Week 3 - Fun Will Be Had!

Greetings from SoCal!

This week was all about taking advantage of our time here in Cali. The car thing may be a disaster, but we're not going to waste our time here by being angry and sad. I mean, come one, this is San Diego! The weather, the beaches, the palm trees!



Thursday afternoon we hopped on the trolley (basically a dart rail) to see the Padres take on the Pirates at PetCo Park. Just outside the park we stopped at the most amazing fish and seafood joint called Tin Fish. HUGE fish tacos, good live music, and lots of fun padres fans hanging around before the game. MMMMMMM....fish tacos (sorry Dallas, but SD has you beat on these.)

The Padres tore up the Pirates to extend to a 7-game winning streak in their battle for a playoff birth. Near the end of the game we scored some sweet seats down by the dugout. Awesome view!



Friday and Saturday we moved OUT of the new apartment and INTO my mom's beach house in Encinitas. Sweet little place, AMAZING location, quiet, on the beach, couldn't ask for more. Don't miss the apartment at all. Goes to show, location beats the heck out of quality.

Saturday night Sami and I went to the pier in Oceanside and ate at Ruby's old fashioned diner. It was so sweet to hang out ON THE OCEAN and eat excellent hamburgers, watching the sunset. So Great.

Sunday we went to a new church - The Fields - in Carlsbad. the service is held in a middle school gym/auditorium and about 100 people attended. AWESOME people. What struck me the most was how friendly and welcoming everyone was from the moment we showed up. It was a fantastic first impression. We plan on attending a community group with this church and possibly getting involved with the Sunday morning music! Praise God for a network of Christian Brothers and Sisters around the world who we can connect with! It was really breath of fresh air.



Sunday night we went to a coffee shop - the E Street Cafe - with my mom and sister, Lauren. We had a blast eating delectable desserts and playing trivial pursuit. Good times.

Yesterday we headed downtown for a fun-filled touristy day. We started by going to the Cabrillo National Monument tide pools. There we tiptoed around several tiny sea creatures, like thousands of hermit crabs! We then ate lunch up at the lighthouse that overlooks San Diego and the great big blue.

From Cabrillo NM we went aboard several old ships. One, the Star of India, is the oldest active sailboat in the world! From the Star we hopped onto the Surprise, which is a replica old sailboat that was used to shoot Master and Commander! Then we dove into an old Russian nuclear submarine! WHOA. Crazy, I know. Last we danced inside an old immigrant steamboat. So cool.


We left the boats and drove down to Imperial Beach, which is right on the border of Mexico, for some more Fish Tacos at the original Tin Fish! The restaurant was on the end of Imperial Beach Pier. While eating those wonderful tacos, and watching all the Pier fishermen, we hear someone yell out, "SEAL!" We look down into the water and see two seals swimming around! They are so graceful and big. Within the next thirty minutes we probably saw eight or nine seals swimming around the pier. WOW.

So there you have it. A fun-filled week in San Diego! Thanks for keeping up with us...

I'm coming home tomorrow for a couple days, so maybe I will see you! Sami sends her love and misses you all very, very much.

Please send us anything we might pray for, and continue to pray for our church seeking and people meeting!

Love,

Jon and Sami

SPECIAL BONUS FOOTAGE for those who read this whole thing!

Week 2 - He Makes All Things Good

Greetings from SoCal!

This week has been CRAZY: trying to get the car scam stuff organized, trying to find a lawyer, talking to a million people, etc. It looks like we will be moving forward with a lawsuit (YUCK), but God was good to bless us with an attorney that was willing to take our case for a minimal fee. Please pray that we go about this the right way and everything is done for the Glory of God, and not because we are mad that we have been wronged.


On to more FUN things: Sami started delivering babies this week! I have some pics of her setting off to work. Go Sami. She likes the facility, her job, and the people she has worked with. Praise God!

