Weekend in Algarrobo

Hello my dear gringos. I really do miss you in the USA. I love hearing about Lighthouse's happenings and seeing pictures of you guys. And I love my family (Shoutout to P.P. up in here! Whooooo! Heyyyy boyyyy!)

I spent the weekend on a retreat with the EAP gringos in a beach town outside of Santiago called Algarrobo. Because it's winter, all the beach houses were closed and the town as a whole was very relaxed and quiet. There were families playing on the beach for a weekend trip while us gringos took over the town...quite literally. We took over the beach, the hotel, the little stores on the streets-- everything.

Here is me and Christy seesawing in front of our hotel. It sported my favorite colors-- blue and orange! Yay represent!

We went for a walk around the beach and saw this pier.

Lonely fisherman around sunset.

This was where the pier went down to get on the boat. Not knowing how to swim, it was a bit scary to be so close to the water, but nice photo nonetheless!

Grace, me, Andrew, and Christy.

This is a revival of this old foto:
Hehe. Only the difference is WuWu and S.Lim aren't with me, it's in winter time so I'm wearing my obnoxious orange parka, and it's in Chile. But hello anyway!

I had to take a picture of this sign so I could remember how to spell the name of this town.

Clams or something stuck to a rock.

Lots and lots of rocks that I had to cross over walking through the beach. Looks practically like La Jolla, no?

So what is that behind me? At the end of the beach this is where we arrived. First of all, it's a hotel resort. Secondly, it's the largest pool in the world! When I say large...I estimate it's about a mile across and half a mile long. I wish I could get a video of it. I wanted to explore it more but the other gringos who took over town yesterday snuck in, swam in their underwear, and caused a security guard who didn't do his job to get in trouble and also caused a stir with the diners in the restaurants nearby. Thus, the gringos of today got shortchanged. : ( But thank the nice security man today to even let us in to take fotos.

I walked in the backyard of one of these closed, boarded up resort houses and saw this little altar to Virgen Maria in their backyard. It was a pretty little shrine that faced the ocean.

Side note: There's this weird cereal I bought at the supermarket. I think it's whole wheat but it's filled with manjar, which is dulce de leche. It's pretty nasty but I needed something to snack on during the day because dinner is so late. I'm not digging it too much though, but I guess I'll suck it up.

And these zipper top plastic bags were so hard to find! I asked the workers at the supermarket where I could find them and they didn't know! I had to find them myself, tucked away in an obscure corner of the plastic goods aisle. I guess Ziploc hasn't made an impact here yet...

Coming up next: Later, I will document my experience eating Chilean Chinese food. So far, it has not been too great...

P.S. Praise God again because He always provides! I got a $500 scholarship this year for outstanding academic performance and (not outstanding) financial need. Haha, P.P. (Inside joke with my bro-bro.)

Hello from my home!

HOLA A TODOS! I have a Chilean mommy now! Well, more like a granny. Her name is Elizabeth, she's retired, and she lives on the 19th floor of an apartment building in downtown Santiago. No hubby, no kids, just another Chilean student. The Chilean student is moving out next month, so I don't know if I'll get to know her very well.

My day: Today granny took me downstairs to where there is a fruit stand and I met a lot of the people in the apartment building. I met the grocer, Martin who is of Mapuche descent, which are the indigenous people of Chile. I also met Pili, a thirty-something with an English spaniel who took a quick liking to me (the dog). She (the person) invited me over sometime! I didn't quite know how to respond, not that I didn't want to but I didn't know if she really really wanted me over. I also need to remember that shaking hands is such an American gesture. I was gonna shake someone's hand but she leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek instead. Think Argentina! Granny took me walking around the neighborhood to the photographer, the key maker, and to the market. I'm not quite sure people are thinking when they see me-- whether they think I'm from China because I'm Asian or whether I'm American because of my clothes. No worries though-- it's a question that sociologists are still trying to answer. : )

Language: For some reason, I can understand most of what my granny says (85%), but with others it's so much harder...like 15%. But at least a lot of people (yes, even Chileans) say that I speak well. I got to speak Chinese when I went to the Chinese-y area of town yesterday! It's good to know that my Mandarin will not rot while I am here. Granny also told me of the Korean area here. Yay my Korean will not deteriorate either! Whew! OK, enough talking, let's go straight to the fotos! (Oh, and I will try to make it a point not to throw in too many random Spanish words because I know some people can't understand and it can make reading it a pain.)

