Andrea #6

Dear friends and family,


How is everyone doing? I hope all is fine with you all. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. I am doing well and enjoying my stay here. Its been about 11 days since the church started the 1-month fast, and I'm glad to say that I am doing well. Initially it was tough because I wasn't used to fasting for so many hours (morning till 5pm), but thank God that He helped me and now I'm getting used to it. Of course there're days where I really felt like breaking my fast a couple of hours earlier, but whenever that feeling comes, I will pray to God for His strength, and then I feel better.

We had a 2 day crusade (28th & 29th November) in a public open-air area. An all Indonesian-Chinese team, about 20 people, from Jakarta came to conduct it. Our church help to get everything ready; printed flyers, served as ushers etc. Although we prayed for no rain, it still rained pretty heavily for both nights till certain areas of the open-stage were flooded and muddy. But the amazing thing is that there were still quite a number of people who came, and you could see people listening to the sermon and worshiping underneath umbrellas under the rain! And towards the end, a lot of the youth went to the front to worship and praise Jesus under the rain! It was so much fun! Initially I was thinking why God allowed it to rain, but then I felt that God telling me that He can do whatever He wants to, and that He has everything under control. He can still do amazing things in the midst of rains! And I truly saw that. People didn't care that it was raining; they still stood through the entire 2 hours hearing the word of God and singing songs of worship. We probably won't see that happening in America. It was a very good experience that I will definitely remember. I can'tt wait to show photos when I'm back!

5 of my family members, including my mom came to visit Berastagi about 2 weeks ago, and it lifted my spirits to see them. We had lots of fun together, especially with my cousins. My uncle shared his testimony about how he came to know Jesus in the Mandarin service, and my mum preached in the 2nd service. Many people came to tell me how much they were blessed by my family. I thank God that He also was able to use my family to be a blessing to the people here.

Thanks for everything and continue to keep me and the church here (Elim Kairos) in your prayers. I will see all of you really soon.

Love and blessings,
Andrea

Andrea #5

Dear beloved friends and family,

Time sure flies doesn't it? I've already been living in Berastagi for a little over 2 months. God is so good to me, He has placed many amazing Indonesians in my life that I will definitely miss so much when I leave. About 2 weeks ago we had our 1st English/Indonesian Youth service and so many people turned up. The church bus was so full that some people had to stand against the door. Praise God! The New Zealand team also had a wonderful time ministering to the youths. I also went along with the New Zealand team to a high school service on a friday, and had the chance to pray for the highschoolers who responded to the altar call for those who don't feel loved, rejection etc. It was a good experience as I learned to put aside my awkwardness and hug the girls that I was praying for. I definitely felt that God was working through me when they put their arms around me and cried like babies. One of the girls I prayed for was the daughter of the owner of a local radio station. One of the church's youths told me that although she is so rich, but she feels so lonely inside thats why she goes from boyfriends to boyfriends. And I'm so happy that I had the chance to minister to her. Even though I could not pray in Indonesian, but I know that God works in ways we cannot imagine as long as we are willing.
This past week, our church conducted an Encounter weekend with invited pastors as speakers from a church in Singapore, FCBC, and I served by playing the keyboard. There were sessions on Sins, Repentance, Forgiveness, Breaking Curses, Healing of the Soul, Water Baptism, Baptism of the Holy Spirit etc. Those who attended are mostly new Christians, but some regular members also attended. The sessions were amazing, and I could see God touching the lives of so many people, during the altar calls, people were crying, screaming and laughing. At the end of the Water Baptism teaching, there were 9 members who got baptised. All who attended the Encounter went to a nearby hotel and witnessed the baptism of our fellow brothers and sisters. I love taking the church bus, its like a big family going on a road trip!
Right now, we're preparing for Christmas. I am one of the coordinators of a drama and a dance for the Christmas youth outreach service. Its pretty exciting because I have never done anything like that before. It will also be challenging because the entire church will be fasting everyday for the entire month of December till Christmas! I am already fasting every thursday with the church workers from breakfast till 4-5pm, but its going to be tough doing it everyday! But i know God will help me! =)
Thanks for all the love and prayers! I miss and love you all!

