simon721984's Xanga

back to work

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:23:20 GMT

well I had a fun vacation I've been in Iraq for almost one week now and in my base for a few days. I know this is a short entry but I will write more later. I have all my pics uploaded into my facebook. My email is kudos84@gmail.com if you want to search me. If you haven't sign up I would have to manually give you links. And one link allow you to see one album only unfortunately.

on vacation

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:18:56 GMT

How are things going here at the xanga world? I know I haven't been updating for a while now. I'm on vacation in Monterey Park, CA right now. I'm going to Yosemite national park with my sister today until wednesday. I've been back for 1 week and I will leave for Iraq on the 18th. Continue feel free to leave comments.

Can God trial you?

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:59:31 GMT

Well it's been a week since I moved to the patrol base. I guess I finally broke my own word that I will update every Monday lolz. Now that I don't have personal internet, I might not even be able to update once a week but I will try.

The patrol base is not bad really. the big difference is we have to be more self-sufficient than before like obtaining MREs (meal-ready-to-eat)/military rations and fuel the generators that are generating the electricity. For food, there is a portable kitchen out here that cook breakfast and dinner. We eat MREs for lunch. I would find myself eating ramen noodles at times instead. We also have to burn our own poop and trash. I have not burn poop yet but starting tomorrow for one week I will have to do it.

There is actually a swimming pool inside the patrol base but I haven't went in yet. We started to set up the aid station yesterday, rearranginging and organizing stuff. These days the heat has been draining my energy away and making me more tired. Last week's preaching was on Job. The scripture reading is find in Job 1: 1-8 and Job 2: 1-6. The message was can we be like Job first of all. And if we can, will we be able to withstand the trials similiar to what Job faced and not turn our backs on God. Will we do the right thing when there is no one watching?

Notes:

-replace your name with Job

-Are you perfect, upright, and fear God like Job?

-Do we fear God's power & ability?

-eschew=shun, must hate evil before getting trialed

-When things are going right, you must think you are right with God?

-God uses Job because He trusts him.

-Can you handle the tribulations like Job's?

-We put so much in this world that we foret it is God who gave it to us/

-Do you have a relationship to worship God now?

-For people w/ children:

-God gave children as a gift, let God raise them as they are.

-Don't control the lives of your children.

-Satan is watching you.

-If God put a disease on you, will you turn your back on Him?

Sifting times.

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:38:29 GMT

Me pigging out on a slice of supreme pizza from pizza hut. Yummy.... I'm not actually eating, just doing it to show you guys hehe.

It was 111 degrees today according to my weather channel desktop. According to my PA (Physician's assistant)'s outdoor thermometer, it read 114 degrees around 1 pm. Well this week has been slow with very few patients.

This past week pizza hut opened up. Soon subway will follow. I was surprised that they would have them in this base. I thought they only have it in the green zone (IZ or international zone).

Well 2 days ago I went there and got myself a medium super supreme for $9.95. It was good and it brought the feeling of home. Only thing was I don't like olives and they were all over the pizza so I took every one of them out. Yesterday for lunch I got the 1 footer chicken specialty sandwich and today for lunch I got the 1 footer supreme sandwich. They were both delicious as well.

Right now I am reading 2nd Corinthians in the bible. I'm also reading a novel called The Epic of Gilgamesh which is a great king/god that ruled in Iraq in the 300 B.C. I'm a slow reader plus I don't like reading but I will finish it eventually. I am trying to develop a habit of reading for myself. I also have been reading psychology articles, news, etc. I plan to build my own computer in the future so I've been browsing through articles on that as well. Nowadays I have been spending more time praying and praising God in my room. It is truly a blessin that I have this opportunity. This past week brother Carbajal came over to my room and we fellowshipped. It's good to see him and to talk to him and stuff.

On sunday, chaplain preached on trials that we face as christians. Scripture reading is found on Job 1: 1-12 and 2: 1-6, which introduces Job and that he will be trialed by God. The message is that there are "sifting times" as a christian. This is where God sifts the sin and things He doesn't want in our lives through giving us trials.

Notes:

-"sifting times"=trials

-being tested is like working out

-as in training in the army in physical training to be ready to fight the enemy, spiritual training entails tough times we face so we will be ready to fight the devil

-sifting can be described as passing flour/wheat through a sift to rid of useless things

-Luke 22: 31 "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" - Satan desires to test your comittment to God

-sifting in marriages - it takes all three for a marriage to work - God, man, and woman.

