U12 - A Timeline of Events

This will probably be for my own benefit than anything else, laying out a timeline of the trip so I can recall things easier. I'll probably write more later reflecting on the things God's challenged me with over the past few days. The typical schedule for the day looked something like this:

FRIDAY 12/28/12

• 0630 - Woke up
• 0650 - Went down and got breakfast. (Breakfast usually consisted of a danish/pastry, yogurt, a fruit, and juice).
• 0830 - Went to inductive bible study; met two people from the Philippines
• 1030 - Went to first morning session. Bible expositor Calisto Odede. Sat w/ UWIV
• 1230 - Picked up lunch from ABP, ate at the hotel, relaxed and took a nap.
• 1400 - Went to seminar, tried to go to "What it take to transform a city" but it was full. Went to "Politics!? Why bother?" instead.
• 1530 - Went to Pastors & Church Leaders (PC) seminar on "How Can the Local Church Help Young Adults Interested in Going into Missions?" by Ken Fong, Paul Borthwick, Mauricio Alvarez, and Janet Clark.
• 1630 - Returned to the hotel to take a nap.
• 1800 - Went to America's Center (AC) for dinner.
• 1830 - Dinner at the AC (Dinner consisted of BBQ Chicken sandwich, mac'n'cheese, an apple or orange, water, and a chocolate cake). 
• 1850 - Went to Edward Jone's Dome for first evening session.
• 1930 - Evening session 1 - Chai Ling and David Platt. Sat w/ UWIV
• 2230 - Returned to Hotel for first Roommate Huddle; great conversations taking place during roommate huddle, went well past midnight.
• 0100 - Sleep, Matt didn't get back til late.

SATURDAY 12/29/12

• 0800 - Woke up
• 0840 - Went to inductive bible study. Met Austin from Bellevue, but studying somewhere on the east coast. Two others from Michigan. Long passage, not enough time for it all!
• 1030 - Went to morning session with Calisto Odede. Tired today, harder to stay awake. Ordered lunch from Jimmy John's online and had them deliver. Sat w/ UWIV
• 1230 - Ran back to the hotel to meet Jimmy John's delivery guy. Got lunch for everyone minus Kristine and Susie. Had lunch in the room, met Shane. Jesse threw slipper at Matt, apparently reminiscent of Kenya.
• 1400 - Went back to AC to try get in on seminar "Theology of Suffering". Room didn't even have standing room as the seats, aisles, every available space was filled and the crowd spilled out into the hallway trying to listen. 
• 1430 - Went back to the hotel to pick up stuff for the next seminar.
• 1450 - Left for next seminar at the Millenium Hotel (roughly 8 blocks from the AC).
• 1500 - Got to Millenium, saved seat for Austin. Good thing too, seminar was packed, not even standing room available
• 1530 - Seminar on "Responding to the New Atheism". Very knowledgeable speaker, covered a lot of material. Favorite quote "I am appalled at the lack of intellectual knowledge among Evangelical Christians." Being a Christian doesn't mean you have to forsake knowledge!
• 1645 - Went back to the hotel for a nap.
• 1800 -Went to AC for dinner
• 1840 - Dinner at the AC, Tacos/Burritos/not sure which... for dinner. Refried beans, and I forget what else. Refried beans tasted like water and cardboard... First time in my life that I can remember having a gag reflex from eating something. Churro was good though!
• 1930 - World Vision Care-Giver packages -16,000 students packing 32,000 caregiver kits filling two cargo containers with boxes of kits, all under 2 hours! Amazing experience, like witnessing a miracle in action! Sat w/ UWIV. Stambo sat behind us!
• 2230 - Went back to hotel for roommate huddles! Ordered pizza too. Pizza never tasted so good. So much to talk about during roommate huddles... everything we learned from seminars, barely getting to talking about what God's been convicting us of.
• 0230 - Sleep. Matt was a bit hyper tonight. Austin got some funny videos.

