Mongolia 2004

Hello from Mongolia!

Sain bainuu (Hello)!

Howdy from Mongolia :o) I look forward to sharing all that's going
on with you, but this may be the only day I get to email. So here
goes... I'll try to write what I can before I get kicked off!

First thing was to find out how we could best serve the ministry while
we're here. We quickly learned that our focus is to fellowship with
and disciple the students of this fellowship. For the most part they
are all believers, but there are a few non-believers. How appropriate
that we have been going through Acts in the months leading up to the
trip, as we read the stories of Paul travelling and encouraging
churches and believers along the way, disciples in turn discipling
others, etc... it's been exciting to learn from his experiences and
see similar things on our end.

It's Day 4 now and boy am I pooped. We're getting 8+ hours of sleep
per night (which is more than most of us get normally!), but the days
are full and the schedule is packed! I must say, though, it has been
a great 4 days so far!

The team is awesome. I'm so blessed to be here, halfway across the
world, serving alongside this bunch of goonies. ;o) There are 11 of
us sharing one apartment with one bathroom... imagine the problems
that could arise! But everyone has been sensitive to that and things
have been smooth so far. We have awesome team time in the morning,
praying and singing praises to the Lord, and in the evening during
devotion and sharing time. So far so good... please pray for John and
me as we co-lead this team that we will be positive examples, support,
and encouragement for the team, despite our weariness and busyness.
Also, please pray for patience and love as it sometimes gets hard to
try and herd all our ducklings from place to place. :o) Everyone
wants to do their own thing, and it's tricky to get around.

The students have been great so far! Of course, things are not as
anticipated, but we adjusted... they have a lower level of English
proficiency than we were told, so we've had to adjust all the English
lessons and the Bible studies accordingly. Sometimes it comes down to
drawing stick figures on our white boards and making "oo-oo" sounds.
But praise God for He works despite our inabilities! Erica and I
teach a group together, and we typically have 4 students, all
believers. Today we got a new student who is not a believer, and the
lesson (James 2) lended itself as an excellent intro to the Gospel!
Erica and I started, and we asked a student (one of the leaders of the
fellowship group) to continue and finish. It was exciting to see her
go at it! I'll be sure to share how things turn out with this new
gal. :o)

Of course I have to talk about the food --
So far it's been pretty yummy. Salty for sure, but definitely tasty.
One of the tricky things is that the written language here uses
Russian (or Greek?) characters, so we can't just spell and pronounce
things out. So for food it's tricky because even if I know the name
of something, I can't find it on the menu. So basically I just trust
my students to order me "something yummy". The system hasn't failed
me yet!

I mentioned our website on my last update - www.grxmissions.org. We
decided as a team that this one guy, Collin, would blog on behalf of
the team. If others get a chance they may do so as well, but feel
free to read his rendition of our experiences here. (It'll probably
be more meaty and cover more serious matters than mine!)

Ok, I'm getting kicked off now. I appreciate your support and am so
excited that you chose to share this experience this with me! I hope
you're blessed by the update, and I'll be sure to give you the more
meaty details when I return. ;o) We know the Lord will do great
things through these two weeks, not just in the fellowship but in our
lives as well, so we'll definitely share our experiences with you!

Take care!
Cindy

SainBainoo! Hello!

Howdy from Mongolia! It's Wednesday and I've already had tons of amazing experienes where God has completely blessed me and the team! God is so good!

On our layover to Mongolia, I got to stop in Korea. My parents came out and seeing them to send us off before our final leg was awesome. Parents are a good thing.

The weather here is sort've like Cal, though right now it's raining a bit. Our facilities are certainly nothing like the US. It's 12 of us in a 2.5 room apartment. 1 bathroom. But thankfully, everyone is super courteous about the space. And actually, now that I've been here a few days, Mongolia and our living facilities remind me of Korea when I lived their in '89-'92. Funny how God used that challenging experience of living in Korea to seemingly prepare me for Mongolia....

