PORTLAND/SEATTLE HERE WE COME

I-5 around the California/Oregon border. Taken with my iPhone as I was driving. I know…not the smartest thing to be doing, but it was just so ridiculously gorgeous outside. Mom if you’re reading this I’M FINE DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME :) 

Wow, I’ve really been slacking on the blog. Hard to imagine I was posting just about everyday when I first got on the road! 

Anyhow, we’re on our way up to the northwest for shows in Portland and Seattle. Personally, I think the northwest is home to some of the most beautiful landscape in the U.S., and I love driving through this area and catching glimpses of some really breathtaking sights.  It makes the drive so much easier when you can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend (as opposed to places like nebraska….where you can drive for hours and it feels like you haven’t moved).

We’re really on the last leg of our tour! Portland, Seattle, Dallas, Riverside, and then we’re done! It’s been a long journey since January, and I can’t believe how much of my life has changed since then. I’ve loved the travelling and the ministry, but I really can not wait to be back in socal :)

As always, prayers would be appreciated! We’ve still got a bit of driving left to do, and Andrew and Tim will have to make the trip from Seattle back to California by themselves (Caleb and I will be flying back to Texas and SoCal right after the Seattle show) so please pray for their safety! 

WE’RE FINALLY DONE…for now

WHEW. What a crazy stretch of touring! Sorry I haven’t been updating the blog much lately, there just hasn’t been much time to get around to it. But we have successfully finished our 6 show, 10 day stretch of touring! 

MUCH love and thanks to the groups at Indiana Wesleyan University, University of Iowa, University of Missouri, Chinese Christian Union Church of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for bringing us out and supporting our music/ministry, it was a blessing to partner with each of you all!

Caleb practicing before the Indiana Wesleyan show. This is one of the very few pictures that I took in the last 10 days…it was that hectic.

It amazes me the kind of relationships you can form with people in such short time at each show.  We’re really only there for a couple of hours, but some of these people and the conversations and memories made will stick with me for a long time to come. That really might be one of the things that makes this job so amazing :) It really goes to show that God can take any moment and use it to transform people and make a lasting impact. 

Ahh I can’t even begin to share about all the people who have blessed me personally these past few days! So I won’t try, because it won’t really adequately describe the lift that these people have given us as we were going the toughest and most tiring part of our tour. But I do want to say that I am SO THANKFUL for each person, you guys provided for us when it was getting crazy and we were all struggling in one way or another, whether it was crazy homesickness, physical sickness, or just getting sick of each other.  

With our MidWest tour all wrapped up, we have just five more shows before we finish the entire tour! Thankfully, these last shows are spread out over the next 5 weeks so there won’t be any more frantic travelling for a while.

April 28 - UMass Amherst
May 10 - Portland Onnuri Church
May 11 - Seattle Chinese Baptist Church
May 26 - First Chinese Baptist Church of Dallas
May 30 - University of California, Riverside 

As you can tell, we still have lots of cross country driving left! Please continue praying for our safety and health, as well as protection from burnout and exhaustion :)

Off we go!

Just got back from our show at NYU’s Agape Week hosted by InterVarsity, can’t say enough about how well we were looked after. We definitely have enough cookies and veggies now to last us for this next road trip, and Andrew was able to get his halal craving satisfied :) But really, it was such a blessing to be in ministry together with such passionate college students. 

We were also blessed to have such an amazing opening act by Cate Song. Check out her music, she’s got a great soulful sound! 

So after a nice and a relaxing two weeks of seeing old friends and just hanging out in the Jersey/NY area, we’re headed out to the Midwest for the next segment of our tour! It’s going to be an EXTREMELY hectic schedule: 10 days, 6 shows, 4 states. We’ll be playing some tough back-to-back and back-to-back-to-back shows, so please keep us in your prayers! Especially for our safety on the road, Tim’s voice to hold up, rest for the whole band, and tons of patience and compassion. 

No pictures this time but I’ll leave you guys with this little gem:

I ran sound for the show, and the only place we could have our mixer was in that back corner of the stage. Tim failed to tell me how creeper I would look from where I had to sit… 

Planting Seeds

Hmm…I seem to get this look from Tim a lot.

Just finished a show at TCNJ (The College of New Jersey) yesterday! We were there maybe 5 months ago but we were glad to be back, especially since we were helping to support awareness for human trafficking (Love146). 

