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