My Daily Okonomiyaki: August 2009

“It’s not about me,” a declaration neatly written on Steve’s T-shirt, is what I can say about our 1 month-long internship with the Urban Ministry. Just as much as going there is a story of our planning, agreements and disagreements, what we have learned there, and of the impact we have had on the kids, I believe it is equally, if not completely, God’s story spoken, written and impressed through the three of us: Elena Kua Soo Li, Josephine Wong Chung Wai, and See Huang Lim.

I came to Minnesota for a Spring Break Campaign last March organized by ACU, the university I study in. What I thought to be something menial became my salvation – the theory of Jesus’ redemption on the cross made real. Coming from a difficult life in Malaysia, having to suffer for being a Christian and growing up in a broken family, I questioned God and my faith. There in Minnesota, what I considered to be a bane is redeemed. My pains, struggles, and sufferings are known by God and are used by Him to illustrate His faithfulness.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” John 15:16

Just what are the chances of an ordinary guy from Malaysia who has gone through what he has gone through coming to Minnesota to share his testimony to a group of fellow South East Asians who have gone and are going through similar situations? Now, I no longer look back to the past and feel depressed anymore. I know indeed that I have been redeemed, and that my past is no longer something I hide, but it is transformed into a precious treasure I now use to declare God’s grace.

Indeed, God’s grace is infectious. Back in ACU, God has already set within my heart to serve the Hmong again (1 week in St. Paul is never enough). Slowly, as I shared with my friends about how God has worked in my life, God began to draw them to desire serving alongside me with the Urban Ministry. The very first who expressed this desire is none other than the girl whom I courted some 5 months ago, Soo Li. Recently recommitting her life again to God, Soo Li’s desired to serve the ministry in order to challenge her lapse faith.

The other is Josephine, whom I consider my “Ka Cheh,” or Big Sis in Cantonese. Looking for an internship that will fulfill her social work degree’s internship requirements, Jo, as I affectionately call her, became interested with the work done through the ministry. However, Jo could not confirm with us whether she could join us as she needed the green light from her professors. It took her a few months before her professors actually approved her desire to fulfill her internship requirements through serving with the Urban Ministry. Getting her professors to agree proved hard and required a lot of prayers.

Nonetheless, everything did not fall into place at first. We did not know about every minute detail of how to get things done in order for us to serve there. The list of worries is insurmountable: transport, funds, Jo, etc. Yet, looking back now, I can testify that God gave us the wisdom to take one thing at the time, providing for us throughout our planning period.

Indeed, when we raised our funds for this internship by cooking, we only hoped to receive about $200-300. Try to guess how much we funds we raised in the end? We got in total more than $700 each time we fundraised.

So, God provided us the funds. Now, we had to decide our mode of transportation. I suggested to Soo Li that we should go there by car. Both of us do not own a car, and how in the world are we able to find one in time for the internship? Lo and behold, Soo Li’s out-of-the-country roommate, Miriam, agreed to lend us her car for the internship.

What about Jo? As I have mentioned, we prayed a lot for her. At first, we received nothing but bad news from her professors. About a few weeks before leaving for Minnesota, while Soo Li and I are still in Malaysia, Jo confirmed with us that her professors finally agreed to allow her to come with us.

The last worry we had dealt with the car insurance. Trust me; we went all over in search for an insurance company which will insure our car. None. We wanted to just quit and look up to the internet for cheap flight tickets. And then a friend recommended us to try State Farm. So, we decided to just try out State Farm, and we went there. Just as we are on way, a lady from the company suddenly called us to inform us that she wants us to come by her office. We are just on the way to her office, we told her. Sure enough, State Farm is a godsend, the only company willing to insure our car. Before we left, the lady introduced us to her colleague, a Korean American. Interestingly, when we told her we are going up north to serve the Hmong, she blurted out that she is married to a Laotian, suggesting that her husband is Hmong. What a coincidence!

Truth be told, everything came into place by God’s grace. God chose the three of us, as He knew fit. And sure enough, all three of us had a role to play, evidently enough as we drove up to Minnesota. Both Soo Li and I are the drivers, while Jo played her part as the navigator. Being inexperienced drivers ourselves, we thank God that He provided us Jo to be our navigator. Sure enough, Jo is at her best as our navigator, helping us to drive without getting too lost on the way. While either one of us drive, the other driver takes a nap. Doing this allowed us to be alert, especially, both of us have never driver so far before, not to mention on the wrong side of the road (in Asia, we drive on the right side of the road). Without each other, I doubt that we could even get to Minnesota in one piece. So, it is really God’s providence that we actually arrived at Steve’s place at the midnight of the 9^th of last month.