-ares love doesn't last, agape is true love

-horizontal relationship must be good first than vertical relationship will work

-God tests you to see if you are real or just faking it

-God wants to see if those filth will be "sifted"

Sin blocks prayers.

Mon, 26 May 2008 13:58:55 GMT

Happy memorial day.

It is an honor to be able to appreciate what our fallen heroes have done for all for us. Please have a moment of silence with yourself for all the courageous men and women in the military who died for this awesome country.

Rest in Peace: PFC Min Soo Choi PFC Landon S. Giles

SSG Emmanuel Raines

SPC Joshua Anderson

CPT Nathan Raudenbush

PFC Tyler Smith

Well we got most of the stuff pack just getting ready to move soon. It's getting hotter these days. The highest I think was 108 and it will only get hotter. Well I have been deployed for over 7 months now. 7 more months to go plus 18 days of leave and traveling time. These 7 months overall pass by fast. There are days that are very long of course. I can't wait to get out of the army. I'm already getting excited. Sunday sermon was on prayer. The message is that sin is a blockage to our prayers. Scripture reading is found in Daniel 10: 1-3, 12-14. This passage describes Daniel praying and fasting and the struggles he faces. If we have sin in our lives, whatever it is, we can not deny it. We must first confess them SINCERELY to the Lord and ask Him for forgiveness. Then we can pray to Him.

Notes:

-Our prayers are not answered because: sin, lack of faith, asking for the wrong things, etc.

-Your lifestyle is not right so you do not receive blessings.

-Jesus says "no" to prayers that do not befit the bible, non-righteous matters, etc.

-Step aside! Get sin out of your life first.

-We must overcome the "prince of persia" which is sin then we can pray.

-Kind words turn away wrath.

-We have the responsbility to reprimind our brothers and sisters in Christ if we know that they are sinning.

Let God breathe on you.

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:25:05 GMT

It's been quite a busy week. Packing up medical equipment and supplies and putting them in the connex, Me and a fellow soldier plan out and organize a lot of things. Did a lot of manual labor also. But the result is great and it's good to know you accomplished something. I got an 89% on my final for philosophy-ethics and moral and choices and so I have an A for the class. I give thanks to the Lord for that. I gonna take next semester off cuz I will be going on leave. Yesterday the chaplain preached on John 20: 13-23. The passage begings w/ Mary was crying that Jesus was gone. He told us that there will be times in our lives where we don't know where God is. But the fact is, God is always with us. We must develop a relationship with Him to be closer to Him. The key verse in the scripture is v.22 "And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" We need to allow God to breathe unto us and to receive the Holy Ghost, to let Him bring life into us.

Notes:

-Is God happy with our praises?

-We must change the way we walk, talk, etc into what God wants.

-There will be times in our lives where we don't know where God is in our lives.

-Highs for christians are time of being able to preach and evangelize to the unsaved, lows are when people does not want to hear the word of God.

-God, send us to the vineyard so we can work for you.

-Breathe on us, let us not be tired.

-Only what you do for Christ will lasts.

-Non-believers are watching us.

-The inner persn inside of us is renewed by God day by day.

-Stay in the race, change your ways to His ways.

Pray with a sincere heart.

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:27:33 GMT

Yesterday was mother's day. Hope everyone show their appreciation to their moms one way or the other. My mom is in heaven so I can think about her. Nothing new here at work. Just screening patients and giving out the notorious anthrax vaccine. It will be busy tomorrow and the couple weeks packing up our equipment and supplies into the connex though. I'm studying for my final exam for my philosophy class. This will be multiple choice unlike the midterm which is only essays. The good part about multiple choice is that it is objective, so it doesn't require much thinking. But the bad part is that there is only one correct answer. If you are wrong, you are wrong. Chaplain preached on 1 Thessalonians 5: 9-22. His sermon was on prayer. He cited examples of different postures of praying in the bible: 1 Kings 8: 22, 2 Kings 20: 2, and 1 Timothy 2: 8. He preached how God looks at the sincerity of our hearts when we pray, not our posture. Where is our mind when we are praying? Do we really mean what we pray? Do we have faith in our prayers? If God doesn't answer our prayer the way we want, how do we react?

Notes:

-sincerity of heart when praying is what God looks at

-rejoice while praying

-gives thanks to everything because He has died for us

-quench the spirit means when our walk with God and our life is not right, desiring the lustful things of this world, etc.

