08/14/2006
I guess just an update to my last entry and the last part of our trip. Let's see..at Daly City we mostly went to San Francisco for all the hangout stuffs. We went to Japantown for sushis, Chinatown for dimsum, and the Equinox for some pointers on romantic date spots. But as for the performance at Cumberland, I thought it went pretty well. Even though I wasn't on stage that night, I was able to meet people and pray for 2 cool dudes, Chris and Jonathan with my counterpart Joan. Pastor Sonny from that church was a really cool and crazy dude. I liked him. Moving on..
We went to Oakland for CiBC. Before we got there, we stopped by Berkeley area for some pizza. And it was here at CiBC that I think the team really was able to come together again just being able to voice our frustrations and such. So that was good. We got treated out to good Chinese food across the street. The next day we performed. I think it went pretty well at this church too. I was able to meet some people, but unfortunately we couldn't stay for Sunday school. We headed down that day from the bay area..to go home. It was sad having to wipe off all the stuff from our vans because we had to return them..making it not really our vans at all. poo. But it was nice to go home for rest and head out to the Hillsong United concert the next day.
We waited for 7 hours to get into the concert. But, it was ALL worth it. Johnny got interviewed by channel 27 and the concert was GREAT. It was actually more than just a concert, it was a great time of worship. THe performance inspired us by showing how much energy and passion we should have when we're on and off the stage. And in a sense it was very humbling too. Even though Hillsong United is a ridiculously good worship team, they were very cihll about everything and knew their purpose was to glorify God. I think this was a great passion/energy renewer for our team. We were really hyped up just to practice.
We headed down to San Diego after that practice. San Diego is quite a glorious place. GOod food, cool weather, and nice beaches. Church of His Kingdom was very large too. It had a really good stage to perform on. The people there were even better. Everyone was really friendly and open and I think that was encouraging on our behalf. It was a nice place for our last performance.
Reflecting now, I think our missions went pretty well. Many people responded to tuning into God. As for myself, I grew spiritually from spending time with the team and interacting with the people we met at different churches. Each person taught me something different, whether it was about myself or about God. And for all of that I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to go on this trip. So thank you for everyone that I met, for everyone that supported this team, for the prayers, the team, and God for blessing me so much. I encourage everyone to go on at least one missions trip because it really changes your perspective. I hope that everyone we met was changed in one way or another because I sure was. Thank you again.
In Him,
Tiffany Yen.
08/02/2006
I apologize for the ginormous time span between my updates. Let's see what's been going on..eh. We've driven through Texas for EFC NASA and Houston performances and chilled at the Space Center, visited Rice University, Zane's house, and at the church building most of the time. Tex Mex and the barbecue was pretty succulent. mmm. Oh yes, the weather was about mm 84 degrees but veery humid. Pretty much another Taiwan. The cool part was the random lightning storms out of no where. The people at EFC NASA are really nice and hospitable, making our stay very comfortable. So, thank you all! Kids and parents alike. <3.
Mooving on..New Mexico..nothing really..because we drove through the part with nothing there. And soem guy named Ryan thinks he's cool. Anyway, we got to Phoenix, Arizona. Weather was a big change. It was dry now, but at a temperature of 118. HAHA. We performed at GPCCC and EFC Phoenix, which I thought went very well. Then again, the GPCCCers had a prayer worship meeting for us and I think we just started praying SO much more. 4 people accepted Christ that weekend! Pretty amazing.. We were able to hangout with GPCCCers afterwards at Applebee's and some guys came out to support us at the EFC performance. Thanks guys! (I do remember your names, btw.) The parents at EFC took us swimming. The weather was so hot that the pool became lukewarm. HAHA. But it was fun all the same.
