Different Culture, Same God

So we've been in Oahu for 6 days now, so let me tell you what its been like. Hawaii is extremely multicultural. The "local" culture itself is a culmination of a history of colonization and immigration. The campuses are even more diverse, since there are a number of international students and many from the mainland. Over these last few days, we've been trying to form relationships with the local students here. We met some local Christians who had met some past summer project teams. They welcomed us like family and invited us to their weekly meeting.
When we got there, we entered the main room of the house, filled with couches and chairs, and we were greeted by some of the local believers while they gave us pasta and poke. After introductions and a short meal, everyone gathered up for worship. It's empowering to see, despite cultural differences, people love God with the same spirit as I see at home. After worship, the main speaker, Tim, gave a "goodbye" to one of the brothers who is moving to the mainland. We were then treated with a farewell song sung by one of the girls. Afterward, we all laid hands on him and prayed for his departure. Tim then got back up and gave a short word on what it means to have an attitude of reverence for God, after which we broke up into small groups and discussed. One of the locals, John, shared with us that he was going on a missions project to California to help teach kids, but he was worried because his flight leaves on Monday and he still has not raised enough support. It was such a perfect opportunity to use what God had put us through at briefing to encourage this brother who was in the same situation. After I told him about how we got to Hawaii, John responded with genuine relief, "Well I guess I'm going."
Afterward, I also had a chance to speak with another local named Cory who had met our 2008 Epic Summer Project team. He shared with us that he was not a believer back then, but only recently in November did he receive Christ. It was a huge encouragement to tangibly see the labor of a previous team having come to full fruition.
Even though they have a very different culture here, I still witness the same spirit guiding the believers in Hawaii. It is apparent that God is moving strongly on Oahu.

Hawaii at Last

At 4 AM this morning, we gathered outside of Vanguard and loaded the bus to take us to LAX. Sleep deprived, I immediately knocked out and didn't awaken until we reached our destination. Once we were on the plane, sleep deprived, I knocked out and didn't awaken until we reached our destination. I awoke to the decline of the plane and a view of Oahu creeping underneath us (I was fortunate enough to have the window seat). We broke up into vans to head to University of Hawaii, Manoa. On the way, we stopped to eat, and the first meal I had was a traditional one: Lau Lau and spam musubi. The campus is a beautiful place. As we got dinner in the cafeteria and walked around town, I couldn't help but feel like we stuck out as a group. My prayers are that we will be able to build close relationships with the locals we meet here. We still haven't been briefed on what specifically we will be doing yet. The staff and team are all very exhausted from a long weekend, and today has provided some much needed rest for what we have ahead of us.

Faith Rewarded!

Praise God! He is so good. There is so much good news, I suppose I'll start with our team raising enough support for EVERY student to go. The news came as we all gathered in the hall of our dorm, and joy came out in cheers and applause. I clapped and cheered for my friends and teammates who we all had been praying for, and I savored the moment in which God faithfully answered our prayers. Only by God's grace could a $60,000 deficit be overcome, and I rejoice for others as this burden is lifted off their minds, and their faith is rewarded. I am privileged to serve alongside with every one of my teammates this summer, even if we encounter some snags along the way.

On another note, we were commissioned off this afternoon, and I was joined by my Mom, my Dad, my little sister Juliet, my older sister Brittany, her husband Josh, and their dog Azuki. I was grateful to have my family come out to see me off, and I felt strengthened by their love and support.

My last bit of good news is about our victory against the San Francisco Summer Project team in a football game rematch tonight. We came out high in spirits from the good news, and in the last play of the game, Chris Bandy scored the winning (and only) touchdown with an interception.

In 3 hours we will be heading to the airport to catch our 8 AM flight. I give thanks to God, my family, and friends whose love has gotten me here. Briefing proved to have unexpected challenges, but God made his glory apparent all the more. As much as I praise God for what He has done this weekend, it is a frightening kind of anticipation to know that project hasn't even started.

Breifing: $60,000 in 2 Days?