Sunday we went to "Kaleo" community church. They meet in the AMC theater! It was a pretty sweet service, around 100 people, very quaint and personal. The speaker was extremely intelligent, spoke on remembering God is our Father. This church seems to be very outreach oriented. I am planning on joining them fridays, hanging out homeless kids after school downtown. (monarchschools.org)

I spent one afternoon exploring one of the harbors downtown. There is a National Monument Park on the tip of san diego that overlooks the ocean and city. It's BEAUTIFUL! Next week I plan to return at low tide, because apparently there are thousands of little sea creatures that get stuck in the tide pools!




TWO MAJOR UPDATES


1) We are moving in with my mom in encinitas (20 miles north of SD) on SATURDAY. WOOHOO for moving again! We are going to save a little money and live on the beach at the same time!



2) I AM COMING HOME! Friday Sept 28th I am flying home to get Sami's old truck so she can drive to work. BitterSweet I know, but at least God gave us a way. : )

That's all for now. We love you all. Thanks for joining with us here in prayer and spirit.


Jon and Sami

Week 1 - San Diego and/or BUST

We made it! The Old Ford Exploder performed wonderfully to bring us 1300 miles to SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA! (Albeit without a/c) But the Lord blessed us with good weather and a great layover in El Paso with Brian and Vianka.

Brian and Vianka - thanks again for showing us a good time, the steaks, and the hotel room!

We arrived in San Diego at 3 am Wednesday morning. A quick nap and we were up to see Mom and Lauren for some breakfast at the Encinitas House. Thank you mom and Uncle Rusty for letting us stay there!

Thursday - we flew to Sacramento to get Sami's Nursing License registered in California. We rented a car from hertz, which they only had a red mustang (DARN!). We liked the mustang : )
We were thankful to have a car, because It was insanely difficult to complete the registration. "Go to this building, no this buuidling..I'm sorry they told you wrong...We do not accept out of state checks or credit cards...etc etc." But the registration eventually went through and on the plus side we saw about 99% of Sacramento.We also enjoyed some time with Scott Branch, who drove up fro San Fran to say hello. Thanks Scotty.

Friday - Now back in San Diego we closed out the deal for Sami's NEW(used) CAR! Something seemed fishy, but we were in the car, out of the DMV and on the road. I mean hey, if the DMV allowed all the paperwork to clear there shouldn't be a problem right? WRONG. More on this later...

That afternoon we surfed. Well, I'm not sure thats what you would call it, but we did stand on a board in the ocean! Later we headed back to the house for a barbecue with Mom, TJ, Lauren, Lindsay, and David Dixon. GOOD TIMES.

Saturday - We were enjoying our fun new toyota prius and saving gobs of gas. We moved into our apartment, which is a little too nice for us. The gym is unbelieveable, like having a Lifetime fitness downstairs. Moving in was hard, Sami was getting homesick.

Sunday - Church Day! A little more moving in and then we headed to an evening curch service at Shadow Mountain Community Church. It was a cool service because they had a Messianic Jew musician come play. He was great, funny, talented, and had an awesome testimony.

Monday - The call... Criminal Investigator informed us that our car was illegally sold, the seller posed as a private seller, but was actually a dealer in MEXICO! Also, he lied about the condition and history of the car. hmmm, not so good. So now we are in the process of a possible civil lawsuit (uggh) to try and get a refund and return the car. Much crying and frustration. Our fun little San Diego bubble kind of bursts...

Tuesday - Ok, God is good, and we know things will be ok. We trust Him and lean on Him. With this faith we move forward with joy. Sami goes to work! Her first day was a simple orientation, but she did meet a friend, which is awesome. That afternoon we went to Encinitas, spent some time on the beach, and had an excellent taco dinner with Mom.

Today - Please pray for us as we continue to settle in here and meet new people (good and not so good). Pray that we have a loving and truthful spirit towards the car seller. Pray that we might get our money back and that the seller might choose to do what is right. Pray that we meet more people. Pray that we might have an impact here in a different world.

The video chats have been amazing, and extremely helpful.


God Bless, we love you all

Jon and Sami

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