Wesleyan University to go. I know i will end up in the Ministry, and where that sends me... who knows!!! And last but not least, my mom and dad seem content here in Plymouth... I don't know how long they will stay, but Indiana just seems to have this way of suckng families in to the point of no return!


packing chaos

The Farewell

We will still see each other, but everybody will have jobs, be living in different places, and our main time together will probably be spent on holidays. Sad, Different, Exciting, & A new stage in life...

Fun In Mi Casa- June 8

The family had fun yesterday! The whole family (Ollie, Reata, Jen, Brandon, Kelly, and I) was hanging out one last time before everybody decides to go their separate ways. I had the bright idea of playing croquet, but it just so happened that in Indiana, "dusk", means Mosquito Feeding Time! Twenty mosquito bites, 20 dead mosquitos, a few slapped faces, and 15 minutes later, dad came out on top! We quickly ran into the air conditioned mosquito free house. After that, i went and got my first digital camera for my summer trip to California, Woohoo! So for those of you who haven't seen it, this is the Dongell casa in Plymouth, Indiana! Compliments of my nifty new camera!

Our beautiful home on a rainy day

This is Plymouth Wesleyan Church where dad is the senior pastor.

Plymouth Wesleyan Church

Plymouth Wesleyan Church


The people already love my dad and my mom out here. When you include the church and the neighborhood, they probably already know half the people in Plymouth already! Well, maybe not quite that much. The people are nice.
As hard as it is for some people to hear, life isn't the same in Indiana... but life is good!