The Top 10 Things Remembered & Crazy Experiences
By: Israel Ramos

10.  New in Ministry with David Shin (about to be Elder David Shin)

David Shin’s been on ordination track in Michigan for only three years.  And he may get ordained this year (probably will, but hoping he won’t because he’s mentoring me through my new life in the pastorate).  I had to beg the room assigner so that I could be placed in his hotel room.  We wake up and get ready to go.  I look over at Dave, and he’s sporting a suit–dark suit, white shirt, dark tie (looking like a model!).  So I ask Dave, “Bro, we have to wear suits?”
David’s break down:
Day 1 — Wear Suit
Day 2 — Tie
Day 3 — Casual

I follow Dave.  Show up to the meetings…not even the Ministerial Director is wearing a suit!  Later in the day, the president of the conference would comment on our dress.  Good times.

P.S. Our impression on the brethren was so strong that we skipped the tie and went straight to casual on day two.

9.  Our Freestyle

We needed a new car.  We just had a kid and we’re moving up north.  The only problem is that cash isn’t a spiritual gift (or if it is, we haven’t got that one).  Judy’s dad takes us in to Ford for a new Freestyle.  You know how every kid gets nervous when the dad starts negotiating?  Not this time.

He got us a brand new Limited Freestyle–loaded for less than what the base models were going for.  No interest for 5 years.  And then shocked us by putting down a generous “initial investment” (I’m a big-booker).  And the sales folk weren’t even mad at us.

8.  Summer Visits to Andrews

Visiting Andrews always brings back crazy memories:  Had some good times when I went to school there;  On one of my birthdays, Sebastien drove up for a surprise visit with some others.  He ended up being surprised though . 

This last year, we seemed to take more and more impulsive visits, at times bringing Jen back down to A2.  We chilled with Dave at his County Fair booth and at his church (Village), ate a bunch of baguettes (and other stuff, huh, Jen), spent illegal nights at Jen’s house, balled with Johnny, and participated in some GYC Board teleconference meetings with Justin.  We love visiting Berrien.

Everyone should go there…when Dave’s preaching.

7.  ASI 2006

The meetings were good.  But what was crazy about this particular ASI was sitting on a committee (GYC Advisory Board) chaired by Mark Finley and composed of some of the church’s top leaders.  From GYC we had Elder Gallimore, Mr. Clark, Dr. Pipim, Dr. Orlich, Justin McN, and myself (hope I didn’t leave anyone out).

6.  Ecuador

I got to preach in Spanish at a Spanish-speaking country for the first time since 99.  They’re getting ready to lauch a youth conference towards the latter half of the year.  Making new friends was nice.  Seeing David Salazar and lovely wife and Steph was a huge treat also.  Got to visit the beautiful historic downtown of Quito and went to the equator for the first time in my life. 

Since Judy wasn’t able to come, we had to chat every night via video chat.  We left the computers on all night so that it could be as close as being together as possible.  Take notes, traveling men with wives.  And thanks Sang Im, for interupting our family time :0)

5.  Crossing the Pacific (six times in one month)

Chester to New Zealand, Justin to Australia and Asia.  For sure one of the craziest experiences of my life. 

Got sick in Korea and I won’t tell you what was in the food and who ate it anyway.  But some of them were pastors!  (Shame on them.)  I’ll leave the other crazy details out of this post.  But good to hang with old friends.  Could have done without the illness and treatments.  I met one of Judy’s uncles for the first time.  If you think I look ugly now, you should have seen me then. 

NZ was nice.  Always good to be around Chester.  The meetings went well there…very good programs.  Met Dr. Lindsay there and he gave one of the best presentations on EGW that I’ve ever heard. 

Australia.  Justin was with me through that whole time–crazy.  Judy was due at any moment.  My bro’s family was in Michigan visiting us while I was gone.  At one point, I thought Judy delivered (remember, Justin?).  I ended up buying a shirt for way too much money because I didn’t pack right.  The shirt is nice though.  On top of the conference going very well, we had excellent food (Indian and Thai) and we enjoyed the same dessert every day. 

4.  Thanksgiving

The best Thanksgiving ever…for me.  Judy says that her best was spent at her cousin Angie’s house.  I think it’s because she still likes turkey and those times bring back memories for her.  We cooked a bunch of food, played a bunch of games, saw some good (and bad) documentaries (thanks, Jen), hung out with some of our best friends, and heard Sebastien preach and Dan sing…both were powerful.  I’ll use the sermon, but not the song…well, I’ll use the song in the shower.

2.  Jukes & Aileen

If we could do our wedding all over again.  We’d run it like the Namm Drs.  That’s all we’ll say.  And Jukes crying made almost every other man cry…including little brother Justin (but he won’t admit it).  Albert wrote a post about Jukes and it is so true.  One of the best men out there.  And Aileen is a sweetheart.

2.  The UP

Notice how there are two #2s.  Both of them were equally important to us. 

Everything about our move to the UP was crazy:

–  Getting the call–totally unexpected, to say the least.  But so nice to be mentored under Dave, one of the best young ministers out there today.

–  Interviewing–Justin Namm drove up with us.  It was a long drive.  Thanks so much, bro.  All the way up we were making fun of me potentially being a pastor.  The way down?  Quiet.  In the interview, someone asked if we’d ever pastored a church.  I almost responded “Not really, but we did pastor a small student church of about 50 students or so.”  Good thing I didn’t say that.  Our current church is smaller than that :0)

–  Packing–Judy was doing a great job until she went on strike because I was gone so much.  When I got back from a trip to Cali, she made me pack the rest by myself.  We loaded the truck with just a few good men–me, pastor Jeff, and Sebastien.  Thanks, bro.  I’ll never forget that favor–I was about to go crazy loading that thing by myself. 

–  The trip–we drove up with all of our pets (minus the fish) and the baby.  Try that sometime.  You’ll have fun.  Just getting out of the car to fill up gas is quite the accomplishment.  And then we had to get a hotel.  I went up to the counter and asked if they allowed pets.  The guy told us it was alright if we paid 10 extra dollars.  You should have seen the look on his face when he saw me come in with 2 cats, a dog, and a baby.  He was one of those highschool boys who didn’t know how to handle the situation.  But the pets were nice to the room.

–  The living–still feels kind of crazy that we’re pastoring.  I don’t really feel like I deserve to be a pastor.  But looking to David and Steve and thinking that I could be like them one day gives me hope.  They are the real pastors.  We love our church members and are learning so much about what serving others really means.  Our placement is perfect.  A better family environment, patient church members, and great lessons being learned about ministry.

1.  Imanuel Alexander Ramos

The best memory of 06 is the arrival of our boy, Imanuel.  The joy he’s brought cannot be explained.  The change he’s created in our hearts has been from who/what we were to parents.  We only have one wish for that boy–that he’ll choose to be a follower of Christ.  That he’ll be a living statement to the world.  A simple, yet powerful statement: God is with us–even today.  Even now.  Imanuel, I hope you read this someday.