TC practice!

Hola H.1ers

As Thanksgiving draws closer and closer, we've been practicing hard for our annual Thanksgiving Celebration. For those of you who don't know what TC is, it basically happens every year around Thanksgiving time. We gather together as a church and gorge ourselves with delicious thanksgiving food while watching entertaining skits/dance performances/talent shows! Sounds fun right?

Anyways, this past Friday we went to St. Augustine's for bible study with Pastor Manny. We were all so excited to finally see him! (and his funny hair cut). Sunny was there too! It was such a blessing to see how Gracepoint Austin has been growing this past semester.

Afterwards we had our TC practice in St. Augustine's cafeteria. Together with H.5, we are putting on three performances: 1)Doing it God's way pilgrim dance (i forgot what the name of the song was) 2)Pilgrim puppet show 3)Pilgrim's paridise (hardcore gangster rap)

here are some highlights:
- Sarah Yuen's amazingly precise English accent
- Hugo Hua's "grand finale" in the Pilgrim dance
- Patti Suen, John Kwon, Simon Kim and many others rapping
- many many sick moves that are too sick to describe (come and see them for yourselves)

Hope you guys are excited for TC this Friday and Saturday! on Friday, all the Koinonia groups will be performing. The best group will be selected to perform on Sunday with the rest of the church.

News This Week: Plus TC Preview

Thanksgiving Celebration in-house for Koinonia is just a week and a couple days away! We practiced last Friday (video below!) and are planning on practicing again this Friday. But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's give the whole news, starting with the Friday plan:

• Dinner for the guys, 6pm @ Kevin D.'s on the corner of Hillegass and Parker. We'll do dinner, have "meaningful" conversation (maybe), and then head over to "This Is Your Life."


• Dinner for the girls is a surprise. More info forthcoming so check back soon.


• 7:45pm @ St. Augustine's, Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" study of the Bible with our very own Pastor Ed. The reason we're meeting at St. Augustine's is because afterwards, there's...


• ... Thanksgiving Celebration Practice! Koinonia's in-house Thanksgiving Celebration is next Friday (11/21) and our act has to be stage-ready by then! That means we need to practice! Got a small clip from this past week's practice below (which is a sneak preview for some of you peeping non-H.1 folks)! Even if you missed last week, there's still plenty to join in on. We have a special middle section which we didn't have a chance to practice at all last week... if you want details ask one of your friends who was able to make it. This isn't information I can post on the world wide web. :)

This Saturday (11/15) is our annual Thanksgiving Retreat, which you can sign up for online. I've written about it plenty already, and even posted the video. If you signed up to go, one of our Rides Czars (Mike or Hannah) will let you know who's giving you a ride. Just make sure you're ready to be out the door by 8:45am. Update: You can give your Thanksgiving Retreat fee to Caroline or Sieun before Bible study begins. They're the official collectors.

In other news:

• This Sunday at Gracepoint Fellowship Church (that's where most of us go to church on Sundays) there'll be a baptism. Among the 7 people getting baptized, one of them is our own homegroup's Tabby! I encourage you to come and hear her story and the stories of the other candidates getting baptized.


• Thanksgiving Celebration Sunday is 11/23. We'll have worship service at 4pm @ Kauffman Auditorium in Alameda. After that, we'll have the real deal Thanksgiving Celebration, and then a home-cooked Turkeyfest dinner!


• Our Annual Winter Retreat is Jan. 23-25.


• Koinonia Snow Trip, Jan. 15th. This is for all your early planners out there.

That's it for now. See you guys Friday. Below: Check out how awesome Cass is.


Thanksgiving Celebration Practice 1 from kevan on Vimeo.

Election Week News

It's election week and believe me, there's plenty of news. First, we have a new president! And more,

• Gone. Watch out. If you're not paying attention you could miss it... and it'll be Gone. Check the Gone video trailer and pass it along to your friends. 7:00pm @ First Pres, This Thursday, 11/6. Our very own Howard will be part of the Gone video, so if you want to see him on the big screen, you'll have to be there...


• In the realm of really, really great news... actually, I'll just let Joe's email speak for itself:
  

  I just wanted to share with you all the good news that we received today. Annie's CT/PET scan came out clear and there was no trace of any tumors in her lungs or anywhere else. Thank you so much for all your love and support the past several months. Through the surgery and then the six cycles of chemotherapy, we have received so much love and encouragement. So many people brought us dinners, Annie always had a ride to the hospital to receive her shots, we had so many visitors bringing flowers, cards, and snacks. We really experienced being carried and supported by everyone during this time, and so were able to go through it with so much more strength than Annie or I have within ourselves. Thank you so much!! I'm grateful that I can share this joyful news with so many of you who suffered through it alongside us.

