Another chapter of my life.
I am finally back in Wisconsin, and boy has it been a meaningful summer. I signed up for Summer Project, not knowing what to expect, except for God to completely change my life forever, and give me a new perspective on life; and I definitely got what I asked for. This summer has challenged me physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually, but more importantly this summer has made me aware of my own struggles and why I need Jesus just as much as everyone else.
I learned that God uses our talents for His good. I never would have expected to have landed a job (40+ hours a week) so close to what I’ve been doing in the past 8 years, and also very applicable to my major. In Vail, I worked for a small computer company called Market Computers; this is my missions field. It is the only computer store in the valley, so we get quite a lot of business. I quickly gained the trust of my boss Steve, and within the first two weeks of working there, I was running the store. When I left the company, Steve told me he was glad that I was part of his life, and really appreciates me. I was a big help to his life, especially right now. His wife Kathy has had Rheumatoid Arthritis for the past 30 years, and had to go into the hospital for some surgery. Steve was able to spend time at home to care for his wife while I take over the store. I was given the permission to put him down as a reference, as well as putting his company’s name down on my resume as a summer internship. God provided me with opportunities to connect with Steve in a way I would have never expected. I never would have thought I would be staying with his family and being a big part of their lives for the last week of project. I was given an opportunity to talk about God with Steve during my stay there, and he said he was thankful for me asking all these deep questions, it’s something he has not thought about in a long time. He provided me with food, shelter, shower, and even gave me a ride to church! I pray that through my witness this summer, he would have a new view on Christianity, as well as his personal relationship with God.
I had the opportunity to be a light for God not only at my workplace, but also at Church. I was given the opportunity to use the musical talents that God had blessed me with to glorify Him. I was part of the worship band, and I was even given an opportunity to lead a team during one of the week.
God taught me a lot about myself, lessons that has changed me. He taught me humility, and that I’m emotionally driven, quick to anger, and lack in discernment. However, even through trials, I can rejoice for He is God. These are areas of my life I was previously blind to, and God broke me down, and now I am aware of it, and allowing Him to work in me. I grew so much spiritually through my experiences this summer, and everyday I am falling more and more in love with Jesus. He is my strength, He always provides, He knows what He’s doing, and He’s much better at running my life than I.
I was pushed to my limits physically in a lot of ways and I feel very accomplished. I climbed 6 mountains, 4 of which are 14ers (14,000+ ft), one of them is a 13er, and one a 12er. I got myself an ice axe, and glacaded down two mountains, and I did a night hike and watched the sunrise from mountain top. I zip-lined through 6 canyons, rock-climbed on real rocks, bouldered on real boulders, white water rafted the Arkansas river. I slept outside in my hammock numerous nights, and I was constantly reminded of God’s awesome power through His creation around me. The stars were beautiful, and the mountains were gorgeous.
Here are some pictures:
http://www.jesusrocksmyfaceoff.com/gallery/ Click on Vail SP 09 - Final Chapter Recap Entry.
This closes a chapter in my life in which God did amazing things. He is good, and He definitely rocks my face off! Time to start a new chapter in my life with the things I’ve learned this summer.
My first night away.
This whole thing has just been an emotional roller coaster for me. I was nervous in asking my boss if I could crash at his place, worried about how my personal image would look upon him if he asked what happened, worried about how the image of Crusade would look like if he asked. In the mist of all that, I knew I had to talk to my boss either way, if I wasn’t able to find housing for the next week, I would have to leave Colorado by today and quit work early.
I prayed to God to give me a calm spirit, and that I will leave whatever consequences to Him. So I biked to work and when I arrived, I asked my boss if I could crash at his place. Without asking me any questions of why I need housing accommodations, he said ya. From there we went off on a few tangents, but eventually, he gave me his key to his car so that I can take the bike back, and get all my personal belongings into his car and leave Simba by 12pm.
I am so thankful for his generosity of opening his house to me. I feel so at peace with this, there is no hint of heavy pounding on my heart. I got to hang out with my boss and my boss’s wife yesterday after work. My boss and I chit chatted for hours before we head to bed last night. I have learned that his wife has a presbyterian background, and from previous conversations, my boss has a catholic background. I’m just looking forward for opportunities to arise in which I can have a spiritual conversation. This is so exciting to see how this week is going to unfold. One of the goal of project is for us students to develop relationship with our coworkers, and I think my boss and I are definitely beyond just an employer-employee relationship at this point.
God is SO good!
Human
Well, seems like I did it again; I’ve dug myself a hole. I wanted to apologize how my previous message came out. After I had my timed-out, and a time of reflection, I came to the realization that I am at fault here.
What was said was purely my human opinion, and I wrote it out of emotions, instead of going to God, I turned to my flesh. I’m sorry for what my message have done, and any disunity it may have caused.
I came to the realization (even in the mist of confusion and pain), that God is good, and flesh is the very reason why we need Him. God is working, even though it might not seem liked it (especially in my case), we are standing too close to the puzzle to see the big picture. We do what we do because of Him. We love because He loved us first. We forgive because Christ forgave us first. All our sins are paid for, everything is doable through Christ.
