Spirituality Cannot be Borrowed.

It's hard to believe as I reflect back on my previous Urbana experiences and how God used each one of them.  They have either changed my life or changed my perspective.  In 2006, I received a calling from God to go overseas to work with water.  The following summer, I went to Switzerland doing Aquatic Research.  In 2009, I received a deep sense of healing in my identity as a person with a disability through Prayer Ministry.  In 2012, I came to understand the authority and power of the Trinity through intercessory prayer.  When you pray, things happen!  If they don't, you will be unrecognisably changed and transformed!.  Now, finally, in 2015, I came to understand and see the vastness of God's Kingdom and a MUCH broader perspective of what family is supposed to be and look like in God's Kingdom.

At the very moment Patrick Fung said this (see quote above), I realized that this is what I've been trying to do for my students my whole time on staff and during my IVCF years at the U of R.  Every invitation, every mentorship meeting, every core witness meeting, it was for the purpose of hoping that each of my students would make their spiritual their own.

It was also encouraging to hear Patrick share of his own story of his 18 daughter wanting to go on missions, specifically to a place where they did not know Patrick Fung.  This decision made by his daughter caused a lot of tension and anxiety with Patrick and his wife.  Eventually, his daughter said that the reason why she wanted to go to a place where they didn't know Patrick Fung was because she wanted to stop borrowing her spirituality from him.  At that moment, Patrick and his wife heard from God, "You decided to follow Me (Jesus) at the age of 18, now your daughter is 18 and she wants to follow Me.  Are you going to be a hindrance to her?"

When I heard this story, I was shocked.  Mostly because I am seeing an older asian man sharing his own personal struggles with his child going into missions, even though he is well into the life of mission.  On top of that, I was amazed at his humility in dealing with the situation.  As I thought about it more, I realized that in Patrick's daughter being faithful to following Jesus not only helped her make her spirituality her own but invited Patrick and his wife to do the same thing.  They needed to trust in Jesus even more now with the care of their children.

IVCF SFU Urbana Team!

As I listened to his story, I could picture and see the faces of each and everyone of my students.  The tension and longing in each of their hearts to follow Jesus and making their spirituality their own, but how following Jesus can often go against family values and tradition.  I could hear each of them saying in their hearts, "I wish my family could respond in this way." and the tension building up.  But also, seeing how the faithfulness of the younger generation can be an invitation to the older generation to follow Jesus in a deeper way they can ever imagine.  I could see the hope of reconciliation in my students hearts as they sat and heard this man's story.

After this Urbana, I have a deeper sense of clarity in the invitations I am giving for my students to follow Jesus.  I have a better understanding of what the cost is for them culturally, socially, emotionally, and sometimes even physically to follow Jesus.  I also know that despite the cost, it is absolutely worth it because Jesus deserves all of our love, attention and praise.

Please join me and pray with me for each of my students as they take this long journey in making their spirituality their own.

Upcoming Events & Prayer Requests

Upcoming Events

• IVCF MARKwest Pacific Fundraiser - March 18
• Regina Donor Visits - March 24 - April 4
• MARKwest Pacific - April 29 - May 5
• VUP - May 8 - June 4

Students & Campus

• Pray for the SFU Interns (Alan, Sanjana, & Xenia) as they are in the interview process and discerning where to go to join staff.
• Pray for the MARKwest Pacific Fundraiser - Goal $4000.
• Pray for MARKwest Pacific Student Recruitment - Goal:  45 SFU Students.
• Pray for the new team dynamics and partnership with each other
• Pray for the on campus leadership and outreach events.
• Pray for my funding to be fully funded in monthly donations.
• Pray for our housing situation.  There are some complications which may require us to move.

Personal

• Pray for my growth as a leader and mentor.
• Pray for me as I continue to network and connect with other Churches in the Lower Mainland.
• Pray for the Inter-Generational Dialogue between 1st and 2nd Generation Chinese Pastors.
• Pray for mine & April's relationship in our marriage and a deeper understanding of God's Love for each other.
• Pray for more opportunities and clients for April in her field of work.
• Pray for me that I will rest well during my Sabbaths.
• Pray for me that I will be exercising more regularly.
• Pray for the regular rhythms of time with God for both April and I
• Pray for wisdom and discernment around us being more missional in our everyday lives.
• Pray for April and I as we are doing more family planning.

Praise Item

• Praise the Lord for providing my full support in monthly donations
• Praise the Lord that April and I are receiving new life and understanding of each other.
• Praise the Lord for students not choosing fear but into faith.
• Praise the Lord for open ears for our leaders and their responses to deeper calls into faith.
• Praise the Lord 6 SFU students doing VUP this year.

A Haiku for You

Merry Christmas Update from the Yuen's

Upcoming Events and Prayer Requests

Upcoming Events

• Vacation - December 21 - 25
• Open House - December 23 - 25
• Urbana 15 - December 26 - January 1
• Urbana Party Train - January 1 - 3

Students & Campus

• Pray for the final days of exams for students
• Pray for VUP recruitment for SFU.
• Pray for students to choose into vulnerability as they pursue God together.
• Pray for more student buy-in to lead
• Pray for Urbana and the 18 SFU students who are going.
• Pray for the students who do not have an opportunity to go home for Christmas
• Pray for students to have a good time resting this Christmas break.
• Pray for the IVCF Party Train that everything will go well and nothing goes wrong.

