04/30: I'm definitely starting to feel my lack of sleep from staying up insanely late last night. But it was totally worth it - a little bit of anger and a little bit of caffiene helped me concentrate like never before, even at 3 in the morning. Today has been another productive day, despite me still not feeling all that happy. I'm definitely looking forward to the adventures in LA that will begin tomorrow though. Here's the final plan - the UCLA trip will begin tomorrow evening after work, so as usual I'm aiming to arrive at around 6:30-7:00. I will still go to the Gumball 3000 on Saturday, RAIN OR SHINE. I'll catch the bus from Westwood in the morning and be at the event well in advance. Thanks to a humongous umbrella I'm borrowing from my mom, my camera will be very well protected from water, so I can still photograph and film as planned. I could care less if I end up getting soaked myself... that gives me another good reason to take the bus rather than drive my own car. Hopefully it won't rain at that time at all, but if it does, it won't be a problem for me. With that said, time to continue on with the last few hours of another productive day.

04/30: So apparently it's supposed to rain on Saturday. Go ahead, God, keep kicking me. I'm not changing my mind. Then again, a part of me wishes someone can just shoot me right now... Like I said last night, in my anger I find determination to fight. If I plan on going to the Gumball, then I'll be at the friggin' Gumball no matter what it takes. If it turns out God doesn't want me to go, He has the power to stop me anytime, and I believe it. He's used force to intervene in my life before, and I believe He can do it again if He knows it's best for me in the long run. If the weather report doesn't change by tonight, then I guess I'll have to drive down to Santa Monica tomorrow morning to catch the pre-rally display, then drive back to Walnut to teach, then go all the way back to LA again at night. And what the hell am I supposed to do in LA when it's raining anyway?? Everyone I contacted so far either decided not to call me back or is going home on the weekend. I guess sitting there in the rain like an idiot is better than sitting in my room and getting even more frustrated at my life. Mom just left home to buy boba for lunch. I'm sure that will make my day...

04/29: 2AM and still awake. Not that I expected to sleep too well in the first place. That's why I gladly savored every last drop of the delicious Mr. Brown coffee that Ken gave me even though I knew it would keep me up. The Dream & Imagine worship team is back in session, and if all goes as planned, we'll definitely be making some clear progress in the near future. It was great to take some time to sit down at church with worship music in the background and let my heart talk to God. I don't even know what my heart is saying right now - I'm angry, I'm confused, but yet I can't deny that God won't let crap happen to me unless there's a reason for it. After practice, Ken, Juliann, Vanessa, and I went on a little snack run to Lee's, which was closed already. Epic fail. Fortunately Phoenix was still open, so we went there instead. Shaved ice is always a ripoff since I can make it myself, but what the heck... to be honest I really just wanted to stay away from my room a little longer to avoid having to face reality. And in that sense I was definitely successful. Thinking of it now, my need to run away from my problems has made this day even more productive than my life was prior to last night. Today I practiced piano, did some yardwork, wrote Chinese emails, cleaned the garage, figured out some plans for the weekend, went to teach, had worship practice, enjoyed eating and talking with friends, and now I'm here writing this entry. I really don't know how to properly respond to the situation I'm in now, but I'm definitley a bit angry at some of the potential losses I have to suffer. I'm a lot better at controlling anger now than I was a year or two ago, but one thing that hasn't changed is that being angry also makes me very determined to fight, whether it's a good thing or bad thing. So I'm not gonna give up. At this point, the one thing I'm really angry about is that after putting so much thought, time, and effort into my Taiwan reflections, all I have left now is the little that my mind can contain at once. I don't care if I have to stay up all night, I'll do whatever it takes to make up for it. And if it turns out that I'm actually stubbornly fighting against God's will, then I pray He'll punch me even harder to help me understand what's going on. I'm sure if I get punched enough times, I'll eventually be too weak to complain or fight back...

04/29: A very frustrating and confusing moment in my life. In the midst of finally feeling like I¡¦m being quite productive with my free time and putting the final thoughts into my reflection entry for the Taiwan trip ¡V an entry that is supposed to impact my life in a powerful way ¡V I was suddenly hit with a surprisingly hard blow last night that may have destroyed not only weeks of progress, but also all of my motivation. I really don¡¦t know exactly how hard I¡¦ve been hit yet, because at this point I¡¦m still too weak to go back and face the truth. If I do, there¡¦s a good chance I¡¦m gonna end up foolishly hurting myself or others in ways I¡¦ll later regret. For now, the best thing for me to do is stay calm and behave myself, and the best way to do so is to fill my life with stuff to do so I can get my mind off my problems until I¡¦m strong enough to face them. Right now I¡¦m at work, but I find it almost impossible to concentrate on teaching without getting these things off my mind first. Who knows what the heck God has in mind for me this time¡K I¡¦m smart enough to admit that there¡¦s no way I can prevent God from doing what He wants to do, but I¡¦m still too foolish to be humble and accept it. If there¡¦s a lesson to be learned here, then fine, God, teach it to me. Do whatever it takes. Hit me so hard I¡¦ll have no choice but to shut up and trust You. And I mean it from the bottom of my heart. It¡¦s always hard to pray genuine prayers like this, but heck, when you get kicked enough times in the same place, a little more pain won¡¦t make that much of a difference anymore, right? For now, I just have to fight for a couple more days ¡V Once I get my butt to UCLA on Friday evening, I¡¦m sure my (hopefully) busy schedule there will take care of me. And Saturday¡¦s Gumball rally should help too. After that, I¡¦m on my own again¡K hopefully by then I¡¦ll feel strong enough to face reality. Please pray that I¡¦ll have wisdom to get through this time, however long it may last.

04/26: (Rewrite - Original entry was lost prior to uploading). SNU. It's been an incredible weekend, starting with yesterday morning. Actually, the story begins earlier in the week, when Mark, a member of the PCARS forum, discovered the YouTube video I made from the Cars & Donuts meet I went to in February. He showed the video to Richard, the PCARS admin, who not only left me positive comments but also featured the video on the PCARS front page. So I went on the forum and posted a thank-you message, and decided to show up at yesterday morning's meet to hang out with them. They were extremely nice people, and welcomed me even though I was the only one who didn't drive a Porsche or better. In fact, when everyone was about to leave, Mark invited me to ride with him for their coffee run. He drove a Boxster tuned by Ruf and Evoms... such an amazing car, definitely the fastest car I've ever been in. (I won't write any mph numbers for the sake of privacy ;) ). Also on the run were another Boxster, a Cayenne, a classic 911, and the leader - a 360 Challenge Stradale. It was fun seeing all the other people on the freeway stare at us, and the sound of so many exotic engines made many of the slower drivers naturally move out of the way. We went all the way to Westminster for drinks - those avocado smoothies were great! Then Mark drove me back to Krispy Kreme and I went home from there. What an awesome morning... I didn't even plan on going to the meet until just a few days ago, and suddenly I got to join my very first run! Anyways, enough about that. Went to PACT at night and church this morning. Afterwards, Juliann and I had our long-awaited boba run. We went to Dolphin Bay, got boba and chicken, and she came over to chill and talk. It's amazing how we have so much to talk about... we really should do this again sometime.

Anyways, a couple little announcements before I shut up. First, the next UCLA VISIT will be this coming weekend (5/1-5/2). It's definitely not nearly as last-minute as the previous trip, so hopefully I'll be able to make plans a little earlier. For now, one plan is definitley confirmed, and that's the second announcement. The GUMBALL 3000 rally kicks off this Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica! Friday at noon, the supercars will be on display at the beach parking lot, followed by a free concert on Third Street Promenade at night and a party (VIP only) afterwards. Saturday at 1PM, the flag drops for the rally to begin. I have to work on Friday, so I'll go on Saturday to catch all the cars taking off. It's gonna be an awesome trip...

04/22: Goodbye, jury duty. I was called to report to service today, so that's where I spent eight hours of my day. I got called to the courtroom pretty early on, along with probably 2/3rds of all the potential jurors (it was a surprisingly large group today)... turns out the case was one that would last for two and a half weeks. I'm actually quite curious about what it would be like serving on a jury (since I didn't get selected the last time I went either), but when the judge informed us about the extended duration of the case, I knew it wouldn't be right for me to ditch my students for so long. And since pretty much everyone who was self-employed (meaning no pay when missing work to serve on jury) was dismissed, so I was too. By then it was already lunchbreak, and after lunch the names of those of us who were dismissed from that courtroom were added back to the list in the juror assembly room. I guess we must have been placed on the bottom of the list, since another group of jurors were called and we made up the majority of those few who stayed behind. Another few hours passed, and we were informed that there was only one more courtroom that was yet to give clearance for us to be dismissed. That one courtroom took quite a while, and I found it funny how people started getting increasingly nervous as time passed, since they knew their fate was about to be decided at any minute. I remained neutral, knowing I have no control over the situation and will have to face pros and cons whether or not I get selected. Then suddenly we were all dismissed to go home.

