I got the news last Thursday that I had to move out by last Sunday. Which I think it’s a unfair demand since T. still owes me time from over winter break. On top of that, it’s such a short notice for me to pack and go. Even though it was unfair, I still respected their request and moved out. My parents were fortunate enough and were able to borrow my aunt’s van, and they came last Sunday to help me move a few of the bigger items back to Waukesha for storage (My bed, some boxes of extra supplies, my classical guitar).

I moved next door, literally 20ft from where I was staying. My friend Pat was kind enough to take me in for the semester (or until I find a new place to live). He’s a strong Christian, and I actually went to high-school with his little brother; we were in the same Bible study together a couple summers ago. I am so thankful for his willingness to open up his space, and cram me in there. It was tight to begin with, but we will manage; right now I’m sleeping on his futon.

What was annoying was that my house manager promised me a key to this new apartment will be available to me last Friday, however that never came true. I waited, and tried to email and text him about it, as it turned out, he’s on vacation this whole week. This was definitely a test of patience since he was the one that told me I had to move out of there by Sunday, but then failed to give me my key for my new place, or told me he was going to be gone for a week. I was living out of my backpack going on friend’s couch for a few days beginning of the week when I was waiting for my house manager to get back to me on the key situation. I’ve finally just took the key that he was suppose to make a copy of, and just used it temporary.

But what’s cool is that since I resigned my job, I can see God doing things, and His providence revealing. Initially T. was still giving me a hard time (more of just annoyance), but towards the end of that week, I’ve seen him more mellow, and not really trying to cause any trouble with me. He actually said “Good morning” to me on one of the mornings before I left. That may not seem like a lot in most cases, but this was better than what it was before. He actually acknowledged me, instead of pretending I don’t exist. And since I moved out, even though I have not seen him around much (in person), he hasn’t tried to cause any trouble with me. Most importantly, things have finally slowed down and I am starting to feel peace (which was my intent in resigning my job).

Since I was living there for free as a house-person, now that I have resigned, I no longer have free rent. Which means I am in need of a job this semester. Without knowing I was going to resign my job, I actually applied for a position over winter break, I just got a response back a couple days ago, and now I’ve an interview setup for next Wednesday. If I get this job, I will be making somewhere between $10-$12 an hour, and working 10-15 hours a week, doing computer support for the University. (http://mis.ls.wisc.edu/) They only had two openings, and I’m sure they had a bunch of applications to process through, but I was picked for in person interview, which means I am one of the finalists.

Lifegroup has also been a new thing, and this past Monday was our second lifegroup. Maria and I just really feel like this is a right plug in for us. We really feel the sincerity of the people there, I mentioned briefly about my roommate situation the first week we were there, and they brought it up and asked me how things were going there before I had a chance to give them an update on the situation. Maria also received an email from a woman in the group, with just sincerity specifically expressing some of her past experiences and encouraging her, and praying for her.

Overall, I can see this semester becoming a very important semester where God will be doing a lot of work in both of us. It was a rough start, but I can only see good things happening from here on. Not saying it would be smooth rolling, there will be growth!

Our God is good and sovereign!

There has been a few major changes in my life, and things are still developing (you will know what it means later).

First off, a new semester started, and it’s only second week in, but I’m already feeling the burden of it. I am taking 17 credits this semester. All classes that I need for graduation. I am already behind on my progress for graduation, and having to take a full fifth year, I really cannot afford to do bad in any of those classes. It’s only the second week of school, and I got a paper due this coming Monday. Which shouldn’t be that big of a deal, however I have not written a paper in three years. I am frustrated that I have 20+ credits in Science that cannot count toward my major or make progress toward my graduation. These were not easy classes either, to give you an idea, I have organic chemistry, statics, dynamics, biochemistry, physics for engineers, couple extra calculus courses… Those are the kinds of courses I have floating around that are not doing anything for me.

Second, I am currently in the midst of a sticky roommate situation in which is stressing me out. Here’s the context. End of last year, I found housing at a church on campus, and in exchange I am the house-person there. My friend (”T.”) had found out, and asked if he could stay with me, and split the work. I barely knew him, but we met at a men’s overnight with Campus Crusade, so he can’t be that bad of a character (so I thought). So I jumped through hoops to convince the church that it would be okay for T. to join me. They agreed to let him stay with one condition. He is to be under my supervision, and anything he does wrong, I’ll be the one to get in trouble. I have the final say if he’s in or out.

Now fast forward to after summer, and in the middle of this past semester. T. had been slacking on his work, either doing it minimally, or not completing it at all. Things will work out for a bit every time I talk to him, however things will slowly drop below quality again and again. This had happened three times, and I got really tired of constantly having to pick up after him, or to remind him to do his job. After all, he is living here for free, and the only requirement is to do the job. I’ve told the management, and submitted a request for his removal due to his lack of responsibility (it’s was actually making more work for me, since I had to check/pick up after him). Staff gave him a month to turn his act around before the final decision. During the month of under watch, T. had improved his work, but still to be not enough. There were still jobs in which I had to bail him out on. Also, it was apparent to me that his improvement was just to earn his way back in. So I made my final decision for his removal, and gave him ample warning, however during our last staff meeting, T. had challenged my decision in front of the staff, and brought up personal stuff in which had nothing to do with his lack of job performance. Staff took this as, there are personal issues to be dealt with first, therefore, veto my decision on his termination. After this, he is mad at me for “accusing” him of his lack of work, and essentially lowered his character. So we’re not in talking terms.

Over winter break, T. had made plans to go to FL without making arrangement with staff, so I was stuck to either cover for the job either myself or find someone to cover for me. He had made no effort to really care for his job, just make plans leisurely and do whatever he wants. After he got back (still not talking to me, even via email or text messages), he decided to cover only one week’s worth of work to replace the four weeks he was gone for break. At this point, I had come to accept that things are out of my control, and I need to just love him because Christ died for him too. I tried to live at peace with him, as well as made numerous attempts to communicate with him. Suddenly, last week Saturday, he decided to talk to me, but only to threaten me. He said “I’ll make your life hell”, “I’m your worst enemy”, “you’ll be sorry”, “I hate you right now”… And that was the last straw for me. I’ve tried to live peacefully with him, not complaining when he is using mostly my stuff in this room. Yet, he doesn’t show appreciation, and just return with nothing but hostility.

I prayed about all this, a lot (even during winter break when I was in St. Louis for Urbana09 winter conference), and felt like the only way to resolve this peacefully is to stop fighting and make room for God to do work. So I did, as of Sunday, I’ve resigned my house person position (which also means, I am giving up my housing). So even though this was a tough decision, I felt like it’s the only way to make things better, and also for the sake of my mental and physical health. One would think after such a twist to this mess, that the battle is over. T. is still trying to make my life difficult. He would take away laundry keys so that I can’t do my laundry, turned on lights and purposely being loud (closing microwave loudly, turning on music) while I am trying to take a nap, as well as turning off the light when he leaves the room, even though I am still in the room on my computer. So now, school had started, I am still trying to finalize my new housing arrangement. Having a hard time concentrating in my studies, and loosing sleep over this matter.

Thirdly (finally! something positive and happy), Maria and I are doing great in our relationship. God had really put the both of us in each other’s life in a magnificent way. I can tell that our relationship had matured a lot, and God is guiding every step of the way. Recently we’ve joined a co-ed Bible study together, with a multi-generational group through our church. We hope to get to know more church folks, as well as church couples in which we can have an example of a Godly and healthy marriage. Yes, that word was just used… marriage. As some of you may know, Maria and I have talked about engagement and marriage as a possibility in the near future. We have plans to see pre-marital counseling, and looked into a couple counselors. I’m excited to have spent some time in Green Bay during winter break with her family, and I seem to be getting positive responses from her family members (including her parents). My parents are also in support of our relationship, and I have mentioned engagement and marriage to them as well (and yes, they are still in support of our relationship). There are still areas in which we need to grow on together, but things are looking really good right now, and we’re heading toward marriage. There needs to be a lot of prayers about that, and also bringing other people into our lives. I am excited to get to know more of her girlfriends, and she is excited to get to know more of my guy friends. I am grateful for Campus Crusade and my friends there, however, I feel Crusade is too “safe” for me, and I have become too comfortable. Which is another reason I’m slowly transitioning out of Crusade and hopefully getting more involved at Blackhawk church. I’ve also been checking out other ministry organizations (when I was at Urbana), and had a chance to talk to Wycliffe and Pioneers. Both of them could be a potentially good fit for me.

Prayer requests:
- For me to be able to manage my time well with school (17 credits, and already overwhelmed on week2)
- For my roommate situation to be more pleasant.
- Maria and I to be looking toward God, and relying on Him as we continue to grow together. And also for direction on engagement and marriage (and future in general).

Thanks for your prayers and support. God Bless.

I was in East Asia on a week long vision trip, and during this time, I saw God moved, and saw the need for laborers. Our target audience is college students, and our site was strategically located next to one of the top three universities of this country. Just to give you an idea of the kind of students that attend this school, here’s how the acceptance system works.

Each province is allowed a certain amount of students in (in some cases it can be as little as 3-5 people); so in order to get in the university, you have to be the best of the best, not just top 20% of your class, or top 10%, but much higher than that.

One of our smaller team got in a conversation with this character. The conversation went something like this…

us : Hello, how are you? Do you speak English?
student: yes, I’m doing well.
us : We’re new here, just visiting for a week. We would like to meet new students and make some new friends, we are wondering what you like to do on your free time?
student: You may not believe this, but I’m a world memory challenger.
us: What do you mean?
–student pulls out a deck of cards–
student: Here, shuffle these
– we shuffle cards, while student pulls out a timer, and started breathing slowly –
us: Alright, these are shuffled… {hands cards back}
student: start the timer, as I go through the cards.
–1 minute and 20 seconds passed, student went through the cards twice–
student: alright, here are the cards back, I’m going to name off the cards in order.
–student just starts naming each cards in order.. –
student: alright, I’m stuck right now, skip the next three…
– student continues naming the rest in order –
student: alright, now tell me one of the three cards that are left.
us: 3 of Hearts
– student then picked the right card, and name the other two in order–

These are the kind of students we are influencing. The top students, and perhaps the smartest person in this country (or world), studies here. The best part about the story is, our team had a chance to share the gospel with this student, and he accepted Christ.

That was a story shared by one of our team mates, I did not experience it personally. My experience with the students is quite different from the rest of the team. Since I’ve been in the US for the past 10 years, I have lost my ability to read or write in Chinese. However I can still speak Mandarin because I use it at home. For me, it’s hard to start a conversation in English. It’s just weird for a Chinese man to go up to another Chinese man and say “hey, do you speak English?”. So as a result, all of my conversations with the students began with “你好，请问。。。” (hi, may I ask…) or I might say, in Chinese “hey, I just arrived here, and I’m new here, I was wondering where… ” .

All of the students actually couldn’t tell my “broken Chinese” and just thought I was one of them. I usually proceed to explain, that I am a Malaysian Chinese, not native, and I’ve been in the US for past 10 years, so I cannot read or write anymore. Which leads to just a bunch of conversations, because they were intrigued by my background.

Out of our different students, we had two who are especially interested spiritually.

The first one, I’ll call her Amanda. We met Amanda as she was walking out of class with her friends. Told her we are Americans and looking for new friends, and was able to setup a time to meet and grab coffee with her right there. She brought her boyfriend along to our meeting which turned out to be an interesting story, because as it turns out, one of our previous STINT-er, Rudy, (short term international missionary), had been working on him. He mentioned that Rudy would always talk about religion, and soccer. (At this point, we have not mentioned any spiritual content) Then we talked a little more, then he proceeded and asked if we are Christians. It was from that point both Maria and I were able to share our testimonies and explain the gospel to Amanda. At the end, Amanda said “I am not ready to make a decision yet, I need to read this over many many times”. It is soo cool to see the work of one of our previous STINT-er to have such a big impact on Amanda’s boyfriend, he speaks very highly of Rudy. It’s also amazingly cool that he initiated in asking us about religion, which is a perfect jumping off point for spiritual conversation. It was so cool that Maria and I were able to share in Mandarin (with some mix of English, because our students like to show off their English). This is the first time I’ve shared the gospel in my native tongue. And this is completely a divine appointment. After they left, Maria told me, that was probably one of the most significant spiritual conversation she had ever had. A seed has been planted, our long term workers there will follow up with her.

The second person with high spiritual interest was the last person I initiated. I noticed he was practicing his English (walking back and forth on the lawn, reciting English), and I went up to him and said, “hey, I hear you are practicing your English, I just want to say, you are pretty good…”, quick 2 minute conversation with him, and invited him to come to our party so he can practice with more Americans. He came to the party, and we were able to share our testimonies to him. He asked a lot of good spiritual questions, and I can tell he’s thinking and processing. The last day we were there, I met up with him, and had lunch with him. He is sad that I had to leave and wants to keep in contact with me. I introduced him to one of the long term worker there, and they got connected.

Overall, my experience had been just amazing. Even though the pollution was really bad, just a bad environment for people to live in. I felt like my time there was well spent. I’ve made friends with new students, and potentially becoming brothers and sisters with them. I’ve met some of the brothers and sisters there, and it’s so encouraging to see their level of commitment and their heart for God to move on their campus. I asked one of my brother there what his prayer request is, and he said “for every student to be able to have a chance to meet Christ”. His sincerity have touched my heart, and even right now as I am writing this, just thinking about those words he spoke to me, just brings tears to my eyes. God is moving, no doubt about it. There are strong believers even in a place where it seems spiritually dead. God will raise up men and women to go to them, and spread the good news, and God will also raise up men and women within this country to GO and spread the good news to places we cannot.

