at first, everything sounds very basic.
teaching English, writing lesson plans, helping out the community, etc.
and for the first 2 weeks of my time there, i thought so too.
why did Jesus have to bring me all the way to Egypt (???) to teach English??
could i not have done it back home, in the comfort and familiarity of the States?

this was something that i struggled immensely with, and frustration boiled over the point that i wanted to leave.
tell my director i had had enough, get on the next plane out, and leave.
of course, this wasn’t possible.
so instead, i decided to just do what i was there to do, with no reservation, but at the same time, no expectation.
until i met Ramoni.

let me introduce you to Ramoni, a teacher at the APE.
on the one day of the week where the least amount of children come to school, we talked.
we talked about food, politics, the children, and America, a place many Egyptians think of as heaven on earth.
when he said that i was very blessed to have Obama as my president, I asked him to explain.
in his words, Obama wants change and is going to bring it.
for the Egyptians, they have had the same president for 30 years, and the citizens feel as if they are going backwards, not staying stagnant.
no progress, no voice for the citizen, especially if you are a Christian.

“you know, that’s why you came to Egypt from America. to bring hope.”

if nothing else, that was all i needed to hear. Jesus permeated through those words over and over again as they replayed in my head.
the entire time, as i was questioning my purpose for being in Egypt, looking for a super breakthrough,
an epiphany, a divine revelation, Jesus spoke to me through that simple word.

you won’t be able to quite understand this, but the Christian Egyptians living in Mokattam, from an outsider standpoint, have no hope.
born literally into garbage and destined by their society to become a garbage collector, there is no hope.
for the Christians living in a country where the population is 90% Muslim, there are continually oppressed everyday.
it’s unreal.
treading in the middle of vast ocean that is as wide as it is deep..that is the imagery that i had when i thought of the Egyptians.
there is no hope.

or so it seemed.
how could i have missed this before?
Jesus brought me to Egypt to bring hope, can it be any simpler?
hope and evidence that these people are loved, that they matter in the eyes of the Father.
that they are worth something that their society denies them of, something far more valuable than riches or status.
hope.

not my hope, but Jesus’.
my hope was to get the heck out of there, so certainly not my hope.
if Jesus has blessed me with the hope of knowing him, the hope of a better day in the future,
why was it so hard for me to see that my mission was to bring that same hope to others?
that is the gospel. the gospel is hope.

Jesus died for us not just so we could gather in Christian circles and celebrate our salvation
but to go out and share it with others.
if Jesus blessed me with the knowledge of knowing him, wouldn’t the next best thing to do be to pass it on?
i may be rambling now since i’m taken aback to Cairo, but this is just one of the manymanymany things that i learned there.
a missional life is a life worth living, and i really think that if we adhere to God’s teachings,
to “make disciples of all nations,” then the question shouldn’t be “am i called?”

YES, you are. where is it, how does it look like, what will you be doing..
the answers won’t always be in front of you, and they certainly will not always be given to you all at once.
i believe that God looks for obedience first and foremost.
if you have a willing heart to go wherever the Lord calls you, in whatever capacity, he will use you.
it may be totally unexpected and probably the last thing in your mind to think of doing/living,
but then again, if you’re willing, how much does it really matter?
this one blog does absolutely no justice to explain what Jesus did through, for, and to me in Cairo. 46328 blogs won’t even come close, and though the numbers may be an exaggeration, the statement is not. if you really want to know more about it, the best that i can do for you is talk. if you’re reading this, then you’re close enough to me that we can talk about my trip more in depth. if you’re curious about going on this trip or one of the many other trips led by InterVarsity over the summer, please please please talk to me. Jesus will use you in ways that you never imagined, and he will forever change you. completely, fully, beautifully.

this is officially the last post on this blog. i want to sincerely thank every single person who has supported me on this trip. when i was struggling the most to hold on to God’s purpose for me in Egypt, one of the main things that kept me going was thinking of you and how you were probably praying for me at that very moment of doubt. thank you thank you thank you. from now on, all of my thoughts and updates will be found at www.clementcyu.wordpress.com. you mean the world to me, and i can’t thank you enough for that :)

as i’ve been preparing more for my trip, i’ve realized a lot more about God’s heart for the poor.
to me, the term “poor” had always been synonymous with the term “homeless.”
you know, the ones who always tug at our hearts whenever we pass by.
the ones who ask for money by day and sleep on makeshift mats by night.
you know, the poor.

but what about the rest of us?
are we really that much different?
surprisingly, there’s  a lot more that we share in common
than we may or may not want to know.

we’re just as poor as any of the others out there.
longing for community, for someone to notice us.
nobody really wants to be alone, right?
everyone just wants to be loved, don’t they?
so if i know this so well, why am i not doing anything about it.

