J-Term

First J-term of my Seminary life has now come and gone, where did time go? The longer I stay in Seminary, the faster it feels like time goes by. This semester has been filled with fun and work; because most of the students only took one class during this time, we were left with more free time than we knew how to deal with. We were able to spend more time just chilling and getting to know each other more. Our mornings and afternoons would be filled with class and studying, but afterwards on weekends, we would have the chance to hang out and catch a movie or play some board games. Some nights when we really wanted to splurge, we would go to apple-bees and get some appetizers that would be half off, and for them to enjoy a beer. I guess beer culture is a real thing up here, but for me... water is good. Anyway, this couldn't have happened during the normal school years from all the work that we usually had and so this time, during J-Term, was a real blessing and treat. We were given the opportunity to take a step back and restore our energy before jumping into another busy school semester in Spring. We also had the chance to enjoy a few New England snow storms in which me and my friends tried to take as much advantage of it as possible. We built snow forts and went sledding on off hours. This all gave us a chance to just share life with each other instead of just studying day in and day out. I also folded many wantons and shared a little taste of Asian culture with them!!

The class that I took during J-Term was Christ in the OT. The general gist of this was discovering and clarifying different passages in the Old Testament that might have made mentions to Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah. We started with a general overview of the number of times that the word Messiah shows up in the bible and it's meaning in Hebrew. Officially, the word "Messiah" appears 39 times in the Old Testament, and the official meaning is "anointed one." Now of those 39 times different people have different arguments to how many of those actually refer to the coming Christ and not instead of some earthly king or anointed person. My professor personally believes that there are only two cases where the word "Messiah" is actually indicative of a future eschatological Messiah, and these two instances are found in Daniel 9:25-26. This doesn't mean that other instances cannot allude to a coming Messiah, or that there aren't other passages that talk about the coming King-Priest-Prophet role that is Jesus, but that the word "Messiah" in the Old Testament used to talk about Jesus are only those two. The class goes on to talk about many different other instances where the Messiah is clearly talked about as a futuristic king-priest-prophet like in Psalm 110, or Zechariah 6. This class gave me a broader perspective on the many different prophecies and allusions to Christ within the Old Testament context. The most important thing seemed to be a Controlled Typology view where we kept in mind and found typologies that readers and the writer of the text at the time would have understood it to be. Even though I did not agree with every point my professor made, and sometimes he would make some pretty incredulous connections; they were all thoughts that I had not thought of before, and thus forced me to think deeper and take a greater joy in reading scripture.

In one short summary, J-term has given me the time to grow deeper in relationship with my friends and colleagues as well as broaden my perspective on the Old Testament, and find joy in passages I always avoided like the Levitical laws. Besides just school and friends, this semester God has also shown his provision for me financially and spiritually. I had more time to spend the mornings with the Lord which really helped to refocus my life on him. God also showed that he was constantly providing for me financially, which was something I always worried about in the back of my mind. He brought along friends and families that supported what God was doing in my life, and opened new doors. Now that J-Term is over, it's time for me to go back to studying Greek again, and start reading all the new books that I had to buy for classes. My first semester seemed much more relaxed than I would have expected, but I cannot say the same for this next upcoming semester. Already I can see the mountains of books that I will have to read, not including the work I will have to put in to understand all the new Greek concepts. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as it seems there is going to be more work to be done. P.S. for those of you who are interested, which is prolly most of you ... Jojo Wu has been seeing a girl. We are currently in that weird phase of getting to know one another, and God has not been closing the door. Please keep us in your prayers... and maybe it's impossible, but please keep it on the dl (down low) until everything works out.

Christmas, New Year, CMC

School's out and I finally got to go back home for a nice week of relaxing and resting. The week of Christmas break was a great time to once again meet up with my friends and go about my day without having to worry about studying or doing school assignments. Each day was well spent catching up with my friends as well as sharing my own adventures with them. Having dinner with my family for Christmas and New Years were very reminiscent moments. Ever since I started college, I had not spent much of my time back at home to eat dinner, and I had even taken the times that I did for granted. Now that I am living by myself, I have learned to really treasure each of these small moments that I get to spend with my family. God has given me a deeper love and care for my family that I would not have known until I have experienced life without them.

