You've Got Mail.....

So for those of you who know Uncle Sam Ng, you know that once you've been in his Sunday school class you'll most likely get emails from him for the rest of your life.  Although he sends several emails a day, and sometimes overwhelms your email box with lots of mail, I've found that many of the things that he sends out are useful and encouraging.  So now, I take his bit of wisdom to the rest of you.  I've started another blog to post some of the emails I enjoy on there.  So when you feel like reading something interesting, thought-provoking, or even if you already read his emails but you need someone to weed out the boring ones for you...then this is the blog for you.  As Christians, I think it's really important to learn from others.  Some of the contents of the email are written by people who are wise and have had many maturing experiences in their lives...so when you have time...drop by and see what they have to say. 

 

work like there's not work....
 
Have I ever told you that I love my job?  I'm hoping that when I grow up .... or well I guess get my first indepent job I'll like working as much as I do now (hopefully more =P).  If you've seen my "office" it's actually the nursery check-in area.  There are two classrooms of age 3 and under behind where I work.  Everyday I get to listen to them urgglegurgle...and let me tell you it's wonderful.  Today, Ms. Susan's class was singing "this is the way we say amen!" and then the kids would say "Amen!"  It was ridiculously cute.  The sound of their wee little voices brought qutie a smile to my face.

Another reason why I love working at church is that I get random hugs from little ones I don't really know.  This morning, Emily and Noel saw me in my office as they were walking into their class.  They immediately walked over to me and gave me a big bear hug =D.  Then...as if their hugs had activated a sensor in the other children....all the other adorable munchkins ran over and gave me hugs too.... talk about crowd control... I felt loved... like I was some children's celebrity...rock'n for sure.

The moral of this story is....dont find a job because it pays well...especially if you'll be bored out of your mind.  Find a job that you love and is chicken soup to your soul.  Just thought I'd share some of the fun stuff that goes on around here.  And since Michelle and Debbie are far away in the land of Thai I will not have their wonderful presence to accompany me at lunch... but just thinking about what they're doing in thailand will raise all spirits as I venture off to get food.  Keep praying for the Thailand team!

Let's reflect shall we?
 
This summer has turned itself into a time of self-examination and reflection.  It's a phase I believe we should all at some point in our lives be interested in having.  Where is God leading me?  What is he saying to me?  Where does He want me to go from here?  Those are possibly questions we've asked ourselves for many years now...and interestly enough the puzzle is beginning to reveal itself... quite awesome-esque if I might add.

In Orange we had a really interesting message (well at least the parts i caught cuz I spent most of the time helping Cassie, who is unbelievably cute, change her pull ups).  I listened to the part of the message that Jerry (the speaker) was talking about compassion...and although I did not get a chance to receive that part of the message... compassion is for sure something the Orange team gained as a whole.  The first point I recall were all the questions he asked....(cant remember the specific question but they were something to this extent)

1. Do I love Him?
2. Are you for real?
3. Is it true?
4. Can I be trusted?

I suppose those questions pertain to the faith that we have.  When we share about the great love of Jesus...what is our answer to those questions?  Honesty is essential to being an effective witness.  Not just speaking the truth about what God's word says about believing in him, but also being honest with yourself about what your faith is and how that's reflected in your thoughts, speech, and actions. 

Another thing that I thought interesting was what Jerry mentioned about spiritual gossip.  You might think... wow... dude what's that?  Lemme give you an example that he gave us.  Let's say Berdy has this friend who is going through a rough time ...going through something he entrusted only Berdy to know.  However, Berdy felt like he should tell others about what his friend was going through...the excuse being that they should pray for him...the more ppl praying the merrier right?  *raises red flag*  What Berdy's friend spoke of was for Berdy's ears only.  If Berdy had a problem with how his friend was handling the situation...he should have gone directly to the source (his friend) and not involved an entire company of people.  For sure... prayer is awesome...and powerful...but use wise judgement when asking others to pray about something.  That lead to Jerry's next point (quote on my profile):

"The devil will get you to do the right thing at the wrong time if he cant get you to do the wrong things all the time."

How true is that... I think it's so easy for us to be impulsive.  We as humans have such a strong desire to follow our own "good instincts" that sometimes our judgement can stray a bit.  For example... I remember one time I was having issues with someone and I had prayed and prayed and thought that maybe what God wanted was for me to talk to this person.  I mean heck it seemed like the right thing to do.  We learn time and time again that we should confront the problems when conflicts arise right?  Well, in my case God sort of blocked the opportunity to talk to this person and as it turned out, that was best.  The lesson for me was that some things are better left unsaid; although sometimes the hardest thing to do is to do nothing at all.  I believe that God has his perfect timing for every good thing...I mean.. He IS the the one who holds to future...and plus He's walked the paths before us....who better to place are trust in?  Satan can have many strong holds in our lives...we just need to remember to leap from Satan by being one who is F.R.O.G.....fully relying on God.

Those are just a few of the things I brought back with me from Orange...and as a caring person I like to share.  Like they always say... sharing is caring.

Acts 11:23 "When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts."

the Orange in Texas...

How was Orange?  It's hard to pick a place to begin this story.  Sometimes you just want to see what's at the end of the story before you hit the beginning.  Well if you turn to the last page of this story you will see an exploded tire laying flat on the ground.  Yes, on our journey home from Orange one of the tires from van 1 blew out.  Fortunately all returned home safely and the world was once again a better place.  If i were to tell you that that was the most exciting thing that happened to our Orange team I would definitely not be telling the truth.  This afternoon most everyone on the team shared a little of their experience in Orange and what they learned and will be taking back home with them.  No doubt it was evident that the Lord has touched each of the team members lives as well as the children we ministered to through morning clubs and VBS. 

For myself personally, the Orange mission trip experience was unlike any other mission trip I've been to in the past.  Of course it was both spiritually fulfilling and awe-inspiring.  Like every mission trip it had its ups and downs.  A major difference about this mission was not going as merely a participant, but a leader.  I got to experience first hand, how stressful, tiring, and exciting it is to be a team leader.  I must say having a wonderful team of girls was delightful; not to mention the worship/ skit team was awesome.  Every drop of sweat and blood was worth it.  One thing I've realized about leading worship for children...it's really tiring(especially if what they really want to do is rack havoc).  Don't get me wrong, I loved making up the motions to the songs, singing my lungs out, and acting like a fool on stage; but I learned that while I'm leading worship it's far better to be worshiping God myself and showing others how much I love him versus trying to get people to worship by simply leading and looking dumb at the same time.  The concept is simple enough but when you're up there with 70 faces staring at you it gets discouraging  if they're not responsive.  However, it is through discouragement that we can grow to trust God more.  And because of the trust and faith of the worship team, 70 smiling faces worshiped the Lord; raising their hands, their dances moves, and for some...even their hearts.  I was touched by the enthusiasm the children had to shout and dance to a mighty God.  Kinda makes me even more eager to see heaven and what God's face must look like when we're all giving him praise. 

Teaching a class of girls 5th grade and up was....crazy (understatement...just ask my girls for reinforcement)....and crazy awesome.  Contrary to common trend for VBS classes, the first day is always the craziest....but for us at Orange the first day was just the calm beginning of an intense ending.  As the days progressed, the VBS girls in my class respected one another less and me a bit more.  In a sense that was a good thing because I was able to share the story of Jesus and God's plan with each of them.  Although Satan was trying to prevent me from doing many things by placing fears in my heart, but faithfully God gave me boldness to speak courageously about Him.

In the past two mission trips I've been to, I've always had some spectacular stories about particular events that occur to bring home with me; but for Orange, I can't tell you the  moment sparks were flying.  I guess I could say the sparks were flying in my heart.  Not having a story was a great reminder to me that not every opportunity you take to share the gospel will end in a victory story.  When you minister to people, you don't try to score brownie points, you're trying to share with them a love that they don't want to miss out on.  It's exciting to think that although none of the girls vocally expressed they wanted to receive Jesus as their own best friend, I know that I got to be a part of God's great plan by telling them about my best friend Jesus Christ.

By going to Orange, I've regained my senses.  I now feel like I can express emotions again...and that may have acounted for my insanity in Orange.  I praise God for answering my prayers and stirring something inside my heart.  I want to give a HUGE thanks to everyone who prayed for the Orange team.  I think everyone was blessed in many many ways there.  I'm confident that the Lord has great plans for Orange.  Now, the challenge is taking what we've learned there and giving that to the community of people all around us... whether it be family, friends, or those who dont know the Savior. 
 