So this afternoon, my team and I gathered in a room, and we discussed our financial situation. After all the support raised by the 40 staff and students going to Hawaii was tallied up, we were told that the team as a whole is $60,000 short of our goal before leaving on Sunday. Even though I had my support raised, I still very much am burdened by this amount. The thought of some of my teammates, who I've just met care for strongly, having to be sent back home saddens my heart, and I cannot believe that it would happen. My next thoughts were that God desires for us to glorify Him, and with such a daunting amount as this, it would be no less than by God's complete grace that we will be able to achieve this goal. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, and as late as people could, I witnessed halls filled with teammates and staff on their phones, calling whoever they can to get support sent in. It seemed that every conversation I heard ended with a grateful "thank you" and a short sigh of relief. By the end of the night, many people who had started out with $1000 or less had doubled or tripled their amount. I can only imagine that such an unexpected amount as this can only be a test of faith. As I witness others with nothing but a cell phone in hand raise thousands dollars in a matter of a two hours, I see God answering prayers and faith being rewarded. I pray now for God's grace to be upon us all, that by His grace he would allow us to make it to Hawaii together.

How I Got Here...

Already, summer project is about to start, and I will be going to Vangaurd in Santa Ana to meet my project team tomorrow. I can only imagine the kind of changes in people, relationships, and miracles I will witness this summer. For this, I am excited about being on that airplane to Hawaii. I know that time and work that we put in this summer will not be a waste, for it will be for God's kingdom, of which there is no greater investment. But to truly understand why I feel this calling, and why I desire to give up my summer to the locals of Hawaii, I think I will have to give context to this time in my life by telling how I got here. As warning, the rest of this entry might get pretty lengthy...

If you didn't know, I didn't grow up Christian, nor was I truly Christian when I came to college. My first quarter, I joined a fraternity with the hopes of forming great connections and partying. At the same time, I believed in God, but I wanted to have as much fun as I can while at college. Naturally, I had many questions which I didn't think the Bible can answer all of, and I wasn't about to commit my life to a religion if I was not 100% sure that it was true. Also during my Freshmen year at Cal Poly, I met a bible study leader named Dan. I attended his Bible study and his church once in a while, at the same time partied on the weekends (and weekdays) with my frat brothers. However, I continued to meet up with Dan, one-on-one, who I went to with many of my questions about Christianity. Eventually, he would invite me to a retreat weekend at his church. At the end of my second year of college, I was still unsure about Christianity, but I decided if God truly cared, I could afford to devote one weekend to hear what He has to say. That first night, as I stood in prayer, I felt God's voice. God made it clear He wanted me to make a decision: to start living with His desires in mind, or to go on living the way I wanted. I'm happy to say I gave in to God, and since then God has replaced everything I thought would bring me joy with genuine sources of fulfillment. Frat brothers were replaced with brothers and sisters in Christ. Joy replaced drunkeness. Those yearning feelings for something greater than what I had were replaced by satisfaction in God. And I had more gratitude and love for my family and friends than I could rightly express.

However, I would soon find that the church I was saved at, would not be where God would have me stay. I still felt uncomfortable at the church, and a week after retreat, I decided to not return. I prayed to God that if what I experienced was real, I trusted he would provide somewhere for me to grow in my newly found faith. It was the next day God answered that prayer with a phone call from an old friend from middle school inviting me to the end of the year Epic Potluck, an Asian-American fellowship with Campus Crusade for Christ. I did not hesitate to respond "yes".

Its been two years since, and God has taught me so much during this time, its difficult to reflect on how I came to where I am now. Today, God continues to fill me with so much gratitude and joy that its through this overflow that I am filled with the desire to share with those in Hawaii the good news that it took me so long to understand. This past year, God has shown me how much meaning and fulfillment serving in His name brings into my faith. That my faith is not just something I experienced this one time in college, but a way of life that brings more fulfillment than anything else we can conjure up on our own. If you've read this far, thank you for your patience. I will try to have much shorter posts from here on. God bless.