The most memorable thing that came out of this break was a realization that God was still working in the lives of my friends and family back at home. While having conversations with some of my friends, I was worried that they might be completely captured by the wave of school and retreats coming up, but instead, as I listened to them sharing, I saw that God was working in their lives. Perhaps it was partially my pride that made me think that if I wasn't there to talk with and walk with them through situations, that they would not really put too much thought into it, but in surrendering that to God I saw that even without me, God was doing amazing things in their lives. Another really joyous occasion was the opportunity to see some of my friends being baptized. It's always an exciting and joyous occasion when I hear of brothers or sisters being baptized, but some of these were close friends of mine who I knew had struggled through their faith. To see them make a stand for Christ and willingly dedicate their lives to him was another clear evidence that God was still working powerfully amongst my friends.

Right after Christmas break I headed off to Chinese Missions Convention (CMC). This was honestly something that I was really looking forward to. I was excited to go and serve the youths that would be coming and once again see God's work being done. The slight incentive that the trip for youth counselors is completely covered definitely gave another small push to going to this convention. Anyway, I initially came into this convention completely ready to lead small groups and to apply all that I had knew about leading small group. However, the one thing that I got out of this convention was a huge slap in the face by God. I came in thinking I knew what I was doing, thinking that since I had so much experience leading small groups, and so much knowledge that everything would just flow easily and things would go swimmingly. Don't get me wrong, I 100% started praying for God to be working in the hearts of my small group members and to take the wheel, but somewhere along the lines... I started to try and do things my way. What I did not realize was that the youths here were different than the regular groups of small groups that I was used to leading in college. For one, they were definitely younger and so the things that they were struggling with and thought about was somewhat different than what I had been so used to dealing with. Another factor was that I just did not go in very prepared. I  had vague ideas of what I would want to do with my small group, but I did not really take the time to plan ice breakers or things like that. It was funny how I always told people that "if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail," and here I was learning a good lesson from God. The next factor was a confusion whether the small groups for the youth should have been mission focused or spiritually forming, like a gospel camp. I was stuck trying to maneuver between pushing them to have a heart for missions while also realizing that their hearts really needed some caring to. Each of the youths were going through similar yet different struggles, and were in vastly different stages of their walks with Christ. This is when God really struck me hard.

What I had been doing this whole time was trying to guide them in a way that I thought would be best for a general student, but each of them were different from your general/average student. Half of them were PK's (Pastor Kids) and the other half spent all their life in church. I didn't realize until the second night that I needed to not try and guide these kids in the same way that I would college students, but that each was unique and special in God's eyes, and needed to be loved and guided in their own way. This is when I realized that I was selfishly trying to have my way, and needed to give this completely over to God. Instead of trying to run through all the things I would have done with a college small group, instead I aimed to focus back on the gospel and to show each of the youths the love of Christ. I saw that God was really reaching out to each of them and wanting to pull them in for a deeper relationship and understanding of him, so that's the new direction that I went. I pointed back to god, and shared his love for them and the love that they could foster together as a community of Christians. God starting opening up their hearts to share, and they also starting to enjoy being in community with one another. We had many jokes and most of the time it seemed like we were just having fun, but I saw that God was building community through the laughter and smiles. They also asked many challenging questions, and by the end of the convention, I felt God pushing me to give each of them one final push of encouragement to continue seeking after God.

Another great moment was during the final worship night. As the youths traveled from station to station to reflect on their faith and later to share testimonies and worship God, I saw a courage and bravery that could only have come from God. When I was their age, I could not even imagine having to come in front of 400+ people to share what God was doing in my life, and yet with the power of the Holy Spirit, some of these youths boldly stood forth declaring God's hand in their lives. This was encouraging and inspiring to see youths ready to step out for the Lord. Once again I was reminded of just how amazing God was, and all the different lives he was working in and preparing for His ministry. The last bit that really shook my heart was the worship. I was always someone who was really touched by worship and really needed the time to give God praise on the top of my lungs. This wasn't something that I had much opportunity doing, maybe because I have been holding back or just never had the opportunity to, but during the worship night I finally could. There was something so different from completely giving my heart, soul, life, and voice over to God. I once again felt recharged and ready to tackle what God may bring for the new year.

Now here I am back in school for my J-Term. I am currently taking Christ in the Old Testament, and this class has been very interesting. This class forces us to take a  deeper look into the Old Testament and understand its connection with the Christ of the New Testament. There is also a significant amount of work that comes with this class, but I am definitely ready to tackle this class!

