"If you're putting on a huge banquet" Quick write

Quick write
You are putting an a huge banquet. All of your friends and relatives are coming. You have plenty of money to spend on food and drink for this celebration. It is going to be the best feast ever. What will you serve?

What kind of banquet is this? The first thing I need to do is to figure out the purpose of this huge banquet. Well, If I'm putting on a banquet, those whom I will invite should be the ones who are somewhat related with church life. In fact, I'm pretty much used to having home parties; I call them home meetings though. I have at least three home meetings a week. Mostly, I'm the one who's invited because I'm a full-time student; however, sometimes, I also invite some people.
According to the bible, man was created as a tripartite man: body, soul, and spirit. (Thessalonians 5:23) Therefore, I would not call it the best feast if I only provide physical food. The best feast would be the one where people can fully rest, be comforted, and satisfied. Since I have plenty of money, I will call several best friends and by them lunch (or dinner) in a decent restaurant to have fellowship about how we could arrange everything for the upcoming banquet. And then, we will meet two more times praying, having a fellowship about the practical matters.
In terms of food, I'm not a picky person at all, so I really don't know what kind of food would be the best. But, I'm sure one of my friend would have something come up in her mind. Such a cooperation will surely lead us to have the best feast ever.

Link for Academic Phrasebank

http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/introductions.htm

Frequently used phrases for academic essays

An Ordinary Sort of Morning

Writing Project2 - Descriptive Writing Assignment for Writing7 

An Ordinary Sort of Morning

            Hearing the soft sound of my alarm, rather than becoming alert, I feel like I’m a burnt piece of toast stuck in a broken pop-up toaster. All over my sore body, which suffers from on-going muscle pain because of the weight training class I’m taking this semester, lies a huge and thick blanket. Between opening my eyes and actually getting out of the bed is usually a five-minute gap, because it surely takes some time to escape from the toaster, tightly tying down my body. Well, I get over it anyway pretty much every day. I pick up the edge of the forest green colored blanket and pull it over all the way up to the half of a mint green pillow. The next thing I do is dampening the hard and dry toast with not-too-hot water in order to make it a little moist. Then, I’m ready to go get my breakfast.

            I come across a big dining table to get to the kitchen where a chubby refrigerator is full of food and leftovers. On the kitchen table is a dark chocolate wooden basket with bananas, oranges, and apples in it, reminding me of a typical still-life painting by one of the finest artists. When I’m about to reach one of the bananas there, Camila, in her casual but supremely neat clothes, shows up saying “good morning!” with a wide smile. I love her good-morning. It is bright and has vibrant rhythms, but they become slow like “good moooourning.” when I step out of my room around nine o’ clock in the morning, implying that I am supposed to get up far earlier than that.

            While waiting for my cut-in-half bagel to become crispy and get lightly browned, a few pieces of bacon is sizzling on Camila’s pan. Suddenly, the air is filled with the nice nutty smell of sputtering bacon and the delectable smell of a freshly toasted bagel. After cracking two eggs into the other pan, she starts singing hymns very softly but in a way that I can tell she was a music major. Then, I hum the same tune. Once I start singing to myself, she follows my melody. It’s quite amazing how well we can communicate with each other with the songs that we know. Language barriers don’t exist there.

As I take a bite of my evenly cream-cheesed bagel, I check the temperature reading the thermometer hanging on the 200-year-old oak tree standing in the backyard garden. Through a wide French window by the counter I can see most of the garden. Birds are gathering as a group right behind the window. I think their twittering sounds peaceful, but then I hear a rattle. Immediately, the birds fly with flaps. Here is Bill striding out from the garden with a handful of spinach in his left hand and a funny-looking carrot in his right, which has already a bite taken out of it. The garden is called Bill’s garden; gardening is mostly his job along with accounting. He now sits down on his own designated spot that is the crimson, old-fashioned sofa and places his big, black laptop over lap to work.

            The biggest clock in the house strikes with a muffled sound telling me it’s eight sharp. I’m ready to leave for the campus after pouring water into my coffee-colored, stainless steel water bottle. I pass through the work room to go out where a sewing machine has just begun to make regular beats. Sometimes I can’t believe that Camila, who starts working long before even I open a book, is in her mid seventies. Behind her stands me hesitating to say good-bye, a little bit afraid that I might bother her. She notices me, grins broadly, and recites a verse that she has been enjoying this morning in a pleasant, silvery voice. I repeat after her and say, “See you later!” Energized and charged, the one who is leaving the house is not a burnt piece of toast anymore.

