Fall Term Has Come Again

Well, it's mid-August, and for me it means I will have one more week in California before I head back to CIU. This semester, I'm going in with changing my major again to elementary education. I would really appreciate prayers about this transition. Everything is working out so far on paper and I am exactly where I should be on track toward graduation in Spring '17. I am trying to figure out what electives I want to take and trying to balance it between fun & practical.

It takes a certain amount of time every break to reach the peace (lacking an overwhelmed ) of returning for another term, since being at home for 3 months gives me a sense of settling and comfort, while knowing that I will be leaving again for 4 months for school. I have been incredibly blessed with good quality time with a great church body, meaningful and insightful fellowship, and the reminder that I am headed where I am supposed to be.

In the past semesters, I have seen God knock down a lot walls I've built for comfort. I feel that knowing the future is unpredictable, while knowing it is in God's hands, is a reason for this peace I have just been handed, and be open to the opportunities.

As summer had started, I have been going back to the Chinese church I grew up in and I found a sense of fulfillment I didn't know was needed. It has felt very home-y smile emoticon Getting to spend a majority of my time with my dad has been so good and it always strikes me much more I learn every time I come back.

I'm excited to go back and help with the middle schoolers at Crossroad's youth group, as it is one of the highlights of my week and for classes to start (surprisingly).

I really do want to stay in touch will you all and hear what you are up to while I am away. Please fill this out if you want to stay in touch during the school year, I'd love to hear about YOU!

http://goo.gl/forms/KsE4MJAnzI

Promises from God Leave Me Greatly Blessed

I helped out as a crew leader for my home church (in California) and felt blessed in being there to walk alongside children seeing the greatness of the love of God as we saw each day's theme being demonstrated through our activities and sharings of my little friends. 

I experienced with them the truths that:

1 God has the power to provide

2 God has the power to comfort

3 God has the power to live

4 God has the power to forgive

5 God has the power to love us forever 

and was reminded that these promises never expire and is true for everyone.

Getting to stay in touch with my friends at school, I've heard handfuls of ways God has blessed them this summer. I know it's an intentional plan by God that I wasn't working at camp back South this summer and got to go home.

The days are getting longer in the summer and time is going by quicker cummulatively and it's great to get a glimpse of the little things (by living in it) before we blink and another half a year has passed.

I'm thankful that everyday is another day to know a loved one better and learn to love them better. I am thankful that I have a handful of people that I stay in touch with across 2,000 miles through these months. I am thankful all the warm smiles I get to exchange with people in my church family, appreciating the familiar humor from familiar that bring belly laughs, and the free (empty of homework) time I can guiltlessly leisure read, stay in with no set agenda, and getting to sleep in occasionally.

Right now, I'm listening to Tom Petty's album "Highway Companion" on my portable CD player with my compiyer off. I'm looking forward to more restful evenings like this. 

Home at Last: Year 2 Has Passed

I have come home and completed my second year in college! Every time I come back, I go on walks with my dad. Today just like each time, we pass my preschool. I think of all the things that have happened in that building: nap time, building block towers, finger painting and how much has happened since then. God has show me much grace and mercy since then.

The courses I took this Spring were:
-The Gospel of John
-Theology 2: Sin & Salvation
-Foundations of Youth Ministry
-Intro to Philosophy
-Math: Concepts & Quantitative Reasoning

At the tail end of my year, I decided to take a 2 week intensive course on Romans. Romans is a course that each 4-year student at CIU is required to take for graduation. An intensive course entails class Monday through Friday from 8AM-12:30PM for two weeks. One of the things I say a lot to God is "there is no way I'll do that, never" and then God chuckles back and says "just you wait". Taking Romans over the summer is one of these things. Our Professor Dr. Naylor gave us the choice of 3 ways we can time the class
Option 1: 8AM-12:30PM with 20 min break x2, no class on Memorial Day
Option 2: 8AM-12 PM with no breaks, with no class on Memorial Day
Option 3: 8AM-12 PM with 10 minute break x2, class on Memorial Day <we chose this one

While I was in class, my friend Sarah let me stay in her apartment room. It was a triple and 2 other ladies were renting out their own rooms in the apartment. It was quite the experience and definitely different to have my own bathroom and a small full scale kitchen after spending 4 semesters in a dorm hall with 25 friends. It was definitely a refresher.

Within my college career, Romans has definitely blown all the courses out of the water. I loved how much discussion we got to have and getting all our questions answered. During the course I did a word study on justification and it was so powerful in impacting my view of my relationship with God. Feel free to ask me to share with you what I learned (too long to write here) and did an exegetical project (chose 3 aspects to study in Romans 15:14-21)

14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. 15 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister  of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. 18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; 20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, 21 but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him will see,    and those who have never heard will understand." <quoted from Isaiah 52:15

Please ask me what I learned from this and if you have any interest, leave a comment below on the blogpost or on the Facebook Page. I'd love to share.

In my extended time in SC, I got to spend 3 more weeks helping at my youth group. I am a middle school co-leader of a small group. The students have really blessed me while I have been being part of the ministry (April 1st) and they've taught me as much (if not more than) as I've taught them. 