First Semester Complete

I can't believe my first semester of Seminary is over and Winter is finally here!!! It seems like only yesterday when I started classes and felt overwhelmed by all the reading, but now here I am completely finished. Winter up here is freezing cold and studying for finals makes us students go crazy. Of course this only means that now I have time to start preparing for my January term in which I will be taking "Christ in The OT." Apparently this class has a lot of reading, so I'm not really looking for to it too much, but the topic and professor are both amazing, so I am sure it'll be amazing. Also since I will only be taking one class during January term, I can spend more time building community up here on the "Holy Hill." Anyway so here's how I have been over the last few weeks.

Let's start with finals. Final papers and final tests weren't all too bad. Considering how for the first time in all of history I was continuously studying throughout the semester, finals didn't hit me all too hard. Don't get me wrong, I still spent basically every waking hour studying and preparing for exams and papers, but it wasn't as confusing and hard as I thought it would be. Studying for my Old Testament exam was probably the most nerve wrecking. We were required to basically have a broad understanding of every book in the Old Testament with an exception to half of them which we were expected to have a more in-depth understanding. I spent two full days just outlining every book in the Old Testament as well as doing my best to memorize all the important facts and information of the books as well as their role in the overall redemptive narrative of the Old Testament. This was actually a very productive and helpful time because I never really had a great grasp on all the books in the Old Testament, especially the minor prophets. We didn't have the time to go greatly in depth with all the books, but just having the historical background and its place in God's story helped to understand God's mercy and grace.

A Small Look at the book summaries for OT

Greek was the next exam to shoot down, and this was actually not as hard as I thought it would be. The Greek exam this time was focused on verbs in the present, future, and imperfect form. I had to spend a good amount of time reviewing vocabulary, but overall the content and grammar was basically stuck in my head. God gave me the chance to quiz my friends on grammar which at first I thought was a waste of my time and didn't really benefit me, but I soon realized how much I could help my friend by reviewing with him and how it also helped form my foundation with the vocab. After Greek was Systematic Theology. This was the one class which I understood the least in because I was just not able to 100% follow along with everything that the professor was teaching in the beginning. By the time the final rolled around, we had had a few clear lessons in which I was able to follow along, but in the beginning of the semester, I really did not understand anything at all! Studying for this final gave me a better grasp on the topics that he taught this semester including the Ontological Project, the Doctrine of Trinity, Predestination and Election, and Biblical Authority. All were topics that left me thinking and gave me new insights, especially the Doctrine of Trinity which I was required to then teach to at least 2 other people. During the learning and teaching of this project, I gained a deeper understanding to the wrong interpretations of the Trinity like Modalism, Arianism, Subordinationism, and other Trinitarian heresies. The best part was the video that I showed that gave a funny outlook to the whole concept while teaching on different misconceptions of Trinity. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw)

I also had to write two papers for my Spiritual Formation class: a 5-7 page Rule Of Life and a 10-12 page Reflection Paper. Both helped a lot in re-evaluating the time I spent up here this semester, as well as help me project a goal to follow while I am up here. The Rule of Life was meant as a spiritual guideline to keeping on track with the relationships in my life and for my personal spiritual growth as well. It's meant to sort of act like a calendar of things that I would try to complete daily, weekly, monthly, and annually. The reflection Paper was meant to act as time to sit and think about the class. To reflect on all the things that we learned in that class, and what we would take away from it. Learning about the Desert Fathers and other Leaders of spirituality have taught me of the importance of different spiritual disciplines, for example simplicity. St. Hesychios the Priest says in the Philokalia, “One cannot befriend a snake and carry it about In one’s shirt, or attain holiness while pampering and cherishing the body above its needs.  It is the snake’s nature to bite whoever tends it, and the body’s to defile with sensual pleasure whoever indulges it.” 

Besides studying, I have officially started attending Cross Bridge Church of Greater Boston (CBCGB) as mentioned before, and starting in the Spring Semester, I will be serving there for my Mentored Ministry class.  Right now I am stuck worrying about whether to serve with CHARIS Fellowship (Young Adult) or ICF (College Fellowship). I was struggling with understanding where God may be calling me to serve vs where I can probably help out. I have been hearing God calling me to help out at Charis, but i found myself conflicted because of things like an age gap. Most people are older than me by a few years, and I wasn't all too sure how I could best walk with them. I thought of just deferring to doing College fellowship because they could use help and I also had much more experience serving with College students in comparison to young adults. This has been something that I have been constantly praying about and asking God for clarity for. Right now what I might end up doing is serving with ICF while starting a Men's group with the men from Charis.

