Donut's Donuts

Donut's Donuts Family 

Had lunch @ Mon Hue with Donut's Donuts employees.

These are all the workers, except the delivery men.

There's definitely a language barrier, but somehow we show love and care through our smiles and actions.

They're always so good to me. 

Whenever they eat something, they offer to give me some too!

I always felt like I was being taken care of.

Glad I had the chance to treat them out :)

TEAM

This is our 2013 Remnant Vietnam/Indonesia Team - 

Andrew JRN . Daeil . Joseph . Daniel
Hajin . Laura . Lina . Cindy
Anna . Sara

It's my 4th year going on this mission trip.

Being in Vietnam, not being able to attend mission trainings/team meetings, I wasn't too excited for missions. Just going for the sake of it?

I actually planned to be on this team even before I came to Vietnam (even before the team was formed). It may have been a mere routine.. just going cus I have the past 3 years. In addition to that, because I'll be in Vietnam anyway. All I have to do is fly up to Hanoi to join the team. Might as well?

Basically, I haven't really been looking forward to it.

It felt like a random team.. (no offense!) I only saw Lina a couple times before I left, I've never even met Daeil before, and Sara and I will be joining the team later on (aka we won't be training with the team.) 

What is this? Is this gonna work out? Will we be unified as a team?

Today, the team had their first meeting to practice the skit. 

Sara's in the states right now, so she was able to attend the meeting, and thanks to God who created amazing technology, they FaceTime-ed me in!

It wasn't a long session, but I was able to say hi to every teammate (minus JRN) and they gave me the honor to pray for the team. (Its been a while since I prayed in English in a group setting...)

Bottom line, I got super excited.

Its been really hard here and I've been especially struggling the past week.

I've been tempted to think, "I just wanna cancel all my plans and hurry and go back to California."

However, something about today's short meeting with my teammates REALLY encouraged me. 

God is good. He encourages me in unexpected ways through unexpected people. "Expect the unexpected!"

I'm excited to see how God is going to bless us and how we are going to be used as channels of blessings this coming summer :) 

T  E  A  M

Together Everyone Achieves More

SALMON !

God must have read my blog.
He saw it! He read it!
He read that I wanted Salmon!

A deacon took me out to dinner today.
We went to "Tokyo Deli".

When I opened up the menu and saw pictures of salmon everywhere, I knew I wanted it.
To be completely honest, I wanted the salmon sashimi. But.... y'know..... I can't order that.....
However, I knew I had to be assertive, or else she would just pick the rolls. (Aka there's a chance it might not be salmon rolls!)
I boldly stated my desire: "I want salmon."

Salmon & Avocado Roll, Spicy Salmon Roll
Squid Tempura, Fried Udon

HONESSSTTTLLY, it wasn't that great. BUT salmon is salmon. And I am thankful.

Regardless of how delicious I wish it could have been, I ate away like a fatso.

Made my wasabi soy sauce, dunked the ginger into the soy sauce, placed it on top of my salmon roll, and... "mmmmmmmmmm~" :) 

"It's Vietnam"

The whole Ho Chi Minh City had a power outage today.

THE WHOLE CITY!

It's almost like saying, "LA County had a power outage."

Ridiculous....

In times like these we just say, "베트남이자나" (It's Vietnam..) 

Then all things are understandable and forgivable.

Experiencing some interesting things over here. 

"Yay for Vietnam! HIYAH!" 

200 Days

Another 100 days has passed...

  

Today marks my 200th day in Vietnam!

Preach

Last night, I complained. 

Just a little! (okay, maybe a little more than a little) 

about having to preach every week.

Today, I woke up to this:

"PREACH THE WORD..."

2 Timothy 4:2

"YES, LORD!

I... I'm sorry! 

I'll preach.

Not because I'm worthy,

not because I'm a pastor,

but simply because I am a follower of Christ."

Simplicity

Be simple.

Vũng Tàu

Took a trip to "Vung Tau" today with Deacon Kim Hakjin (Youth Director) and Pastor Kim.

We'll be going to Vung Tau for Bethel Youth Summer Retreat, so we went to check out a couple hotels/resorts.

30min car-ride to the port, and 1hr 30min boat-ride to Vung Tau.

Vung Tau Beach

Found a place - Paradise Hotel.

It's obviously going to be VERY different from retreats back at home.

We'll be using the hotel conference room.. (but it's not like hotels in America.)

Tile floors... Ouch. Gotta figure out what we're gonna do during prayer.

Retreat planning? Idunno man...... 

"LORD? HELP?"

Side note:

I HAD SASHIMI!

AHHHHHHH ^^

다금바리 (Saw-edged Perch)

This plate + small plate of raw shrimp + small plate of tuna + 매운탕 (spicy fish soup?)

TOTAL: 750,000VND ($37) !!!

So cheap...

But.. I still want Salmon.. QQ

(Ouch)

"Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?" And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him."

- Luke 22:63-65 -

--

I was very offended today during Young Adult Service.

We are currently going over a series on the "assurance of salvation."

The majority of the young adults are non-believers that are in the process of getting to know Jesus Christ.

As we are doing this Bible Study, people ask a lot of questions.

I think it's good! They're learning, and I'm learning too!

(They ask questions I would never ask,

but ones that I may come across someone asking me in the future.)

However, it got a bit out of hand today.

The questions being asked were reasonable, but the person that was asking them kept laughing.

This would make our whole group break out in laughter.

