"How about... MO-IST?"
The story that I tell a lot is that when I first joined staff, I was the only IV staff for 120 miles. I'd moved to CoMO when there wasn't any IV work in the state of Missouri beyond St. Louis and Kansas City. I actually had 2 apartments, one in CoMO and one in St. Louis because I needed to travel back and forth every week for staff meetings and trainings. The 2 hour drive wasn't a ton of fun (this was before podcasts were really a thing). Paying 2 rents was a bit of a bother (although, housing was so cheap it was still OK). Not being able to get a part-time job in either CoMO or StL because I was never in one place more than 3 days in a row made things a little difficult (although it did eventually contribute to my love for ministry partnership development since I had to raise a higher than normal budget). Still, all of that was worth it because coming into St. Louis each week meant that I could be a part of the Missouri team.
As it stands right now, I am the elder statesmen of the Missouri Team. If you include the 4 years I spent as a student to the 10.5 years I've been on staff, that's nearly 15 years that I've been a part of InterVarsity here in the great state of Missouri. I've seen us reach new campuses and shut down chapters. I've seen literally dozens, if not hundreds, of students make decisions to follow Jesus. I've led roadtrips all across Missouri planting and scouting new campuses. I've seen a of things. I've made a lot of friends. It's been an amazing run.
Somewhere around 2013 or 2014 (the years all run together at this point), the Missouri International Student Ministry (ISM) area, which was made up of staff focusing in ISM in the state of Missouri, and the Missouri Area, which was made up of staff focusing on "domestic" student ministry in Missouri, decided to merge into a single area. In hopes of making sure it didn't feel like an acquisition but like a true merger, we floated the idea of changing our name to something new for the both of us. My favorite name was MO Fast, MO Furious, which eventually just got shortened to the MO Fast Team (My least favorite option was MO-IST, or "moist"). Being a part of this team has been one of the great honors of my life.
My dear friends, Will, Flyaway, Topes, Choco Cats, Dom, Baby Bear, Danny, Charis, Meg, Strongbad, David, Sheriff, Charlamagne, Ashley, Gelnoak, Legend, Miss Ashley, T-Mo, Jon Wang, La Reina, Tammy, D-Queen, Brian, La Capitana, Kes, Robert, Jojo, Jordan, Snack Pack, El Supervisor, and every volunteer who has helped us bring the Gospel to college students in Missouri, I say, "Thanks." Thanks for being a great team. Thanks for going to the hard places. Thanks for celebrating with me and mourning with me. Thanks for taking risks with me. Thanks for letting me be a part of your staff lives. You will forever be a part of mine.
Have an excellent day,
~Adam
Monday, January 1, 2018
M-I-Z...
"Own it like it's your own."
I'll never forget how it felt when I heard those words. I was a first year intern with InterVarsity getting ready for my first regional function as a staff. A veteran staff took a few of us young folk out to lunch prior to the meetings and he gave me that one piece of advice that has stuck with me for my entire staff career in Mid-MO. I have to own Mizzou like it's my own.
Growing up in Southern California, school pride is a thing but it's a different kind of thing. There's UCLA. There's USC. There are transplants from all over California who went to Cal or Stanford. There are transplants from all over the country too. Growing up, I had allegiances to none of those schools. My parents didn't go to any of those schools. I'm sure I had friends whose parents went to those schools but we didn't talk about it much. College pride just wasn't a part of my upbringing.
Fast forward to college. Washington University in St. Louis is known for a lot of things. It's got an amazing campus, a top notch med school, wonderful students, and engaged faculty, and back when I was living there, some pretty tasty dorm food. The one thing it didn't have was school spirit. WashU was a place people went so they would get a better shot at going somewhere else after they graduated. We didn't care much about the city beyond our walls. We didn't care much about the campus beyond our classes. We didn't care much about our classes beyond our grades. (To be honest, I didn't really care much about the grades either... #graduated). As far as athletics go, we cared more about our intramural teams than we did the varsity teams. There used to be a student org called Red Alert that tried to build up school spirit. If you went to a football game (which was free) you'd get a Red Alert T-shirt and 2 slices of pizza. It was not a well attended event.