Still in Arizona, we drove from Phoenix to Flagstaff. This was the first place this tour that didnt' feel ridiculously hot. I think we just ate there for a rest stop and then we drove to an Indian reservation. We met up with a missionary named Mike, who showed us around for the next few days. We stayed the first night at a Bible college. There we met up with 2 other mission groups, one from Mexico and another from a Laotian church in Long Beach. That night we worshipped together. It was cool because there were so many nationalities together, not necessarily speaking the same language, but worshipping the same God. That in itself just opened up my eyes to see how big God really is. People don't just worship God in America, but around the world. Hearing people worship in another language was so awesome. It never occurred to me when my parents worship in Chinese, but when it was in Spanish and the people just seemed different from me, it was intense. Then we drove on and swam at Lake Powell. It was a pretty obscure place. You have to hike down a quarter mile of rocks and then there's the lake. Soo pretty. It's actually behind a dam, but yea. It's just amazing to see such a place. It seems so random to put a cool lake between the hot rocks. That night, we were there in time to see the slaughtering of a lamb. It was cultural and traditional that a lamb was slaughtered for celebrations. Pastor David told us to view it from a religious point of view; to see that as the sacrificial lamb or Jesus. The first part was gruesome, when the life of the lamb had to be taken. The legs of the lamb were tied together and it laid under the playset. The family slit the lamb's throat and let the blood drain into a bucket. The lamb struggled for a half minute and finally died. THe next part seemed like a science lesson. They first removed the lamb's skin and then methodically removed the legs and then cut open the sternum to let its guts out. The Navajo culture is admiral in that they don't waste anything. The skin gets sold, the meat is obviously eaten, and the intestines and blood and such are made into sausages. We stayed at a Navajo church camp that night. We basically slept out in the open since the chapel was constructed out of trees. The pews were wooden, the supporting beams were logs, adn the walls were pieces of tree bark. The next morning, we took a cold shower. Deadly at first, but refreshing afterwards. We went onto hiking by a canyon. It wasn't the GRAND canyon, but it was huge. The smart peopel we were, we hiked without sunblock, shoes, and water. I got a cactus thorn in my foot and Rich kicked some, Fern, Sandy, and Jess got dehydrated, and many more got sunburned. But, we were all okay! Then, we headed back to LA.
Our next performance was the following day at EFC Southbay, located in Torrance. We had practice and some rest at church and Joan's house. The drive out to Torrance was one of the shortest. The performance was pretty good, I guess. And it was Fernanda's last with us. =(. We didn't get to hang that long because we were going up to Mountain View the next day. The drive was surprisingly quick. We got there from LA in 5 hours. We prepped and performed at CTCC. The performance there was pretty good? HAHA. Well, that's what we got from the feedback. The Sunday service there was very unique. I had never been in a service of just prayer. It was refreshing. We hungout with the youth some more afterwards. The next day, we went to Seacliff Beach with the youth. It was a nice time to relax and get to know everyone even better. The food was wonderful and it was the first time I got to play big booty! The water was really cold. As a result, I probably didn't know I was getting baked. So I went back with my entire backside burned, even the back of my legs. We went to the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz. We went on a rollercoaster that was there before Pastor Eddie was in highschool! I forget when it was built, but it was fun. We went on some other ride that flipped you around. Quite historical..i guess.
Then we headed towards Daly City, which is nearby San Francisco. We will be performing soon. And that is where we are right now! So I apologize for this ridiculously long entry and I will be quite surprised if you are even reading this. So please continue to pray for our ministry that it ends with a bang! Pray for continual focus, energy, and the team. Thank you everyone! God bless.
07/17/2006
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, my old friend!
Dear MM supporters,I guess just an update to my last entry and the last part of our trip. Let's see..at Daly City we mostly went to San Francisco for all the hangout stuffs. We went to Japantown for sushis, Chinatown for dimsum, and the Equinox for some pointers on romantic date spots. But as for the performance at Cumberland, I thought it went pretty well. Even though I wasn't on stage that night, I was able to meet people and pray for 2 cool dudes, Chris and Jonathan with my counterpart Joan. Pastor Sonny from that church was a really cool and crazy dude. I liked him. Moving on..
We went to Oakland for CiBC. Before we got there, we stopped by Berkeley area for some pizza. And it was here at CiBC that I think the team really was able to come together again just being able to voice our frustrations and such. So that was good. We got treated out to good Chinese food across the street. The next day we performed. I think it went pretty well at this church too. I was able to meet some people, but unfortunately we couldn't stay for Sunday school. We headed down that day from the bay area..to go home. It was sad having to wipe off all the stuff from our vans because we had to return them..making it not really our vans at all. poo. But it was nice to go home for rest and head out to the Hillsong United concert the next day.
