Mixed Bag

When you think life has settled down, the unexpected happens. Not that this week was bad. It’s been a great week. Work is picking up, and I get to do some meaningful work, which has been exciting. But it's been like a partly cloudy day, full of sunshine one moment, then cloudy and gray the next. I'm still trying to sort through all that has happened.

Partly Cloudy 

This week, I was assigned to update the Epic Movement (Asian American ministry of Cru) website. Because of Cru’s multiethnic ministries do not have their own operations teams, which means there isn’t someone assigned to keep the movement’s online presence updated. While it was tedious going through each page and clicking on every single link, it was also meaningful and fulfilling, knowing that people will be able to find the right information and get connected to an Epic Movement on their campuses. Also, it’s extra special to be working on the Asian American ministry website, because it hits so close to home 😊

And my supervisor is coming to Orlando tomorrow! I'm looking forward to seeing him in person.

People from home came to visit me this week! Uncle Paul, Kyle, and Joey are production staff at River of Life Christian Church, and they came to Orlando to attend the WFX conference, and they visited me Thursday evening! We ate dinner at Pig Floyd, then visited Summit Church. After the Thursday night service, we got a tour of all the tech that the church uses for its services. It was so cool to see all the equipment that makes the sounds and sights of a church service come alive. Of course, it was fun to have conversations in Chinglish – just like at home.

Visitors

I also got lunch with Lauro, the worship pastor at Nona Church on Friday! It was really cool to get to know him and hear all about the things that Nona Church is doing, and the ways it is growing and ministering to the Lake Nona community. I’m SUPER EXCITED to have the opportunity to possibly serve on the worship team!  Lauro sent me the audition material and the two songs are “King of my Heart” and “Living Hope,” both of which are very close to my heart 💕 The possibility of having music back into my life has given me permission to listen to Classical music again. Not that I’ll be playing any classical piano in the near future, but I'm slowly allowing myself to enjoy the things that were integral parts of my identity back home. Perhaps life in Orlando does not have to be as foreign as I imagined.  Either way, I’m looking forward to bringing my gifts to the kingdom! 

So that’s all the sunshine. The sad news is that one of the interns was released from Cru Thursday evening. All the interns received an email at 9pm, and the intern messaged our group 20 minutes later, apologizing for the unexpected turn of events and assuring us that he loves us all very much. Then he left the chat. None of us saw it coming; we were all blind-sided. We had eaten at Red Robin the night before for National Cheeseburger Day, and the next day he was gone. It has been, and still is, hard for our community. Going through the grieving process would be very accurate.

But a few beautiful things have come out of this incident! We are definitely getting closer, and it’s been cool to see how we’ve come together to support one another in this. Everyone has been a joy, and I have to say that we’ve reached new depth in our community. We had a worship night together, and I got to make dinner for everyone and made a very special dessert: California strawberries dipped in Ghirardelli chocolate (from San Francisco). 

A Homey Dessert

So it has been a week with a very mixed bag of feelings. I've definitely hit the highs and lows during my time here. For the first time in Orlando, I laughed so hard that I cried, and I shared the pains of a friend being ripped out of our community. But this is all part of the growing process, and I am grateful. 

And thank you for all your prayers and love, and supporting me on this journey. For those starting school again this week, I pray that you'll experience God's abundant and exciting plan for you in the coming school year 😊