Monday Hmtg at the Ards'

"So, to me it's an encouragement. First of all, it's an encouragement that someone will fight for me when I  do have the first defeat, the second defeat which brings on the third which is where he was captured by Chedorlaomer. But, on the other hand, I also have a responsibility, if someone is captured, to fight for the brother."

"... Really, that is not enjoying Christ. That's blaming and condemning which we have no authority to do. Even though Lot had done something terrible, and I agree with Randall, he knew what he was doing. He chose to go put his tent by Sodom and then eventually just ended up living right there in the city. That was his choice, so it would be easy to say, "well, it's what he chose, so just pay the consequences." But, that's not enjoying Christ. Christ's heavenly ministry fights for the brother."

"Once he separated, then it was easy to move into Sodom, and once he moved into Sodom, then if was so easy for him to be captured. Why did four kings come against the five kings? To capture Lot. In other words, if Lot had not gone into Sodom, Sodom would've not have to have four kings; four kings would've not have to come to the five kings. God arranged. God caused the four kings to capture the five kings to capture Lot. So, Abraham could have a way to enjoy Christ. ... What do you expect? If you're going this way, then you are going to get in that trouble, but that was not Abraham's thought, nor was God's. He was the one who set the four kings to capture Lot."

Last night, the home meeting covered "Enjoying Christ in His Heavenly Ministry by Fighting for the brother."It's so enjoyable both to prepare for the meal and to be with the saints in the meeting.  We are all in His body, fighting for each other.



-
Today is the day I participate in Genesis bible study held by CSOS(Christian Students on Campus) at UT. Rebecca told me this morning that a group that was supposed to speak on section 2 needed our group to support since that group is not big enough. Thankfully, the section 2 [Melchizedek - Interceding for and ministering to Abraham] is exactly the same part which we were all sharing last night.


What struck me out was the title for today's reading which is enjoying Christ in His Heavenly Ministry by Fighting for the Brother. At least for me, when we're talking about enjoying the Lord, it's easy to think of eating and drinking for my enjoyment. But, here this message is telling us how to enjoy Christ when we see a brother or a sister is taken captive, and that is fighting for the brother. That's a way of enjoying Him in His heavenly ministry because according to Hebrews 7:25 Christ, the high priest, according to the order of Melchizedek in his heavenly ministry lives always to intercede for us. Today the situation is quite similar that it seems to us  that it's impossible to rescue a brother, like in Genesis 14 there were four kings against five kings to capture Lot. But, he went to fight for him by faith, and actually behind the situation was Melchizedek who is a type of Christ, interceding for him. It's so encouraging to see that there's always a someone who's gonan pray for us when we have failures, and to see that we have a responsibility to be one with Him interceding for our brother, and He is so faithful to minister Himself as bread and wine when we fight for our brother.

Questions come up while studying English

Feb 17th, 2014

What does 'second opinion' mean?

I figured I had about a week and a half left or exchanging leftover baht and rupees before I completely ran out of cash, and the only way to get money from my parents was to return to the never-ending circuit of second opinions. 

** second opinion
is a visit to a physician other than the one a patient has previously been seeing in order to get more information or to hear a different point of view.

February 10th, 2014

Daily pieces

Two things that I found today 
1. I like listening to music (only instrumental) much more than I thought that I would. 
2. The fact that I'm going back to my home country pretty soon is now serving as a new motivation for me. 
 - Actually I've been trying to motive myself to work hard, but failed again and again. However, I just realized that the strong motivation was here. 







Today's Plans 
1. ALD class reading #1 
2. ALD class reading #2 
3. Complete ALD class reading reflection #2
4. Make Academic calender for Spring 2014 
5. Edit my first draft for Writing7 course 
6. Move EDP memo/notes on my laptop to the course packet 
7. Print out the prayers in English document ●
8. Help Camila prepare for the home meeting tonight ●
9. Text Ailey and Jinny to invite ●
10. Clean up the kitchen after Hmtg with Ello ●




At the Ard's 
"The more I talk to Him, the more He talks to me."
Today we had a fellowship about the land which typifies Christ as the promise of the spirit, all-inclusive Christ. Now He is the land where we can live in and live on. 
(Later I'd like to elaborate on what's the difference between 'live in' and 'live on.')
Ailey, at the beginning, quite didn't understand the basic thought about Christ as the good land, but at the end of the meeting she could grab something. While cleaning up the kitchen, Nancy, who usually give a ride to Ailey to the home meeting, called Camila. She said that tonight was a break through to Ailey; she saw something. 
I thanked the Lord very much that He was encouraging me by the cooperation among the saints to shepherd this new one. I've been especially appreciating Nancy's function. 

notes about random stuff

Living here in the U.S., I try to copy down sentences from my daily conversation with others to learn English. The sentences that I write are usually the ones that are not difficult but hard to think of as a foreigner. 


