To welcome baby Chow and baby Lei, we had a babyshower for the parents. We tried to predict the weight and length of the newborns, suggest names, and predict which features of the parents they will have. We also put the fathers to the test by having them change a diaper while blindfolded. There were lots of laughs, but overall a lot more gratitude for how God has blessed each of the couples.
As is our normal tradition, ISM celebrated the end of the final exam period with our annual Christmas party. We had a lot of good food at our potluck… I particularly enjoyed Jisup’s chili (though I always seem to enjoy chili), Jame’s sweet rice ball dessert, and of course, more chili. (Jisup and Sara, my wife will not be thanking you for this delicious dish!)
After that, we had a message by Chul that showed an awfully clean and cute version of the Nativity… I think the people were lego figures, so it was a sanitized, kids’ version. The stable looked too clean. But he talked about the message of Christmas and how we need to have room for Jesus in our own hearts… (the podcast will be up soon for those who missed the Bible study but want to hear it)
But as you probably figured out, the highlight was our annual gift exchange. We had a lot of people show up and actually ran out of gifts, though many brought extras too. It was crazy. There was an AM/FM/CD player radio that was quite popular. A label maker as well. But of course, very few people got exactly what they wanted because of the crazy gift exchange game. 2 things to note: (1) “This is so fun” made its way back to ISM… twice. I can brag that I won each time on those challenges! And (2) The arm wrestling challenge was hilarious… The biggest surprise of the night? Billy is stronger than I thought… I thought Joe would beat him for sure, but they were pretty evenly matched for 1 minute. It was great to watch!
If you missed it, join us for our other Christmas activities… or we’ll see you next year!
The theme of this post is "eating," one of the most universal, highly valued, and well practiced activities here in ISM. In the season of Thanksgiving, we give thanks to God by appreciating His abundant provision in the form of food and fellowship around the dining table. 
We hosted Thanksgiving meals one after another, starting out with the English Class Thanksgiving meal, to the post-Thanksgiving Celebration dinner, to a home-style potluck dinner at Chul & Sharon’s place, 
and to the hot pot dinner hosted by Jesse, Joe and Eliah. Though I could not make it to all of them due to my family engagement, I can experience the joy of these dinners by looking at these pictures. If you missed all the dinners because you were diligently working away in your lab, I have a good news for you. You will have a second chance at Christmas. Don’t miss it!
Yesterday was celebrating Thanksgiving the Gracepoint Fellowship Church way. It started out with Sunday Worship Service, in which Pastor Ed Kang taught the congregation from Psalm 73. Ensuing the message is a series of year end review video from various department. (I hope to put up the ISM one later.) AND THEN, the BIG SHOW started. Boy, "shocking" is an understatement for some of the performances. For our performance, I believe that everyone had a great time on stage. No big mistake. We videotaped it, so that we could watch it after the turkey dinner. Everyone did very well, and we had a good laugh when we watched ourselves. Not without mention is that Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber stole the show (rightfully so!).
I cannot believe that the long-awaited, highly anticipated Thanksgiving Celebration, hosted by Gracepoint Fellowship Church, is only less than 12 hours away. We have been practicing hard for this wonderful event to give thanks to God and bring joy to fellow brothers and sisters in our congregation.
I really look forward to all the performances…
ISM participated in Gracepoint Fellowship Church’s Thanksgiving Retreat, in which we listened to many touching stories of how God impacted people’s lives through their salvation in Christ. We were also treated to Pastor Manny’s report on Gracepoint Austin. On my drive back from the retreat, Howard shared that he really appreciated Pastor Manny’s sharing because he saw how God perfectly provided everything. It was truly amazing!
For the retreat, Pastor Ed Kang and Kelly Kang had us each write up a one-page reflection on how God’s salvation work changed our lives. We shared with one another in small groups at the prayer meeting this past Tuesday. As we listen to one another’s stories of thanksgiving to God in my small group, our hearts of thanksgiving multiply.
Last Friday, we celebrated it with all of ISM together after our Friday Forum Bible study. Right after Bible study and announcements, Chul noted that it was the last Friday for Frederick and Angelique, our encouraging couple from Germany. They were only with us for a few months, but we felt a strong kinship with them–their heart for Germany and the campuses there, Frederick’s love for theology, and how they really immersed themselves into the community at ISM and Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley. Frederick shared some kind words with us.
After that, Shufei, Karen, and webmod went up to the stage because we had a “special song” prepared… for Chul! We all sang Happy Birthday, and then gave him some gifts that we prepared. Chul opened the wrapped package (without oven mitts though) that contained instant coffee and kimchee. And yes, he was happy to receive these things! Of course, today is Chul’s 40th birthday. So if you see him around, make sure to wish him a happy 40th.
Jonathan Hong turned one at the beginning of September. All of us in the International Student Ministry celebrated together. Consisting of graduate students and alumni from Berkeley, we are surrounded by children. The Hong family with Jonathan’s grandparents are shown on the right with the traditional Korean rice cake and fruit. I don’t know how Jisup and Sara were able to raise Jonathan as they are such busy graduate students, trying to juggle writing dissertations, presenting at lab meetings, studying, and raising an energetic baby. They shared how they are so thankful for this community who helped raise him. As I see Jonathan, he is a reminder of God providing all the energy and resources. Sara had a really hard pregnancy. Then after Jonathan was born, Jisup had to take his qualifying exam. Less than a week before his qualifying, he got food poisoning and had to be rushed to the emergency room. Life always throws surprises, but it is so comforting to know that we are never alone in facing these challenges. God is ultimately with us and he surrounds us with people.
This entry is dedicated to the overseas alumni who cannot see the children here at Berkeley grow up . They have changed so much and have only gotten cuter. On the left, Kate is holding Elizabeth, Paul and Mary’s second child. She is less than one year old. Ken is holding Nikki, Ken and Jean’s daughter. Next David is looking at Ken. David is now four years old and as energetic as ever. To the left of Jonathan is Christopher, son of Paul and Julie, friends of Sara and Jisup. Please send us pictures of your family, kids, etc. I would love to hear updates about you.
It was a joyous day for all of us because Wesley and Jisup passed their qualifying exams! As a UC Berkeley graduate student group, ISM now has two more Ph.D. candidates who can share their experience about preparing for qualifying exams with future graduate students in our group.
It has been a roller-coaster journey for both Wesley and Jisup as they struggled to prepare for their exams. Wesley had the pressure of knowing that he had only one shot at this because the Chemistry department is very strict in passing their students. And Jisup had to prepare for his qualifying exam while assuming the responsibilities of a father (of course, with the help of his wonderful wife, Sara). Just two weeks before Jisup’s qualifying exam, he had a severe case of diarrhea that he had to go to the emergency room. We all prayed for him, and, thank God, he had a speedy recovery so that he could study.
However, they were definitely not alone. We all shared their worries and pain in prayer. Today, while they were thankful and relieved that they had passed what might be the last exam in their UC Berkeley graduate student career, we all breathed a deep sigh of relief and gave thanks to God.
Congratulations, Wesley and Jisup!