take the spotlight off the homeless for a second and bring it back home.
we all need a little bit of compassion sometimes.
and if no one is willing to step out and give a little,
well, then we’re all the same as the others.
we’re all as poor as the next.

credit to a convo way back,
what the “poor” are really poor of is community.
yes, they are hungry.
yes, they are cold.
but what they really need is to be loved,
to be noticed.

i can’t speak for them, but i have a funny feeling that a few
words of encouragement and love will keep them warmer
than that worn out, oversized coat ever could.

what am i saying.
i have no idea.
i just know that God is in the slums,
and it’s about time that I really practiced what I know.
if there is ever any difficulty in seeing God,
or any complication in knowing that he is real,
Jesus tells us to simply look at your neighbor.
they all do it the same,
they all do it the same way. (DMB)

i’ll be flying off to Mexico City in a little more than 9  hours for 6 days of orientation and training before I head for Cairo. it’s amazing to think of all the things that God has taught me even before the trip officially “began,” and i truly am looking forward to sharing with you all about our summer. i’m so touched by all the support that i have received, and it breaks my heart (i hate saying that) to see how God has provided even for someone with as little faith as me. the $3,700 goal has been reached!!!! God knows how much i was stressing over this whole fund-raising thing, and so i guess he thought it’d be funny to give me more (way more) than i need.

Jesus, you are one funny guy.

on a separate note, thank you to everyone who made my birthday one of the best times that i’ll never forget. thank God for friends, and thank God for you :) honestly, all that I am today is because of you, and if God hadn’t blessed me with meeting you all, I wouldn’t have the strength and encouragement to go tomorrow. thank you. thank you. thank you.

from now on until the end of our trip, my team and I will be blogging here: http://www.urbana.org/trek/2009/cairo-egypt-mokattam. be sure to check up on that site regularly to see what we’re up to! we’ll be blogging as often as we can (:

this is it. the final stretch. crunch time. ready or not, here we go.

it has been almost 3 full months since i first started preparing for this trip, and one of the biggest lessons that i’ve learned is active prayer. A LOT of times i will pray for something, say, $4,000 towards my missions fund-raising, and just leave it at that. “Lord, i have no idea how i’m going to raise this amount, but i know that with you all things are possible. amen.” what i didn’t know until very recently was that this stuff doesn’t work on it’s own! all things considered and God’s sovereignty over all, Matthew 6 calls us to not only entrust our worries and problems to Jesus, but to also “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” so easily i looked past the actual seeking, the action on my part, and just focused on the big man doing all the work. where is your faithfulness? how can we just expect God to do everything while we sit back and remain idle? faith without deeds? these lessons are fundamental, but too often i easily lose sight of it all. there’s one quote that has always stuck out to me, and i actually saw it in a bookstore somewhere in nashville that read:

“prayer is vital, but God is not in the business of rewarding the lazy”

so with that being said, i’m extremely happy to say that i have almost reached my goal of $4,000 :) I COULD NOT have done it without all of your help, and i am extremely grateful for all that support that everyone has shown me. now that it’s the final stretch, it only gets that much more interesting to see how God closes this out.

i know that a lot of you have been waiting for this, so it’s finally here! the details of the fund-raising dinner are below:

when: this Saturday, June 13th @ 6pm
where: my house

if you plan on coming, please let me know by sending an email to yuchunyat@gmail.com. i will then give you my address and directions on how to get to my house wherever you’re coming from, so give it some thought! i’d love to see everyone together one last time before summer plans begin to take over :)

1. Mexico City is a go! As some of you may know, the first (June 16 – June 20) and last (July 26  - July 30) weeks of my mission trip will be spent in Mexico City for orientation, training, and then eventually debriefing to assimilate back into the States. Mexico City is widely considered the epicenter of the swine flu pandemic, and so there was a bit of worry about whether we should the Mexican capital would be safe as a meeting base for our team. The Global Projects team of InterVarsity discussed and prayed together, and they have confirmed our travel to Mexico City, so praise God for his faithfulness to our trip!
2. Fund-raising! I know that I placed either May 10 or May 25 on the support letter as “deadlines” for giving financial support, but the real deadline is July 31, the end of my trip and when I finally come back home. Financially, I am still in need of support to reach my $4000 goal. Originally, the mark was set at $3,700, but since then the airfare to Mexico City has been included. If you’re still thinking about financially investing in the ministry that I’m doing in Cairo, it’s not too late! Even though I’ll be away in Cairo, you can still send the checks to my house anytime until July 31. For more information, please refer to the Support link up top!
3. Dinner! My sister Vanessa (Kolkata, India) and I are still working out the details of a joint support dinner at my house, so if that works out you will be hearing about it for sure! Whether you’re a part of my FB group or you check my blog, there will be an update regarding the support dinner coming up real soon!
4. Assalamu Alaikum! Peace unto you! I have been trying to pick up a couple of handy and convenient Arabic phrases before the trip starts, so if you see me around, please ask me to practice them on you!