I want to share an email that we received yesterday that really encouraged the band. Let me preface it by sharing a little about the nature of our ministry.  Most of the time, we don’t get to necessarily see the fruits of our ministry, especially since the time we get to spend with people at each show is so short and limited.  When its over, we have to move on and just trust and have faith that God is using us and the music, and that He is continuing the work that He started through us at these shows and concerts. It can be tough sometimes to not see the tangible difference that might be made.

Here is a segment of that email:

I am compelled to send a testimony of how God has worked through our respective ministries in Refresh.  Today, a brother has shared during rehearsal time how God is powerfully moving.  There is a student at our school who was not really familiar with the Christian faith who ended up coming to our benefit concert.  There he was moved by Tim’s testimony.  Since, he has joined a fellowship on campus and has been actively going out to the bible study group.  He even chose to give up his spring break to go on the service trip in New Orleans with that same fellowship.  I don’t know about you guys but this was extremely encouraging for us to hear!  And how awesome our God is to be faithful. Even if that entire concert was put on merely for that one brother to now start to seek Christ, it was well worth it!  A seed has been planted and God is faithfully doing His part.  And I am sure that he is just one of the others that have been touched that night!

 God is good! So encouraging to hear this kind of news! We’re just grateful that we can be used to further the Kingdom :). 

Please continue keeping us in your prayers! We have a busy tour schedule coming up!

April 11 - NYU
April 13 - Indiana Wesleyan University
April 14 - University of Iowa
April 18 - University of Missouri
April 20 - Chinese Christian Union Church, Chicago (Praise Night)
April 21 - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
April 22 - Chinese Christian Union Church, Chicago (morning service)
April 28 - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
 

“a cord of three strands is not quickly broken”

Messing around with photoshop…a whole day in NYC and no real photos to show for it :(. Shot in the lower east side.

Just a short update today, want to fill everyone in on how we’re doing :)

We’ve started trying to pray every night as a band, which is huge for us. I think that all of us are being humbled and broken recently in our lives to the extent where we realize that we need God, and we need to be in prayer with each other and in communication with God more often. It is REALLY encouraging that we can continue to grow as brothers spiritually and be able to share and lift up our struggles with each other through corporate prayer. 

So please join us in prayer and in lifting up this ministry as we look for God to do amazing things. We have two more shows in the NY/NJ area before we head out for a crazy midwest swing, please be praying for our health and safety and also for the people who will hear Tim’s music, that people will be encouraged and find hope.  

Our upcoming schedule:

4/4/12 - Show at The College of New Jersey 
4/11/12 - Show at New York University
4/12/12 - Leave for the Midwest portion of the tour 

Texas, Tennessee, New Jersey

The pre-show routine…
On his phone, resting before the mayhem begins.
Catching up on some reading.
Always on his guitars.

Ahh what a week, we kicked off our tour in Houston, followed it up with a great show in Austin, and after a couple of days in Dallas we made it up to New Jersey. 

Being back in Texas was such a bittersweet feeling; getting to see old faces while hanging out and reminiscing, but then having to leave it behind. It’s been tough lately to not feel homesick, I really miss my friends and family in Texas and SoCal. 

We just finished up a show tonight at JP Stevens HS in Edison, NJ, and it is so encouraging to see these kids motivated and passionate enough to host a benefit concert for World Vision. I was really self-absorbed (still working on it!) in HS, and I’m glad that they’ve started to see that there’s so much need out there in the world. 

Anyway, looking forward to a few days off before our wild April swing, please continue praying for travel mercies! Also me and Caleb are feeling a little under the weather so keep that in mind too :)

First Stop, TEXAS

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted! Internet has been iffy so far on the road and honestly I’ve been exhausted since we’ve left so opportunities to update have been few. 

I’m trying to figure out how best to organize this post, since I feel like there’s so much to fit in here. I think I’ll go with a list of blessings and things we’re thankful for :)

First off, leaving the bay was just so hard.  We’ve gotten so comfortable there, people are so good to us, things are so easy, it’s just hard to get up and throw ourselves into a whirlwind of travelling and touring.  I know this is especially tough for Andrew and Tim, who are leaving behind so much to hit the road. But I know we’re all so thankful for the support and the prayers we get, it means a lot to us! 