SUNDAY 12/30/12

• 0800 - Woke up
• 0845 - Went to inductive Bible study. Met Adrial from San Jose (goes to school in Rhode Island), Priscilla and Sarah from Toronto, Canada. Fun bible study group! Got heckled by Canadians afterwards for not knowing how many provinces Canada has... Americans really are a bit dense... should change that!
• 1030 - Went to morning session, this time by Ram Sridharan on the Parable of the Lost Son. God-gifted preacher who gave a stunning Gospel presentation. 96 people met Jesus for the first time this morning, with hundreds more recommitting to Him. The Heavens rejoiced, Urbana privileged to join them. Urbana tribe challenged to meet $1,000,000 in offerings towards global missions. Came close! Sat w/ Wintersburg/Orchard valley peeps. 
• 1230 - Ordered Jimmy John's delivery again, picked it up from the Renaissance Grand Hotel lobby, where the 2pm seminar was taking place. Ate lunch in the Majestic Ballrooms with Matt, Matt, Austin, Garrett, and Allison. 
• 1400 - David Platt's seminar on "The Life of a Disciple-Making Disciple". Convicting and challenging seminar. David Platt's message is not an inherently new one to Christianity, but he presents it in a fresh and challenging way. Calls for Disciples to live out as the Bible has called them to, challenging the luke-warm, self-focused attitude of the North American Church.
• 1500 - Stayed in the same room for the PC seminar on "How Can the Church Keep Different Generations of Members Engaged in Missions?" with James Choung, Leroy Barber, Helen Lee, and David Platt. Appreciated the Pastors and Church Leaders track, getting to hear the experiences from the various speakers and leaders who have come to Urbana. More casual and intimate setting than the other seminars or messages they gave. Q&A time was a blast. Met David Platt (rather unintentionally) afterwards as I was leaving. Got to shake his hand. Tempted to not ever wash that hand again, but no idol worship. Great guy, very humble, and incredible speaker. Passion for Jesus so present and clear.
• 1700 - Matt took me back to AC to audition with CTI. Made contacts, met folks, now to follow up and fill out my Sound Tech questionnaire. Seriously considering a year-long commitment with them...
• 1800 - Went to worship room until it closed at 1830, then went to dinner. Dinner tonight was pasta with red sauce, salad, bread stick and an apple or orange. Not too bad!
• 1930 - Profoundly powerful evening session. Heard testimonies from pastors/missionaries from Brazil. Learned how the four points of the compass have been reached with God's word. But there remain 6,000 people groups who have yet to hear the Gospel. Our mission is far from complete! But the word of Jesus is going forth. Nations which were once the focus of global missions have themselves becomes the senders of global missionaries. Sat w/ Wintersburg/Orchard Valley peeps.
• First ever total media blackout over Urbana session. Speaker came from a war-torn country where being Christian is a death-sentence. Blackout was to protect those still involved in the ministry. For their protection, no details of names or places will be given. The speaker wasn't the powerful speaker that David Platt or Calisto are, more soft spoken. But her testimony is absolutely riveting. Ask me about it and I'll take you to coffee. Her testimony broke my heart and gave me the courage for the commitment card. 
• Commitment cards tonight... mine was terrifying to write. So much to give up. So much more to gain. So many 'I don't knows' involved. Yet God is worth following. Evening speaker: "The first suffering man must endure in following Christ is the abandonment of attachments." We must give up our rights to our hopes, dreams and longings for our future and lay our lives fully in the hands of Christ. We must die in every sense of the word to live in Christ. Her husband died in the country they were missionaries in back in 2010, received an award from the President for it. This night she said "[my husband] didn't die in 2010, he died that night at Urbana in 1967 when he whispered 'yes' to Jesus."
• So much more to say... reflections to come later.
• 2300 - Roommate huddles back at the hotel. So much to talk about... so much left unsaid. Ordered pizza again. Josh came to hang out for a bit. Had lotsa laughs from Matt's antics the night before.
• Follow up conversations needed!
• 0330 - Sleep, after much Holy Spirit filled conversation. Plenty of time to catch up on sleep after Urbana. =P