On a spiritual level, I didn't realize this until recently, but I was completely engulfed by the business of the finals week. Before this, I had a pretty set schedule in where I would spend time with God for at least an hour each day just listening and reading his word. However once finals season came around, I took more time to study and do work instead of spending time with the Lord. Finals season was also a great time to study together with and struggle with my fellow students to build community through crying over finals XD. What I didn't notice was that I was slowly replacing community and study time with God time. Instead of balancing out and being a good steward of the time that I had here and with God, I let myself be controlled by the flow of the semester and my desire to be with people. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, because in community there was also a lot of growth, but I definitely did not give God the time he deserved. This was something that I had to reflect on and recognize, because during this semester, this was one of the biggest things I had learned. Solitude and Simplicity, two disciplines that I thought were silly, but recognized as my biggest weaknesses. I will continue to struggle with and grow in these two disciplines in my time up here at Gordon Conwell, but please also continue to pray for me on these two things. Another big thing on my mind has been my need for a car. Not only to survive up here, but more importantly to do ministry. In order to meet up with people for discipleship and to attend church, I would need a vehicle to get to my destinations, and this has been a huge area where I have to rely on God to open doors for.



On a happy note, I'm finally heading home again for Christmas Break!!! Can't wait!!!

Thanksgiving and Final Stretch

Just got back from an amazing Thanksgiving break, and to my surprise... there's only 3 more weeks of classes left!! My first semester has flown by and part of me doesn't even know where the time has gone. Before the semester comes to an end there is still a lot of work to be done.

Two weeks ago was the week after Reading week and for some reason, every time we finish reading week, no one on campus feels like doing any work; me included. We all felt lackadaisical and found it hard to keep doing work, but we had no choice because our next Greek exam had come along. This time the exam was definitely much harder than the previous exam. Our professor asked for very specific details, and many of us were stumped by his questions. Thankfully, God gave me the perseverance to keep studying and I was able to get a 94 on my exam. Personally, I don't think it will be enough because of the way our class gives out grades; a 96+ is an A, and right now I stand with a 96 and a 94. Besides grades, everything has been moving along pretty well.

I am really starting to get to know different people at campus and especially the guys in my soul care group. Saturday before the Thanksgiving week I had the opportunity to just sit with them and pray over all the different things we were thankful for. It was a really refreshing and encouraging time where we spent time just giving thanks instead of always coming before God for help with our burdens.

More recently, I was given the opportunity to return home to New York for Thanksgiving break, and that was a well needed rest from school work. It was really great to see friends and family and to hear how they were doing. I was also really looking forward to doing some black Friday shopping because my laptop that survived all of my college Computer Science degree had finally breathed its last breath. Even though I wasn't exactly able to buy the laptop I wanted to, God was gracious and still let me buy one that had decent specs. One of the things I hear a lot up here in seminary is the phrase "there's a sermon in there somewhere." This is basically said by most of the students about a situation to try and find the silver lining, but I think it is true that in every situation, a sermon could be found. In my particular case, I was really struggling long before black Friday came along on what kind of new laptop I wanted to buy. At first I really wanted to get the new mac book pro because of all the amazing new upgrades, but quickly realized that I was letting myself fall for the shiny and new things of the world. It was really hard to turn away from the shiny new toys that were being released left and right, but God was calling me into the discipline of simplicity. It was true that there was no need for me to get such a brand spanking new laptop, and instead a simple one would be fine. I had long since given up my gaming life, and now all I really needed my laptop for was notes, essays and light browsing. My next choice was turned to the Surface Pro 4, because of its convenience and the many different perks it had that I have never experienced. Once again I found myself chasing after the next new shiny thing, but this, like the mac book pro, was taken off its pedestal upon considering its usefulness when using bible software.

If there was one thing that I had to say God was doing in my life it would be the small things that he has been influencing me through. I don't think I have been completely changed into a brand new person, but I do know that my decisions and my life is now, more than ever before, centered around him. I am slowly learning how to look to and rely on God for every decision in my life and process through whether it was a desire of the flesh or of the spirit. Even though there has been many challenging moments giving up what I thought my heart wants to follow Christ, my life has never been more filled with the Holy Spirit. Of course with the coming few weeks, I will be super busy and swamped with the last bits and pieces of work left for my classes, I ask for prayers to keep my focus on God, and never skimp out on just spending time alone and in his presence daily!