We are Bible and English teachers to about 30 students. In my group, my co-leader is Sophey (John's helping too) and we have Odko, Muunkkuu, Zaya, Naraa, and Uugii. Zaya and Uugii are not Christians, so please pray for them. Naraa, Munnkuu, and Odko all want to be a part of ministry, either in missions, worship leader, or being staff members in their current fellowship. When they told me this, I was so overjoyed. God is awesome.

We're eating tons of botz, hoshot, piroshgi... all forms of dumpings, fried and filled with meat. It's not too bad, and the students are really great about changing up the menu options. And so far, no digestion problems! Woohoo! =)

Please pray for:
-Sustained energy throughout the rest of the trip.
-My voice-- I'm leading praise and I'm already starting to lose it.
-Team Unity. That our love for each other would set an example of how Christ loves us, and how we want them to love each other.
-That the joy of the Lord (in our service and offering here) would be our strength.

We are praying for you too, our supporters! Thank you for your prayers. I can tell we're being prayed for. Can't wait to see you all when we return. I love you and thank God for you!

So many words...

...so little time...

It's only the 3rd full day and I wish I could go into detail with what I've seen and heard in Mongolia. I wish I could describe every struggle and surprise I've experienced. However, time is short so let me just tell you a little bit about my students.

Markus and I are leading a class of 4 people. Borgio is a staff leader at FCS and she is our main translator. Her smile and sweetness greets me every morning, and her passion for the ministry is admirable. Bumdarii is full of questions about the Bible and always willing to share with me how she feels. Altai is shy about her English but won't hesitate to try her Korean skills with me. And finally, Muugii, our only male, is the deep thinker whose birthday we celebrated today.

These students, along with all the rest, are full of God's love and so friendly. The girls have already latched on to the girls on our team and even the guys, though few in number, have bonded through wrestling and other manly pursuits. The sound of Monglians praying is a sweetness that touches me and their heart of worship is encouraging.

Please pray as we continue to build our relationships. It's not the easiest experience because of the language barrier but I know the Lord is with all of us.

Ulan Bator

Today is Wed, 5:20pm Mongolia, our third day of teaching. Our day start at the time we wake up, 7:30am, and ends at about 5pm and we don't get to bed 'til 11pm. It's been a lot of work, long days, yet a lot of fun. The student's age are between 18-23, college students. They all are new to the faith and hungry to learn more about God. In a way, I admire their faith and hunger. I have 5 students in my class. Esther and I teamed up to teach this class. Their English level was a lot lower than I expected so it was difficult at first. We didn't know if they understood lesson or not...Thank GOD for dictionary-English/Mongolian. It get's easier and better as day go by. Two of our students are praise leaders, one if fairly a new believer and the other two are non-believers. I pray that God will use me and Esther to touch these two's hearts. We're getting to know the students better despite our language barrier. Actually, their English is a lot better than our Mongolian. It's been a lof of fun getting to know my fellow teammates as well. I had apprehension about the food and bathroom situation before the trip, but things are working out fine...it must be God, it has to be God. And so far, everyone i(team member) is getting along just fine...for now =)! Sorry, I'm not sure if we will have time for more updates before the trip ends, but please continue to pray for our team. Please, also, pray that God will speak to my heart, that I will hear him and grow in my faith.

June 27/28, 2004

[From internet cafe in Ulaanbaatar]