-stay away from any presence of evil

-ask the Lord to teach us how to pray

-pray for others, not just for yourself

Give me the broken pieces.

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:22:14 GMT

Well I've been deployed for over 6 months, just less than 9 more months to go and I will be done. Really I have less than 8 more months left cuz I will be going on leave which takes away about 24 days including traveling time. This past week was kinda slow as well and we're still giving out vaccines. I'm over half-way done w/ my philosophy class. Some of the political and business issues I don't quite understand cuz I'm not familiar with it. But as long as I pass the class it really doesn't matter.

Yesterday chaplain preached on Jeremiah 18: 1-10 about the potter's house where he molds the clay. Many of us christians knows the analogy of that is th potter being God and the clay being us. The chaplain's main point is that after we have been broken into pieces so that we can be what He wants, we must give all those pieces to Him so He can put it back together. I'm starting to take notes now on the services cuz I want to take each sermon seriously and also it will be embedded in me better.

Notes:

-The potter crushes the clay because it is not what he or she wants.

-Sin leads to destruction: Jeremiah 18:10

-You feel broken when God breaks you - plans, goals, dreams, life, money, etc.

-Things that we accomplish by ourselves have no power. But if we let Jesus accomplish it, then there is power.

-The potter's house is like a church: the potter puts fragments of clay together like God breaks us spiritually and put us back together.

-Learn to let God put you back together in pieces to be what He wants you to be.

-Give Him all the fragments of your life so He can put you back together.

-Repent from your sins so God can work in you.

Trust me.

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:20:34 GMT

This was a slow week, not too many patients. For the past couple days I have been giving anthrax, Hep A, typhoid vaccines. The anthrax vaccine makes your arm super sore for 2-3 days. So soldiers don't look forward to getting it. It's been in the 105 at high the past week and it's only going to get hotter. For some reason, it doesn't bother me that much. Maybe it's because I'm from California and I'm used to this type of heat. Or maybe my body recognizes this heat from the last time I was in Iraq.

Been eating Baskin Robbins ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, mint chocolate-chip) and chocolate ice cream cones from the dining facility these days. I guess hot weather makes you wanna eat ice cream. I'm doing good in my online class. Got a perfect grade for both my essay and my midterm.

Yesterday chaplain preached on trusting in God. It's a very common subject but I think it's very deep at the same time. During hard times, are we depending on God and allowing Him to help us? Or are we struggling it upon ourselves? I know I need to work on that a lot and I am beginning to especially that I am out here in Iraq. He gave us some awesome scriptures: God gives us strength: Isaiah 40: 28-31 Trust in Him!: Psalm 71: 1-7 No more tears, no more sadness, everything's gonna be all right in heaven!: Revelation 21: 1-7 & 22: 1-7

I took some notes during the sermon: -Trust God and cast your cares on Him -The promises & riches in heaven will be in your eternal life. -Good works don't amount to anything if you continue on sinning. -Trust in no men, trust in God. -Place people in your life in God's hands.

Hammer and nails.

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:58:09 GMT

Well we got to the patrol base this past Wednesday. I stayed there for only three days and went back to my base again. They plan to switch me out with somebody else so I will be going to another patrol base in the future instead. When we got there we had to set up a tent to live in. We also built wooden floorboards for the tent and eventually built bunk beds w/ 2x4's, plywood, etc. They cut a hole in the tent and had an A/C set up. Now all they need is the power supply. I hope by now they have the A/C up and running. They got better portable toilets now where you take a crap into a bag and tie it up and throw it into a container. This past week there were several heavy sandstorms. The good part of that is it made the weather a lot cooler. The bad part is that the dust sucks and it started my allergies. I don't think I had allergies w/ dust before. Even in my last deployment it wasn't a big deal. I had itchy eyes, runny and stuffy nose, sneezing, etc. I took some Clear-Atadine which is a generic brand of Claritin which is the same thing. It definitely relieved my allergies. With all the moving and working, I forgot that this week church services have been moved up an hour earlier. So I only got like the last 20 minutes of the sermon. It was a salvation message and what I remember is that the last song was "I surrender all". The title in itself says it all. I think it will be a life journey for all of us to surrender everything to the Lord. But the important thing is that how serious do we take God has. And how much desire that we have for Him that we are willing to give up anything for Him.