  
  Tell me that isn't the most awesome news so far this month. Praise God.


• Koinonia hoodie. Pre-order online because the deadline's this Friday, 11/7.


• Thanksgiving Celebration practice starts this Friday. What's Thanksgiving Celebration? I embedded the trailer video below:
  
  
  
  Basically, we're going to practice for our homegroup's act (Practice is Friday, 5:30-7:30pm, Wheeler), which we'll present (together with H.5) two Fridays from now, 11/21, at Lipman Room. Best of the best go to the Real Thanksgiving Celebration on Sunday, 11/23, at Kauffman Auditorium, 1:30pm.


• After Thanksgiving Celebration practice, the seniors and juniors are hosting the sophomores and freshmen. Guys and girls separate... Guys are going to do something crazy at 8pm, Dana House, and the girls? Well, it'll be a surprise. But it'll be some upperclassman love as they host the underclassmen!


• Our annual Thanksgiving Retreat is on Saturday, 11/15, at GGBTS. We'll hear people's stories from how God worked in their lives this year, and also have a time of Communion together. Don't miss out, by signing up online now! There's even a trailer:
  
  


• Sophomores: you got one-day discipleship retreat on Tuesday, 11/11, with Pastor Ed and Kelly, so make sure you study so you're not stressed that day and miss out!

That's it for now. See you guys soon!

Friday Fun - Bowling

Greetings, This past Friday turned out to be lots of fun for the Juniors and Sophomores as well! While the Freshman flocked to Steve and Suzanne's, the Sophomores, Juniors, and Staff (Kevan, Jenny, Eddie) decided to try our luck at some good ole' bowling.

However, getting there turned out to be trickier than expected. All three of our cars got lost at one point or another. After a bunch of calling and driving up and down the same street 3 or 4 times, we finally arrived at our destination! We were all eager and ready to relieve the stressful experience by crushing the little bowling pins with our 15+lb bowling balls.

Once we got settled, we decided to play Staff vs Juniors vs Sophomores - loser had to cook a homemade meal for all of us :) We played two games and averaged out the scores. Here were some highlights from my lane.

• Irene Kwan (who said she had only gone bowling twice prior), the only undergrad sister that went (ahem), getting gutter balls and then strikes! A+ for improvement Irene!
• Michael Kim's "finishing pose"- basically after he released the ball each time he would turn around before the ball hit the pins and raise one arm in the air like Superman. Amazingly it actually worked. There was one point in time when he had 5 or 6 strikes in a row!
• Kevan Ho getting 4 strikes in a row!
• Kevin Ding almost broke 100 but could not knock down the last pin on the last try and ended up with 99 :(

In the end, the Staff came in 1st, Juniors in 2nd, and the Sophomores in 3rd (aka last). We are all anticipating the wonderful home-cooked meal that the sophomores plan for us :) thank you in advance sophomores!

anyways in the spirit of fall I thought this would be nice:

Freshmen Gathering at Steve & Suzanne's

After bible study on Friday, the girls and guys from H.1 found themselves being ferried to Steve and Suzanne’s place. After some interesting car rides, everyone arrived at the house excited and ready to have some fun. The focus of the night was to get the Freshman to know each other better.

Other than the awesome food, which included shaved ice with tons of toppings, there were fun games as well:

• When playing the speed naming game, the twins Brandon and Brian confused everyone with their jacket switching. The game ended up at 4-2, with certain teams going negative at times. (there was a guessing penalty)
  
  
• Electricity was the last game of the day. Despite some scoring and referee issues, team 1 emerged as the clear winner.

What's Up

Here's the news for this weekend, starting with Friday dinners (Oct. 17):

• H.1 Guys are meeting at 5:45pm @ Anna Head West parking lot on Channing. We'll be heading up to the Rose Garden and Cordonices Park to hang out, eat dinner (we'll bring the food!), and get away from Berkeley. Yes, it's only 10 minutes away from Berkeley, but it'll be fun.


• H.1 Girls are meeting at 6:00pm @ Anna Head West parking lot. The girls will head up to LBL for a nice dinner and hot chocolate. There's a Berkeley LBL webcam, but personally I don't think it does the view any real justice. You'll just have to go there yourself to experience it in person!

Afterwards, we're headed to Koinonia's "This Is Your Life" bible study. Pastor Ed'll be talking about the reliability of the bible, how we can know it's trustworthy as a document that tells us about the life of Jesus and about God. "This Is Your Life" will be at 7:45pm @ 2050 VLSB.