My first foto of Chile after leaving the airport. Looks just like Tucuman, Argentina! Thus, it did not surprise me much.

We ate at a restaurant called The Fat Cows. Fat indeed! These were my UCSD travel buddies, Christy and Grace.

Lookit that fat kabob! It bled. Slowly. I ate it. All.

The view from my $64/night hostel. The buildings are oddly beautiful but oddly disgusting and dirty at the same time. Awww...just like Argentina.

Another view. Hopefully the dirtiness is visible.

I'm ballin' up inhere. Yes, that is a $20,000 bill you see! Puff Daddy, it is not about the Benjamins! It's all about the Chilean pesos! Just kidding. the $20,000 bill=USD $40. It's so hard to convert all the prices. I guess it helps me brush up on my math.

And I just moved in to my homestay. As I said, I live on the 19th floor, so this is the view from my room.

Awww Chilean smog! Just like Tucuman! Black boogers and everything...On a clear day, you can see the snow-capped Andes mountains. Beautiful. Today is not a very clear day.

More view.

View at night.

Quite a drop, if you ask me.

This is my room, before I put everything away. Moon, can you find your "hat" in this picture? Hehehe... Hey! Look! What's that orange framed thing on my nightstand?

None other than sticky pics of GMW on our last day together... Sniff Sniff.

Hello from Santiago!

Hello friends! I am in Santiago. It is 0 degrees Celsius. AMAAAAZING. You guys in the US suffering from 90 degree Fahrenheit weather--are you jelly? ; )

I found the Chinatown around here and made a new Chinese friend! Mr. Zhou is his name and he's from Shanghai. I think I will try to frequent the Chinatown a lot to get to know the Chinese people living here.

I will meet my homestay family tomorrow. Today was just a day of wandering around the city with Andrew, Grace (yes, another one), and Christy. See you guys later!

GMW - G = MW

When I left San Diego on June 17, it was the last time that GMW would be together for 2008. At the airport, as Grace & Wury were dropped me off, Grace got out of the car and demanded, "Wo yao baobao." (I want a hug.) Usually, I'd high five or do something of the like but remembering that I didn't give her a hug to send her off to Argentina last year and also knowing that I wouldn't see her until January 2009, I muttered, "Gei ni baobao," (I will give you a hug.) and hugged her.

It was weird.

The day before, Wury and I rushed back from Resolved, missing out on what sounded like an epic CJ Mahaney sermon and another sermon from John Piper, so that we could spend our last moments with Grace. I made jjajangmyung which we ended up eating with one of our subletters and one of Cesar's coworkers ('cause she needed a place to stay). Not exactly the cozy GMW meal that I had in mind but it didn't bother me too much.

Then we to take those sticky pictures at WOW! pictures. Wury kept on saying that it would be like an exam, to see if I understood what the machine was saying. I couldn't read any of the characters on the screen and it was too noisy to hear what the machine was saying to us. ;o; All I could read was, "Be careful for the curtain!" We didn't know what it meant until a curtain came flying out of the machine a few times. Then it took pictures kind of by random so we didn't have time to pose for them. Still, it was a lot of spontaneous fun. :) Then we decorated the pictures for what seemed like 20 minutes.

It was Berries & Beans next. We sat there, talking and eating. We didn't talk about anything deep or super important. I think that if anything, we were relishing the normalcy of the time that we were spending together. There didn't seem to be a rush to talk about last minute "What are you scared about?" kind of things. It was really relaxed and slow paced.

Then we headed to Wury's and sat in the jacuzzi for a little bit. Then we really started talking. Then we got kicked out by security. D:

Wury came to our place and slept over. I was busy packing so Grace & Wury fell asleep. I was crazy tired from Resolved and from driving. The day had worn me down a bit too. I wish I could say that I looked at Grace & Wury asleep in the living room and prayed or treasured that moment but to be honest, I knocked out. Hahahaha.

It really is weird. I'm so used to seeing these two girls all the time. And to be honest, when I see them, it gives me a lot of relief. Kind of like when you see a familiar face in the crowd, you know? These two ladies have provided so much friendship, love, and care for me and to know that I won't have that during the summer and my time in Japan, Lord willing, is really weird. It helps to think, though, that I have all eternity to spend in perfect fellowship with these ladies. ;)

I don't want this post to sound like a farewell post but at the same time, the reality of the situation's finally starting to sink its teeth into me. Grace is leaving in less than twelve hours. Wury's leaving in a month. Then I'll peace out three weeks after her.