So what’s next? … Well I really don’t know. This is where God steps in and smack me around with a 2×4 for a bit, and then provide me a way out. This ironically reminds me of Jonah, and his stupidity at first. God still used him. What am I to do now? Well, maybe with mercy I can still stay on project. I realize I was disrespectful to the leaders, and I am sorry about it.
Emotions had me again, it’s hard not to react harshly/disrespectfully when asked to leave. And THAT is where God wants me to be. It all make sense now! I told a bunch of the dudes during Men’s weekend that I don’t know what my flesh is, and that I don’t know what I am struggling with. And now I know! It’s my human emotions. I let my emotions drive me, and I guess I am quick to anger too!
This makes perfect sense, I prayed for God to reveal to me what areas in my life that needs work on, and now one week before project ends, I know!
Honestly, I am in a happy mood at the moment that it all just clicked. Kinda harsh way of learning a lesson, but I guess I am learning humility as well. YES!!! This is what I wanted from project. I came on project with the mindset of “I expect nothing and everything”, meaning I have no expectation for what my summer is going to look like, but I expect God to give me all He got, and change me from the inside out. Praise the Lord.
I was not at peace when I started writing this, but amazingly now I am.
Again, I am sorry for all that I’ve done wrong here on project. Will y’all please forgive me and allow me to finish the rest of project with y’all?
Above the tree line.
Well, the reason this is titled “Above the tree line” is because project is coming to it’s final stretch. There are only 3 weeks left, and a tree line is where the trees stop growing on a mountain due to it’s elevation, usually means it’s 3/4 to the summit!
I feel like I have accomplished a lot since I got here. Just to list a few things:
1) I’ve talked to a few people about spirituality and God, and being more intentional about that (especially with my boss)
2) I’ve gained trust and appreciation from my boss, and received a bonus.
3) I’ve lead a worship team for Vail Church
4) I’ve climbed 5 mountains so far, 3 of them were 14,000ft+, and organizing climbing trips every Weds. One of them was a night hike, and watched the sunrise on mountain top.
5) I’ve glacaded down a mountain.
6) I’ve slept in my hammock overnight outside (twice) with the bears (not literally… but just outside in the wilderness)
6.1) I’ve stacked my hammock above 3 other hammocks.
6.2) I’ve star gazed in my hammock.
7) I zip lined over a canyon (6 times)
8 ) I’ve hiked up a mountain blind folded.
That is just a glimps into what I’ve done since I’ve been here. God is alive! He’s been preparing ever since we got here in Vail, and we’re finally starting to see His plan unfold. Opportunities of engaging in spiritual conversations have been showing up. I feel sad that thinking I will be leaving this place in approximately three weeks, and that I will have to part with all my project friends and the relationships we’ve develop in the valley.
Here are a few videos for your enjoyment:
Interesting day
Yesterday was one of the most interesting day I had so far since I been in Vail. Let’s start with work:
I went to work like usual yesterday, and my boss comes in late as usual. Sometime during the day, my boss out of the blues asked me: “Are you Malaysian or Chinese?”. So I answered him, explaining I am both, nationality I am Malaysian, and racially I am Chinese. From there he explained that he was just curious, even though it is illegal for an employer to ask this type of questions (discriminatory law or something). I told him, “Steve, we’re past the point of employer/employee relationship, we’re friends.” Then we went on explaining that he doesn’t know what he is. He does not have a genetic history because he was adopted. He said he looked for his biological mother, and also tried contacting her, but she refused to talk to him. Due to the fact he was adopted, he has a very strong view on life.
He was explaining to me back when he was a child, he would mess around with worms and blowing them up with firecrackers. And one day his uncle came to him and said “Don’t you have any appreciation for life?”, and later that summer, the very same uncle gave him a poster with a bloated African kid on it (due to malnutrition), and at the bottom of the poster, there was a caption that says “God does not make junk.” At this point when he was telling the story, he actually shed tear. He went on explaining that he thinks God made him for a purpose, and that he is very grateful for his life that God gave him (which ties into his adopted background).
He then from there told me the story back in the 90s when he ran for the Colorado state senate. Even though he was running for the democratic party, he was pro life (again back to his adopted background). I dug in deeper to see his background. He told me he went to a Catholic school for the first 16 years of his schooling, and that his adopted mother is very loving and taught him a lot about life. So I asked him more about Catholicism, and he is disappointed at the way the religion has gone (scandals and stuff), and people are missing the point. The point is life! He really appreciate life, and he thinks that that’s the fundamental essence of spirituality/God/religion…
He also mentioned about muslim,buddist,hindu… whatever the religion is, the fundamental is life. Which I find really interesting. He said he thinks it’s good to go to church, at least once in a while. During the course of the conversation, customers would come in, phones will start ringing, but at the end of all that, he still continued telling me this story. Unfortunately the conversation later somehow turned into a geek conversation, and we talked about the evolution of operating systems, assembly languages, different types of databases.
Basically from what I gathered yesterday from talking to him. I know he is a deist (a person who believes there is a God), but not necessary understand the gospel. I am really intrigue of his character, and his story. And I am going to make it a point to be very intentional in talking to him more in depth, and hopefully share what Jesus had done for me.