Not much pictures this time, but I'm so glad I got to go

back home to eat Dim Sum!!!!! Chinese food

is super scarce up here besides my

own cooking ><

Seasons are changing~

Fall is finally kicking in and some of the trees are starting to change colors. The scenery up here is really pretty and super relaxing, perfect for studying. Over the past few weeks, there has not been too much going on. The usual studying and working reading and seeking the Lord. I do have to say though, that there were many moments that God showed me just how much he has been providing for me and continues to do so. He has also been continually challenging me to step out in faith and outside of my comfort zones. One such occasion was actually grocery shopping. To some this may seem like a simple thing, but for someone like me without a car; it was not so easy. Two weeks ago I was out of food and needed to go grocery shopping, but the people that I usually asked to bring me along was actually completely busy with their workload, and was unable to make time to go themselves. I was left between a rock and a hard place and felt God pushing me to post and ask the general populace of Gordon Conwell students. This may seem simple, but throughout my time here I have been struggling with just how well I have been connecting with people here, and a big part of me was fearful of the fact that I may not get any responses and would be left unanswered. The fear wasn't so much that I wouldn't be able to get groceries, but more so the fear of rejection. However God gave me the courage to ask and lo-and-behold, people whom I didn't even meet before were willing to offer me a ride. This was just a true testimony to the community up here and the fact that God continually has my best interests at heart.

This week was our second reading week, and what that meant was students were even more sparse. I spent most of this time working on my paper for Spiritual Formation class. The paper was to formulate our own "Rule Of Life" which was basically a guideline to live our lives with. This focused on different areas in my life starting with the relationships with people around me and being able to identify my key relationships. Then different things like spiritual gifts, desires, vision and mission to frame the rule of life. All these would later come together to form a direction for me to follow and live out my life. During this process, I was given time to process through exactly where I felt God calling me to and different areas of my life where he was working in. There has never been more clear moments in my life where I was able to spend time just listening to God.

Speaking of listening to God, that has been the new spiritual discipline that God has been calling me to. A discipline of solitude which... if you know me... that's like the complete opposite of my very being. However I think this is where a lot of growth has been happening. All my life I talk and talk and talk and yea I listen to God and I serve him and I do his will, but I don't think I've ever just taken time to sit alone in his presence to hear what he may be saying to me. Being up here on the "Holy Hill" I have had the opportunity to spend many nights praying and worshipping and listening to God. We have a chapel for prayer called the Wilson Chapel, and that has been a place of comfort and peace whenever I need to be alone and in God's presence. There is just something different about listening in silence without trying to just pour out my problems on Him. I have also been practicing a style of prayer and meditation on God's word called Lectio Divina, and that helped a lot in focusing and spending time in God's word (More information on Lectio Divina below).

The chapel at Sisters of Notre dam MA

Besides the regular opportunities to spend in God's presence, yesterday 11/9, I attended an event called a "Soul Sabbath." This was basically where students who signed up were taken to a Jesuit Nunnery and invited to spend a whole day in solitude and silence. Now who in their right mind would do something like this?? Well I was required to attend it for class so I had no choice, but you can probably imagine the dread that I felt coming into this time. I thought I spent enough time alone and in solitude, but here I was required to spend the whole day in silence, even lunch time was to be done without conversing. However instead of it being the worst day of my life, it was actually one of my greatest days after attending seminary. The passage I meditated on was Roman 8:1-17, and literally everything about that passage stood out to me. On that day, verse 17 was the one that struck me the most; to share in Christ's sufferings. I was really stuck on  that verse for a really long while, because I really had to think, did I really understand the extent of Christ's sufferings. In my last update I mentioned a little about how I felt God calling me to possibly missionary work, but even more than that on the whole concept of whether or not I was ready to pay the cost to follow Christ. At the time I should have known, but God was literally tapping on my shoulders and demanding a response, but instead I brushed him off and told him to come back another day. Ever since that moment, I had been feeling spiritually dry and just continually coming before God to speak again and for forgiveness. It was during this moment at the "Soul Sabbath" where I heard God talking to me again. While thinking about Christ's sufferings, I trailed to think about what kind of sufferings, and for who did he suffer... when I got that far, I decided to take a walk outside and I saw an amazing scenery. I was never much of a nature person, but yesterday I just found myself staring endlessly at the trees and leaves falling. A number of different thoughts started flowing through my head as I was experiencing the life that God was placing before my eyes. Of the many different things God woke me up to, the one that resounded the loudest was his desire for the people. For a while I have been wallowing in self discovery and where I stand with the Lord and my fears and weaknesses in seminary, but I have forgotten the one thing that has always been on God's heart and that I know he has placed on my heart, and that is a heart for the people. I haven't been taking time to really build and foster relationships, but instead I have been just focusing on myself alone. What happens when you place an extrovert in a place by himself for a long time and he only focusses on himself?? =>He starts to suffocate and die XD. God reminded me of my heart for people and though it'll take a while for me to mold and fuse everything he has taught me towards loving people, I haven't felt so filled and excited for a long time since yesterday.