It's quite amazing how everything somehow works out perfectly. When I randomly chose this week as the postponement of my jury duty (which originally fell on the week I was in Taiwan), I didn't know it would happen to be at the same time as state testing for all the school districts, meaning many of my students have pretty much no homework at all. So technically today I was only supposed to teach for three hours today... and I made it to the last hour after leaving jury duty, so I only had to miss two hours of work. And today just happens to be the day when most of the leaders on the Dream & Imagine worship team are gone, so practice was cancelled, leaving me free to relax at home. Tomorrow, everything will return to normal, as if nothing ever happened.

In a sense, sitting uselessly in the assembly room all day seemed pretty uneventful. But then again, I feel like I definitely accomplished a lot - namely working on the bulk of my Taiwan reflection entry (since it's so easy to get distracted when I try working on it at home). Overall, being on call for jury duty taught me to really treasure the free time I have control over, and as a result these past few days have been extremely productive. On Monday, I talked with Clare and her mom until pretty late at night, then met Clare's friends Kevin and Derek. Derek and I ended up talking in the parking lot until our cars almost got towed because we stayed too long. It was awesome getting to meet another musician... maybe one of these days we'll get to work on some music together. Okay fine, hanging out doesn't count as being productive. But with the time I had at home in the morning and at night, I definitely got caught up with lots of things that I'm behind in, and it makes me feel very accomplished. At this point, there's only one thing left on my checklist for today - sleep! And that's exactly what I'm gonna do now...

04/19: Another SNU. It’s been an extremely busy week, thanks to all the follow-up work I have to do after the Taiwan trip (unpacking, emails, reflections, etc), along with my daily work schedule, which is now back to normal. It would be a lie for me to say that this economic crisis has no financial effect on me at all; my teaching schedule is definitely slightly more relaxed now, which is both a good thing and a bad thing for me. It’s a strange feeling suddenly transitioning from having the time of my life performing and having fun in Taiwan to being back to my everyday self. I’m definitely different after the trip, but I’ll save the details for my reflection entry, when I actually have time to finish it. Heck, I haven’t even finished uploading the million pictures from December’s China tour, not to mention those from this most recent trip.

It was definitely great being back with the Dream & Imagine worship team on Wednesday night. I feel a lot more inspired now to step up and take more action, and I really wish and pray that the rest of the team will jump on. I’m very convinced that at this point what we need is a little encouragement, the kind that can come from seeing some clear progress. And we’re not far from that, as long as everyone is willing to cling on just a little longer. Sadly, this week’s practice might be cancelled, since lots of people may not be able to make it, including myself (more details on that later). I’m quite disappointed about that, but I believe that if what we are doing follows God’s plan, then He will keep us strong even if we skip a week. On Friday night, I went to visit Grace(Yu), who I haven’t seen or talked to for the longest time ever (we usually always have random conversations even when there’s nothing to talk about, but lately we’ve both been quite busy). It was great to get to hang out and catch up again. And “Gooballs?is so awesome =). Yesterday was spent at Shaw and Stacy’s wedding planning party (I’m just playing piano, as usual =) ), followed by dinner with Ken at Q Noodle House and PACT afterwards. I hadn’t been to PACT in about a month (because of the Taiwan trip, followed by the UCLA visit), and it’s great to be back. Another thing I’m glad to be involved with again is our English worship team. Today I got to play with Ernest’s group, which eventually morphed into Ben’s group (it’s a long story?. Much of the reason is that today is a very special day ?It’s Pastor Baldwin’s 40th birthday!! After service we had cake, and many of us went to enjoy a big lunch celebration at (where else?) Coconut Bay. Three Thai iced teas kept me quite awake for the rest of the day, despite the hot weather making my head hurt. At night, we had a family dinner for another important occasion ?Howard’s birthday! Technically it’s on Tuesday, but we figured there’s more time to celebrate tonight. Now we’re back at home, and I’m tired like crazy. When I wake up tomorrow morning, it will be the beginning of a new and very interesting week, and here’s why-

One thing I never had a chance to mention about the Taiwan trip is that I had to make a little sacrifice, namely postponing my jury duty service to a later date. And that later day begins tomorrow. Actually, I already know I don’t have to show up at the courthouse tomorrow, but because I’m technically on call this whole week, God only knows what’s gonna happen. Other than the schedule inconvenience, I really have no complaints about jury duty; I think it’s a great opportunity to voice my opinions, even though I do wish that the case won’t go on too long if I get selected. I feel bad for my students (and their parents), since I already took time off to go to Taiwan, and as a private tutor sometimes my absence will be reflected quickly in the students?grades. It’s during times like this that I’m forced to humble myself and simply trust in God for what is best. If He calls me to report to the courthouse, whether that means actually being on a jury or just taking a day off from work, then I’ll do it gladly. If not, then I’ll be thankful that I can still carry out my work schedule as planned. Either way, I think being on call for jury duty will make me treasure my time this week much more. With that said, it’s time to go to sleep and get ready for the new week!

04/15: Taiwan Journals

March 26 (Thu): Extremely tired after a long plane ride. Compared to the plane we took to China, this one was a million times better ?all the movies, music, and games kept us entertained for most of the trip. We arrived in Taoyuan late at night and met with Pastor Li (Dan’s dad), who brought us to the dormitory we will be staying at for most of the trip. Our living conditions are very comfortable, and I’m glad that because I stayed awake during most of the plane ride, I can fall asleep any minute now, so jetlag shouldn’t be a big problem. It’s a weird feeling to think that after all the excitement about this trip, I’m finally here, yet I don’t actually feel excited because I’m so tired. A good night’s sleep will definitely help. Tomorrow morning we will travel south for our first concert.

March 27 (Fri): Another tiring day. Jetlag hit us in the middle of the concert in Jiayi; I never felt this close to falling asleep in the middle of performing. I think it’s also because we spent three hours on the car traveling from the north to the south. Fortunately, we were treated to an awesome shabu shabu lunch that filled us up beyond what we could ever ask for, and that gave us some desperately needed energy. The church that hosted the concert wasn’t huge, but I have to keep in mind that this isn’t China. In fact, even though I feel like I’m so familiar with Taiwan, I know nothing about the way people here respond to concerts. God definitely used us despite our weaknesses; many people gave their lives to Christ, and this concert turned out to be both successful and humbling ?a great way to kick off the tour. After another hour and a half in the car, we’re now in Taichung, where we will spend the next few nights. Tomorrow night’s concert is one I’m really looking forward to ?it will be hosted by the same church that hosted last summer’s English camp (the reason I was able to return to Taiwan in the first place), and many of my friends that I have kept in touch with since then will be there. I kind of wish that this event could be later in the trip so I could recover from jetlag first. But I’m pretty things will only go uphill from here.

March 28 (Sat): If it weren’t for my need for sleep, I would be out for a late night snack with several of my friends in Taichung right now. Thanks to a very comfortable (five-star?) hotel with a great breakfast buffet, I felt quite energetic despite still having trouble fighting jetlag. The jetlag made this whole day seem surreal, from having lunch with Pastor Lin and Steve to soundchecking for the concert and seeing so many familiar faces show up in the audience. The church has an incredibly nice facility, from the location to the equipment. Over the years, God has blessed them with growth, and it was only a year ago that they moved into this current location. We are very blessed to be part of God’s work in this church. Many people gave their lives to Christ, and despite some technical difficulties (that are nothing compared with last night’s), we really don’t have much to complain about. I got to spend some time talking with my friends from the church ?Allen, Tony, Casey, Peter, Steve, Evelyn, Aileen, and Ocean. It still seems hard to believe that I’m back in Taichung with the very people who helped plant this place so deeply in my heart in the first place. Tomorrow will be a busy day with two concerts. The first will also be held by Pastor Lin’s church, but will be located at a local elementary school to accommodate a larger crowd. The second will be in the upper story of a supermarket building, where we will be able to reach out to more people who would otherwise not step into church. After a good night’s rest, I’m sure tomorrow will be another amazing day.