Blessings,
Andrea

Andrea #4

Dear beloved friends and family,

Hope all is well with everyone of you. Please know that I miss you all so much. Anyways, the kindergarten is going well, generally, the children are more obedient now. Most of them have difficulties pronouncing some English words. For example, we were teaching the kinders how to say "spoon" and "plate", and most of them said words like "spood, sepoon etc" for spoon, and "creck, blade, plas" for plate. Its really quite funny. Also, the church just started this activity called "Blessings 7K". Basically, the church members go out to public places, talk to strangers and sometimes pray for them. After that, the members are committed to pray for their contacts once a week, and also do follow-up. So today afternoon, my friend and I went downtown to buy some groceries, and on the way back, we passed by this small outdoor stall selling fighting fishes. We stopped and looked at the fishes because I wanted to buy one for the pastor's son. My friend told them that I could speak English and that they should talk to me if they wanted to practice English. So an older man started up a conversation with me, and during our conversation, many young people crowded around us and listened. So my friend took this opportunity to tell them about the Blessings 7K, and she got 5 teenage boys' contact information. There were more people, but she only brough 5 pamplets with her. Anyways, that was pretty cool. We are starting to practice for the upcoming English Youth service, I"m playing the keyboard instead because the only guy who can play the guitar plays the keyboards too, so he will play the guitar this time. Please pray that everything will go smoothly and that there will be lots of new young people coming to this service. Alright, thanks for all the love, prayers, emails and letters. God bless all of you!

Love,
Andrea

Andrea - (2007-08-29)

Another Post from Andrea

Hi friends and family,

How's everyone doing? I am doing great. Right now I"m back in Singapore with Pastor Ezra and Jeremy, their oldest son. I"m here to apply for my social visa at the Indonesian Embassy, and Jeremy needs to sit for his entrance exam and update his passport photo. If everything goes well visa-wise, we are aiming to go back next Monday or Tuesday. Please pray that my visa will be processed fast. On the way to Medan, the youth pastor talked to me and he wants to start an all English youth service once a month, because he felt that English is very important and although the Indonesian children learn English in school, but most of them cannot speak at all because of lack of practice. After coming back from an International youth conference here in Singapore, Pastor Daniel really wants his youth to be exposed to more English so that in the future they can be well equipped to go to the nations. So yeah, the English service will start in September, and I will be worship leader! Man, i have not led worship in cell group for sooo long, let alone infront of a huge congregation. The youth is about 60-80. Please pray for favor ok! Last sunday was Pastor Janice's birthday, me and 7 other youth secretly practiced for a dance special. We had only a week to choreograph and get everything perfect. Um, it wasn't perfect, but it was so much fun! The dance moves are mostly silly, and in the process of learning, I had an amazing time of laughing with the youth. Everyone loved the dance we gave on Sunday, esp. both Pastor Janice and Pastor Ezra. I played keyboard for the Chinese service last Sunday also. It was um, very different from what I"m used to. They sing alot of hokkien songs that I have never heard of, and very old fashioned sounding chinese songs. haha. But praise God, everything was still good. Ok, this concludes my mini update. Thanks for all the prayers, emails and letters. I really feel loved. =) God bless you all!

Love,
Andrea

Fall class starting

So my fall class, FBE-555 is about to start.

Here are the books i am using:

Managing Investment Portfolios, 3rd Edition
Authors: John L Maginn, Donald L Tuttle, Jerald E Pinto and Dennis W McLeavey
Publisher: Wiley (ISBN: 978-0-470-08014-6)


Quantitative Investment Analysis, 2nd Edition
Authors: Richard A DeFusco, D.W. McLeavey, J.E. Pinto, David E Runkle, and Mark JP Anson
Publisher: Wiley (ISBN: 978-0-470-05220-4)



That's not too bad, surprising these books are less than $60 each.

the summer months

Here are some quick updates (things have been getting quite busy)

Andrea:
After 4 weeks of fund-raising, we raised about $1200 for her missions trip to Indonesia. On 7/23 she began a new chapter in her life, dedicated to God, as a missionary full of passion for young underprivileged children of Indonesia. We will continue to pray for her.