This is the most people that I have

ever seen the Great Hall

There were also different events that happened throughout the last few weeks. We had an open house for prospective students for a weekend which was exciting to just see the campus finally filled with people. There were a few extra students that joined our classes to spectate and lunch was more exciting with more people in the cafeteria. There was also a small Halloween party where some people dressed up and just enjoyed each other's company. Who knew that parties actually happened here in seminary?? We weren't only doing bible study or doing worship XD, there was actual dancing (which apparently some people love and are great at).





Lectio Divina basically starts off with inviting God's presence and than starting off with reading the passage slowly. Instead of trying to analyze and exegete(expound/interpret) the passage and figure out all the quirks behind it, while you slowly read the passage, if anything jumps out to you, focus on that [Lectio]. Re-read it a few times and meditate on what you think God is saying in those words, and then what is the Holy Spirit stirring in your heart about those words [Meditatio]. Next we pray over what we feel God calling us to through the word and just thank him for what he has revealed and continue in conversation with him [Oratio]. Lastly is to contemplate over everything that has happened: the passage you read, the words that you felt the Holy Spirit put on your heart, the words God may have spoken to you. This is the most important and both my professors that taught this advised us to take the time to physically write down what we felt God speaking during those times. It is easy to have a wonderful experience with God, and then just walk away without really taking the time to contemplate and thoroughly think through it all. T
More Info => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_Divina#The_four_movements_of_Lectio_Divina

First Exams

It has been a few weeks and school has been going pretty smoothly. Last Friday I had my very first Greek Exam to which I think i did considerably well. It's good to know that studying actually does help!! I also realized that up here, the students don't really compare or share their grades outright with each other. Coming from a community where grades matter quite a bit, and everyone loves to boast about their scores; I am now in a place where pride over a gpa is something silly. Still, that being said, I definitely have to thank God for giving me the patience to study so hard and finally pull through my first ever exam in Seminary. Coming up this Monday I will have my first OT Survey Exam which will also require lots of studying, so please keep me in your prayers.

The previous week was missions week and so Gordon Conwell invited different organizations to come share with us about missions. In particular, we had two speakers come in: Kenneth Bae and Gary Witherall. They both shared their experience on the mission field, and all I can think was how amazing it was that God used them in all the different places they went to. They both shared powerful stories of God's miracles and learning through things like forgiveness through the eyes of Christ. One thing that stood out to me through both of their sharing was a question that they both had to answer during their hardest struggle, and that was whether they were willing/ready to pay the cost to follow Christ wholeheartedly and completely. This really resonated with me on the grounds that I had to really ask myself the same question. While being in seminary, we study and learn all different things about theology and pastor-ship, but it didn't occur to me just how real serving God was, and how potentially hard/challenging it can be. When I had to ask myself whether I would be able to pay the cost to follow God as they did, I don't know if I were in their positions, I would be able to make the same decision. This reminded me of something Patrick Fung said during the Urbana'15 conference; "If Jesus is not Lord of all, then He is not Lord at all!" If I did not have Jesus as Lord of every aspect of my life, then was I really putting him to be Lord at all?? This really challenged me to think deeper about my call to serve, and don't get me wrong; I know God wants me here, but this really woke me up to the seriousness of serving God with my whole life. 