Secondly, we’re so thankful that we avoided any storms on our way to Texas.  We were supposed to hit heavy rains and even TORNADOES, but the most we hit were light drizzles and slight winds.  I don’t know what we would’ve done if we hit a tornado…(we’re not very prepared for these things…but as Tim always says, “if it’s our time to go, it’s our time to go!”)

Houston. Oh man, does God work miracles. What ended as a great show and a great crowd began with a lot of aprehension and stress.  When we got to Rice, we found out there was no sound technician and the sound equipment provided included a four channel mixer and a bunch of XLRs.  Tech lingo aside, just know, that was not nearly enough for us to use to set up sound for a hall that fits over 180 people.  By chance (not really though…God’s fingerprints are all over this), we had our own mixer, and we just happened to have gotten a crash course on it last week, which almost didn’t even happen.  We ended up running sound for their WHOLE program (two opening acts, MCs) and for the TBT setup (13 channels). Looking back on it, this whole thing could have folded over, but God had a plan the entire way. Whew!

My little cheat sheet…

We’re now in Austin, resting before our show on Friday at UT in partnership with Urbana ‘12 and InterVarsity.  Courtesy of Urbana (and Hotwire), we found a deal at the local Hilton and got to stay here for the night. Let me just say that this might be the nicest hotel I’ve stayed at yet! With a killer view of the downtown too :)

Anyway, after a day of rest in Dallas on Saturday, we’ll be hitting the road again for the East coast. THANK YOU EVERYONE for your support, your prayers, and your words of encouragement. I’m constantly surprised and encouraged by how many people actually read this blog and keep up with the band. Definitely helps keep me motivated in sharing our adventures with you all :) 

Calm before the Storm

Scenes from our living room…
Playing on the iPad…

 
…and playing on the cello

It’s been a while since I’ve posted! We’ve had some time off so everyone’s been resting and kicking back while we can. 

We leave for TEXAS this coming Sunday to kick off the second leg of our spring tour! We’ll be stopping in Houston and Austin before we head back out to the East coast again.

I recently got a chance to visit SoCal, and I just wanted to say how thankful I am to have so much support from my friends down there. What a refreshing trip :) I miss everyone down there dearly, but I’m excited to be doing what I’m doing and sharing these experiences with everyone!

So in keeping with that thought, I wanted to share about how God is stretching me at this point in my life:  

About one year ago, I was about to graduate from UCI and I felt like I had the next 6-8 years ahead kind of mapped out: I was going to graduate, get a job, get paid, get engaged, married, and then live life in the suburbs like we’ve been taught by our Asian parents.  And for someone like me who likes to at least have some kind of framework for the future, it was reassuring to have that laid out in front of me. 

Obviously, God had different plans for me. 

Lately, Caleb’s been quoting Justin Buzzard, saying “write your plans in pencil, because God’s got a big eraser”. That phrase pretty much describes this last year for me. I’m now single, essentially living from paycheck to paycheck, constantly travelling, with no idea what my life will even look like in 6 months. Please don’t read this as a list of complaints! Thats not my intent.  What I wanted to point out is that God is the one really in control. And I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a struggle not knowing my future or not knowing how money will come.  But this is how I’m being stretched and grown; learning to lean on God for my own needs and learning to let go of the control I want in knowing my future and making plans.  Faith -> Action (I believe God IS good —> I can let go & TRUST Him with my future).

Anyway just wanted to share what’s been going on in my life! You can always talk to me and ask me if you’re more curious about details :) Please continue praying for the us! Lots of travelling and ministering to do in the coming months!

Talented Timmy 

Old Friends and New Faces

What a blessing it was to have a sold out show! We’re so grateful for the people who made it out, it was an amazing night in SF. 

For me, this was the first show that I got to see friends I knew from before I took the job. I really don’t know how to describe it, but there was such a feeling of joy in seeing familiar faces again. I’ve met a ton of great people and made a lot of great friends on this tour so far, but seeing old friends was just refreshing for me.  It’s nice to be able to talk about things from the past and catch up and see what God’s been doing in each others’ lives! 

After our show this last weekend, the band gets a good 2.5 weeks to rest before we swing through Texas for our next couple of shows, and I’ve gotten a chance to come back to Irvine to celebrate my little brother’s birthday (turning 13, dang!) and see family & friends.  

Looking forward to a week of catching up and kicking back in Irvine!