Shout Out to Lil' Joe Morrow

This weekend has been pretty good so far. I still have a small list of things I have not yet accomplished but it is not even noon yet so I have hope.

I want to give a shout-out to Zach and Erin Morrow. I have confirmation that they had a baby boy about a week and a half ago named Joseph Robert or "Lil' Joe" as I have decided to call him. I can't wait to see pictures especially since his uncle, Lee claims he is particularly well-endowed. Congrats to the Morrow family.

Kari, Amy and I went to the mall on Friday night to see our new friend, May Lee. She is in our Bible Study and seems really fun. She works as a make-up artist and at the MAC make-up counter. She gave Kari and Amy make-overs but ran out of time before she got to me. I didn't mind since we were going to the gym afterwards and I knew I would just sweat it off.

After the gym, we had one of the craziest hitches I have ever had. This guy picks us up and soon after asks if any of us know how to roll a cigarette. None of us know how so he asks Kari to take the wheel while he does it himself. Kari holds the wheel as he is rolling the cigarette and not looking at the road at all. He is continuing to accelerate with his eyes at his lap. Kari warns him just in time not to hit a car in front of us. SCARY! I made sure to fasten my seatbelt. He finally finishes rolling the cigarette and takes control of the wheel. He starts to tell Kari about his ten years in prison. This is all happening with the Tupac Greatest Hits cd blaring in the background. Amy and I sat in the back, laughing at the absurdity of it all but also filled with fear. Luckily we made it home safe and sound. I want my car to hurry up and get fixed so I don't have to experience any more near-death experiences.

Yesterday morning, some of us participated in a community clean-up day and cleaned the main street of our town. It was pretty dirty. I think this is something YWAM should at least do every couple of months. It is needed and it shows our community that we care. At one point, I was with our base director's six year-old son, Timmy. He found an almost full 40 oz bottle of alcohol. He kept trying to get me to let him take a drink. I told him he would be arrested if the police saw him and that the stuff was kind of like poision. I didn't know how else to explain it to a 1st grader.

Last night we went to a carnival. It was not as cool as I had hoped. It was very crowded with families and junior high kids. Gena and I rode the Zipper and she won a mini stuffed monkey. The carnies there were not near as good as those on the mainland. There were a few traditionally gnarly looking ones but most were just local Hawaiians. I did get to snap a few good mullet pictures. Always a pleasure.

YWAM gets fancy

If you read my email prayer requests, you will know some of the following:

Yesterday I found out that Sherelle, one of Sherry's bridesmaids, was just diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I really bonded with her and Char, the other bridesmaid when they were in Maui. This kind of news makes me want to puke. She is 23 and just found out she has cancer. I looked on the internet to find out more about this kind of cancer and it said the survival rate is 80-90% even if found in a late stage. This is comforting but she may still have to go through chemo and all that scary stuff. Please pray.

My friend, Wil hit a deer with his motorcycle. I didn't know they even had deer here. They seem out of place. He and Melika were thrown from the bike with Wil breaking Melika's fall. Wil is in pretty rough shape but in very good spirits. He is covered in bandages so his road rash won't get infected. He has to wear these little booties and his hands are bandaged making him look a baby with mittens on so it doesn't scratch itself. He has to get a skin graft on his ankle. The phrase "skin graft" makes me want to puke. Luckily none of his tattoos were ruined. That was one of his biggest concerns. Pray that he doesn't get infected by Maui's rampant staf infections.

Last night we had a commissioning ceremony for our new base director. Tom, who used to run our School of Biblical Foundations in Missions has been named our new base director. I think he will do a great job. He is such a solid man of God. He is meek in the good Biblical way and strong and wise. The ceremony included dinner and was held at this plantation place. A bunch of the YWAMers tried to use this as an excuse to get really dressed up. It was a bit ridiculous how people were freaking out about what they should wear. I dressed fancy but not over the top. Some people didn't get the fancy memo and came in t-shirts and cargo pants. Before the whole thing started, Amy and I were sent back to the houses to pick up more people. We had to drive Sara Engler's car. That car is so funny. It is an 1989 Toyota hatchback painted in camo. Some kid once exclaimed to his mother that it was the GI Joe car. You must also have the heater on at all times when you are driving. Great for hot Maui.

