Joel Jason Perry

My friend Joel died last month.
Very unexpectedly.
He was living/teaching in Iraq.
I hadn't see him in person for a few years but we kept up on the facebook always sharing our common loves for God, Theology and of course, the Office!

Last month when I posted this picture of Pam and I on Facebook...

... he was the first one to comment!
Made me laugh and I thought to myself how much I missed laughing with him.
It was only 3 days later that he died.
It's fitting that our last "communication" was about the Office.
We had one last laugh.

Let me tell you about Joel.
He was my boss (along with Deb) while I worked for TeachOverseas and lived in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida). I didn't actually meet him in person until November of that year because during summer training he was home helping his mom take care of his sick father. {Yep, he was that great of a son!}
Upon meeting, Joel and I became fast friends during our "thanksgiving retreat" with the teachers in Moscow. Joel had never married and had taken a vow of celibacy and had whole heartedly devoted himself to following the Lord. He had even looked into become an Orthodox monk (He had converted to the Orthodox church while living in Uzbekistan years before ... yet another rad and random fact about his life)

Really when I think of Joel there is only one word to sum him up: love.
Joel loved God and Joel loved people.
It was inspiring! I can honestly say that I never left a conversation with him EVER where I didn't feel more loved. Even when we were talking about "trivial" things and laughing about something ridiculous. I honestly don't know how he did it. And that's probably the point, he didn't do it. I'm sure it was the Holy Spirit in him that did it.

All that to say, last week, we here in California who knew and loved him got together to share a meal, share stories and watch the memorial service they had for him in Iraq (two friends were there and sent the video so we could watch it)

Upon sharing stories, I realized that I was not the only person who would sum Joel up with "love". So many people felt just the way I did. One person told a story of emailing Joel and asking for prayer and instead of just a quick email reply, Joel send back paragraph after paragraph of encouragement and blessing. Joel was rad! His life really was a reflection of the Father's love for us.

It was soooooo good to get together and remember our friend and brother and mentor in Christ.
So many people all over the earth miss you Joel, but we are all so happy for you and know that you are home with your Lord, right where you always wanted to be!

Our Second House Guest!

Adam and I were so thrilled to have the lovely Miss Katie Hutcheson stay with us on tuesday night! Katie works for the Red Cross in Knoxville, TN and ended up in San Bernardino working with all the fire relief over there. Katie comment about San Bernardino... "I didn't know that there were actual red-necks in California!" (Here is Katie trying a "shot" of Rice milk and Almond milk because she was curious about the difference.)For those of you who have no clue who this girl is and why I'm devoting a blog to her, let me explain. Katie was one of the 5/4 (depending on what semester it was) girls I lived with in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was our "team leader" because she had taught in Kazakhstan the year before. She is a very sweet girl who loves people so much and I was so pleased to have been able to spend a year with her and Claire and Amanda (and Alison, for the first half of the year). Just for old time sake, here's a picture of us girls at the Summer Palace just outside the city of St. Petersburg.

(Katie, Amanda, Alison, Me and Claire)

One of our favorite/most ridiculous things about St. Petersburg was the strange custom couples had of making out on their way down into the Metro (Subway). St. Petersburg is a city built on rivers and canals thus the Metro must be far enough underground to avoid said waterways. All that being said, you really, truly have a good 4 to 5 minute ride down to the platform and what else do you have to do?

That being said, we kind of just started saying that "the Metro is for lovers" and always joked about make shirts that said as much. Well, Katie's boyfriend Brian actually made them and Katie brought me mine when she came to stay with us on tuesday! Needless to say, I was very excited to see our dream become a reality! (even if the "Russian" is not correct!)