The World According To Chris Brewer

This place is nuts. I have arrived safely at my final destination and am typing to you all after having 0 hours of sleep in the past 30 hours.

I am in Saddam’s main palace right now in the International Zone. I am in the computer lab, which is basically a ballroom that has been converted to be used by the U.S. Embassy. I can’t help but laugh at painted murals on the walls which falsely depict Iraqi airpower victories in the Gulf War.

I am now forced to carry my weapon on me at all times as part of my daily life for the next six months. I live in a trailer with a cool guy from the Army…think of a motorhome’s living room and you have the size of the trailer. I work in a ghetto dodgy parking garage with little trailers designed to house radio and television equipment, and offices. Actually on second thought, I think they were designed for Oompa Loompas.

There are people from many different countries here. Colombian guards make sure the IZ’s checkpoints — oh, there are many of them — are secure. German troops go out on convoy patrols. I have seen troops from other countries as well and they are all very friendly. I have met many Iraqis and they are very good people as well. Very friendly and very appreciative of the coalition support. The news never reports that.

This place also has many amenities. We will be getting wireless internet in our trailers soon, so expect me back on Instant Messenger and email regularly, starting November 15 or so. There is a PX (the place is predominantly U.S. Army), Subway, Burger King, pool (it’s lavish), free laundry facilities, a superb dining hall, and much much more. I am blessed to be here.

I should also be getting a cell phone with a stateside number. More on that soon.

It’s amazing how I have watched so much news footage of Iraq and the ongoing war, and now I am actually experiencing it firsthand. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Continue to pray for me and the troops here who are doing their best to make sure the Iraqi people are free from terrorism.

God bless!

Everyone–

I am safe and sound, still in transit, at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. I still have one more flight to go before I reach Baghdad so pray for peace and safety for those of us in transit.

Can’t stay on here for long, but the desert is cool, and much different from the states. I’m pretty much breathing sand. In the daytime it is so bright outside that my eyes constantly water. Suffice it to say I slept the day away.

I probably won’t be able to update once again until I get settled, but if any of you from church or anything that read this can contact my parents, let them know I am doing well and have met some awesome people along the way. I could not have asked for a better journey so far.

That’s it for now, God bless! More info on where I am going soon.

Just got back from The Man Room at the Ashworth house. It’s amazing. More on it later, possibly tomorrow.

As you can tell, available time for me to update this thing becomes less and less each day. But I will try to keep everyone posted on what’s going on with me as much as I can. So here are some things going on.

- Can’t stand the Black Eyed Peas’ song “My Humps”? Neither can I. That’s why I am teaming with Matt Nuttall and Wes Ashworth to make a rock remix of it. It’s gonna be awesome. I’m not joking.
- Dad is coming down tomorrow to visit my church and me, of course. I will try to get pictures. Gotta buy AA batteries, though.
- My Ducks beat Arizona today in football, 28-21. Kellen Clemens is out for the year though, with a sprained ankle. May God have mercy on our football team.
- I am still single, of course.
- Oh yeah, Melissa and I made up and became friends again. I’m happy about that. Friendship 2.0, here we come.
- Evin, my new friend from Springfield, is playing matchmaker for me in the event that I should move there next November. More on that later.
- My Myspace profile has more pictures of me doing stupid stuff in The Man Room.

That’s about it. Life is about as good as it can be, given current circumstances.

Sorry I haven’t updated the blog over the past few days. I was getting my butt kicked by the slowest dial-up internet connection I had ever experienced while I was at my family’s house in Missouri. I am currently back in Newport News, VA (remember, there is no such thing as home anymore) and making frantic preparations to go to Iraq in a week.

Here is what happened over Days 6, 7 and 8 of the vacation:

Day 6 (Saturday)
Mom took me out to a small town called Seymour, near where they used to live. Jason went to high school there when the family first moved to Missouri and he apparently loved it. Small town about the size of Rainier, Oregon (of course, that’s my hometown) but much nicer, friendlier and an even better small-town feel about it. Of course, I took pictures. They even had a drive-in theater that still works. It was neat — it advertised showtimes for Wallace and Gromit. We passed a Dollar General store, which had horses and a buggy tied to a rail in front of it. MORE AMISH PEOPLE!!!! Missouri rocks hardcore with Amish folks.

Then we went to lunch at the Hungry Fisherman with Aunt Benita. THAT PLACE RULES. I LOVE THEIR GRILLED CATFISH. If you ever find yourself in Rogersville, MO, go to the Hungry Fisherman. If you are a Christian and you do not go there, you will come very close to losing your salvation. The place is that great.

After that we ran back into Springfield. It was then that I thanked God I didn’t live in Fordland, which was 20 miles out from Springfield and where my parents’ temporary compound was. Don’t know why, but I like Springfield a lot. We went to the bank, different other places and enjoyed ourselves until Mom had to come home and rest because she was getting walloped by a sinus infection.

That night I bought nice shoes for church and special events. I will probably need them when I go to Iraq as well, when we have video shoots with State Dept. officials and other high and mighty folks.

That’s about it for Saturday.

Day 7 (Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!!!)
Not much in the early portion of the day. Watched an incredible Jaguars victory over the Steelers. Tommy Maddox sucks hardcore. I think he threw something in the vicinity of four interceptions, and every pass he threw was right to a Jaguar. I mean, none of them looked like the receivers had any chance to catch them. Of course, it was fitting that he threw a pass right to some Jaguar defender and he sauntered right into the endzone in overtime to win it and send Pittsburgh fans home very pissed off.