6-27-04 - We are in the process of unpacking our belongings. It turns out that all eleven of us will share the same apartment. The apartment is on the top level of a four story complex. The stairways heading up to our unit is really dark and will require extra caution at night. Speaking of which, it does not get dark here until around 10:00pm. After arriving around 3:30pm today, we took a thirty minute bus ride into the central area of the city. Our living quarters is situated in a university district with many bars and clubs. As we pulled into our building quad area I noticed a few boys huddled near a trashcan. They were picking leftover food that others had discarded. Mongolia has thousands of orphans who form mini gangs and roam the city. They spend the cold seasons underground in the city sewer areas. Apparently there are occassional roundups by the government to move these kids into orphanages. However, some of the kids do not like the discipline of the orphanage institutions and those who are rounded up usually end up running away to return to the streets. We prayed that as a team we would not fall into the mindset that our wealth in money is our primary source of outreach to the students of FCS 1 camp. FCS 1 is a university Christian fellowship with roots to an Intervarsity chapter established by some Korean staff workers in Mongolia about five years ago. Right now there's a general feeling of fatigue among the team. We start with a full day of activities tomorrow and there's a sense that we are not prepared to run through everything- English lessons, Bible studies, praise, prayer time and breakout workshops (body worship, guitar lessons, origami and English Christian songs). We will also be cooking for the FCS 1 fellowship on Tuesday and Thursday and we haven't had the chance to shop or familiarize ourselves with the groceries. Even now, God I feel that I could write on and on about what we need to do to be ready for tomorrow. In the end, we have to remind ourselves about your redeeming grace and how you have been faithful to us through the highs and lows. As we spent some time with the students this evening over a delicious ("goy") dinner, I could sense a gratitude in their hearts [in Christ] despite their poverty (some students cannot even afford to buy a coke or pay for bus fare to get to class). We thank you Lord for their example and testimony as to the living water. May we have a restful night of sleep and calming peace towards our tasks. Allow us to be vessels of your unchanging love and may you be glorified through us.

[From internet cafe in Ulaanbaatar]

6-28-04- Got up around 7:00am this morning. Can't say I slept too well as I didn't have a pillow and couldn't sleep on one side of my body too long because of the hard wood floors. The shower situation is interesting because we have to use a bucket and the shower stall itself is very small - almost like something I'd find in a Hong Kong apartment. I'm really excited right now and just looking forward to meeting the students.

...

We had a full first day at the FCS 1 center. It didn't take us long to realize that the students command of English was very diverse depending on whom we were teaching. The day started with some large group activites. We sang, "My Life Is In You Lord" - a song the students were familiar with. Afterwards, we played a few rounds of "pachi san", but with so many people in the circle, it was difficult to get the pattern even halfway around the circle. Next, it was time for the Bible study and a lesson on trials and temptations taken from chapter 1 of the book of James. We used an English-to-Mongolian dictionary as well as a Mongolian phrasebook extensively. We also found out that using picture illustrations on the white board helped tremendously. Jen and I were partnered in a group with three other FCS 1 students. Two from the group were missing and we expect them to show up tomorrow. The main concepts we tried to convey was the distinction between trials and tempations and why/how we should remain joyful toward trials. The illustration we used was of a seed (us) and trials as the storm and rain. The temptation was for us to always pray/hope for sunshine to the point that we cannot withstand any storm. After the Bible study, we reached headed out to lunch with the study group. Tom joined us and we had "broshki" which is a deep-fried pastry with ground meat and onions stuffed in the middle- very delicious (I kept saying "goy"). We returned back to the FCS 1 center for the afternoon English lesson and used the lesson to study salutations. We finished early and even played two icebreaker games - "telephone pictionary" and "never". By then it was around 3:00pm and we did our specialized breakout sessions. The students could choose from four options. Chun and I helped to lead the origami sessions and we had the students learn to design a box (bottom and top separately) and embellish the boxes with cut out designs. We spent the last fifteen minutes folding a fish and hope to use that for Wednesday's project. There are a total of five breakout sessions (M, W, F on the first week and W, F on the second). We lift up the students to you. It was nice just to spend time with them eating together, learning Mongolian, teaching English, playing basketball, praise, etc. I can sense that many there cannot find the words in English to express to us their faith. Let all our words be few and the music fade at times so that we are drawn back to the heart of worship.

[ rest of journal will be entered later as I'm out of time now ]

hello from mongolia

we are here in mongolia. things have been awesome.
God is really moving in the hearts of the students. we are excited
to be a part of this awesome ministry.

a few prayer requests.
-it has been tiring with our schedule, i pray we can find rest and
strength to make the most out of each day.
-pray that we keep our focus on developing these students to be the
future leaders of this country. pray that nothing at home bothers us
or distracts us.
-pray that God will continue to use us and give us a glimpse of His plan for us!

thanks. truly the prayers of others are giving us strength!
more to come later.

From Mongolia

A message from the host missionaries, Tom and Nancy Lin:

We picked up the GrX team from the airport this afternoon, and we are happy to report that they are doing great. We had a short orientation for them, introduced our missionary team and Mongolian staff, and then had dinner together.