Next interesting thing that happened was at church. I was responsible on leading a worship team. I think we did pretty well. From the comments I heard from other people after the service was over, they seem to think we did a pretty good job as well. So I am definitely excited where God will use my skills this summer in serving him. I am hoping for more opportunity to arise.
God’s hands are at work here in Vail, I am super excited to see the next 4.5 week unfold. Please keep my team and I in your prayers. Especially for intense conversations with our coworkers!
The project is now OURS!
Well, the project has officially reached the 5 weeks mark. The last of the staffs left this afternoon to their next assignment, and they have entrusted the next 5 weeks to us students. They’ve also appointed a few students on project to be the core leaders, but project just isn’t project if we don’t work together as a community. Some may say that we’ve reached our half way point on project, but others say that OUR project just started. The next 5 weeks is where we will see growth in exponential proportion, it’s when we will see God’s hands in EVERYTHING, where we see healing, and maturity.
This week, our reflection time is on Ephesians 5:8-18.
8for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
And it has really resonated with me, for once I was in darkness, and now walking toward the light. One area of my life that I think have moved from darkness into light over the past five weeks has definitely been vulnerability/openness/getting out of isolation. 5 weeks ago, I was very reserved in my life, and not really letting anyone in. That has been the case all throughout my life, but I feel like this past 5 weeks I have really made progress in coming out of isolation, and into a community. I’ve had conversation with dudes on topics that I would never share so quickly with people I barely knew. I have gotten out of my shyness (especially with girls), and really been able to enjoy the company of the women on project. I’ve also developed a better servant attitude since project started. I cooked a lot here, and usually when I cook I invite 8/9 people over. This has been a blessing experience of being humble, and serving others on project. And I also feel really appreciated from the responses I have received.
Jason (as appeared on my videos from our hike to Mt. Elbert), my discipler, has left project along with all the other staffs. Prior to leaving, he gave me a verse to really dwell on this summer. 1 Peter 2:6-10. He encourages me to really let that sink in, and I am REALLY special, I am God’s chosen instrument. The letter that Jason gave me as a parting gift brought me really emotional. His kind words revealed areas in my life that I never really thought God was working, but apparently it shows, and really radiate godly characteristics. I was described to be a risk taker, and goal orientated, and that is an admirable trait that can’t be taught. My life was also described in comparison to my love for photography. That I know where to go for the best shots, and timing, even when others don’t see it. I take “shots” in my life, with all areas such as school, work, life decisions, etc. My strength is not in choices I have made, but in my capacity to make decisions. I was described to be wise beyond my years.
One advise that Jason gave me in the letter, also spoke to my heart was, being a servant doesn’t necessary mean taking the back seat. Remember that the same Jesus who was silent when accused at his own trial also braided a whip and overturned tables to drive money loving men out of the temple. Nobody asked Jesus to do this, he saw the need, and knew he was God’s chosen instrument, so he did it. Likewise, when I see an opportunity to lead, I should not let that chance slip away. When the challenge arise, rise up and conquer.
In the next 5 weeks, there are still areas in my life where I am living in darkness that can be brought to the light. I need to be more intentional about communicating on why I am here in Vail. I need to take more initiative in initiate conversations. I have heard the good news, who am I to keep the good news from spreading. This freedom in Christ that we experience should not be kept a secret. Tell the world that God exist, and God changed your life. We all need the gospel as much as the people we evangelize to.
In verse 14-18, the image of waking up was brought up. There are areas of my life that needs to be woken up. And I hope that with the help of God, I will be able to be more awake of my struggles, and really walk in the light, and out of darkness.
I am really excited for this Weds, an opportunity has arise for me to take lead in worship. I am taking ownership in leading a team at Vail church this upcoming Weds for the worship service. Everything from getting the set list together, and leading the team with our talents that God gave us, to really serve the community, and help bring hearts closer to God. Please pray that our actions are God pleasing and Spirit filled.
I can already see changes that happened since project started. I can’t wait to experience the next 5 weeks of even more brokenness and be more in tuned with what God has planned for my life.
Mt. Elbert 14443ft
So I asked off yesterday so that I could have a full day with my discipler before the staff leaves this weekend. (The staff leaves half way through project, and the students take over.)
So Jason (my discipler), and Ryan (another one of his disciple), decided to do something intense! And we climbed a mountain.
We climbed the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains: Mount Elbert 14443ft ( Wikipedia ).
Check out the videos, God is amazing.
Finance details, and updates.
Hey supporters,
As some of you know that I did not raised my target of $3950, but that’s okay. God still provided the $3000 that I need for the project fee. I actually had $150 extra from what I got, and I just didn’t feel it was right for me to reimburse myself for food and travel and stuff like that.
What I decided to do with the extra money was to give it away to other project students who are still struggling getting their initial $3000 raised. I hope this is okay with you all.
I also updated my other page with pictures from the 4 weeks, just a small sample of what my team and I are doing here. http://www.jesusrocksmyfaceoff.com/gallery/ There are significantly more pictures on Facebook, but the internet here at Vail is very slow, therefore it’s very time consuming for me to upload the same pictures on both my site and Facebook. If you are on Facebook and we are not friends yet? Look me up, you will get more pictures.
