I'M THE WORST

I haven't updated anyone since the first camp ended, sooooo hopefully, I'll do a accelerated photo journal to help you get a picture of how things went, although most of these photos aren't actually from the camps themselves.

Directing itself has been an interesting ride. You do the most mundane things from day to day. You print things for games. You make sure that you're there to be a threat for troublemakers. You talk to the partner about facilities, and all in all, the stresses of the day-to-day grind can often feel pretty aimless. In the end, I'm building near to zero relationships with the kids, and I really have to trust that I'm simply creating a space for the teachers to build fruitful relationships with their kids. Even that can often be difficult, particularly because

CAMP 1: ZHONG SHAN

We traveled to the south in a sleeper train, and we fit 11 people in a space designed for 4, so we could all hang out. :3

When we got to Zhongshan, we had around a week of rest (which means that we have had no rest since then haha), but it was really fun! On our left, as you can see, we got to go on a bike ride again, and we also did Ab Ripper X together, which was fun. We stayed the week at the house club (which moved locations from last year), and it was just a nice time of rest and getting to know each other. :3

When Purlow took the historic mall site of Zhong Shan. It was a really beautiful night view! :)

During the camp, one of our co-teachers (the one in the center holding a card) left a dayearly, so we said good-bye.

CAMP 2: QING DAO

This camp was a really big change from our first camp. The kids were a lot wealthier than the migrant kids from our first camp. And the kids also fought a lot (but they were also very quick to apologize).

We picked vegetables with our kids in the second camp! :)

At the end of our second camp, we got the chance to go on a ropes course together! It was really fun. Micah was really good at it. Wendy was almost screaming the whole time, but it actually made the whole experience a lot funnier. :P

orientation part 1 — freedom in sonship

Hey guys!! It's only been four days since I've arrived in China, but whew, once orientation got started Sunday night, things have just been moving at such a fast pace. We've only had two days of orientation, but there's already been so much going on—we've already all made 50 new friends and have gone through nine sessions, plus four chat sessions, five w0rsh*p sessions, and a brief book study/d3votional, and it's been great! I've loved meeting new people, and hearing how they heard about IS3C and why they have a heart for China and being able to share about my experiences from last year to these wonderfully passionate people! :)

On our way to the orientation site with W!
Not pictured: M (GO BEARS!)

It's been really, really exhausting really though. Days have been beginning at around 6 am. I'll journal until around 7 am (on Monday, I also did Ab Ripper X :P), then I'll shower and go to the "Keen Bean Yarper" time at 7:30. Breakfast comes, then our director/manager/"special people" sessions started! And it's quite a different experience from last year, because instead of learning teaching as we did last year, we spend the majority of our time learning how to shepherd a team (which is incredibly daunting) and also planning the actual orientation and its various sessions. For the most part—okay, scratch EVERYTHING I was gonna say. I was writing this after dinner at 6 pm today, and I honestly kinda felt like I had nothing to say—like, the sessions have been great and hearing so many great Scr*ptures have been compelling and encouraging, but honestly, that's all I really have to say about it.

But it's now 2:30 am (and I've been up since 6:00 am yesterday and excepting a small slip where I accidentally fell asleep during the night session for about 10 minutes at around 9 pm, I've been up and doing stuff since basically 6:30), and I'm still awake enough to write this post, so I'm trusting that Dad REALLY wants me to share this with you all and have you all be chatting with me about this.

So tonight after our night-time directors/managers/"special people" meeting, I really wanted all the returnees to have a time to hang out just the six of us, because we're all experiencing very unique situations that first year teachers, managers, and other people just... won't necessarily understand. We all have exactly one year of IS3C under our belt and we all grew up in the West, and I really wanted us to just spend time before our teams are announced tomorrow (which is now happening in less than 18 hours!!!! What!!!!), so that we could share about why exactly we decided to go back on IS3C, share our worries and concerns, fears and hurts, and just begin the process of building the unique community that we'll have this summer between us directors.

So it was going all well and all. We were just chatting, sharing about why we decided to come back a second time, but it soon got late, and half of them went to go to bed. The other half of us—E, L, and I—stayed behind to discuss what to do during our "team building" time after teams are announced tomorrow. But one thing led to another and we just began to share so much about just ... a lot of random things, but for me, an external processor, the conversation opened up the potential for this wild new door with Dad this summer that might give me a clearer picture of why Dad wants me here on IS3C in China this summer.

