Chasing the Goose.

Not really sure how to start a final post.

I know I haven't blogged lately...... (I never promised I would!!!)

This summer has been incredible.

I'll be talking this Sunday for the College Sunday school if you want to come and listen.

I need to pack. I need to sleep.

But the guys and I are gonna watch Tombstone.

See you tomorrow.

No lion, No tiger, but some bears. OH MY!!!!!!

Go.

Last Thursday Jeff had two friends come into town and so we gave them a tour of the city. I actually know things about this city now so I sound legit! They also bought our lunch! FREE FOOD!! Who doesn't love that? Exactly... Dumb people.

Thursday night the mission team from Trinity got here and we just walked around with them and gave them a quick tour of the sea wall and all its awesomeness.

Friday we did some prayer walking with the team all around the city and had a big dinner at Scott and Anna Katherines. Of course the dinner was incredible, but the only thing that matters is that Anna Katherine had some of her homemade bread from heaven. That stuff is like crack. You can't stop. (Never smoked crack... but tv says its addicting.. and I always believe whats on tv)

Saturday we did a tour of the Eastside of Vancouver with the mission team. Basically it is the homeless area of the city. That night we had a big dinner with the crossings team and the mission team at the Phillips house. Somehow I got stuck watching the kids. The kids meaning: Ty, Emma P, Emma C, Jonathan, Daniel, Max, Carson, Brooklyn and Eli Rose. Somehow I survived, and so did the kids.

Sunday we had our All Nations Gathering at the library.Very interesting set up process, but it turned out great. We took the mission team and rock out some Red Robing after.

Monday was the mission teams last day so we took them up to Whistler (where the Olympics were). Jeff tried to take our team to Whistler when we were here back in March, but instead we did something else..... So it was my first time in Whistler as well..... and pictures.

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Tuesday I totally went Strawberry picking with the Phillips and some of the crossings kids. Those strawberries are whats up. Wednesday was our Crossings leadership meeting. That night I went with the Phillips to see Cars 2. Thursday it rained.... all day.

Yesterday Jeff, Ty and I went to Seattle to a Mariners/Rangers baseball game. It was a lot of fun and we had Taco Bell!!! Thank you God!

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Today was Ed's wedding. I haven't known Ed long, but I was honored that he invited me to his wedding. It wasn't the typical wedding I am use to, but it was a cool experience. -- Notice the 2nd picture and the man using his iphone to video the wedding. That was Ed's best man and at random points during the wedding he would pull his phone out and video. Jeff, Sara, and I couldn't stop laughing. That silly goose! -- Also, the last 2 pictures are for Nathan Goss... bud the wedding reception had tons of Sushi. I expect this from you and Carlie when the time comes for you two to marry.

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For Mr. Pickle... the school and whats left of the set.

Recently Ty has been watching a lot of the Mighty Ducks movies. I'm sure you all remember Goldberg the goalie from those movies. Not sure how but somehow after talking to Jeff and Sarah I decided that I was going to see what he was doing now days. In real life his name is Shaun Weiss. Look up that dude on IMDB. Prepare yourself.

Until next time.

Go read a book.

A walk aboot.

Long fun day today.

The family I'm staying with decided to have a picnic for dinner and then take a walk through Stanley Park.

This is the family I have been living with. Great family! Left to right: Mistin, Darvy, Tiki, Ciara, Dennis, and Jemma

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Oh Canada!

I guess I need to blog some things. Lets begin on June 20

Basically that Monday and Tuesday (June 20-21) I helped Brian Cassino move into his new house. Thank God that’s over.

That Wednesday Jeff and I meet with Ed to keep walking through Romans. Ed is getting married on July 16 and he invited me. I’m pretty excited! I didn’t really think I would go to a wedding while I was here. That night at my house we had some guest over for dinner. One of the guests was a good guitar player and so we all went into the front yard to sing songs. It was fun..….. but because I’m from the south everyone assumed that I knew every Johnny Cash song, so we sang Johnny Cash and we talked about southern things.