Brian & Hallie:
Heading back and forth between LA and SJ, they came down again on 8/10-8/12 to minister to the young people of Impact Harvest Church in Temple City. Way to go!!

We recently have two new people join the cell group, David and Daria.

Andrea - (2007-08-14)

Another update from Andrea:

Hi friends and family..
It has already been 2 weeks since I've been away. I apologize if I am slow to replying because I only check my email about once a week. Anyways, I just got back to Berastagi from Rantauprapat. Another city in Indonesia thats about 7 hours away by train. I went with Ps.Ezra and his family. Him and his wife were invited to speak at a church over there. Anyways, the 7 hours journey was not so bad, but even though we sat 1st class, but the a/c barely kept us cool and the pillows that were provided are definitely questionable. Anyways, I love the pastor and his family in Rantauprapat. Although they're Indonesian born Chinese, but they were educated in Canada, so I"m glad I could finally hear some good English. I shared my testimony in the youth and chinese service and taught some English in a local school. Oh, and I got a love offering from them! I seriously didn't expect them to give me any money, but I thank God for it! The principal of the school even invited me to go back and teach whenever I'm bored of Berastagi. How sweet. Oh, the weather in Rantau is VERY humid. Also, the air pollution is pretty bad. If not for the weather, I would totally visit Rantau again. On Monday, Ps. Janice was supposed to preach in the women's service. The invitation is open to all women from the neighborhood churches. Her topic was "Women, God's secret weapon". Strangely on Monday, I woke up with a bad ache in my left arm. I couldn't bend my arm without feeling any pain. I had to keep my arm up at an angle, because it hurts to put my arm straight down. It was hard to shower, change etc. Ps. Janice thought it might be a spiritual attack so she prayed for me and anoint my arm with oil. On that night, the women's meeting was powerful. Everyone there were hugging one another, praying and crying. Alot of them came up to Pastor Janice and said how blessed they were from her sermon. At night, we prayed again for my arm. The next morning, the pain was about 90% gone. And by evening, my arm was completely healed. Praise God.
After another 7 hours in the train, we arrived in Medan at 3pm Tuesday afternoon. We left for Berastagi after dinner. In the middle of the journey, 3 trucks broke down in the middle and since there's only 1 lane to go up and 1 lane to go down, we were stuck for about 1 1/2 hours. We were soo tired and all we wanted was to be able to go home and sleep, but we didn't reach home till 11.30pm. The journey from Medan to Berastagi usually takes around 1 1/2 hours, but yesterday it took 4. But its good to back home, I miss the nice weather.
The kindergarten is good, except we're having a hard time controlling the boys. We're currently practicing for a little performance this Sunday, hope they kids stay in control. This Friday is Indonesia's Independence day, and the Chinese cell group will be going for a picnic at some beach, but I think I"m gonna stay home with the girls, go watch the school's marching band, picnic and games. This Saturday is also the Youth fun night, so i'm excited. Because I need to apply for a visa to stay for 5 months in Indonesia, I need to leave the country for 1-2 days at the end of the month, so please pray that everything will be alright.
Anyways, thanks for all the love and prayers. I miss you all.
Love, Andrea p.s: sorry for the rushed letter and unchecked English. =)

Andrea - (2007-08-01)

Here is an update from Andrea:

Hi friends,

I just arrived in Berastagi, Indonesia yesterday
midnight. So today I just spent the day buying necessities and fellowshipping
with the people here. Tomorrow I will start teaching English at the
Kindergarten, hopefully everything will be good. The weather here right now is
just like Spring time in California, so its a nice change from the incredibly
humid weather in Singapore. I was in Singapore for about 6 days, and it was nice
catching up with my friends and spending time with the family. Anyways, I will
write more when I actually start to do stuff here. Thanks for the prayers.

