Last Post for 2008

First day of classes today. Hope you all had a great day. This is the end of Summer 2008!

Recap of Claudia for the last few weeks (lame title, I know)

Okay I know I said yesterday Steve, sorry its like 24 hours late. I do have an excuse though (I mean besides 'I forgot' or 'I was too lazy'). Wanna hear it? k thanks :)

I met with Chris (Light) around 10 to get in touch about ministry team stuff. We went to Fraiche off of University. It was super crowded (but not 40 people in line like Red Mango) so we sat on a bench outside. Midconversation a homeless guy came by panhandling so Chris bought him dinner and we talked to him for a bit. It was cool though, he's new to the area, from Detroit. He was super appreciative and we told him Chris isn't a nice person, but he did it because he's 'a follower of Jesus Christ' and we asked him for some prayer requests. Btw, if any of you guys have an extra sleeping bag laying around, someone stole his, so we're trying to find him one. In any case, that extended the meeting so I didn't post when I got home.

I've officially finished my contract for research this summer, but the project isn't done. There's a lot of work I hope to finish before school starts, but I'm probably gonna be doing stuff into fall quarter at least anyway. I'm kind of bummed about that cuz I'm not sure how much time I have, but at least things are getting interesting. I just look at pictures of bobcats taken from Jasper Ridge and try to match individuals. I finished ochem a few weeks ago too, and took a roadtrip with Karis to her house in Socal. We took Isaac and Jason along for the ride too.

We got amazing shaved ice at Isaac's favorite place near his house, and Karis showed me around her neighborhood (which is super cool! they have wild peacocks running around the streets! hahah) and we got Pinkberry! I feel like its comparable to Red Mango...um and we drove around a lot, went on a date at the Science Center for Body Worlds 3 which was really cool and nerdy if you're into that stuff :p and had a beach bonfire with a lot of Karis' friends. The water is SO much warmer than up here. haha

I went to Jeanette's baptism a couple weeks ago with a bunch of IV friends too. That was super fun, except tragic story: my car got lost and missed Jeanette by literally a minute. Sorry Jeanette :(. But hanging out afterwards was cool and Jeanette's parents treated us to dinner.

Now I'm just chillin around the house and hanging out with friends and trying to pretend I don't have more research work to do. As for the Jesus stuff, I feel like this summer has been themed around being a woman of God. I read a couple books by Elisabeth Elliot I'd highly reccomend that focus on the topic, and I've started listening to a sermon series by Rick Holland (Grace Community Church in LA) about dating/marriage/relationships. Unfortunately I haven't been disciplined at all about doing devos, which tends to be the habit whenever I go home :(. I get really lazy and fall back into hs routine. I've also been praying about ministry team stuff, which recently has brought up some new things I need to consider.

Okay that's it for now. Hope I see a lot of you guys at Back to the Farm!

Back to Stanford! 2.1

and...she told me that she'd post sometime tonight, so I decided to post as well. Well, tonight is right now, and " 'dia" still hasn't posted. I think I was fooled. 

So I finally returned from looking at the moon and a few planets of the sky with my SoCo. My SoCo is called Stanford Safari, and our mission is to explore the secrets of Stanford. Today, we got to speak with the University lawyer and the Dollies, while in the past few days, we had the honor of meeting influential people like Peter Bing (the multi-million dollar donor), former presidents Lyman and Casper, and the Dean of the Business School. Sometimes the talks can go beyond the extent of my attention span, but it's still neat to meet and listen to all these people who've made such significant impacts on the university.

Tomorrow is Saturday, which means that I finally get a chance to sleep in. Ah... just thinking about it makes my mouth drool. I wish to write more, but my bed sheets call. 

I'm coming, bed. I'm coming.

"GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves..."

Hello All!

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves."

Luke 10:2-3

I'm sure you are all very familiar with this verse and know what it means. But, personally, I knew what it meant but never experienced it. If you ask the Lord for greater things, he will make you do things that "no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived"... and I'm sure your nodding your head and saying... "ofcourse!" but i'd like to tell you...

God is never an "ofcourse"-kind of God =)

I have been working at an investment bank in Japan for the past 10 weeks and God has truly sent me among the "wolves."

When I arrived in Japan, my expectations were that I would learn more about the financial world, learn how to analyze financial products and build a deep and wide network to fulfill my dream of bringing economic prosperity back to the Philippines. I thought I would go to a Church in Japan, be involved, study the Bible, mingle in the Church and have good time. My plans seemed to be alright. I thought I was doing the right thing. I had my plans set. But one thing I prayed before leaving Japan is... "God give me direction. Show me what needs to be done. Help me grow. If you have to break me... break me."

Sure enough, God "answers you and tells you great and unsearchable things you do not know." And I had no idea what God had in store for me.

At work, He placed me in an internship that was completely different from my expectations. He continually broke me in the most unexpected way. He taught me things that I did not think was important at all. He gave me responsibilities and situations that I thought I could not handle. He made me talk to people that I never expected talking to...  And finally,

He is telling me to "GO! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves."

And after ten weeks being in Japan, now I know how the Seventy-two that Jesus sent out felt like... I know how David feels like when he fought the Goliath... I know how Paul feels like... and the Apostles... the thousands of missionaries in the depths of a country... the millions of Christians being sent out to the World...

Completely scared. =)

God's plan should scare you. It should make you feel weak. It should make you want to avoid it. It should make you doubt. It should hurt. It should be hard. It should be the thing you least expect. It should make you think like your the most incompetent thing in this world.