We waited for 7 hours to get into the concert. But, it was ALL worth it. Johnny got interviewed by channel 27 and the concert was GREAT. It was actually more than just a concert, it was a great time of worship. THe performance inspired us by showing how much energy and passion we should have when we're on and off the stage. And in a sense it was very humbling too. Even though Hillsong United is a ridiculously good worship team, they were very cihll about everything and knew their purpose was to glorify God. I think this was a great passion/energy renewer for our team. We were really hyped up just to practice.
We headed down to San Diego after that practice. San Diego is quite a glorious place. GOod food, cool weather, and nice beaches. Church of His Kingdom was very large too. It had a really good stage to perform on. The people there were even better. Everyone was really friendly and open and I think that was encouraging on our behalf. It was a nice place for our last performance.
Reflecting now, I think our missions went pretty well. Many people responded to tuning into God. As for myself, I grew spiritually from spending time with the team and interacting with the people we met at different churches. Each person taught me something different, whether it was about myself or about God. And for all of that I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to go on this trip. So thank you for everyone that I met, for everyone that supported this team, for the prayers, the team, and God for blessing me so much. I encourage everyone to go on at least one missions trip because it really changes your perspective. I hope that everyone we met was changed in one way or another because I sure was. Thank you again.
In Him,
Tiffany Yen.
08/02/2006
My whole 2nd update. :]. *warning: pretty long*
Hey MM supporters!I apologize for the ginormous time span between my updates. Let's see what's been going on..eh. We've driven through Texas for EFC NASA and Houston performances and chilled at the Space Center, visited Rice University, Zane's house, and at the church building most of the time. Tex Mex and the barbecue was pretty succulent. mmm. Oh yes, the weather was about mm 84 degrees but veery humid. Pretty much another Taiwan. The cool part was the random lightning storms out of no where. The people at EFC NASA are really nice and hospitable, making our stay very comfortable. So, thank you all! Kids and parents alike. <3.
Mooving on..New Mexico..nothing really..because we drove through the part with nothing there. And soem guy named Ryan thinks he's cool. Anyway, we got to Phoenix, Arizona. Weather was a big change. It was dry now, but at a temperature of 118. HAHA. We performed at GPCCC and EFC Phoenix, which I thought went very well. Then again, the GPCCCers had a prayer worship meeting for us and I think we just started praying SO much more. 4 people accepted Christ that weekend! Pretty amazing.. We were able to hangout with GPCCCers afterwards at Applebee's and some guys came out to support us at the EFC performance. Thanks guys! (I do remember your names, btw.) The parents at EFC took us swimming. The weather was so hot that the pool became lukewarm. HAHA. But it was fun all the same.
Still in Arizona, we drove from Phoenix to Flagstaff. This was the first place this tour that didnt' feel ridiculously hot. I think we just ate there for a rest stop and then we drove to an Indian reservation. We met up with a missionary named Mike, who showed us around for the next few days. We stayed the first night at a Bible college. There we met up with 2 other mission groups, one from Mexico and another from a Laotian church in Long Beach. That night we worshipped together. It was cool because there were so many nationalities together, not necessarily speaking the same language, but worshipping the same God. That in itself just opened up my eyes to see how big God really is. People don't just worship God in America, but around the world. Hearing people worship in another language was so awesome. It never occurred to me when my parents worship in Chinese, but when it was in Spanish and the people just seemed different from me, it was intense. Then we drove on and swam at Lake Powell. It was a pretty obscure place. You have to hike down a quarter mile of rocks and then there's the lake. Soo pretty. It's actually behind a dam, but yea. It's just amazing to see such a place. It seems so random to put a cool lake between the hot rocks. That night, we were there in time to see the slaughtering of a lamb. It was cultural and traditional that a lamb was slaughtered for celebrations. Pastor David told us to view it from a religious point of view; to see that as the sacrificial lamb or Jesus. The first part was gruesome, when the life of the lamb had to be taken. The legs of the lamb were tied together and it laid under the playset. The family slit the lamb's throat and let the blood drain into a bucket. The lamb struggled for a half minute and finally died. THe next part seemed like a science lesson. They first removed the lamb's skin and then methodically removed the legs and then cut open the sternum to let its guts out. The Navajo culture is admiral in that they don't waste anything. The skin gets sold, the meat is obviously eaten, and the intestines and blood and such are made into sausages. We stayed at a Navajo church camp that night. We basically slept out in the open since the chapel was constructed out of trees. The pews were wooden, the supporting beams were logs, adn the walls were pieces of tree bark. The next morning, we took a cold shower. Deadly at first, but refreshing afterwards. We went onto hiking by a canyon. It wasn't the GRAND canyon, but it was huge. The smart peopel we were, we hiked without sunblock, shoes, and water. I got a cactus thorn in my foot and Rich kicked some, Fern, Sandy, and Jess got dehydrated, and many more got sunburned. But, we were all okay! Then, we headed back to LA.
