Go see WALL*E

First and foremost, I cannot deny the fact that I'm a large Pixar fan, especially when I found out that John Lasseter, the chief creative officer, was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, etc).

With that out of the way, I went in to WALL*E expecting a lot. And by a lot, I mean I was expecting this film to blow me away and be better than the past Pixar films. When I walked out of WALL*E, I didn't know whether to cry or smile. I was standing on a line of utter amazement, and I really couldn't find the words to say.

WALL*E met my expectations and then some. For a film that had barely any dialog, WALL*E packed a bigger emotional punch and made a bigger statement than any film I remember seeing in the past [at least] 5 years. WALL*E (the character) is probably the most lovable animated character to ever be imagined. He captured my heart from the moment he was listening to "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" as he was compacting trash around a very vacant earth. Simply the way he was intrigued by all the little things that were lying around him; a rubix cube, lighters, a trash lid, and most captivating, a plant that had just recently broken through the soil.

This sets the pace for the entire film and ultimately his introduction to EVE. As the movie progresses (As I'll spare spoiling anything), WALL*E and EVE develop this relationship where simply saying each other's names says so much more than what we hear. Even using robots can get across the simple message of love, but this one was different. It focused on a simple means of expressing one's love, and it was WALL*E's ultimate goal throughout the film.

The human race somehow managed to survive 700+ years on a spaceship light years away from the Earth, and as we can even tell today, 700 years + technological advancement = a bigger, fatter, and more useless society. Director Andrew Stanton did a fantastic job at lightly making the point that people need to set their eyes on more important things in life; love, people, vegitation, and the world (and universe) around us. What makes it even more beautiful is that the simple introduction of a robot named WALL*E made these obese people realize the world they're missing out on.

If you are ready for the most beautifully illustrated story of this year, DO NOT hesitate to see WALL*E. It just might make you realize the things we really need in life.

Finally, some pictures from Colorado Springs

So, in a wonderful accident during our final hike in Colorado Springs, I slipped in the punch bowls and our camera plunged in... completely submerged. This prevented any immediate (If any) pictures to be posted from our own taking. FORTUNATELY, the SD card was spared and not a single picture was corrupted.

This is a picture of a couple of the rock formations at the Garden of the Gods with Pike's Peek in the background. A gorgeous setting that was just half a mile away from Navigators headquarters, so we definitely got a taste of what people call "God's Country."

This was from our first hike. We accidentally took a deer path that led us WAY in the wrong direction, but who cares? It was REALLY fun! This was in a little cave-like siding on the mountain. We thought it made a rather great picture spot.

Possibly some more pictures later, if we feel the urge. hahaha. Since we're going to be busy, I'm sure we won't have a whole lot of exciting pictures except for our Colorado pictures. That's about it for now.

Starting a blog.

So, how about this? I guess Rachael and I will just take turns writing about our lives on this thing. Good times, huh? I thought so.

So we just got back from Colorado Springs yesterday. We went through some pretty intense stuff with the Navigators. The first week we were there, we attended a Listening and Healing Prayer seminar, and it was absolutely fantastic! It really brought some things to the light for me, and I can definitely tell that Rachael went through a whole lot of emotional healing. God really did some great things that week.

The second week was a bit on the different side, but I strongly feel that it was just as impacting. We studied the spiritual side of fundraising and how that applies to us as we begin to raise funds for our trip to Japan. I think the most powerful thing I heard/read through the week was that when we see our donors as people giving us money (Having a horizontal-giving relationship), we tend to view them as merely banks for our missionary bank account. But when we see them as giving to God (Giving vertically), we will in turn receive the gift from God (Receiving vertically). It gave a whole new light to asking people for help - or literally, asking them to prayerfully consider being a part of our financial team. Now that sounds more Godly.

Lastly, since we WERE in the mountains, we did a whole lot of hiking. We actually got to hike once during our very busy second week with a group that we were training with. Well, we walk to this waterfall (Dorothy Falls) in the canyon and continued back to get to the "Punch Bowls", which were literally these small pools of water that looked like bowls. Well, after some daring and having already slipped in once, I attempted a belly flop into one of the punch bowls.

The good news is that I scored an 11 out of 10. The bad news is that it was cold... and it hurt... really bad. hahaha. And it actually left a ring under my sternum that was blue. REALLY blue. That's about it for our first post.