pictures of a korean-style meal in our community

The fantastic cooks!

The spread... eggs, meat, carrot, bean sprouts, squash, 

mushrooms, kimchii, sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice.

The 9-month old... eating rice from her daddy's chopsticks, of course. :)

 

 The example... made so that the Americans would 

know what their bowl was supposed to look like.

Happy Korean dads!

Korean Love

Since June, Randy and I have had the privilege of being the "Community Coordinators" for our small apartment complex. This gives us a great excuse to rub elbows more often with our neighbors and includes a small rent stipend. While Randy does the bulk of our work on the Dikaios project, I have been looking for a relational outlet through which to put some of my strengths and gifts to work. This has been just the thing!

Opening up our home to our neighbors has been a great way to practice the hospitality that I love. We've had new neighbors move in and have invited them over for dinner, games, dessert and helped them get adjusted to L.A. and the Fuller community. The majority of our neighbors are Korean students who have come to Fuller specifically for the Korean language program which offers a D.Min. degree. It has been a JOY to get to know these sweet families and offer our friendship to them. There are 11 children in our community, between the six families in our building, from ages 9 months to 9 years. Most of the Korean husbands are associate pastors in a local church while they complete their degree, while their wives are unable to work due to the limits of their student visa. The best things so far are: 1) holding the 9 month old baby -- she's a little chunk and SO sweet (I've never heard her cry!), and 2) praying with the Korean women every other week. Asking how I can pray for them and their families has opened my eyes to a new level of struggles and challenges they face in America, where they know very little of the language or the culture.

It reminds me of the study I did in my Old Testament Survey class last fall on the topic of the "alien, sojourner, stranger" throughout the history of Israel. Frequently, the Lord spoke clearly to the Israelites to welcome the strangers (or foreigners) into their community and gave clear instruction to protect their rights and be gracious to them. Though the language barrier significantly hinders my ability to communicate with many of these families, we have grown to love and trust one another through shared meals, awkward charade-like conversations, and times of prayer together. I am learning so much from these amazing men and women who love their families and give of their time and energy to further the Kingdom of God through their service. They are extremely generous and thoughtful.

I leave you with two of my favorite images from my front door in the last few weeks:
1) my doorstep filled with "slippers", flip flops, and other shoes -- you know there are a lot off Asians around when there are THAT many pairs of shoes outside (the baby shoes are the cutest!)
2) a 15-lb bag of rice and 2 boxes of cereal on my doorstep -- an upstairs neighbor knows Randy and I are cereal lovers and rice eaters and left them for me one day while we were out. She didn't know this, but I was just getting to the end of my bag of rice and we were wondering whether we could afford to buy it again in bulk the way we normally do.

We <3 Koreans :)

ministry update

on another note, a word on randy's time in arizona for our fellowship's "general council" (nation-wide meeting) just a few weeks ago...

maybe you've caught on that randy has been home just long enough to catch his breath, unpack and repack since the middle of june. prayer for his recovery and rejuvenation from all of the school and ministry endeavors that have occupied his time are much needed and appreciated!

basically, at general council, randy was in networking mode from morning until night. it proved to be an extremely fruitful time of connecting with old friends, making new ones, and lots and lots of casting the vision and painting the picture for the Dikaios project. every time randy called home, he had a list of people to tell me about who were excited to hear that we are working on this project and are hoping to get connected.

just from general council connections and conversations, randy has now been asked to send biblical global justice materials to a handful of new campuses and churches across the nation. as of now, our beta test group is at least doubled and there are more contacts and conversations in the works.

thank you for encouraging us and helping us in reaching students in Washington, DC, Rhode Island, Vermont, Belgium, New Hampshire, California, and hopefully more states to come!

Prayer request: Lindsay's aunt

Many of you probably have heard about my (Lindsay's) aunt who has been diagnosed with cancer. Though her initial prognosis two years ago was grim, she has done better than anyone thought was possible in response to her chemo trial treatment... until last week when her regular CAT Scan came back with news that her cancer has spread.

It's one of those situations where we knew the cancer would outsmart her previous drug treatment eventually and now that "eventually" is here... Nobody knows how her body will react to the new treatment, nor how much fight her body has left in her.

Surreal is the only word that seems to sum up my current state of mind and heart. Two years ago, we thought she only had two years to live... now that it's been two years (and the past two years have been relatively "easy" in terms of her body's ability to handle the chemo), it's as if we are just hearing this bad news for the first time all over again. How bad is it? How well will this chemo treatment work? How sick will she get? And honestly, can her body handle much more?

At this point, I can only barely grasp the reality that is setting in and ask for your prayers for my aunt, her doctors and treatment, and our family as we continue to love her and share Christ with her, support and cherish her beautiful life moment by moment.

This woman is in my list of top 5 female heroes -- she was a 2nd mother to me, has been the epitome of thoughtful and generous to me, has supported me and encouraged me to reach for my dreams and has always looked for ways to stay connected to my siblings and I. She's been the best auntie in the world. Thank you for lifting her and my family to the Lord in your prayers.

Twitter or Facebook, anyone?

In case you haven't seen it yet, Randy has started a Facebook Page -- Biblical Global Justice-XA, found here: http://www.facebook.com/biblicalglobaljustice.

And a Twitter account: #BGJustice.

And a Gmail account (he's been busy!): biblicalglobaljustice@gmail.com.

While he's been in Arizona at the Assemblies of God General Council, he has been asked by numerous people to try out the material. We're so excited for new potential beta-testers for the 2011-2012 academic year!

Home from Springfield and Randy's off to Arizona!

The summer school classes we took in Springfield, Missouri were great. It was such a blessing to take these courses, meet some new friends, and spend quality time with some of the leaders of the Assemblies of God (Dr. George O. Wood, Alton Garrison, and Jim Bradford). Randy and I both came away feeling more excited than ever about being in this Fellowship, continuing with our Dikaios Project, and continuing to pursue our ministerial licenses. There's something to said for a feeling of solidarity with the national leaders and a smattering of seminarians across the nation who all call the Assemblies of God their family.

That said, we've decided to send Randy to Phoenix this week for a few days to participate at the National General Council (where ministers and missionaries gather every other year for the legislative aspect of our movement's direction, etc.)... So, pray for his safe travels and that with all of this traveling, his energy and health keep up.

He'll have great opportunities to connect with some fellow Chi Alphans, pastors and leaders to share more about the Dikaios Project and how Biblical Global Justice fits into their ministries.

That's all for now! We're keeping busy and trying to stay out of the heat down here. Blessings to you!