I am still putting all my updates here on my site, in which automatically updates Facebook. 
Thanks for all your prayers and support. A lot of people got jobs now (including Amanda that I mentioned in my previous entries), only 3 people left on project that still needs a job. Keep praying for jobs to open up, and also for opportunities to open up some spiritual conversations at our work site.
God is Good!
Disunity, and healing.
This week has been going up and down like a sine wave. There are a lot of things going on that some I am aware of, and some not. This past Saturday, we had what we called the Adventure Race. It took us 8 hours to finish. The rules of the game is to have a team of at least 6 people, with a minimum of 3 girls. And the project got separated, there was a lot of disunity, and people were forming teams together due to people’s athletic ability, verses for the good of the whole team. There were people that felt left out, but somehow, teams were formed, and the race began.
Saturday morning, we started at 8am, and we were not given the course until 7:30am. But the course began with swimming, in which I was in. We had to do 4 full lengths of the pool here, and it was the hardest part for me. It was a relay style, in which 4 of the 6 people had to compete, and each people had to swim forward, back, forward, back. I felt like I let the team down when I was using more oxygen than I was intaking (which is very common at this elevation), and I began to not able to move my legs on the 3rd length, and half way through the 4th length, I just couldn’t move. But people around me were still cheering me on. Our team was the last to finish the swimming portion, and I stayed in the locker room, for a while too. I was very discouraged at this point with how the race was going. And on top of that, I was dealing with some stuff emotionally too.
After the locker room, we started biking trails, in which we are suppose to bike to this waterfall. And on the way to the waterfall, I hit a curb and wiped out. Got myself a nice scar to show for it. Luckily the snowboarder in me knows how to fall, and I was told by a spectator(another person on the team) that I rolled. Fortunately it ended that way, I could have been a lot more injured. That morning, I drowned my body in ibuprofen, so I did not feel any pain at all. I got right back up two seconds later, and said “LETS GO!”.
When we got to the foot of the waterfall, our team were given a mental challenge. Then after we answered that, we climbed and got to the waterfall. There were part of the trail toward the waterfall in which were sketchy. But I was so driven to just keep going, I did not ponder too long when making decisions. It’s just GO! At the waterfall we were given another mental challenge.
After the waterfall, we climbed back down, to our bikes, then biked to another mountain, this time it was mountain biking, not so much road biking. After mountain biking to our next destination, we were given another mental challenge (memory verses all jumbled up), it was hard. It took our team 25 minutes to figure out (with a little aid from the staff when they were heading down). Then we began our hike up the mountain.
The mountain trail (berry picker trail), was around 4 miles, and there was a gain of elevation of roughly 2900 vertical ft. That trail took 2.5 hours, we were all so happy when we got to the top. On the way up, there were struggles. Our team were all over the spectrum in terms of physical shape. And it was pretty hard getting up that trail. My boy Adam’s leg cramped up, and could not move. I gave him some ibuprofen and had him rested and drink lots of water. It helps removes the lactic acid that builds up from all the physical activities.
After we got to the top, we got a mental challenge, in which we rocked it. And we had to hike back down. Going downhill was a lot easier. Gravity was working with us this time. Somehow the idea of taking the ski run down instead of the trail came up, and it became a lot riskier. I almost fell on my face twice on the way down. It would have been nasty, but the snowboarder in me kept me safe, knowing when to stop and when not to, and just kept going forward until I regain my balance. That was fun. It took us 2.5 hours to hike up the mountain, and only 1 hour to hike down.
That was pretty much it for that night, everyone went to bed early because we were all exhausted.
Sunday rolled around, and we had reflection night. The staff led us through a time of confession and just breaking down barriers that is separating the group. After the time of confession as a group, I can feel that healing is going on. Things that were built up for the past 4 weeks finally got released, and it was just amazing to see what we could have easily avoided by confronting the issue right away instead of waiting for it to build.
Stories… Update from Week 4
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here almost a month now. And in just a couple weeks, the staff leaves Vail, and the students take over of the operations.
Just wanted to write about a few things that have been happening.
A few days ago, there was a couple from Virginia came by to buy a memory card for their camera. I talked to them for a little bit, and told them that I was here on a service learning project through Campus Crusade for Christ. The lady said she was very proud of me, and impressed by the younger generation willingness to sacrifice their summer for God. So we chatted some more, and after she paid for her stuff, she asked for my hand, and I wasn’t sure what was going on at that moment, and next thing I know she said :”Let’s pray… Dear heavenly Father….”. It was such an encouraging experience to have people that doesn’t know me at all pray for me and my ministry this summer.
My boss seems to like me a lot. He did not need to train me at all, and after the first week, I was trusted to run the store by myself. Most mornings now, I open up the store, and get everything ready, and he doesn’t come in till a few hours later. My boss and I seem to get along very well, and I can see changes in him (by the way he interacts with me). I think God is using me through my actions to show His love.