Sincerely,
Andrea

Fund Raiser #2

During this second fund raiser, we've attempted some crazy stuff. We made turnip cakes during the week and also sold green bean slush on Sunday.

God is so gracious to us because turnips were 4 pounds for $1 at 99 Ranch Market. At the same time, green beans were $0.50 each!! So the overall cost was fairly low compared to cookies or brownies. Dairy items are just too costly.

We've raised a good $400 that weekend. Of course, it's not from sales but from the generous contributions of brothers and sisters.

So here are the details of our venture:

Turnip Cake (or Radish Cake)
Turnip cake is a traditional Chinese snack which can be enjoyed either steamed or pan fried. You can often find this food at your local dim sum restaurant.

ingredients:

• radish (shredded)
  
• processed rice flour (usually sold in 1pound clear bags with red writing) ~$0.69 per pack
• 1/2 cup dried fried onion flakes
  
• 1 cup ground pork (or Chinese sausages)
• 1 TB spoon dried shrimp (chopped)
• 5 dried mushroom (soaked and chopped)

steps:

1. shred radish using cheese grater and set aside
   
2. mix rice flour with 3-4 cups of water (depending on if you like it firmer or softer) and set aside
   
3. heat up pan and throw in dried shrimp, mushroom and onion flakes. Cook until flavor is mixed, throw in the pork (add soy sauce, sugar, and wine) and cook until meat is extremely well done. Remove and set aside.
4. heat up clean pan and add radish, mix with 2-3 cups of water and simmer for about 5 minutes, add some salt to taste
5. set stove to low heat, pour in rice flour mixture into the radish soup and stir until it begins to harden
6. turn off flames and add meat mixture into pan and mix well
7. pour into pyrex casserole dish lined with wax paper
8. steam for about 45 minutes

Let it cool and can be refrigerated for up to a week. To serve, cut into 1/2" thick blocks and pan fry on both sides until soften.

Dip with soy sauce paste and minced garlic for a perfect aroma.

Green Bean Slush
Green bean and red beans are the two favorite beans for dessert in Chinese cooking. They can be cooked into a soup, used as filling for many type of dumplings and cakes, and they can also be served as a drink or even frozen popsicles.

ingredients:

• green bean
• rock sugar
• milk
• sugar syrup

steps:

1. Wash and soak beans overnight in water
2. Boil beans in pot with water just covering the beans
3. Add rock sugar to sweeten and simmer until beans are soft (about 1-2 hours) and set aside to cool
4. make sugar syrup by boiling water and sugar
5. use a nice blender (Vita-Mix kicks major butt) and put some beans, ice, milk, and sugar syrup - blend until slushy and serve

Even though Vita-Mix is about $350-400 at Costco, I believe it's worth every penny. We were fortunate to borrow two machines to make the slushy. I'm saving money to buy my own blender eventually.

Fund Raiser #1

So we have a cell member, Andrea, who will be going to Indonesia for a missions trip. Originally slated for 1 whole year, it has now been revised to 6 months. In any case, it still requires a substantial amount of financial support in order to survive in a foreign country for 6 months doing ministry.

Being poor college students, we devised a way to fund-raise for Andrea. Every Sunday, we will sell home-made goods to our church members.

So for our first attempt - we made Cheesecake marbled brownies and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We even spent a lot of effort in decoration. I think the total expenditure was about $30. If we sold these baked goods at reasonable prices ($0.75), we would take in about $80-$100. However, since this is a fund-raiser, we upped the prices to $1 for brownies and $2 for 2 cookies. In the end, due to the generosity of many members, we ended up with $290.

For those who can't go on missions, we do all we can to support those who go. We offer time, money, and most importantly, our prayers. Andrea will be leaving at the end of July. We hope she will have time to update her blog so we can know what's going on in Indonesia.

I'll try to post some pictures later.

Evening Picnic

We were supposed to have a picnic but due to the inconvenience of eating Korean BBQ and 東坡肉 with rice, we decided to eat at church instead.