in other news, TECBC was this past weekend, and it always seems as if the most unlikely people end up blessing us the most. I went into the conference with the mentality that I would be leading a bible study group and workshop seminar to bless these kids, but as it turns out they have blessed me even more. It’s incredibly easy to doubt God and the effectiveness of his hand in our lives but it’s unreal as to how much He can use us if we’re willing to accept the call. If you’re reading this and are in high school, seriously consider joining committee. You can let me know personally and I will relay the interest to committee. If you’re reading this and are in college, consider coming back to help out with bible study. If you’re worried that the “fire” of the retreat will burn out, know that God mold you just as much during the high times as He will during the low.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38

No, Kobe Bryant isn’t featured in one of Hillsong’s upcoming worship songs, nor will he be speaking at the church anytime soon. Religion and basketball? Kobe Bryant is supposedly Catholic, but he is also quoted as saying: “I wouldn’t mind being Jewish. I wouldn’t mind. Really.” What’s the connection?

General opinion of Mr. Bryant varies, with the average assessment following that there is a usual love/hate relationship between the star athlete and his fans. He is the youngest NBA player to tally 20,000 points, but also has a rape allegation, albeit dismissed, under his belt. He holds the record for the highest point total in one game at 81, second only to Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point performance in 1962. No discussion of NBA greats can be complete without mention of number 8-turned-24, and he is certainly one of the best, if not the best, in the modern history of the sport. He is also one of the most well-known names in popular culture, far exceeding in renown any national or political figure. Basketball crazed China worships this man like no other, even more than fellow countryman Yao Ming. Top NBA jerseys in China for the 2007/2008 season had Kobe Bryant at #1, while Yao Ming came in at an offensive #10. Last summer, I experienced the craze for myself when I went to Hong Kong in the midst of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. There, Nike-sponsored Kobe posters lined every ad space available (legal or illegal), a sight similar to the zeal of Obama-fever in the States during election season.

on the other hand..

No one can refute the prevalence of Hillsong Church and its impact on Christian culture. Based in Sydney, Australia, the adrenaline-pumping, take-over-the-world-for-God music of Hillsong Church has literally made itself synonymous with Christianity. Active since 1999, the group has since been to more than 160 countries, with offshoot branches in the cities of London, Moscow, Kiev, Cape Town, Paris, and Stockholm. With a congregation of over 15,000 on an average weekend, Hillsong Church is serious about worshipping God. Typing in a simple “hi” in the YouTube search box will bring up “hillsong,” and going to any worship session (especially Asian-based) will all but guarantee the appearance of at least one Hillsong worship song. No Christian playlist is complete without “From the Inside Out,” and for the most part no Facebook profile will be bare of a catchy Hillsong lyric. Every church that I have ever been to (and this is said without exaggeration) tries to imitate the worship style and approach of Hillsong in one way or another, whether it be from the songs they sing or the sermons they preach. Here in the U.S., there is an absolute frenzy with everything Hillsong. Marty Sampson, Joel Houston, and Darlene Zschech are the present day gods of Christianity, with Hillsong Church representing the new religion. On June 5th, Hillsong United will be performing at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, with tickets selling at $35. Tickets sold out in the matter of hours, with churches even buying mass amounts to sell back to their own congregations. The worship songs of Chris Tomlin, Starfield, Phil Wickham, and Shawn McDonald are good, but they are not “Hillsong good.”

Just as Kobe Bryant is idolized in China, so is Hillsong often-times worshiped in the U.S. No athletic store in China is without a Kobe Bryant jersey. Fom what I’ve seen, every aspiring-baller in the parks of Hong Kong attempts to repulsively dribble, shoot, and swagger like #24. In the same way with Hillsong, it has caused me to consider: how many church services have been dominated by songs of the Australian church? How many times has worship been “better” because of a Hillsong worship song with a sweet melody line? In the spirit of the original SAT:

Kobe Bryant : China :: Hillsong : U.S.

In no way am I associating Hillsong with fradulence or a disillusioned religion, nor am I trying to undermine the immense blessing of their ministry to the rest of the world. But there is so much more to Jesus than just “One Way,” “Hosanna,” “Desert Song,” and sick guitar riffs. Oh, there is so much more.

if you are visiting for the first time, thank you for stopping by :) I am currently in the process of filling in and updating the links that you see above, so please indulge yourself in what you can and please check back very soon for even more updates on my trip to Cairo. God bless!