There are still 9 people on project that still needs a job. It’s amazing to see God provided 31 jobs this summer for the project so far, especially in this economy. Amanda is among those 9 people who still does not have a job. This past week, she had an interview with the Marriot, and she went back the next day after the interview, the manager told her she had the job, just got to fill out the paperwork. So she went back the next day after that to fill out the paperwork, and the manager said “Oh, I’m sorry, I just had a chance to take another look at your application, and unfortunately I cannot offer you the job because you are leaving in August, and we needed someone longer term.” I am really mad when I heard that news, Amanda’s spirit was high when she found out she finally got something, and then it got taken away from her. So please keep praying for Amanda.
Seth and I will have a chance to lead worship (getting a team together from Crusade and fun stuff like that), and it’s coming up July 8th, on a Weds night service. I am excited to see God use our talents for His good.
Relationships with other project students are going along well. This weekend we are all participating in an event organized by the staff call the Adventure Race. It was said to challenge us mentally and physically like we never experienced. This will be a good bonding experience for the project, as we learn about self-sacrifice.
I think that’s all I got for now. Please keep us in your prayers.
A view into a typical day at Vail.
So it’s been 3 weeks now that I’ve been in Vail, and I love it here, however I also feel physically drained. Thanks to God, He provided me with the energy I need. Just to give an idea of what my typical day and week looks like… here’s what it is.
Monday thru Friday - wakes up around 7 and take a shower, then breakfast (typically 2 eggs, and 4 strips of bacon). I try to have a devotion right before I go into work (leave my apartment by 9:40), but now that business is picking up, I’ll have to be at work at 9am, so I’ll be even more busy! But this is the main reason I am here on project. Our ministry site on project is workplace, and general Vail community.
Monday night - Family night, where our “family” (a few project staff and a few project students = a family) eat dinner together, and have a devotional type Bible study together. And it also just gives us a chance to be vulnerable with each other. That usually last for most of the night.
Tuesday night - It’s technically free night for us to go out and have fun. I think it has become a tradition for Room 1414 to cook for us that night. I love it when girls make us food. We just socialize after that, and just connect and try to get to know each other better on project.
Wednesday night - Church “college-age” ministry. Where we eat dinner there at 5pm, and have our weekly meeting call touchpoint. During that time, we get to have a time where we get everyone on project on the same page, and just talk about what’s God has been doing in our lives. A chance to put out prayer requests, and also just to praise God for what He has done. It’s an incredible time to see God’s handy work as a project. God is here! He is working in everyone’s life, and the community of Vail. After touchpoint, we would have a worship service, followed by a quick sermon. When all that gets done, we have the option to go play in the church’s gym. This is a great way of inviting other people from the community to just hang out and connect. And hopefully share the love of Christ with them.
Thursday night - We have lifeskills. Lifeskills is a time where the whole project would do something outdoor-sy and a chance to get into the Word. The staff has been doing a great job with getting each week’s themes communicated during this time, and we (as students) are suppose to do the best we can to try and develop these themes in which becomes lifeskills.
Friday night - It is technically a free night, but this past weekend, the project split between the girls and dudes, and had our seperate time to just be ourselves. Guys are farting all the time, and I don’t know what the girls were doing. But it was great! We climbed at a place called Powl (spelling?), and it was 13600ft! the last 1.5 miles were covered in snow. And on the way down, we glacaded, it was epic. I couldn’t feel my butt afterwards, because it was numb from sliding down the mountain with a change in elevation of probably 1000+ ft. If you don’t know what it is, google “glacading” and you’ll get an idea of what I did.
Saturday daytime - There is usually an activity planned by the staff to get us connected as a group, and also put the lifeskills into practice, by drilling the theme into us a little more with some sort of outdoors activity.
Saturday night - By the time we get back from the activity, it will be late afternoon, and we are drained from the week filled from activities. This is a great time to take a nap, or become a social butterfly and socialize some more with other project folks. Usually there is a group dinner or hangout time that is spontaneous.
Sunday! - Church in the morning. A good friend of mine (Seth) and I are playing our guitars in the services. It is amazing to be able to serve the community with a skill that God has blessed me with. After church, there are usually a few cars that goes gocery shopping, and just general running errands.
Sunday night - I usually cook for room 1414 and then a few more people. We sorta been trading meals back and forward, but it’s just fun in general to be able to serve the women on project, and just be able to socialize with them. So far in the past 3 weeks, I’ve made pasta with peanut sauce and chicken, a chicken casserole with suppliment pasta and homemade white sauce (thanks to Amanda for the sauce), and today we had homemade sushi.
So here you go… that’s a typical week for me on project. Just work work work, and packed with incredible events put together by staffs, and trying to get to know other project folks better. Hopefully this gives y’all a better idea of how much is packed into my week, but still at the same time have incredible fun developing relationships with people here at Vail.
First week of work…
So it’s been approximately a week since I started my job at Market Computers here in Vail Colorado. I am thankful for having a job, however, it’s been really draining. The past week I worked 35 hours, and I will soon be working 40 hours a week once business starts to pick up, and we open at 9 instead of 10am. That has been really draining to me physically. I hardly get enough sleep, and once I get off work, I try to squeeze as much time in to hang out and socialize with other project students (when group activities are not planned, such as Weds church service, and family dinner, group hike)…
I’ve gotten to know many of the project students here very well. It’s really cool to see how what only 3 weeks can do when you all live in the same building.