MONDAY 12/31/12

• 0900 - SLEEP IN DAY! Woke up for bible study. Went to Bible study a bit late. Started at 9:15, got there maybe 10 mins late. Bible study w/ Canadians again! Sarah and met Diana and Melody this time. Shared brief testimony about Urbana journey. Guess God's really pointing me in a direction someone says I've been running from. The calling was affirmed over and over again. Time to stop pulling a Jonah... but not sure what it means yet.
• 1130 - Last morning session with Calisto. Sat w/ UWIV. Ran into Hilly after morning session!
• 1230 - Went with Jesse and Austin to the Rooster for lunch. Got a delicious sirloin crepe... so good. Home made tomato jam and chips.
• 1400 - Went back to the hotel to take care of transportation logistics to the airport. God was at work. No major issues with transportation to or from Urbana. God delivered on many prayers.
• 1500 - Was gonna only take a short nap and go back to prayer rooms... ended up napping until 5:00pm.
• 1700 - Went to AC to get in line for the Dome for the New Years Eve session. Austin ordered Jimmy John's for us.
• 1830 - Doors opened, managed to snag seats on the floor. Sat with Wintersburg. UWIV managed to get 40 seats near the front. Floor filled up before most people finished dinner. Final evening session kicked off. President of IVCF Canada shared. A number of dances and dramas (they were amazing throughout the conference). Had an hour break, started up again around 8 or 9. Went through some more dramas and highlights from the conference. Terry LeBlanc from First World Nations shared. Then we partook of communion as a whole. Process went until 11:30 pm. Went into a time of worship, worshiped and celebrate Jesus through the countdown. Videos to follow. First words of 2013 were singing praise to Jesus in Hindi. Our God is an amazing God.

TUESDAY 01/01/13

• 0100 - Returned to the hotel. Filled everyone in on the transportation plan to the airport. Shuttle would take the 11 who had a 6 am flight. Jesse, Austin and I gave up our seats to let Allison, Kelsey and Rebecca catch their flights. We would take the metro later. (Everyone made their flights and made it home!). Prayed over the group, then went to pack. Kristine ordered pizza again! Our nightly celebration. Bad for me though, gonna have to run it off in the next few days! Hung out upstairs in with the Wintersburg peoples for awhile, was a blessing to meet new people or reconnect with old friends.
• 0230 - Went back to my room to pack, shower and get ready to go. 
• 0330 - Group met downstairs in the lobby to check out of the hotel and get on the shuttle. Counted everyone off onto the shuttle, said bye! Then went back upstairs around 4:15am. Hung out with Janell and Matt Y. for a bit. Jesse and Austin napped. Went back downstairs to check out around 4:45 am. Met Christina from Oregon (studying in Texas) while checking out. She was going to catch the metro too, but didn't have anyone to go with. We offered to walk with her since it was the middle of the night.
• 0450 - Left Crown Plaza Downtown for the last time. Walked 4 blocks north to the metro station. Found out the Urbana guides and stewards stayed out on the streets all night to help shepherd and watch over the Urbana people going home.
• 0520 - Boarded the Metro to the airport. Lots of other Urbana people on the train going too.
• 0600 - Arrived at the airport, checked in, and made it to our gates w/o much trouble. Everyone exhausted. Saw Rebecca and gotta chat to her a bit before she got on her flight.
• 0750 - Boarded our flights to Chicago!
• 0815 - Left St. Louis! Met Brenda on the flight, was an Urbana volunteer, helped coordinate the guides and the security volunteers. Learned about potential future opportunities to serve at Urbana 15. Maybe.
• 0900 - Arrived in Chicago - sunny skies and no snow! Couple hours for a layover, ended up knocking out for about an hour and a half. Didn't realize I'd fallen asleep for that long. Thanks for Jesse keeping an eye out.
• 1100 - Boarded flight to Seattle!
• 1130 - Took off for Seattle! Slept the entire flight.
• 1330 - Arrived in Seattle. Arrived at the mission field.

Home is yet to come, I have so much to reflect upon. May the Holy Spirit stir and speak over the next few days.

Urbana So Far...

