World Wide Amenables

For the last few days, we've been busily putting our website together (finally, the disparate worlds of computer science and ministry unite).

Well, after much html tweaking and goofy photo shoots (liberal amounts of photoshop may also been involved), we are live! Check us out at:

http://www.jbcseattle.org/amenables/home.html

(unless of course you found this blog from there, which was probably the case...)


Thanks to Japanese Baptist Church for hosting our site and for Gordon Hwang in uploading it!

New Life Fellowship gives new life to our mission

As a band, we are currently looking for churches to support us. Frantic search for financial support is not always a healthy thing to do. Because of the tremendous amount of stress and anxiety that comes with asking for funds in the light of this economic recession, I have to say, my mood's been possessed by the spirit of crankiness (if that's a word). But God and the holy people always comes through.



Since I got out of Lakeshore the week before, I was free to visit other churches for the first time this year. So out of my whim and overpowering influence, I took the team to New Life Christian Fellowship in San Lorenzo CA. I believe it was a choice pre-ordained by God. The moment we went into the church we were welcomed as if we were family. We were introduced promptly and preacher Sandra Lee(my friend) asked us to talk a little bit about our mission trip. I kinda had a hard time saying everything I needed to then, but we were able to mingle around after church and get to know the people of the church.



As we got to know the congregation we were able to meet the worship director Gina Chin and Julie Chew. They were both very passionate about worship and wanted us to lead worship service at their church. They even offered to have a collection for the mission trip. It is really hard to say what I was feeling at that moment. I didn't feel like I did much to promote our mission trip, but people I never met were excited about it and wanted to help out. At that moment I saw a glimpse of God working in people's lives and moving their hearts to do something for God. They voluntarily partnered with us to make this trip happen. At that point I didn't really care how much money they were offering, I was just happy that so many people were willing to affirm and support us in this mission that I never thought would happened in the first place.

All I got to say is this, there's still hope for Christianity. God existed, God still exists, and God will exist, and there always will be saints working to let people know of this fact.

Playing the Lakeshore Offertory

For the last couple Sundays, I've been worshiping at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, where Woun serves as Youth Facilitator. This church has been blessed with social awareness, a strong sense of community, and a warmth in welcoming newcomers, and I immediately felt right at home. This Sunday, we were invited to provide the music during the offertory, and decided to play our original song, "Savior of My Life". Unfortunately, Lawrence was unable to join us due to his position as worship leader at his church.

We arrived at the church minus a bass strap and hi-hat, forcing Sun, in true MacGyver fashion, to build a strap out of yarn, while I attempted to make hi-hat-esque sounds on other parts of the drum set. I've never been much of a public singer (having restricted most of my singing to the shower or other isolation chambers), which made singing the opening lines super intimidating. Nevertheless, our music offering seemed well received - one woman even approached us afterwards asking for the lyrics, though we certainly missed Lawrence's keyboard lines. Thanks be to God for making the seemingly impossible possible...

Following the service, we attended a fund raising luncheon for the youth group's trip to the National Gathering of American Baptist Youth. Sounds like a really great event. Oh, to be young again...

Divine Graduation

Yay! I, Woundabaptist, graduated from American Baptist Seminary of the West today and got my Master of Divinity degree. I can't believe I finished ABSW, it seems only yesterday I moved down to study. Thanks be the Lord! Check out the pictures I put up in my facebook, if you have facebook that is. Woohoo! Next, Japan Mission Baby!!

Now if I can find a new place to live that would be golden. Any ideas?

Liz church blowout!

Tonight we had a second successful worship at Liz's church. Those of you who are following us pretty closely know that we are using Liz's church space for practice. Not only are we using it for free, they have an awesome sound system. We are eternally grateful to the pastor of Philippine Church and to minister Liz of L4G church. We love you!

But, there's no such things as a free lunch. The deal is we get to use the space/equipment, but in return we have to lead a service and inspire the youth in Liz's church to work even harder to create a worship team. Well, this was a deal I couldn't miss out. Not only do we get to use the buiding we get to have an actual worship experience. So I said yes, we are going to use the building and we are going to inspire the youth in the church. The more we can fulfill our calling the better.

