Sunday, September 12, 2010

ELC

ELC stands for Edge Leadership Conference. This past weekend I moved into my new apt and I attended ELC.

Moving was fun because I got to camp out on the new carpet floor. I, however, did not have to do the hard part of moving furnitures because I was in ELC basically the whole day Friday and Saturday, and half of Sunday. Thanks to Kevin and my sister, and my parents, they got the hard stuff done.
My new home!

ELC was amazing. I think I needed it. I think everyone needed it. I don't know about other leaders, but when I came into the high school room at Newsong, I just felt unworthy of being there.

The first day was so powerful already. The whole ELC theme was stories. So a bunch of guest speakers came and shared their stories. Dave Gibbons started out with blessing us via video, giving us advise to "build trust, and bare pain" and to "make space for the unexpected." Ed Salis and Stephen Bay spoke about their stories and how prayer is powerful tool. They introduced a movie called Furious Love which bascially says that the most powerful weapon against evil is love. And what I saw in the movie was some seriously scary darknesses in the world. We ended the day with a prayer exercise. (side note: a prayer etiquette is to always ask the person you're praying for , "may I lay my hand on your shoulder.") I got to team up with another person and instead of asking for prayer requests, we just sat there and listened to the Holy Spirit for prayer guidance. It was such a new thing for me, but I like it.

The second day was full of activities and speakers. The morning session Neha, Nancy, and Sam
spoke about their stories from God being in the midst of 9/11 to God burning on to God being everywhere. The morning session was utterly beautiful because we did an honesty activity and it took a lot of discomfort, but courage to stand up when certain questions applied to us. The afternoon session we had an a few hours to spend alone time with God at the park. I learned a lot about myself during that time, I learned a lot about Kristen, and I learned a lot about our vision.

The night session was soooo amazing! There was worship and then there was this couple who came and spoke. Their love is so beautiful and so Godly, I really admired the love they had for each other and for God. Tyson and Rehana reminded me of Kevin and me because Tyson is Philipino and Rehana is Indonesian. lol. Hearing their love story and how God worked through their individual stories to bring them together was beautiful. What really touched me was when Tyson proposed to Rehana. He took her to a beach and on the beach there were two chairs waiting for them. On one chair there was a Bible that had Rehana's name and Tyson's last name. The next thing she knew, Tyson was on one knee. He then got a bucket of water and washed her feet. What a beautiful and Godly moment! That touched me a lot. After their message, I got the courage to talk to Rehana and I just connected with her about Me and Kevin. She's an amazing woman, I'm really glad I got to meet her and I hope to continually keep in touch with her.

Sunday Morning! I served two services at Noah's place. 3-4 year old kids are soooo cute! I meet Kiki who's like a little ninja. She's so outgoing that when I first came into the dolphin room, she quickly jumped on me and hugged me. There was this other girl name Ruthie who reminded of me so much. She had short short hair and she was kind of dark. She wanted to play baseball with me. So Sportish! It was just cute to see little kids so young worshiping God. Third service, I got to stay and listen to the sermon. ELC was wrapped up with Hawaiian food for lunch and debriefing time. I think I needed this weekend to learn more about love and to learn more about myself. One word that I felt when I came into ELC was unconvinced. Unconvinced to be a leader and unconvinced that I am worthy. Coming out of ELC I felt somewhat less scared, but more assured that I'm ready for what God has in store for me.

I needed this weekend. I think My sister and Kevin needed it too. All this time when Thomas and I were at ELC, Kevin and my sister got to have fun and hang out. They would tell me their stories about them going to the Row on Friday and getting tacos. They told Thomas and I that they also went to Disneyland too! Saturday for them was their busy day because they moved all the furniture into the apt. And Sunday, they went to church together. It was a good weekend for them because they needed to realize that they were friends even before I got together with Kevin. It was just nice seeing them getting along with each other.

Sunday night was when Thomas and I were free to be with our significant others. It's funny how this weekend made us switch partners. lol. But Sunday night was when we got to spend time with other couples too. We hung out with Joe and Jenny and Joe's sister and her bf. We ate Boiling Crab and we got Tastea. It was my first time trying Tastea and I like it a lot! I really like spending time with other couples too.

Sorry this blog is soo long. It's the whole weekends worth..

One last week of summer! ahh! So fast! Now I have to prepare for school.

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