International Graduate Student Ministry will hold our annual Retreat from Sat, Jan 15, 2011 to Mon, Jan 17, 2011 (Martin Luther King Jr. weekend).  So save the date. We are excited to have a guest speaker, Pastor William Kang.

Please sign up below.

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It’s hard to say good-bye to 2009 without recounting the memorable, action-packed and snow-filled Sierra Lodge trip that took place in November 2009. It’s hard to describe the event in words, but hopefully you can get a picture of the trip by looking at the photos above and the video clips below.

We had the brothers playing basketball at 3am in the morning: oldies versus younguns (dividing age line was 30). I have to say that the oldies just humbled the younguns.

We took a hike in the snow in the Sierra land. While enjoying the wonderful and pristine beauty of nature, we used the fresh snow to make snowballs and play snow fights. We love nature!

After we got back, we played an intense round of King Kong Shower in the Sierra Lodge. The sisters prevailed (or should I say dominated) over the brothers throughout the game.

On the first day of the new year, IGSM had our annual dumpling making party. Kate, dubbed “The Dumpling Queen” in IGSM, prepared the filling for the dumplings and demonstrated to us how to make dumplings the right way. Some of us are trying pretty hard while others are looking for their own ways to make their perfect dumpling. It was fun and rewarding because we got to eat the fruit of our labor right away.

After we had our fill of dumplings, we played this Korean game called Yutnori. If you have never played this game before, you’ve got to join us next year. With very simple rules and configuration, this game brought out a lot of energy from those who play it. Just to wind down from the electrifying Yutnori, we played King Kong shower to close the night.

We went to Disneyland on the 26th and spent a whole day there. Disneyland was indeed the magic kingdom, in which we got to get on rides and watched various shows. Here is a clip of a few of us taking the ride called “Big Thunder.”

The next day, we started our day by visiting Caleb’s parents’ church for Sunday Worship Service. We were treated with three testimonies of three Chinese intellectuals’ journey to know God and to settle at that church. Many of us were very touched by the testimonies. After enjoying the delicious lunch at this Chinese restaurant named Sam Woo, we visited the Getty Museum. It was an awesome museum with several special exhibits. Sorry that I cannot show you any pictures because taking pictures was not allowed.

After Getty Museum, some members went to the Hollywood street. The next day, they went to the laguna beach and a few more tourist attraction spots. It was an awesome trip.

Don’t forget to leave a comment about how you liked the video.  Do you have a secret bin to help you out in a bind?  Hope to see you this Friday.

By the way, just in case you are wondering, the video mentions ISM several times.  In 2009, we changed our name from ISM to IGSM (adding graduate to international student ministry) because we found out that there is another group named ISM and since they came first, we wanted to respect that.  Also, adding graduate student really reflects the make up of our group.  Anyways, hope you enjoy the video and see you this Friday for the third and final Graduate Student Welcome Night (hint there will be another video).

Don’t forget to leave your comments on what you thought about the video.