So for a little background, you guys don't know, but my first two camps got cancelled (please yarp!!!!)... and these two camps were an amazing prospect. They're funded by the government (which is a big deal in China), and they're located in this awesome outdoor facility that recently got built (super fun). So K and the China IS3C team actually thought that a) these camps would be perfect for me to direct (I didn't/don't necessarily see it, but they did somehow) and b) these camps were really, really secure (because funded by government). But. They got cancelled within the last two days. So as of tonight, L said that there's the potential that I'll be going with N back down to Zhong Shan where both N and I stayed for two absolutely amazing camps last year.

However, the prospect of going back actually absolutely terrified me. The first thing I thought of was the immense guilt I hold towards the kids from last year. I rashly decided to download QQ to keep in touch with one of the kids I felt particularly pulled towards, but as QQ goes, once one person knows you have QQ, everyone knows you have QQ, and just like that, I was being added as a contact here, added to a group chat there, and dear Dad, it was too much to handle. By the time I came back to the States, honestly, it was a commitment I was not ready to take, and so I basically made the decision to not attempt to reply to the kids, because it would only lead to eventual disappointment. However, for some reason, I never deleted the QQ app from my phone nor did I ever log out of the QQ phone app, so within the last two weeks, I've actually received QQ chats from a) our class rotation chat group, where both the other foreign teachers replied and I did not, and b) this precious 11-year old girl that actually went to both Zhong Shan camps and simply grew so, so much.

My guilt was killing me.

However, another thing that has been pressing deeply in my heart the past couple of days is sonship. The talk at the club on Sunday was about it with the pr0digal son (the talk was called Two Sons and a Father), and I have just been thinking a LOT about it the past couple of days. Today, during the personal reflection time, we wrote a letter to Dad that we'll read again at the end of the summer, and the first thing that I really wanted to drill in to Dad is that I want to understand sonship, like REALLY understand sonship, like understand sonship EXPERIENTIALLY and truly in my heart.

Then here's where it gets crazy. I remembered back to last October when a few IS3C'ers from last summer plus the Berkeley IS3C'ers helped me organize and put on an IS3C infosession to share about this opportunity with and exhort the Cal C community. After the infosession ended, we actually stopped by the B3thel Prayer event that was happening that same night (great idea planning your C event on the same night another C event was happening, Jason, go you). R really wanted to go in and see what was going on, and so we all went with him. When we went in, they all said that they were gonna go through "the fire tunnel," which all of them were really excited for, and they invited us to come, saying we "should totally join."

I was wary, especially with these things that are a little showier. A "fire tunnel" is essentially two lines of chatters facing towards each other and the participants kinda walk through the "tunnel" that is formed between the two lines of people and are chatted over. I wasn't planning on going, especially as I continued to observe, seeing people fall down, and laugh because they were "drunk on the Sp*r*t" and do other weird things, but eventually I was convinced to follow R, and they said the following things to me as I went through:

"I just want you to know that you don't have to react like everyone else here."
"You are so loved... You are so loved... You are so loved... etc..."
"I feel like Dad wants you to know/grow in understanding about SONSHIP."
"It is not your fault."
"I'm going to hug you right now." 

And literally, I have not really thought about this encounter since probably it happened, but suddenly today when I was talking about sonship and talking about my guilt in going back to the Zhong Shan camp, I was immediately reminded of this one instance, and I believe that this is an answered prophecy. I have absolutely NO idea where this is going, but I'm so excited to see where Dad is taking me, as I learn what it means exactly that Dad is Dad.

It's SUPER late now, but I just really wanted to write this all down while it was still raw and fresh in my mind in the hopes that 1) you can join me in chatting about this and how it unfolds the rest of my summer (and send encouragements about anything you may hear from Big Papa please!! I would love, love that), and so 2) it can be an encouragement to you that as Dad is moving clearly and powerfully in my life, he also desires to move so in yours in such ways as well, so be on the lookout!!

So to summarize.... or TL;DR:
- Had a proph3tic encounter last October that I totally brushed off as nothing
- Had almost every single portion addressed in the course of two hours.
- Next: TBD
:)

Whee, reunion with N!!! Not pictured: J
(GO BLURPLE, GO!)

