the glory and the horror

A couple of things…. 24 oz. Porterhouse, somewhere between medium rare and medium for dinner. On the region. Yum……

It looks like off the deep end 2 will not be happening, and off the deep end 3 will not even start. The basic reasoning behind this is the security and integrity of the ministry where I will be. There are brothers and sisters whose lives would be endangered. I refuse to allow that to happen because of my carelessness. Therefore, I will not risk anything. Sorry

I saw Remember the Titans this week. It was a great movie. I really enjoyed it. I really thought it was one of those movies that makes you want to stand up and applaud after it’s over. Very good.

It has been a good week. God has been working on me. I love that I can’t wait to go. God, I can’t wait to see you do this thing.

Just thoughts.

I’m at briefing, down in Riverside, and I thought I’d take this chance to let you all know that I’ve met the other teammates of mine, and we’ve been having a great time getting to know each other, and just preparing ourselves individually, and as our own little community, for the year. I look forward to this year

Also, I’ll find out a little bit later in the week about secure email and web access, so I may still be able to do updates from the other side of the ocean Stay tuned for more information!

Just thoughts.

t-minus 6.5 hours. Less by the time I finish this.

I’m really bummed that I wasn’t able to see and talk to everyone much the last few days, like Jackie, Troy, Mrs. Kohl, Mr. Enns, all you SFCers, like Abby, Ev, Kevin, Sarah, Kathey and everyone else.

I’m packed, and ready to leave, from the logistical standpoint. But I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be. Weird feelings all around.

It was good to see Sam Wu today before I took off. I am very glad to hear how God is working in His life, especially through this past summer in Mexico City. Talking to him reminded me how much I want to make sure my life is grounded in the Lord, and living incarnationally among my mission field, and not secluding myself or separating myself from them. Where they are, I want to be. A coherent, holistic ministry. Not just the shotgun approach, with one program here, and one program there.

I hope to get to do some traveling and sightseeing while on this mission trip. There’s a lot of cool stuff to see in the different places that I’ll be over the year.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me, both as an individual, and as a part of the community there. Not just my teammates, but with the new friends I’ll make, and the new brothers and sisters I’ll meet.

well, I’m tired, and I’m getting kinda sentimental I think. Anyway, please pray for me, all who read this. Email me, also, and keep in contact. I’d love to hear from you, and hear how y’all are doing, and how God is working in your life, and what I can be praying for. phfung at alumni (dot) *** (dot) edu. There might be email updates going out occasionally, so if you’re interested in getting those, let me know too

This may be the last update in a while, but I promise to post what I can, when I can.

sdg.

Just thoughts.

I leave in 3 days. In 72 hours, I will be in Riverside, at the start of briefing.

Just thoughts.

So the laptop story continues and takes an interesting turn. I found out yesterday that the guy we “bought” it from was a professional scammer, and he ran off with our money. He was also arrested yesterday, and will probably be indicted and charged for a bunch of fraud. But it’s so big, he’s going to be extradited from NY to Florida for this. Aiya. So the likelihood of getting any money back is slim to none, according to one guy in the DA’s office in Monroe County. ARGH.

Anyway, one of the guys in my dad’s fellowship, a computer stud, has offered to do some research for my dad, and see what he can find for him. Why we didn’t do that first, I will never know. Stupid us.

The relatives and the party. Well, the cousins were a blast. I had a GREAT time with them, hanging out, catching up, and just talking. That was very good, since there are a couple older cousins that I hadn’t seen much at all. They’re all down in SoCal, and I was in Texas, so we didn’t cross paths much. Maybe Christmas and even less often, Thanksgiving. Sometimes. That’s too bad. I really like my cousins.We get along very well. We have fun together. We are all pretty similar, in terms of our humor and just how we perceive things. Rather amusing when we get together

On the other hand, some of the older, more distant relatives annoyed the snot out of me that night. So my uncle was giving a short little testimony/Gospel presentation deal (something like that. I’m not sure what it was exactly since I can’t understand spiritual words in Cantonese), and all during it, some of my great uncles or someone related to them was getting up and walking around to different tables, talking to people, making noise, and acting like he was the host or something. They’re not Christians, but I still expected better of them. I just wanted to turn around, smack him one and ask him to sit down and shut up. However, that would not have been wise, and would have embarrassed my granparents. That would be bad. I mean, lots of people looked over, tried to give him the evil eye, but he did NOT get the hint. And the people he was talking to were just as bad. Instead of keeping it down, they talked. LOUDLY. Argh. I don’t care about culture at this point. You tell them to shut up and be courteous. They don’t have to agree. They just have to have common (or not so common, in this case) courtesy, and just be quiet while someone is up there. Out of respect for my grandparents, if nothing else.

So I’ve started packing stuff into my REI pack. Oh yeah. So Kristen calls REI the evil empire. They are so not the evil empire. They’re a little pricy maybe, but they’re not EVEN close to an evil empire. North Face, with its overpriced packs, is more evil empire. Wal-Mart is more evil empire. Microsoft defines evil empire-ness for us nowadays. But not REI. They’re cool. Anyway, packing looks promising. Which I need to continue doing.