We're talking about heaven and hell, and people are laughing.

We're talking about "salvation" and people are laughing.. as if this is a joke or something.

I was offended.. and I couldn't hide it.

Side comments: 

"Anna, are you mad?"

"Anna's mad."

And they all laughed.

I wasn't "mad."

I was.. hurt. offended. heart-broken.

At that moment, all I could do was think about Jesus.

I can only imagine what Jesus had to go through....

Birdies from Texas

Grawce <3 

Thank you for sending your love all the way from Texas to Vietnam!

(To be honest, it doesn't make a big difference for you and I, 

cus whether I'm in California or Vietnam, we're not together... QQ)

We shall reunite soon! CTS shall reunite soon ^^

But until that day... let us remain faithful to our given tasks in our respective areas. Fighting!

P.S. Yes, the card's SUPER cute :)

Cupcakes from California

Haj <3

Thank you for the "cupcakes from California" ^^

(And the polaroid you jacked from PD's wall.. lol

Now PD can't look at my beautiful face every day! Uh-oh...)

Even though the photo and the polaroid look exactly the same, I added it to my wall ;)

Maybe I'll take it off and carry it around with me everywhere.

(Actually.... let me think about that. I don't want people to think I'm.. *ahem.. yea)

LOVE YOU SISTA!

See you in 2 months and 12 days ;)

He Knows

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 

plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 

plans to give you hope and a future. 

Jeremiah 29:11

PTL

김익현 목사님 from LA was here the past couple days.

He spoke for Friday service, Sunday service, 

and we invited to him to come speak for Young Adult Service today!

(Such a great speaker^^)

He taught us:

F A I T H

Forgiveness . Available . Impossible . Turn . Heaven

And during this, one brother accepted Christ.

PRAISE THE LORD! :)

22nd

I'm TWENTY-TWO! :O

(I'm in denial.....)

Spent my 22nd birthday at "Two Two Chicken".

What a coincidence!

PhuMyHung Bethel Young Adults

I don't remember the last time I spent my birthday outside of U.S.

Hopefully I'll be spending my 23rd birthday back at "home" :)

KOSTA: Day 4

YOUTH KOSTA: GROUP 11
1ST PLACE

GRACE. Uh..... our team won first place. FIRST PLACE!! OUT OF 31 GROUPS!! Why? It must be God's grace. We won "모범상".. (I don't know what that's called in English.) But basically, the staff added stickers to the 'sticker board' according to our citizenship, team spirit, etc etc. IN ALL HONESTY, we don't know why we won. Even after we won, we said this must be an error, something must have gone wrong. Now THIS is what you call GRACE. 

HEART-BREAKING. The praise team was awesome. I mean... it's the "KOSTA Tour Team", so how could it NOT be great? Students were all pumped up and excited during praise. People were jumping up and down, shouting, hands raised..... BUT for some, that was all. As soon as praise was over and we went into the message, cell phones were out. Regardless of what great speakers we had, so many students were on their phones kakaoing, playing games, etc. or just sleeping. So then, did we really worship God? I don't think so. What difference is there in going to a secular concert? People jump up and down, shout, and go crazy because "the music is great" or simply because "they like to sing" or better yet, because "the performers are good looking." (I kid you not, some students were even shouting "멋있다! 잘생겼다!!" at the praise team leader.) A parent shared with me that she was blessed at the sight of students jumping up and down during praise. I responded, "Yeaaa~" but in reality, I was a bit heart-broken. It's so easy to think that we worshipped God, to think that God was glorified, to think that we were blessed. I question..... really?

AFTER EFFECT. KOSTA was held at the largest Korean church in HCMC. The church is nice - big sanctuary, nice worship rooms for every department, great sound-system, etc. This is "their" reality, but not ours. This Sunday we'll be back at Donut's Donuts. This is "our" reality. Not an amazing sanctuary, but a donut shop; full praise band, but one keyboard; not an amazing speaker, but me. Honestly, I'm worried but I know that worrying won't change anything. "God, it's in your hands." I pray that the students will be able to worship God in all situations and circumstances, just as we sang with our own two lips, "부르신 곳에서~ 나는 예배하네~ 어떤 상황에도 나는 예배하네~"

SISTERHOOD. On a brighter note, I was able to get a bit closer with the high-school sisters, and I was able to see the sisters get closer as well. I'm in charge of the middle school boys for small group, so I never had a chance to be in close contact with the sisters. It wasn't all of the sisters and it's not like we talked a lot, but still.. I feel like there's some closer connection now. I had a tough time in general with my group, but there's ALWAYS something to thank God for :)

Bethel Ladies :)

KOSTA: Day 3

HYEYEON . ANNA . HAEMIN . GARIM
Bethel Young Adults - KOSTA Staff

FASTING&PRAYER. All students and staff fasted lunch today. After the seminar we just went straight into prayer. Couple students were pre-selected to go up and lead one prayer topic. (One of the students in my group was picked.) It was a blessing to see young students in front of about 450 people leading prayer. We also had a special offering time for VISTA. Apparently last year after Vietnam's first Youth KOSTA, a Vietnamese church decided to hold VISTA (Vietnamese Students All Nations). Amazing? Yes indeed! May His name be known in this land of Vietnam and TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!

TOUGH. Today was tough. Yes, tough. If there's a day of blessings, I guess there's also the tough day. In the end, (I wish I can confidently say) God is good, ALL THE TIME.

One more day.

FIGHTING!