And to flesh out some chat requests:
- Camps — It is still not confirmed that I will be joining N in going to the Zhong Shan camp, so please yarp for the logistics of planning that out. K said that usually camps don't simply fall through the cracks unless they're meant to (if they're kinda on the border, IS3C normally pushes a little and they are resurrected), so I'm REALLY trusting that especially after tonight that it is Dad's will for me to go back with N.
- Team Announcements/Building — I'm still a little anxious, as are many of the other directors, about leading a team (all I know is that my team will have 10 teachers on it, and that's A LOT, and I don't know how I'm going to be able to handle it, so please yarp for wisdom and guidance to lead)
- ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY — the past two days, I have dozed off for a bit during the night session, and obviously today, I'm sleeping SUPER late, so please yarp for divine rest and energy.

That's all for now (sorry for the long post...), and as always, hope all is well with you guys! :)

Round 2: How and Why

Hi guys!! I know I said I was going to be posting updates WAY earlier, but... yeah, I have no excuse haha. But here I am now! I'm currently at the airport, waiting for my flight to board to Beijing (!!!), and so I'd like to take the time to let you guys know exactly how and why I'm going back for round 2. I know I summarized it in my support letter, but I believe the whole story is a great testimony and reminder (even for myself) that Dad is sovereign and in control.

When I came back from IS3C last summer, thoughts of returning were already floating around in my head. And it was because of a variety of silly things really, like... unexpected statements from a past0r from home said in a sendoff yarp, a dream from a teammate last year about how I was directing a team with her younger sister as one of the teachers (which probably isn't happening), the immediate tug to spread the news about IS3C once I got back to Berkeley (acting as the campus representative), and obviously the fact that it was an amazing and great trip. However, they didn't feel adequate enough to warrant my return, so returning the following summer remained an afterthought.

However, come November of last year, I encountered something that moved that thought to the forefront of my mind. It was a typical Thursday, and we just had our Sproul performance for FCS (a cappella), and I ran into Joelle, who I hadn't seen/caught up with in forever! And so we were just chatting—her, me, Johnny, and Mora. Then, some random girl came up to us and asked Joelle if she wanted an encouraging word, which was just... super random haha. So this girl started talking and saying things about how she believed Joelle had a voice that was heard, that she was witty, etc. And I haven't seen or spent much time with Joelle since the previous year, so I wasn't sure if those things actually spoke to her. However, she went on to Mora next, and I see Mora freaking all the time haha, so when this girl spoke about how she believed Mora was really maternal, caring, and didn't take her blessings for granted, I knew that these things were true and very specific to Mora. And at this point, this girl was just a random person saying random things to a random group of people. But then she turned to me, asked for my name, looked me in the eyes and said, "Jason, when I look at you, I think... the nations."

And I don't remember if Mora or the girl specifically mentioned Dad, but Mora asked in response, "You mean, like m*ss*ons?" and with that statement, the sp-r-tual wall just fell and this girl started saying these things about how she believes that I've been waiting on Dad for breakthrough and that He wanted to confirm those things I was wondering about (uh hello! going back to China?!) and how she sees me going to the nations and spreading the lepsog, going to places like China and Africa, and she also talked about restoration, reconciliation, and the spread of Dad's love in my family, which is something that holds a close place in my heart. And my jaw just dropped (internally). How could this girl have known that I had just come back from a M trip from China and that I was thinking about going back? How could she have known that the brokenness of my family is something that presses deeply in my heart? How could she have known? We later discovered that her name was Mari and that she was affiliated with the NAOS m*n*stry and that she walked around, waiting on Dad's voice to give encouraging words to people, like WHAT. It was just SO random.

At the time, it seemed like it HAD to be Dad and that it was a confirmation that he wanted me to go back for the next summer, but for good ole Gideon me, it wasn't enough. As a rising senior, this is my last summer before I graduate, and for the past three years, I have remained undecided about what my next professional step would be. So I've felt this increasing pressure to make something of my last summer, and that somehow, going back to China to do Dad's work there didn't seem venerable enough.