This morning we woke up in the 6's. Anyone that knows me knows that I despise waking up in the 6's. I don't even like waking up in the 7's. Ashley borrowed a car from a lady she babysits for and we wanted to take advantage so we drove to the Bamboo forest. It is a hiking trail to some waterfalls through a forest of bamboo. I was wearing my hiking boots that while comfortable, lacked grip. I couldn't keep my balance to save my life. I was slipping and sliding everywhere. I actually fell at least 10 times. It was very humbling since no one else seemed to having as much trouble. By the end of the hike, I was soaking wet and covered in mud. It was fun but I feared for my life a few times.

If you read my email prayer requests, you will know some of the following:

Yesterday I found out that Sherelle, one of Sherry's bridesmaids, was just diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I really bonded with her and Char, the other bridesmaid when they were in Maui. This kind of news makes me want to puke. She is 23 and just found out she has cancer. I looked on the internet to find out more about this kind of cancer and it said the survival rate is 80-90% even if found in a late stage. This is comforting but she may still have to go through chemo and all that scary stuff. Please pray.

My friend, Wil hit a deer with his motorcycle. I didn't know they even had deer here. They seem out of place. He and Melika were thrown from the bike with Wil breaking Melika's fall. Wil is in pretty rough shape but in very good spirits. He is covered in bandages so his road rash won't get infected. He has to wear these little booties and his hands are bandaged making him look a baby with mittens on so it doesn't scratch itself. He has to get a skin graft on his ankle. The phrase "skin graft" makes me want to puke. Luckily none of his tattoos were ruined. That was one of his biggest concerns. Pray that he doesn't get infected by Maui's rampant staf infections.

Last night we had a commissioning ceremony for our new base director. Tom, who used to run our School of Biblical Foundations in Missions has been named our new base director. I think he will do a great job. He is such a solid man of God. He is meek in the good Biblical way and strong and wise. The ceremony included dinner and was held at this plantation place. A bunch of the YWAMers tried to use this as an excuse to get really dressed up. It was a bit ridiculous how people were freaking out about what they should wear. I dressed fancy but not over the top. Some people didn't get the fancy memo and came in t-shirts and cargo pants. Before the whole thing started, Amy and I were sent back to the houses to pick up more people. We had to drive Sara Engler's car. That car is so funny. It is an 1989 Toyota hatchback painted in camo. Some kid once exclaimed to his mother that it was the GI Joe car. You must also have the heater on at all times when you are driving. Great for hot Maui.

This morning we woke up in the 6's. Anyone that knows me knows that I despise waking up in the 6's. I don't even like waking up in the 7's. Ashley borrowed a car from a lady she babysits for and we wanted to take advantage so we drove to the Bamboo forest. It is a hiking trail to some waterfalls through a forest of bamboo. I was wearing my hiking boots that while comfortable, lacked grip. I couldn't keep my balance to save my life. I was slipping and sliding everywhere. I actually fell at least 10 times. It was very humbling since no one else seemed to having as much trouble. By the end of the hike, I was soaking wet and covered in mud. It was fun but I feared for my life a few times.

Weekend Fun

I feel that this weekend was pretty productive. Amy worked a lot of the weekend so I had more alone time than usual. It was pretty good. Yesterday I rode my bike for the first time in a long time. It was fun but hard with the wind. I also played some basketball and had some contemplative God time at the beach.

Today I tanned on the beach. I have been trying to go to the beach more often. It is so crazy how living here can make you immune to the place's beauty. I realized that it had been way too long since I had enjoyed the beach. I know I will miss it a lot when I am back in Texas so I am trying to take advantage.

