California Dreaming

When we arrived in Oceanside, California the night before Thanksgiving, we hit the ground running.  I mean, by the time we left we had fulfilled over 26 appointments.  That doesn’t include preaching at New Song Community Church 5 times in 2 days (see previous video post), speaking to the youth ministry one evening and reporting to the congregation of Oceanside Community Church for a Sunday service.  Steve and Suzanne Duntley blessed us with a place to stay.  They pulled up their massive, luxury RV…equipped in a fashion that outdid our living situation in the Philippines!  Debbie Hayward lent us her brand new Toyota Camry.  (Sidenote:  We were hit by a car who ran a stop sign.  Thank goodness for USAA insurance.)  And our brothers and sisters in Christ made sure that our bellies were stuffed the entire time we were there.  When  God provides, He provides abundantly.

I (Edwin) tell people that, for us, living anywhere outside of Oceanside is a result of obeying God, not a personal decision.  I consider it my hometown even though I wasn’t born there.  If you know my story, you would understand why I say I was raised there.  My spiritual family resides in that area.  I had a blast being involved in ministry in years past and there is certainly no abundance of workers, so it would be easy to make a life there as ministers.  And Amy worked hard and waited years to return after leaving as a teenager.  We fell in love and were married in that great city.  Again I say, we are following God’s call on our lives, not our simple desires.  Oh Oceanside, we miss you already.

Anyways, after almost 10 days in the most beautiful city in the world, we took a road trip up Interstate 5 and headed for the Bay Area.  The day before leaving, my brother flew down to LA to hang out with us and to join us on the trip up.  Bonding time.  It was awesome.  My brother lives in Oakland…it’s cold there in the winter, especially if you’re coming from the Philippines.  So is San Francisco.  But it was a chill that Amy and I enjoyed.  We met with a ton of family members, enjoyed more Filipino food than we were used to eating (and remember, we live in the Philippines!), and took tons of pictures.

Amy and I will be involved in missions for the rest of our lives.  However, we don’t know how long we’re going to be on the mission field.  We may one day be called to the San Francisco Bay Area.  Lord knows they need Jesus.  After spending time in that part of California I realized that life there would be hard both emotionally and financially.  It would have to be an unusually strong call/shove from the Lord to take us there because like I said, Oceanside, California is the dream.

We left after a week there and are now in Mississippi for the remainder of our vacation…