This is my first time in a while.
This doesn't count. 
What kind of service is that?
"Hey, don't seem so surprised."
There's not much traffic. 
It was never like that before. 
It depends on how much you buy there.



Stir our love for You.
Increase our enjoyment of You. 

That's what He is after.  

What struck me was ...  

We gotta go beyond that. 
We can get stuck, and we still have those things. 
What do we need? More appearing. Otherwise we can't go on.

We are making the prayer back to Him. 
We react to God, and God reacts to us; back and forth reaction process
Sometimes, Lord makes things too easy.
Lord put you there. 

He's gone through all the process to become a transfigured seed today.

February 9th, 2014

@ Prophesying Meeting at the Congress hall 

People believe in God for many things. God revealed Himself to these many things; then, people believe. But not until Genesis 15:6 that it says people believed Jehovah and it accounted to him as righteousness. So, when I believe in God to meet all my needs … that does not cause me to be accounted by God as righteous. That’s a big point. Secondly, what if you believed concerning this point, you know, what God opened up this week, it was about God’s inward work in him to bring forth the seed. What that means in our Christian life is to bring forth Christ, because Christ does fulfill God’s purpose. When I believe in God to receive Christ, for Christ to live in me, for Christ to be formed in me, and for me to be built up with the brothers and sisters in Christ, that will fulfill God’s purpose … that’s the faith that makes God happy. When I believe in God to get me a job, to provide me a wife, food on the table … those are good and are all positive, but it’s not the faith that’s going to cause God to account me as righteous. Lord, Christ is in me. Christ is living in me. Christ is being formed in me, and I’m with some brothers and sisters that are experiencing the same thing. I’m even being built up with them in Christ for Your kingdom to come to this earth. That’s what makes God happy. Praise the Lord! What a revelation, brothers and sisters. May we just be continually under this kind of seeing in our Christian life and in our church life. This is the kind of faith that God is wanting from us.

Br. David 

It was Genesis chapter fourteen that Abraham went out, followed the kings and rescued Lot, and that’s where he believed in the God the Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth. It was right after the king of Sodom said to Abraham, “Give me all the people and take all the possession for yourself.” Abraham said, “No.” He says there, “I’ve lifted up my hand to Jehovah, God the Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth,” showing that he believed in God who could provide everything that he needed. It didn’t say at that point Jehovah accounted him as righteous. Then the next chapter starts with, “after these things the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid. I’m your shield and exceedingly great reward.” So, there He reveals Himself, and he’s going to take care of Abraham. The ministry points out that probably Abraham was a little bit nervous. Maybe they’re going to come back and try to get retrieval, so he is a little fearful. Then He said, “Fear not.” He takes care of his outward situation, but then he says, “I’m your exceedingly great reward,” showing Abraham a little hint, “I’m what you need,” “I’m your reward.” And then the next word out of Abraham, he didn’t say, “Wow, thank you Jehovah. You are my reward.” Abraham said to Jehovah, “what will you give me, for I’ll go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? So, right away he goes back to his need. But here is a thing. Abraham’s need could be mingled with God’s need to fulfill God’s purpose, so here you have a marriage of Abraham’s need and God’s need to fulfill His purpose. Here’s what Abraham says, and he kind of goes back. He says, “That’s not going to be the heir. Don’t worry about that.” He revealed His purpose again to Abraham, but the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, “This man shall not be your heir, but he who comes out from your own body shall be your heir” and then talks about them being the stars and number like the stars, like it says. The point is here; it’s not until our believing is joint to God’s purpose that God says, “That’s what I want.” “I count that as righteous.” You are a mass you have all these things. But the fact, that you are going to join your faith with My purpose - That’s what I’m looking for. That’s what I want to get out of this situation and so to our situation. Many times we are going through the situation and we have needs. It’s not bad to say, “Lord, I need this, I need that.” But, it’s not until our heart somehow has a shift and it’s open and willing to believe, Lord in this circumstance gain what you’re after in me. Lord, in this circumstance produce Christ in me so that out of that could be something for the fulfillment of your purpose. It’s not until that point that God says, “righteous” That faith justifies you for My purpose.  

Br. Zick 

In the late afternoon at the Lord's table meeting, there were lots of fellowship going on about gospel trips in Edinburg and Arkansas, College Outing, and baptism. A sharing from a freshman at UT who got into a home for the first time was very touching. She said, "Thank you for being so attractive a group of people." 

