Aloha Ya'll

Soo...I went to Hawaii and So. Cal. on Choir Tour 2004 with my church's youth choir on July 17th through August 1st. It was sooo amazingly fun. Here is the scoop.

We traveled to Rancho Santa Margarita, CA first and we stayed the night at The Family Church of the Nazarene and performed that next Sunday. It was our first performance and I would have given it a C, maybe a C+. So it basically sucked. After seeing our performance, which was recorded on tape, I really tightened up my performance habits, because it was really depressing watching that video, LOL. So we moved along soon after we ate lunch, Quiznos Subs, MMMmmm...

Next it was off to Apple Valley, CA where we performed at.....Another Church of the Nazarene, LOL, I forgot the name. Anyways, that performance was great because the people were a little more energetic and we were in a better singing mode I think, being it an afternoon performance and all. So....no shower for Aaron so far after a day or two in the vans, so I washed my hair that night, and oh it felt sooo good, Lol. So I played some volleyball that night, did some screaming, dancing around, and having fun, and then went to bed in a super hot room, but thankfully I got moved to a super nice air-conditioned room. Scrumptious, anyways, I slept the night away...

The next morning we loaded up and headed to the LA Mission in Downtown Los Angeles, CA. It was in a place my Youth Pastor liked to call the "No Bucks" area of Los Angeles. It was the greatest performance, In mine, and a few other peoples opinions. It was great to sing to these people because you knew that you were making a difference in the lives of the people who needed to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. It was so fun, and at the end the people were so thankful and saying that we made their day, and they wanted an encore at the end also, so we got to sing another song for them. Good times... (p.S., when we were eating lunch, chicken noodle soup, a girl in the choir named Adrienne spilled her soup all over the side of my choir shirt, so to the bathroom I go and have a noodle smelling shirt for a couple of days until we go to the Laundromat.)

Off to Anaheim, CA for a hotel and much needed shower. We got there Monday afternoon and went to our rooms. We hung out and relaxed, and then we went to dinner, it was so great. We went to a restaurant called Benihana's, it was really nice and fancy and fun and delicious, or should I say it "Broke da' mouth". LOL (Hawaiian slang, or so I am told) Anyways, there are tons of inside jokes thrown into all of this which made the experience just way more amazing, like "Too bad we don't have an extra chair!" and "Fax Machine!" OMG. Way Good times... We also went to Downtown Disney at Disneyland and looked at all of the shops and stuff, and I learned the Shopping Cart, and The Baseball Player (THAT"S DISGUSTING!) Lol, more inside jokes. And the speed limit in the parking lot was 14 MPH, craziness.

So what day is it, Tuesday now. Alrighty, then. We left the hotel and traveled to Northridge, CA and stayed at Northridge Church of the Nazarene, I think that's the name, yet another church floor to sleep on, yay! I miss my bed already. Before that we went to the Laundromat and I got to wash my clothes, whoo. No more chicken noodle soup on my choir outfit shirt. It was the greates clothes washing party ever! (I call everything a party, itt makes things more fun. Whoo. Hawaii tomorrow! That next mornings performance was good, I gave my personal testimony to the crowd, well, small crowd actually, and it went ok after being really nervous and stressed. So yes sir.

After that we were on our way to the airport, I think, (I really should have brought a journal on this trip) We were driving on the freeway and on the way to Los Angeles International Airport all of the people in the vans, including myself say the HOLLYWOOD sign on the hillside in Hollywood, CA. My van was so excited, we were screaming and having such a great time just seeing this sign, for the first time in real life too. Ah.... So we get to the Airport and we get to check in and wait around for a few hours, YAY! But it is all worth it because we are going to Hawaii, Duh?! Anyways, I got a Starbucks Coffee and played some cards. I looked around in the 2 or 3 shops that I could in my section of the airport that was fun, to look at the ridiculously overpriced airport souvenir items. Funny thing (So funny I fell over laughing in the airport store and I had to take a picture...Maybe I was just really tired, but it was funny. LOL) There was this water machine and the top of the machine said DASANI water, and I looked in the machine and it was filled with AQUAFINA water bottles, oh it was so hilarious. I looked at my firned and we were both like....AQUASANI?! OOOOHhhhh....Way too much fun.