So we had church tonight. With all our teammates passionate about praising and worshiping God, there was no one to stop us. We also got the opportunity to try out our new songs, "broken road" and "Savior of my Life". They were both received very well. In retrospect, the worship service was better than 100 practices combined. We were more sensitive to our music and was able to be more critical to our playing. It also became the place where we started communicating without words. By looking at each other's faces we were able to read what we should do in the next immediate measure. I believe in order to play well together, we have to foster this skill of communication. More we can read each others thoughts, the better the music will flow. Overall I believe the worship service was a success in multiple fronts. Thanks be to God!

Peace,

Awesome night with South

I don't know if you heard of a band name called "South". I never heard of them before, but decided to give them chance since the band needed some inspiration before going into the writing stage. Let me tell you the three of us who went (Sun couldn't go because he had a class that night), were blown away. They are a rock/indie band with an acoustic twist to it. The melodramatic melody and playful bass line will get you hooked. I think this band is going to break out soon. The opening bands were awesome too. Especially the band named Ki:Theory. Omg they played in the dark in the beginning, and everytime they hit the chorus they would flood the stage with lights. It was downright an awesome show, can't believe we only paid $16 for it. If I knew ahead of time what kind of show they were putting out, I wouldn't have minded dropping $30 for this one.

Well another cool thing was we got to meet Lawrence's friend Aida who is a model. She had a fashion show that night so she came late but just in time to catch South. It was a great night, everyone had a good time. We also got to visit Japan town in San Francisco and had dinner. That's the first time I had Katsu Curry since I moved to the Bay Area. Hands down the best Japanese hot dish ever invented.

Peace

First Performance!

Every Monday evening, the American Baptist Seminary of the West (ABSW) hosts a chapel service. During last week's service, Woun delivered a heartfelt and well-received sermon about taking risks in the church. This week, the Amenables were invited to share two praise songs - Come Just As You Are and Unchanging - both of which we look forward to sharing with the people in Japan as well.

I must admit to being more than a little nervous as we took the stage. However, as I looked out into the congregation and saw the smiling faces of the ABSW faculty and students brimming with encouragement, I gradually loosened up. This was, after all, the house of the Lord, and not some concert hall with a super-critical audience (or worse yet, a club filled with jaded hipsters).

All in all, the congregation appeared to be blessed by our music. During Unchanging, several people even stood up to clap. That's not to say that our performance was completely devoid of mishaps. Due to a last minute printing mistake, we ended up singing Come Just As You Are in a different key from the one we practiced. In addition, a malfunctioning cable resulted in Sun's bass cutting out several times during Unchanging. On the bright side, it is fortunate that these mistakes were caught now, rather than in Japan.

In addition to providing us with our first group performance experience, the evening was also a blessing for me in that it revealed a glimpse into the seminary world. Following the chapel service, a dinner was held for the graduating seniors and faculty, while Sun, Lawrence, and I tagged along ("we're with the band" was our official excuse). As I watched the familial interactions between students and faculty and heard the seniors reflect on how attending ABSW strengthened their walk with God, I couldn't help but feel that God was trying to tell me something. For those of you who don't know me, I will be starting graduate school at the University of Toronto in Computer Science. And while I am certainly passionate about this field of research, I have realized that I must consider the possibility that God may have other plans for me.

Earlier in the evening, Dr. Russell (the president of ABSW), affectionately introduced me as a "future seminarian" and half-jokingly asked when they could expect my application. I replied that anything is possible...and indeed it is.

Hippies!

Just arrived in Berkeley and I already feel at home. Woun and Sun were gracious enough to let me stay in their apartment (conveniently located near ABSW, the seminary they are attending). After settling in, I took a stroll down Telegraph, the prototypical college avenue, and marveled at the cool indie music shops, the diverse selection of ethnic cuisine, and of course, the hippies. Finally, a place where I can grow my hair to unreasonable lengths and not feel out of place!

There's lots of work to be done over the next few weeks - writing songs, practicing, seeking financial support. For today, however, I plan to just soak it all in.

First Post!

Thanks for checking out the blog of the Amenables! Here you will find periodic updates on our activities and other random musing as we gear up for our short-term mission trip to Yokohama, Japan. During the trip itself, this blog will also (hopefully) serve as a means to share our experiences in Japan with all the people back home.

Periods of inactivity on this blog will most likely be attributed to the fact that we are indeed hard at work. (Well, that's our cover story, at least!)