It's going to be difficult. I know that it will be difficult. There's no one that I really know who's going to Japan but for Grace and Wury, they REALLY don't know anyone going with them to their respective countries. They'll be in their countries longer than I will be. Loneliness is a big struggle abroad, I hear, and I know that I'll probably be hit with it-- and I'm praying that Grace and Wury won't.

Now I am at that awkward place where I don't know how to end this entry so I will end it right here. But please pray for us. I think that the reality of studying abroad, of it actually happening now, is making me consider things that I didn't really hit me before. We need prayer desperately!

Adios.

There are only 15 more hours before I leave. I can't help but think to myself at times, "What are you getting yourself into?" I have longings to just stay. Half a year is a long bit of time. I can just stay at home for the summer, eat mom's food, enjoy the summer, take some time off from school, not worry about money, and just take it easy until school starts in September.

But then I tell myself that life isn't about what's comfortable, even if comfort is what I long for now.

Here are my prayer requests:
1. That I will get involved right away at the church in Chile, Luz al Mundo. That I will submit to the leadership there and be willing to be shepherded by them for the time I'm there without comparing it to Lighthouse.
2. That I will not make excuses to not seek first the kingdom of God, such as I'm too busy, too tired, or using this "special time in my life" to take a break from God.
3. I will get homesick. I will cry-- but that I will find solace in my fellowship with God and that my relationship with God would deepen from this.
4. That I will be a good steward and manager of my money, especially since financial aid is not here yet.
5. I will see this more than a study abroad trip, but rather an opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission. That I would be in missions mode to share the Gospel all the time, even if Pastor Patrick isn't here leading the team ; )
6. Good steward of my time and how I spend it, such as being diligent in my studies because I'm there on a STUDENT visa, not a LAZY visa. (Am I funny? : ] )
7. And of course-- travel safety, especially in traveling around Latin America.

Skype me!

My username: grace.mao.wu

I finally figured it out. It's just like AIM, but a lot better sound quality. You can chat on here too. This is spectacular, y'all. I can't wait to talk to you guys (whoever you are that wants to hear my voice)!

Oh, and I tried to extend my airline ticket in Chile today but I can't! Unless I want to pay an extra $1,000...I don't. :( So I am going to try to take a super quick trip to Puntas Arenas (southern tip of Chile near Antarctica) after school ends. Sigh. If I don't get to go, I don't know when I'll be able to again. Maybe for my honeymoon in the very distant future?

Anyway, tres dias mas...

Packing.

It is very hard to pack for 6 months. Even after Wury helped me whittle down my clothes (I had originally planned on bringing my entire wardrobe) I still had to whittle down more. Now I am only bringing one coat, three pairs of shoes that I might just throw away there, one sweater...OK I could go on naming everything but basically my living room looks like a mess and I can't bring all the stuff I like.

Here's a simple math equation to sum up my quandary:
Being a pack rat + having too many clothes= a very big headache. Multiply that by a sweltering hot San Gabriel Valley, so the heat makes the packing environment less than desirable so I have to stay up until 3:30 a.m. waiting for the middle-of-the-night coolness to get working. Even bigger headache on top of weird sleep schedule. Don't even ask me what time I woke up today, I'm too ashamed to tell you.

4 more days till Chile!

Look what I found!

A website that is called:Pray for Denmark!

Cool huh!? This man named Bill recently made a post about the church that I will be attending in Copenhagen!

"Wednesday, April 23, 2008

First International Baptist Church, Copenhagen

Copenhagen’s First International Baptist Church is led by Pastor N. Erik Nielsen, a Dane born in Indonesia who received his training for the ministry primarily in the United States. The church was a relatively young church plant that has now been firmly established as a self-governing congregation. Previously, the host church (historic Kristuskirken, Denmark’s first Baptist congregation) had held English services but had not organized a separate congregation. The two churches continue to share the same facilities. Members and regular attenders of FIBC come from all over Metropolitan Copenhagen and outlying areas. Since last year, there are even families from Sweden in regular attendance at the Sunday services.