Anyway, Sam asked if otde2 would continue on my mission trip, and I told him I’d have to wait and see how things shake out over there. I may start otde3, or not. If you’re interested, I’ll probably let a select few now, and then the info would slowly disseminate. If you’re interested, you could email me yourself. I would love to get emails from home

Nathan, one of the guys on my team also called me last night, and that was pretty cool to talk to him in person, instead of emails. It was good to hear from him. I look forward to this year.

So I was reading Out of the Saltshaker and reading some of those stories made me think long and hard about Rice, and what I did, and did not, do there. I know God uses people differently, but I can’t help but think about how I could have used my time differently there. I don’t know. It’s one of those perpetual struggles, filled with regret, and wondering if I was wise with my time. Granted, the medical school thing required a certain prioritization of things. But I still had time that I could have used better. Perhaps it’s simply preparation for the coming year, so that I’m more cognizant of what I’m doing, or not doing, as the case may be. At the very least, it’s that. Hopefully, it will serve as a reminder for the rest of my life. Especially in medical school. I’m sure some of the same situations, and tensions, will come up there. Wisdom from God will be (is) required for that. I don’t know how to do it on my own.

Just thoughts.

What a weekend! I can’t begin to talk about it. I promise to expand on it. But we had lots of relatives, as you probably got the gist of before. I’m trying to get ready to take off on the mission trip, and wrap all that up. The party was Sunday night, and it went well. It was good to hang out with the cousins. I also went shopping today with ma mere (yeah, I’m messing up the accents), and we got some stuff at the local Eddie Bauer Outlet. I also got some stuff at REI and Mervyn’s. I may need to go back to REI to get some more stuff – extra straps/pocket things to add on to my pack. But I think I’m basically done.

The laptop still hasn’t shown up. That is very irritating. ARGH.

So I got some emails today from several people that I hadn’t heard from in a while, and that was good. I’m glad that I’m still maintaining some of these friendships over the years. One friend graduated 2 years ago, and I’ve only sorta kept in touch with her, as she was also on a mission trip for a couple of years. It was good to know that people from years ago still remember me

I just saw Urban Legend tonight with my brother and a friend of ours. It’s actually rather fun to watch. Not necessarily a good movie from a critical standpoint or for thinking value, but fun to watch. I wanted to know how it ended. It was a bit violent though. That’s probably what got it the R rating. But you have to sorta be into the Urban Legend thing to appreciate the movie. I probably wouldn’t go back and see it again though. It was good the first time, but that’s it. My brother and our friend picked it out, so I had no say in what movie came back to the house from Blockbuster.

I feel like a dork for missing the A’s game I was supposed to go to tonight with Sam and Justin – I’m a dork. I just lost track of time trying to take care of a bunch of loose details regarding my financial stuff for this mission trip. Dumb Phil.

I played hi-lo again with Kristen tonight. Good questions. Good answers. I enjoyed it a lot.

I need to clean my room up good in the next few days. Everyone has my permission to remind me and bug me about it. If you see me camping out online too much, yell at me to get to my room and clean. And then pack. Thanks

We borrowed some Adventures in Odyssey CDs from my uncle today. I forgot how much I enjoy those. In case you don’t know what they are, they’re radio dramas produced by Focus on the Family. I grew up listening to them, and I still listen to them when I get the chance. They were before Veggie Tales, and probably better, just because they were radio, and not video. You had to imagine it, and it makes the stories that much better.

Just thoughts.

I felt special today. Mail came for me My aunt and uncle from Singapore are supporting me in prayer and with a financial gift, and that showed up this morning. My book order also showed up. Very fast. And then a walkman I ordered from ebay also showed up. One of my teammates for the year also had her mom send me some stuff for me to take in for her.

Now a word of warning. Planet of the Apes is a HUGE waste of time. Don’t bother. The ending is lame. Parts made me laugh. Lots of parts. And not just me. The people I went with found the movie amusing, even during parts it’s not supposed to be. It’s that bad. Don’t waste your time. Watch the old one. I haven’t seen it in a long time, but I remember it being much better than this one.

Just thoughts.

So my mom, my aunt, and I went to Trader Joe’s and Price Club to do some shopping for my trip. Random little things that I won’t be able to get over there, like Power Bars, granola bars, deodorant, and stuff like that. We also picked up some dried apples! Yay!

I also ordered a boxed set of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings with The Hobbit included, and a boxed set of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia as well. Those are on their way Now I’m starting to spread out stuff, and pick clothes, pack it, and so on.

Sadness. Stringer died of heat exhaustion during the Vikings’ training camp. It seems extra sad because it’s such an unnecessary death. Granted, they were working out in full pads on a really hot day, but that’s all the more reason for the medical staff to make sure the players are properly hydrated, cooling off, and so on. [sigh]

The next couple of days are going to be crazy, with tons of relatives coming through. I think I said that earlier this week already, but it’s just going to get nuts. EXTREMELY crazy.

Anyway, gotta finish the last of these thank you notes and start packing.

If any of you love me in the least, or even just marginally like me, email me during the coming year, ok? I’d love to hear from you phfung at alumni dot rice dot edu.

Just thoughts.