Last time I wrote a quick debrief of my summer activities. Isn't it crazy how a relative period of time, or a number of personally significant events can be squeezed into an email that lasts a mere page? Playwright/journalist Ben Hecht's sentiments ring true, "Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away." Likewise, the real truth can be found in 2 Peter 3:8, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day" (see also Psalm 90:4). What does this mean? One take away for certain is this: cherish our time here to work for Jesus and His kingdom, while living in the light of eternity all the while. Amen. This email will prove to be no different.
Allow me to share one last story about my summer before I move forward. This is perhaps the most significant summer event, which I did not mention before for fear of it being overshadowed by the rest of my previous email. Anyway… this summer I had the outstanding privilege of being visited by my girlfriend, Abigail Cleveland. Abby, a Marine Corps brat whose dad was also an officer, is the niece of a former Navy chaplain, Rick Hamme. Rick mentored me during my time in Quantico, VA. After leaving Virginia, Uncle Rick graciously gave me Abby's contact information, as well as consequent permission to begin correspondence (thanks, Uncle Rick!). After seeing her photo, it did not take me long to decide to act; this was around the time I returned from the Philippines last November (to see what was going on in my life at that time visit http://okinawaone.blogspot.com/ ). After corresponding via electronic messages (email, facebook, im), I felt that we needed to meet if anything were to come of all this.
Conveniently enough, my sister, Stacy, was getting married shortly after Christmas (good timing Stacy and Brennan, thanks!), thus, a trip to the States was in store anyway. After finagling the airlines and ticket prices, I wound up in the DC area (where Abby and her family have lived for the past 10 years) for five days prior to my sister's wedding. I had an amazing time with Abby and her family, to include Uncle Rick. I gave her a webcam for Christmas and our time spent on the computer increased exponentially over the next several months. Even before leaving DC, we talked about her coming to visit Okinawa (the fact that she lived here from 8 months-3 years old was a good excuse for her to come back and visit since she hadn't been back since, besides seeing me of course!). When she arrived in June for her three week visit, it was a very pleasant surprise to see how solid of a foundation we had from over six months of talking about everything under the sun, reading together, and praying, all over skype, from over half-a-world away, and all for FREE (besides monthly internet service)! Needless to say we had another amazing time. We're now in the ninth month of our relationship, with much invested on both sides. It's exciting of course… love always is! But Christ is the Rock upon which we stand, and therefore we know that Romans 8:28 holds true. As we continue to move forward in our relationship, your prayers would be coveted. Thank you very much. I hope that brief history was as fun for you to read as it was for me to write. Be advised the rest of the email is not about love, but rather, the Marine Corps and other events, which are still interesting topics, but probably not as interesting as Abby ;)Another area of excitement for me comes from my recent assignment to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). In a few short days I will board the USS Essex for a 2.5 month tour of the South Pacific region. This will begin with movement to the Philippines, followed by Korea, with the last stop being Hong Kong. This schedule will remain intact barring any real world contingencies. For those who don't know, the MEU, of which there are a few in the Marine Corps and two-three afloat at any given time in the world, is a maritime force in readiness that is trained and prepared to execute a wide variety of missions from airfield/port seizures, to special operations, to non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO), to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR). Most recently the 31st MEU was involved in HADR missions when Burma/Myanmar was hit by cyclone Nargis this summer, as well as assisting in similar fashion when Bangladesh was hit by cyclone Sidr in November of 2007. In summary, you can think of a MEU as America's 9-1-1 call to any global emergency that needs military assistance - terrorist threat, natural disaster, or otherwise. Besides the operational side of the MEU, which is a welcome change of pace from the world of Marine Corps Communications, I've never been aboard a true Naval vessel (the High Speed Vessel I took to Korea and Philippines before is a far cry from the real thing). Considering all this, and the fact that being part of a MEU does not come along very frequently, one can see why I'm excited about this opportunity.
As a final note, on Labor Day weekend, Jim and I went to Tokyo with high hopes of climbing Mt. Fuji and plans to visit Tokyo Disney the following day. I am pleased to inform you that we climbed all 3,776m (12,388ft) of the mountain in just over five hours (note we began the climb at the 5th station of the mountain - elevation 2,305m). We began the climb on Saturday night to see the sunrise on Sunday morning. The sunrise, coupled with the experience as a whole, was spectacular.
We went to Tokyo Disney the following day to boot. Being greeted by Disney World/Land classics such as Alice's Teacups, Space Mountain, Peter Pan's Final Flight, and It's a Small World, made us feel right at home (and like kids again). Amen.
That is it for now. Take care and please let me know how you are doing when you get the chance. I'd love to hear from you before I leave.Fair winds and following seas,
1stLt Steven R. Haack
