#csmp2017

Hello all, 

I apologize for not giving y’all an update more recently for CSMP, I have had some health issues that have been popping up throughout CSMP, that have taken time that I would work on for updates, in order to rest instead. Please keep on praying for our team! I will resume updates of things that I have learned/been learning once CSMP is over. 

I probably should have posted something akin to this a while ago, but since June 18th I believe, the Austin team has been fully funded. I kind of wanted to post a personal testimony/praise God moment. So, I was not fully funded until the 18th, and I found out that one of my family members took my support letter to their local church which the congregation is only about 15 people and God provided me the rest of the support that I needed which was around $300 with their help. Not only were they incredibly supportive, but also generous in sending me as a missionary. The crazy thing is, is that I am not super close to this family member, and I have only been to their church one time before, I believe two years ago, and so I was exceptionally surprised looking at my financial form and realizing that God had provided the exact amount, actually slightly over that I needed to participate in this missions trip. I think this story was truly representative of God’s power and willingness to provide for his children. I was really stressed about funding for CSMP, but praise God!

Here Comes Adulting?

Soooo, I have a job? Tutoring in Austin at the Austin Learning Center. Before CSMP started I applied for literally four jobs. I wrestled with should I even apply for jobs, I mean technically I am still waiting on to hear back from Texas Tech, but on the other hand, I want to be faithful with everything God is calling me to do so, I applied and then I got a job!!! YAYYY I won’t be rolling in the dough as much as the two cute bears will be, because I will be applying for grad school (again), but at least I have something of a plan.

Matthew 7:7-11 Ask, and It Will Be Given 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

The Struggle of missions is Real. I think over missions overall I have been having to battle against a lot of self reliance, my own frustrations at myself, and attentiveness in a group environment. Rather than chilling in the kitchen and doing dishes to get away from my other teammates, I need to not always be the first one that jumps up even it’s something as simple as prayer to serving, but just to quietly remind the group through quietly asking, “hey, can anyone help with with x,y or z?” is just as effective if not more effective as “YO! CAN SOMEONE DO THE DISHES?” With the help of a friend, I kind of realized I didn’t do the dishes, because I wanted to serve, but because the environment of missions has been quite overwhelming for me personally. Interacting with people although a genuine joy is quite challenging getting to know the other team members in a group environment, because it’s so loud sometimes. (Mealtimes, UYO etc)

Most of my friends and teammates, if I have not mentioned this before are Asian, so looking at their culture through my own, in my opinion they can be not only very subtle, but also very sensitive through the different avenues in the way that they communicate. It’s interesting that I am still learning something new from my friends, even after in some cases two or three years of knowing them.

PT=Physical Training

Has been a real struggle for me personally. Even though I pushed myself a lot doing low-impact workouts like swimming, social dance, and also weight training technically, before my foot was fully healed, I still haven’t been able to keep up with my teammates. My legs just haven’t been enough for me to get to my previous strength level, so when I do PT I have had to ask a guy to restructure the workouts. His name will be now and forevermore to be known as “The Commander”, because he’s in charge of our PT plans. Every single day of PT has been such a struggle. Everyday, I am always the last one to finish everything, but my teammates have been super encouraging about it. They always shout my name, and clap for me, just trying to encourage and love and support me, which honestly just makes me feel more awkward at times. (insert derp face).

Overwhelmed.. Frustrated… discouraged… ok I’m walking away now…. Try Again Perhaps I have always known this, but every time I am faced with a challenge typically I break it down, or I feel overwhelmed, and then frustrated with myself, then discouraged, and then I walk away in order to cool off a bit, and afterwards I will try again. I have had to wrestle through this cycle a lot on missions, wrestle with a lot of anxiety. Etc.

Differences in People, but the same Body… Many of my friends/teammates are from different countries, are different ethnicities, are from different cultures, speak different languages, have different passions, but together we are one team, with one mission that goes to one city, and is a part of one body, together we serve the greater body of Christ, to glorify him in every aspect, and making disciples of all nations in the name of the Father, the son, and the holy spirit. 1st Corinthians 12:12-31.

Prayer Requests:

-Team Unity: that despite our differences God’s Grace would overarch any differences that would separate us from God’s mission.

-For the Gospel: as we boldly love on the students at CCA, we would boldly share the Gospel with them.

(SHOUT OUT TO JESUS BECAUSE IGNITE WAS LITE) Light it up up up.. Jesus is on fire. https://youtu.be/-Jzqq4B8H2Q

The Access after Ignite there was an open mic session open for the ENTIRE CHURCH and these are brief testimonies of the breakthroughs, meetings, and reminders that God was able to do throughout this time.

People came to know Christ.

I was pleased about what the lord spoke to me. I could relate to jonah... who are we? Do we have a right to be angry? I realized if God could forgive ane and realized i want God to change my heart. I need him ti change my heart to be a light and witness to family.

Rachel- asking God to speak to me. 1. Pursue online ministry. The internet is a great avenue to minister to people. 2. Longterm missions. 3. Adoption and Foster care.