They may not have internet access immediately, so they asked us to relay a
message through you to all of their friends, supporters, families, etc. So
if you can, please forward this message, and let those folks know that the
team is safely here!

They will be resting well tonight, and then begin the 2-week camp tomorrow
at our FCS office.

Thanks and many blessings,
Tom and Nancy

Not to us...

It all started as a mere whim, a thought casually bandied about, a glimmer in my mind as I was talking with people about how to get GrX more plugged into missions... I put two and two together, and decide to shoot my friend Tom an email.

Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2003 15:41:34 GMT

To: mark at markwang.com

Subject: Partnering with the Great Exchange

From: tommylin at juno.com

Mark,

Thanks for the update on your going to the Great Exchange. I know that church (New Song church plant, right?), and have heard my friend David Gibbons mention it several times. My brother Jim has also served on the worship team there a few times (guest appearances with another Vineyard worship leader).

Sure, we would love to discuss PARTNERSHIP with the Great Exchange. Would the church be interested in having us share sometime, while we’re in the Bay Area? We could share about opportunities in Mongolia, do a presentation, etc... And we could probably receive a summer team if the dates worked out.

For now, feel free to give them some info about us, point them to our website, or you can even show them the video(s) you made for us!

Blessings,
Tom

-- Mark Wang wrote:
No problem -- I must apologize, though, as I will have to push the
completion date of this video to this weekend... work has been keeping me
busier than I expected -- it's not "crazy" yet, but it's taking a slight
toll on me, so I need to get a good night's rest tonight.

Also, as you may or may not know, besides my new job, I've started to go to
another church, Great Exchange (GrX), in Sunnyvale, mainly for reasons of
it being a much better geographic and demographic fit than WCCC for me
right now. I've discussed the issue with Sam, and he agrees it's best for
me spiritually and relationship-wise at this point in my life, and so I'm
leaving with his blessing. I still maintain good relationships with those
at WCCC, and more relevantly for you. I'll still be willing to be the
contact person for your website updates for the time being.

What you might be interested in knowing is that I'm currently discussing a
missions awareness and plan for GrX with other like-minded folks, and we've
expressed interest in possibly sending a church team over to Mongolia
sometime next year, just like what other churches have done, if you guys
are available. Nothing is definite yet, but it's something we're thinking
of. So l'd definitely like to discuss this when I see you.

Talk to you soon,

-- Mark

The idea of sending a team grew, at first, slowly, and with much hesitation. Tom, David, and I met, and we decided, very much on faith, to try assembling a team together, despite the fact that I had never really talked to anyone else in church about it. Ideas were bandied about, dates and plans revised, revised again, and yet again.

People slowly got word about the planned trip through word of mouth, but no one really knew if we could get a group of people leading cushy lives in the Silicon Valley interested in going to a relatively obscure and impoverished country located in the midst of the Gobi desert.

We prayed about it, and decided to give it a go. If we didn't get the minimum applications, we'd just lump them together with Japan or Thailand.

Amidst the vagaries of the Mongolian school system and the plans of other teams from around the world leading to a constantly changing agenda for us (teaching English? No, working with orphans... wait, a prior group just cancelled, so it's back to teaching English again), applications trickled in, slowly. The day before the deadline, we had about 4.

And then, something unexpected happened. They started coming in. Perhaps it was human laziness, but I remain convinced that God had something in store. The names of some of the applicants surprised me -- Eleanor, Ohms, and others already with important responsibilities to GrX, willing to take two weeks off. Collin, who mobilized three of his fellow small group members to join him. Jennifer, whose application was almost written off because she thought herself that she had missed the deadline by mistake. In literally the last minutes, we not only reached our minimum, but our maximum team size of 12. No more, no less.

I knew from the outset that in the (then unlikely) event we reached 12 members, I would humbly bow out from the actual in-country team. I had been to Mongolia twice already, and as much as I was interested in going again and working with familiar faces, I realized that others ought to have a chance to discover just how God is working there. And so, with a heart not of disappointment, but of gratitude, I removed my hat of goer and changed into that of a sender.

