What can I say other than the fact that I have the best wife EVER! What justification do I need other than the fact that she is my wife. I love when people ask me randomly, "don't you think that girl is hot!?" and I have the vast privilege of telling them, "eh, she's not my wife." Sarah is such a beautiful person and her beauty goes way beyond her physical beauty. She has such a passion for people, but more than that, a passion to serve Christ. It even goes a step beyond that though, she has a passion for my heart for Christ. Last night I received a package from her, It was the computer I left behind so I could fit all the goodies she got me into my backpack before I deployed. On the computer she replaced my wallpaper to have a picture of us laughing at each other. Within my Itunes was an updated playlist that included some of her favorite songs that she wanted me to listen to and in a way enjoy with her. And then there were sermons that she spent a good amount of time uploading to my computer so I could spend time each day in worship and hearing God's word. I have the best wife ever.

When days are hard and I am losing my mind, she motivates. When I'm mad, she understands, when I sin, she corrects, when I'm down she encourages, when my mind is racing like a mad man, and I can't stop rambling she listens. I have the best wife ever.

We may be half way around the world from each other, but our love is still very real and we are very close to each other. I absolutely cannot wait for the day I come home and we look each other in the eye and finally embrace again. One fear I have is that the time we will have spent apart will have been more time than we've actually been together.The fear though, is that we will have changed and become different people away from each other. I guess this is all fine though because it'll be like we're dating again, and my plan from the start was to continue dating this young lady for the rest of our lives.


I can't wait to have dinner over candlelit dinners with Sarah when we get back followed by eating desserts and playing board games that she kicks my butt at.... I can't wait to be with my wife again!

Brian Frausto Ver. 2.0

A few days ago I decided I would take a stand against my natural reaction to things. I am generally timid and hate speaking in front of people and don't typically like to take the lead...which as some may or may not know, is not good for an officer. To break this pattern I made a commitment to be excited when new opportunities come up and try my best to be excited about talking in front of people. I will now take the opportunities and own them as mine to make the best out of. these are my products and it's what people perceive of me. I will be the best Brian Frausto that I can. Just a couple days ago I had the chance to take our BN Co (a really important guy) around our base and talk to him about the operation that I'll run soon. This terrified me at first, but after thinking about the mission and everything I'll be doing I knew that I could handle this. The walk around went very well and I got a couple emails saying to keep up the good work and that I did a good job.
I honestly feel it will be rough at first for our guys, just with not having much time to adjust, but soon enough we will rock this. The challenge will be to get our guys working together and them understanding their jobs will overlap so in turn they'll have to actually do some things that aren't exactly their job. I know they're going to have a rough time doing this because who actually likes doing things when they feel it's someone else's job? The fact is though, if these guys don't work together to accomplish each mission, we're going to have a very long 9 months. My Personal challenge will be to convey this to our guys and taking them to the next level. I say next level because that's exactly what this task calls them to be. Instead of turning the wrench they need to oversee the wrench turning, instead of fueling the truck, they need to oversee all the fuel distributing. Our guys leaders in our team have to become managers and oversee their individual teams. They've got this and We've got this. Now to go make it happen!

This might be a reoccurring theme, but not much again today. I've made the joke a couple times that this is just a really bad vacation, and honestly that's what it feel like. Good news is that it's all expense paid and it's not nearly as uncomfortable as I imagined it would be. I was able to talk to Sarah this morning which was wonderful. Somehow when we talk, it always makes my days just that much better.

Day 3: When I get home I'm going to go to a really nice restaurant with Sarah that overlooks the water, and have an amazing dessert.

so nothing exciting today except seeing the Afghanistan version of carpool. First, 6 guys loaded into the back of a pickup truck, then 3 guys on top of a van, then a tow truck with a regular truck and a car on it's back, all loaded onto another tow truck. This place makes me laugh sometimes, yet others it makes me very sad. These people live very different lives then we do. Found out the other day that the river that runs through the city is actually a sewer canal, which people bath, wash their cars in, wash clothes in, play in, I'm at a loss for words.

Day 2: When I get back I want to Use our new washer and dryer extensively for the clothes I will have worn for the past 9 months. I'm so grateful to have these luxuries.

Concerning my recent dilemma to change, I'm discovering that it's not necessarily me, or how I talk to these people, but rather them and how they take it. I really don't care if some people like me, and I would rather them not like me, because if they in fact do like me it is because I fit the personality that they find entertaining/fun to be around, and I don't want to be that person. Instead I will be me, and work hard at doing me job, that's why I'm here. To do my job, serving this country in a time of war. I will do it to the best of my ability and do it happily and faithfully because that's what my creator expects.

Now, people that we are replacing keep talking about what they are going to do when they get back to the states, and I keep coming up with new ideas. I'm going to make a list for when I get back of something new each day I want to do when I get back.

