IGSM
This summer, we will go over stories in the Bible about people's encounters with Jesus. Through these stories, we will gain a greater understanding of who Jesus is, why we need him in our lives, and how his death on the cross affects us personally. Join us on Friday nights for this exciting series! Catch the recordings of our past Friday Forum Bible Studies here.
Come join us at the world-famous Yosemite National Park in California for this year's IGSM Yosemite trip! The trip will occur the weekend right after final exams, and will be a great time for people to relax and celebrate the end of the 2013 Spring semester. We will leave on the evening of Friday June 14th, and return on Sunday June 16th. We will visit many beautiful places in Yosemite National Park, as we hike along trails with magnificent snow-filled scenary. There will also be exciting indoor games, loads of fun, and as always, delicious food. We hope to see you there! The cost of the trip has yet to be determined. It will cover rides to and from Yosemite, food, park entrance fees, and lodging. **The sign-ups for the trip are now closed. Please e-mail thomas@igsmonline.org if you are still interested in joining the trip.
Come join us this week for one of our last Friday gatherings of the semester. Instead of gathering at our usual place at Barrows Hall, we will instead gather at a large house in Berkeley (Location) for some Korean barbeque, followed by a Bible study, and a trip to San Francisco. This could be the perfect opportunity to get a break and recharge before your final exams and project deadlines!
During spring break, we took a break from school and went on fun trips! This is from Darren about their trip to San Luis Obispo: We spent the weekend in San Luis Obispo. Our time began with a long hike up Bishop Peak. The view of the city on the route and at the top was beautiful, and it made the difficult climb that involved climbing over logs and rocks all worth it! We then went to Hearst Castle exploring the home of one of the richest men in history. The architecture and scenery was quite interesting. We, then on the beach, played ultimate football, which is ultimate frisby with a football. A lot of running, but the sand on the beach was comfortable. Each team had its own strategy of scoring which were either making long passes to score in the end zone or quick short passes to the end. We had so much fun playing out in the beach, we were not too bothered by how cold it had gotten. To finish off the long fun filled day we had a barbecue of Korean Kaibi. YUM!! Siao Charn shares about her trip to Point Reyes: My life group, together with Sharon and Sara's life groups, went to Point Reyes for a scenic hike on Chimney Rock Trail. As we hiked on the one-hour round trip trail, we got spectacular views of Drakes Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and many spring wildflowers dotted our way. Although it was a little windy but the sun was out and we also saw some sea lions sunbathing on the shore! After a leisure hike, we went over to Tomales Bay to have Korean BBQ and fresh, succulent oysters! I've never had raw oysters in my life so that was a very memorable experience. Overall, the list of places that the different groups went to are San Luis Obispo, Point Reyes, Bodega Bay, and camping in Santa Cruz! Check out the photos from all of the IGSM trips below. We look forward to our next trip(s)!
This semester, we will go over the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the book of Genesis. They are the Patriarchs of the Christian faith, and we will see how they lived out their lives following God. You will also learn how God was faithful in keeping His promise to them despite the ups and downs of the lives of the Patriarchs. Join us on Friday nights for this exciting series! This week, we will meet at Barrows Hall at 6:30pm, starting with dinner. Catch the recordings of our past Friday Forum Bible Studies here.
IGSM/IUSM went out to go bowling in San Rafael, and here are some interesting facts from that night. The high scorers of the night were Karen and Caleb. I didn't know Karen could bowl so well! She bowled as well as Caleb, who took a bowling class in college. Caleb even brought his own set of shoes and ball that night! The most improved bowler was Yanhui because someone else bowled for her after her low-scoring start. :) There was an unusual pattern of people getting splits, which was odd. I don't think anyone was able to score a spare in these situations. Anyway, we also celebrated Sharon's birthday with cake! Check out the photos below!