The first team meeting was unremarkable, looking back on it. We were all hesistant, not really knowing each other as a whole, nor our real agenda that Tom and Nancy wanted us to do. Introductions were made, some icebreakers played, and future meetings tentatively scheduled.

And yet, the ball started rolling. Through many a lunch or dinner, training with OMF in the Rocky Mountains, and a lockin, we slowly bonded. Activities were slowly developed and English lessons prepared. Everyone became a cheerleader for everyone else -- Go MonGOlia! And I was the biggest one of them all... seeing the team evolve from a disparate group of people into a body passionate and determined to love Mongolia, Tom and Nancy, and most of all the Mongolians themselves, before they even set foot there.

Yesterday, I got a taste of the feeling a proud parent must have watching their child leave home for the first time. Eleven team members, and and over forty supporters assembled at SFO to pray and send us off. The other missions teams, Pastors Steve and Ed, the coaches -- all assembled as one body to send us.

And I use the word "us" deliberately, for there was no greater time that I proudly felt being a member of the team just like everyone else, despite the fact I'm stateside. As I was walking to the gate, personally sharing my last words with everyone individually, I almost missed my ride home who happened to be heading in the opposite direction. That was how strong the bond I felt was.

On the drive up, Dylan and I were reflecting about the unique composition of the team -- how we had many members well experienced in ministry: a full time GrX staff member, two coaches, three small group leaders, as well as new Christians, eager to channel their passion from their newfound faith into reaching others. Moreover, everyone's spiritual giftings spanned the full gamut: from administration to music, from teaching to exhortation. People on the team had exactly the right talents to lead the Mongolians in lessons and activities. If we had handpicked the members of the team, we couldn't have done better.

And yet, we did none of that. It was God's hand in bringing everyone together and assembling this group. Not myself, not David Kim, not Tom or Nancy -- but Him alone.

They say missions really isn't about saving or helping others like we often tend to think -- it's not about us and our own actions, and it's not even about them. Rather, it's about God revealing His hand in all things making His glory manifest and making people worship Him all over the world. The unique and perfect composition of the Mongolia team itself already reflects that. The fact that an idea grew to fruition so richly in such a short time span reflects that as well.

May they be the first of many such reflections.

Not to us, but to You be the glory. Amen.

June 25/26, 2004

[Entered from airport at Icheon airport]

6-25-04 - I'm on the plane now and we lifted off about ten minutes ago. I used to be so fearful of flying, but in the last three years there has been a calming peace that no matter what happens, I can find solace knowing I'll be at a better place. What a tremendous sendoff our team had! A bunch of people came over to my apartment and we had dinner together and did some praying. Elgin wrote me a touching letter and I pray that his upcoming missons trip to Japan will transform him in ways none of us could have imagined. At SFO there were over three dozen people who came out to send us off. We spent about fifteen minutes or so praying with the team circled up in the middle. It was a powerful experience to be praying in public in front of so many other people at the airport. May the prayers we lifted up to you resonate in our hearts. The "missions" movement was always there and sits at the core of your will. So I pray that for those back in the bay area that they seek opportunities in all they do to be witnesses of your glory and testify of the hope they have because of Jesus Christ. Already I've had the opportunity to speak with two people. While waiting at the gate area I spent about fifteen minutes talking to Paul from Florida State University who is on his way to China for a two month Chinese class. He was reading a book titled, "Initiation" and it dealt with reincarnation. I recommended "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis to him so I pray Lord that he will be able to pick that book up and consider the case for Christ. Paul mentioned something that struck me- he said that Christianity provides the teachings and beliefs, but does not tell you how to achieve it (we spoke about turning the other cheek and loving your enemies). My guess is that he was thinking along the lines of reaching a stage of perfection in life... like an enlightenment that comes with detaching oneself from the carnal desires of the flesh. All I could say was that Christians have the example of Jesus Christ and are called to be "new" not "nice." So I lift up Paul to you... maybe he'll run across OMF missionaries in China. When I boarded the plane I switched seats with Esther so she could sit next to Eleanor. God works in subtle ways. I wound up having the window seat (16K) and sat next to a Rajiv Metha. I found out that he was in San Francisco for a business trip as well as to visit his two daughters- one in Santa Clara, the other in Seattle. Rajiv is Hindu, but seemed genuinely interested in Christianity. He told me that theere were a number of Christian churches in New Delhi and that the educated class (like himself as he has an M.S. in Chemical Engineering) view religion as a set of beliefs, but not a personal relationship with a god. [break] How funny... I was just journing and Rajiv asked me about what I was writing and whether or not I did it everyday. I quickly wrote down two links - one for the team missions website and another to my xanga page. [Rajiv if you're reading this somehow then I say I hope all is well and may you seek a personal relationship in your religion with the true God Christians believe in]. Well they are serving food now (it's about 2:00am Pacific Time) so i'm going to have me some Korean food... gosh I was hoping to get some sleep. I'm very hungry though and I can't sleep when I'm hungry. I thank you Lord for the conversations w/ Paul and Rajiv.

