i'm in korea now. i didnt lose any luggage. i did have to go to security at the airport. i'm not sure why, but i had to walk in front of everyone in the airport to get there and so it was interesting. i made it to seoulbackpackers safely thanks to eunnie. that's where i'm staying. a lot of random people from random places. 6 people to a room. it's really cool out here so far. more on korea when more happens.

my walk has been pretty good. i have such high expectations of myself. i think it's my heart motive acting up. it's so evil, but i'll try to use it for awesome. i'm meeting eunnie again today. just waiting on that now. i'm so tahnkful i have her as my guild. i would be quite lost without her. thank God for such awesome friends! i wish there was more to share. i'm not sure what to say...

i'm excited that i'm gonna go to church this weekend. it's really like being reunited; although i have God everyday, church is the bride to Christ, that's not my illustration...i see church as vidal to a Christian or a seeking heart. it keeps you accountable to truely seeking God each day. even if it's one Sunday service a week, we all need that kind of renewal to keep going. in a race, church are those people at each station cheering you on and handing you a cup of water or gaterade, but church gives you living water and the hand is Christ's handing it to you. so if you think you can survive without church, imagin running a marathon skipping the water stations and people grabing on to you tearing away strength. we need accountability, we need to be pushed. if you think you can do it on your own, you're kidding yourself. it's Biblical. self-dependance is a worldy measure of strength. true strength is Godly.

i'm in hong kong! they lost my luggage! God is good!

i go to korea may 28 and come back to hong kong june 3rd. i think i visit china in there. then i go to taiwan june 20 and leave for usa aug 22.

it's 5:10 pm here and in chicago it should be 4:10am, so no one is online...sad...well the random guy, junho yun, in korea who happened to be on a computer tim kim used and forgot to delete himself from...remmeber when you use another computer that isnt yours, aim defaults saving your password and signing you on automatically. unchecking the boxes are key...

they trip over was okay. i traveled like 24 hours to get here. i think it was like 16 hours on the plane and 8 hours doing transfers. oh and they lost my luggage! well it's following me. it missed the transfer in san francisco, so it's like a day or so behind me. suckers! oh well...at least they will deliver it. hopefully before my trip to korea! leigh ann was the last person to see me off. she brought me to the airport and hungout with me there. how awesome! i'm reading some stuff she gave me and i should start journaling on paper, cuz i dont have instand access to it out here. thanks leigh ann! i'm gonna add on to what angela said...you really know what to do, say, write, serve, point out, hint, etc. and it's so encouraging! i like the book so far. and i think i'll finish it so i can get started on the other one.

there's so much to talk about. i still have to write about church for annie. which i'll get to soon enough. lots of people are writing about their families...i donno if i'll get to that. i'm gonna try to change up my journaling style. the book has helpful hints on it, but i dont have it with me right now...updates to come!!

i was supposed to write about church here...but i'm tired...sorry, i will next time and more on tuesday, wednesday and hopfully by then thursday too! i know you're excited!!

i did stuff tuesday, i did stuff wednesday...i'm gonna do stuff thursday...like my blog?

blog for monday although it's tuesday...

woke up real early ready and eager to get my packed day started. here was my plans for the day (as it is on my desktop post-it note - thanks tim!):
monday
leigh ann
8:30am ABT
on 9000N waukegan (morton grove) rd inbetween dempster and golf
1:30pm passport
?? angela?
?? star wars?

as usual things go according to God's way than my own. His way is always better then mine so it's all good!

so i woke up way early, people were up scrambling around to get to school i think. just my little sister late for her bus...i guess i'm more of the morning person when i need to be. she seems to have a hard time getting up. she's used to going to bed late so i think that affects it. she's really growing and becoming...i donno, let's not think about it, i worry for her, but she's in good hands. ; i

got outta bed at 8:30am. my friend called from his work - that's the ABT appointment on my post-it. obviously i wasnt planning on getting there at 8:30am. i donno what i was thinking, but my alarm was set for 9am. all i remember was i was laying in bed, which happens to be on the floor in the living room in front of my computer again...shetto setup, but i like the floor...i'm weird like that okay? anyhoo...i was laying in bed and then there was someone talking to me on the phone...i donno how it got there, but i must have picked it up. well when john had fun talking to groggie me, i got up and did my morning thing.