Attendance = 5

Since it's summer break, some people left SoCal to be with their family, others are in the midst of finals. For those that came, we had a wonderful dinner (with lots of leftover) and took a walk around a man-made lake in Irvine. I am not sure what the park is called, but it's by the Woodbridge $1 theater and Ruby's.

After our little so-called 'exercise', everyone came over to our home to hang out. I went over to Stater Bros to get some groceries. BTW, Coke branded 2-liters are $0.69, limited 8. Of course, I grabbed 8 bottles - stock up for cell group.

So we came back and I began making some spinach dip. After doing some research online, I found out that there are two types of dip - cold and hot. Since we had a block of frozen spinach, we ended up making both kinds. here is the quick and easy recipe:

COLD SPINACH DIP

• frozen spinach (squeezed dry)
• leek soup mix
• onion powder
• sour cream
• mayonnaise
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together and chill for 2 hours before serving.

HOT SPINACH DIP

• frozen spinach (squeezed dry)
• leek soup mix
• onion powder
• sour cream
• cream cheese
• pepper jack cheese
• cheddar cheese
  
• milk
  
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together based on your preference of sour cream vs cheese. The milk is to help the consistency of the dip. Lastly, cover the mixture with jack and cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and begin to brown. Serve with crackers.

Yummy.

The Giant Leaf

Davy Liu, a brother from NLCC and a good friend, always has such passion for the Lord and relentlessly uses the creative talents God has given him to reach out to the world. Davy was involved in many animation features such as "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", "The Lion King" and "Mulan" while working at Disney.

He began "The Giant Leaf" project in the early 90's and through many challenges and obstacles, this project finally bore the first fruits. Recently, he published the "Giant Leaf" children's book. Here is the short overview:

An enchanting dream that saves the animal's Kingdom – A young fox named Kendu dreams each night of a giant leaf. While he is dreaming, Kendu fills something that is sorely lacking from his life: freedom. When an opportunity for escape from his oppresors presents itself, Kendu summons up all his courage and ventures out into the blackness of the Wilds despite warnings that a fearsome beast known as the Animal Eater resides there. With his two newfound friends—a rambunctious monkey named Yitzhak, and Odelia, a plucky koala bear—Kendu is determined to find the giant leaf from his dream, and with it, a life full of promise and hope. The Giant Leaf casts new light on a story as old as time.

You can buy The Giant Leaf: Take a Giant Leaf of Faith to support Davy and his cause from Amazon at a decent discount.

Here is the trailer for the book:

Here is an interview with the artist:

For more information, you can go visit www.thegiantleaf.com.

Memorial BBQ 2007/05/27

After church on Sunday afternoon, we had an awesome bbq at James' house. We've made a variety of different type of foods on the barbie. One interesting thing we learned about using a two-layered bbq grill is that some of the items must be placed on the top layer to slow cook otherwise the food will be burnt too quickly. Here is what we had:

• Korean Style BBQ
  short-rib cross-cut with soy sauce, sugar, wine, ginger, scallions, and garlic
  short-rib (thick cut) in sea salt and sesame oil

• Chicken drumsticks marinated for 4 days in soy sauce, sugar, wine, ginger, scallions, and garlic


• Spicy Louisiana Sausages (from Costco) - super spicy, i think we'll go with Johnsonville Brats next time


• Taiwanese Sausages (these grill slowly on the top layer)


• King Oyster Mushrooms in olive oil, sea salt, and pepper - it's a vegetarian version of abalone



• Rib-eye Steak - with Monterey Steak Seasoning (from Costco)

For dessert, we had malted milk shake. I've found out that by adding a bit of instant coffee in the oreo cookie milk shake, it gives it a nice kick. It's definitely a decadent dessert.

Welcome

This is a blog about Passion 1.5, a young adult cell group of the New Life Christian Center (NLCC) in Irvine.

Our vision is to lift up the Joshua generation to become true worshipers of God and bring them into the promise land. We focus on the 4-W's during cell group meeting:

• Welcome
• Worship
• Word
• Work