[Entered from Icheon airport]

6-26-04 - We're sitting here at the airport on a layover to Ulaanbaatar. The Icheon airport is huge and there is a lot of glass to allow for the sunlight to shine in. My eyes are still bothering me... it has been over three weeks now and I'm am getting a bit worried as to whether this will cause permanent vision damage. I though about what would happen when I get back to the states and right now there's a lot of uncertainty. I'm trying not to think about it as I've spent the last four months preparing for the missions trip to Mongolia. With so many people here at the airport, a part of me wants to experience livign abroad in a large city like Hong Kong. I wonder just how the team will be impacted by the experience... in just a few hours we'll be setting foot onto Ulaanbaatar. I pray for good rest later tonight as we lost a whole day travelling plus the time zone difference. It was nice to have one last large meal of bim bim bap. Esther's parents came out to see her and they were kind to buy us brunch earlier today. Somehow I had expected her dad to appear older, but he looks really young. Lord may you humble our hearts and draw us to unity as we experience life in a poor urban city. How scattered are the nations since the time they tried to build a tower to the heavens. There's so much going on in every individual's life it's easy to lose sight of what's truly important. So we lift up the people in Korea too; that they see something greater beyond their lives. It's almost time to get our boarding passes now so we pray for a safe flight to Mongolia. I had a nightmare on the plane and dreamt that our flight from San Francisco required an emergency water landing which we successfully made. We go forth now and focus our minds and heart to the task at hand. Prepare the way Lord... you are the king of the earth Jesus!

And they're off...

This is it. All the preparation, all the planning, all the prayer -- it boils down to this. Finally, at long last, the team has begun their first leg of their journey, ending 22 hours later in the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar.

Information as of 6/26/2004 8:45:45 AM GMT
FlightID: AAR213 (Commercial Jet)
Status: IN FLIGHT
Owner: ASIANA AIRLINES
Radio Call: ASIANA
Ground Spd: 386 kts Altitude: 17,800
Type: B772 (Boeing Company Model 777-200)
Origin Apt: SFO SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL
Dest Apt: RKSI INCHEON INTL
Departed: 01:36 AM PDT (0836Z)
Original ETA: 07:55 PM GMT (1955Z)
Calculated ETA: 09:23 PM GMT (2123Z), In 12h 34m
Dist Fm Dept: 50 nm Dist To Dest: 4853 nm

I've lots more to write about the emotions I felt tonight during the sendoff, but for now, go forth and God speed...

And for fellow aviation nerds (Markus)...

FlightID: AAR213
Status: FILED
Filed With: KZOA - Oakland, CA
Equipment: H/B772/Q
Proposed Departure Time: 0800Z
Departing: SFO SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL
Destination: RKSI INCHEON INTL
Route of Flight: KSFO.MOLEN3.MOLEN..BOXER..KYLLE..KANUA
..ORNAI..5300N/14000W..5500N/15000W..5700N/16000W
..OGGOE..OFORD..ONEIL..OPAKE
..OLCOT..OPHET..OGDEN..OMOTO.R580.OATIS
..SNAIL.OTR3.GOC.W18.KCC.V26.JEC.G585.SEL..
RKSI/1119
ETA: 1936
Speed: 0489
Altitude: 320

June 24, 2004

The hour is almost upon the team now. I won't be able to enter anything in the next two weeks or so, but I thought that it would be neat to open up my journaling experience (word for word with all the grammatical and spelling errors) in Mongolia when I come back. It starts with this final entry before I depart.