A couple months later, I still hadn't made a decision, and my parents came up to Berkeley for Chinese New Year's for lunch. By this time, the pressure to make a decision was really getting there. I'd have to sign up to take the August MCAT, find a research position for the summer, DO something with myself. And while I still really believed that Dad wanted me to go back, I couldn't shake the feeling that my parents would think going back would be a waste, and that thought continued to bother me.

Then one Friday night, my fellowship Crossroads had an outreach night with conjunction with YWAM San Francisco doing hot chocolate 3vangeIism. The night itself was quite uneventful. Both my DTS student, my group, and the streets were all pretty quiet. We called it quits like 30 minutes in, and then we had a group debrief. The night was nothing special, but as we started to pack up, one of the DTS students, who I had zero interaction with, came up to me and just asked, "Hey, can I chat for you?"

Even though I had no interaction with him before, who was I to turn down a lil nice chat with Dad? So he started to yarp, and he said how whatever I was worried about, Dad wanted to give me guidance and clarity in that area, and even though now, I see that it was a little vague in nature, I knew at that moment that Dad wanted to dispel my fears of disappointing my parents and confirm that China is where he wanted me to be this summer. I called my parents the next morning to tell them I made the decision, and now here I am, minutes away from boarding my flight to Beijing.

The process has been by no means easy. I've had to deal with a lot of deep seeded insecurities (and by deal with, I mean am still dealing with), and I had to talk a LOT with parents about my future and funding and everything, but it's all worked out in the end (shout out to Anna and her macarons that're Sweet To Eat and everyone else that helped me become fully funded for this trip!).

I'm a little antsy, excited, expectant, and fearful all bundled up into one. I may not know why exactly Dad wants me to go back, but I know He wants me there, and for now, that's enough. See y'all on the other side!

In the meantime, a quick chat request:
- I'll be directing a team for IS3C this summer, so please yarp that i will have the wisdom from and reliance on Dad to lead my future team. I tend to be a little controlling, and I like to plan things out, but please chat that before I consult my own instincts that I would consult Dad for guidance and vision!

Thanks for all your support, and I hope all is well with y'all. :)

Closing Ceremony Shenanigans!!

Here's our performance of the closing ceremony. Not gonna lie, it was a pretty fun dance to learn haha. :)

Shenyang!!

The view from the treehouse at our campsite!!

            Hey all — it’s back to the grind, man… and again, Dad has proven himself to be so f@ithful! So basically, remember how I said that many kids at this camp would be C? Well, um, it was very true when they said that this was basically a C youth camp, and that it would be much more explicit than what we expected. They have a kid come up on stage and yarp for dinner. They use J’s name very freely and explicitly. We can yarp before classes start — it is quite literally almost like a retreat or something. And I honestly still am a little confused as to the nature of the camp, but from what I’ve gathered, I think at the very least, almost everyone’s parents are C even if the kids are not. Most of my kids are very intentional about their f@ith although they still came with the hope of being able to improve their English, especially their pronunciation.

            Anyhow, onto how it’s actually been for me the past day or two. I actually woke up really discouraged, and I realized that I have felt this way every time a new camp started. As I realized this, I was listening to Will Reagan & United Pursuit’s Endless Years album, and the lyrics, “break down strongholds of the Enemy” came up, and I just knew then and there that this feeling of discouragement was not my own nor was it from Dad and that it was very much so a sp1r1tual attack. At each camp, I have felt discouraged going in, yet I have no reason to feel so, because Dad has shown himself to be so f@ithful each time — he has always filled me with the strength to go through, and by the time classes started, I was filled with peace and joy, and it was just a great way to start the day — to be able to rejoice in the constancy that is our Dad.

Herher… so I definitely didn’t finish my post when I wrote that up there. That was after day 1 of teaching, and we’re now in the middle of day 4 of teaching, mip mip… so I’ll skip the details of day 1 to day 4 and just skip to today. Basically, all you have to know is that I really love my kids/all the kids here and Dad is super good! He’s definitely been humbling me through the f@ith of my kids too. So even though today isn’t actually our last full day of camp, we had foot washing today instead of tomorrow, because the camp we’re at actually has their own afternoon activity planned for the last day, but it was definitely still a huge blessing in more ways than one.  