Look at Moses,  he tried to make excuses =)

Exodus 4:10 "O lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue..."

The Lord said to him, "Who gave his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or make him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?"

Jeremiah wanted to stop preaching because of the hardships he received, but God kept pushing him further...

"So the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

But if I say, "I will note mention him or speak any more in his name,"

his word is in y heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in; 

indeed, I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9

Even Jesus was scared and wanted to make it a little easier,

"My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." 

Matthew 26:39

BUTTTTT

Recall Paul's comment, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'... That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Where does our strength come from? Let us all shout it out aloud peopleee!!! (>.<)

"My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and my horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my SAVIOR - from violent men you save me."

2 Samuel 22:3

Let us, strive for God's plan. Strive to fear it, feel our weakness and glorify Him always! Let us seek the "wolves" in our lives and seek the harvest that God has put out for us =)

Sorry, I didn't talk about what I did over the summer and just lectured everyone....

But if your still interested in hearing me blabber on you how God has been shouting things in my ear and how i've been too dumb to hear it, I'd be glad to =)

Truly apologize for the long post! See you all at school!

Peace be with you all.

Mark

Back to Stanford! 2

Hello hello hello! As Karis mentioned in her post below, I, too, have returned to the Farm! As much as I enjoy seeing everyone again (well, I guess not everyone...I've seen just Karis thus far), I must admit I do miss good ol' home a bit. If you haven't left home, enjoy the last minute of it! 

I had the honor of talking to the second half of "Kardia" today, and...

Oh snap, my SoCo is leaving to the observatory like RIGHT NOW (to look at stars in the sky!). I'll be back in a few hours to finish the post. >.<

Back to Stanford!

Hello!
As the title says, I'm back at Stanford for Sophomore College. I saw Steve today in the dining hall and it reminded me that no one has posted on this blog in forever! And since it's getting closer to school starting, I think everyone should post so that when I see you guys, we have stuff to talk about and you don't have to tell me what seems like your whole life story to catch me up on how your summer was and then we'll have an even better conversation than if you hadn't posted! =D
So since my last post, Kardia had an awesome road trip down to LA. Kardia, Isaac, and Jason barely fit into Matty the Matrix with all my stuff in the trunk. I actually drove for part of the way too even though I barely remember how to drive manual. I think I scared Isaac and Jason with my driving. But what can I say? I guess I'm the stereotypical Asian female driver... =P So Kardia had a great time in LA (or at least the Kar part, I'll let dia speak for herself... although since we're the same person, I guess I can speak for us...). We had yummy shaved ice with Isaac in Cerritos and ate lunch with Alyssa in Carson. Despite SoCal traffic, we also made it to Huntington Beach in the evening for a bonfire. A really full but super fun day. On Sunday, Kardia went to Karis' home church, then got food in Koreatown, and spent the afternoon on a date at Body Worlds 3. The exhibit was sooo kool! I would definitely recommend it if you like anatomy/science and such. In the evening, I gave Claudia a tour of my hometown. You can ask her what she thinks of my city. Maybe she'll make a post about it if I remember to tell her. Then Claudia left my house and Monday.
I ended up coming back up the California coast for family vacation. We visited Morro Bay which is on the central coast of California. Then we headed up to the Bay Area to visit family and go to Great America. It was so much fun going on roller coasters and hanging out with my siblings. Then we drove back down the coast to go home. I slept in my own bed for a few nights before I was off to my church retreat at Idyllwild. That was a nice time to catch up with my church family and enjoy God's creation in the mountains. I left the retreat early so I could make it to move-in to SoCo today. And so now you're all caught up in my life. I can't wait to read your posts. Please keep posting. I really enjoy hearing all about your summers. Hope to see you all soon!! Class of Oh-Leven lunch when everyone gets back to campus? I hope so!!

~Karis =D

Karis peer pressured me

So for those who don't know, I've had the (mis)fortune of having been at the same school as Karis since Kindergarten, and she's been ordering me around ever since. So once I read her post wondering about my summer, of course I decided to happily oblige and compose a post myself.

It is 9:20 am, and I've been at work for two hours already, yet accomplishing nothing. I'm interning at Northrop Grumman this summer doing some business management stuff, but my boss has been working on a bunch of classified projects, leaving me to digg, cnn, and facebook. Though boring, I relish in the fact that I get paid for things such as posting to this blog. I'll also take this opportunity to thank you for paying your taxes, as the lovely government is the prime client of Northrop.

Overall, this summer has been going along very smoothly. Nothing too chaotic at all, and my schedule basically revolves around work. I'm able to enjoy weeknights with family and hang out with high school friends on the weekends. Unfortunately, life in Southern California is a bit less exotic than Nicaragua, and the most exciting thing that's happened to me in the past few weeks is probably learning that the Dodgers picked up Manny Ramirez. Still, I'm really cherishing this time to let me slow down and relax before stuff picks up in a couple of months.

I definitely miss many aspects of Stanford, and I can't wait to be involved with IV again, meet new dormmates, and have a college-life sleeping schedule. At the same time, I'm not quite ready to relinquish the bliss of having a mostly stress-less summer, which has given me the opportunity to catch up on some reading (Strongly recommend Blue Like Jazz).

Alright that's it for now, I suppose. Will post more later when I come up with something interesting to blog about :)

God Bless,

Andrew


P.S. Go Lakers! (take that Karis!)