Daphney (Asian Missions Team/Fellow Aftershock) Came in really excited. My heart and my life and my strength. How can i worship you when i feel hopeless. U connected w/ ppl of Nimmemiah Im so sinful even trying so hard. No hope in this world other than christ. God didnt just leave us alone but gave us jesus, bought us at a price. He gave me faith that is not my own.

Edwin- blessed by ignite. Men nowadays are rejecting their identity as fathers. Freshman mission trip. Being a father to the orphan less. Rebuked and challenged. Me being a son to show others He is loving father.

Reagan God reminded me a lot of things.

Me Just graduated from college, I don’t have everything all together. I was planning on going to go to graduate school and still am, but I am on the waiting list for grad school still until the end of summer. Before I left for CSMP I really wrestled with applying for jobs, but I sent in a couple job applications in anyways, because I realized that just applyign for jobs

Repenting isn’t bad… it just hurts.

PTouf challenged us when we first got back to missions what are some things that we have been putting our hope into…

If I am completely honest with myself, it’s been my future. He gave some examples of people’s idols such as friendship, security, intelligence etc, that people give their lives for and instead we should be giving out lives for Jesus, because he is already working and moving.

I think over this past semester/year I have been learning a lot about Grace. I put a lot of my self worth and value in my abilities to do certain things and in the future. I feel very frustrated when I can’t do something, or I try very hard, so still the overarching concept of Grace. I realize that in my life there will things that happen that I can’t do anything about. Anything from breaking my foot, wisdom teeth removal, sickness, that it’s not only ok to ask people for help, but also I should ask for help from others, and also delegate tasks.

 PTouf’s Uncle's Ranch

You know that feeling of laughing so hard that your sides hurt? Your abs burn and you absolutely can’t breathe except to take in a short burst of air just to laugh it all out? It’s a terribly horrible and yet wonderful feeling all at the same time.. You should try it sometime. Seriously, you won’t regret it. All it requires is a group full of wonderful friends, a dash of boldness and a willingness to be made the but end of a joke… multiple times.

Coming into CSMP, I didn’t expect there to be so much laughter and genuine joy throughout this process of missions. There are times where it has been hard (being rebuked by PTouf multiple times, repenting before missions), but this is a passage about joy and laughter.

At PTouf’s Uncle’s and Aunt’s farm we did anything from going around the trails and looking at the farm animals, four wheeling, butchered a hog, and of course ate wonderful delicious food and played games. I realized that doing all of these things was like a cultural immersion, not for myself, but for my teammates which not only allowed them to experience a greater love for his people, but also the world and all of his creation.

My team explored the farm by walking around and also were driven around in trucks. The farm had water buffalo, cows, chickens, ducks, pigeons, goats, a turkey, and kittens.

 Crispy was a Hog, an unassuming hog that was living his normal life, until we decided to eat him

Crispy was Delicious… mmmm Crispy

Before we got to PTouf’s ranch he asked us if we wanted to slaughter and eat a hog once we got to oklahoma. Some of us were hesitant about this, to say the least, but nevertheless our teammates complied, and those that did not want to see him die, but others were totally cool with going forward with this plan.

Killing and slaughtering the hog for I and my teammates was definitely a cool experience. I won’t go into too much detail, just for the sake of you all, but once it was dead we took boiling hot water and skinned off the hair, and then it started to rain, so we all went inside to wait for it to stop raining. We named him Crispy...mmmhhh crispy made for some delicious BBQ. As a whole we had been incredibly blessed by P.Touf’s family for serving us delicious food. Everything and I mean everything was fresh, because they had their own garden for food and raised their own animals.

 Not your Good Ol’ Fashioned Hot Chili Peppers, but a Hilarious story

Another hilariously funny story, so we were eating mustard greens which P.Touf’s Aunt was cooking for us, and there were these chili peppers from Laos that were incredibly spicy. I unexpectedly took a bite of one of them, and my mouth was just in pain, but I swallowed it anyways and said “Those were NOT JALAPENOS.” Everyone on my team just started rolling in laughter, and Ptouf made fun of my facial expressions. He’s such an amazing Pastor, but he’s such a troll.

Then afterwards Eric Lee decided to play a game called what are the odds. The way you play is you ask a person what are the odds of doing x; lets say eat the rest of the broccoli, the initiator of the game calls another person’s name, ask them the question, and they say a number, for example 20, and then they will say the number at the same time of eating the broccoli out of 20, 2 is definitely, and 20 is not at all. That’s how I think you play it anyways, so Eric challenged every… single… person, until…… he lost, and then he had to drink milk and water to decrease the spice level. However, we were at the end of our meal and we were stuffed from the food we cooked from BBQing Crispy, so Eric had to suffer through a full stomach without also . PTouf’s Aunt was so mad at him for letting us do all of these stupid things.

Another thing we did at the farm in Oklahoma was ride four wheelers. My teammates had never even done anything remotely similar to this, with the exception of Luis, so they were hesitant to drive them. So, I just hopped on the four wheeler once Luis started it, and rode away. “High ho Sailor… AWAYYYYY!”