called up leigh ann, as i designated today leigh ann monday. it didnt work out totally like i thought it might, but that's all good. she has a final wednesday so she needed time to study and take care of things throughout the day rather than spend it wastefully with me running my errands in chicago. it's all good though cuz i totally would have made her stay home if i knew she had that exam. i'm not that demanding in my heart motive. hheehhe...yeah, but for reals it's all good, for sure.

i made it to ABT at about 11am. there was much traffic and construction on golf so i'll not take that road again til it's done. i played in the store with john. if you donno john, he's my CS125 friend that i'm really cool with right now. he's a great guy. he's trying to help me out with digital camera stuff so that's why i was there. so i played with a whole bunch of gadgets. i felt bad, but i didnt buy anything from him on the spot. the prices just werent right for me as far as the stuff they carried. i think he understands. i'm just pickie about what kinda deals i get. i need to justify price with toy. like my car, but we wont go into that. i left withough buying anything about 12:30pm. crazy huh? i played with him for that long and didnt buy a thing...i still feel bad...but business is business and you cant mix it with friendship. $600 is a lot of $$$ vs. friendship which is priceless to me as you will continue to find out.

from ABT i went to chicago. that was an easy drive. not like friday when i was all lost and parking too far away. i did a better job finding places to park and finding the passport place. i went to pick it up this time. it was ready when i got there at 1:20pm, although i was supposed to be there at 1:30pm. that's cool, but too bad they made a mistake in my last name so i had to ask them to fix it. so i stuck around chicago, cuz she rushed it to be corrected and told me to be back at 3pm. i was hungry so went back to my car cz i didnt put much time on the meter i found (harrison and state i believe). i drove around the federal buildings to find parking and food. behind the passport building was wendys so i just needed parking. and i found a spot a block from the building! i had no idea it was there friday. i though 3 blocks away was the closest, boy did i feel sheepish and good for finding the closeness. it was more expensive, but parking on dearborn and that close it awesome. plus any day parking garage starts at $5 the first 20min and i think hits $19 in a day or more. so i parked and ate. still too much time, but i thought, hey if they finished early over the weekend maybe it would be the case again. i think it was about 2:30pm, no watch this time. they were obviously not done, but for some reason the lady was really nice and rushed it for me. well at least she went to the back room a lot. this was bad for other people cuz she was one of two ladies and the other one looked like a supervisor and didnt acknowledge anyone coming in like me with the blue slip of paper. so instead of the <10 people that were there when i got there, there were >25 when i left with my correct passport. good estimate on time with meter so no chicago ticket for me, thank God!

i got torward home about 5pm, did a random stop at bestbuy in addison to check for the sony dsc p5. the digital camera i wanted since i've known anything. i'll not go into details too much here...they didnt have it but held it for me at woodfield bestbuy, higher tax which is why i went to addison. i got it there...yes i got a digital camera. i didnt buy memory or accesories cuz i think i wanna buy it at ABT with john.

came home, got calls from angela and leigh ann to meet up as planned. good stuff. i washed my car in the time between getting the camera and picking up leigh ann. met angela at woodfield and traveled to...oh man i forgot the name. but apparently tim recommended the place. it's near streets of woodfield...go there it's like bbq/meat/log cabin/good atmosphere. we were there from before 8pm til after 11pm. wow great talk, great food, good God! i feel bad i'm not putting more into this part of the evening, but i'm wiped out and a lot of stuff was comvered. it's in my head still so...you can ask me about it. we went to denny's for desert...we were pretty tired and ready to call it a night, so we headed back. my car was at woodfield so angela drove us back there and i drove leigh ann home. we chatted and made plans for before i go to asia. i really wanna share more...but you probably stopped reading way up there...God bless you for getting this far, or if you just skipped my rambling and came here, still get blessed! i love you with Jesus' love, good night!!