Tonight, Sherry, Matty and I went to see our DTS friend, Cherish in a play. The play was Sweeny Todd and it was a bit weird but pretty good. It was a musical. I am not that in to musicals. I can't pay attention to them very well. It was cool to get to see Cherish. She had a pretty big part. She wore this ridiculously cheap looking long blonde wig. It made me giggle quite a bit. Then we all hung out at Border's afterwards. It was fun times.

Crazy dancing with everyone I know

Last night I went to the Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson concert. It was part of the Kokua festival, a save the earth kind of thing. I originally found out about it when I looked at Ben Harper's website. He was the one I wanted to see the most. Unfortunately he played first and only played about four songs. Pretty lame! It only left me wanting more. It seems pretty crazy to have Jack Johnson as the headliner when he is the newest artist of the three. Luckily they had Ben come back out at the end and play several songs with Jack. There was even one song with Willie, Jack and Ben. This redeemed the concert for me though I still felt slightly unfulfilled by my Ben time.

It was nice to go to a concert. On the mainland I go to one at least once a month but this was my first one here. We don't get a lot of big names here very often. The venue was good for people watching but not as good for music listening. Where we sat, there were large groups of people walking by in between us and the stage. It was still fun but it was no Stubbs or the Backyard in Austin.

The event was a festival, which meant there were booths with free stuff. I love free stuff. I got lots of stickers, misc. health food-type snacks, recycled bottle opener, recycled shoe laces and some organic feminine products. The snacks were especially nice because I didn't have to buy much food.

I think half of my YWAM friends were there as well as a large percentage of the non-YWAMers I know or recognize on Maui. It makes you realize how small Maui really is.

Ben Harper and Jack Johnson are the type of artists I like to listen to while chillin on a blanket with my friends. Their music is not that conducive to dancing. This did not stop a lot of people. I am not much of a dancer myself but I like to imitate other people's dancing attempts. This brought me and my friend, Gena tons of amusement as we imitated all the crazy dancers around us. One girl had some seriously spastic Elaine Benes type moves. It was hard to keep up. While imitating one of her twirls, I fell onto the people next to me. There was also a very strange new age man who was basically having stand-up sex with his clothes on with a new age young lady. It was frightening and made me feel uncomfortable as it felt like they needed to get a room. So, to combat my fear, Gena and I danced like crazy around them. It was great! I have pictures that I will be posting on my website shortly.

Car Envy

This weekend was pretty good and relaxing. I was hoping for nothing but sunny skies but that didn't work out. It was rainy and sunny on and off. Often rain would start with no warning. Nice!

My roommate Jacki is buying a car tomorrow and lately I have really been wanting to get my car fixed. I have been unable to sell it so far. I guess a car that does not run is not in high demand. If I got it fixed, it would be easier to sell when I leave and I would get more $$. I am going to talk to some people about pricing. We'll see. I am just tired of hitchhiking everyday to get to the gym. Hitching isn't as bad when it is done in moderation.

Amy is doing this work trade thing where she works at a local boutique in exchange for clothes. We met her co-worker the other day and she is the epitome of new age. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it is basically someone who is searching for spiritual fulfillment in a variety of ways. The person may practice yoga and meditation. They make study Buddha and witchcraft. They often talk of karma and energy. They would likely say that whatever religion works for you is right. They don't see all the contradictions between their beliefs and the tenets of the major religions.

So, this co-worker of Amy's, Kristin- She was asking about what we do with YWAM and tried to say that what she was trying to do was very similar. She is trying to buy the property that most of our base was on before we moved because of a rent increase. She wants to create some sort of group that will go to other countries and spread loving feelings, good will, healings and meditation. We are currently allowed to use this basement room in the building as a prayer room. She said that she would turn that room into a "reading" room where there would be two people seperated by a curtain that gave readings. I was mildly offended by her nonchalantly suggesting that she would turn our prayer room into a psychic reading room. Not cool. It was mainly crazy to me to think that she sees no difference in what we are trying to do. I have a very hard time reasoning with New Age people because they are so quick to say that everything is okay and they don't use logic.