So, when I heard that I need to "own it like it's your own," I was ripe for the picking. The staff was trying to say that if I'm going to really make it in a new place, I have to adopt the new place as my home. I can't have differing allegiances to other schools if I want InterVarsity to thrive at Mizzou. There could be no equivocation. I had to be #MizzouMade from day 1. I was ready.
Mizzou is the best. I've loved being a fan of the university these past 10+ years. I've been to games. I've read up on the scouting reports. I've been inside so many of the buildings. I've experienced some of the cultural events there. I've been a part of protests. I've met so many students and adopted so many traditions. I can't ever officially say that I'm an alumni of Mizzou, and if WashU and Mizzou were to ever play in any sport (SOOOOO unlikely), my heart would still be with WashU (Go Bears!) but I can honestly say that I've owned Mizzou like my own.
Thankfully, in my next role, I won't be doing much campus work so while I'm living in Omaha, I won't have to be owning any of those local schools as my own. Ezra and Thaliea will NOT grow up fans of Big Red (read: University of Nebraska). If they want to root for Creighton (Go Jays!) or UN-O (Go Mavericks!) then we can make that work. But you'd better believe this won't be a Husker House. Lincoln is an hour away from Omaha, which hopefully will be enough of a distance to keep that fandom at bay.
M-I-Z... Z-O-U!!!
~Adam
I'll never forget how it felt when I heard those words. I was a first year intern with InterVarsity getting ready for my first regional function as a staff. A veteran staff took a few of us young folk out to lunch prior to the meetings and he gave me that one piece of advice that has stuck with me for my entire staff career in Mid-MO. I have to own Mizzou like it's my own.
Growing up in Southern California, school pride is a thing but it's a different kind of thing. There's UCLA. There's USC. There are transplants from all over California who went to Cal or Stanford. There are transplants from all over the country too. Growing up, I had allegiances to none of those schools. My parents didn't go to any of those schools. I'm sure I had friends whose parents went to those schools but we didn't talk about it much. College pride just wasn't a part of my upbringing.
Fast forward to college. Washington University in St. Louis is known for a lot of things. It's got an amazing campus, a top notch med school, wonderful students, and engaged faculty, and back when I was living there, some pretty tasty dorm food. The one thing it didn't have was school spirit. WashU was a place people went so they would get a better shot at going somewhere else after they graduated. We didn't care much about the city beyond our walls. We didn't care much about the campus beyond our classes. We didn't care much about our classes beyond our grades. (To be honest, I didn't really care much about the grades either... #graduated). As far as athletics go, we cared more about our intramural teams than we did the varsity teams. There used to be a student org called Red Alert that tried to build up school spirit. If you went to a football game (which was free) you'd get a Red Alert T-shirt and 2 slices of pizza. It was not a well attended event.
So, when I heard that I need to "own it like it's your own," I was ripe for the picking. The staff was trying to say that if I'm going to really make it in a new place, I have to adopt the new place as my home. I can't have differing allegiances to other schools if I want InterVarsity to thrive at Mizzou. There could be no equivocation. I had to be #MizzouMade from day 1. I was ready.
Mizzou is the best. I've loved being a fan of the university these past 10+ years. I've been to games. I've read up on the scouting reports. I've been inside so many of the buildings. I've experienced some of the cultural events there. I've been a part of protests. I've met so many students and adopted so many traditions. I can't ever officially say that I'm an alumni of Mizzou, and if WashU and Mizzou were to ever play in any sport (SOOOOO unlikely), my heart would still be with WashU (Go Bears!) but I can honestly say that I've owned Mizzou like my own.
Thankfully, in my next role, I won't be doing much campus work so while I'm living in Omaha, I won't have to be owning any of those local schools as my own. Ezra and Thaliea will NOT grow up fans of Big Red (read: University of Nebraska). If they want to root for Creighton (Go Jays!) or UN-O (Go Mavericks!) then we can make that work. But you'd better believe this won't be a Husker House. Lincoln is an hour away from Omaha, which hopefully will be enough of a distance to keep that fandom at bay.
M-I-Z... Z-O-U!!!
~Adam
Nurses For the Win!
"Did you know that there's an NCF chapter at Mizzou?"
In a word, no. The email I got from Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) National saying that there was an NCF chapter at Mizzou was definitely news to me. With a mother, sister, and sister-in-law who are all nurses, I was definitely interested in connecting with those students.