One more thing that I found myself struggling through was whether God was calling me to missionary work. In responding to God's call to come to seminary and be a pastor, part of me also heard God's calling to potentially be a missionary, but at the time I did not want to even consider this. I barely accepted God's calling to give up my life and follow him in being a pastor; I did not, at the time, even want to consider having to be sent to another country. After listening to the sharing of Kenneth Bae and Gary Witherall however, I felt God really stirring within my heart. However... instead of immediately getting on my knees and asking God for clarity, I instead decided to push it off. I asked God to come back to me and ask me later because I did not want to fall under the illusion of an emotional/spiritual high from listening to their sharing. I do not know what to expect, but this is definitely another area I would like to ask prayer for. If God does give me the calling, I know that the second thing I will need is the timing, which may not be until many years down the line. 

This week was reading week which is a week where seminarians have no classes, and instead are expected to study/catch up with all the reading/work that they might have not completed up to this point. For most students this is the golden time to write their papers and read up on books that they did not have time to, but for me ... since this is my first semester... I didn't really have all that much work to do. So instead of staying cooped up here on the Holy Hill, I had the opportunity to go back home with a few friends from Germany that were spending a semester in Gordon. My time back home was really refreshing and recharging. I was getting a little tired of the peace and quiet of Gordon Conwell, and so the excitement of the city was a nice change in atmosphere. I also had the chance to visit and hang out with my family and friends which was also a nice change from just straight up studying day in and day out. The best thing that happened above all was the chance to finally eat real food again!!! Since this was my first time dorming, I have been eating cafeteria lunches and cooking my own dinners... and there is no other experience that would make me miss home cooked meals/chinese food ever so much. I was able to eat my full and then bring up food to keep me alive!! 

(International Satanic Temple)It really looks like just any other house...

Yesterday me and a few friends decided to go on a prayer walk around Salem. We actually specifically went to the newly opened International Satanic Temple, which ... I have never ever even heard of before. I did not know that this  was something that was accepted, and so just being there and talking with the people was really eye opening. Me and my friends talked with the people that were working there, and all we could feel was sorrow for the people there. Not only did most of the things they said contradicting themselves and the "rules" of the "religion," but to us it was very clear that they were just pawns being used by the devil to spread his name. The employees claimed that they did not actually believe that a being like Satan existed, but they were using it as a symbol for what they believed. This in itself was so evident to us that the devil was using these people in their confusion of their beliefs to make himself known. This is something that I believe we all need to keep in our prayers because I can not even imagine how many more people will easily be roped into this belief. 

Second Week Finished!!

Now that the second week of classes is over, I pretty much have a good grasp of how everything is going. I am slowly making progress through each of my classes, and as mentioned last week, have a pretty good set schedule for myself. This week was pretty calm, and like usual I had to do a bunch of reading and spend many hours studying Greek. I will say that studying Greek has been very fun, and now that I can translate some small sentences, I can see how useful this skill can be in really digging deeper into the bible. Up til now I have learned around 72 Greek words which apparently make up ~50% of the words in the New Testament. We also learned basic grammar for nouns/pronouns, and just learned prepositions yesterday.

One thing I did not expect from graduate school was the amount of self-teaching that I would have to do. Most of the time us students are reading the material and teaching ourselves, and then some of the information would be reinforced during class. We would be expected to know most of the reading/study materials, but not have it reviewed or learned in our classes. This was new to me, but not too difficult. The class I have to read the most in is Systematic Theology. Right now my professor is trying to give us a view into different races and their feelings with how the church is going. This goes into different struggles and difficulties that multi-ethnic churches have faced with things like a dominant white culture in the christian community.

Besides just classes, community building and my spiritual formation has been improving; I am constantly challenged by my friends and professors.Tonight me and a few other brothers will be starting our very first soul care group which is basically a group where we can pray for and support each other beyond just academics. I also thought it would be fun to join the choir (something I have never done before), which meets today for the first time, so I am excited to see how that will go. I have also been attempting each night to attend a group prayer/worship time at 7PM, and on Thursday I was finally able to make it. That was one of the most spiritually uplifting times that I have had during my time here. I always liked singing or listening to worship, but ever since I have been here, I haven't experienced too much of it. That night was truly refreshing and through one of the songs, God spoke to me in telling me that I was welcome here! I have also recently been awoken by how blessed I truly am to have the opportunity to be here at this seminary. If it were not for the prayers and financial support of everyone back at home I would not be here right now. My school had finally posted up all the financial costs for the semester, and just looking at it, I realized how blessed I was that I had people willing to support me through it; so THANK YOU!


On a side note, I had Jamaican food yesterday which for me is something rare whenever I try new food!