AAMSC'22!!!

Hello, friends! 

After 4 glorious days in San Gabriel, California, followed by a few days solo parenting back in Omaha while Megan was at a conference, I'm back and ready to tell you about Asian American Ministries Staff Conference 2022. It was a beautiful, sometimes hard, time of connection, learning, seeing God move, and getting fat. =0). Here are a few takeaways. 

- Asian America is a river: The theme of the conference was "LOVING ASIAN AMERICA" which is a tough theme because the first question that always gets asked is, "what is Asian America and who are Asian Americans?" It's a fair question and one that I've been wrestling for a while. At AAMSC'22 I heard the best analogy to date. Asian America is a river. Each one of us is a stream, adding our experiences, our upbringings, our food, our culture, our language, etc., to the river. The question then becomes, "how can I love the whole river?" which is a much easier question. 

- Being "Old Staff" is fun: The average staff tenure in InterVarsity is a little over 7 years. There are a few staff who have been around for a while but a majority of our staff have served for fewer than 5 years. This was no different at AAMSC'22. Honestly, this was the first time that I really felt like the conference wasn't designed with me in mind, and I was totally OK with that. We had 3 rookies from the Central Region there and I enjoyed my role of making sure they were having a good experience. It was good to see old friends (albeit fewer and fewer of them every year), and honor elders. I like this new role. 

- Southern California food is real good: This is something that everyone knows but boy howdy did I eat well. Honestly, the worst meals were the ones that the hotel provided for dinner. There was a lot of bubble tea and some really amazing Asian cuisine. I was even able to get to the Mandarin Noodle House for some beef noodle soup. Did I run every morning because I knew I was going to be eating too much? Yes I did. Did I still eat too much? Yes I did. Do I regret any of it? No, I do not. =0). 

AAMSC happens every 3 years, so it'll be a while until I'm back. Who knows what will happen in those 3 years. More new staff will sign on. Other staff friends will leave. God will still be good. The bubble tea in Southern California will still be delicious. The river of Asian America will continue to flow. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam