Mid-Semester News

Time is really flying by, and I cannot believe that I am quickly approaching my last month of my first year as a seminarian. This also means that exams and papers are approaching just as quickly, and most of my time this month has been spent studying. Especially this week after my reading week has mostly been devoted to catching up and studying for exams. I had my Systematic Theology II exam this Monday, will have my New Testament Survey Exam tomorrow, and will have my Greek exam the coming Wednesday. All of these classes have been insightful and caused me to think more about my faith and the truths of the bible, especially my Systematic Theology class. We spent the last few weeks talking about Evil and the image of God. Both topics have different sides arguing about different points of views and how it all fits in to who we are in relation to God. Especially the image of God where it challenges the difference between image and likeness. We took the time to look into different theologians and their views on how we are connected to the image of God, and what we lost from the fall and what we retained. Different views like the structural view which believes that the image is the essential part of humans that distinguishes them from animals such as; reason, freedom, creativity; and likeness is a non-essential thing that was given to us like grace, which we have lost from the fall. Another view is the relational view which believes that what we lost was original righteousness, which is essential to our human nature, and all we have remaining is a relic of image and likeness that distinguishes us from animals. The main difference between the two is that one believes that after the fall we lose something non-essential to our human nature yet still remain a proper human being, and can get to know God when we regain that lost part; the other believes that we cannot come back to God on our own and our human nature has lost something essential to it. Small things like this argument helps to challenges the little knowledge that I thought I had about Christianity and to think more openly.

Something new that started this month is my serving at CBCGB. I have started helping out with

teaching their baptismal classes, and that has been very exciting. Right now there are three young adults who are in the class, wanting to get baptized. This was something that I never had any experience with before, and was actually really excited to start. Having the opportunity to teach these classes really helped to reinforce the basics and foundations of Christianity within myself. Thankfully I had taken Systematic Theology I before teaching this class, which has some similar aspects to the baptismal class, which helped in my teaching of it. The class goes through 10 different lessons which focuses on things like: the authenticity of the bible, who God is/his attributes, the person of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, etc. Each class is always interesting in that the students are always bringing up questions that I would have never thought of. They show a passion to learn and grow in Christ, and just from their commitment to being at class every week with their busy schedules shows their dedication. What's even more exciting is that each of them have slightly different perspectives on things/being challenged as a Christian in different areas which becomes a boon for their spiritual growth with each other as they share their different circumstances. It encourages me to see people have a passion to learn more about the faith that they are believing in, and not settling for comfort.

I was also given the opportunity to go home once again during reading week. It feels like I come back

at least once a month, which helps because I would die up here if I did not go back to New York every now and then to eat real food!! Normally I plan all my studying and reading around my reading weeks so that I can take time to rest and relax back at home before jumping back into school, but this time I realized that Greek can not be given a rest. I found out that as long as I spent 15 minutes a day on Greek, it was much better than not studying Greek for a whole week and spending hours on it afterwards. So this time, I remembered to at least be diligent with my Greek. Anyway, coming back home was a really good time for me to just take my mind off studying for a little and see friends and family again. When I went back to NYCAC, I was pleasantly surprised with a new pastor that was speaking at our church. What surprised me even more was one of the worship songs that he asked the worship team to lead, "Onise Iyanu." Ever since I moved up here to Gordon Conwell, I have been increasingly interested and blessed by worship from different languages, and seeing that song be sung at my home church was really encouraging. I had always been in a Chinese church and been surrounded by predominantly Asian American Christians. Now that I am up in Gordon Conwell, I had been blessed with the opportunity to experience different cultures and how they worship and serve the Lord. The pastor said one line that still stands out to me now about my church, but I think would apply to different churches as well. He pointed at the flags that we had on the side of our sanctuary and said "you have the flags, now all you are missing is the people!" This really stood out to me because it revealed the huge need we had for outreach and the fact that Christians were not just made up of one race or culture. I am learning more and more to take to heart the importance of sharing and worshiping with different people from different backgrounds and cultures. Not that I hadn't already, but that I felt God convicting me to not be so closed off in my own little bubble of Christianity.

Another interesting thing that happened was actually just two days ago. So as most of you know, I now have a car, and it is a manual. Learning that has been a whole new experience all on its own, but now, I have some confidence in my ability to drive it. Two days ago, as I was out practicing, my car stalled at a 4-way stop sign, which sometimes happens because I let go of the clutch too fast.

My cute little Honda Civic named Destiny. If I ever get a new
car in the future, it shall be called Destiny's child!!

Anyway, so I turned off my car, and attempted to start it back up as I usually do so that I can get out of there and not impede traffic. However, when I turned the key, no sound was heard, and the car was not starting. I tried a few more times and well... nothing happened. I was stuck in the middle of the road and my car had died. Thankfully I didn't freak out too much, instead I turned to prayer and called up people to come save me. I waited for the cars behind me to clear up so that I could go into neutral and back away from the stop sign (since we were on a slight hill, gravity saved me). Then when my friend arrived, we attempted to jump start the car, but that didn't work, since it didn't seem like the battery was dead. I ended up calling a tow truck to drag me all the way to an auto repair shop that ended up helping me fix my car, and I was able to pick it up yesterday. This was all a first for me, and honestly, I thank God that it did not happen in a busier area or a location that was hard to reach. I also saw how kind the people in the neighborhood were as they would all stop their car and ask if I needed any help. Even though this situation seemed depressing, it actually gave me time to reflect as I waited for my car to be towed. I realized that I had not spent a lot of time in God's presence because of the hustle and bustle from studying. I took this time to reflect and rest once again in God's embrace, and realized that this car trouble was a blessing in disguise. It gave me time away from everything to spend with the Lord, and also, I am blessed that I got my car fixed now so that it won't break down in some obscure place, or the highway.

Last but not least, final update, after a few months of talking and praying, I am now officially dating the girl that I was seeing, and well clearly I'm the blessed one in this relationship. A girl who can deal with me must be amazing right!! Anyway feel free to ask me more about this or anything else you may feel curious about, and please continue praying for me as I will continue to pray for all of you!

New Semester, Spring Term

This month was the start of my second semester in Seminary. Time has literally flown by and a new semester was already upon me.  After viewing my syllabus for all the classes, I realized that this was gonna be a very reading heavy semester. I have to read over 3000 pages for this semester alone... and for someone like me who never had to read in the past... there could be no greater challenge. Before heading into the new semester, me and a few friends had the chance to head down to Boston to relax from the tough J-term and rest our souls before jumping straight into a new semester. We went to old antique book stores... which clearly wasn't my choice, but it was fun. We went to Harvard, and attempted to read/study there... so technically speaking, I studied at Harvard. We also went to a Kung Fu Tea for some boba, which let me feel like I was home again. During Chinese New Year, my friends from Church invited me to their house, but before that they brought us into Chinatown in Boston and also the Boston General Market. It was my first Chinese New Year away from home, and I was able to feel the warmth and love from my friends up here. Both of these trips were a nice break from school, and a fun chance to explore Boston.

At the start of the semester, I spent most of my time reading. Greek did not take up as much time, which I regret now. There was just so much reading to be done, and I wanted to stay faithful and diligent in my studies so I planned out my weekly reading schedule. In short, I have to read around 200+ pages a week in different books, and... well... I realized I also read slow so... there goes all my free time. Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully... we had two blizzards which resulted in two snow days. This gave us a little extra time to catch up on reading, or just to take a short break before jumping into work again. Me and some friends took advantage of the huge piled up snow and went sledding to relieve some stress. Anyway back to my reading;
because of all the reading, my Greek suffered, and this week after coming back from Reading Week, I had to really work on my foundation for the new topics. I enjoyed my reading week back at home, but I didn't have all that much studying or reading done. We are learning all the different tenses for Greek, and I honestly didn't have a great grasp on it. Now I have to spend some extra time crunching down on reviewing Greek grammar, and most importantly, verbs.

Something interesting that happened during this month was when my friend drove me home from church on Sunday during the blizzard. First, we had to drive very slowly on the highway because it was slippery and the snow was coming down really hard. Secondly, as we got off the highway and onto the road leading to my school; turkeys started crossing the road in front of us. My friend tried to avoid hitting the silly turkeys but that caused us to spin out of control. Thankfully we only spun 90 degrees and she was able to pull into a driveway before we hit anything. The turkeys just stood there staring at us before getting off the road... Who knew turkeys would just wander about like that?? Thirdly, after dropping me off, my friend drove down the hill of Gordon Conwell back to her school, but on the way, she lost control of the car again because of the snow and went off the road into a snow bank. She was unable to get her car out, and we had to wait with her for a tow truck to come. Thankfully she had a friend that came to her rescue and drove her back to her campus, but her car was stuck there. So there I waited for the tow truck to pull us out and for me to drive her car into a nearby parking lot in our campus. This was one of the most difficult things I had ever done. I myself was a new driver, so parking someone else's car was new to me. Also, the tow truck had dropped me off backwards, so I had to back up into the parking lot. If that wasn't bad enough, the back window and side mirrors were iced over, so I could not see where I was going. Thankfully the tow truck kept backing up behind me so I followed its lights and backed up successfully without too causing any incidents. At least now I can say I drove in the snow for the first time!

Another first for me was taking the Boston Commuter Rail back up to school. I was blessed with a friend driving me back up to Boston on Friday, and with some guidance from my other friends, took the commuter rail from North Station all the way to North Hamilton. This experience itself is a short testimony of God providing for me. He gave me friends that helped me when I needed them most, and always provided a way for me to come back to school. Another small blessing was my decision to come back up on Friday. I came back up so that I could attend fellowship and Church on Sunday, as well as celebrate a friend's birthday on Friday. I could have come up with my other friend on Sunday, but because of my commitment to church, I decided to come up earlier. This ended up being a crucial choice because my friend whom I could have came up with on Sunday, decided to stay til Monday. Had I stayed til Sunday, I would have had to wait til Monday to come up and miss two very important classes on Monday morning. Small things like this showed me that God was working in providing for me and keeping me faithful.

During this time, God also continued to speak to me and answer my prayers. God was especially evident in providing for me when I needed a car. So, background, all throughout the J-term I was

Room where we meet for CHARIS (Young Adult Fellowship)

looking to buy a car. I had never bought a car before, nor did I know anything about cars to begin with, so you can imagine how lost i was during the whole process. Actually, truth be told, I wasn't putting as much effort as I really could have into diligently searching for cars. Thankfully, God brought beside me friends who helped me on my search for cars. They would recommend different cars that fit my budget and slowly taught me how to go about purchasing cars. However, no matter the number of cars that were brought up, and the number of people that I contacted, I was unable to buy a car. The sellers were either scams, unresponsive, or sold their cars before I had the chance to meet up with them. It came to a point where I started to wonder if God was trying to tell me something from this. The main reason why I needed a car was in order to attend church and do mentored ministry there (Mentored Ministry is a 1 credit class that requires me to serve around 10 hours a week at a church or organization, and meet up with a mentor at the church weekly). I would need to drive out for fellowship on Friday nights, Sunday mornings, and also meet up with different people for mentoring/discipleship. At the time I had not been very intentional about building relationships, and was not even sure how I would serve at the church. It seemed all I was trying to do was fulfill requirements for school and go along a schedule that I believed was best. I realized how silly and selfish I was being, and my need to give up the situation to God. He was calling me to faithful patience and to open my heart to this new church. So, two weeks before what I thought was the deadline for the paperwork to apply for Mentored Ministry was due, I decided to give up the situation to God.
I basically let God decide whether or not he wanted me to serve. If He wanted me to do mentored ministry, then provide for me before the deadline, and if not, then close that door. During this time I also decided to be more diligent on my end and spent time each night proactively searching for cars and contacting sellers. I was also more intentional with talking with people and getting to know more than their names and what their occupation was. After a week, there was still no luck with the car and I realized that the deadline for the paperwork was actually due the next week on Monday. I did however start building relationships at CBCGB, and was able to learn more about the people in my fellowship. On the topic of the car, I started to resign myself to accepting that God may be calling me to build deeper relationships first, and not just want to do things the way I thought it should go. Then, on Friday night during fellowship, as I talked to one of my colleagues from Gordon Conwell, who also attended my church and had been guiding me and helping me connect with CBCGB, she said something that blew my mind. She said she had been praying, and that she wanted to give me her old car!!
Now backstory on this: She had previously been considering whether to fix her old car or buy a new one, and resigned to just fixing her car. After fixing it, her parents decided to come alongside her and assist her in buying a new car. At this, she now had two cars, and so she needed to sell the old one. She started praying about what to do with the car and God kept putting me in mind. After confirming with God that this was his will, she approached me with the offer and I was blown away. I was right about to accept the fact that God was probably calling me to not serve yet, and then here He was, providing for me right when I needed it most. I was literally speechless, and couldn't think of anything to say. Imagine Me, speechless, I love talking... and now... I had no words to say. After arranging how things would work out, we left it off to a later date to deal with all the paperwork for the car, but I was still so shocked at how perfect the timing was. The paperwork for my class to start mentored ministry was do the coming Monday, which gave me time to talk with my mentor on Sunday about how I would serve. Now that I would be getting a car, I would be able to make it out to church to serve and meet with my mentor. Everything was falling into place, and I praise God for providing when I needed it most. The way how God worked perfectly, in bringing her to fix up her old car and me in patiently waiting while faithfully searching, helped me realize again that He knew best and had always been providing for me. Thinking back, I can now see his hand working in keeping me, teaching me to be patient and showing me just how much he was working in my life.

Lastly, things have been going amazing between me and the girl that I am seeing. We have been learning more and more about each other, as well as seeing where God might be leading this relationship. She has been a blessing in my life; an ear to listen, and a shoulder to lean on. If you want to know more, feel free to ask me, I'd love to share how we are doing and how blessed I feel for having her in my life! Please continue praying for us ^^.

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