I also shared with my girls yesterday about not living in a circumstantial christianity bubble.  Don't depend on spiritual circumstances to grow in your faith.  I think it's so important to seek the necessities like reading the word and praying to grow in your faith...and let being involved in those circumstances be an overflow of your love in a mission trip or a fellowship of encouragement in places like camp.  But dont live off emotional highs.  I had more to say...but I'm feeling rather out of it.  Pray for my nose...it's acting weird... had a really bad bleed the past two hours.
 
and DONT forget to keep the Thailand team in your prayers!
 

Generation WazZoo.....
 
Everything is changing....even blogger.  Who would have thought three years down the road from the time I started blogging, bloggers would be able to change font color, choose different fonts, and font sizes.  Although I can't say I've gotten use to this new layout, I do enjoy being able to have an array of colors to choose from when typing. Shoot... u can even upload images.
 
I'll make this post brief since I still have a few things left to do.
 
Please keep the Orange mission team in your prayers as we're in Orange from July 19th- 24th.  Pray for:
-unity as a team
-safety in travel
-prepare the teachers and leaders
-have kids who are receptive to the Word
-the team members will fully rely on God
-whatever else I've failed to mention
 
Also remember the Thailand team and Campus Revolution in your prayers.  I'm confident that the Lord has something glorious up his sleeve.....
 
"Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.' "  Matthew 9:37
 
 

it's not all sticks and stones...

Finally home from a long orientation. I took a splendid nap this afternoon on the couch and it was great. I have a gut feeling I'm gonna miss my house a lot...not to mention my family =P
Going to orientation was a pretty good overall experience. It wasn't so much the walking around and registering for classes that made it so awesome, but rather being able to chill with people I don't normally get to. I realized I love to talk...it's a pretty new thing for me cuz I use to not be that way at all. Not only do I like to talk, but I love listening to people talk about all sorts of things. There are so many interestingly cool people out there and sometimes, if you're lucky, it only takes a "hi" "hello" to get to know a few and keep them.
Although many people might see moving every 5 to 6 years a depressing, heart-wrenching, devastating, wicked thing...but I truly thank God for moving me halfway around the world to 6 different cities. Moving around so much has been a blessing. In many ways I look foward to getting out of my comfort zone, despite the fears I still experience. I remembered what Annie said in sunday school about eating by yourself. After one of my wing meetings everyone had already eaten, so I ventured to get lunch by myself. People have very interesting conversations a lunch I must say. Don't tell me that you've never eavesdropped on someones convo when you're eating by yourself. However, I am not a huge nosey butt and at the same time I was a tad too excited about the fact that jcl serves rasberry ice tea! Althought I got sick after every meal...at least they have the tea =) Anyhow, the moral of my story...getting out of your comfort zone is weird and good. It's kind of like awkward silences in conversations, one must learn to feel more comfortable with those moments.

OH OH and I have a praise report. PTL that I got all the classes I wanted and NO 8am classes. In fact, I couldn't keep my eyes off my schedule after it was set because I don't have any classes before 12pm... except on thursday when I have class at 11a.m... so that's something I truly did not expect. getting to registration 50 minutes early really pays of, but most of all never doubt the P.O.P (power of prayer...answered prayers are like popcorn...they sorta pop when you least expect it.) Everything has been mighty surreal these past few days and boy is it good to be home. Sometimes (a lot of times) I get this feeling that I am SO undeserving of what God has given me (which is true...I dont deserve any of it.). It's such an awesome reminder that we dont live for the moment, we live with the end in mind. Knowing that all the trials are for a greater glory and purpose for one who wants to give us those rewards we really don't deserve.

a little fish out of water....

