73 Days Left...

Since my last post, I had the privilege to attend my very first Singles "Chocolate Party" in Rocklin (near Sacramento).  I thought I died and landed in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!!! Woohoo!!!  Chocolates were EVERYWHERE,  the minute you walked up to the house, two large tables covered with heaps of chocolates welcomed you.  As you walked in through the front door, to your left was a chocolate river smoothly flowing near the kitchen (ok, maybe not a river, but a fondue machine that ran like one and if you ate enough chocolates, it started to look and sound like a river) and the dining room was well equipped with more of those heavenly sweets. Sooo glad there were some chips, a delicious spicy hummus, and a variety of  other dips to balance out that sweetness because I was starting to feel a sugar high!  If you made it to the backyard, you'd think it rained chocolates.  Thank you to the great couple who hosted the party.

The highlight of my night was witnessing this dude sitting on a recliner pull both his legs behind his head, then BAM! The recliner tipped over.  My very first thought was  he must've had one too many chocolates and that his body was reacting to the overload but he explained to me, later on that evening, that he had hurt his back years ago and found an alternative to surgery-STRETCHING!  OMG, just rewinding that picture in my mind has me LAUGHING SOOOO SOOOO HARD right now.  

Anyway, the point of my chocolate story is that there are so many singles activities and if I had not attended the chocolate party, I wouldn't have had this funny replay in my mind.  So please please please, come out on September 10-12 and hang out with a bunch of great people from all over Cali and witness some crazy things!

HE LIVES: Testimonies of Jesus Christ

One of my favorites, available on LDS.ORG or You Tube.  If you have a chance, view it and shoot me a quick comment on sfmids@gmail.com.  Let me know if you'd like me to post your thoughts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ddXNF29goo

FIRST TIME BLOGGER

Ok, I'm going to keep it real with ya'll...this is MY first time ever on a blog, let alone managing one! What the heck did I get myself into this time? But you know what, when the Lord calls, JUST DO IT (dude, am I going to get sued by Nike for blogging their slogan without permission?).  All I ask is if you see something wrong on this blog or it just ain't cutting it for you, send me note.  I can take "constructive criticism" because as a Polynesian, criticism is suppose to be humorous.  Seriously, like here's an example of that.  If my sister is wearing an ugly dress, I simply just say, "I know you ain't going out like that and if you are, you better find your own ride!"  She tells me to "shut-up" and gets in the car anyway.  See, no offense taken. You got the point, right?  Hollah at me with corrections or suggestions for improvement on this blog. I'd still love ya because that's what we sang in Primary for 9 long years (including Nursery time)--"Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love, others will love you."

Now getting back to business.  As I'm typing, the "official" SF Mid singles website has not gone live but will in a couple of days. There has been so much thought and planning put into this conference, I know it's going to be one of the best ever!  And the great news...WE STILL HAVE MORE PLANNING TO DO! We do not expect much from you but an open heart and willingness to make new friends.  Encourage others to come out and have a great time.  One thing I always tell my youth as they dread youth dances..."Don't let the fun come to you, YOU take it to others!" So there you have it, BRING YOUR OWN FUN and share it with others.  It's contagious you know.  Looking forward to catching some of that fun. See ya there!

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you have a TOPIC you'd like to discuss, email me and I'll post it.  Just let me know if you'd like to remain anonymous.

*89 DAYS LEFT* Shout Out to the WEBSITE CREW

Today we had another planning meeting which went quite well.  Just want to give our website gurus Gregg LeFevre and David Wilkins 2 thumbs up and a salute for the great work they've done on the Bay Area Midsingles site, especially for putting up with me and Doreen's NONSTOP suggestions.  It got to the point where we would flood everyone's inbox with suggestions and Si had to kindly suggest that only ONE person work with Gregg.  I think if we had a clue on the amount of work it took, we would've settled for the traditional emails and Facebook invites.  But THAT is how much YOU mean to us---it's ALL or NOTHING and we want ALL of you to be at the conference.

We're going to hit up this region BIG time and invite every mid-single from South Bay to the Peninsula, into North Bay and over the Bay Bridge to the East Bay.  By getting all the stakes within those regions, we anticipate over 400 attendees these year.  That's what I'm talking about...DIVERSITY!  Majority of these wards we're going to hit has never heard of the mid-singles program nor have any clue how major it is.  Take my stake, the San Francisco East Tongan Stake, for instance.  We never heard of mid-singles until we received an invitation to perform in the luau for last year's conference in Santa Cruz.  See, for us Tongans, once you're 18, you're in the young adult program until ONE: you get married or TWO: you die.  There's no in-between there.  As long as you're single, you're in the YSA program for life.

Now that I am officially on the planning committee, there is so much more to it! My very first activity with the San Jose region was a snow trip to Twain Harte, CA (near Sonora).  It blew me away that an LDS couple in that area was so generous to allow the singles to use their vacation home FOR FREE.  Now, had that been the Tongan stake---there is NOOOO way anyone would lend the singles group their home!  Hehehehe, just kidding, we're not that bad. Anyway, it was a fun weekend and I got to meet a whole bunch of great people. I learned four valuable lessons that weekend in Twain Harte:
1.  Materialistic things are just that, MATERIALISTIC! They do not last forever.  The home was not as important as the souls who occupied it and the new friendships formed.  I will be forever grateful for the couple who so kindly let me sleep on the guest bed while the others slept on the floor.

2.  Everyone has different personalities and not everyone will agree.  However, it is a commandment to "love  one another"  and we should always respect others opinions.  Life is all about disagreements but it's how we handle them that makes us who we are!

3.  Never park your motorcycle near the garage where someone could back up into it.  Poor Jeff.  His baby was slightly bruised but not as bad as the garage door.  And yet, he was so brave to ride it all the way back home on Sunday.  For those of you who have never been in Twain Harte, well it's the woods--the forest and it's totally pitch black.  The only light are the owl's eyeballs and their weren't any out that night.  Hence, the driver of the car backed up into the motorcycle and put a huge dent into the garage door!

4.  Now this is THE most important:  NEVER WEAR A SKIRT TO GO SNOW TUBING!  I don't care how long it is.  I have it on video but I dare not show it because I don't have her permission (she was not part of our group).  But I must say, Mariah and I had a great laugh and made the long drive from San Mateo all worth it that day.

The point is, you're going to miss out on a lot if you don't come out.  There is so much to learn from one another and so much to give to each other.  Mark your calendars for September 10-12 and come enjoy being single!

SAVE THE DATE: September 10-12, 2010

Mark your calendars and save the date: SEPTEMBER 10-12, 2010 is SF Bay Area's Mid-singles Conference 2010.  Don't miss out like you did last year! For those who attended last year...it's even BETTER.  We're going to start you off with some Latin vibes on Friday night (lots and lots of dancing & food), inspire your soul with Saturday morning's workshops, challenge your intellect with an afternoon of Amazing Race at Great America (don't forget to check the box during registration), "raise the roof" at sundown at Santa Clara's Marriott w/one of the best DJ's in town, and put you back in check on Sunday.

We guarantee you will meet lots of people and have so much fun that you will beg to come back next year (ummm...as long as your under 45 years).  Don't wait for the fun to come to you--YOU BE THE "FUN" and let others come to you!