Hartie Chang:

Wow.  That was a pretty AWESOME camping/hiking trip!  Steve Kim, Mike Fu, and I got to go out to Yosemite to let Mike Fu enjoy another glimpse of Yosemite before he heads off to Taiwan for a year starting next week.  Our trip included some night hiking on Sentinel Dome the first day, and then heading over to Tuolumne Meadows the following day for another high adventure hike to the Waterwheel Falls.

That second hike was pretty ridiculous.  We must have hiked 20 miles total, 4 or 5 of which was because we went the wrong way, but nonetheless, it was some real deal hiking… we were all dead tired at the end!  The best part was seeing the waterfalls at the end of the trail.  But on the way back, the weather made a turn for the worst, and with the temperature dropping down the to the 60s and with high winds and rain, we almost felt like we weren’t going to make it back.  But we made it, alive and well!  That was the most memorable hiking trip ever!

Thanks Steve for taking us out to Yosemite!  It can be described by nothing other than: AWESOME!

(Check out the pictures here.)

Hey guys, we had an action-packed few days this past weekend. To end the Friday evening, our group began our 30 Hour Famine at the strike of 12am. The Following day we headed off to the San Francisco Food Bank where we helped package over 2,200 pounds of rice for the needy! We all felt so blessed to help out in such a concrete way, and we look forward to more service opportunities in the future. We also even got to see our fellow SF campus groups help out as well! We ended the afternoon by going to the UCSF campus to reflect on God’s word. Check out the rest of the photos here!

Sunday morning, we broke our fast together at Ellen’s place over jook and yogurt. We also help our home worship here. How do you guys like the new location? More pictures can be found here!

Please post your thoughts about the 30 Hour Famine AND, per John Lee’s prompt at the end of The Truth Project, please post any questions you may have regarding the topic of science and God.

The 30 Hour Famine was really an eye-opening one.  I was particulary blown away by how much God can use people who are really committed to serving Him. I really felt like I did nothing, but God worked in the lives of people I asked for money and they generously contributed.  What really struck me is that many of my old friends and coworkers really rallied around our cause when I asked them for money.  I think when you tell someone you’re a Christian and you are actively doing something with your church- like selling snowcones or holding bake sales and garage sales, they have no choice but to really consider what makes you the person that you are.  I found many of my old friends either contributed financially to the cause or at least supported my cause.  In many cases,  it gave me a venue to share how my Christian church was actively trying to raise money to stop poverty around the world.  Oftentimes, when I tell people how much we raised last year, they are blown away.  It’s amazing to be part of a church that is so passionate about serving God–wheather or not we notice somtimes–other people definitely do.  How many people get the opportunity to  bag over 4,500 lbs of rice for the hungry while raising awareness about poverty around the world? I am really in awe at the devotion of our church–I really feel it’s a testament to the gospel.

Looking back on the 30 Hour Famine, I’d say that I was touched more by the experience itself than anything else.  During that time, I found myself struggling so much even though it was only 30 hours.  It made me really consider how much hunger affects people around the world.  The experience made me recall my encounters with children in Thailand, Mexico, and Bangladesh.  I remember distinctly being extremely frustrated with the lackidasical demeanor of the students.  I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t listen or frequently drifted off.  The 30 hour famine really put my frustrating experiences into perspective.  As I bailed out rice to be bagged and weighed I found myself unable to focus and rather exhausted.  It wasn’t long before I dumped 6 lbs of rice on the floor because I wasn’t concentrating on what I was doing.  The experience really gave me a sense of  compassion and awe for the many starving children around the world and what they must go through.  It’s so easy just to think that hunger affects just once facet of a child’s life, but that’s a lie.  They can’t learn, they can’t study, they can’t work, and  I’m sure sometimes they can’t even sleep.  While my mistake only cost a couple pounds of rice, those starving children who work in factories often lose limbs because of it.  The experience made me extremely grateful that we had the opportunity to experience just a piece of what they go through–it really made me want to do more.

I’d say the other experience I found incredibly humbling was my opportunity to serve with Koinoinia’s Homegroup Twix at their 30 Hour Famine Garage Sale.  They raised over $800 dollars selling our junk at Dana house.  When the residents of Dana House were debriefing on their success, John Chung said something which really made me think.  He said, “We made over $800 just selling our junk.  I would just like to encourage you guys as we go through 30 hour famine to really consider how much God has given you and just to be frugal with it & just use it for His kingdom.”  The truth of what he was saying really struck me–if our junk is worth $800 how much more so is our stuff worth?  And if I have all this stuff, am I being frugal in how I spend my money or am I just assuming I need these things.  Every time I told people that one dollar could feed a child for a day it became a little bit more of a reality for me. It really made me see why our leaders are so frugal for themselves and generous towards others.  I hope that I become a man who is really frugal towards myself but generous towards others.

