It's All Greek to Me!

Tuesday, September 11th was my first day of classes. Here's what it looked like:

• 7:30AM - Woke up. Got ready for day. Skipped devotions.
• 9:00AM - Left for school.
• 9:15AM - Arrived at school. Sat in the wrong class.
• 9:30AM - Realized my mistake and ran to the right class.
• 9:30-11:00AM - Class: "Perspectives on Biblical Languages"
• 11:00AM-12:00PM - Chapel
• 12:00-1:30PM - Community Groups (and lunch)
• 1:30-3:00PM - Class: "Christian Thought & Culture I"
• 3:00-4:00PM - TRIED to figure out Greek homework (with no success)
• 4:00-5:00PM - Section: "Christian Thought & Culture I"
• 5:15PM - Left school. Bought groceries.
• 6:45PM - Got home. Dropped groceries on the floor. Cimbed into shower.
• 7:45PM - Fell into bed.
• 11:45PM -- Woke up. Put away groceries. Cried. Cried and prayed. Cried and prayed. Prayed.

As an event planner in LA, it was not uncommon for me to work up to 14 hours in a day. So, I felt absolutely discouraged when I was so mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted after my first day of classes. During my late-night praying, I cried out "God, what am I doing here? What are you trying to teach me? If it's in Your will, please let me go back to LA." I was homesick. I was missing my friends, my brother and my mom. And why couldn't I figure out my Greek homework? I had a major breakdown.

I finally fell back asleep at 4:00AM after unsuccessfully tackling my Greek homework again.

BUT, the Lord is gracious. When I arrived at school the next morning (Wednesday), I realized that my classmates were just as confused as I was about Greek. We struggled together in the afternoon and were partially successful.

It is now Saturday. My lessons from the first day of classes are (1) don't skip my quiet time with God, (2) God is gracious and (3) the saying "It's all Greek to me" probably started with theology students.

Orientation Highlights

I attended New Student Orientations at Regent College last week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Since I missed orientations at UCLA years ago, I was really excited about this. Here are some of the highlights from my perspective:

OPENING PRAYER. The opening prayer consisted of a petition for God to help us adjust to a new life in Vancouver and for solace as we grieve the people/things we left behind. The part that brought me to tears was "God is comfortable with grief."

FLAG PROCESSIONAL. Since Regent is such an international school, they had a processional of various countries' flags. When the flag for the United States of America was brought in, I was moved to tears... I'm very patriotic!

HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. This introduction of Regent's history was done by the president of the school. It was very interesting. It was comforting to know that the school's beginnings were not easy. Because of that, community is a core value of the school. If anyone is interested in knowing why the school is called Regent College, please be sure to ask me. I love the simplicity of the story, but will leave it out of the blog for fear that I may not be totally accurate in my retelling. To read the less humorous version of the school's history, please click here.

NEW PEOPLE. I met some pretty cool people so far. Since I'm not tremendously extroverted, I'm very glad people have taken the initiative to talk with me. I met a guy with whom we have a mutual friend. I met a girl with my same name. I met several people from LA. I met a couple who reminds me so much of Jason and Debbie. I hope to make and develop more friendships. Please pray that God will help me to find people with whom I can share openly and be accountable.

WELCOME TO CANADA. A professor shared about the history of Canada and what makes it special as a country. It was a very humorous and interesting talk. I realize, that as an American, I know very little about our northern neighbor. It seems that they know a lot more about us than we know about them. They actually have a year of American history in high school, but our history books cover very little about Canada. But then again, they never had to fight for their independence... but was "released" by the British because they became too financially high maintenance. Haha.

Well, classes start this week. If I have time and energy, I'll blog about classes later on. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement.

Contact Information

I would rather not post my contact information online, but If you want my new mailing address here in Vancouver, please email me or leave me a comment with your name and email address. I will send it to you.

My cell phone number has remained the same.

Shopping in Vancouver

I was just reminded by Dorcas that I forgot to post that I'm in Vancouver now. I flew here on Tuesday with my mom and 4 huge boxes. The boxes are still here, but my mom is now back in sunny California.

Everyday, so far, has been spent shopping for furniture and daily essentials. As I maneuver through numerous aisles at Home Depot, Ikea, Linens 'n Things, Superstore, The Future Shop and London Drugs, I am again reminded how much I dislike shopping... especially "forced" shopping. The only place I've truly enjoyed visiting is Costco, which is also true back in LA where I love wandering through the aisles buying absolutely nothing or more than I need. (Those little ladies who hand out free samples can be rather pursuasive sometimes.) So far, I've resisting getting a Costco hot dog, which are CDN$1.99 here and not USD$1.50, by the way.

Speaking of inflated prices, almost everything is significantly more expensive here in Canada, especially in British Columbia where the general and provincial sales taxes total 13%. With the Canadian dollar almost at par with the US dollar, the prices are ridiculous. A desk I wanted at Ikea is CDN$249 here, but only USD$149 in the States. It's crazy. However, I'm blessed with friends like Danette and Richard who are willing to lug some Ikea furniture up to me from Seattle.

As I continue to make Vancouver my home for the next 2-3 years, I will have to do much more shopping. Please pray for my sanity, but also please praise God that I even have the means to shop.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6)

I was Humbled in Hawaii

Before going on the cruise of the Hawaiian islands, many people asked me if I was excited about the "family reunion." I promptly answered, "No. Not at all." This was for 3 reasons: (1) I've been to Hawaii a number of times before and it just did not interest me anymore, (2) I don't usually enjoy tropical places and (3) I didn't know most of the extended family who were going.