today was Sabbath

went to TPC. church was good, although some serious things are happening. please pray for our head Pastor. he's very sick and going into surgury. i think it was confirmed that it was cancer. he went to the hospital wednesday and has been there since. we havent seen his wife and son, Sam, the way they are right now ever. it must be so hard on them to see him that way. hannah, their daughter came back from NJ friday morning. they were all at church today. they a re a strong family. i donno how i would be, but they are faithful and will persevere. let's pray for the best for Pastor Chang.

a few ABEL 8ers met up at 5pm to eat some chicago deep dish pizza at Giordanos(?). i think it's my last time to see jjuny, cuz after the summer she's gonna be going to school in Switzerland. ;*( she's such and awesome girl. such a smile jjuny! we're all gonna miss her a lot. eunnie has already left, but i'm gonna meet up with her in korea so that will be a great time to get to know her better too! we went to baskinrobins afterwards. jjuny wanted to pay for us and then they didnt accept credit cards. that was so funny. jjuny is hilarious! she tries to hide her laughing which makes it funnier. ; i

after dinner we went to summer missions send off. what a great service! a lot of people were there. it was like CFC reunion, even though we saw each other like last week or even earlier (ABEL area picnic). the message was all about prayer, from Revolations 5 and 8, i believe.

tomorrow is chicago and passport time with leigh ann. i might hit up ABT before and catch john. ran into angela at the send off service and i might meet up with her with leigh ann after chicago. gotta pack as much as i can into these last couple days...dont forget God!

today was fun in the sun, although sun doesnt mean warm in chicagoland (high of 54'F), if you lived here you would know this is quite normal...but still, ouch i'm not just warm, i'm a little over done...dont peel dont peel.

in english...it was cold enough for jackets outside, but the sun was brilliant enough to toast my face.

ABEL area picnic today (saturday) at flick park in glenview. 11am - ??? i go home at about 9:30pm-ish? quite long, but much love. it was good food, good people, fun times. a lot of people came out to play. awesome picnic! pastor jung was being his funny self. everyone is caught offguard and unvomfortable in his randomness. it's quite blessing i think. scary too...he's our area pastor!

after the picnic's offical end at about...i didnt have a watch, but let's say 3pm-ish. peopel stuck around to play softball or bball. abel 8 did our own randomness...luke, vanessa, becky, and i played some bball. lauren, jjuny, and sarah played on the jungle gym and tiddertodder? katherine played softball i believe. roger was at prayer meeting. lin, suzy and sak left at the official end. at about 5pm-ish flick park was done and we went to watch the game somewhere. that lasted til halftime then people were hungry. we went to king maa's, wendy ma's parents place. there was like 20+ people at that point, all abelites! after dinner was star wars for the brave and enduring. lauren had to go to house warming party for her old pastor so we departed from the abelness. i think the rest of abel went along minus becky and luke who probably had to drive down to school...maybe not...katherine didnt go see star wars...well that was a brief abel picnic experience. i guess for future reference abel picnic lasts about 4 - 12 hours.

made plans with leigh ann to go to chicago monday and then maybe catch star wars if she isnt sick and tired of me by then. she's gonna do passport and visa whatnots to prepare for my trip with me. yay! what an awesome girl!

made plans to meet up with john to go to ABT and checkout his work. it's electronics so it'll be like a kids in a candy shop. i'm such a tech geek...i wanna get a digital camera. i think i'm gonna end up poorer this summer even with working in taiwan...please break even please break even...

i added esther to my blog friends...that's sarah's sister; she came to my bday thing during winterbreak. i hope she doesnt mind...

blog.blog.blog....