Our next performance was the following day at EFC Southbay, located in Torrance. We had practice and some rest at church and Joan's house. The drive out to Torrance was one of the shortest. The performance was pretty good, I guess. And it was Fernanda's last with us. =(. We didn't get to hang that long because we were going up to Mountain View the next day. The drive was surprisingly quick. We got there from LA in 5 hours. We prepped and performed at CTCC. The performance there was pretty good? HAHA. Well, that's what we got from the feedback. The Sunday service there was very unique. I had never been in a service of just prayer. It was refreshing. We hungout with the youth some more afterwards. The next day, we went to Seacliff Beach with the youth. It was a nice time to relax and get to know everyone even better. The food was wonderful and it was the first time I got to play big booty! The water was really cold. As a result, I probably didn't know I was getting baked. So I went back with my entire backside burned, even the back of my legs. We went to the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz. We went on a rollercoaster that was there before Pastor Eddie was in highschool! I forget when it was built, but it was fun. We went on some other ride that flipped you around. Quite historical..i guess.
Then we headed towards Daly City, which is nearby San Francisco. We will be performing soon. And that is where we are right now! So I apologize for this ridiculously long entry and I will be quite surprised if you are even reading this. So please continue to pray for our ministry that it ends with a bang! Pray for continual focus, energy, and the team. Thank you everyone! God bless.
07/17/2006
Updates!
Hey guys. I’m sorry that I’m the laziest darned person that hasn’t even written ONE entry yet! =/. Anyways, Texas has been quite good to us. It’s been humid and all but it’s been real nice to look around and find that God is everywhere and that we have brothers and sisters here. So I guess praise God for good hospitality and such but please continue to pray for us. We need help in the areas of more team unity, energy, and focus. Thanks for all your support! And please check back here at my blog, and I PROMiSE I’m going to update!! AHH!
Tiffany Yen
at a glance
- Home church
- EFC Orange County
- Instruments
- piano/keyboard
- School
- 1st year at UCLA
- Hometown
- Placentia, CA
- Hobbies
- spending time with people I like, playing tennis, napping, shopping during sales, meeting new people, concerts, traveling, acting crazy, food, being really ridiculously good looking, etc.
- Movies
- Zoolander, Finding Nemo, Moulin Rouge and stuff that is generally stupid funny, a Disney cartoon, or cute and girly
- Favorite Quote
- "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind." - Dr. Seuss
my story
Hello, I’m Tiffany. I am so done with high school. Anyway, I come from a Christian family, so I pretty much grew up in EFCOC where I learned about Christ from my Sunday school teachers. I accepted Christ on a children’s retreat and got baptized 5 years ago.
I’m most in tune with God when I leave aside time specifically for Him. It’s much easier to focus on Him when I’m able to give Him my full attention. That way I don’t shuffle God in a random time slot or “when I have time” because I know that it will only be half-hearted or quiet time won’t happen at all.
I’m going on the MM trip because I’d like to strengthen my relationship with God before I go to college, so that way I’ll be able to stand firm and know enough to share Christ with others. I’d also like to have an opportunity to serve over the summer. Uh. This blurb made me sound pretty boring, but I swear, I’m not that boring. I guess. >_>. That’s all.
i confess...
- I'm afraid of the dark.
- I've cracked my voice when singing.
- I can't sleep in a room if the closet door is open.
- I open up to others easily.
- I don't read my Bible everyday.
- There are times when I tune out from God.
- I can't sleep if there is a spider in the room.
- I've hugged a stranger.
- I've cried in public.
- I believe in true love.
- I've fallen asleep during sermons.
- Sometimes I choose other things over quiet times.
- I peek during prayer sometimes.
- I have to pee before performing.
- I've tripped on stage.