I've gotten to spend one more week helping at the Nursing Home/Assisted Living Ministry. We have a church service for those who are in nursing homes. I go to the one that's at 3:30PM ET-5:30PM. We sing hymns with them, get to know them and sit through a lesson spoken by Mr. McCoy (man in charge) or a guest speaker. A lady named Margaret has befriended me and I have been able to hear about her life growing up, her walk of faith, and pray with each other. She encourages me in school and she's one of my most cherished friends. I'm praying that God will keep pouring His love on her and continue to give her good health in my absence. 

Count yourself recapped on my last semester :)

You'll hear more soon

A Pen's Been Lifted

It's been so long since I've put pen to paper in writing my thoughts. I'm learning a lot about what it means to live with joy. One of my classmates Lance mentioned I've Got the Joy by Page CXVI and how in life's low points, that is where we need joy. Spring semesters have always been harder because of it being longer, having just been home and leaving again, and friends' graduations coming up--causing one to wonder what spontaneous event may bring you together again. 

I've been learning that living at home has allowed me to hear a lot of wise words that have followed me here:

1. Keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing ain't you.

2. Always bring a umbrella even though the forecast doesn't seem to be accurate, 'cause you never know

3. Pray for many opportunities to practice patience rather than praying to be patient

4. Always try your best to tell the truth.

5. God is always there, just pray. God knows what's best for you.

I've been reminded of these few phrases lately, through God's faithfulness. 

I know God has me where I am with good reason and I love what I'm studying (Youth Ministry). I will be taking music classes (Music Theory), and various electives to fill the non-required classes space I have from now until graduation. I am SO excited. 

Lately I am burdened with concern for a certain friend, and I'd like you to pray for them. I'm not going to release their name, but God knows exactly what they need. 

I'm looking forward to going home in a month and am stunned I'm almost done with half of college. 😧

Quality Time

I have just very recently (a few days ago, to be semi-exact) come to the realization that I will be a junior come this next fall semester. This actualization scares me. It seems like not very long ago I had bid the high school activities of high school football games, joining the daily bustle of people crammed in a group that has no resemblance to a line wait to order food at a small window at tutorial and lunch, and attending Grad Night after I had just become a high school alumni. Even more recently, I have spent a full year of spontaneous (late night) food runs to, but not limited to: CookOut, Krispy Kreme, and Sonic. In the past 3 semesters, Panera has become my favorite, I've visited over 15 churches.

...But anyways, before I get too lost and trail back onto the topic of food, I'd like to share a couple of the "Pshaww-oh-everybody-says-that" quotes that I've found is true: "time is a valuable commodity" and "time goes by so fast and is gone in the blink of an eye.

Wherever I am, I want my time to count. I'm quite pleased to say that I've come to a better understanding of myself, but know that I also want to find the best time to invest in my time with people. By the grace of God, I'm learning. 

I've spent this break without much of an agenda. I am content with the time I've been able to spend reconnecting, getting to spend some time walking and crossing the beautiful busy streets of town, and reconvening in attending church here and college group weekly. 

I've refound a sense of enjoyment in solitude. I have been absent from this blog and writing, admitting with the excuse (which is very valid) for being to tired from doing so much school-related writing . Being someone that very much in-person quality time, it has been on of the biggest challenges to voice updates over text written posts with time constraints, and uncertainty of who's actually reading this. But I won't stop writing because I think the enjoyment of it for expression is a gift that shouldn't be squandered.

My roommate Tylar and I have created a great balance of personal dorm room time and shared dorm room time and it had contributed to a very friendly "at-home" feeling. I've been able to go to the art room on campus a couple times with some supplies and do some painting in my free time. It's been an enjoyable outlet as an alternative to writing. It's allowed me to consider taking up new interests and developing current interests further (more info to come). In some of our shared time, we watch funny YouTube videos..it takes a good load off our class demands.

My friend Kinsey and Tylar's friend Michelle were part of the school's performance Fiddler on the Roof--which I think was a big hit!! They velcroed the bottles onto the dancers' hats and it looked both realistic and comedic. The production was well-casted. I actually tried out for it, but it was best I wasn't castes because I wouldn't have had time.

I enjoyed my classes but am enthusiastic to be starting new ones soon. Communicating God's Word was my favorite course of the semester. The process of making s lesson plan was exciting! Finding new information for Historical-Physical-Cultural context (vocabulary from hermeneutics) and figuring a way to best communicate to specific audience has been a more positive experience than normal public speaking. I loved the interactive experience of teaching Mark 4:35-5:1 (Jesus Calms the Storm) to the K-5th grade group of kids I've been a part of tutoring. It was a great feeling to give back to the classmates what I learned through my personally assigned passage of Luke 19:1-10 (Jesus & Zaccheus). I ended it with the song Jesus, Friend of Sinners  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipwEtvWL_3c

I also enjoyed Counseling Youth and Families because of the depth of study in family dynamics and its influence on its members. We had good discussions.

My least favorite class was probably my English Lit class; it included some too-lengthy/dark-toned novels for my taste, but the class was well executed. My favorites were Gatsby and The Joy Luck Club.

This semester will be more shared and intentional. You will hear from me shortly after classes start (Jan 22) again.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I have felt them and deeply appreciate them.

If you have any questions about my college experience or suggestions of books I should take the time to read this semester, let me know in the comments below. I'd also love to hear from your end on how you're doing. Feel welcome to write me a letter or shoot me an email to my Hotmail email (both listed on my college contact page). I promise I will dutifully respond as soon as time allows. 

Talk to you all soon!!