I Corinthians 9:24-26

things to remember...
*yesterday (thursday) lunch with emi and brina
good panera times
casual open conversation
long lunch, 2-5pm
oil changed at nissan

*passport application in chicago (11am appointment)
10am tried to grab train...didnt workout (no train attendant, no cash)
decided to go car (fill up gas)...halfway there, forgot everything - go back home (changed appointment)
finally got on the way at 12pm
arrived at 1pm, wondered city...found meter parking on wabash&adams (donno where passport place is exactly)
had hour and half to kill, but meter is hourly
tried to reschedule for earlier time, but no luck (schedule by automated machine on phone, yay cellie)
found passport building 3 blocks from parking...refuel meter while shooing away people
sat in wendys, filled out forms (no cash)
ate at corner bakery...credit card charge for $3 soup (still no cash)
still hour+ to kill...bought mt dew at nearby convienience store (with credit card)
sat in car killing time...left car refuel meter...no one to shoo away, whew
passport place empty but few people, took 20 min, easy process
back to chicago monday for pickup and visa, so probably tuesday too

*TPC friday night
pizza and salad at church
shoot around with YG boys, very cold
go to bruinswick to bowl, very expensive (14 people $95+; ~$7 each)
got lanes next to leigh ann's youth group, how coincidental! (talked about YG hangout prior)
went back to TPC to pray together for church, pastor is very sick ;*(

almost done making arrangements for trip...still no place in korea to stay, but ideas of what to do where to go who to meet...

made committments with roger...i'm reading the whole Bible this summer...old testament in first 2 months, new testament in last month...keep me accountable!

this break is hard stuff...i'm really gonna try hard to fight this break. it's been a blessing year and God's tried to teach me a lot, but i'm so weak i could just lose all the blessings and change He caused in me. what a wondering heart! i'm gonna try!! i need to live more like the verse that would make me the man i'm supposed to be. I Corinthians 9:24-26.

things to remember...
*BBQ for tim's bday yesterday
really good food
nice people, funny people
pray for coming school year

*Spiderman with ABEL 8 today
hong kong cafe
awesome movie
good times, good people
ABEL 8 webpage?

*more to come, for God's glory...

*tim's house for get-together 11pm
good friends, lots of freshmen, lots of new people
NU people, jeff and monica - chanoong's gf
BC girl, Rice girl, rest uiuc or grads (joe and james)
tim leaves for hawaii and korea at 6am...

good day...kinda...

woke at 12pm
got ready
met with roger at 1pm to eat at wendy's and pray
read the Bible a little
watched spiderman and fall asleep
met with time at 6:15pm to shoot around at birchwood
scattered after 8pm to eat and fell asleep eating/watching more spiderman

i need accountability otherwise this summer isnt gonna be that good...

i forgot how to blog...

i'm outta school right now. i'm leaving for hongkong the 22nd. i'll be in korean the 29th, back in hong kong the 6th of june then to taiwan on the 20th or so. i need to learn how to teach english. i wanna see spiderman with small group people. i wanna see episode 2 before i leave. i wanna be more faithful.

i forgot what to blog...

well here's what's going on now. it's 4:40am and vanessa, roger, and sarah are awake now. well they been awake i only just got up. sarah is studying for art history. roger is writing an email about God or something. vanessa is working on some secret stuffs. it's raining a lot. loud thunder. BBBOOOOOOMMMMMMM! something like that.

it rained a lot today. poured actually. babycar2 got washed a lot. oh i mentioned the other stuff already. oops.

after my CS exam i met with roger for our weekly thing, but i was so tired we postponed the praying part. it was cool though cuz we did it last that night around 9:30pm? something like that. it was cool, we walked a little and parayed at mckinley, the medical center next to allen. right before meeting with roger i metup with laurn who i was talking to online after my nap. she was at work and i missed dinner cuz i didnt realize how long we had talked. we were just talking about some stuff she was researching about banned books. that's why that article is there. i think there was something about the Bible being banned and then we were talking about creation versus evolution theories and how her teacher was so adiment about only teaching evolution. we talked about a lot of cool stuff. about how she is so lucky to be used as a part of so many young lives, or will be. it's awesome. you're gonna do a great job lauren! God will use you!!