March 29 (Sun): Back in the hotel after an awesome late night dinner courtesy of Sean’s family. It has definitely been an exhausting day, but God gave us strength to persevere and work for His glory from morning until night. The first concert, held at an elementary school, turned out surprisingly well. Pastor Lin’s church put tremendous effort into turning the school gym into a concert hall, with hundreds of neatly arranged seats and a sound system better than that of some churches we play at. I got to spend some time talking with Peter, Selinna, and Grace afterwards. Unlike the China trip, we weren’t rushed to leave immediately after the concerts, so I actually had time to talk with my friends. Of course, that time is never long enough, and I look forward to returning to Taichung by myself on Wednesday to spend more free time here. Pastor Lin and some of the church elders took us out to lunch at a fancy Japanese-style banquet. We had an hour to rest at the hotel afterwards, but because I wasn’t planning on napping (for the sake of fighting jetlag), I volunteered myself to go straight to the church for the next concert to help Sean set up. That concert was another surprise. Equipment was excellent, and the church’s location at the exit of a popular supermarket helped attract many people who have never gone to church. I was informed that we would be performing for a rather conservative crowd, and it turned out to be the opposite. The people cheered like I never heard before, and the enthusiasm (plus a cup of boba) made it much easier for me to stay awake and focused while performing. The concert ended with an impromptu encore featuring Sean as lead singer. Tomorrow morning we will leave Taichung and return to Pastor Li’s dormitory, where we will be staying for the rest of the trip.

March 30 (Mon): I definitely wish I was as awake as I am now during all the concerts we had so far, but I’m also glad God used my exhaustion as a way to keep my attitude in check, especially when performing in front of so many of my friends. As I enjoyed breakfast on the top floor of the hotel with Andrew, I looked out the window and saw many familiar sights, including places that gave me some of the most precious memories of last summer’s Taiwan trip. Reality has definitely hit me now. I’m halfway across the world, on this epic adventure that I have looked forward to for so long. Not that I didn’t like the trip so far, but I was simply too tired to feel like I was truly excited about it. When I woke up this morning, I knew right away that I have overcome my jetlag. No longer was I lightheaded like I have been ever since I arrived in Taiwan. It feels as if a giant burden has been lifted off my shoulders, and I am now ready to make the most out of my time here. It’s almost time to return to Taoyuan for the next part of our trip ?a recording session with a Christian TV station in Taiwan. After that, I’m on my own for a couple days to visit friends and relatives, followed by another series of concerts in Taipei.

March 30 (Mon): The end of the first day on this trip when I was actually fully awake and alert. It was definitely an exciting and surprising day. We returned to the dormitory in Taoyuan just in time for lunch at Crossroads Cafe, owned by Pastor Li. Then we went to Taipei to film for GoodTV. It turned out to be quite epic compared to what I had expected. We arrived to see a fully decked out multi-level stage with fog machines, countless lights, and special effects in the biggest recording studio room I’ve ever seen. If that’s not enough, the famous Chinese Christian band Joshua was recording right before us, so we got to watch them rehearse and film. Suddenly we were taking turns getting our faces covered in stage makeup to look better on camera. The only downside to this recording session is our decision to “fake?our show for the sake of efficiency, a technique proven to work well but not nearly as exciting to perform. Had we known this recording would turn out to be such a big deal, we would have planned for a live show to make the most out of it. Hopefully there will be other opportunities in the future.
It didn’t hit me until after the recording session that tomorrow morning will be the beginning of my solo adventure across Taiwan. Amidst fighting jetlag (which apparently hasn’t completely left me alone yet) and performing concert after concert, I had almost forgotten about my other plans on this trip. We’re back at the dormitory in Jhongli (Taoyuan) now, and I just finished making phone calls to confirm my plans for the next couple days. But even so, there are still countless challenges I have yet to face. It’s my first time traveling alone in Taiwan, and I have yet to learn how to use the high speed rail system and any other form of transportation I may need to use to get myself to Kaohsiung tomorrow and Taichung the following day. My grandparents will pick me up at the Kaohsiung station tomorrow, and I will spend the rest of the day with my relatives there. On Wednesday, I’ll go to Taichung to visit some friends and hang out with them. At night, Dan, Andrew, Samuel, and I will meet up and return to Pastor Lin’s church to spend some time coaching their worship leaders, and we will then meet up with Sean, who is spending the next couple days with his family and will also be in Taichung at that time, to travel back to Taoyuan together. To me, planning for these next couple days is like planning for a typical “area trip?or UCLA visit back in America, except at a much larger scale. The meeting with the worship team in Taichung was a last-minute plan, and it’s amazing that despite Dan, Andrew, Samuel, and I all having our own plans for the next couple days, we’re all able to make it happen. God is definitely at work, even in our free time, and I’m depending on Him to keep me safe and make the most out of my travels. I’m definitely scared now, but I’m sure everything will work out fine at the end, and I look forward to the exciting adventures that lie ahead of me.

April 1 (Wed): Wednesday morning at my grandparents?house in Kaohsiung. It’s definitely been an amazing adventure so far. Yesterday morning during our daily devotional time, Uncle Hwei called and insisted on driving from Taipei to Taoyuan just to pick me up and send me to the high-speed rail station so I wouldn’t get lost. After I finished packing and Uncle Hwei arrived, my mini vacation across Taiwan began. In a short hour and a half, I arrived at the Kaohsiung station, where Uncle Di, Grandma, and Grandpa were waiting to pick me up. It amazes me how much they take care of me ?by the time I arrived, Uncle Hwei had already called them and told them my plan to arrive in Taichung at 2:30 today, and they had already purchased my HSR ticket for the trip. Uncle Di, Grandma, and Grandpa took me out to lunch, then we came back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Aunt Fang came to meet us, and the four of us (Grandpa stayed at home to rest) went to visit a couple places that Carol and I didn’t get to visit when we came last summer, since there was a typhoon when we were here. First, we went to Uncle Fang’s grave, then we went to the village where my grandparents used to live when I was a child. I remember that place very well, since I visited my grandparents frequently before moving to America. Now, much of the old neighborhood is abandoned, including my grandparents?home, and stepping inside for the first time in almost 16 years brought back some amazing memories. Beneath the dust were many of my old clothes and toys, as well as some pictures of my relatives that my grandparents had not taken with them when they moved out (they still return occasionally to pick up items they left behind). I still remembered almost every part of that house, despite it being mostly empty and covered in dust and spiderwebs now. We also visited the nearby park and (abandoned) snack shop where I spent much of my childhood. Grandpa used to be the leader of the village, and during that time he put tremendous effort into improving it, renovating buildings and planting new flowers, many of which still bloom today. Seeing all these things again was almost overwhelming to me, but deep inside they tell me one thing ?I’m home.
After that, we stopped at 50Lan to get the boba I had been craving ever since I left Taiwan last summer. At night, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Fang’s family, and Uncle Di’s family joined me for a huge dinner. I spent the night at Aunt Fang’s house, where I got to spend some time with Cousins Miao and Yiou. They asked me to sleep in their room, and we had a great time talking until we fell asleep. We woke up early in the morning, since they had to go to school. Aunt Fang dropped me off at Grandma and Grandpa’s, and Grandpa took me out for a traditional Taiwanese breakfast. I’m back at their house now, and later we will meet with Aunt Fang and Uncle Di for one last lunch before I leave for Taichung. As if it didn’t feel strange enough to suddenly find myself away from the rest of the ClayMusic team visiting my relatives, going to Taichung by myself will be another crazy and surprising adventure. Having already traveled across Taiwan by myself, it really doesn’t feel that scary anymore, and I look forward to continuing the journey and eventually returning to Taoyuan tonight.

April 1 (Wed): The end of another amazing day. After lunch with Uncle Di, Grandma, and Grandpa, they sent me to the HSR station so I could go to Taichung. Because we wanted to make sure I had enough time to figure out my way around the station, we got there about an hour early, so I wandered around the station by myself. It was definitely an interesting feeling being alone and free in Taiwan, and it helped me slowly absorb the many things that this trip means to me. The train soon arrived, and after a short hour I was in Taichung.
Aileen and her friend Sophia were already at the station waiting for me, and they took me on an amazing scooter ride across Taichung to the area where their church was. We stopped near the church, where Angel was waiting for us. She had just heard recently that I was back in Taiwan and decided to join Aileen in skipping class for a day to hang out. We walked across the street to Starbucks, where we ordered coffee and talked. Peter and Grace also came to join us. We probably spent a few hours at Starbucks, but that time flew by. Before I knew it, it was almost 7 ?time to head over to the church to meet with Dan, Andrew, and Samuel to teach a quick seminar on worship. Aileen, Sophia, Angel, Peter, and I (Grace had to leave already) took their scooters to the church. There’s nothing like the feeling of riding scooters around the city streets at night with a bunch of friends ?That definitely won’t happen in America anytime soon. We arrived at the church just in time for the seminar to begin. Actually, Dan, Andrew, and Samuel had been at the church teaching since early in the afternoon, but it was a last-minute idea and I didn’t join them because I had already made plans to meet up with my friends ?a very special opportunity since I only get to see them when I’m in Taiwan. Many people from the church, primarily worship leaders and musicians, came to talk with us. We feel very blessed to have this opportunity to encourage the church to worship God genuinely and passionately.
After that, it was time to say goodbye. We were in a rush to take a taxi to catch the HSR train back to Taoyuan. Sean, who was with his family in Taichung for the past couple days, met with us at the station, and we returned to the dormitory together. The night ended with a walk to 7-Eleven with Andrew and Samuel. There’s something about walking at night to 7-Eleven that makes me extremely excited ?it’s what I did almost every night during last summer’s trip. These past couple days have brought back a flood of memories of last summer’s trip, good times with friends, reuniting with my family, and even scenes from my childhood here in Taiwan. Tomorrow ClayMusic will resume our tour with a meeting with some seminary students in the morning and a concert at night. These past couple days have been an amazing adventure, and I praise God for really allowing me to make the most out of my time here in Taiwan. May His will continue to be done.