Amanda - She’s from Boones, NC, and goes to school at Appalachian State University. She’s a really cool girl. We got to know each other better the past couple weeks due to the Teva Games Photo Competition. She is an excellent photographer, and has a Canon DSLR like me. We had lots of fun taking photographs together. The most fun photoshoot we had together was at night when we went into town and took long exposure shots with flashlights! She also makes the most amazing white pasta sauce I’ve ever tasted! She’s a beast !
Seth - We both play guitars, and we are serving together at Vail Church on the worship band. He’s an amazing guitar player, I look up to him a lot. One thing I love about this dude is his humbleness. He thinks I am better than him at guitar, clearly that is not the case from my point of view. He is also very willing to help out, and drive me to work and picking me up. He’s a good guy; we are also in the same family group.
Adam - He is my personal body guard. He lives in the same condo as me, even though he is much much bigger than me, he’s a gentle and caring man. He loves to cook and eat, and also very willing to give me rides. I am helping him quit smoking cigarettes this summer. So far he’s been very well! I am really proud of him.
Bryan - He sleeps with me…. (not that way you silly head, he sleeps in the same room as me 
) He’s a good person as well. I haven’t had too much chance to get to know him as well as the people above, but we get along pretty well.
The rest of the group…. I don’t feel like I know them as well, but hopefully get a chance to know them better this summer.
Prayers: I could use some prayers for energy, steadfast in the Lord. And also my friends who are still job-less. There are talks about people leaving project next week if they still can’t find a job.Which is really sad. And also my relationship with the project people.
Found a Job
Background information:
Last week on Friday, the guys cooked for the ladies, and I saw an ad at the paper in City Market that says 10 for $10 containers of strawberries. So I decided to go there for grocery shopping instead of going to SuperCenter Walmart. As I was checking out from City Market, I saw this computer store inside of the grocery store. I found it odd, and decided to go check it out.
I asked if they were hiring, as it turns out, the tech who was working there, it was his last day that day. So the owner asked what kind of qualification do I have. And I told him I had 7 years experience with computer technician. He told me to bring by a resume on Monday.
So today is Monday, I got my resume updated, and I stopped by City Market, and turned in my resume at the computer shop. He looked at my resume, and was impressed how detailed it was, and hired me on the spot. I then hung around there for an hour (on the clock) to get familiarize the store setup and a few things (such as running invoices, and other essentials). He was ready to give me a set of keys to the store, which I found odd, but I didn’t have time for him to go through the opening procedure, so he said he would do that tomorrow. He asked me how much I desired to be payed, and I took a chance and said $15, and he agreed upon it. I am super pumped about this job, but also super bummed that I didn’t really have a day of rest before I start back up. I am bummed I won’t have creative lunches with friends on project. But I guess today was a good day for project people. There was at least 13 other people on project today that got a job, and a few more got interviews tomorrow.
I am excited to see how God uses me in this ministry site. Now I just need energy… Goodnight y’all.
Blessings,
Ko
Update from Vail, summary of Week 1.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here for a little over a week, and now I am entering into the second week of project. I had an action packed last week. Every year, Teva (yes the shoe company, and it’s pronounced Tev-a, not Tea-va) put together a 4 day event call the Teva Mountain Games. Basically the world’s best athletes come together here in Vail, to compete in extreme sports, such as freestyle kayaking, bouldering, freestyle mountain bikes. As a project we were fortunate to be given the opportunity to volunteer in some of the events. A lot of the project students did the Mud Run (it is what it is… the name says it all), and I signed up to be in the photography contest, which makes me one of the many registered photographer at Teva Mountain Games.
Being a registered photographer is an awesome experience. I got a special pass that says Media on it, and I also have one that says Staff on it. Which allows me to get into places most “normal” people would not be able to get to. The media gets front line in most of the events, which in itself a good deal, I get to watch the events at the front. I also had a chance to talk to a few folks in which I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t media or staff. I met a photographer name Mike, that we bump into each other a few times and chatted. I had a very quick conversation with a store owner which asked me if I was an official for the event. I also got talking to some of people behind the booths working at gear town, in which I got some sweet freebies (nalgenes, shirts, candybar, energy bar, hiking socks). I even got a special promo code for Teva website that supposedly gets me a better discount than 20% off.
Teva Mountain Games is a cool experience to see how the town came alive, and opportunities to being part of the community. As part of the volunteering work we did, we also did a trail clean up, in which we rebuilt a path that was eroded from heavy rain. That was a cool experience as well, I never knew how much worked put into building the trails, I will definitely be appreciating trails much more next time I hike on one.
Job searching is going, unfortunately slowly… but it’s going. I have two places that I think I have a high chance of getting a job. There is the web-design job in which I was told I would get more information early this week on what they need, and also a computer tech job that the tech is leaving, so that position is open. So God is providing definitely, I just got to put more effort in taking the initiative with talking to employers.