Last week, what was sweet to me was a sister's testimony, ended with saying, "The Italy students love hearing that our God is romantic."

February 8th, 2014 College Outing

For the College Outing, I was in a group with Rebecca, Shield, Lydia, and Ello. First we were invited to Paula Vazquez for lunch. The house was beautifully decorated in a typical Mexican way. There, I eventually got to eat the real Mexican food, not the TexMexican. (but the funny thing was that my housemate was going to cook the real Mexican food for dinner tonight) After having lunch, we sat in a circle and started reading today's portion of ministry message which is about the God of Issac. One third of us couldn't speak English, so a bilingual sister translated after we read one or two sentences. 

I enjoyed this: In Abraham we can see God's purpose and God's demand, but we have to go beyond that. We just can't stay there because we need God's power to be up to His expectations. In Issac, we see God's power which is actually His life within us, enabling us to reach the goal. According to Genesis, Issac didn't do anything but just enjoy and receive what his father had. When we enjoy the Lord, we are infused with Himself; the life in us grows. And that life only can do something for God's purpose. 

We moved to the other home, Bergeleens' for dessert. We were talking about some random things like Jewish education and tiger mother, eating brownies with Bluebell ice cream. Introducing myself to the family, I added, "I'm studying education, and that's why I read the book which was written by a tiger mother." While people were cracking a laugh, a sister looked at me and asked if I'm the one who lives with B and C. I said yes and she said that she is the one that was talking with me on the phone about my field project which is going to be at Josline elementary school. She is teaching kids there. I was so surprised at this Lord's sovereign arrangement because I really needed to meet her to set up time for the volunteering work. I was kind of concerned about that because I didn't want to bother someone whom I've not met face to face, calling and texting. I think she recognized me because I mentioned my major. 

We continued reading the rest part of the message. I appreciated seeing the picture from the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob that first we need to know Christ and second we know ourselves to accomplish His goal. It could be paraphrased like this, we have confidence in Christ, but we lose our own confidence. 

It was such a sweet house to house time. 
Can't wait to receive the pictures taken by Lydia.  

02.04.14. Prophesy Meeting

"We just don't know how to go on. we feel like we can't go on. it's too much. we read this wonderful ministry, and it just seems impossible, but we continued on this journey. It didn't seem to matter that we had all these failures. We just continued because God kept appearing. And I just realized in the evening so often when I'm tired I just think I'm gonna quit. but somehow other in the morning the Lord appears. and You are ready to go on. and not only that but so many, that you see that it seems they stopped. They're not on the journey  .Well, it's only for a little while. but we really spent a lot of time this week praying, "Lord, appear. Appear to that one." and sometimes the Lord says call him and you appear to him. I mean if we would be ready in season and out of season to speak something they'll have God's appearing. Call somebody and just speak the truth. The Lord will appear, and they will be strengthened. Praise the Lord this is all we need. God's appearing and their speaking. Not just for us individually but for all the others. Pray and then speak."

Educational Autobiography

Educational Autobiography

February 1st, 2014 (ALD class)

It has been more than six months since I came to UT through a reciprocal exchange program. I have recently started to think about why I came here and what I have gotten out of this new environment so far. Overall, I have been enjoying living here. One of the things I feel most comfortable about is that people are not necessarily interested in which school I was attending to, in my home.

 In South Korea, where I grew up, school has a great role and influence in terms of forming one’s identity. Korean people tell their stories mentioning their school age. They might say, for example, “When I was a 6^th grade, I had an accident,” or “I met him when I was a senior in high school.”  There is a certain term referring to these people, which is ‘school-type human.’

In Korea, it is inevitable to avoid answering the question, “Where do(did) you go to school?” when meeting new people. “I go to Seoul National University,” I say with hesitation; then, spontaneously, I begin to take greater control of the conversation, which is too much for those who have an introverted personality like me. SNU, the top university in Korea, is a magic word that catches people’s attention immediately. If I do something well, it is because I am a SNU student. If I am not good at something, it makes me more human. Korea’s college enrollment rate is more than 80%, the highest among member states of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). It doesn’t mean that much to go to university since everybody does it, but the competition for so-called prestigious universities has been getting higher. That’s because getting accepted to those schools is regarded as a golden opportunity for moving up in the world.

 I was lucky to survive the competition. The education evaluation system is mainly based on multiple-choice and short answer problems. Due to my good memory skills, it wasn’t difficult for me to retrieve what I had learned on the exams. My teachers and neighbors often called me a ‘good daughter’ not always because I obeyed my parents, but mostly because of my good grades in school. My transcript meant that my parents didn’t have to be concerned about my future until I graduate from college(for a while) and didn’t have to spend much money supporting me since I would be able to get a full-ride to go to school..