How can you not travel across the earth to tell someone the greatest news that have changed your life? How can you not travel across the earth to tell someone what Jesus had done for you?

It’s the only thing on this earth that is relevant!

Thank you supporters for supporting me through prayers and or financially.
Please pray for the men and women doing God’s work overseas.
Please pray for men and women to GO overseas to do God’s work!
Pray for this country to become a sending power in the future!

I still have not raised full support financially for this trip (I am at ~50%), please pray for that as well.

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.

Anyways, I worked 9-7pm, and he came by to picked me up. I can tell he was really bummed. So I asked him about his wife, and how she is doing. Proceeded into asking him how he is doing; on the ride back in the car, he was tearing when he talks about the pain she has to go through. He says that he can only sympathize her, but not empathize her, because he does not know how painful it is. She has had this disease for the last 30 years. And when we were getting off the ramp, he saw these clouds, and was telling me how cool it is… and I made a comment, yea, God is pretty amazing. And that was the beginning of our conversation. He replied, “Yea, He/She/It is amazing”. He is definitely a deist.

When we got home, Kathy have already cooked dinner for us, but she was upstairs resting. So it was just my boss and I eating. I proceeded asking him more about this disease that she got, and how it is effecting him spiritually. Also asked him who he thinks God is, what he thinks about afterlife, and what Catholicism’s view on a lot of things. It became clear to me that he is confused on a lot of things due to the Catholic society, with the way Catholicism would guilt people into doing things. That’s the reason he stopped going to church. His point of view on spirituality is basically life, appreciation of life, manifestation of God’s purpose. Which all sounds really weird but, it’s really cool to had him talking about this. He believes there is a creator, and that we will be doing fine if we are manifesting/fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives (more in the works aspect, did not touch on faith).

It was so interesting hearing what he has to say, and then he asked me, so what is your background? I told him about where I come from spiritually, and unfortunately I got cut off early before I was able to share how God took hold of my life. He goes on tangents a lot. However, this was not necessary a bad thing, the next set of tangents led me to asking him what he thought about me, and he said a lot of encouraging things. He said that at first I scared him, coming to him asking for a job but then said something about Campus Crusade. It scared him, thinking I will be some crazy Bible lunatic, that is until he saw what I was capable of doing. I gained his trust very quickly early on when i first started working for him. He appreciates me a lot in ways that I’ve helped him take time off these two months, and was able to be with his wife. He complimented me about being very smart guy, not just in computers, but understood a lot of things that is beyond my age. I asked him about my faith, and he says that he is glad that I am a man of faith, and that I got to be part of his life; I made him think about a lot of questions that haven’t surfaced in awhile (seed planted! YES!). He said what was cool was that I did not wear my faith on my sleeve, but I wore it on my face and my heart. Meaning, I did not come across as condemning, or judging, but I showed what I am all about through my actions, through my heart. That REALLY touched me, it was so cool to hear that from an outsider, and a non-believer. I told him, I am bold about what I am about (I’m here on a 10 week service learning project with Cru… blah blah blah) because I feel like I should be honest about why I am here, and not be dodging bullets. And he told me he really appreciated and respected me for that, even though it scared him at first, it turned out to be a good thing. He said that was a good attitude to have, and really showed my character. I thanked him for what he said for what it’s worth and affirmed that I really appreciated him. And I replied saying that, that is how I live my life, I take what people says at full value (going back to the “for what it’s worth comment”), because that’s all I have is their word to base upon. If people said they appreciate me, it’s sincere, same reason why I am bold about who I am, and what I am about, or if I say things to people (criticism or compliments), its meant to be taken for what it’s worth.

It was at that point, he said “Right on!” and gave me a hug. I then proceeded in asking him that I am curious why he took me in to his house. He said that is who he is… which is true, that is how he is. But I explained to him that if I was in his position, being an employer just hired some dude 2 months ago, suddenly was asked if I could stay at the place, on top of that given the fact that I never come in to work to check on the dude… I would think twice before I let him in my house. He explained that he trust me a lot, and can tell I am not gonna wake up middle of the night and murder anyone. Then he said something… forgot what he said, but he prefaced it by saying, as a friend, not an employer. I wish I remembered what he said, but it was still awesome that he acknowledged that we are more than just employer employee relationship.

There are soo much I left out, due to my inability to remember it all (I got off work at 7, and we didn’t start heading upstairs till around 11pm), and I am tired. But I have a good feeling about all this, and I know this is not gonna be the last time we talk about deep stuff before I leave. This is only the tip of the iceberg, there will be more follow up conversations with him.

God is SO good!

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!

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?

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:

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!

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.