Part Four: His Own Adventure (May 2008 to Jan 2009)

If you haven't read parts one through three you can read them here.
Most of you have probably already heard that we are engaged as of yesterday. I'm not going to post the engagement story until I finish the whole story leading up to it! So just hang in there!

After he graduated, that summer Philip went to work at Wilderness Ranch, a younglife backpacking camp he has worked at for 9 summers now. He worked there all summer and towards the end of summer he heard about an opportunity to go work at a outdoor adventure ministry program called Northstar. He decided during the last couple weeks of the summer to take this opportunity. He went home to see his family for 2 days and then he left for Japan not really knowing what was in store for him.

He arrived in Tokyo and had instructions to call a certain number. He figured out how to exchange money and use a Japanese pay phone. He called and the person that answered just said go to this certain gate and you will know what to do. He went to that gate and there was a man waiting for him with a sign that said something that resembled "Philip." This man did not speak any English, but Philip understood that he was supposed to get in the van with him. They drove for several hours out of Tokyo into the country. They stopped and then a man named Seth, who was from Northstar and spoke English, met them and took Philip the rest of the way.

Philip spent that fall mostly guiding mountain biking trips, day hikes, and rock climbing for anyone who came to Northstar. Their clients ranged from Tokyo businessmen to kids from British Schools. The staff at Northstar was very small so he got to know everyone pretty well.

During his time there one of the other staff named Yamakin encouraged him to go to seminary. Philip had heard that Denver Seminary was starting and Outdoor Leadership program. He also had a couple of friends from Wilderness who were at Denver Seminary at the time who also encouraged him to apply. He started the application process and before he knew it he had everything in.

Meanwhile, he continued working at Northstar. He was there for about 3 months total. He spent his last 4 days in Tokyo exploring the city with "B". Here are some of the shirts they found that I thought were absolutely hilarious. English grammar is pretty hard...

He left Japan in November and went home to Denton, TX. He found out December 6 that he got into Denver Seminary. Around that time he sent me a facebook message telling me that he was coming to Denver Seminary and that he had heard I was starting there too. (I have to admit that I forgot about these messages until he reminded me after we got together). He moved to Littleton in January.

You can read more about his time in Japan here.

We had new student orientation the Friday before school started. I was at the sign-in table picking up my packet when I turned around and there he was!