Day 1: Extreme affection and PDA with my beautiful wife Sarah! I want to love on her so much and make her feel like a queen. I'm talking flowers, awesome date, tons of kisses, and hours of nonsensical chatter about anything and everything we can possibly think of, just like before I left, and how we've always been :)

Now here we are, 14 days into deployment and I feel like I have yet to earn my paycheck. It isn't any fault of my own or anyone else's for that matter, rather it is because we are in a transition phase and there is little I can actually do. I was told today something that I already knew, and had little problem with. It came up as I was walking here to go online and talk with Sarah. My commander stopped me midway and told me we needed to chat. He had talked with some of the personnel I work with, and their consensus was that I am "too soft." I'd be the last person to argue against this, I am a "soft" individual, but mainly out of a caution to serve Christ through everything I do think and say. I am also a thinker and analyze everything before I actually want to give feedback. I was challenged though, to be more assertive and throw out some profanity here and there. My question to myself is how in the world would Christ handle this circumstance. Looking at the life Christ lead, I imagine he wasn't a very soft individual, he was very assertive in his speech, and spoke with authority. So how do I do that having lived my whole life with the personality that I have. Can I just up and change this? This indeed will be a challenge that I will rise up to and face. No longer am I going to hold back, but with prayer and devotion I will speak my heart and mind. My Thinking is that if I continue to grow closer to God, I won't have to worry about holding back my thoughts because I will continually become more like minded with Christ.

With all honesty, I was a little nervous about flying into Afghanistan. I had little to no clue as to what it would be like coming in, and quiet frankly I felt dumb to even mention my suspicions to anyone. Anything I had ever seen about going into a war zone came from Saving Private Ryan where the Army is storming the beach at Normandy, so you can about imagine the slight panic that went through my mind. I did feel a little reassured that nobody else seemed to have the slightest fear in their eyes.... Needless to say I was overthinking the whole thing. We flew in and everything was fine and come to find we even had a TGI Fridays on the base we flew into.

So I've been here a couple days now, just going with the flow of minimal trainings and just enjoying the time we have to relax. I'm not sure exactly what to expect from the next 8 months and counting, but my prayer is that all our guys will make it back in one piece, and in a better state of mind than they left.

Today was a regular day, we had nothing until the early afternoon which was just a 2 hour class, and then a SGT in my section asked if I'd want to go to the USO with him. We did and when we got there I saw a bunch of computers open so I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk a little about what is going on here.....that was until the front desk lady came over and talked to me like I was four apparently angry that I completely missed the big sign in front that said computers and had a arrow pointing to a sign in board. (oops). Anyway, I apologized and she signed me up for the computer. I must have missed the sign when I came in because I was overwhelmed by all the cool stuff the USO had to offer. I literally feel like a child at a theme park right now.... that's all for now.

It started in the morning of April 1st. The moment I dreaded for months and only could have imagined from scenes in movies where a couple said their goodbyes as the the soldier boarded the bus. The morning started off well with Sarah holding up strong and providing reassurance as the time got closer. A few things occurred that morning which i feel must be noted. Sarah and I realized that the previous day we dropped off a hat and another piece of equipment for sewing, but never picked them up. I needed both of these items for my uniform, otherwise I would be the mark of scrutiny throughout my deployment. I hastily called the shop to see what time they opened. A women answered saying that they didn't open till 10, the time I needed to pick up my weapon and head over to board the bus. Fortunately, the woman wanted to get an early start on the day and she was willing to open up early so we could pick up our things.
To our dismay, she couldn't find the items that we dropped off. While Sarah assisted the woman looking for our stuff I called my mom and dad to say "see you later." The call was fine until I actually had to end the call and I choked up. My heart sank as I said goodbye and the words just wouldn't come out. Finally after a good 30 seconds, I managed to get the words out and end the call. I ran inside and Sarah managed to find one of the things, but we still couldn't find my hat. The lady finally agreed to just give us a new one and do the sewing right away. After that catastrophe we discovered the weapon draw was moved up an hour so Sarah and I went back to the house and quickly grabbed our things and I got my weapon.
The place I grabbed my weapon from was located about a mile and a half down the road from where I actually needed to meet for the bus. That sounds simple enough, but in the army, we cannot take weapons in private vehicles, hence a mile and a half walk while Sarah slowly drove next to me. Once we got there we had about an hour left before we needed to board the bus and starbucks sounded amazing, but we couldn't drive. Fortunately for us Sarah's mom was in town and made the drive so we could have one last cake pop before I left.
The time finally came and I had to leave, and it was probably one of the hardest moments I've ever had to face. I had to walk away from the woman who just a couple months ago walked toward me down a long aisle to be my wife. This wasn't goodbye though as Mindy had pointed out, It was "see you later." As hard as it was to continue walking away, I am constantly reminded of Matt's words at community group, "it sucks, but it's also a great opportunity for God to use you." These words have resounded in my head a multitude of times since he said them. I'm so excited to see not only what God does in my life through this time, but also what he does for Sarah. I know we will be stronger and develop some great relationship through this deployment.

Some side notes:

Sat on an airplane for about 13 hours total and arrived in Manas

Ate lots of great snacks provided by my amazing wife!

Participated in a couple trainings, and ate with friends......not a whole lot going on right now.

Miss you all, and thanks for reading.

To our community Group:
You guys are all great and I thank God daily for the group that he has brought Sarah and I too. You all are such a strong encouragement and motivation in our lives. I know I don't personally give much feedback on most nights, but please know that your words pierce my heart and I'm so blessed to be a part of your community. Thank you for looking after Sarah while I'm away, and I absolutely cannot wait to get back into the swing of things with you all. My prayers are with you especially as Mars Hill prepares a new church in the city of Tacoma. I'm so excited to see all he has planned for us in this community!