Later on in the day, we went to church at Crimson House. Holy cow, that church is awesome. They had only about 20-25 people there, and everyone there is just your normal average every day person like me and you. We got into some worship, which was really different from Lakeside Church in the fact that they worship to CDs, but it was neat because you could really feel the Holy Spirit there. After a few songs the pastor, John Pace, who is a really cool guy, spoke for a couple minutes about how Paul had an encounter with Christ that changed his life, and he had a story to tell…the story being a testimony that would touch others for Christ. He asked anyone who wanted prayer to come forward, and prayed for each person that God would bless them and they would have a similar story to tell of their experiences. It was absolutely brilliant.

Pastor John also prayed for me in front of the church, and I remember what he prayed…he prayed for peace, safety and for all fear of the future and the unknown to be removed because it was in God’s hands. It was one of the most powerful prayers that I have had about going to Iraq. I didn’t see her once during the prayer, but I knew my Aunt Benita was praying for me as well, and the Spirit was moving and I felt a tremendous peace about going.

After I sat back down, there were others still in front praying and that was about the same time that the Holy Spirit really let loose. It was awesome to see my Mom go pray for someone because God told her to, then her start speaking in tongues like a madman and the Spirit letting loose. I hadn’t seen that since I was 17. Other people were getting into the Spirit too, praising, praying…it was awesome. They played Michael W. Smith’s song “Healing Rain” and it was wonderful. I think I need to get that song off iTunes.

Pastor didn’t even get to preach. I guess that was good because the Spirit was moving so strong and healings were taking place, that he deferred to the Lord. I guess it’s kinda selfish, but I wanted to hear him speak…I was kinda excited about it. Oh well, I will get to hear him speak in June.

After church we all went to a Mexican restaurant and the food there was scrumtrilescent. I got to know some of the youth that were there a little better, and I found out that Evin, Shauna, Rachel and Hannah were pretty cool people. Rachel and Shauna decided to play this game called “Would You Rather” and they also involved me in it. They asked some pretty off the wall questions, like “Would you rather date your sister or date someone only to later find they were a transvestite?” What the heck kind of question is that. It was really fun to play though.

Sunday was the best day of the trip. I don’t know why but I already feel kinda drawn to the church there. Small church, kinda like Kelso but more people and more resources to work with. There is such potential for growth there that I actually got excited when I stepped into the church. I don’t know if it was God or not but I felt a really good warm feeling inside my soul all during church service that night. I want to move to Springfield. There, I said it. I want to move to Springfield as soon as possible.

Day 8 (Monday a.k.a. Driving Day)
I woke up at the butt crack of dawn, and got to say good-bye to Mom before she headed to work. Jason had school so I waited for him and said good-bye to him before he left as well. Then I drove, drove, drove, drove and drove some more. All in all, I made a 1,109-mile trip from Springfield, Missouri to Newport News, Virginia in 16 hours. I beat my uncle Johnny Parker’s record of 18 hours. Granted, he goes to Washington DC but I still am the man when it comes to driving long distances over short periods of time.

I left the Springfield area at 8:30 AM and came into Newport News around 3:20 AM this morning. I am officially worn out.

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I would now like to clarify a comment I made in a previous post. I had said that Springfield reminds me of how much Newport News and Hampton absolutely sucks. That is true. What I meant by that is the location, things to do, general ambience of the place. NOT the people. The people here are awesome and I wish I could take them with me when I move away.

So the area sucks sufficiently, but the people rock. That’s it.

So yeah, this place is pretty cool, actually. Weather feels similar to Oregon, there’s a lot of rolling hills, Springfield is nearby….really neat area.

Breaking news: To everyone I told I was staying in Newport News, you’re gonna have to try really hard to keep me there after I get out of the military. Housing here is more affordable, the church here is awesome (more on that in a second), and the feel of the place is a lot better than Newport News or the entire Hampton Roads area, for that matter. Right now only after two days here I am leaning more toward moving here than staying there. I’d say it’s about a seventy-thirty chance.

So about the church, Crimson House Ministries. Yes, it’s a COGOP. The pastor there, John Pace, is a really neat guy and also is overseer of the Kansas/Missouri region of the COGOP. Really neat people in the church, they all came up and introduced themselves to me and struck up friendly conversation. The mere fact they were interested in hearing about my job in the military and thanking me for my service in the Air Force made me feel even better about going to Iraq. We went bowling with the youth group tonight (it was good to see Omar and Misty there, I knew them from the Sumner church when I lived in the NW - it was also good to see my Aunt Benita too) and it was encouraging to see a youth group of about 10-15 young men and women bowling their hearts out.

Omar and Misty are the youth leaders, and while we were at the alley Omar mentioned that he could use me as an assistant youth leader at the church, and they would love to have me move over there. It got me to thinking that maybe that would be a better environment than at Lakeside - a youth group with room for growth, and a college group that needs to grow as well. The church is in a less than rich area of town, which makes it the perfect environment to reach out to the surrounding community. Even after being there for just one night I could almost feel myself wanting to say I would move there on the spot. Seriously, the church looks awesome, and after hearing my mom, my brother, Aunt Benita, Omar, Misty and a few of the youth rave about it, it’s already got me determined to pray feverishly about possibly moving here next year. I almost want to say I want to move here now. It’s crazy but I almost do.

More breaking news. Melissa and I parted ways as friends today. After revealing something wrong I did to her, I admitted I was wrong and she decided it would be best to not hang around me or talk to me. That’s it. I’m not gonna mention any more about it. If you ask me about it I will punch you in the throat. Sorry to sound so harsh, but I really don’t feel pissed off or angry about it, just a bit disappointed.

That’s it for now. Good night!