On any given Sunday, the FIBC congregation averages around 130, including children. When I attended services two years ago, I found the congregation to be truly international and the fellowship between people from many different countries warm and inviting. The pastor and his family (wife Kim and five handsome boys) are obviously greatly appreciated and Pastor Nielsen’s ministry of the Word is having a salutary effect on many lives. There is an evangelistic emphasis to the ministry and there have been several (nine in recent times) who have taken the first step of obedience in the Christian life through believers' baptism. Capable laypersons assist in various aspects of the ministry. Great emphasis is placed on small mid-week group meetings held in various parts of Copenhagen

Besides his preaching and teaching ministry, Pastor Nielsen is a well-trained musician and pianist. On the occasion of attendance at the services, I noted that he had a large responsibility for the music, making it difficult to care efficiently for other aspects of the service. He told me then that he really needed someone to assist with the music and I have prayed regularly that the Lord would fulfill that need. In the summer that same year, the Lord answered our prayers when a college student intern assisted with the worship and music. More recently a person employed by the United Nations has become the church’s worship coordinator, often leading the worship services. That freed the pastor to start a choir ministry for Christmas and Easter cantatas that ever since has become an outreach event drawing a number of people to attend the church regularly. This year again there the Christmas and Easter services were very well-attended.

As in any international church, there are challenges. Many members and regular attenders are only temporarily employed in Denmark. It is not always easy to find replacements for key leaders when they complete their employment in Denmark and must move on to other countries and assignments.

The host church, the Danish-language Kristuskirken, continues its ministry under the leadership of Pastor Ove Vang Jensen who was called out of retirement to serve while the church is without a pastor. There is a shortage of possible pastoral candidates among the Free churches in general and the Baptist churches in particular so the interim has extended beyond the church’s expectations. In addition to the Danish and English-speaking congregations, Kristuskirken is also host to Spanish-speaking services conducted by Digna Fernandez, and Roumanian services conducted by Julia Bajna.

Webpages: www.kristuskirken.dk/ and www.fibc.dk/. Kristuskirken is located at Baggesensgade, 2200 Copenhagan N.

PRAY for the spiritual health and growth of Kristuskirken and for encouragement through interim Pastor Ove Vang Jensen’s faithful ministry. Pastor Jensen is a former pastor of the church.

PRAY that the Lord will speedily raise up a Danish-speaking pastoral candidate for Kristuskirken to succeed interim Pastor Jensen who was called out of retirement to take up leadership of this important church of the Danish Baptist Union. The interim has now extended to 18 months and the need is most urgent for the calling of a new pastor. Our prayer support is crucial and much appreciated.

PRAISE God for the fruitful outreach events that have come about under Pastor N. Erik Nielsen’s ministry with Copenhagen’s First International Baptist Church and especially for the believers baptisms in recent months.

PRAY, as key leaders and volunteers at FIBC must leave Denmark for other places and assignments, that God will raise up replacements who possess needed spiritual gifting for the health and growth of the church body..

PRAY that FIBC and Kristuskirken’s Danish, Spanish and Roumanian ministries will flourish with renewed emphasis on evangelism and revival.

PRAY for a number of Free churches and Baptist churches in Denmark that are currently without pastors. The available pool of candidates is extremely limited and the need is critical. "

- posted by Bill @ 4:25 PM (0) comments

Cool...

"This website is the product of the vision of two American evangelical Christians of Danish ancestry. Bill Hunter is a retired pastor, missionary, and an emeritus professor from Biola University in La Mirada, California, and Brad Haugaard is a writer employed in the computer industry."

WHOA, I found more churches! One connected to the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa!

Calvary Chapel in Denmark here I come! I'm so bookmarking this to my Favorites.

In recent years, several Calvary Chapel Bible studies have been started in Denmark. Although there is no official Calvary Chapel church in Denmark yet, we now see the Bible taught chapter by chapter and verse by verse. Please email us (see ”Contact) to hear more about these Bible study ministries.

I love seeing that!!!! YEAH EXPOSITING! :D How exciting! There's also going to be this Summer Conference 2008 July 30 - August 3rd. Haha, but that is more monies. They are going to go over the Book of Daniel! Hmmm...maybe I should commute to this church...it's about 25.4 miles away according to google maps.