The 23-25 I just rocked out! Explored the city, purchased things, sold things……

That Sunday Mr. Mike Vickers and I went to a church service out in Langley. To make a long and very interesting story short, we went on a “Special Service” day. The whole service was lead by First Nations (Indians) so…. Yeah.

That night we had the Crossings Gathering and it was great and we had about 5 first time guest.. Awesome stuff.

Now to this past week.

Last Tuesday Jeff and I watched Top Gun. Sad to admit, but it was my first time to ever see it. I liked it. To bad Tom Cruise wasn’t Goose. He’s crazy now. That night Jeff, Ty, Emma, and I rode bikes around the Sea Wall.

Wednesday.

Jeff and the Crossings leadership team have decided to move the weekly meeting to 6:30 am Wednesday mornings. Early mornings and me are not friends. Jeff and I meet with Ed that afternoon and continued in Romans. That night my host family had a big community BBQ. A BBQ here means hamburgers…….. poor people…. They just don’t know what they are missing!! Ask me in person about that event… It was interesting.

Thursday a team from Pearl arrived. Jeff and I met with Ray, and then we went to pick up Jeff’s dad. Jeff and I met with the Pearl team and told them about the city and hung out with them for a while.

Friday was Canada Day. We had a big Crossings Canada Day Picnic in Stanley Park, which I say was a huge success. Tons of people came and it was a blast! Then we went downtown for the Canada Day Parade. It was… weak. That night in Coal Harbor there was a big firework show. Like the parade, the fireworks were weak. (America has got the fireworks). Also, I’m pretty sure I got high. I’m pretty sure 97% of everyone there was smoking Marijuana. So to them the fireworks were probably incredible!

Saturday I saw Transformers 3…….. I LOVE AMERICA!

Sunday morning I cleaned my room and did laundry. Fun times. That night we had the Crossings Gathering and it was great!

Last night we had a big Crossings FOCUS meeting at a super nice restaurant to welcome the entire team finally and to get everyone on the same page. It was really cool. Also, I got some green pasta stuff, and it was pretty good.

Not a very detailed blog. Oh well

Go read a book.

A month in.. almost

This week was good! My good buddy Jeff Phillips was in Phoenix for the Southern Baptist Convention for most of the week, so I was left under the mercy of the rest of the Crossings team.

But before I go any further I would like to say Happy Fathers day to all of you daddies out there. (I am 2 hours behind all of you, so it is still Sunday here) Most importantly, I would like to say Happy Fathers day to my personal dad. I like to call him many things: Pop, Papa Bear, Joseph, Big Daddy, and Father. You rock dad. Thanks for all you do! I am blessed to have such a godly influence in my life! Keep being awesome!

Anyway, back to my week...

Being at the mercy of the Crossings team is something I am a little nervous of. Let's be honest here... Im THAT GUY. I'm here to help out with anything and everything. AND THEY KNOW THAT!! As my friend Mr. Brian Cassino says, "Your our missionary buddy!" and he is right.. I am that guy.. but seriously I love it. Which brings me to Monday.

Actually... Let's start at Sunday. Sunday morning I went to church with my host family. It's called Reality. It was really astounding! (Steph) .. It is a new church plant about 2 years old with around 200 people. Mr. Dennis (The guy I am living with) preached that morning, and he brought it. He preached on a topic that I am sure everyone has thought about at least in their minds... "Is God a Monster??" HE FREAKIN BROUGHT IT!!! It was good!

- Sunday Night I led the Crossings gathering while Jeff was gone. WE DID NOTHING! We had a party, and spit out the window on the people 20 stories below us!!! Actually, it went really well! We walked through Philippians 4. Check it out! It is good! After that we ate sandwiches. And I'll be real here... I don't get pumped over a sandwich...but Anna Katherine used her home made bread for the sandwiches and HOLY CRAP!! BEST SANDWICH EVER!!!!!!!! Seriously people... Jesus eats this stuff!!!

