Just got back from an extended trip to the US.  Had the honor of officiating Ryan and Barbara (formerly Hales) Ritenour's (REET-NA-WER; no relation to Lee) wonderful wedding.  From there, had a few more missions related meetings then had a memorable family vacation.  Thanks to Northwest WorldPerks' no expiry mileage program, I was able to use miles we had saved from as far back as our Russia days to bring my whole family to the US!  Northwest was at the brink of closing down a couple of years ago so I thought I was going to lose all my miles but thanks to the US government, they were able to salvage the airline as well as my accrued miles!

The wedding was awesome.  The presence of God was all over the ceremony.  Ryan and Barbara look beautiful together.  You can't help but imagine how wonderful for both of them the rest of their lives will be.  Barbara is of course well loved and cherished by all those who have had a chance to get to know and work with her in the Philippines.  Ryan is quite a character and can win anyone over in 5 minutes.  He is passionate about God and intensely sincere.

Ryan and Barbara have known each other from as far back as their high school days and grew up in the same small town in Oregon.  So their families and friends all know each other which lent an atmosphere of a big happy reunion to the wedding.  Everyone was glad to see each other.

The wedding took place at a hundred year old Methodist church in a beautiful area of Seattle.  It is actually where our EN Seattle church meets every Sunday.  Also had the great opportunity of preaching at our EN church the day after the wedding.  The reception was in downtown Seattle next to the newly(?) built Music Museum and close to the Space Needle.  One of the highlights of the reception was a video prepared by the single women from Barbara's small group in Victory Quezon City.  It was a surprise gift that Barbara only found out the moment it was shown.  It was a beutiful expression of how much she is missed and loved and the influence she has had on so many lives back here.  Many were sniffing while the video was showing.

Unfortunately, my camera broke the day before the wedding so I don't have a single photo of the day.  Please click here to link to Amy Burton's site who was the official photographer/organizer/coordinator/manager/administrator of the wedding.

I also attended Mars Hill that Sunday to see Mark Driscoll preach live.  I felt like an 8 year old walking into Disneyland for the first time!  He preached for well over an hour (par for the course for him) on how each of the Old Testament covenants compares with the New Covenant.  True to form, he expounded on each Old Testament covenant including 6 points per covenant.  But the guy attracts lost people!  I don't know how he does it, but thousands of formerly unchurched people pack his church to hear his over-an-hour-better-suited-to-a- seminary-lecture sermons.  I love the guy.

I never realized Seattle is so beautiful.  I always thought it was just another big city, concrete jungle type of place.  Within five minutes of arriving, Pia and I easily fell in love with the city.  Downtown Seattle is quite manageable and the key sights are within walking distance of each other.  Seattle folk have a very artsy and casual character.  Very interesting to note how many revolutionary corporations and trends originated or are based here - Boeing, Microsoft (revolutionary in terms of of propagating the dark side), Starbucks, Amazon, grunge music, Nirvana, Jimmi Hendrix and of course, saving the best for last, the late great Bruce Lee.  Pike's Place (where the original Starbucks store is) is a must see if you are ever in the area.  It is then surrounded by residential areas that are full of trees with plenty of lakes to go around.  Just beautiful.  Meg Ryan said it rains all year in Seattle but it only rained once when we were there.  The weather was perfect (translation: cold).

I'm back in Manila now and eager to jump back into the fray.  Sssoooo MANY things happened while I was away.  I can't believe all that took place in the few weeks I was gone - Myanmar cyclone, arrest of one of our leaders in a restricted nation, realignments, reorganizations, and redeployments.

Home sweet home.