At church today there were a ton of kids. It feels like the church gets bigger everytime I go. There are a lot of brand-new Christians, which is cool. It seems like almost everyone from church is related. There is one lady at church who kind of bothers me. Her name is Catherine and she sometimes sings these long songs that she makes up in the middle of the service. She also speaks in tongues and keeps trying to make me and Amy pray so that we can do it too. I don't want to and no randomly singing lady can make me. Today she talked about healing and I simply did not agree. She said that if you are sick and people pray for you to get healed, you are healed automatically but sometimes you don't see results because you don't have enough faith. The fact that you still have symptoms is all in your head, because you have been healed. You just have to realize this fact. I don't agree at all. I think God promises healing but that may not happen this side of Heaven and He has his reasons for that. If you are not being healed from an ailment, it is not your fault. People don't die of cancer because they just don't believe hard enough. That is not true and not biblical.

Training for free

I think I am finally out of my post-home funk. I have felt pretty homesick this past week. I got to talk to some of my friends on the phone which you would think might make things worse but actually made things better. It's like I get a little home fix when I talk to my home friends.

Amy and I have been working out like crazy. We went seven days in a row and then we decided that we should probably take today off. We actually went walking in the morning because we are pretty addicted to this whole exercise thing. We are hardcore because going to the gym means hitchhiking and since it keeps raining here, it is a wet time. Amy is very good at manipulating people. That is how my rental car got upgraded from a Dodge Neon to a convertible PT cruiser. Her latest conquest has been figuring out how to get this trainer guy at the gym to train us for free. He is a nice guy who may or may not have a crush on her. This doesn't really matter since the only place we see him is at the gym and he is not inappropriate. Yesterday, he led us through an arm workout. It was good. Then, when we were hitching home, he picked us up. Not a bad person to know.

Today Amy and I went to a Bible study at her friend, Moana's house. Moana is a great Christian lady who happens to be a millionaire. Her house in Maui overlooks the whole island and is really cool and funky as it was designed by her artist husband. The Bible study consisted of me, Amy, Moana, Holly-used to be a YWAMer, Melissa-current YWAMer, and four of Moana's friends. It was good times. We also ate a lovely feast of Salmon patties and pineapple afterwards. That sure beats Build A Whatever, which is what we likely had on base. For lunch we usually build a sandwich, build a wrap, build a burrito, or build a salad. That is of course unless we have taco salad day or tomato soup and grilled cheese day.

Gym People

I would like my blog readers to get a feel for my gym experience since I spend so much of my time there. So faithful readers, I present a segment I call "Gym People." These are real people I encounter during my times at the gym.

Flat top man- This guy is great. He is a fifty year old black guy with a "kid n play" style flat top. He also wears a visor and matches in a way that puts me to shame. He has a camo outfit, a blue and grey outfit, among others. His shoes, shirt, shorts and visor ALWAYS match.

Grey Outfit man- I have only seen this guy once but the image of him will stick in my mind for eternity. He was wearing a grey shirt and grey shorts and had the most unorthodox workout style I have ever seen. He performed familiar exercises with an elaborate gusto. It was like watching a train wreck. I couldn't look away. I can't believe that his spasmatic methods did not cause him some serious back injuries.

Big butt guy- This guy wears some strange tight men's dance pants. He has one of the biggest butts I have ever seen on a man. He wears a black leotard-type top. He also has unorthodox exercise methods that often include a bizarre serious of punches and kicks amidst the exercise equipment. He once left the gym in a huff after being told not to kick the exercise balls.

Amazing Mullet man- It's a shame they don't allow photos at the gym because this guy would for sure be in my hall of fame. From the front he looks like your average middle-aged Asian guy with a short spikey do. But when he turns to the side, he reveals his wild side with a snazzy little ponytail. I mean, from the front you would never see the pony tail coming. It is A-Mazing!