When I got to our first meeting, NCF was less a chapter and more 2 students who carried over from the past year and their adviser. We didn't have much of a plan and I didn't have a ton of time so I said, "well, let's just pray and see what happens." That first year, we averaged about 4-6 students but we kept on praying. At the start of our second year, we had to switch rooms for our first meeting because there were over 50 nursing students in attendance.
Over the years, the number of students has fluctuated from that first meeting in 2015, to as few as 6 students doing a bible study together. Students have shown up and left. We've never had more than 1 guy as a part of the group besides me. Still, the group faithfully meets and continues to explore what it means to follow Jesus in the world of nursing.
Nursing students are a special breed. Their level of compassion is astounding. I've been taking prayer requests from students in small groups for over 10 years and only in NCF are there more prayer requests for other people than for the people in the room. Questions of compassion, justice and ethics are always on their minds as they navigate how nursing school, clinicals, and their sororities (because apparently all of them are in sororities).
Honestly, I didn't spend a ton of time with NCF. They only meet twice a month and my role was more of an adviser than one of a staff. I was there to help them make prints and buy snacks and such. Still, I was so blessed to be a part of the group. I'm looking forward to seeing these ladies (and a few dudes) change the world through nursing.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Over the years, the number of students has fluctuated from that first meeting in 2015, to as few as 6 students doing a bible study together. Students have shown up and left. We've never had more than 1 guy as a part of the group besides me. Still, the group faithfully meets and continues to explore what it means to follow Jesus in the world of nursing.
Nursing students are a special breed. Their level of compassion is astounding. I've been taking prayer requests from students in small groups for over 10 years and only in NCF are there more prayer requests for other people than for the people in the room. Questions of compassion, justice and ethics are always on their minds as they navigate how nursing school, clinicals, and their sororities (because apparently all of them are in sororities).
Honestly, I didn't spend a ton of time with NCF. They only meet twice a month and my role was more of an adviser than one of a staff. I was there to help them make prints and buy snacks and such. Still, I was so blessed to be a part of the group. I'm looking forward to seeing these ladies (and a few dudes) change the world through nursing.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
CCIV...
"We are... CC!!!"
When I first came on staff with InterVarsity, one of the first things that my Regional Director did was take me out to breakfast. We went to Bob Evans. I'd never been to Bob Evans before. It was nice. =0).
I remember very distinctly that while at breakfast, the RD gave me a vision for all of Mid-MO. He said, "Mizzou is going to be the flagship campus for Mid-Missouri, stretching to all parts of the state." My job was to be start at Mizzou and eventually branch out to other campuses. Thankfully, there were 3 other campuses within walking distance of Mizzou so I figured it wouldn't be that hard.
2012 rolled around and we still didn't have anything to show for our planting efforts beyond Mizzou ACF. I'd tried planting a Black Campus Ministry (BCM) chapter at Mizzou but I couldn't gain enough traction to make it go. Still, ACF was thriving and I felt pretty good about where things were. We had our first official volunteers on staff and one of those staff was charged with leading our apprentice group. She decided that to grow the soon to be leaders, she wanted to have them plant a chapter at Columbia College. After that apprenticeship program finished, the volunteer staff asked if she could actually stay at Columbia College and continue to plant there instead of with ACF. I was more than happy to grant that request and Columbia College InterVarsity (CCIV) was born.
To say that that Columbia College is a different beast from Mizzou would be an understatement. Instead of the 30-35,000 students on campus at Mizzou, Columbia College most recently just doubled it's residential dorm space to 850. While there are over 40 different evangelical student organizations at Mizzou, Columbia College had none. Instead, there were small groups run by campus staff from Mizzou who would then bring the Columbia College students to Mizzou for Large Group. What our volunteer decided was that Columbia College needed a group that was created by CC students for the CC campus.
CCIV has had its ups and downs the past few years, as all chapters do. Some years leadership is great. Other years, the students aren't as invested as we'd like. Still, the chapter plugs along. As I head into Sabbatical, I'm really excited about the crop of leaders we have who will be leading the charge in my absence. We're still hoping for a staff to come in and fill in some of the gaps but even if that doesn't happen, I'm proud of the work that we've done to create a campus group at Columbia College that will serve the campus as a whole. I am, and forever will be, proud to be... CC!