They say the typical feelings of being a frosh include being intimitdated and overwhelmed. I'm not sure there's been enough people around to experience the first feeling. However, being at orientation has been somewhat overwhelming. It's interesting though, I don't really have much to do during the day, yet at the end of the day, I'm dead tired and not completely tired at the same time. It's rather confusing...and maybe it's the prospect of having to sleep on a hard tile floor, not really being able to sleep that keeps me up.
So you're prolly wondering why in the hay I'm I up at the unearthly hours of 9 if I dont really have that much to do at orientation. This morning was preadvising and I was quite blessed to have my meeting at the hour of 8. Therefore I've been up since 7:45...even before Ann and her roomate. Something I've realized about myself that it's the initially getting up that kills me during the school year. Once the shock has surpassed, I'm able to stay up pretty well until about 3pm. The difference with being here (once again I must say it's the tile floor) I am able to wake up early, though very tired and sleepy, I get over it pretty quickly. Hopefully that will be the case next year.
I attended the welcome program last night, and I have to say that I've never been in such a tiny population of asians in crowd of mostly African Americans. Of the 100 or so people that showed up, there were three orientals and about an equivalent number of south asians. We had a really awesome discussion about the diversity values of UT and other ethnic issues like affirmative action and whatever else we face on college campus. I learned lot about the types of programs UT values and how they deal with them; as well as some on going traditions that have not been considered traditions just because the leaders of organizations that put these events on are students of minority decent. I feel that it's really important to know where the school stands on cultural issues as well as awareness. I mean of course it's a person's choice to decide whether they feel they want to learn more about the different cultures on campus, but I think it's a sad thing that cultural diversity isn't as readily promoted as the other things the university exposes orientees to. I might just feeling this way about cultural issues because I am a minority, but it would definitely be nice to see more openess in that area. Not to say that everyone and their dog on campus are indifferent or uneducated about cultures, cuz hey after being at orientation for a few days, UT seems like a cool place to be and there's definitely no regrets of coming here in the fall.

Anyhow, enough of my random ramblings...i must get going to some manditory something or other....i'll probably update again today since i have SO much time. have a great day!

Hook'em horns....

After camp I guess going to college became more of a reality; and part of the indifference I felt towards going has been replaced with enthusiasm. Afterall, it was all of the c/o '04s LAST camp as campers EVER! And I must say that it was a very mememorable Holy Spirit shaking kind of a time.

Yesterday the backseat riders D.ma, Jeff, Stephen, First captain Eric, and Navigator Ophelia headed up on an adventure to Austin. Currenly, I am using Ann's computer and bumming at her room until the orientee bbq; therefore our captain got us here all in one piece, not that i ever had any doubts. My UT experience thus far has been alright. All of the walking around actually excites me. I arrived for registration at around 8ish so I had a lot of time afterwards to bum and explore...in which case I got my ID, which makes me look like a creepy baby doll...then I picked up a newspaper and spent about and hour reading it. When I decided to go exploring around the campus, I ran into Ling, Joanna, and Alex; which was kewl cuz yay more people at orientation that I know of. We had some interesting bonding at lunch and afterwards I went to my wing meeting. Unfortunately I fell asleep during the welcoming assembly...which I found pretty surprising considering I cant fall asleep in class but I can fall asleep in an auditorium...very promising for the upcoming school year I might add. Anyhow, I dont feel like a college kid, but they tell me that's normal...therefore i conclude that the first half of day 1 of orientation has been a blast.

no turning back no turning back.....

I think I owe it to the devoted to finally update my blog after neglecting it for a week or so.

God was definitely awesome this past week at camp. It's incredible how every year camp is a little different and God speaks to my heart in new and exciting ways. Looking back at the past few years of camp, God has really continued molding me into the person he wants me to be.

The days leading into camp I was in the process of reviving a seemingly stagnant relationship with the Father. Through quiet times, prayer, and worship, I was reminded of how much God values each of us and the precious little time we often spend with Him. As I shared at camp, the whole camp experience reminded me of Mary and Martha...how Mary was at the feet of Jesus during the remaining days of His life... while Martha was busy. Martha is like how I feel when I'm at home...although I may be in the presence of God...I'm often distracted and my priorities are out of line. However, camp gave me the desires of Mary...to be at the feet of Jesus.
I praise God everytime He reveals a part of the path He has paved for me...and I live expectantly everytime I'm in His presence because I believe with all my heart that He will show all of us something great and might when we stand before him as a wretch. Just like the last night of camp. There was definitely some kind of spiritual struggle the first couple days of camp; and when the spirit hadn't hit many of our hearts in worship I know the Lord had yet to do something spectacular. Lo and behold... the Lord once again lived up to His name. His spirit rescued a soul from death and revived a sense of growth that was lost in many. He created bonds in relationships to be forever cheerished (for "friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord of them" MWS). What we expect of God will always be shot down by the miracle He performs.
The character of God is awe-inspiring and dance worthy. Isn't He something worth sharing to the world...isn't He the sound of a beat we all want to dance to? I encourage you all to live your life so that others will hear the beat of Jesus resounding in you...that they will desire the kinda music that cannot be kept quiet.