So we finally get to board on the plane and luckily I have the middle seat of the middle row. YES! (Major sarcasm implied). Anyways, I got to move though because one of my friends wanted my seat and so I got theirs, which was nice. I bought the headphones on the flight just for kicks, and I totally kept them, even after the stewardesses were collecting them (who knows what they want them back for? And besides I paid for them.) So the in-flight movie was Cat in the Hat, SO STUPID, that movie sucks. Anyways, the food was ok, I liked my guava juice the best, oh and I had some coffee, (I love coffee, in case you didn't pick that up.) Funny thing behind that coffee, I finished it and I didn't want the cup so I pushed my stewardess call button, and then my friend turned it off, so I turned it on, and she turned it off, and this went on for like ten times, and the stewardess came like 20 minustes later asking me if I needed something and I went to give her my empty coffee cup and she was like "Oh is that it?!" "I thought it was an emergency!" I felt like a complete butthead, Oh man, that sucked, I felt bad the rest of the trip. LOL.

So we land and I am so excited, all that runs through my mind is " I'm in Hawaii, I'm in Hawaii." So fun. So we get to the airport and we get on the Wiki Wiki bus and get our luggage. We wait n for the vehicles to pick us up and all of our crap barely fits in like three trucks, Lol. So then we get to go to a Lei stand and get flower leis for everyone, and my friend, Ashley, totally screams when we get there, it was so cute and funny. (She was THE most excited out of anyone, anything we did she was just so excited to be in Hawaii.) Good times...

So then we leave to go to the house we were staying at for the week and I feel like its 1:00AM when it is really 10:00pm, Sooooo I was tired but glad to be at a place where I wouldn't have to pack up and go everyday. I was just glad to be in Hawaii, and I couldn't wait to see it in the daytime. I woke up in the morning and felt so refreshed, even though I still slept on the floor. I looked out my window and took a deep breath and was just so happy and content. I prayed and thanked God for this paradise and that I could take part in it.

So we go to the beach that morning and it was just gorgeous. I took a few pictures and went snorkeling and just enjoyed the crystal clear waters and just enjoyed swimming, IN HAWAII. Ahh... So then we came home and got to work, we (the choir, which is about 26 people, so evertime I say we, that's what I mean.) needed to paint this whole two story house. It was crazy hard work and took forever. But at the end of the week it was done and really nice looking. But it's only Thursday, so we did that and then got cleaned up, which was a mad house trying to shower with 4 showers and 26 people. But it was great, and we went to The Bridge Church of the Nazarene where we all helped out with their church's Vacation Bible School. It was so fun, and the kids were great. So home we go to sleep, yay!

Friday morning, Paint, Paint, Clean clean. Crazy, and boring. I can't remember what else we did that day but in the evening we helped with VBS at The Bridge again. Oh, I remember, I went and painted curbs at the school parking lot where the Bridge church meets. Ashley, A girl named Danielle, and myself painted the curbs red and yellow and blue, depending on which curb, it was so fun. I said to them "Hey guys, we are painting curbs....IN HAWAII." We laughed, it was so great and so random. Anyways...VBS, I did a skit for the kids about the Bible story of Moses and the Red Sea. It was so great. Hey Moses Ho Moses, Whatcha gonna do Moses, Pharoh is gonna kill us all, our Exodus is through! Good times. That night, most of us went on down to Waikiki Beach to see the nightlife. Ahh, more inside jokes. And I had some Coldstone Ice Cream, It was so good. Mmmmm......

Saturday...Hmm...My short term memory loss is kicking in. We painted that's for sure. Oye ve that painting, my firends still have paint in their hair, so funny. WEll perhaps that is all we did saturday..? Oh well, I'll remember. We had our last VBS saturday night and that was great, and through those three days 29 kids came to know Christ, Praise God, That was so great, Party in Heaven, Whoo!

