Fontana CA; Among Friends Pt. 1

I've been among thieves,

I've been among deceivers. 

I've been among liars, 

I've been among scoundrels. 

But like the man who was on his way to Jericho, sometimes you find those human beings that no matter what shape, situation or predicament you find yourself in, they always pick you up and carry you further. 

When connections are real, they simply never die.

They can be buried, ignored or walked away from, but never broken.

If you've deeply resonated with another person, or groups of persons, the connection remains despite any distance, time, situation, lack of presence, or circumstance. 

Real connections live on forever.

I've been among scamps, tramps, and fakers, 

mischief makers, heart-breakers, and tricky takers. 

But in Fontana California...



 I was among Friends. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Some time before Christmas, Luke approached me with a proposition. 

To attend the Fraizer's Youth Conference that takes place late in the month of January.

It took some thinking and convincing, but I threw all in, and we bought our airplane tickets, and rented a car. 

We met at the Portland Airport Wednesday morning, and said goodbye to the cold and rainy city with a flip of our backpack straps and a brisk walk down the jet bridge. 

There is nothing I like better than that moment you break through the surly bonds of the cloudy day you've been dreading and pop through that last layer of white fluff, and the pilot of the plane you're riding on is blinded by the unprejudiced sunlight that streams through just about any opening that it can find.

We had a brief layover in the sunny port of Oakland, and took off again for a short flight finally to Ontario.

When we began our descent, the mountains (hills, whatever), that surrounded the cities of our particular interest, it appeared that they had been sprinkled with powdered sugar, cause it couldn't possibly have been snow.

But nay nay, the days leading up to our arrival in Fontana had found certain communities pelted with snow, ice, hail, and just about any other weather cycle you could think of, within a short drive from the valley.

I had been praying for weeks that we would get to enjoy semi-warm, sunny weather, and it looked like my prayers had been answered. The day we landed in Ontario, a weather shift began to warm up the busy little towns, and besides strong winds for a day or two, California lived up to the high standard I was holding it to.



I started to get a jump on my summer tan, but it was forfeited by the falling snow and rain I returned home to.


The dear girls Jenny, Heidi and Emily Genelli had all planned to take care of me and Luke for the entire weekend.

They pretty much made every meal, found and prepared a place for me and Luke to stay, and made us feel completely at home the entire week.

We owe a great debt of gratitude to these girls, and I personally wish to sing their praises for my whole blog audience to see.

After landing, hitting Panera Bread and meeting up with Emily and Heidi, we headed to their grandparent's house to unload our suitcases, and see the place where we would spend the weekend.



A  bright little cottage complete with a sweet Grandmother, and perfectly located just behind the church. 

Beautiful spotless room, complete with a posted board of good memories.

(I had a lot more suitcases than you can see in this picture, but let's just pretend that's all I brought)





On our way to church that evening, I just had to stop and take a pictures of Emily's beautiful rental...
A convertible Mustang.

Sometimes blessings come in horse shaped packages.





The church service that night was amazing and I had such a good time slowing down for dips in the road while I was driving to the restaurant after church.

I had to pass a car to make my turn so I went against my usual recommendation of not changing lanes in the middle of an intersection, and for some strange reason the car I cut off was flashing his lights at me.

Couldn't figure out why until I left the intersection and about left my front bumper in the intersection too.

How was I supposed to know there was a drop the size of the Grand Canyon just sitting here waiting for me to drive by??

BAM.


I usually will post a picture of my rental car, but lets just say that the only redeeming quality of my Jeep Compass was that it was high enough off the ground that I didn't cause considerable damage to the front of it when I hit the dip.


We went to bed late that night with visions of breakfast break-dancing in our heads.

I managed to get up every morning at 7, and still maintain some level of consciousness throughout most of the day.

As far as lack of sleep goes, it felt just a little worse than WCC.

BUT IT WAS WORTH IT.

We stepped out and headed over to the Genelli's house and were greeted by a happy, hike-ready Jenny.




Ok, there's a picture of the Jeep, it wasn't that bad of a car, really.

Better than walking at least.

We were planning on doing some outdoor activities but by the time we finished with our breakfast feast,




(eggs, waffles, blueberry bagels, strawberries, pineapple, sausages, apples, cookies)

took a death defying ride with Emily in the Mustang,






got the stink-eye from guard dog Shiloh,







DROVE the Mustang, with the top down,







it was much too late to start off on such an adventure.

So we decided to go to one of my favorite outdoor malls and do some shopping and walking.


And help Jenny find a dress to buy. You know, since me and Luke know about stuff like that.



A spectacular food court.

Messy hair, don't care.

Best running shoes I've ever bought.

That evening before church Heidi and Emily each made their own version of taco soup and it were delicious.

I was so stuffed from the weekend, they kept on throwing every kind of food you could think of at us.

Most importantly, there was plenty of avocado.

So much so that I got to eat the extra half avocado that we didn't need.

At least Jenny looks like she approves of what I'm doing. Or maybe she just can't see me.

A little before dinner entertainment.

At church that night, the place was packed with elders,

Bro. Hyler, Bro. Brown, Bro. Stolsfuz, and the late Jason Hood, whose picture stood on the front row, right next to Bro. Fraizer.

The younger Stoltzfus tearing it up.

A a year or two ago, when we were down in this area of California, and had met up with some of the Fontana people, I had swapped watches with Myles. 

The one he gave me consequently broke before I got back from the trip LOL it's ok buddy.

But mine is still ticking, so he wore it in honor of the night.

When connections are real, they simply never die.

Real connections live on forever.




May you still have hair on your blessed head by the time I blog part 2.