After VLSB, some of the juniors will be taking off for the Junior Discipleship Retreat with Pastor Ed and Kelly. Come to 2050 w/ your bags already packed because we're leaving directly from the parking lot! Pack appropriately: it'll be mostly low to mid-70s during the days, and low to mid-40s at nights.

The rest of H.1 will be going over to Steve and Suzanne's to hang out with them, and also with H.5. We'll watch GLive, laugh at the juniors and seniors, and look ahead to the Spring semester when we'll be putting together GLive for 2009! Wow. Crazy.

Extra: This past weekend the Koinonia staff went to Sierra Lodge to work on the Barn. It's awesome right now. There's a ton more pictures, but here's a small taste. For those of you going, you'll see this very soon.

H.1 Convalescent Home Visit

On Sunday morning, 14 of us (plus a little half-person) went to the Crown Bay Convalescent Home to spend time with the men and women living there. Richard and Lauren's Praxis homegroup goes each week to Crown Bay convalescent home to spend time with the residents and lead a worship service. H.1 got to join them this past weekend on Sunday morning. We sang a song we had prepared, "How Great Thou Art," listened to Allen give a brief message through 1 John 4 on God's love, gave a potpourri gift to each person, and spent time talking and being with each of the men and women who live at that home. I think we were the ones who walked away most blessed. Here's some words from people who went:

• I was thankful that the people enjoyed the service. I was touched when they sang along with us. I didn't expect to have such an memorable experience. (fr, Mindy C.)


• was touched that many old people show a tremendous thankfulness and passion about life through their smile when seeing Abigail moving around with Jenny. I was also touched when they tried to remember the joys and happiness in their early lives and the peaceful way they present these stories to me. And these stories teach me how rich life can be, and how well a person can enjoy from his journey of life. (fr, David Y.)


• I was thankful God helped me get past my mind block. Going into the convalescent home I felt intimidated to start a conversation with the elderly. Graciously God lessened the age gap and gave me questions and things to talk about. Eventually, one grandma, Joy, was able to brighten up for me and I was glad she was so open to listening and responding to me. I hope to visit her again. (jr, Hannah P.)


• I was thankful for meeting a woman who served God through years of missionary work in China. Her testimony displayed the timelessness and power of the gospel throughout generations. (jr, Madelaine B.)

On Friday, H.1 guys ate at Mike's apartment (barbecue chicken) and the H.1 girls joined with H.5 at Virginia's. At Koinonia's "This Is Your Life," Pastor Ed posed the question: How can we have reliable knowledge about God? How can we know God? He talked about revelation, and how the Bible fits into this picture of God's self-revealing to humanity. It was cool stuff, and the Q&A time afterwards was packed with good questions. Seems like people really like the whole text messaging thing as a question and answer format.

After VLSB, our group went to Dana House. While we were there, we prepped for the upcoming convalescent home visit, ate some brownies and ice cream prepared by our marvelous chefs (David Y. & Kevin D.), and even played some silly Guesstures game. We loved it when Daniel S. kept on pumping his fist in the air, trying to communicate "clench" to the rest of us, and doing nothing except clenching his fist and waving it in the air.

Posers and This Week's News

Posing in the sunset
Originally uploaded by Kevan & Jenny

H.1 & H.5 took off for the beach a couple Saturdays ago. It was relatively early in the semester and it seemed like a good time to get away before school got too busy. It was a nice half day, playing football on the beach, ultimate frisbee, grilling our own Evergoods, and even getting in a game of British Bulldog. Frankly, it was pretty awesome.

Aside from this gratuitous gushing, here's the news:

• "This Is Your Life" bible study at 7 PM, 155 Dwinelle. The first week, Pastor Ed talked about the passage of time. Last week, he talked about God, the Creator. What's next?
• After "This Is Your Life" (week 3), our homegroup's going out as a homegroup. Semester's been crazy and we haven't had a chance to sit down and stare deep into one another's eyes. We'll also be eating, having fun, and hanging out, getting to know one another better along the way. Look for H.1 people (your Koinonia friends) and find a ride!
• For those of you guys going to Gracepoint on Sunday, don't forget we got a new service time: 1:30 PM
• Saturday's Discipleship Kickoff: for all Christians serious about your relationship with God, you're invited to a time when we can all be challenged and inspired, 9:00 - 11:30 AM @ the YWCA.

Guess Who?

