Michael and Joanna finally came back from their long trip to Cambodia and Taiwan - they were only gone for two weeks, but it felt much longer than that. Along with Azusa, they were in Cambodia serving at Life University as well as ministering to the surrounding villages. They did things like teaching classes at the University (which is actually a school for children through college - you can ask Azusa about her experience with the primary school kids). They actually took responsibility for running the whole school for an entire day in order to free up the regular Life University teachers for a teacher's retreat! And our very own Michael Kang was actually a key member of this mission team, taking the responsibility of giving messages when the team leader, Lem, fell ill. Truly devastating.
After their trip to Cambodia, Michael and Joanna continued their trip by visiting our friends serving at Koinonia Hsinchu. From what I've heard from the team over there in Taiwan, their visit was a welcome source of encouragement. Their visit coincided with the departure of Jon Chou of Homegroup 2 and Allen Chen of Homegroup 3. Many students who were out of town came back in order to bid them farewell, which resulted in a record number of people at Sunday worship there over in Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Hsinchu (unless, of course, you count the crowds at the inaugural service and the large trip to Taiwan that happened earlier this summer). Here's a fun fact - did you know that starting with my class, there is at least one person per graduating class who is currently serving in Taiwan (through the class of 2002)? Anyways, if you want some more fun facts about the staff of Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Hsinchu, you can find that here. Let's all make sure that we continue to remember our brothers and sisters in Taiwan in our prayers.
So far, we're at Tuesday - on this day, after Michael and Joanna (as well as Jon and Allen) returned, we had our weekly Summer Evangelism Training and prayer meeting. Afterwards, we had a great practice in front of Haas Pavilion for the Austin Farewell - now that's not a normal sight. I think the campus is used to seeing hip-hop dancing on Lower Sproul and in from of Haas Pavilion, but what about a crowd of college students singing and doing fake "line dancing" - we actually drew a few stares from people passing by. Well, a bit more than a few, but there were only a few people.
On Wednesday, we had the Austin farewell - a night full of mixed emotions. You can check out my previous post on the Austin farewell as well as the sendoff from the airport.
Then, on Thursday, we had our first Tech and Arts and Praise and Worship training of the summer. This is first rate training from many of Gracepoint Fellowship Church's finest - including our very own Michael Kang who is teaching the web class. Other classes that were offered include Photoshop, sound, stage and lighting, video editing, keyboard, voice, guitar, and drums. It was a really fun time of learning together, and from what I could see people were getting first class instruction.
On Friday, we had our second week of Summer Intramurals - doesn't it feel like forever since we had the first week? I don't know what happened with other people, but I have to say my ultimate frisbee team had a tough time - our first game was a heartbreaking 1-2 loss which we gave away in the final minutes, and we were severely outclassed in our second, a lot-0 loss. However, despite losing it was A LOT of fun - a good chance to just go out and run around and get to know students and staff and young adults in other ministry groups. And the night didn't end there - after dinner (which was complete with Steve Suh's special BBQ sauce that he received as a gift from Pastor Manny of Gracepoint Fellowship Church - Austin), we had a quick time of sharing from Luke 15. But the night didn't end there - right after Bible study, some of us rushed off and some of us stayed at Steve and Suzanne's, but all for the same purpose - to prepare for the wedding of Jin Kim and Yumi Park, the leaders of Homegroup 8 which was happening the next day. For those of you who don't know, here at Gracepoint Fellowship Church, we typically celebrate weddings through a series of performances at the receptions - whether through heartfelt songs, silly dances, slideshows, or the famous Normal Versus videos. For Yumi and Jin, our homegroup joined with Homegroup 8 and parts of Homegroup 7 to prepare a performance of the silly dance variety.
Finally, on Saturday, many of us attended Jin and Yumi's wedding. Pastor Ed Kang brought the message on Psalm 127:1, and he gave both Jin and Yumi some advice for their future life together. Then we went to the reception where many groups sacrificed their shyness and dignity in order to show how much they have been touched and loved by both Jin and Yumi.
And finally, we're at Sunday, and we're done (since it's still Sunday, but I'm sure something exciting is sure to happen before the day is over). Phew! It's hard to believe that we crammed all that into one week! But watch out, next week is just around the corner!
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