For example, in one of my teammate’s classes, one of the kids (10 y.o.) is actually leaving this afternoon. He is not C — or at least he does not fully understand what it means to be C — and if foot washing was on the last day, he would not have had the opportunity to experience the love Ar (teacher) and JC have for him! There was also another baby in another teacher’s Ad class! What was really cool about this baby is that his family is actually culturally musl1m, and Ad made sure that he understood the gravity of the decision he was making. She made sure that he understood that by accepting JC, he was rejecting his family’s beliefs — even though it doesn’t mean he respects his family or their beliefs any less, it does mean he is rejecting it. We haven’t even had our full team meeting yet, so I’m sure that Dad moved even more than I know now.

As for my own experience, it was really amazing. I know I said in one of my posts that the highlight was my last foot washing when a student from my first camp came back to the second camp and told me that those eight days at the first camp were going to stick with her the rest of her life, but I think this just might top that. So four out of the six kids in my class actually came to this same camp last year, so they knew what was coming when we had the basin and towel in hand, but still when I read the Book and explained why I wanted to do this for them, already, two of those four that came last year were crying. And by the time I finished explaining why I wanted to wash their feet, nearly all of them were at the very least starting to tear up. When I washed my first student’s feet, it was game over — everyone was full out crying, even my co-teacher. As I continued to wash each student’s feet, a couple of my students became very distressed because I was kneeling as I washed their feet. They would come back during each student’s foot washing and make a comment about how I couldn’t continue kneeling as I washed their feet — they thought it was just too much, and at that moment, I knew I had to keep kneeling to show that I really cared for them. Eventually, they brought a seat cushion for my knees, and I was just so touched by how touched they were and how real these emotions were.

 Then during tutorial… my class’ only non-member (16 y.o.) became a new baby!! Now let me tell you about this kid — he’s kind of your typical bad boy. He was the one who probably caused the most trouble the first couple of days, especially with the girls, who kept saying that he was bothering them, and he… just caused problems haha. He grew up in a divorced family, living with his mother with monthly visits from his father, and he found out about 3-4 months ago that his mom had started going to Dad’s house, but has never gone himself. So during our first tutorial, I got to ask him where he was in terms of f@ith. He said he was seeking and interested, but he didn’t believe, but today was just such a blessing! Firstly during the foot washing, I started talking to him, and the message I wanted to convey to him was that I know that even though we’re not getting paid to teach them English in China and we’re actually paying money out of our own pocket, it is worth it enough just to let him know that JC loves him — that all those other things he may seek in his life for comfort (computer games, cigarettes, alcohol, academic success, etc.) will not ultimately satisfy. I also said it might be hard to understand all of this because maybe he doesn't think he’s ever experienced Dad’s love before — and at that point he said, “No, I feel” and I was just so touched. I later got to share the lepsog with him and yarp the s1nner’s yarp with (in my broken Chinese PTL for getting me through that haha), and yeah… it was great!

I realize now that I may have rushed it a little fast in terms of asking him if he wanted to accept JC (I think I explained it pretty thoroughly, but I still think in retrospect that I should have given him more time to think over it), which is another reason why having the foot washing being the second to last day is a blessing in disguise, so I’m going to make sure to have a good follow-up with him tomorrow to really make sure he knows what he’s choosing to believe in.

But basically, foot washing was so great. It was a huge blessing. J I’ll post pr requests and pictures added onto this post later, but for now, I just want to get an update out!!!

1) Pr for understanding in C (new baby) and two of my other kids who don’t feel very secure in their f@ith.
~ new stuffs ~
2) Pr for the other kids from the camp — that they would learn to walk with Dad in genuine f@ith.
3) Pr for our camp tomorrow!! Dad opened a new door for us, and we have a two-day camp starting tomorrow, so pr that although the time is theoretically short that we would still be able to dive into loving these kids wholeheartedly. We will be teaching in partners, so please pr that we will be communicating well with one another and that we will be able to love each other even as we spend even more time together.

And here are some other pictures from the past week at the camp!

and then we rode them!

We got to draw horses...

My lovely class after the masquerade ball/dance party (which was bombbb) on the last night of camp!
From left to right: Top: Harry, Lee, Me, Cindy, Lisa, Hannah (co-teacher)
Bottom: Calvin, Dominic

One of the sunrise photos I took on the morning of the closing ceremony — the skies were clear and we got to
literally see the sun rise from the outskirts of the horizon. It was absolutely beautiful...