On top of all that, I auditioned at the church here to play guitar for them, and my friend Seth(I met at project) and I both got in! So that’s exciting that I can finally use the music talent God gave me to serve Him. This is very exciting, I can’t wait to learn and grow in my musical ability this summer for God.
Lastly, if you would like to send me mails, you can either do it through email (which most of y’all have), or here’s my street address in which I will be until project ends.
En Ko
Campus Crusade for Christ
Simba Run Resort
1100 N. Frontage Rd.
Vail, CO 81657
If I don’t have your email, please send it to me here: http://www.jesusrocksmyfaceoff.com/contact/
Or if you would like to receive updates, let me know through the link above, and I’ll add you to my list.
Please continue to keep me in your prayers to step out of my comfort zone and step out in faith and do the work of God. I am also trying to develop a better listening skill this summer.
Blessings,
Ko
Job Search Begins!
Well, today we went out to Vail and neighboring cities and villages to look for jobs. No one that went out to look today got a job as far as I know. The economy is pretty bad, a lot of people are not hiring, or not planning on hiring. Hopefully the team will be able to get some results soon, and see where God puts us for our mission site. The two most promissing one that I have are 1) Web design and 2) The Red Lion - It’s a restaurant. Other than that, everyone seems not to be hiring at the moment. I personally must have been to 20+ shops. Even Walmart and Home Depot are not hiring. That’s rough.
But we serve a sovereign God, and He always provides. He already got us all here in Vail, it must be His will to use us this summer at this location. It’s just hard to let go, and not worry. I try very hard to remain calm, and for the most part I am, but I still find myself from time to time to be worried about what’s to come.
If you could keep me in your prayers to not feel discourage from the job search, and also for patience to wait for God’s plan.
Much appreciated.
All Because of Jesus,
Ko
God Always Provides.
Well, God is simply amazing. I knew He was going to make everything work out, I fully trusted His providence, and He provided!
Here’s a story: Probably like a month ago, I sent out support letters to all the people I could think of, and it wasn’t looking pretty. I honestly did felt a little discourage by the pace my supports are coming in, and I wanted to send more letters but I didn’t have any more contacts. I talked to my dad, and he said I should write a letter to the previous owner of the place he works at. At first I kinda blew him off… My mentality was, why would someone support someone they don’t know. He probably gets a lot of support letters and simply could not be able to help everyone. A week went by, and I finally sat down and wrote this guy a letter. I was not expecting it to return back, but I did it anyways.
Then school ended, and still no response from my dad’s boss. I had two weeks in Waukesha before I had to leave for Colorado. So during those two weeks, I made a few support calls, and I few came in. But I was so far off from my target, that I really did not think I would get the full support that I need (at least for the project fee of $3000).
On Thursday, the day before I was scheduled to fly out of Milwaukee. Then out of no where, I had the strangest call from a guy name Gary, at around 11:30am Thursday. I never met the guy before in my life. We chatted, and the reason he called me is because my letter that I sent to my dad’s ex-boss(Robert) was passed to him. And Robert was the president of the company, and Gary worked for Robert as the Vice-President for 3 years in the company before the company was sold. Robert did not support me because he gets many support letters, and he decided to not support any individual requests. However, my letter was interesting enough to get passed to Gary. So Gary called me, and explained why he called. He asked me some questions regarding the project, what I will be doing there, what my goals are and such, and we must have chatted for approximately 20minutes on the phone. And at the end of the call, he told me that he is considering supporting me, and wants me to send him an email with my address during project. So I did that, and the next day I was off to Colorado, in which I spent the night at the Terminal (that’s a different story for a different time).
Today Saturday, I gave Gary a call to see what he has decided, but I got his voicemail. At this point, I was in Denver about to leave for Vail. So I left a message, and head to my assignment. Then it was 8:27pm, I got a text from Gary. The message was that he and his wife wants to support me for $750, and that I should expect a check in Vail sometime next week.
I had receive two more support in the mail on Thursday , and I was $680 short of the full $3000 for project fee, and this $750 support has put me $70 above that. Now I have $3070, enough to cover the base cost of the project. God sent an angel and provided in ways I never would have imagined. It all started with my dad telling me to write a letter to Robert, and that letter ended up at Gary, and I got a call from Gary ONE day before I leave for Colorado, and got a confirmation the first day project started that I will have enough.
God always provides, His timing might not be perfect in our eyes, but He certainly had a way of making things work, and put all the pieces together, and then we realize God was with us every step of the way. He was providing a plan for me, if I did not follow what my dad said, I would have missed out on seeing God’s plan for me played out. I was glad I fully trusted God will provide the whole way. (I was discourage at some point and felt like I might not make it, but I kept telling myself, God gots this.)
Pray to God what’s on your mind, and leave that burden at His feet. Trust God fully on His providence, and His plan to play out. Try to step out of His way when He works. When you’re told to do something, DO IT! Even if you don’t think it will work.
More stories from Vail soon, stay tuned.
Few more days and I’ll be on a plane to Colorado.