I should be writing my paper right now before I go over to Grace's and Moon's for one of our last get-togethers! :(

Romans 1:16-17 in Danish

¹⁶ Jeg skammer mig nemlig ikke ved evangeliet, som åbenbarer Guds kraft til frelse; det er først forkyndt for jøderne, men nu indbydes alle til at komme med. ¹⁷ Evangeliet, de gode nyheder, gør det klart for os, hvordan Gud har gjort alt, for at vi som mennesker kan leve i et ret forhold til ham. Denne »retfærdighed« fra Gud får vi alene del i gennem tro på Kristus. Skriften siger det sådan: »Den retfærdige skal leve af tro.

Danish & Japanese goodies

Things I'm looking forward to when Moon and WuWu come back:
1. Japan--a plethora of Engrish goodies to keep me humored and started on our Engrish collection. For those who don't know what Engrish is, here is an example:

2. Denmark-- the fotos that WuWu will take of Danish architecture and scenery. It'll be like a travel book :)

Countdown: 16 days.

準備をしなくちゃ。。。

And there's the word of the day!

準備 (じゅんび, junbi)
Definition: Preparation
Example sentence: 準備をしなくちゃ。。。 (Junbi wo shina ku cha...)
Translation: I need to prepare. (Lit., "If I don't prepare...")
(Note: "cha" is a contraction. I would never use it in conversation 'cause it wouldn't sound natural, thus making me sound like a poser & a wanna be. I'll werk my textbook knowledge Japanese first, thx.)

******

My Japanese got so rusty last summer. I desperately tried to relearn my kanji but alas, I had even forgotten basic things from 10A. :( It's still that way. Hahaha. I bet that out of all the kanji that I've learned, I only remember 1/3 of it. Which is a shame. I hope that I know how to read at least 200 characters... somehow, I doubt it. @_@;;

Anyway, to keep Japanese fresh on my mind, I'm planning on reading manga in Japanese this summer. I bought two volumes and I'm slowly getting through the first one. I have post-its on each page where I define a word or a character that I'm unfamiliar with. The great thing is that I've heard these words in anime and in songs so it makes learning the words so much easier. :)

I also plan on watching J-dramas if I get the chance. ... Without subtitles. I'm trying to slowly ween myself off of subtitles for anime but it gets kind of difficult 'cause depending on the genre, there's a whole different set of jargon to learn (e.g., Vampire Knight, I have to know a bunch of random words pertainin to vampires and blood and stuff but I do not. D:)

All in all, the biggest thing that I want from studying abroad in Japan is improving my Japanese! I try to speak to my lecturer in Japanese in all circumstances but when I find myself, I just start to blurt it out in English. Haha. Sadness. I need to start reading the Bible in Japanese too. The Japanese Bible's online too! Haha. I was planning on reading my QT passage in English then in Japanese but I always forget to read it in Japanese so... >_>;;

Btw, I sent my paperwork in this week. Hopefully, the certificate of eligibility will come in soon so that I can get my student visa. It would be super stressful if it came in a week before my time of departure... @_@;

That is all. Bye.

God Provides.

Matthew 6:25-34:
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

In my previous post I had expressed worry and concern for how I was going to finance half the trip on my own. After a week of recovering from the disappointment, I just accepted it; all my savings were going to be depleted. I already saw God working in this situation, such as Eugene advising that I don't go to Tucuman with Lighthouse (saving me ~$400) and the fact that I already had been saving up money since last year from working at Geisel.

God showed me His clear provision today. It was undeniably from Him, not just an incidental circumstance. I was handed a note. It was a thick note, I knew something was in it but I didn't know what. Instructions said to open slowly and in private. After taking a shower, I realized that I had left the note in my back pocket. So while still dripping wet from the shower, I unfolded the note. In the note was a folded stack of bills of...a lot of money. Without even counting how much money there was, I gasped, finding out that a woman named Mrs. C., who has never even met me before, heard about my situation and felt compelled to help me out.

All I could do was laugh in disbelief. How? Why? God? Huh?

• How--because God provides!
  
• Why--because He knows my needs, even something as earthly as money. Because He loves me and wants me to see His love in this tangible, real-life way. Because He is glorified in this.
  
• God--IS GOOD. Even if He didn't give me the kind gift from Mrs. C., He is still good.
  
• Huh--yeah, I'm in shock too.

If I ever say I'm worried about anything again, rebuke me and please remind me of this episode. May I never think that my issues are too big for God to take care of.