My parents were proud of me and fully trusted me. They didn’t interfere with my studying. Actually, they were not able to do so with slim finances. My father works at an insurance company, and my mother is an ordinary housewife. It is common to spend over half a million dollars a month for private education per child in Korea. Nevertheless, I tried my best not to pay extra for education other than books. Furthermore, the access to high quality information about entering universities was limited to such people those who were not of upper middle socioeconomic status. I had to gather the information by myself, which is not common in my country.

After starting college at SNU, I realized that my case can be explained by an old saying, “A black hen lays a white egg.” Most of my peers have at least one of their parents who are professionals such as teachers, professors, doctors, etc. Moreover, it is frequently found that their siblings also go to the same school or another university in the top five. For me, “risen from humble family”, however, that’s not the case. My younger brother went to a two-year college to get job training. That’s why I didn’t seem to blend in the university.

 Actually, entering SNU was not my original goal. I had been dreaming of becoming an elementary school teacher for a long time. In order to become a teacher, I had to go to a certain type of colleges for education which is much easier to get into. My parents didn’t stay out of this matter of making a choice of career. They completely supported my idea telling me that a teacher is the best job for women, and they keep saying that when I mention other job.

Applying for SNU was not my own decision, nor my parents, but my teachers strongly urged me to submit my application for the sake of the reputation of my high school. Then I made a mistake in applying for an education college. Due to my mistake, I didn’t get into the college. I wandered for more than a month, though I satisfied the entrance requirements for the best school; I had shut my ears to any other possibilities, because I also firmly believed that there’s nothing better than being a teacher as a woman. Feeling lost, I thought that I should have spent enough time to discover my aptitude to help me in my career exploration.

             My younger brother, who was often compared to me by my parents and neighbors, became more and more unmotivated and lethargic as he advanced through school. One time, he and I had a big fight which was unusual. My mother saw us when he hit me and stopped us fighting. I didn’t say a word to him for some time after that; I was puzzled and hurt deeply by his sudden change of attitude toward me. It took me almost one year to start understanding why he had feelings of hostility toward me.

I was a beneficiary of the school system where my efforts always paid off; on the contrary, my brother was a victim of it. He, as a man, who is expected to support his future family, which is possible only when he gets a good job, was stressed out and jealous of my success in school. His sociability and creativity couldn’t get to sparkle in this school system. Thus, his self-esteem was often in danger. Since then, I have given a lot of thought to the education system. The relationship between he and me was recovered, but I would never forget the hurtful event.

It has now been in trend among college students in Korea to attend a university in other countries for 6 months to one year on an exchange scholarship. In my university, the opportunity is given based on GPA. Especially for the U.S., a 4.0 GPA or more out of 4.3 is required to apply because most of the applicants want to study in the States. I have never reconsidered choosing U.S. among others possibilities including Sweden, Finland, German, Netherlands, Spain, Mexico, China, Singapore, etc. Korea is a country quite far away from the U.S.; however, it’s no exception to “Americanization” taking place among those who have immigrated to America.

   The second Thursday of November is the most important day in Korea when offices and markets open later than usual, and planes can’t land or take off at certain period due to a national college entrance exam. The entrance exam is important because many believe that the lives of the high school seniors will be determined by this exam. In this exam, a grade in English functions as a key indicator of whether he can get admitted to a good school, along with Math. In my ALD327 class, it was very interesting to see that the ‘No Child Left Behind’ movement was related to students’ proficiency in English and Math. Both two countries have emphasis on English and Math for educating their young generation.  

             The English education I had been receiving spontaneously made me think that there exists a race superior to me. Unlike traditional teaching styles concentrating on learning grammar, newer English teachers try a new method which is exposing students to American cultures using mass media. Korean children are most likely to be scolded by their parents if they like watching TV programs more than studying, but watching them in English is even encouraged.  I don’t have experience of racial discrimination during school years in Korea where the population is homogeneous, with few foreigners. Those who have experiences living in the States before were envy of many because they could put their time and effort into improving their grades in other subjects or something productive.

             There are moves to introduce some of U.S. education policies to Korea by a few education executors, who were lucky to have a chance of studying abroad with financial assistance from their parents. However, it seems that we are having hard time adjusting to the system since we haven’t been fully Americanized yet. This is what I experienced throughout my education Here I am, in the States, as a future educator in Korea, still being confused where to place a higher value for better education.