It's the end of our second full day at Urbana and so far this conference has been very moving and impactful. I am so thankful to be here! I am so thankful for AAIV and my family at Lighthouse and for God providing me with safe travels and the funds to bring me here. Being away from Washington this past term has been really rough and I have felt a lot of loneliness, but God has really shown me, even just in these last couple days, how much I have to be thankful for - especially for these communities. I got to St. Louis a little later than I had hoped, and since my flight was slightly delayed, we didn't really have much time to settle in. We skipped hotel check-in, dropped off our stuff in our room and headed over to the America Center for the first session. The speakers and the seminars so far have been amazing, but I found myself in need of quiet reflection and personal communion with God. There has been so much information presented to me, so many ways that God has been molding my heart, convicting me and opening my eyes, that it hasn't had a chance to really sink in, and leave the imprint that I think God is trying to put on my life. 

...

One of the many things that I am thankful for in this conference is the availability of prayer rooms. I went to one today, and was able to reflect and journal a bit about the things that I think God is trying to teach me: The people who are presenting and those who are worshipping and serving have such an incredible sense of confidence in God's mission and the way that they fit into his plan. Before I left home for Urbana, I thought that I had a plan that fell in line with God's mission. I thought that the goals I am striving for, are beneficial for his kingdom - and they still may be, but even this past day and a half, I have learned about how much I need to grow. Not so much growth in the way of gaining knowledge or experience in the field or knowledge of the Bible, but in confidence and faith in Christ. The confidence that I see in the speakers and seminar leaders, of the missionaries and team leaders, is a confidence that their efforts and good intentions are nothing without God. And that their accomplishments do not praise them, but they praise Jesus and his global mission for change. Before this conference, I was hoping that figuring out ways to plug myself into ministries and missions would reflect my devotion to Christ, but God cares more about the condition of our heart, not our worldly deeds or what we think are accomplishments.

One of the verses that was displayed in the prayer room was James 1:5-8, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." This really reminded me to strive to believe and not doubt God's purpose and movement through me, simply as a tool for his glory.

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Tonight there was a presentation from a businessman who has made a decision to partner with World Vision. He said that he had before just been in the business of medical equipment sales, but after one of his friends from World Vision introduced him to the poverty in Swaziland, he was moved by the Holy Spirit to use his position to make a difference for this country. Tonight we helped make over 32,000 caregiver packs to send to caregivers in Swaziland. They contained basic necessities like latex gloves, antibacterial soaps and cotton swabs that they would not have been able to get. For the businessman who came, this was his moment of determining change - a turning point for his life. For me, it was clear reminder to use my gifts and future skills to make a positive impact, whether it is globally or locally.

One of the questions for tonight encouraged us to reflect on the repeating themes in the past 24 hours. One of the main themes that has been repeating is the story about the Great Banquet and the invitation we have to come to the great party that God has invited us to. Something that really stood out to me is my sense of frustration at the people in the story who made up ridiculous excuses to avoid the banquet, and realizing that sometimes I am just like that. That even though God has an amazing and perfect plan for my life and has tried to give me direction, I sometimes find myself unsure or making up excuses. I think God is inviting me to view the world differently by showing me the needs of others and challenging me to have a childlike faith, fully depending on him for direction and my future. I think he is showing me how view others in love and view the world as a field for missions. I feel him encouraging me with the vast amount of opportunities that I have, and that I just need to trust him.

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Thanks Dsak for starting this! I hope our experiences and sharing can encourage you, who is reading this (: Thank you for your prayers! It's freezing here! But God is moving (: And I'm sleepy.. I probably shouldn't have stayed up this late.. Haha goodnight!

Urbana 2012 - Day 1 and 2

It's 7:30am on our first full-day of Urbana! I'm excited for what today will bring. The first couple of days have already been full of the Holy Spirit. We flew out of Seattle early in the morning on the 26th, and God's grace was with us from the get go. Despite all my fears and worries about the travel logistics, the trip over went about as smoothly as it possibly could. I wasn't able to check in online because the online check in said we didn't have seats guaranteed. The group met at the airport around 4am and we were all able to check in without any problems, and we all got seats on the flight! God is good! The timing was just right too, we managed to clear security before things got busy, giving us a bit of downtime at the gate. I knocked out for pretty much the entire flight from Seattle to Chicago, where we had about a 2 hour layover.