Luke 12:48 – “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

More can be found on David’s Flickr site, as well as GFC’s Flickr site.

If you see the patterns here, we had a lot of fun. With food, comes fellowship, and with fellowship comes fun. There is a reason that they all start with the letter F!

We’ll be having our various retreats in the month of July. It will be a good time to get to know Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang, bond with your peers, and have a deeper appreciation for the Word of God and examine how it is relevant to your life! Here are the dates and signup links (please be sure to read the pre-reqs on the signup pages):

• Sophomore Retreat: 7/31-8/2  | signup
• Junior Discipleship Retreat: 7/17-19 | signup
• Senior Discipleship Retreat: 7/24-26 | signup

Deadline to sign up is July 3rd! So, if you’re reading this, click on the link above. It takes no more than a minute to sign up!

Speaking of signups, don’t forget about signing up for DT groups and for our July 4th camping trip! More info about them in this post.

The New

Thursday 6/25: BBQ Dinner at Amy & Andy’s @ 7pm

To welcome everyone back for the summer — and to hang out with Amy & Andy before they go away on their trip — we will be going to their place for some BBQ! Nelson Wong will be making his debut as the head chef!

Rides will be provided, pls let ABE know (1) if you can make it out and (2) if you can help set up/prep/bbq (must be at Andy/Amy’s by 6pm).

Editor’s note: Brothers, if you’ve been with us long enough, you’ll know to bring your sports gear with you.

Saturday 6/27: 30-Hour famine!

The long awaited day is finally here. We will kick off our 30 hour fast on Friday midnight and fast until Sunday morning, 6am.  In order to keep us busy on Saturday and so that we wont be dreaming about food all day long, we will volunteer to package food at the SF Food bank from 12:30-4pm.  Afterwards, we will have some more small fundraising and other events so that we can fellowship together during our fast!  Please be sure to dress in layers for the SF Food bank as you may be placed in the walk in freezers to package food.  Rides will be provided, please let MICHELLE know if you can make it!

The Same (but just as important)

Friday 6/26: MYT & Bible Study

Hope you guys have all been learning a lot during your MYT classes; we should have a talent show to show off all the new skills we learned As usual, we will meet at dinner at 5:45pm, location TBD.  MYT will start at 7pm at 1st pres, Bible Study at 8:40pm.

Sunday 6/28: Home Worship Service

As usual, we will meet at Rick & Sue’s for home worship service at 12:30pm.  Pls let one of the staff know if you are interested in coming.

That’s it!  Hope you guys have a great week and be sure to keep up with your fundraising efforts– 5 more days!

DT GROUPS
Over the summer, we’ll be having DT groups on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This is a good way to exercise what we learned this week in Truth Project — the best way to intimately know God is through his Word.

If you’re interested, please sign up!

JULY 4th CAMPING TRIP

Update (6/25): We got a house up at the Sierras — we’ll have to rough it out some other time!
In order to prepare for the trip (rides, food, etc), we need to know who wants to go ASAP. Please sign up by tomorrow night!

This July 4th weekend, Kairos will be camping at the Sierras! Lodges and cabins are for the weak; we’ll be roughin’ it in the woods the real way — in tents! We’ll be leaving that Friday morning (7/3) and will be back Saturday night. (However, we need some real manly brothers to leave Thursday night to scout out and save spots for the rest of us. If you fit the description, please indicate that on the form.)

Sign up here!

Dish-Gracepoint’s Tom Kim testing out his new recipe!

Here’s another video of what people in the Northloop kitchen had to say after tasting the finished product!

Daniel Kim gives the buttermilk chicken an 8 out of 10!

As session C is starting this week and many of you are living in apartments, this recipe is perfect as it’s both easy and extremely delicious. Your roommates will also love you for it! And if you’re at home with family, I would suggest cooking it for your parents! Wanna try this recipe?

PS: I know this doesn’t pertain only to Rick&Sue’s Kairos group, but since Yang will be gone on a retreat, and Will Wu’s busy preparing for his own trip, I’ve decided to help them with their blog presence. =D