This year’s Good Friday service and Easter service were very moving and memorable. One point that was memorable was when Pastor Ed asked: where were you on the night that Jesus was crucified? I think we can all identify with the people involved in the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus, like Judas, Peter, Pilate, the Roman soldiers, the chief priests, and the crowd. But did you see yourself on the cross? In other words, did you see your sins on the cross with Jesus? That’s what Jesus did! He took away our sins and died for us on the cross. So that we are forgiven and free from the punishment of our sins. Praise God for the salvation decisions of 3 of our members that night! On Easter, we celebrated the resurrection and victory of Jesus! At the service, we reflected on when God was at his best. We saw it was when he saved broken sinners like us and gave us new lives! Many people shared how God specifically found them and transformed their lives. Praise God for this new hope in life! Next, we continued with our celebration with a potluck lunch, and it was really delicious! Check out the photos from the potluck below!
In the middle of the semester, IGSM had its Spring Invitation. We were glad to see so many new and familiar people come. We began with the international food festival with delicious dishes from different parts of the world. Then to wake us up from the food we got to know each other with human bingo seeing different talents from different people. We then began the Bible study by watching a Hunkey Dory skit that was about many different things in our lives such as school, household choirs, part-time jobs, and video games that we try and keep in balance, but in the end it will always be too much and come crashing down. We followed the skit with a message from Chul, a testimony from Evan and a special song. To end it all we played Minute to Win It International Version. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and we hope to see you again next time. Check out the pictures below
I wanted to share with all of you about our exciting Monterey trip on Martin Luther King Day. We explored the beautiful coastline at the Point Lobos State reserve, hiking along the beaches and spotting various marine life including sea lions and whales. Then, we drove along 17 mile drive where we spotted interesting trees, huge homes and more exciting beaches. We had a blast playing sports on the beach and ended the day with dinner at the big Korean food court in Santa Clara. Enjoy the pictures below.
This Valentine's day, IGSM and IUSM took trips to a local nursing home and homeless shelter to share God's love with others. We had a great time of fellowship, singing hymns together, and exchanging gifts! We felt so loved, as the staff at the nursing home cooked a delicious meal for us. Yum!
Come join us this Friday as we celebrate the Chinese New Year (on Sunday Feb. 10th) in advance! We will start off with a Bible study at 6:30 pm at 110 Barrows Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. Afterwards, we will split off into different homes in Berkeley and engage in a fun dumpling making time with different groups of IGSM people. For those of you who are not familiar with the Chinese New Year, this is an opportunity for you to experience the making and eating of dumplings - a popular Chinese New Year tradition. For the skilled dumpling makers, be prepared to come and teach the rest of us! Regardless of whether or not are you skilled at making dumplings, rest assured that there will be plenty of dumplings for you to eat. Hope to see all of you on Friday!
Before the semester got too busy, IGSM had its annual Winter Retreat in Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon was a beautiful location surrounded by trees and mountain where we enjoyed our stay in outdoor cabins. This year's speaker was Pastor Jonathan Lee. Through 5 sessions, he discussed the beginning of man, man's sin, Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, and how we should respond. We also had attended workshops on science, faith, Biblical and world views. In addition to the sessions we enjoyed fellowship with a modified version of tag, ping pong, pool, and basketball. To end the winter retreat we all a Korean dinner on the way back to Berkeley. Check out the pictures below! As school gets busier, let's keep what we learned at retreat in our hearts.
Hey all! Spring semester just started and we just ended our Winter Retreat. Praise God for all the great things that happened at the retreat! IGSM/IUSM is starting this semester's Bible studies with a Spring Kickoff event this Friday February 1st 6:30pm at 110 Barrows Hall! We will have special guests this Friday, students from our Hsinchu church in Taiwan! They are here in the US to do some sightseeing, fellowship with our Berkeley church, and attend a few seminars on Christianity. Please welcome them this Friday! See you there!
Come join us right before the start of the spring 2013 semester for an adventure as we take a trip to Monterey, a city 2 hours south of the Bay Area. We will take a one-day trip on Saturday, January 19th, 2013, where we will do a lot of hiking along some of the most beautiful trails along the Pacific ocean, play sports, and enjoy great food. Be prepared to get a glimpse of some magnificent cliffs during the hike, and to be taken away by the scenary. This will also be a great opportunity to catch up with your friends in IUSM after the long winter break, and meet many new people. Since this trip is right before the start of the semester, this will also be a great opportunity to get a breath of fresh air and relax before school gets busy. Signup below!