6-24-04 - Another long day. Got up early to head over to GRX to play the role of a prisoner for the VBS program. The kids there are too clever and recognized me. I'm not sure just how much they were impacted by the experience, but I remember the look on Dalen's face... he even asked if I was going to be let out. I felt that I could have been a better actor, but a lot of curveballs were thrown my way- like some of the kids trying to extinguish the candle in the room or others trying to free me from my fake rope tie. Well the day is upon us... how fast the past few months have gone by. I know I've been thinking a lot about how I may express my faith to the Mongolians. Lord you know my heart... where words are lost may your Spirit be my mediator. I've tired to express faith in words and actions, but in the end I realize so much of it springs from a desire in my heart to be heard. Listen to our hearts Lord for words cannot express... That song is stuck in my head now... "hear our Spirits sing... a simple song from those you have redeemed..." I said I wanted to run and press towards the goal... I feel like I'm at the starting line of a marathon again- the energy and excitement and yet an understanding that there will be pain and that I will have thoughts to quit and slow down. I'm thinking now of all the people who will be here in the Bay Area... I lift up those that I know that do not have a relationship with you. And for the fellow servants in the trenches may they press on knowing that I'm lifting them up in prayer too. Holy king of all I thank you for this opportunity... so much of what I've clung onto and failed at seems so trivial now. I pray for a great night tomorrow as I spend my time with some of my friends at my apartment and at SFO. Not to us Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory!

June 18, 2004

Life lessons from the NBA finals...

1) Basketball is just a game and people quickly forget and move on. Baseball now comes into full swing and soon football season will begin again. Already NBA teams are rebuilding and players altering contracts. The NBA draft takes place next week and the oddsmakers have already released bets for next year's champions (Spurs the top with a 3:1 shot). Those who face tragedies and lost loved ones during these times and continue to trust God are some real-life champions with heart.

2) All the hours of labor, sacrifice, sweat and tears you put into something may still not yield the "prize" you were looking for on earth. This is a hard lesson. Karl Malone the second leading scorer of all time in the history of the NBA is now zero-for-three in his NBA finals series career. He even took a salary cut from making $18 million in 2003 playing for the Utah Jazz to $1.5 million and a chance to win a championship playing for the Lakers. Great men of faith like Abraham never saw the promised land while on earth. I have been mistaken to think that I could bargain with God with extra hours of prayer, tithing, service projects, Bible studies, encouraging notes written to others, thoughtful gifts, etc. for answers to my prayers. God does not delight in offerings, but the sacrifice of a broken heart and spirit. I'm not suggesting you now sit on the sidelines, penny-pinch for your dream home and let others do the work in ministry... you still have to use talents/gifts you were given... real faith bears fruit.... 36,000+ points and maintaining an Adonis-like physique does not just happen without hard work. Anything worth fighting for comes at a cost.

3) I'd be honored and excited to pursue a worthy endeavor with a group of committed misfits and castaways. Reading the news articles about the Detroit Pistons leading up to the NBA finals matchup and even during the series itself, I would often find phrases/words like "misfits", "castaways", "nobody believes in them", "no superstars", etc. to describe the Pistons. Most of the fellas who are in the trenches of ministry with me aren't your stereotypical jocks, industry entrepreneurs, American idol candidates, etc. I doubt most of us would even turn a single head at a party or bar. These are people with tough struggles and who have weakness they feel vulnerable with sharing. And yet, they are the committed ones I know I can depend on to pull through the good and bad times. Now you may say there are no "superstars" in ministry for we are all sinners and are all the same "body"... this is true. But sometimes (and I'm often guilty of this myself) I feel like we're afraid to take risks outside our comfort zones and be vulnerable for we think someone else may think less of us. And so we may play it cool like that Eddie guy from the McDonalds commercials, "How you doin? How you doin? Looking good. Looking good. You the man! You the man!." And then another week passes. Sadly we may even distance ourselves from some people... Afraid of hanging out with that "fobby" person or older person because you'd be out of your comfort zone? Don't want to spend too much time with that dorky/geeky person? These are thoughts that came to my mind as I reflected upon the success of the Pistons squad.