teaching is a tough profession. anywhere else you could possibly share your faith, but in school you'll be prosecuted as a teacher who speaks openly about it. well it's been getting more strict as far as rules and restrictions. like at my high school, my senior year teachers were not allowed to sponsor or attend religious activities or organizations where school kids would be. how is that fair? that's bordering on a lot of freedoms. i guess they think if teachers go to those things then it might influence how kids look at them? or how kids might think of religion? i thought high school was a place of thought and developement. it's a great place to talk about religion and have questions about it. why dont we learn and promote learning? they teach us evolution, but who says that's right? it's another theory just like religions. there's lot of holes and controversy in it, but school teaches are forced to teach it as truth. well...i hope we all look into truths of this world. i dont want to scare you away from learning, but i think the more we learn about this world and ourselves, the more we will realize God is more real than we think.

anyways, regressing, i always thought it was the coolest thing to see teachers i liked already and find out they are Christian. Christian students at school who were open about it in their classes and schoolwork were so blessing too[just wanted to mention julia vanderwood. she goes to marquette with one of my home church girls.) awesome how the world is so little.) she was so open in my english class junior year. i almost cried some of the times she shared about her brother and faith and God. okay enough, i might cry...she's one of a kind]. it's so weird to me. so many teachers i've known are quite religious, many law makers are...many many people, yet we choose to limit ourselves. it's understandable that some people are uncomfortable with the influence religion has, but there's a good reason for that influence. but we'll not go into that argument now. my stand is quite firm and may offend people, if i havent already.

my last thought on all this and more...choose to find the truth. so much in this world is leading us the wrong ways. find the right way. find out the truth. be open cuz you never know(...those strange Chrstian people might be on to something). sorry i had to throw that in there...it's 5:17am and timkim just came back from studying. he has 2 exams after tomorrows exam. pray with me for him.

what do you think?
please email me your thoughts: chieu@uiuc.edu

previous verse of the day: II Corinthians 4:16,17.

i got one in for spiderman (and/or episode 2?), who else wants in?
episode 2 (may 16)?

CS125 exam down, 2 BA 392 projects to go...

CS exam started late so i got a parking ticket cuz i only put 3 hours on the meter. someone has been playing with my windsheild wipers and side view mirrors. i dont appreciate it. i should get tints again and hide in my car, waiting for the sneaky person(s). actually, i want the kind of alarm system that shocks people who touch my car. 50,000 volts would be nice. hahha just kidding. LEAVE BABYCAR2 ALONE! I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR YOUR ANTICS.

why do i like my stuff so much?
meaningless...all meaningless without God.
i'm so tired...but it's okay cuz God willing, i may persevere.
i made it to morning prayer! God is good.
is this for real? what day is it?
confused and delirious...asleep.

pre-previous verse of the day: Jeremiah 32:38,19.
previous verse of the day: Colossians 3:23,24.

john rossi from my CS class came to CFC morning service with me this morning. i hope he enjoyed it. he said it was much like his church back home. i think a lot of people at CFC feel that way. i'm glad he saw that God is the same God at home and here on campus. he goes to his girlfriend's Catholic service once in a while on campus. not that God is different in Catholic churches, but we as people have different needs and i believe we should each find a church that we feel comfortable at. i am very convicted that going to church is quite important to growth in this world. how would we persevere without others pressing us on? how would we get past the suffering?

...just like in sports, how would we compete without other contenders? who makes you try harder out there on the field (court, track, mats, etc.)? who makes you want to get into the weightroom? who pushes you and your ability? it's quite difficult to do all that on your own. how would we strive to change and fight on without a level of measure. not that Jesus isnt a good measuring place, but to know that as a body we are doing our part and building, for the glory of God, that is key. know your role. we shouldnt just sit idley by. who wants to be the weak contender who just barely makes it across the line torn and shattered by the world, but still finishes by the grace of God? let us finish together with our eyes on the cross, meeting our coach there as He tells us "well done my good and faithful servant."

i hope there will be much change on this campus. i hope people will be more open to find a church to go to on campus. this is where our foundation is built for our lives. if you get used to doing things on your own, where is God gonna be in your life when you're really out there on your own? i dont want to give the impression that He isnt enough or that He isnt doing work on our behalf, but quite the opposite. we are too weak and self-centered to see clearly what a really good God we have. we are far too blind and deaf to know what is really going on. we need more of Him and less of ourselves. i am still learning and being disciplined. God is good.