In Chicago, we had plenty of time to grab lunch and relax for a bit before our connecting flight. Good thing too, poor Dayna got a bit motion sick on the flight from Seattle. She was feeling a little better by the time we boarded for St. Louis. We also ran into some folks from Wintersburg while we were there! Matt recognized some friends from JEMS Mt. Hermon. Our flight to St. Louis boarded pretty much right on time, I slept for most of this flight too. We got into St. Louis around 3:30 and pretty much as soon as we left the terminal, we saw the Urbana welcome booths. An elderly gentlemen was our guide from the booth to baggage claim and on to the metro. Not nearly as much walking as I had initially anticipated! Which was a God-send. It's cold here! Temperature-wise not too much worse than home, but the wind... man the wind bites you. There's no snow on the ground here (yet) but it's sure cold enough to snow. The metro let us off about 4 blocks from our hotel, a nice easy walk that let us get an idea of what was around food-wise.

We were able to check-in to the hotel without a hitch, and we managed to get both rooms on the 18th floor only a few doors down from each other. The guys' room is actually about 1.5 times bigger than the girls' room, which worked out cause we had 5 of us in here the first night. Leaves plenty of room for me to workout too! =P After we got settled, we decided on Jimmy John's for a quick dinner. Barely a few hour in the city and we already ran into a few people I knew from Mt. Hermon! Got dinner w/ one of my former students, Billy. It's funny how God is using Urbana as a crossroads of sorts, giving me a chance to re-connect with brothers and sisters in the Faith from all over.

After dinner we went back to the hotel, needless to say we were plenty tired. I think the ladies just went to bed (it was about 8pm local time at that point). Jesse, Austin and I went down to the fitness center and worked out for about an hour, Matt and Garrett relaxed and played cards in the room. After showering and washing up for bed, finally got to sleep around 9:30-10.

We slept in til about 9 the next morning, woke up, got ready to go, then went over to the America's Center to register. Once we got everyone registered, we got lunch, half of us got soup from a place called Au Bon Pain, the other half went back for more Jimmy John's. We've found out the majority of eateries in the area are on the pricier side ($$ - $$$$ on yelp). There's almost no fast food places. On the way back from lunch we stopped at a quick mart and picked up some essentials - OJ, pocket tissue packs, and some contact solution for Kristine. When we got back, the lobby was packed with Urbana-ites checking in. Saw lots of familiar faces! UW AAIV and friends from JEMS. I found out that my UW beanie stood out, as I had at least two people ask if I was from Seattle.

After socializing for a bit, we returned to our rooms to rest. I napped until about 4. We met up w/ some folks from AAIV for dinner around 4:45, went to a burger place called Bailey's. It was pretty good! More of a gourmet burger place, definitely fancier than Red Robin. The shakes were amazing, a large shake and you could combine any two of their home-made ice cream flavors. Sooo good! I got brownie crumble and peanut butter. At around 6, Kristine and I met up w/ Susie (Kristine's roommate from UPenn who's staying with us), and walked her from the metro to the hotel to get her settled in. From there we went back to the America's Center to get her registered. By this point, the center was crowded with conference goers. This time around we were running into lotsa folks. We saw Josh and Steven as we were waiting in line. Once Susie was all registered, we made our way to the Edward Jones Dome, finding our seats just as the worship was getting started.

It is exciting to be back here. Worshiping with roughly 16,000 other believers from around the globe is an incredible experience. The image that stands out to me from this night was when we were singing Revelation song, only it was being sung in English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin all at once. Words utterly fail to capture the beauty of that moment - the languages were different, but the praise was the same. Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty. The first time I came to Urbana, it took me a bit to get comfortable with the worship, as they often worship in songs that reflect the diversity present. This time around, I was just excited to be there. The keynote speaker is Callisto Odede, a pastor from Nairobi, Kenya. I'm excited to see what God will say to us through him.

I could go on and on, but this post is already plenty long! And I wanna sneak in a short nap before we head off to our first morning bible study. Hopefully some of the others will chime in their experiences! Until next time!

PS! Please be praying for health! Between being out in the cold and the early mornings/late nights, staying well may prove to be a challenge.