Of course, our first week in St. Paul is basically just an exposure to what is done there. Soon, we are by ourselves, organizing activities and planning things to do with the kids. Despite our planning, I again learned that the things that will be done through are nothing than a bigger, grander and more elaborate plan of God. Of course, as I said before, all of us had our role to play. We saw how God used all three of us and all our different gifts to glorify Him.

Being the planner and teacher (as well as the treasurer) Soo Li helped direct the three of us, especially when it came to Thursday’s Kids Connection. She always made sure that there are fun games to play with the kids during the class with them. Jo, on the other hand, is adept at not just hospitality (cooking and the likes), but also in playing and talking with the kids. Jo is constantly reaching out to the kids, and trying to be their friend. Certainly, her big sister qualities benefitted her in this area. Of course, this is one of the few handfuls of things that Soo Li and Jo had done over there in Minnesota. The extent of what God has done through them is undeniable immense, of which you have to ask them to know.

As for me, I cooked some for the kids too and my kimchi-making skills made it possible to draw closer to some of the kids, like Shernia, who loves anything Korean. Yes, the three of us cook very often for the kids. During one of the devotional nights, we made Malaysian curry and rice for the kids. We could literally see the faces of the kids shinning, as if glittering as they take their respective plateful of curry rice. Furthermore, learning how to swim some two years ago had enabled me to get closer to some of the boys, as I taught them to how swim.

Indeed, God carefully chose each one of us – each with different personalities, talents and gifts – to reach out to the Hmong there. God has also constantly demonstrated that He is the chief planner in all of our plans. For instance, when we wanted to reach out to one of the girls, Mani, God instead brought us closer to Mani’s Mom and her brothers, of whom I exorcised from them the fear of water.

Even in camp, God showed Himself to meticulously place events in a way that will glorify Him. This is evident when both Soo Li and I went to the cafeteria for dinner and a girl called Fanny all of a sudden approached us, and talked to us. We did not know her, but she just started talking to us. After a while, I saw the Chinese character for love, ‘Ai,’ written on the back of her hand. Knowing the character, I instantly instructed her to fetch a piece of paper, of which I will later use to teach her the way of writing the character. It takes 13 strokes to write the character ‘Ai,’ I told her. After showing her how to write the character, I told her to get a Bible. Turn to 1^st Corinthians 13, I asked Fanny. I told her to read it. 1^st Corinthians 13 and 13 strokes to write the character ‘Ai’. I cannot describe to you how she looked that evening.

Later, she began telling me of her difficulty growing up, and of making wrong decisions in life. She told me that she wanted to know God, but gave me the excuse that “I can’t know Him when I hardly even know myself”. She even told me that God had been following her all the time, and she could feel His presence. Yet, with a yes comes a no, when she again gave me another excuse, “the Bible is just too hard to understand”. Without restrain, the Holy Spirit is already at work at that moment. At that moment, as if possessed, I sat down with her, looking straight at her in a serious manner, and told her, “You understood 1^st Corinthians 13, didn’t you?” She said yes, which only proved my point that the Bible can be understood if she would just choose to not listen to the lie that it is too metaphorical. Then, I told her my testimony, telling her that I came from a hard life, all of which necessary, all of which brought me to Minnesota, all of which if did not happen, would render the conversation with her impossible, and all of which happened in order for God to tell her that He is with her.

“Fanny,” I told her, “this conversation is not coincidence. As God has chased after you then, He is doing so NOW. If you want to know yourself, get to know God, as He knows you more than you know yourself. Think about what I’ve said. Remember that He loves you.”

By the time I am done, her eyes became slightly watery, and she walked away, without first giving me a hug. I do not know if she will become a Christian, but I do hope that she will remember that God is faithful, even in her unfaithfulness.

That night, another incident happened. This time, it is not good news. Judy, a Hmong girl with her three-year-old son Noah who is living with Shawna’s (Shawna is one of the urban ministers) parents in Texas, has gotten herself in trouble, the very same kind of problem that got her pregnant in the first place. What is worse is that in doing so, Judy had also neglected Noah. Obviously, Shawna became very saddened that night, and we prayed a lot for Judy that night. The next day, I decided to fast for Judy, and this is the first time I had ever fasted my entire life. With the faith the size smaller than that of a mustard seed, I fasted for Judy. The following day, God answered our prayers. A miracle happened. Judy called up Shawna’s parents and apologized. According to Shawna, Judy had never done that before, and doing so showed God at work.