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Well we're coming down to the homestretch before the departure date to Mongolia. An interesting point I read from John Piper's, "Let The Nations Be Glad" tonight was that we cannot be primarily fueled in missions by sharing the gospel to "the lost souls." His point was that not only is "the lost" an abstract concept, but further, we cannot wait for such a feeling of compassion in order to share Christ because we already love God. There's a lot more, but it was enough to get me thinking about my motives.

In the meantime, thanks for all the prayers and support! =)

The final stretch...

As we head into the last full weekend of preparation before our journey, I'm starting to feel the weight of all that is ahead of us. I can't think straight sometimes because there is so much to organize, get ready for, and accomplish. Maybe it's just me - I don't know - but it doesn't help that other circumstances in my life are competing for my energy and time (e.g., work). I'm just barely hanging in there, relying on God to see me through these times.

It frightens me to think that in just 1 week, we will be on our way to Mongolia and in 3 weeks it will all be over. Is this trip going to be a whirlwind event that passes by in a blink? After months of preparation? Say it isn't so! Hence, I am motivated to focus on our time in Mongolia - to make sure that I surrender myself to the service of God. It may sound like an attempt to be noble but honestly, it's not that at all because I have to admit that I, as an individual, cannot do anything meaningful on my own. If it weren't for God's love and grace, there would be no purpose to this mission. Therefore, in the short 2 weeks we're in Mongolia, I must make every effort to ensure it is not about me and my needs.

The best thing is that God has already won the victory.

June 4, 2004

Yesterday I had the privilege of going to NASA at Moffett Field to take part of the official partnership announcement between Xerox and NASA. It’s an interesting blend of private and public sector institutions collaborating on technologies together using one of the software products that I’m a developer for. There were a number of upper-level executives at the function including the CTO of Xerox. Engineers like myself stood out as we were the ones wearing jeans and short sleeve shirts among the crowds.

The presentation included the exhibition of images from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. They even showed a computer simulation of one of the rovers approach and landing onto Mars with audio effects using an SGI supercomputer. It was quite a site. As the craft entered the atmosphere there was a roaring sound probably much like what the people in Washington state heard the other night. This Mars landing is some incredible achievement of engineering and science. Consider this- the craft carrying the rover was travelling at speeds of over 50,000MPH for almost seven months before it reached Mars. As far of a distance as 50 million miles may seem imagine the 2.2 billion mile journey the International Cassini has been making since 1997!

The scientists there mentioned something about the "six minutes of terror" - that is the time of the Mars spacecraft entry into the planet's atmosphere until its landing. The calculations and conditions had to be perfect for the rover to land in the designated four-mile radius landing site. And they pulled it off! Someone there said it's like the equivalent of a hole-in-one while playing golf except that the tee is in Paris, France and the hole is in Tokyo, Japan.

Even more impressive was another computer simulation of a journey through the galaxies using a database of 65,000+ galaxies (among an infinite amount) recorded in a project at the University of Hawaii. I couldn't help but think just how small I am as a human being on one such planet of the one Milky Way galaxy! And I couldn't help but wonder that the intersection between science and faith is somewhere out there in the universe. What I mean is at some point I could either believe that the universe is still expanding with energy, particles, gases and supernovas spawning new galaxies through chaos or that the God I believe in is beyond anything I can begin to comprehend and controls all this and yet dearly loves the speck I am.

I'm inspired to dig up my old lego robotics kits again and start dabbling with it. The last time I played with it there was a bunch of software development kits available for it and I'm sure the developer community and tools have only improved since then. I was hoping that maybe I could try to reacquaint myself with the knowledge and spend some time building robots with the people of Mongolia. We'll see. Truly the meaning of our existence is not about the degrees, the assets or even our own lives, but to point towards that which is supreme in the universe.

God of Wonders beyond our galaxies you are Holy...