Honduras in a couple days!

Hi friends!

I'm back to share just how excited I feel to be jetting off to Honduras in less than one week. Can you believe it!? After months of fundraising and worrying about applying for my visa, praying, reading packets, etc, etc... The day is finally (almost) here!!!

I met half of our team of nearly 70 people on Saturday. The SoCal team had a gathering near UCLA where we were able to chat over some amazingly yummy food (I love food!!), meet the people we will be serving with, sing praise songs and hymns, go over details of our week-long trip, and pray for each other... And in the end, we FaceTimed with the NorCal team who also had their meeting. I can't believe it! God has been so faithful to each and every person on this huge team and I am in awe. I mean, how awesome is it that the God of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, knows each individual, each creation, and seeks and pursues us to have a personal relationship with Him through Christ Jesus? Isn't that just mind-blowing?

A fraction of our huge SoCal team!! :) pc: Enrique Lee

With only a few days left, packing has been a crazy experience. I've had to pack, unpack, and re-pack twice. I also sewed the hems of my ginormous scrubs yesterday. I seriously look like a giant box! Haha :) We also get to choose which areas we want to serve in when we get to Honduras. I originally wanted to experience assisting in all the medical stations (medical provision, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, & physical therapy) even though a future in medicine doesn't seem likely for me, but since there are so many other areas to serve in, I figured I'd just leave the options blank and serve in whatever capacity they need me to serve. I can't contain my excitement for what I know will seriously be the experience of a lifetime!

Look how boxy I look! pc: Eunice Chee

In light of all the exciting stuff -- preparations, meetings, making new friends -- I really need to just remember that my sole purpose for going on this trip -- and for anything I do in life, really! -- is to share the Gospel and be a light. It's been especially hard remembering that, what with it being summer and myself being so undisciplined, but I am thankful because God's faithfulness doesn't wane unlike mine. Please pray for me and for the team! It's going to be a physically taxing week, and since we will be on such a tight schedule, I'm anticipating we won't be at the top of our spiritual disciplines. But please do pray for us! That before we serve, we would eagerly sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from Him, for it is only by sitting at His feet that we can learn to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. :)

I'm so thankful for everyone's prayers thus far! Not to mention just all the support that each person on this team has been receiving, whether encouragements, reminders, prayers, financial support, or even joining us in the excitement, the community we have been given in Christ amazes me. Please pray for the salvation of the Hondurans we will be serving amidst all your support! Knowing that God is sovereign, may we all the more labor diligently and fervently to proclaim His Gospel in word and in deed.

Whoohoo!

This will be our view in Honduras! Whoohoo! :)

Summer so far.

It is already August -- just a little over a month since summer break started. I can't believe how time flies! There is so much to look forward to in the next coming weeks, but mainly these two events:

1. Berean Community Church's first ever VBS, combined with CrossLife Community Church and Pillar Bible Church from August 5th-7th. I'm so excited! Our church has been increasing in numbers steadily and it cannot be denied how many babies are also becoming part of our family. I'm so excited :)

2. Honduras Short-Term Missions from August 16th-24th. This will be my first ever missions trip and I could not be more thankful that I'm going with a team full of people who love God and are eager to spread His Gospel. Words cannot express the excitement, but also the nervousness I feel. Since it will be a medical missions trip, we will get to share the gospel to literally hundreds of people on the daily (which is so exciting and such a privilege!!). Only downside is that we're "speed-sharing" the gospel, meaning we only have at most 5 minutes to talk with each patient we encounter. I'm so nervous -- as are my other teammates -- because how does one share the gospel clearly, accurately, and efficiently in such a short amount of time? Even campus evangelism conversations take more than 10 minutes! But all in God's hands. This is room for the Spirit alone to work and manifest His glory! :)

Other than these two events, summer at home has been okay. As is with every other summer spent at home, I find myself at a loss as to what to do each day that I wake up. There really isn't much to do at home and leisurely expenses aren't part of the budget. So far, I've just been spending my time scanning files to send to my dad who's now back in the Philippines. I finished scanning four boxes full in one month, praise the Lord!! Now all I have to worry about is compressing said files to email to him, and this hasn't exactly been the most exciting thing. Add to this the hours spent in front of my laptop screen while scanning and waiting for the files to compress and attach to my emails... My eyes must hate me so much right now. I feel as if I've become cross-eyed from the numerous hours spent in front of the screen. :(

Although I must say that I've discovered a handful of Korean dramas that have changed my standards of what I think to be well-produced and ill-produced. I find myself with a growing appreciation for historical dramas, mainly because I get a glimpse of what it must have been like to live in the past. I wish I could travel back in time...

I guess you can say my summer has been... a little (somewhat a lot) short of productive, but I'm getting there! :)

One thing I learn every time I'm home is the reality of fighting discontentment, discouragement, laziness, frustration/anger/annoyance/impatience, and the ever-looming feeling of self-entitlement. It's not an easy fight, but another thing that I learn (and must intentionally and actively seek to remember) is the encouragement I have to keep going in Christ as my battles with such sins are signs of the faithful work of the Holy Spirit in me to sanctify me. It's definitely challenging, but I hope that I grow deeper in love for and worship of my Savior.

San Francisco earlier this summer break. I miss this city!