Conference update

(This update was taken from a friend and fellow epic staff from Oregon...with his permission, of course)

Thank you so much for laboring with us in your prayers for the EPIC conference [Feb 16-19]! It was so awesome to fellowship with about 150 students and 50+ staff from all over the country. It was such a momentus and historic time. And as you know, this conference was not without obstacles & opposition. Sherry Slaughter's [staff woman] house flooded just as she was leaving to drive up and set up registration on Friday, Jaeson Ma [one of the main speakers] got intense abdominal pains on Saturday morning and almost headed to the ER instead of coming to San Jose for the conference, Tommy Dyo [Epic national director and speaker] (who was still recovering from fever/sick symptoms) delivered his first talk to the EPIC movement with incredibly loud and distracting party music next door making it nearly impossible for students to concentrate on what was being said, Sunday morning we woke up to find some kind of convention next door to our main meeting involving tarot cards, sensual dancing, palm reading, & the like. Strange things were happening, and indicative of the spiritual warfare & deep strongholds that are engrained in AA communities. But despite all this, the reality of spiritual warfare brought people more to their knees in prayer and more proactively attentive to what God was doing in our midst. We prayed and were reminded that He who is in us, is greater than he who is in the world.

Students were challenged by Vivian Mabuni (who saved the day big time and delivered the first 2 talks when Tommy was sick), Tommy & Jaeson to connect with our Father in an entirely new way unlike how they'd been treated by earthly fathers, to realize our uniqueness of being bi-cultural & how God wants to use us to reach out to others through this new understanding of our identity, and to be committed to prayer & a passionate love for God. Students were challenged to take the gospel to our partnerships throughout the world on summer projects, STINTS and internships. Students were trained in seminars to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, to make wise/godly decisions for their futures, to plant spiritual communities, and more. Students who had never been hugged by their parents received hugs from their "spiritual" family during a powerful session Sunday night, which then ended with an awesome last worship set with students literally rushing the stage to dance, jump, and shout out in praise to our Father. Students & staff celebrated the Lunar New Year with a festive party filled with egg rolls, rice crackers, karaoke, boba tea, Asian candies, & more.

On our day of outreach, we went to the Vietnamese New Year festival (which was expecting over 60,000 people & represents the least reached subculture in the Bay Area) and saw:

323 spiritual conversations/exposures initiated
164 shared the gospel with
16 people accept Christ
81 people prayed on the spot for
8 people rededicated their life
Praise God!

Jaeson Ma said that we can't be passionate (& in love) with God until we realize just how much He is passionately in love with us. We love because He first loved us. What a great take away for all of us as we leave this conference. Please continue to pray for our EPIC students as the story is just beginning for many of them.

Pray:
- that the things the students learned will take root in their hearts
- that many of them will decide to be on a summer project
- that many of them will go back as missionaries on their campuses

A little overdue

For those of you that have not had a chance to hear, I figured I'd post the story (from Amber's perspective). I’ve added a few comments in [ ].

From Amber:
He is here for our December visit and he asked me last week before he came if he could plan a day of our time together. I asked if he had a preference of what day and he picked Saturday. He came in and woke me up around 7:30 and we got ready and headed out. Our first stop was Michaels, to pick out a scrapbook for "us" since I haven't started one yet. [Amber loves to scrapbook, and I love taking pictures] Then we went to Peaberry at Colorado Mills and had some coffee and breakfast. Tru told me that since we weren't together for our 6 month anniversary, he thought we'd celebrate our 7 month anniversary, which was
Thursday. (I totally fell for the 7 month anniversary explanation and was clueless all day!) We read through some of our first stages of communication on eHarmony [yup, we meant through eHarmony]...a lot of that beginning communication took place while I was at a coffee shop. Then he gave me the first of 7 cards....one for each month we've been together. They were all handmade cards with paper cut out's/folded images on the front (hard to explain) that represented something written inside. He wrote memories of our time each month or significant points in our relationship that month inside each, and each also had pictures inside from our visit that month or representing that month in our relationship (to add to "our" scrapbook.) Along with the first card was another card that listed "7 things I like about you." Around 10:30, we headed West...I knew we were going into the mountains but didn't know where...and he took me to Vail. [Vail was a place she’s always wanted to go. And I knew it had a very European feel to it, which I knew she would love.] We had lunch at a little local pizzeria then wandered around Vail village, took some pictures, and just enjoyed the afternoon. All throughout the day, he gave me the cards. Truman suggested later in the afternoon that we take a walk down a little trail that went along the creek in front of Vail Village. We walked for awhile and found a spot with a bench tucked away beside the creek, snow all around, trees overhead. We sat and chatted for awhile, then he asked if I wanted the last card. It reviewed our Nov. visit, then he said, "I lied, I have one more card." He read it to me, and it was a list of "7 Reasons I Can't See My Life Without You." The last one was I Love You, which we hadn't said yet. I was all thinking, oh, that's so sweet, he said “I love you” and I can finally say it back. We were just enjoying that moment and I completely thought that was it! Then he said, "would you like one of your Christmas presents early?" [which was supposed to clue her in on what was happening, since I was quoting the movie we watched the night before] Still not thinking a thing, I said sure! He gives me one final card to "go with" the last gift and when I opened it, it had a picture of a guy on his knee proposing to a girl. At that moment, I realized what was going on and he was on his knee with the ring. I was completely shocked!! I had no idea. I was not expecting it for a few more months and he did a great job of keeping me in the dark. (We watched Miracle on 34th St the night before and there is a proposal in it. After the movie he said "don't get mad at me, but when it comes time to get a ring, do you want me to pick it out on my own or do you want to help and give me input? We talked about it and he suggested that we go ring shopping this weekend and look together. That was a perfect way to throw me off!!!) He was normal all day, didn't act anxious or weird or not himself. I was shaking and teary and of course I said yes!! He had made dinner reservations for us at a really nice restaurant in Vail village, so I got changed and we went to dinner. Then we walked around Vail village to see the lights, and called family and friends to share the news on the way home.