As part of our last Koinonia 1 gathering of the semester, we played the "Guess Who?" game. Try to figure out which of the staff or seniors the following babies are. Just wanted to post... and I'll put up pictures and stuff a little later.

| View |

All Sports All the Time

As usual, the first Friday of the month was Gracepoint Monthly. We met in Berkeley at First Pres., Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang sat in the front, interspersing the entire night with words of wisdom and their thoughts, had good music (this time w/ real drums!), and listened to some really moving testimonies from Ray, Aileen, and Perry. Thank God for how He works in our lives and in our faith community.

Afterwards, all the guys went to the RSF. From Praxis all the way to Element, we had our first ever Bros Sports Night. It was awesome. Although shooting hoops was one of the events, it was really Tug-of-War that took center stage that night. Out of three ropes, two were completely incinerated because of the sheer brute force. You don't have to be a physics major to know the rope got the big hurt. Anyway, I was as surprised as everyone else that the seniors and first-year grads took first prize. As huge as the freshmen were, maybe they were too young and too passionless to really contend for the grand prize. We had free time for an hour, playing basketball, volleyball, and even indoor soccer.

On Saturday, sophomores from Koinonia 1 & 2, and acts2fellowship 1 & 2 pulled themselves away from studying to go catch, hit, and field on the baseball diamond. When I asked for a show of hands for first-timers, very few people raised their hands. But, as Ben memorably added the group of those for whom "it might as well be the first time," about 80% of the 25 raised their hands. So Bryan, baseball junior Olympian, ran drills and taught us how to field grounders, snag pop flies, and what it ought to look like to whip the ball around the bases. The ensuing softball game was much more productive as a consequence, and it was cool just to be there with sophs from other groups and fellowships, as well as hanging out with their smallgroup leaders. 30 lbs of sirloin skewers over a barbecue plus hot chili was our dinner. Afterwards, all of us headed over to Ben's place for dessert, and we sat around, talked about sophomore year, sang some songs, and shared about the things that encourage us and strengthen us during our moments of weakness. Definitely something we have to do again.

An all sports type of weekend. Very good.

Thanksgiving Retreat coming up

The big news, as the headline goes, is the one-day Thanksgiving Retreat coming up on Saturday, Nov. 10, led by Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang (Gracepoint Berkeley). It's the date of the USC game, but we'll all watch it together on the big screen at the end of the retreat. It's our annual tradition to do this--the retreat, not the game--and I expect we'll be challenged and blessed by the messages. I also expect to hear department news of what's happening throughout our church, from the children's department Joyland to the post-grads in Praxis. If you have time (and even if you don't), I encourage you to go. Of course, this means you need to plan and study beforehand, but likely you'll be glad you did.

There's more Thanksgiving retreat info and signups online. Check it out.

Other news:

Bible study this week is at Lipman Room, 7 PM on Friday. Afterwards, the freshmen are heading to Dana House and the sophomores are going to Manny & Sunny's. The seniors... well... ya'll have a free night!

Also big in the news is the baptism on Sunday after service.

And we're also helping with NorthLoop cleaning on Saturday, @ 10 AM. Afterwards, we'll grab lunch @ In-n-Out, and then study for the rest of the day.

Sweet 16 of... Arm Wrestling?

You've heard of the sweet 16 in NCAA basketball, right? Ah, but have you heard of the sweet 16 of arm wrestling? Uh...neither did I until a couple Fridays ago when Eddie decided to draw up a bracket of the 16 guys in our home group for arm wrestling!

This is the picture. It is Oct. 12, 2007, our post-bible study event. 16 guys are at my home. We're making some nice nacho cheese and lemonade. And of course everyone is eagerly anticipating the event for the evening, but little did they know it is... arm wrestling?!
Everyone receives a bracket of all 16 people present who are matched up randomly, or at Eddie's whim.

The goal? Choose who will make it to the final round and win it all.
Incentive? Eddie or I will take the person who filled out the bracket most accurately to a free dinner anywhere they choose.

So what happened? Let's look at some pictures:


Look at how intense Chih Ming is going at it against Brian even in the first round!


But it's just mostly friendly competition right?


Maybe not... I hope they have licenses for those guns!


However, when the dust clears there is only one victor! Freshman John Kwon was no match for Senior Steve Choi... Or was John holding back...?

In the end everyone had a lot of fun and laughs. Who knew that arm wrestling could be such a bonding occasion? Guys just bond on a deeper level... you know without words
Oh yea, who won the bracket?! Senior Stephan Yoon, guess being older means something, like knowing who to choose in arm wrestling competitions...
Until next time...Koinonia 1 arm wrestling championship of the world...


We'll leave you with a little video I like to call... OH MY GOSH!