Hitching to a death metal soundtrack

So, it still feels a bit strange to be back but not near as much as the first few days. I have come to realize that a lot of it is having so few people on base. We have teams in Thailand, Borneo, Bangladesh and Nepal right now so the base feels empty. We do have two smaller schools starting up- our SBFM and our School of Worship. There are currently four Texans on base including myself, who I can reminisce with when I get to missing my beloved home state.

I found out yesterday that my brother is scheduled to go to Iraq for a year starting in October. He is in the army so going to Iraq was pretty much a given. It is weird to have an actual date it's supposed to happen. The army seems to change its mind a lot so I will believe it when I see it. I am not that worried about the actual Iraq part. I figure my parents will do more than enough worrying to cover my family. I know that Andrew is more likely to die in a car accident than he is to die in Iraq. What bums me out the most is the idea that I have to go two whole years without seeing my brother, who happens to be one of my favorite people in the whole world. If I think about it too much, I will cry.

On a happier note, Amy and I have picked up right where we left off, spending 90% of our free time together. I have already gone to the gym three times and I have only been back three full days. Amy and I are going to try to guilt trip each other into eating better. I know that this is the only way to make my working out really pay off.

I also went hitchhiking today. We got in the back of a pick-up truck where there was already a guy hitchhiker in the back. He had yet to discover the concept of deodorant. At one point, the truck stopped short and he flew into my lap. Lucky me! The driver of the truck was agressively friendly and kept yelling back to us to figure out exactly where to drop us off. Then he pumped up some horrible music that sounded like someone yelling until they became hoarse and then yelling louder. To make matters worse, the guy was singing, or maybe I should say yelling along. Mmmm.... hitchhiking!

Good bye bluebonnets, hello plumerias!

I am back in Hawaii. It is weird. It is much stranger than I expected. Actually I did not expect it to be weird at all. But, alas it is. I have been trying to put my finger on why things are weird because this feeling is quite disconcerting. The conclusion I have come to so far is that three weeks at home was too long. It allowed me to become too attached to home and the amazing people I have there. When I am here, I am loosely attached to home and tightly attached to Maui. Then when I went home I became tightly attached to home and lightly attached to Maui.

I know I am supposed to be here and that I am supposed to go to Bangladesh in August but it sure doesn't feel like it right now. I miss home quite a bit. It doesn't help that the students left for outreach while I was gone as did many of my friends here. Luckily, Amy, my best friend here, is around to hang out with me in my melancholy. When I come home at Christmas I need to make it a shorter trip because this is hard.

I have posted home pics on my website so check it out: www.ywamconnect.com/sites/hightower

The bouquet toss

So I feel that randomness is abundant right now and there is likely more randomness to come before I leave Texas. Today's installment of randomness quarterly:
I was having dinner in Kemah (a collection of restaurants and out of place carnival rides and games next to the ocean) with some of my fun college friends. My friend, Sarah Thompson Musselman is pregnant so her bulging belly brought me endless amusement.

Anyway, we were sitting and minding our own business at our table outside when a party boat thing came by with a wedding party aboard. We could see a bride and groom and a few of their attendants. They slowed as they passed the restaurant. Then the bride just chunked her bouquet at some randome people at another table. She was way to far away and the bouquet fell into the ocean. The bride looked sad but she should have known she didn't have much of a throwing arm. So then she appears with another bouquet and the boat draws near to our table. She doesn't say anything to warn us. I guess she assumed a table full of girls would automatically swing into action. By the time we figured out what was going on, she had thrown the bouquet at us. It landed on the canopy above our table and slid into the ocean. This was definitely the first time I have had a random stranger/bride chunk her bouquet at me. If she had given me some warning, I could have sprung into action. I actually like catching those things but I was too confused to go for this one. Weird!

First a graveyard pick-up attempt and now a random bouquet toss. I can't wait for what tomorrow will bring.