April 3 (Fri): Friday afternoon, taking a break before going to the concert in Taoyuan. The location of this concert is very close to where we live, so we can take a break from those long bumpy car/bus rides that leave us all exhausted before the concert even starts. Yesterday we spent the entire day in Taipei, starting with a morning program where a group of seminary students came to talk to us. The leaders of that church (which also hosted the concert at night) took us out to a very fancy Japanese buffet at Taipei 101. Then we visited Elin bookstore, which is responsible for selling merchandise on this tour and also sent Edison and Stanley to drive us to our events. The concert at night was held at the Taipei City Council, where the church and a hired sound crew worked together to give us an excellent set of sound equipment. The only downside to this concert was that the city council hall had far more seats than the church could fill. But the turnout was actually great, especially considering it’s a weekday night. The church took us out for a late-night dinner, and we didn’t leave Taipei until past midnight. We were all exhausted, but it was great fellowshipping with people from the church and seeing how God has worked in their lives.
Fortunately, we got to sleep in a bit longer this morning. Devotional time was at 10, and afterwards Pastor Li invited us to visit their horse ranch and learn to ride. Then we had lunch at a small nearby restaurant. Finally, we get a taste of “real?Taiwanese food ?the kind that can only be found in small, family-run restaurants. Back in the dorm now, we have a couple hours to rest before leaving for tonight’s concerts. As usual, I choose not to nap for the sake of getting better sleep at night. I just returned from a 7-Eleven run to stock up on some of my favorite things in Taiwan ?“Lonely God?snacks, Apple Cidra, Hey Song, and of course, Taiwan Beer. The rest of this tour will be extremely busy, with two concerts tomorrow and two more on Sunday morning, so I’m glad I stocked up on snacks and drinks while there is still time.

April 4 (Sat): For some reason, Sean, Samuel, and Andrew all woke up extremely early, so I’m awake too. Last night’s concert was definitely an amazing experience. First, we were shocked at the equipment we had ?probably the best we’ve ever used. The church not only rented out the beautiful cultural center building, but also spent a large amount of money hiring a sound and video crew, resulting in a spectacular stage, sight, and sound. As for the performance, each of us had our share of stupid mistakes. My share was largely caused by the shock of standing on a huge platform on such a huge stage. But in the end, it was still an unforgettable experience. Today we will have two concerts, and on Sunday there will be two more. Sooner than we will expect, this tour will come to an end.

April 5 (Sun): 6:30 AM on Sunday morning. The bus is about to leave for our last two concerts in Taipei. After that, many of us will leave to go our own ways. Yesterday’s two concerts both turned out quite well. The first was at 1:30PM, and we arrived in the morning with enough to time to set up and eat lunch. I also found time to take a walk outside to the nearby 50Lan (which I spotted on the bus on the way). I was surprised to see my aunt and uncle after the concert. Hopefully I will see them again when I visit Taipei on my own on Tuesday. There was not a lot of time to set up and prepare for the nighttime concert, but God definitely provided for our needs. Jacob, a good friend of ours who lives in Taiwan now, helped set everything up before we arrived, making Sean’s job much quicker and easier. The keyboard was having some problems, so I chose to use the offstage grand piano. I must admit that after the past couple nights?events, I got enough on-stage attention to crave being in the corner. And of course, it brought back many great memories from our China tour a few months ago. Uncle Hwei’s family, who live nearby, came to watch the concert, even though only Uncle Hwei was able to stay until the end to talk. Fortunately, we were able to return to our dorm quite promptly after the event to get as much sleep as possible before waking up insanely early. But still, five hours of sleep is not nearly enough. Today’s concerts will be our last, and I pray for strength as we continue to proclaim God’s greatness through our music and testimonies all the way until the end.

April 5 (Sun): It’s over. I find it extremely hard to believe that the ClayMusic tour has come to an end. We’ve been in Taiwan for what feels like much more than a week and a half, yet we’ve been so busy with our daily concert schedule that it simply didn’t feel like it was going to end. Today’s two concerts were back to back (9AM and 11AM) at the same location. Special thanks again to Jacob for helping us set up before we arrived. I felt like I was going to fall asleep at the first concert, and it didn’t help that there was almost no break at all between the two shows. As expected, the 11AM event was the more ideal time, hence an audience large enough to fill both stories of the sanctuary (God only knows how many more people were outside in the overflow room). By then it finally hit me that it was the last of our 10 concerts. With that in mind, I gave a final burst of energy, putting my heart fully into the music. Seeing Angel and Lynn wave at me in the audience helped put a smile on my face, no matter how tired I was. Also there were several of my mom’s friends from college who she had not seen in over a decade, and I felt very honored to be able to see them on behalf of my mom, especially in a way that gives God glory. Most of the time after the concert was spent talking with Angel and Lynn, and we arranged to meet up in Taipei when I get there on Tuesday. Looks like my second solo adventure in Taiwan will be no less exciting than the first.
It started to rain just as we got on the bust o leave. Praise God for providing us with excellent weather throughout the trip ?unlike what the weather forecast predicted, not a drop of rain hit us until we finished all of our concerts. At that point, several of our team members went their own ways to visit relatives or to go on business trips. By evening time, Dan, Samuel, Andrew, and I were the only ones left at the dormitory. And that’s because our job here was not yet finished. Tonight was the first half of the worship conference we are hosting at a nearby church. Worship leaders and team members from several churches, most of who attended our concerts on this tour, gathered to learn from our team. First, we had a large group lesson similar to the one in Taichung on Wednesday, with a couple worship songs and a discussion on the meaning of worship. Then we split into four groups by instruments, with each of us teaching a class. Of course, teaching isn’t exactly my strength, and it doesn’t help that my keyboard class had the most people. I sacrificed my nap time this afternoon making an outline and preparing for my class, since I knew I couldn’t wing it without making a fool of myself. To be honest, I was more nervous about this class than any of the concerts on the tour. When the rain stopped, I took a quick walk to 7-Eleven (again) to ease the tension and prayed to God for guidance. In the end, the class actually turned out alright. And I got to meet several people at the conference with which I exchanged contact information. Afterwards, we went out for some food and beer with Allen, Esther, Joy, Cindy, and Tata. (Had I known about the beer earlier, I could have spared myself the walk to 7-Eleven this afternoon). Tomorrow night the conference will continue. In fact, the church leaders have asked us to get there an hour earlier to help coach their own worship team. I am very encouraged to see how much they hunger for being able to enhance their musical abilities in worship. Tomorrow’s session will only be as one large group, so now that the hardest part for me is already done, I look forward to finishing it as well as it started.

April 7 (Tue): Tuesday morning, 9:00AM. All my stuff is already packed, and as soon as Uncle Hwei arrives at the dorm to pick me up, I will leave this place for another series of adventures with my relatives and friends, which will eventually conclude my time in Taiwan.
Yesterday was another set of amazing adventures. We all got to sleep in a little more than usual. Dan’s dad (Pastor Li) took Dan, Samuel, Andrew, and I to visit his grandpa. Already over 90 years old, he is basically the Abraham of social work for the mentally handicapped in Taiwan. The dormitory we lived at is actually a facility for students with disabilities started by Pastor Li, and it was amazing to hear Grandpa Li share stories of how he was inspired to start the institution near his house and how his faith in God has kept in going throughout the years. Dan’s brother and his family also came, and we all had a big homemade lunch together. We returned to the dorm with a couple hours to rest, and this time I actually took advantage of it and treated myself to a big nap. After all, who cares about messing up my jetlag when it’s almost time to go back to America? To my surprise, though, Andrew and Samuel both woke up earlier than necessary and went downstairs, leaving me with no alarm to wake me up. (I usually wake up when I hear their alarms). Thank God I somehow woke up at exactly the right time, and ran downstairs just in time to go to the church for the second session of our worship conference. For the first hour, we worked with their worship team, coaching them and giving some suggestions on how to set up the stage. At 7, the rest of the people arrived and the actual event began. After we led a couple songs, each of the teams presented a few songs, and we gave them some feedback. We didn’t finish until after 10:00, and by then we were all exhausted. But at the same time, we were very excited, because we knew God had used us to bless each worship team present. Also, it is an extremely rare occurrence for so many churches to gather together for a single event, and this conference encouraged many leaders to follow up with creating unity among the churches.
After the conference, Joy, Cindy, and Tata took us out to the Jhongli night market for some food. No Taiwan trip is complete without some “street food??fried chicken steaks, stinky tofu, and the like. We got to spend a lot of time talking to each other, and it was then that I really started to realize how much God has done in these past couple nights, and how much more may happen even after we leave. I remember first feeling hesitant when Dan asked me to participate in this event, then eventually being scared out of my mind at heaving to teach in front of so many people. Now that it’s over, I’m just glad God was able to use me as His servant. We all have areas in which we need to improve, and I believe that if this is the ministry God calls us to, He will continue to help us grow and open new doors in the future.