Now to Monday..

Monday I did school.. which sucks. I don't wanna talk about it anymore. That afternoon I received one of those text messages that I knew would be coming. It was from Johnny (our Scottish member of our team) . All it said was this, "Hey man, Are you free this afternoon/evening? Would love your help with something around 4."---- Before I go any further I would like to point out that this text message IS A TRAP!! He knew that I wasn't doing anything, and he also knew that by asking in such a nice way that I couldn't say no, and he also knew that I was reading his text message in a scottish accent and I think it is awesome and he knew I couldn't say no to that--------- Anyway, my response was, "Yeah man I'm free, what we gonna be doing?" To which he replied with, "Awesome man, meet me at my place at 4:15, need your help with a few things."--- Boom--- that was it. WHAT THE HECK ARE WE GONNA DO??!!! Once again, I am THAT GUY, so I knew that anything and everything is free game. Did he want me to paint (he and his wife are painters), did he want me to drive with him to Seattle, did he want me to kill a man??? As 4:15 approached many things went through my mind.. but it was good. He and his wife were having a college class come to their house that evening to eat, and he needed my help moving furniture. So it was a good night, and I was able to help wash all the dishes so that he and his wife could mingle about (as Johnny says) with the group.

Tuesday was an exciting day. The people I'm renting from were gone that day so they had a babysitter come to watch the kids. I walked Ciara to school, and had to pick her up. I also bought her some M&M's... I'm a nice guy... (Ladies.. I'm single)

Tuesday night I rode around with the family I'm living with (and their 4 kids), and a girl thats living here named Michelle. Thanks God for her.... the kids pester her, and not me!!! We went to a sketchy Vietnamese place and got soup.. yes thats right. we got soup. I'm already a picky eater.... and I didn't want to know what was in the soup. I just ate it.. and I actually really liked it. (I'm sure it was a dog)

Wednesday was the big final game for the Vancouver Canucks. It was game 7 of the stanley cup finals and the winner won the thing! Well, as I am sure you all know by now... Vancouver lost.. and some people here decided to take out their anger by blowing up cars, hitting people, breaking into stores, setting things on fire and just destroying the city. See my previous post for pictures. I would also recommend you youtube or google image :Vancouver 2011 riot. CRAZY STUFF!! I survived, and I kept thinking one thing while trying to escape the riot ( I was with Mr. Dennis).... WE HAVE TO LIVE TOGETHER, OR WERE GONNA DIE ALONG!! Bad stuff.. But I survived.. do not cry.

Thursday Jeff returned from Phoenix so I spent the day with him. I really like that guy. Cool dude. But Thursday... was the best day of my week!! Why you ask.... I will tell you in one word that should have spaces but doesn't deserve them..... BILLFROMBRENTWOOD!!(NO SPELLCHECK, THIS IS NOT A MISSPELLED WORD) (If you do not understand this I would suggest you just skip ahead to Friday) Sadly, Bill was not here, but a group from Brentwood was. (Sara's cousin is their girls minister) Jeff, Sarah, Ty, Emma, and I spent the evening with them. Cool people. and YES. we talked about BILLFROMBRENTWOOD.

Friday we had the Crossings team meeting at Johnny's and walked though everything for the All Nations Gathering on Sunday. Then Jeff and I rented some musical equipment for Sunday night. BUT THEN... We grabbed some lunch at a McDonalds. but this is not just a normal McDonalds. It's not like it was huge, it was just awkwardly big. I have no way to explain it. It was just big. Also, Jeff and I watched golf.

Saturday-- Check out City and Colour on Itunes... Incredible. Thats all I will say about Saturday.

Tonight was the All Nations Gathering. It was awesome! Brian and Johnny rocked it out!

Hope this blog makes up for all the ones I have missed.. Oh.. and I met one of the actresses from Twilight.

I would also like to point out that Crossgates tweeted this today:

Popeys!!!

so I re-tweeted it!

The morning after