T-Minus One Day

Ahhhh, where do I even begin?? Our week of rest ends tomorrow. Our next camp starts tomorrow, and this past week has just ended on such a high note today!! I think today can be summed up in Akts 20:35b, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

            Last night, I wrote post-its for my roommate here in our hotel with book verses and passages that Dad has been pressing on my heart for him. This morning, I got ready really early and placed the post-its around our room. Then I woke him up at around 7:15 am, left the room, and let him have some quiet time with JC. I went downstairs to the lobby, and just began to yarp that Dad would be convicting him with His Word, that Dad would speak directly to him. I was actually a little worried — worried that he would take it the wrong way or that he might take offense to it, but in that moment, Dad gave me peace and confidence knowing that I was obeying his command to build the body up. We left the hotel at 8:30 am to do an English Corner (conversing with English students), so I never really followed up with him on how he took it, but even during lunch and just through basic interactions, I could see in glimpses that he took it well. He later directly told me that he really appreciated what I had done for him, and that one of the verses really stuck out to him. Funny thing is that Dad pressed that verse on my heart for him a couple weeks ago, and I shared it with him then as well, but he only shared any conviction about it this time around. Truly, it is Dad speaking truth and softening hearts!

Some group photos with Team Blurple and the
chocolates we bought for the girls!

.

            Today also just happened to be Chinese Valentine’s Day, and I gathered the three guys on our team to do something for the girls. After dinner, we went out to go and walk around, buy some snacks (mmm banana cake!!) and KFC (mmm burgers and popcorn chicken!!) and whatnot. Some of the girls who didn’t go out asked us to bring them back some PMT and fruit, so after we got KFC, we split our group of five into a group of two (me and another guy) and three (two girls and one guy — the gals felt unsafe walking around by themselves #chivalry) with the intent of my group of two buying the PMT and the group of three buying the fruit. However, we didn’t just buy the PMT that was requested. The mall that sold the PMT also had a little shop with fancy chocolates that the girls were all kinda eyeing yesterday when we went out, so us guys had already discussed earlier that we would buy the chocolates for the girls. And the joy that the girls were filled with when we gave them the chocolates — there’s little that compares. They were crowded on one bed around this box of twelve chocolates, taking little bites here, passing the chocolates around, and exclaiming in delight at the chocolates they had deemed their favorites. It was so, so great. The night continued with a time of affirmation where we had the opportunity to just rapidly, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness affirm every member of the team, and that was really joyous as well. We finally ended the night with a mini dance party to songs like Deep Cries Out and So Good To Me while video chatting one of our team members who left after the second camp. It was just a night filled with so much joy.

            Conveniently so, Dad has also been showing me in his Word how much he desires for us to rejoice. We had a book study with some English students this afternoon on Rom@ns 5 (they were about our age and were all C). While reading through the chapter, I noticed that in the first 11 verses, almost every action is either something Dad has done or that we have received from Him. The only thing the passage explicitly tells us to do is rejoice — “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings… More than that, we also rejoice in Dad through our L0rd JC, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Rom. 5:3, 11). Dad has also been speaking to me through other verses like, “Rejoice in the L0rd always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). Dad commands us to rejoice, and today has just been a day of immense rejoicing!

            And to add the cherry on top, Joyce wrote me post-its for each day I’m in China, and I hadn’t read the one she wrote for today yet. So I read it when I came back to my room and it read: Dad did something today. Whatever small/big, celebrate. And this totally rang true — ahhh, Dad is just so good!!!

I guess this entire post has been sort of a praise report, but here are some short chat requests, and I’ll end with some more pictures summarizing this week of rest!

1) Focus — our camp starts tomorrow and after seven days of no work, I have a feeling that adjusting back to our previous schedule may end up being a little difficult. This camp will also be different since most kids will already be C and their English level is pretty high — they said it’ll almost be like a C youth camp, so please yarp that we will be able to have wisdom from Dad on how to modify our lesson plans and whatnot.

2) Love — sometimes it might actually be harder to love kids that are already C. I have a feeling that we’ll have a lot of kids that will snottily say things like, “Oh, I already knew that…”, so please yarp that in the face of kids like that, we would abound in Dad’s grace and desire to disciple them in understanding Dad’s love more. Yarp that we will be able to rejoice even when circumstances seem rough!