April 7 (Tue): My last night in Taiwan. It still hasn’t hit me that this two-week trip is about to come to an end. Tomorrow at this time I’ll be at the airport about to board the plane back to America. Right now, I’m at Uncle Hwei’s house after a day full of adventures. Uncle Hwei picked me up at Jhongli in the morning, and already had some plans for where to take me. We went to the famous Shimen Dam, which I hadn’t seen since childhood, then walked around Sanshia’s old street, famous for its croissant bakeries. At 12:45, Uncle Hwei dropped me off outside Taiwan University, where I met with Angel to hang out. We walked around the shops across the street, and bought boba and some food for lunch. I was advised by Uncle Hwei not to eat a big lunch, since we were going to a buffet restaurant for dinner. I took his word and kept myself from eating too much. Angel and I took the MRT to Danshui, where we met with Lynn. The three of us walked around the many shops there, until it started raining too hard for us to stay outdoors. So we found some cover back by the station and played with Chinese traditional spinning tops, which I bought earlier at one of the stores. Then we sat down and talked until 5:00 when I had to start heading back. After saying bye to Lynn (since her school was at Danshui), Angel and I took the MRT back to Shilin, where she continued her journey back to school and I met up with Uncle Hwei outside. We picked up Peter at his school, then went back to their house to pick up Aunt Hewi, then headed out to the amazing Pariss International Seafood Buffet restaurant, where Alice, Uncle Di and Uncle Ming were already waiting. The dinner, courtesy of Uncle Ming, was an unforgettable experience ?unlimited amounts of sushi, sashimi, seafood, steak, desserts, drinks (yes, alcohol included), all over some live background music. We spent a good two and a half hours eating and talking with each other. One thing I love about Dad’s side of the family is that they are very free to express themselves with no shame ?and in a place like this, that means eating plate after plate and feeling great doing it. The food is still resting in my stomach right now, and as soon as I give myself some time to digest, I’ll probably go to sleep soon, since I have a feeling tomorrow will be another amazing adventure.

April 8 (Wed): Back at Pastor Li’s dorm. It feels like forever since I’ve been here, thanks to Uncle Hwei’s meticulous planning that resulted in a fun and busy day. After eating the croissants we bought yesterday at Sanshia for breakfast, Uncle Hwei took me to Jiufen to walk around and see the scenery and shops. We enjoyed a bowl of taro balls, which Jiufen is famous for. Then we visited the nearby Jingua mountains and spent some time at the gold museum. Just as we were getting hungry, we went to another town, famous for it’s stinky tofu. That’s exactly what we had ?fried tofu, garlic stinky tofu, and mala spicy stinky tofu. Uncle Hwei always knows the best places to eat, no matter where in Taiwan we are. Next, we made a brief stop at Bitan to take some pictures of the scenery. Then we went to Wulai and visited the famous waterfall. Our last destination ?the Wulai hot springs. After an amazing bath, we enjoyed dinner at a nearby restaurant, then headed back to Uncle Hwei’s house. I got in touch with Dan, who asked me to help him with some luggage before going to the airport. So that’s why I’m here now. Very soon, we will leave for the airport, and it will be time to go back to America.

April 8 (Wed): Back at home in America. The flight home went by surprisingly fast. Dan, Samuel, and I got to sit together, and I was so tired after spending the day with Uncle Hwei that I fell asleep almost immediately after boarding. When I woke up, suddenly we were only a few hours away from Los Angeles. Before I knew it, my journey to Taiwan was over. In a sense, my time in Taiwan has been so eventful that it feels much longer than just two weeks. At the same time, thinking back now, these two weeks definitely flew by. One thing I know for sure is that it’s been forever since I was back here in my own room. In my head is a sea of thoughts and memories from this trip that I have yet to organize. These next couple days will be extremely busy too, with countless emails, letters, and phone calls. But first, I need to get some sleep and start fighting jet lag again. Tomorrow morning when I wake up, everything that happened on this trip will seem like a dream. In fact, even right now it already does. I will spend more time reflecting on the trip and writing about it when I have time. For now, I praise God from the bottom of my heart for an incredible journey to Taiwan.

04/11: SNU. Life after the Taiwan trip has been incredibly busy, thanks to the UCLA Visit, along with a very eventful Easter Sunday. That’s definitely a good thing, since it helps me fight my jetlag (how can I possibly fall into the temptation of taking a nap when there’s so much to look forward to? =) ). Let’s start with Thursday ?As soon as I made my final decision to proceed with the UCLA trip, I started desperately calling and IMing people. Usually I would never wait until the night before the trip to start making plans, but this time I had no choice. And the outcome? The results of last-minute planning were definitely noticeable, and unfortunately there were several people that I was unable to see because I simply didn’t have enough time to figure out any more plans. But as with every other UCLA visit, this trip did not fail to leave me very content and eager to return again.

Friday- Christine(Shen) had no class, so when I arrived on campus at around 3:00, we met up and decided to take a spontaneous walk around the apartment streets and the much wealthier nearby neighborhood. It’s always fun to explore ?even after years of car-spotting on Sunset Boulevard, there are still many areas of the neighborhoods I have never ventured to, and each of those houses are unique enough to start a new conversation, making our walk extremely entertaining. I joined Christine and Andrea for dinner at Andrea’s apartment (thanks for inviting me! =) ). There was no GOC meeting, since they had a special service at their church (off campus) for Good Friday. I used that time to walk around Bel-Air for a bit, then rest a little at Bruin Cafe. Went to visit Sophia at 8:30ish, and talked with her for the next few hours while enjoying an awesome chocolate Easter bunny (pictures coming soon! =) ).

Saturday - One thing I love most about visiting UCLA is that almost everything around me brings back some form of pleasant memory. Even sleeping got me a little excited ?and that didn’t bother me, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep too well anyway. Besides looking like I haven’t slept for months, I was glad I didn’t sleep much, since it helped me rest better when I got back home at night, contributing to my successful recovery from jetlag. I met with Tammy and Janelle at Starbucks at 10:15 to talk and catch up for a bit. Then joined Victoria and Jenny at Elysee’s Cafe at 11 for brunch. We decided to take a break from our usual brunch-at-Novel routine. Afterwards Victoria and I walked around Westwood for a bit, then sat down to chill and talk. Meanwhile Rushi arrived in Beverly Hills for a long-awaited day of car spotting, and was calling me to keep me updated, getting me excited about joining him later in the afternoon. For those of you who think brunch can replace lunch, I’m afraid I disagree =). I met up with Serena for lunch at Corner Bakery ?it’s basically a cafe too, so in a sense it’s the third one I went to in the same morning. Nothing wrong with that =). And when it comes to being both tired and jetlagged, more caffeine is always welcome. Next destination ?Beverly Hills. I joined Rushi there at 3:00 for a couple hours of spotting and shooting. It’s our first time hanging out together in the Triangle, and just as we expected, two guys are better than one. There were several cars that we wouldn’t have found without each other’s help. Highlights include three Phantom Dropheads, an SLR McLaren Roadster, a new Flying Spur Speed, and an Aston Martin DBS. Back at UCLA, I went to visit Trinh and Antony in Rieber Terrace. And I arrived at the perfect time ?Trinh didn’t need her dinner swipe, so I helped her put it to good use. I joined Antony, Jerry, Jessica, Brooke, Austin, Marcus, and Kevin for an awesome dinner at Covel. For the rest of the night, I had no plans, but thanks to Christine(Shen), it ended up becoming a highly memorable night. We decided to continue Friday’s adventures of exploring, this time around campus. For all you Bruins out there ?when was the last time you went on the roof of the Math Sciences building? What about the tower in Kerchoff? That’s right?next time you should do exactly what we did, and spend a Saturday night exploring the campus that you thought you knew so well. Christine and I eventually sat down in the Bombshelter and started singing random songs from worship songs to Jay Chou. Yes, one or two people walked by and heard us, but they were probably engineers too tired after days of nonstop lab work to care about what we were doing. Before we knew it, it was almost 11:00 already. We walked back to her apartment, then I made my final soda stop at Bruin Cafe and headed home. I didn’t want to leave too late for the sake of being awake enough to drive safely. And I made it home just in time to hop in bed and get a great night’s sleep before Easter Sunday.