My prediction of having a lousy time seemed to come true when I initially met up with my cousins, my cousins' cousins and my cousins' cousins' cousins. Upon greeting them with a smile and hearty "hello," I received apparently blank stares in return. Inside, I groaned to myself, "Oh great. This is going to be a very, very long week," fully expecting to finish reading the Harry Potter book within a day or two.

And when Hurricane Flossie hit Hawaii and we had to skip the port at Hilo, I felt with even more certainty that this trip would be terrible, especially because I'm prone to motion sickness.

But God had better plans for me.

Little things started happening to change my attitude and my perspective. I didn't get seasick at all. The aunts and uncles were all so kind and friendly. On the day we were stuck on ship, I shared a lunch of bad service, mediocre food and great company with the cousins. Little by little, I got to know the different cousins and saw how each of them is special in his/her own way. I enjoyed their quick humor and laughs.

The best part of the trip was going kayaking with the 14 other cousins in Kauai. We "ditched" the parents and grandparents for a kayaking and hiking trip up and down the Wailua River. I was so impressed by everyone. Even though some of them encountered difficulty in maintaining control of their kayaks, they persevered and eventually became pros. Everyone seemed to watch out for someone else so that everyone pretty much stayed together. Despite sore muscles, blisters and sunburn for most people, we all agreed that it was the best day of the trip.

By the end of the cruise, I was sad that it was over. I wished that I could stay longer in Hawaii with the rest of the family.

I'm so glad I was wrong. I built new friendships within my extended family.... which is an awesome thing because so many of them live in Canada where I will be moving to next week. God, thank you for being bigger than my plans. Thank you for humbling me. Thank you for a great time in Hawaii.

And I didn't even get halfway through with the Harry Potter book by the end of the trip.

"He must become greater, I must become less." (Matthew 7:17)

Soul2Soul Concert

On Saturday, August 11th, I had the privilege of attending the last leg of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul2Soul Concert at the Honda Center with 3 fellow country gals.

The night started out with a great seafood dinner at Market Broiler, one of my favorite not-too-expensive seafood restaurants. The server was not exactly on top of things, but as Hui put it, "He's nice to look at." The food was good, but we were all stuffed without even finishing our entrees. And since we were going to the concert afterwards, we couldn't pack up our leftovers.

Getting into the arena was a lengthy process. There was traffic on the exit ramp off the 57 freeway. Parking was rather chaotic and expensive. And we all got checked with metal detectors at the entrance. Even though outside beverages were not allowed, I snuck in my water bottle because I was too cheap to buy a $3.00 bottle of water. I was very sneaky about hiding it under my denim jacket. (Bad girl!)

Anyway, about the concert... I LOVED IT!!!! Faith Hill is great with the audience, but her songs are too mainstream for me. Tim McGraw is not as good with the audience, but his songs are much better. However, if you ask the ladies with whom I went, they will disagree with me. They all enjoyed Faith more than Tim. I guess I like Tim more because his songs are more "country" with a stronger southern drawl. My favorite song was "Last Dollar" when some little kids went up to sing the last part with him. So cute! But, I was disappointed when he used the word "bullsh-t" on stage, especially when there were so many children in the audience.

Even though we all loved the concert, we left before the it was fully over. We left shortly after midnight, but from what I understand the concert went on until about 1:00AM. Since we were so close to the stage, we didn't even stand up like most of the audience. So, why were we so tired? It is yet another reminder of my age. =) Haha.

Random sidenote: I don't like that many concert-goers tend to glorify the performers. It's sad... and wrong.

"And God spoke these words: ... 'You shall have no other gods before me.'" (Exodus 20:1,3)

Vacation Bible School 2007

The first time I taught VBS, I was 14-years-old. I'd rather not mention my current age, but I'm significantly older now. This becomes more and more obvious each year. This year, I knew I was old (1) when I had a very tough time singing AND doing the hand motions at the same time, and (2) when the other teachers looked to me for advice.

Like in past years, I taught the Bible stories to the youngest children (kindergarten to 2nd grade) on August 6-10, 2007. This system requires me to teach the same Bible story three times each day. After only 3 hours of VBS each day, I was truly exhausted. Again, this showed my age. =(

Each year, teaching VBS tires me out. But, I still continue. The reason is because of the kids. It's amazing to watch them comprehend Bible stories and theological concepts. When that little light in their heads flicker on, it's actually possible to see it through their expressions. This is something you rarely see in adult students who have a tendency to appear bored. Also, it's such a joy to Iisten to the kids memorize Scripture... if only I could memorize Scripture with the same enthusiasm.

The youth are great at being teachers and helpers at VBS every year, but it is my hope that more of the older adults will join in. It's physically tiring, but it's a way to really affect the spiritual lives of children in our community. Many of these children are from non-believing families and they may actually be the ones to minister to the older generations in their families. So, if it's possible for you to take mornings off of work for one week during the summer, I believe you will find it very rewarding to teach VBS... and try to see if you can sing and do hand motions at the same time!

Lesson 1 was Trust: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him." Jeremiah 17:7

The other lessons were Unite, Train, Follow and Lead.