And now for the photos! :)

After our first night sleeping in proper beds, about to go out and see the ways Dad is moving in this city.
Also, I'm #fabulous #flahlis

Group photo after visiting the coffee shop I shared about last post.
Our Chinese Partner, J, is in the upper right corner of this photo too! :)

Lisa invited us to her family reunion dinner — we ate SUPER fancy food (abalone, sea cucumber, crab, etc.) — and
it was super fun being able to play with all her nieces and nephews and going around making toasts with her relatives!

Random lion balloons we found after we had an English Corner at a bookstore. We're #teambeautiful, aren't we? :P

The ladies of Blurple with their chocolates and PMT. :)

As always, hope all is well with you back home! :)

            

Waiting

A blurry polaroid picture that they took of us and put on the wall of the
coffee shop we visited of "my friends" (heehee, it says "my friends" on the
side of the wall). :3

            As of now, our third camp is almost 100% sure cancelled (we’ll probably find out more when Lisa!!! comes to visit us tonight). However, I think Dad is going to be blessing us and challenging us greatly through this week of rest. Yesterday was our first day of rest since our first camp started, and ugh, it was just glorious. In the morning, we got to sleep in until 8:30 (we’ve had to wake up at around 6:45 or earlier every morning since July 8th). We fellowshipped with one another until we ate lunch with our Chinese partner, where we had an amazing time with amazing food and company. Then we went to a new coffee shop that opened in Shenyang called Queens Coffee, and that afternoon spent there was just such a blessing. The walls of the shop were decorated with these beautiful murals that depicted the redemption story of the owners’ marriage. The wife had to lay down her crowns at the feet of J and the husband had a smoking problem that contributed to their issues. In the end, J redeemed their marriage, and they’ve now opened up this coffee shop in the hopes that it will be a testimony of Dad’s love to this city. 

The story reads from left to right, top to bottom 

— it's so beautiful!! The owner hopes that the 

customers that come into his shop can strive towards

Dad's love like depicted in the last frame. :) :)

           One thing that the owner said that really moved me was that his vision for the coffee shop was for people to come to their coffee shop and feel like they were part of one family, rather than just individuals at a coffee shop. The heart and boldness for Dad we’ve seen here has just been amazing (yes, I’ll continue to overuse the word amazing, because it really was just amazing).

So on one hand, I can foresee how this week is going to be great, because we’re going to see the ways that Dad is moving even if we aren’t necessarily doing the work ourselves, AND we’re going to have beds and showers for an entire week, which is just amazing. However, I think in the midst of all this accommodation, comfort, and no work, we will be tempted by the comforts of, well, comfort. Because during the camps, when things were hard and it was difficult to love the kids or work together, it was necessary to turn to Dad, and He proved himself to be faithful. However, when things are less busy, it’s easy to feel like we don’t need him, when the truth is we need him even more.

Earlier this morning, Sophia shared about this as well. She shared this passage with the group:

“I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” (Rev. 3:8,10-11 ESV)

And I feel like this passage captures a lot of what I feel like will be challenging in this week — trusting that Dad has already opened the door and now all we have to do is wait. And what more must we do as we wait but seek his presence? Sophia also said that if anything, if we don’t have any real mlnlstry with other people in this week, that this would be a good time to press in for greater unity within our team — for our team to be of one mind and one splrlt. And I completely agree, because in the last few posts I’ve sent home, I’ve asked for pryer for unity, and I still sense that there is still some disunity within our team. Things have improved greatly, so thank you for all the pryers you’ve been sending my way, but please continue to pr for this!! Also, there is one co-teacher who still decided to come to Shenyang although the camp was cancelled. She said she felt it would still be worth it to come and meet people, and she also said that she’s pretty interested in coming to know Dad (!!!), so it looks like we won’t be completely without mlnlstry this week! J

So to recap… pr requests to please be pr-ing for:

1) Passion — to desire to seek his face even when times aren’t trying

2) Rest — I want this last camp to just be amazing, and I know we can’t do that if we don’t use this time wisely to rest in Dad

3) Unity — I feel there are still walls people have put up that haven’t been broken down yet, so please pr that Dad would be uniting us in Him

4) Boldness and love — especially with respect to the counselor that is still spending the week with us!!

As always, hope all is well with you guys. J