It has certainly been a crazy ride from feeling God’s call to do summer project this summer, to actually filling out an application, to getting my to references to hurry, to finding out I got accepted to Yellowstone, then finding out a few days later that it got canceled, to finding out I got into Vail SP, to writing support letters, mailing them out, and slowly seeing the very same return envelops I mailed out come back to me. As I am writing this, only a few days from my assignment, I am filled with excitement, and nervousness.
There are so many things I want to do before I head out, such as visiting friends, getting my luggage packed, getting my computer and phone ready for the summer (yea I am a dork, I am preping my phone with offline GPS maps, and getting my laptop ready for the massive amount of pictures I will be taking in Vail). I have not started packing, and I am starting to feel the pressure of time. I am still about $1500 from my target, and I gotta make some more support calls. The past couple days allergies have been crippling me, and I think I have caught a virus or something as well, so my body is incredibly weak. Worst of all, I don’t think I’ve prepared my heart enough for the Lord to do work. With so many things going on in a small window of time, I find myself not giving much God time at all.
There is not a single doubt that God is going to rock my face off this summer! I am excited to get out there, I am excited to get to know other project students, and also the locals. I just ask for prayers that God will calm my heart, and help me manage my time, so that I can get everything I need to do done.
Just a few more days…
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Madison for one semester now. Exams are right around the corner (one tomorrow…), and the taste of summer weather is here. The past couple days, the weather has been nice, mid to high 70s and just absolutely beautiful. It’s hard as it is alone to find the motivation to do work, it’s days like these that make me not want to study even more, and just stay outside. I have to confess that my motivation to do anything has been exponentially declining since spring break, school has been really draining. However, God is good! He made it known today that He is in control of everything. He made it known that the beautiful weather that He provided can easily be taken away by Him. Last night it started raining, and today the temperature dropped drastically to high 40s to low 50s. Guess it’s not time to procrastinate outside just yet.
This semester has been a growing experience. My involvement in Campus Crusade has taught me many valuable lessons on serving and humbleness. The guys in the action group (Junior level Bible study) has been very encouraging in my life. I’ve learned so much just by interacting with them, and being part of their lives. I guess the overall lesson I learned from these solid studs is Christ’s love. Being new to this campus, I was quickly accepted and loved by these men. I don’t know if I would have gotten myself as involved with the movement here in Madison if it wasn’t for these men. A number of these guys also chose to be part of my support team for this summer, and I am really touch my that.
Recently I was hurt by the actions of some of the people at Waukesha. I went home to visit, and I was slammed with rejection, un Christ like behavior. It really showed the immaturity level of some of these people; we are all the same, we believe in the same God, the same blood that wiped our sins clean, the same love that our Father extended to each and everyone of us. But why is it that we can’t behave the same way toward each other? Aren’t we all brothers and sisters in Christ? … Even though I was hurt, I’ve forgiven. I forgive because He forgave us first. I just pray that they mature in Christ.
Madison is a hard school. I was definitely challenged, but I am glad to say I will be crossing the finish line that mark my first semester here in just a few more days. I am looking forward to Summer project (whoa! I will be Colorado in 3 weeks!), and also coming back here next semester. I look forward to the day where the guys will sit around and share what God has done in our lives over the summer!
Summer Project 2009 - Vail, CO.
As some of you know, I got accepted into Vail, CO for summer project. I am really looking forward to see what God is going to teach me, and see how God uses me. What I’ll be doing there is different than most summer projects, I’ll be there working, and developing a longer term relationship with the folks there. And when the time is right, I’ll hopefully have a chance to share the good news, and what God has done in my life personally. There are apparently a good size population of internationals there, Europeans and Latinos.
Support raising is both tough and encouraging. If you known me for a while, you know that I like things done as quickly as possible (homework is an exception). Financial supoort has been coming in slowly, but they are coming. It is encouraging for me to see people joining together to help make this adventure possible for me. They trust that God will do His part, and use me. That’s really cool! However, the fact that support is coming in slowly starts to worry me that I won’t have enough to turn in by May 9th (suppose to send in at least $2000 by then). I truely believe that God is using this as an opoortunity to teach me patience, and that He will provide. I just have to trust Him more.
As of today May 2nd, I have $1385 raised. The project fee is $3000, which includes housing and project materials. However, it does not include food and travel. I am hoping to raise additional money to cover the cost of that (estimated another $500 - $950 depending on how much I eat, and how I travel).
Travel is another issue that I haven’t had a straight plan for. I don’t know how I am going to Vail. I was originally planning on just driving there to Vail with my car, however my dad’s job switched him into a different shift, so he no longer can share car with my mother. So that means I wont have a car this summer. I am still hoping to drive there, or carpool there (don’t want to miss out on all the adventure of road trip, and all the photo opportunities), but I can’t find anyone from the region that is going that, or has a car I can borrow for ~10 weeks. We’ll see what God ends up providing for me.
To my readers, thanks for taking the time and reading this update. I asked that if you had not prayerfully consider supporting me this summer, if you could do that? Our God is sovereign, and I know He will provide. Ask God if He wants you to be part of the plan. Also, if you could pray for me in regards to travel, that would be cool. I don’t know how I am getting there.