Sunday (today)- Went to church for Easter service. It felt like forever since I was last there?and I’m a little surprised that a lot of people noticed I was gone for a while. It’s great to be back. We had an amazing 200+ people in the English service (definitely a new record)?could this be a sign that it’s time to start working on the new building? =) And praise God for the 100+ people in all three congregations who got baptized today. Most of us stuck around afterwards to enjoy an awesome lunch at church. Afterwards, Madelyn came over to hang out, then we went to Joseph’s house for a car-washing party! We also got some pollo from El Pollo Loco for dinner. Thanks Joseph for all the little car care tips?I’m usually on my own when it comes to making my car look good, but every time we have these little parties, I always learn something new. Of course, all that scrubbing left me pretty tired when I got home. And that’s perfect, cuz it’s about time to go to sleep, and I can probably fall asleep any minute now. Tomorrow everything will be back to normal ?relaxing mornings, work in the afternoon, etc?It’s always nice to have a break from a routine life, and these past two and a half weeks have definitely been one heck of an exciting break!

04/09: Last-minute change - Please disregard the previous entry... the UCLA Visit is still happening tomorrow thru Saturday as originally planned! After thinking about it a little more, I realized there's a lot I need to do next weekend and it would be wrong of me to cancel all of it just because a stupid rainstorm prevents me from visiting UCLA this weekend. So yea, rain or shine, I'm going to UCLA tomorrow (maybe lunchtime or early afternoon-ish?) until Saturday night. I've already contacted most of the people I plan on visiting, but there are still more who I couldn't reach. It's my fault that all this is being planned so last minute, but as usual, spontaneity will take control once I'm there, so I have nothing to worry about. See you guys there! =)

04/09: I'm back! =). The Taiwan trip was amazing, and there's a bunch of journal entries I need to type out which I will post in these next couple days. God really used our team to bless many people in Taiwan, and also taught us very valuable lessons, mostly about genuine worship. It was also great seeing my relatives and so many of my friends in Taiwan again. I'll spare the details for now, since they'll all be on the journal entries once I type them out. But for now, I have one quick announcement-

UCLA VISIT #12 will be delayed until next week (Week 3, Friday night and Saturday) for a few reasons. First, apparently this weekend is Easter, and I didn't realize it until last night. That means our church will have a Good Friday service (and GOC is cancelled, so I can't visit). Also, it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Saturday, which will make the entire trip extremely inconvenient. And there's a million phone calls, emails, letters, etc... that I have to take care of, as well as unpack and get over my jetlag. Actually, visiting UCLA should help me with the jetlag, since it keeps me busy and forces me to stay awake when I should be awake. But with the given circumstances, it doesn't seem like it will happen. We'll see...

03/25: My life is a series of stories, written by the very God who created me and has a perfect plan for me. Some of these stories only last for brief moments, while others span several years. Regardless of length, each story is significant because it is a part of God’s master plan. Every once in a while, there comes an event where several of these stories come together, resulting in an adventure so big that the only thing I can do is fall on my knees and praise God while continuing to pray that He will let His will be done.

In one story, I abandoned my birthplace, Taiwan, for fifteen years after moving to America. Last summer when I finally visited Taiwan, I was reunited with many family members and began to discover the side of me that was lost with my father’s death. In another story, God used a series of signs and miracles during my college years to show me that He was calling me to switch my major from engineering to music. One of the most incredible music-related paths He has been paving for me is ClayMusic, an evangelical Chinese Christian group started by my aunt that has opened the doors for me to perform for God’s glory in front of countless people, both in America and overseas. In a third story, I met a group of friends in Taiwan last summer that gave me a glimpse of what my life may be like if I didn’t move to America. Saying goodbye to them was not easy, because I didn’t know when, if ever, we would meet again. We have kept in touch since then, and they inspired me to not only improve my ability to read and write Chinese, but also to seize every opportunity possible to return to Taiwan again.

Now, that opportunity has finally come, and it will unite all these stories in a single life-changing adventure. For the next two weeks, I will tour with ClayMusic in Taiwan and perform at several evangelical concerts. I will visit my relatives there and continue last summer’s adventure. I will participate in a worship conference and help train worship leaders to better use their talents for God glory. I will see many of my friends in Taiwan at the concerts, and also spend time visiting several of them, finally fulfilling our desires to see each other again.

For weeks, I have been preparing for and looking forward to this trip. Now the journey is about to begin. I ask that you please pray for the health, safety, and spiritual well-being of each member of our team. There will be several times when I may have to travel alone to visit people in different cities, learning to survive by myself in a place I’m still quite unfamiliar with. Thinking of that makes me a bit scared, but my fears are overshadowed by excitement, and all the things that I am worried about will only end up serving as a learning experience. My ability to participate in this trip is the result of many prayers (3/03/09 entry), and having been blessed with this opportunity, it only makes sense that I allow God to continue writing the stories He has started in my life. God, let Your will be done. Continue writing Your stories in my life as You always have been, and do so for Your glory. I really don’t know what to expect in these next two weeks, but I know it’s going to be an amazing adventure, and I look forward to all the surprises God has in store for me and for our team. Taiwan, here we come!

03/24: I woke up early in the morning excited to continue packing and figuring out plans with people in Taiwan. The more I talked to people, the more excited I was. And the fact that I’ll actually be able to call people in Taiwan to plan to meet up will make things a million times easier. As the afternoon progressed, I slowly sank into my daily work routine, with only a slightly strange feeling telling me it’s my last day of work before the trip. During the last few hours of work, usually the most exhausting since my schedule doesn’t have any breaks, reality started to poke me. I’m going to Taiwan. Tomorrow! I found myself living in two worlds at once, my usual work routine and the almost unbearable excitement of going on this trip. I forced myself to swallow the excitement to stay focused on teaching. After leaving my last students?house, I was driving down the quiet neighborhood street enjoying the cool evening breeze with the windows down when that feeling poked me again. Six hours of work had passed by, and I was closer than ever before to beginning this adventure. Excluding the time I spend sleeping tonight, there’s only a few hours left before I leave home. It’s always a strange feeling, sitting at home before a journey that I know will be so amazing yet so unpredictable. A part of me is starting to stress a little about making sure I don’t leave behind anything important. Another part of me wishes the trip will start immediately so I don’t have to control my excitement anymore. Before I know it, I’ll be on the airplane returning to Taiwan, where my relatives are awaiting my visit and my friends are eager to come to our concerts. I love how God always gives me adventures like this to spice up my life once in a while, so I don’t fall into a meaningless daily routine without passion. It’s been a very long time since I’ve felt this passionate about anything. Surely this trip will be an unforgettable experience. I can’t wait for tomorrow. I can’t wait to see all that God has in store for me and all that He will use our team to do in Taiwan. I can’t wait to see all the people that have contributed to making me so eager to be there. For now, I’ll swallow my excitement one last time and finish my last bit of packing. Tomorrow morning, the adventure will begin.

03/23: Update on the Taiwan trip - Apparently I'll actually have my own cell phone once I arrive in Taiwan. Special thanks to my relatives for doing me this unexpected favor... it will really save me a lot of trouble trying to contact people (my internet access will be extremely limited, if any at all). At the rate that I'm emailing people in Taiwan and receiving replies, I doubt anything will be planned for sure until I'm actually there. And I'm pretty sure the process of making plans that can take weeks through email will take less than five minutes on the phone. Now I need to start making sure I have everyone's phone numbers...

03/22: Less than three days before the Taiwan trip. We finished our last rehearsal today, so the next time we meet as a group will be at the airport on Wednesday. Things are looking great so far, and I’m getting more and more excited about the trip.

Since I’m gonna be out of the country for two weeks, I guess it only makes sense that I try to plan ahead a little bit. For those who just finished finals and suddenly realizeed Spring Break is a great chance to hang out, I’m sorry, but it ain’t happening this year, unless you want to meet me on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Monday and Tuesday will be dedicated entirely to work (possibly with additional hours to make up for my absence) and preparation for the trip (packing, practicing, contacting people, and preparing myself spiritually and emotionally). On Wednesday morning, we will go to the airport and begin our adventure.

For those who are in Taiwan, our tour schedule can be found on ClayMusic’s website (www.claymusic.org). On 4/5 and 4/6 (Sun-Mon), the instrumentalists (Dan, Andrew, Samuel, and I) will be coaching a 6-hour worship leading conference. My free days will be 3/31-4/1 (Tue-Wed, all day), 4/6 (Mon, daytime only) and 4/7-4/8 (Tue all day, Wed morning). I’m free to go anywhere I want in Taiwan during those days, and I really wish they will turn out to be fun and eventful.