Of course, God had also taught us a lot through the experience serving with the Urban Ministry. Apart from learning how to fish, I had opportunity to allow God to change my fear of children to love. Before this, I used to dislike children. Now, I cannot help feeling slightly depressed that I would not be able to see Tommy and Johnny, two of the kids that I have grown to love and cherish, for a while. Even Soo Li mentioned that I have changed in this area. While hiking, she told me that she found it heartwarming to see Mani’s brother, Ger, grasping my larger hand as we hiked together. Yes, Ger and Tou, Mani’s brothers have their place in my heart. Gosh, I feel like sobbing in the middle of the library now, thinking of little Ger hugging me so tightly after I told him I’ll be going back to Texas. Ah, the times I’d carry them around, chasing after them, and swinging them around… These are memories worth remembering.

God also used my relationship with Soo Li to His glory in this internship. One of the things we have learned ourselves from this relationship is that if we chose to honor God through this relationship, we can enjoy the relationship more than we can ever think about. Before Soo Li and I started our courtship, we agreed that we wanted to honor God through our relationship, that we wanted to be pure, and that we wanted to treat each other with the honor that we each deserve. We even prayed before starting our courtship. We started the relationship not with the motive to gratify our sexual needs, but with the serious intention of seeking God’s will for us, the possibility of marriage. With this in mind, we started our relationship, to seek God first and to grow in our friendship and commitment, and to slowly grow our romance. We also told each other that the relationship would naturally be hard, as we are different in personality and character. However, we agreed that we want to forgive one another just as Christ had forgiven us. Although our relationship has been has been hard the first few months, we saw just how real the forgiveness that Christ teaches about. At one time, we fought so badly that we did not talk to each other for the whole day. Yet, God brought me back to what we agreed the night we started our courtship: to forgive each other just as Christ had forgiven us. I went to Soo Li, and without bringing up the issue, I apologized. Since then, we have grown in our friendship and faith.

In relation to our internship, I believe God had selected both Soo Li and I specifically. Before we left, we wanted to spend time with two of the girls we are fond of, Mani and Bai. Of course, Mani, being the absent minded one had forgotten about our trip to the Mall of America. Yet, because she did not come, we are able to talk to Bai about the issue of dating. Of course, this again happened because God had been directing us from the very beginning. Without even bringing up her relationship with Sen, her boyfriend, we told Bai casually about our relationship. After sharing with her about our relationship, she told us about some of the things she isn’t proud of in her relationship with Sen. With God’s direction, we are able to talk with her about some of her “problems” and only gave her advice when she had asked for it. After the talk, she requested for us to pray for us. This conversation, again, would not have been possible without God.

Before leaving Minnesota, the three of us agreed to meet Judy on the way back to Abilene. So, we stopped by in Lubbock, Texas, just to see Judy. Meeting Shawna’s parents, they told us that Judy missed Hmong food. Almost like coincidence, the food she missed most is pho (pronounced fuh), beef noodle soup, which happened to be one of the few food I know how to make, after learning from Tommy and Johnny’s grandmother, Chue. So, we went around to get the ingredients for pho that afternoon, and in the evening, I taught Judy how to make pho, while Soo Li wrote down the recipe for her. That night, Judy downed her pho, and looked at the three of us happily, as if conveying a thank you without words. Trust me, Judy would not been so if I did not know how to make pho, and again, I attribute this “coincidence” to God.

Now that we are back in Abilene writing this, I am amazed at what God had done through us, and I hope all of you will also be amazed at the awesomeness of God. Things could have turned out very differently, but, now I can see that it is indeed God’s will for us to go to St. Paul in the first place. Each of us played a role, none more important than the other. Our past, our gifts, our relationships – all these, God has used to bring others closer to Him. God has indeed chosen the three of us very carefully, and sent us there to serve the Hmong we have come to love. This is the story of God sending three Asian ACU students to serve alongside a group of fellow Asians in St. Paul, Minnesota. Praise the Lord!

See Huang

PS: Although God has done so much in our lives through this internship, it became possible only after we had allowed God to use us. If I did not go for the Spring Break Campaign last March, I would not be writing this right now. So, God expects to do our part, to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

My Daily Okonomiyaki

Monday, August 31, 2009

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Mass-Produced Mission Trip Summary

わずかなことを言う！

友達たち

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