Kairos W of Gracepoint Fellowship Church

After GTS on Friday, Kairos W girls went over to Jessica’s lounge at Stern to play some “secret” games, drink hot cocoa [special thanks to Kira for the clutch water boiler!], and eat puffed pastries. It was a fun and COZY time! We’re thankful for the relationships and laughter we’re able to enjoy in this group.

Go K-”W”!!! Can you guess our King-Kong Shower moves?

Jennifer (Kairos W Freshman) shares about her experience with G-Live:

Gracepoint Live was everything I expected it to be… and more. After watching the DVDs from past G-Lives, I was really looking forward to being part of something so big. I got to meet people from A2F and Koinoinia whom I otherwise would have never met, and even got to spend the entire spring break with them! We danced together, acted together, played basketball together…and of course… we ate many MANY meals together. After G-Live, I feel as if I’ve known some of them for years.

On top of that, G-Live really taught me about giving. I saw the people who gave so much all for the love of God and who were really doing everything they could just to glorify and please God. It’s amazing.

G-Live was a great time, and I’m very glad that so many of the friends whom I’ve been trying to reach out to came out. I can’t wait until the next G-Live comes around, so Gracepoint can continue to change lives and lead people to the Cross.

Kairos girls got together for a dim-sum brunch in Oakland. We ate to our hearts’ content and got a super-cheap deal! (Baby Timmy’s favorite was the pigs’ feet — you gotta try it!

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From Oakland, we headed across the bay to go bike-riding in Golden Gate Park. We had such a wonderful time gazing out at the scenery that we ended up getting lost and having to climb our bikes up the steep hills of Golden Gate Park. Give it up for the Kairos girls — we made it through, no problem!

Then we headed to Alameda to clean our church building with our ISM brothers/sisters. For dinner, we had even more Chinese food, and then worked off our meal with a friendly competition of Knock-out Basketball, sisters vs. brothers, and staff vs. students! Most impressive was 9-months-pregnant Grace, who swiftly knocked out her husband with an amazing shot. The whole place was in uproar!

This Monday, we celebrated Grace & Tony’s Baby Shower (they’re expecting a baby girl at the end of this month)! We had a fun time of playing games, with a diaper changing contest, Baby Trivia, and ‘Is It Grace or Tony’? Kairos W had a lot of fun making a Diaper Cake for the Baby (hopefully, nobody will attempt to eat this)! And we also had a baby name chart, on which people wrote their suggestions for baby names — my favorites were Chee (as in Kim, Chee) and AnTONYa! The most touching part of the evening was when the older ones in the room lovingly gave words of wisdom and lessons learned from their own experiences to the expecting couple.

One of the things I’ve come to love about our church is that we do life together, in community. I was reminded of this again at the baby shower, seeing Grace & Tony surrounded by their leaders, peers, and students, who showed their support as they embark on this new, fearful, but exciting chapter in their lives. It’s a blessing that we never have to face life’s challenges alone. We have older ones who’ve gone before us to lead the way, peers alongside us to lend support and encouragement, and younger ones to motivate and spur us on to being good examples. We’re so thankful that God has prepared such a loving environment for Baby Kim to grow up in… Kairos W excitedly await your arrival and commit to being good aunties to you, Baby Kim!

On Saturday we had blast on the beach, as we fellowshipped with all of the Kairos groups and hung out. We were expecting cold weather and cloudy skies, but Mantera Beach greeted us with a sunny blue and a warm embrace. We played a riveting game of volleyball on the beach, as various players made a run for the ball at various points in time during the game, trying to save it from being eaten by the ocean. We feasted on chili, hot links, chicken-apple sausages, veggie packs and rice. Afterwards, the brothers played football, and the sisters worked on their spirals (we threw the football around..in case you thought I was talking about curly hair!), waded in the water, and built a sand-castle. It was a nice respite from the books, but we were back in Berkeley by 3 to get back to the business of studying!

Snow Trip 2009 from kevan on Vimeo

All college freshmen and Koinonia upperclassmen went up to Sierra Lodge to see some snow. While there, we ran into the students from SFSU and USF, and we quickly got to know each other pretty well, throwing each other into the snow and playing capture the flag. Between the snow fights, the sled runs, and the good food, we had a great time. We were a little sore, but it was awesome.

Why define love so narrowly? Love is more than just romantic love,  and we truly made Valentines Day a Day of love by reaching out to people who need to be loved they most, by being with them, having fun with them, and loving them in compassion.  At Gracepoint we’ve renamed Valentines Day a “Day of Compassion.”  We joined Kairos 3 for a fun and moving time at the Berkeley Pines Convalescent home.  We had a time of praise, Jenn gave a brief but lively message, and we sat around and chatted with the residents, while giving them hand-crafted frames as presents. So  many of them are in their 80’s now.  They are trapped in frail bodies, but in their eyes and conversation, there was still much life.  They thanked us for coming, and we thanked them for having us, as we left just filled and nourished, which is, I guess, what inevitably happens when you really connect with people in love and compassion.

Afterwards, the sister staff of Kairos prepared a scrumptious meal for all of our college sisters, to make sure that they knew they were precious and loved!  It was a feast of not only food, but fun.  We told wild stories from our past, and showed off our talents, which included poetry recitation, martial arts, and Christina’s (Kairos 4)pair of hands turning into a musical instument (you just have to ask her and hear for yourself). We laughed our way to the end of the night, and then it was time to go home.

Ming, Carmen, and Dora joined us for post-Bible study fellowship at a local cafe. We enjoyed breakfast pancakes (a great late-night snack) and shared our thoughts and applications from Pastor Ed Kang’s challenging Bible study message.