After coming back home (4/8, Wed night), I have the rest of the week to relax, since it’s my Spring Break (one great thing about my job is that I still go by the school calendar and get to enjoy the holidays). Unfortunately, because of the Taiwan trip, there will be no extended UCLA visit (4-5 days) like last year’s. But I’m still gonna visit, and most likely my next visit will be immediately after I get back (4/10-4/11, all day Fri-Sat), since that’s the only weekend I can stay for two whole days. I think it’s Week 2, meaning most of the academic stress (hopefully) hasn’t kicked in yet. But it’s all gonna be last-minute planning, since I won’t get to contact people until after Wednesday. We’ll see what happens?For now, it’s time to focus on getting ready for Taiwan!

03/21: Sometimes the best things in life happen before most people wake up. I woke up at 5:30 AM to get ready for my early morning adventure to Irvine. "You're crazy" was my first thought, followed by "Where's the sun!?!?". I didn't know what time sunrise was, since I normally don't wake up that early. But everyone who knows me well can testify that if there's a good reason for me to wake up early (given I'm able to sleep early enough the night before), I'll definitely do it, no matter how early it is. Sometimes it's watching the sunrise, and other times it's meeting people for an early breakfast. This time, it's a car meet. And it's one of the most amazing car meets I've ever seen in my life.

The last time I went to Cars & Coffee (which meets every Saturday morning) was in August 2007. I challenged myself to waking up early and going to the event because that particular day was a special occasion - the Ford GT national rally. 97 Ford GT's showed up, representing 24 different states and one Canadian province. Also present were several GTX1's, a GTB, and several Superformance GT40's. Ever since that day, I had been wanting to go to Cars & Coffee again. And I made several attempts to plan a second trip. But every attempt failed, either because I didn't have time or because I was discouraged by a high chance of rain. This time, the long-awaited trip finally happened as planned. And of course, there's a very good reason I chose this day.

Let's start with the surprises - today's featured marque turned out to be Mercedes-Benz, and it brought out some of the most amazing MB's ever made, both past and present. Classics included a Unimog, a 1911 Benz, and several 300SL's. The modern cars were as good as they could get - an SLR McLaren Roadster, a CLK DTM, and an SL65 AMG Black Series. Also at the meet were three Carrera GT's, a rare Ford RS200, two Skyline GT-R's (R32 an R34 V-spec), and many other rare cars I had never seen on the streets before. A nice collections of classic Ferraris showed up too, including a 365 GTB/4 Daytona, a 250GT TDF, a few 330's, and more. Speaking of Ferraris, there was a particular quartet of cars that showed up and attracted the largest crowd of the day. And it was for those very cars that I chose today as the day of my second Cars & Coffee trip.

It all began a few weeks ago, when a FerrariChat member surprised everyone on the forum with the purchase of a rare F50. Conversations started between him and three others, a 288GTO owner, an F40 owner, and an Enzo owner. They decided to bring the four supercars together, completing the Ferrari supercar timeline from past to present, and share this rare occurence with the public. With the help of the Cars & Coffee organizers, the supercars were given a special parking area, perfect for photography. Here's a few shots so everyone who wasn't there can see exactly what they missed out on.

03/20: It's around 9:00PM now. I should be getting ready for bed. I know, I'm crazy. And tomorrow when I find myself frantically getting ready to drive down to Irvine at 5:30 in the morning, I'll feel even crazier. The weather tomorrow won't exactly be beautiful, but the rain isn't supposed to hit until evening or night, so the show will still go on, and I'll still be there. I'll probably still be there even if it's raining when I wake up, as long as I remember to bring a random object to hold over my camera to keep it from getting wet.

This past week has definitely been quite fun. Went to Boston Cafe with Ken Juliann and Vanessa after practice on Wed. night. "Exotic Mango Mix" is pretty good =). Had dinner with Chan-Mi in Chino Hills last night - a slightly more elaborate version of our typical hot cocoa night / tea time / whatever it's called now. The highlight of today was a surprise on my way home from work - a Gallardo Superleggera. Did you know there was a Superleggera in Walnut? I knew ever since I saw a yellow one over a year ago, and since then I've been dying to get some pictures. And as if a "regular" Superleggera (only 172 built) isn't rare enough, this one has an amazing set of custom rims. I simply couldn't give up the opportunity I waited so long for, and the chase ended victoriously with several pictures and several videos. I watched the videos at least a dozen times already, and the sound of that Italian V10 still amazes me. God only knows what surprises will show up at Cars & Coffee tomorrow. I should also be able to make it to PACT at night, and also have dinner with Ken, Steph(Lin), Esther, and Ally before. It's gonna be a busy and exciting day. My camera is charged, and my memory card is emptied. Now all I need is a little bit of sleep...

03/15: SNU. Went car spotting with Rushi yesterday afternoon. We were surprisingly successful, shooting a Maserati Coupe, Quattroporte EGT, Ferrari 550 Maranello, and RR Corniche II. While this hobby is still relatively low-key, at least around this area, I can't deny that two spotters are better than one. This coming Saturday (3/21) will be my long-awaited return to Cars & Coffee in Irvine. Rushi will be there too, along with many other car freaks. I won't blab out all the details, but let's just say that a particular quartet of cars will show up and it will be a historic once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any car photographer. If things go as planned, I'll be out of bed and getting ready at 5:30 in the morning...

PACT last night was awesome too - saw lots of people that I didn't see in a very long time. After missing cell for several weeks, I'm very glad to be back. Talked with Madelyn until almost midnight, and we continued our conversation during lunch after church today. It's amazing how we suddenly have so much to talk about. After church was the ClayMusic rehearsal for the Taiwan trip. I find it extremely hard to believe that the trip is only a week and a half away. It seems like yesterday that I found out I was going on this trip (3/3 entry), and it's time to start solidifying all my plans on how I'm gonna spend my free time, as well as preparing my heart to let God work through me and the rest of the team on this trip.

Reading "The Purpose-Driven Life" with the church's daily reading plan has definitley helped me stay focused on God more than usual. Recently I've been seeing a lot of injustice happening to people around me that I really care about, and I find it difficult to not feel angry and want to fight back and get revenge for them. What perfect timing, considering our church is now learning about forgiveness and reconciliation. It's definitely an area I really need to grow in, and an easy way to do so is to constantly remind myself throughout the day that I'm living for God and not for myself. With that mentality, a lot of the small things that make me angry won't bother me nearly as much, and I will be able to face those situations with the right mindset and the right purpose. I pray that I will strive to live a Christlike life above all else as I face this new week.

03/13: Every car spotter in the U.S. should be excited at this time of the year, since Daylight Savings shines light on many exotics that are otherwise hidden in darkness. The extra hour of sunshine has definitely brought out the best of Walnut for me throughout this past week. I've been paying extra close attention to a new location that I'm now highly interested in, thanks to a series of amazing discoveries in this past week. Take a look at these-

03/08: SNU time. Aside from hanging out with Chan-Mi on Monday night (late-night Maxim Cafe run) and my daily teaching routine, this past week has been spent almost entirely on Taiwan-related stuff, namely contacting people and writing the previous entry. Yes, contacting people takes up a lot more time than it seems, considering how incompetent I am when it comes to reading and writing Chinese. Over the past half a year, there are many people I met in Taiwan that I lost touch with, and emailing them again reminds me of last summer when I attempted to email them for the first time. If it wasn't for the fact that they could actually comprehend English, I might not even have bothered trying; stuck in a little computer lab at our dormitory in Changhua, the best I could do was copy and paste a couple Chinese phrases into an otherwise English-only email. Thanks to all my friends from Taiwan and China who made an effort to continue emailing me, I can now write entire emails in Chinese, and do so in about half the time it once took me. Of course, there's plenty of room to improve still, so I must continue practicing. And in this coming week, I'll definitely have plenty of opportunities; now that I received several replies about my return to Taiwan, it's time for me to write back one by one to see when we'll be able to meet up!

Anyways, for now I'll focus on this past week. Last night was the ClayMusic concert in Thousand Oaks, which turned out quite well. It's simply impossible to not be excited about these concerts after something as epic as the China tour. I admit, and most of us probably agree, that after performing in front of audiences of thousands, it's very difficult to get back to the reality of 200-something-people churches in the US. But I kept reminding myself that the God we serve, who gave us our abilities to perform, is the same no matter where on this planet we are, and He loves the congregation of 200 no less than He loves gatherings of thousands. One of the most disappointing things about returning to America is realizing how hard people's hearts can be here, something made clear through the responses we receive after our events. But of course, that's all in God's hands too, and in that sense last night was definitely not a disappointment. Despite some technical errors on our part, a surprising number of people gave their lives to Jesus. No matter how well we perform or how much people like our music, that joy that we receive simply can't compare to the joy of seeing God touch people's hearts through us. And it definitely serves as a great encouragement to us as we begine practicing next weekend for the Taiwan tour.

