Commissioning Dinner

Yesterday, the treX core team held a Commissioning Dinner for all the mission teams that are going out this summer. They had italian food, which was quite tasty, and it was nice to see everyone from all of the different teams. Unfortunately, half of our team couldn't make it, but the three of us that were there had a good time.

We had a time of worship that was led by Khoi Ngo, who was a part of the Southeast Asia team from last summer. Peter Chung sang with him, and amidst the songs was a reminder that God never changes, and that he's madly in love with us, his children.

After the worship, Ed Salas introduced his friend Gary Mayes. Gary works for CRM, and has a lot of experience in ministry both nationally and internationally. He shared with us what is in his mind the greatest paradox of all time: that God would choose a broken, fallible, sinful, weak, mortal individual to do his work. We're talking about the Almighty God of the Universe, and he chooses to use someone like you or me. Pretty crazy when you think about it. God has called us to go abroad to serve in one capacity or another. Is it because we are special people, and the nationals need what we have to offer? Of course not! They don't need us, they need God! And God decided to put his reputation on the line by associating with us and sending us as his representatives. This was another point where we really need to stop and examine our attitudes. Are we going because we think it's up to us to help these people? Or are we going because we are being obedient to God, recognizing that any good that happens during the trip is of God, and not of our own efforts? We will continue to pray that it is the latter.

After the message, we had a time of prayer. We gave up our attitudes, issues, and trips to God, and a blessing was prayed over all who will be going out this summer.

treX 09' retreat: "Know Him, Love Him."

Our team joined all other Newsong sponsored short term missionaries at a spiritual retreat at Thousand Pines, California on May 15-17th. It was a good time of spending time together, with the Lord, worshipping as a larger missions team and receiving spiritual instruction and further missions training. As you can see from the photo, our team gets to stretch in teamwork at an obstacle course and show a little different side of ourselves too. We continue to realize that effectiveness and unity as a team will be critical to honoring His name while we live and work together in Costa Rica.

"To Know Him, Love Him" was the theme of the retreat. It was a great theme since it pretty much summarizes our reason and purpose for the missions trip. All the devotions, teaching, music and worship were designed around this theme. Highlights of teaching came from the main speaker, Craig Hendrickson, who spoke about the lessons from a "reluctant" Missionary:

1. God is calling us to join in what he is already doing in the mission field.
2. We need to cultivate intimacy with God to discern the Spirit's activities in the mission field (that is already going on).
3. We need to step out in obedience to gain a clearer understanding of what the Spirit is doing in the mission field.
4. We need to take a learning posture to the mission field. (*really critical*)
5. When we chose to remain open to the Spirit, the results will exceed our expectations.

As we all remain open to God's voice and preparation for this work, we come to discover how inadequate we are and disobedient sometimes - and we grow in our respect and admiration for all missionaries around the world. We truly seek your prayer that we can join in partnership with the Holy Spirit in this endeavor and remain faithfully to continue to "Know Him and Love Him".

A Truly Memorable Memorial Day--Community Development Project

Our team had an incredibly successful painting project at Newsong on Memorial Day. As we think about the men and women who have given their lives to unselfishly serve our country and for our freedom, we hope to also continually give of ourselves.

Our team moved out the furniture in the office space to be painted, and the molding was removed. Next, holes were patched, sanded down, and texture applied, before we started painting.

We are thankful that God brought this project to the table, and having us work well together to complete it. Furthermore, it was such a blessing for us to learn about each others' work styles, strengths/weaknesses, etc. so we can better support each other in these upcoming months. This support will allow us to better work as one unified body as we serve in Costa Rica.

Later on in the evening, we had a fantastic bar-b-que, and were so blessed that Peter Chung (group advisor) could join us. Lots of good food, but most importantly, GREAT company and more laughter to last us a lifetime :D

Please continue to pray for us and be part of our journey. We are grateful for your love and prayer support.

All of our love from the bottom of our hearts,

Costa Rica treX 2009

Tapioca Express

For our regular gathering this week, we've abandoned the comfort of our home and chosen to meet outside a Tapioca Express in a strip mall. The weather was too warm, the chairs hard, the mosquitoes hungry, and the cigarette smokes triggering my allergy. And Jeff, in his usual calm voice, said "this is exactly why we meet here today."

I have to admit I was a bit annoyed when the fly on my arm chose not to leave even after I threatened it with my finger. Yet when I looked around the table, I was overtaken by a sense of closeness to my fellow brothers and sisters. Yes there might be bugs, restless nights, illnesses, and other unforeseen issues on the trip, but I trust God will show Himself mightily with the encouragement and support of our fellow teammates.

During the meeting, we reflected on the notion of humility and of being learners of our new friends and of each other. We were also reminded that it was more important to be relational than to focus on tasks and efficiency (echoing Pastor Dave's sermon on Easter!) We ended the night with some awesome prayers. When we started praying, the world became still around us. We each took a long time praying for a teammate. It was such a precious moment. :)

Thank you for reading thus far. There are many praises shared in the group such as travel safety and good rests. We can feel the power of your prayers! Please continue to lift us up. One prayer request that was echoed this week was time management. Please pray that we'll focus on the essentials (being relational) and prioritize well (vs. non-essentials.) Please also lift up some health issues that some of the team members and families are experiencing. Thank you for your faithfulness. He is good, all the time!

Let's end with this quote that Jeff shared with us: "Attitudes are contagious, is yours worth catching?"

Group picture!

Howdy! At our last team gathering, we took our first group picture! hooooray~ ;) We are excited that you may put names to faces: ladies from left to right-Irene Lin, Joanna Chao, Jean Han; gentlemen from left to right-Ken Cheung, Jeff Fulkerson, and John Hsu.

Please continue to lift us up! One of our prayer requests that echoed in the group was to listen to God amidst all the distractions and busyness. We are also excited to be taking more time to pray for each other, our host, and the people that we will interact with at Costa Rica. It's an awesome privilege to partner with you to experience God's love and glory together.

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-just as the Father knows me and I know the Father." John 10:14-15

Training Session

Our team had an incredible training session yesterday. Newsong brought in some phenomenal speakers who covered topics on interacting and engaging with children in songs, art, and activities, and evangelism. For many of us, we don't have a lot of experience in evangelizing to people, but we learned that compassion is a universal language...

We are thankful for the previous time we have together as a missions group, and for opportunity to continue to work in community by relying on the LORD and each other for how He has called us to serve.


How we would like for you to pray for us:

• Please pray that the Lord continues to prepare our hearts to work with the Costa Ricans.
  
• Pray that we will work on God's time rather than our own~and that we can really learn to listen to His guidance.
  
• Ask the Lord to create a close bond within the members of our group, so that we can face the challenges of uncertainty and adversity.
• Also pray that we may surrender to serve where the need is most.
• Finally, that we walk in community with the Costa Ricans, and commit to understanding their culture, joys, and struggles.
  

Thank You!

Hello family and friends!

Thank you for visiting our team's blog. We are excited about creating a forum where we can include you in our mission preparation, our prayer needs, and our journey. Most of all, we would like to thank you for taking the time and interest in supporting us.

We are excited to hear from you--please leave us a comment through our blog, and/or send a team member an email, etc.

In love and faith,

The Costa Rica treX team 2009