Personal

• Pray for my growth as a leader and mentor.
• Pray for me as I continue to network and connect with other Churches in the Lower Mainland.
• Pray for the Inter-Generational Dialogue between 1st and 2nd Generation Chinese Pastors.
• Pray for mine & April's relationship in our marriage and a deeper understanding of God's Love for each other.
• Pray for more opportunities and clients for April in her field of work.
• Pray for me that I will rest well during my Sabbaths.
• Pray for me that I will be exercising more regularly.
• Pray for the regular rhythms of time with God for both April and I
• Pray for wisdom and discernment around us being more missional in our everyday lives.
• Pray for rest this Christmas and the Open House we will be having.

Praise Item

• Praise the Lord for providing my full support in monthly donations
• Praise the Lord that April and I are coming to a deeper understand of God's love for each other.
• Praise the Lord for a really successful AMMiC Conference.
• Praise the Lord for April's short term missions experience in Cambodia & Vietnam.  

Find Your Blank

When it comes to the question, "What are you looking for?" most students on the first week of class will often say, "My class" or "food."  Others may give more serious answers like, purpose, identity, and self-worth.  All of these are valid answers to this semester's IVCF SFU theme:  Find Your Blank.
#FindYourBlankIVCFSFU

With Urbana 15 quickly approaching, we wanted to come up with a creative idea to better engage the campus.  After hours of planning and discussing, the Core Witness Team decided to get more involved in Social Media and come up with this Find Your Blank New Student Outreach.

To say it reached out to a lot of people would be a long shot, but we were able to engage numerous individuals who normally wouldn't connect with a Christian Club.  Through this initiative though, it challenged each of our Core Witness Team Leaders to step outside their comfort zone in interacting with complete strangers and also invite their friends to deeper Christian community including our welcome event:  Find Your Hunger.  One student particularly stands out when this event happened.

This 1st year Christian student came by the Find Your Blank table and expressed interest in joining IVCF,  We talked a little bit, he puts his contact information down and goes on to his other classes.  Throughout the weeks of tabling and clubs days, we continue to see this student and proceed to invite him to the Find Your Hunger event.  At first he was excited, but later, he lets Alan (Intern) know that he won't be coming anymore.  Upon hear this news along with many other No's, we couldn't help but feel discouraged heading into the event.

In response to the number of No's, we decided to come together as a Core Witness Team to intercede and pray for our friends and new people to come out.  I remember as we were praying that Alan prayed specifically that this student would come out.  As the event started, and people trickled in, almost every person that we prayed for who said "No" came out, including this student.

When he came by, I greeted him with a smile and a full plate of vegetarian perogies (He's vegetarian).  He then said, "I can only stay for 30 min."  I responded, "That's fine, enjoy yourself and eat lots!  It's really good that you are here."  30 min went by and I walked out from my cooking responsibilities to see how the conversations were going.  To my surprise, this guy was still hanging out and chatting with people.  I went back and another 30 min later and he was still there!  This student who originally said "No" came to the event and stayed the WHOLE time including the after-event bubble tea.  Since then, every invitation we have given to him, he has been there.

Personally, I am extremely excited for this first year to see what God will do in and through him.  The power of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit is enough to change a "No" into a "Yes" and beyond!  We all learned a very valuable lesson that the Holy Spirit does a far better job in convicting/convincing than we do.

From Lament to Joy

Having to navigate the transition of 2 of my Pastors from my church, my ministry partner Barron transitioning out of IVCF, and my student president Catherine suddenly needing to transition out of IVCF SFU, it has been a rough and difficult year for both April and I.  I think it was especially difficult for April as she often felt helpless during this whole process.

What we learned though is that during these times of sadness, no matter how bad they seem to be, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel.  In the moment, it felt extremely difficult to see any form of joy.  Yet, when we chose to sit with it and acknowledge the pain that we were feeling in situations within and beyond our control, we realize how much we couldn't do it on our own and started coming back to the one who has full control over every part of our lives.  Jesus.  The more we chose into lament, the deeper our reliance became on Jesus.  

Eventually, as we continue to acknowledge our pain, suffering, anger, frustration, and sadness, there came a tipping point where April and I could look at our situations and say, "God is in control." and experience an immense amount of joy knowing and believing that to be true.  

I think that tipping point for us happened a few weeks back.  Despite the crazy business and tiredness that we have been experiencing, we have still been experiencing a depth of joy that nothing can take away.  Through provision (finances and opportunities), encouragements from friends, and opportunities to lead deeper, these are the beginnings of the joys we have been able to encounter.  

So to leave you with some encouragement.  If you are in a slump, do not be afraid to acknowledge your frustrations, sadness, pain, etc, in front of Jesus.  This is an expression of showing your weakness in front of Jesus (2 Corinthians 12:9).  As you reveal your true self and feelings to Jesus, His power and strength will become manifest in you and followed that will be joy.

My dear friends, lament well and experience the deep Joy of God's presence.