The only downside to the Thousand Oaks concert is that it takes an hour and a half to drive back home afterwards, plus it's daylight savings, plus I had to be at church at 8:30AM for worship practice. Not the best combination of events. But in all seriousness I really have nothing to complain about. I've been keeping up with our church's Purpose-Driven Life daily readings, and after being reminded once again of the meaning of worship and the joy of having an intimate relationship with God, I consider it a great privilege to participate in leading the congregation in worship. After church, there was a huge lunch at Coconut Bay - and I mean huge, as in almost 40 people. We connected a row of tables that pretty much went from one end of the restaurant to the other (fire hazard, anyone?). And whose genius idea was it to put all 300 bucks of food and drinks on the same bill?? The process of making sure everyone paid the right amount took long enough that I could have gotten another 3 to 4 refills on my Thai iced tea. But it's okay, at least we were nice to the waiters and tipped them well. After that, Ken and I went to Costco to run some errands, then I came back home, and he came over to chill and talk for a bit too. Then we went to Wilson's party - for those who haven't heard, he's leaving for Singapore for five months. A part of me is happy for him, since I know it will be a life-changing experience for him. But I'll definitely miss him as a preacher, cell leader, and friend. I pray that God will protect him on this journey and transform him according to His will.

It's 11PM right now... technically it should feel like it's only 10, but I definitely feel like I can fall asleep any second. Maybe I'll challenge myself to another Chinese email, or maybe I'll play around on the computer some more first. Or maybe I'll just go straight to sleep...

03/03: I’ve always known that God answers prayers in three ways ?“yes? “no? and “wait? Sometimes I selfishly pray for things as if I could force God to answer “yes? Sometimes God says “wait?and it’s easy for me to obey because the things I pray about don’t matter much to me at all. As for the prayers to which God might answer “no? I often make the mistake of trying to avoid them completely in fear of having to go against my own will. In each of these cases, I forget that God is my creator and that He has a perfect plan for every aspect of my life. That means He will not always give me what I want and I must be humble and shape my life around His purposes, finding contentment through faith in Him rather than trying to take things into my own hands. Every once in a while, there comes a situation that means so much to me, yet I have so little control over, and it leaves me with no choice but to get on my knees and pray desperately that God will grant me the “yes?I desire. Of course, He gets to make the final decision. Sometimes He says “no? and I need to continue trusting Him, knowing that He is denying me the temporary gratification because the best is yet to come. But sometimes He says “yes? and during those times the realization that my deepest desires and emotions coincide with His purpose simply leaves me overjoyed.

After I went to Taiwan for a month last summer, I felt deeply attached to it as a second home and dreamed of returning again (“From Home, Back Home? 8/7/08). It was my first time visiting my birthplace in fifteen years, and after finally reuniting with my relatives and meeting many new friends, the pain of having to say goodbye at the end of the trip was almost unbearable. To help ease that pain, I placed my focus on a potential future opportunity to return to Taiwan ?as the keyboardist for ClayMusic’s 2009 Taiwan tour. We already had two tours there before, but I didn’t participate in either for the sake of efficiency. (Because bringing instrumentalists requires much more time, energy, and money, we only employ a live band in tours that have larger venues). In the midst of all that I had to leave behind when I left Taiwan last summer, the upcoming tour served as a glimmer of hope that I may return again in the near future.

Fast forward about half a year. The tour’s dates had been set from the end of March to the beginning of April. I had managed to keep in touch with many people in Taiwan, and each time I talked to them, it made me want to return even more. As March came closer, I felt an increasing need to bring my desire to participate in this trip before God. It’s definitely not easy praying about something that means this much to me. In my heart I knew I wanted to go, and I was ready to make just about any sacrifice God could ask of me in order to go. But I also knew that my attitude toward God should not be selfish, but rather humble and obedient to whatever answer He gives me. The ClayMusic trip is an evangelistic concert tour, and having returned from a similar tour with them in China just months ago, the many things I learned about placing my focus on God while performing and traveling (“Thoughts from the Sky 2? 1/26/09) apply perfectly. Am I taking advantage of the tour just to get myself to Taiwan, or do I want to serve God through the musical gifts He has given me? Is it too selfish of me to want to seize this opportunity to see the people I love in Taiwan? I asked God to help me check my motives, and prayed that if He allows me to go I will go with a mindset that pleases Him. I prayed those things from my heart every day, and waited eagerly for His reply.

When God says “wait? the best thing for me to do is to simply be patient and have faith. Weeks passed by, and it seemed like there were always new concerns that prevented the decision from being finalized. Sometimes they tipped the scale in my favor, and other times they worked against me. My friends from Taiwan, who still remembered the words I left them last summer about possibly returning again with ClayMusic, eagerly asked me about the trip, and I told them to not get their hopes up yet. I didn’t allow my own hopes to rise either, in fear of ending up disappointed. There were simply too many factors that were beyond my control, and I figured it was best to not let my own will and emotions interfere with my attitude of openness toward God’s will. After all, it was God who allowed me to have such an amazing time in Taiwan last summer, so it only made sense that I trusted Him with deciding when and how I should return.

Earlier last week, I found out that because the airplane tickets had to be purchased soon, the final decision was only days away. I also found out that some members of the band are unable to attend the trip, and that one of the largest events in the tour had been cancelled (reducing the need for a live band). On my knees before God, I remembered my many prayers about the trip, and after waiting for so long, it seemed like He was about to reveal His final decision. I prayed for emotional strength and a positive attitude to face the fact that the chances of me being able to return to Taiwan were smaller than ever before.

But God is faithful. He always has been, and He always will be. Even when it seems like all hope is gone, He has the power to turn things around. On Saturday, I found out that this year’s Taiwan trip will be the first with a live band from America. That night, I received a confirmation email with my airplane ticket. It came as a total surprise, and as I closed my eyes and mediated on the journey that led to that final moment of truth, I found myself overjoyed to the brink of tears. Nothing compares with the joy of knowing that God’s heart coincides with my own. Whether it is because He is showing mercy to me or because He has always planned for me to go, my countless prayers regarding my attitude toward the trip leave me assured that God is content with my participation in this tour. It was He who brought me to Taiwan last summer and placed a burden on my heart to return again someday. It was He who reunited me with my family members and led me to cross paths with my friends. It was He who gave me the gift of music that allows me to tour with ClayMusic across the world for His glory. And through this trip, I get to fulfill my desire to return to Taiwan, meet with my friends and family members again, and use my God-given gifts to proclaim His glory in front of thousands of people.

On Wednesday, March 25, the adventure will begin. The week-and-a-half-long tour will take us through northern, southern, and central cities in Taiwan, including the church that hosted last summer’s English camp during which I met all my friends in Taiwan. As if that’s not good enough, the day the tour ends (Sunday, April 5) is also the beginning of my spring break, so I’ve decided to spend a few extra days in Taiwan to visit friends and relatives. I don’t know exactly what I will do during those few days, and it definitely scares me to think that I’ll be by myself in a foreign country for the first time. But if God has been so faithful regarding this trip, what do I need to be afraid of? No matter how many worries and concerns I have, they are all overshadowed by my excitement for this trip. My trip to Taiwan last summer was nothing short of being one of the most epic adventures of my life up to this point. After reuniting with my relatives for the first time since childhood, I considered Taiwan my second home and knew we were bound to meet again eventually. After making many friends there and fighting so hard against the barriers of language and distance to keep our friendships strong, we will all be ecstatic to see each other again. And after receiving a deep burden to love my birthplace, I knew that God’s work in Taiwan through me was not over yet. It was one of those stories that simply must be continued, and from the moment I boarded the airplane to fly back home to America I have looked forward to the next chapter. Now at last, chapter two is in sight. And because the decision for me to go on this trip was the result of so many factors beyond my control and prayers from the bottom of my heart, I know that it is nothing short of a miracle from God. God has heard my prayers and granted me a response that fills me with more joy than my heart can contain. After over half a year of waiting, I can finally say this with confidence - Taiwan, I’m coming home again soon.

03/01: Happy Birthday, Mom! Earlier tonight we had an awesome dinner at Souplantation (in Brea) to celebrate. We also threw a little surprise party after church this afternoon before ClayMusic practice. Yep, there's another concert coming up - this Saturday night in Thousand Oaks. It's gonna be a small concert, but after learning so much from the China tour, I think we are all very excited to have another opportunity to perform. It's around 11PM now and I'm definitely feeling my lack of sleep from the past few days starting to hit me. As if the UCLA visit wasn't exciting enough, I actually have another reason to be overjoyed right now. I've mentioned this to several people I talked to in this past week, so some of you know what I'm talking about. But I'll save the details for tomorrow, for the sake of getting a good night's rest to kick off a new week of work. God is absolutely amazing, and some very exciting things are about to happen soon...