Happy New Year! I hope you had a good time travelling or at home. If you are in Berkeley, we will get together for our first Bible study of 2013, and we will start out with a potluck dinner!! If you have the time, please bring a dish to share with everyone as we catch up with all that has happened the past month. See you there at Durant Loft (2518 Durant Ave, Berkeley) this Friday 1/11 at 6:30 pm!
Right after the last final exams of the semester were taken, IGSM drove down to spend a weekend in Yosemite. The trip began with a Friday night of snacks and games in Yosemite House. On Saturday morning we drove down to the park and had some fun snowball fights. People ran, people hid, people jumped, but nobody, male or female, was spared in an all out battle in the snow. Following the war, we drove in chained tires and enjoyed the beautiful scenery Yosemite had to offer highlighted by the white snow all the way down to Curry Village. Many of us ice skated and finished it all with a train. After all the fun and excitement we went back to Yosemite House and learned about the true meaning of Christmas. Today many see Christmas as a time for giving gifts and having vacation from school. On the first Christmas night, our Lord and savior Jesus Christ was born and the Magi came and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We finished it with Christmas songs and some fun time. Let's remember the best gift we have ever gotten, Jesus Christ coming to our world!
Before finals came and people start heading off for winter break, IGSM had a fun-filled early Christmas party, which definitely provided a nice break from studying! Learning the true Christmas story through a message and songs, it was such a warm time we had together as we thought about the birth of Jesus our Savior and how this truth stands in stark opposition to the lies that this world tells us about what will make us happy. Following the time of singing some traditional Christmas carols, we went into our gift exchange game which was quite different from any other gift exchanges many of us had ever experienced. From ranking gifts to forced swaps, who really knew what gift you'd end up with? It was a time filled with many surprises and lots of laughter! Merry Christmas, and we hope to see you all at our winter retreat at the start of next semester!
Come join us this upcoming Friday December 7th, 2012, for IGSM's annual Christmas Party! We understand that it's not quite Christmas yet, but with all the people going home during Christmas vacation, this would be an excellent opportunity to celebrate Christmas with your friends in IGSM. You will have a delicious meal, and also learn about the true meaning of Christmas, including the reasons why Christians celebrate Christmas. After the dinner and message, we will have a fun time of exchanging gifts, which will take place in the form of an exciting game, where gifts get passed around amongst everyone until the very end. Be prepared to be excited and surprised by the gift you end up with! Please bring a five dollar gift if you wish to participate in the gift exchange. We look forward to having you join us for this annual Christmas Party, as it should be a very exciting evening for everyone. See pictures from last year's party!
Come join us at the world-famous Yosemite National Park in California for this year's IGSM winter Yosemite trip! The trip will occur the weekend right after final exams, and will be a great time for people to relax and celebrate the end of the 2012 Fall semester. We will leave on the evening of Friday December 14th, and stay at a beautiful house in Yosemite. The next day, we will visit many beautiful places in Yosemite National Park, as we hike along trails with magnificent snow-filled scenary. We will then head home on Sunday. This will also be a time for you to get to know other international students, and even ask questions about Christianity. There will also be exciting indoor games, loads of fun, and as always, delicious food. You won't want to miss out! The cost of the trip has yet to be determined. It will cover rides to and from Yosemite, food, park entrance fees, and lodging. Please sign up below if you are interested:
At Thanksgiving Celebration, we got to hear two testimonies of how people came to be Christian and also a message by the pastor about God’s invitation for us to attend His great banquet. Afterwards, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a delicious potluck dinner and performances by each of the ministry groups, including our very own! Our song and dance performance expressed how we are thankful to God for what He has done this year in IGSM and IUSM. I hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving with us! Check out the photos below.