school stuff:
1 more exam (CS125 monday 8am)
2 more projects (BA392 wednesday 5pm)
many people to meet
many prayers to pray
much God to see
much more growth
much more discipline
much much more joy...

who wants to see spiderman? who wants to see episode 2?
persevere.

previous verse of the day: I Corinthians 13:4.

same schedule; less time for study; a week of this school year left; one more year of undergrad; one more week of CFC (i'll be back!); one week of ABEL 8 (whole new ABEL area coming up!); one more week to see good friends at school (see you in the fall!!); two CFC services left; more prayer; more faith; more dependance; more joy; less of me, more of God.

updated schedule:
saturday 9am FIN 254 final (65/140 to get a B-, 120/140 to get an A-)
monday 8am CS 125 exam 3
wednesday 5pm BA 392 projects due
wednesday 5:01pm (in jon's voice) "paaaaR-Teeeee!"
wednesday 5:02pm PRAISE GOD!

previous verse of the day: Colossians 3:18-10.

so much blessings! sharing small group. i dont think anyone left there without crying...God blessed me with another great bunch of brothers and sisters. God is so good. all praise and worship to You! His glory is shown through our weaknesses. i wish i could put into word what we've experienced...please dont take this next part as me trying to convince you to join church, but i really feel convicted that everyone get a chance to experience this...

if you're not in a small group, if you're not into church, if God isnt for you right now, i still say try out a fellowship or small group. share with them. be open. see what Christians are all about, cuz we're not perfect by any means. we struggle and have problems too. we cause grief in our own lives and people around us. but oh the blessings. if after a year with them and you feel you've wasted the time, tell me and i'll take you out for a really really expensive dinner, not that that should be you're motivation or a bribe from me. i really want you to experience the love i've felt from people, who at the beginning of the year, were complete strangers to on another. they will help you through tough times. they will give you good advice/observations openly if you can handle it. they will tell you you're pretty...haha just kidding...they will meet with you and be your friend when you cant find someone to eat with those lonely days. if they are older they may take you out and sometimes pay for you...0o0ooo the incentives...plus dinner with me if you didnt like it! hahah...i think the other things are more worth it. besides you get to meet a good number of people you can say hi to on the way to class. but truely dont take my word for it. try it out and find out on your own initiative.

with that said...past couple days in a jiffie(i'm outta is so please...forgive? the messieness)...woke up at today(wednesday) at 8:30am after studying and MPing all day previous. i think yesterday(tuesday) was 8am-12am straight (8am woke late to prepare for BA 202 exam 8:30am-10:30, 11am-12am CS125 MP, sleep). i think the day before(monday) i got to bed at 2am, studying from after my FIN254 exam at 11pm. that was really awkward...i'm so so sorry you had to go through that. anyway where was i? woke up at 8:30am today (wednesday) to strictly study for my 3pm exam in BA392. ate lunch at 12pm then off to sign up for FIN254 final on saturday. i really bombed the third final that was on monday. but praise God i have another chance! (you dont wanna know the story of my unfaithfulness which truely lead to failing this exam, maybe after i take the final i'll explain...) went to office hours at 12:30pm for it to ask last second questions. then exam! oh that was rough...i got back about 5:30pm and decided i had to try to finish my CS125 mp that was due tonight at 11:59pm. i was so frantik(c)? to get it done so i apologize to the many friends i bothered...about 7pm everything compiled, but i had a null pointer exception i didnt know what to do with. so i gave in letting God take care of the rest. i had to go to sharing Bible study(see above).

well that was my heckticidtyness for ya. i'm still alive and i have more ahead to fight.
saturday morning FIN 254 final
monday 6pm CS125 final
wednesday 5pm BA392 projects(2) due

i appreciate and need prayers...same as always. more dependance and faithfulness...thanks!! God bless!!!
(if you got this far you are really bored and such a good friend)
(how may i pray for you?)

previous verse of the day: Philippeans 1:6.

so many people are stressed and trying so hard. i wish i could help. i hope we may all feel, more and more, the hope and grace He pours unto us. i'm praying for you now and then off to study and persevere.