SUNDAY!! Our first performance in Hawaii was Sunday, one of three. The first was at The Bridge church for their morning service, and that went great. It was also and afternoon VBS time for the kids and of course they had popsicles and sombody flinged a red one on me, and guess where? Yep, my white choir shirt, again. So funny, but stressful too. The second performance was at Honolulu First Church of the Nazarene for their Samoan service. That was interesting......LOL. those people are v very energetic and fun, so it was a great performance. The last service was at Kaimuki Church of the Nazarene which was interesting. It was very small and there were more choir members than in the audience. It was fun though. The people were laughing at our skits and were enjoying the music. Whoo. I don't think we painted that day. Definitely a plus.

Monday we had one performance, or two, ? I can't remember, but it was for kids, so the message of the music wasn't very important to them but our performance style and the way we acted was important to keep their attention. It was great, and more painting, whooo. We went to this really nasty food market too and it was soo nasty there, the food was gross. The only good thing was the bubble tea, and there was this hilarious game where you dropped down a claw (like the stuffed animal games) but it wasn't stuffed animals, there were live lobsters in there that you would try to get. It was called "Hello Lobster", it was soooooooooooooooooooo funny. ha ha ha !! Oh and we went to a luau that night, and it was really fun, and they gave away door prizes and out of these three or four hundred I got picked, it was so exciting, I got a flower lei and a video from the luau, and other little things, but that didn't really matter, because I Got picked, it was so exciting.

Tuesday?...I don't know. We performed for another group of kids and we painted. Hmm...and I think we went Surfing at Waikiki beach, that was so fun. I got to surf and ride the ways all the way into the beach. It was great. I got a little bit of a rash but it was all good. We also went to a performance on the other side of Oahu and it was so gorgeous, I really felt a lot of reverence for God and I prayed and thanked God because it was so so so beautiful. And one time in our choir group devotions, my youth pastor talked about how this beautiful paradise is nothing compared to heaven, and it was just so great to think about. Ahh. Good times. (Sorry I say that a lot)

Wednesday, we definitely needed to finish the house work, so we cleaned the carpets in the house, which was crazy and painted some more (It was a big house) and it was interesting. I went to Pearl Harbor that morning and it was so fun and amazing being at the Uss Arizona memorial was so awesome. I had a great time.

That wednesday night I cried a lot (I know I'm a baby), but it was just so sad that I had to leave already. I had such a great time and I didn't want to leave. But some were tears of joy because I was just so happy to have that experience.

Thursday we had to pack up and go. The goodbye's were hard, really hard. I got a little teary eyed as I said my thank you's to the Pastor and to my new friends, it was tough. So we traveled back to Honolulu Int'l Airport and got ready to go. We checked in and then went out to eat. We had Chicken and Rice at this Chinese buffet place. (LOL, more inside jokes)

We went back to the airport and got on the plane, it was so sad. I cried some more, and I thanked God again for that experience, because it was just so amazing. So now I can say I went to Hawaii. Yay!

Friday at 5:30AM we get into Los Angeles, CA, back from Honolulu, HI. We traveled really all day back to Auburn, Ca, my hometown. Some meal stops and fun last conversations in the vans. *sniff*

We got back and I got home, ahhhhhh, my bed. I still miss Hawaii, I think I always will. I did laundry and unpacked and soon enough it was Sunday and It was our last Choir performance, In Fairfield, CA. It was our best performance, which is GOOD. I'll miss all of our Choir songs, they were really great. *Sniff*

So here I am a week later, August 8th, 2004. Life is moving. Today is my 16th Birthday. Yay! I got to be with my friend Christine from Hawaii which was the greatest gift, because I cried in Hawaii because I couldn't see her. So that was fun. So I had a good Birthday. People remembered and I got cards and Balloons and presents, it was great. I thank God so much for he takes care of me always. Ahh.... Well this is by far my longest post ever. It took me like 2 hours, and it was great to have it all written down, as vague as it is. Yay.

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday Dear Aaron
Happy Birthday to me

Sweet Sixteen, It feels Good. Yay!
Wish me luck on my license test tomorrow.
Aloha and adios for now mi amigos.

-The A-Meister (Who's Sixteen)