~Adam
When I first came on staff with InterVarsity, one of the first things that my Regional Director did was take me out to breakfast. We went to Bob Evans. I'd never been to Bob Evans before. It was nice. =0).
I remember very distinctly that while at breakfast, the RD gave me a vision for all of Mid-MO. He said, "Mizzou is going to be the flagship campus for Mid-Missouri, stretching to all parts of the state." My job was to be start at Mizzou and eventually branch out to other campuses. Thankfully, there were 3 other campuses within walking distance of Mizzou so I figured it wouldn't be that hard.
2012 rolled around and we still didn't have anything to show for our planting efforts beyond Mizzou ACF. I'd tried planting a Black Campus Ministry (BCM) chapter at Mizzou but I couldn't gain enough traction to make it go. Still, ACF was thriving and I felt pretty good about where things were. We had our first official volunteers on staff and one of those staff was charged with leading our apprentice group. She decided that to grow the soon to be leaders, she wanted to have them plant a chapter at Columbia College. After that apprenticeship program finished, the volunteer staff asked if she could actually stay at Columbia College and continue to plant there instead of with ACF. I was more than happy to grant that request and Columbia College InterVarsity (CCIV) was born.
To say that that Columbia College is a different beast from Mizzou would be an understatement. Instead of the 30-35,000 students on campus at Mizzou, Columbia College most recently just doubled it's residential dorm space to 850. While there are over 40 different evangelical student organizations at Mizzou, Columbia College had none. Instead, there were small groups run by campus staff from Mizzou who would then bring the Columbia College students to Mizzou for Large Group. What our volunteer decided was that Columbia College needed a group that was created by CC students for the CC campus.
CCIV has had its ups and downs the past few years, as all chapters do. Some years leadership is great. Other years, the students aren't as invested as we'd like. Still, the chapter plugs along. As I head into Sabbatical, I'm really excited about the crop of leaders we have who will be leading the charge in my absence. We're still hoping for a staff to come in and fill in some of the gaps but even if that doesn't happen, I'm proud of the work that we've done to create a campus group at Columbia College that will serve the campus as a whole. I am, and forever will be, proud to be... CC!
~Adam
706...
"It smells like dog poop."
I moved to CoMO in 2007. The timing worked out really well because as I was moving to CoMO, my friend Andrew's roommate was moving out of CoMO. That meant I was able to immediately move into Kevin's old room and not have to search for a place of my own. The apartment was nice enough. It was close to campus and I had my own bedroom. After my one year internship and 1 year of full-time staff work, I knew that CoMO was going to be a place that I wanted to put down roots. So, I saw a "For Sale" sign in front of a house around campus, called up the number on the sign, and Sean Moore became my real estate agent.
When Sean and I first met at his office, he told me what was going to happen. He said that we would probably look at close to 2 dozen houses. The first few would really just be me figuring out what I didn't like and what I actually wanted in a house. Then, around house 20 or so, I would walk in and know exactly that this was the house for me. This was my first house buying experience for me so I didn't know if he was telling me the truth or not but I decided to just go with it.
Friends, I looked at a lot of houses in a short period of time. I remember one house had a sort of fishbowl thing going for it because the floor wasn't level. There was the house with the locked basement that we later learned was because there was a guy living down there and he would be coming along with the house. There was what I called the "ex-girlfriend house" because I absolutely knew that it wasn't right for me but kept going back to it for another look. We probably looked at around 15-20 houses and I was getting discouraged.
Then we walked into 706 Mount Vernon Avenue. As soon as I stepped in the door, I knew it was the house for me. It was an absolute dump. There was a big dog in a cage watching TV. There was trash everywhere. The kitchen hadn't been cleaned in a while. Downstairs there was no carpet and some dog poop on the floor. Still, I knew it had to be mine. It had everything I wanted. There was ample living space to be able to host lots of people, both upstairs and downstairs. The basement was a self-contained unit, so I could live downstairs and have IV folk living upstairs. There was a sense of community but I could still escape to my own space if I needed. There was tons of storage for IV stuff like sound equipment and proxe stations. It was just 1.5 miles from campus, and the trip was an easy bike ride. It was like God had designed a house specifically for me.
Since July 2009, there have been a lot of changes to this house. We had the kitchen renovated. The basement has carpet on the floor and paint on the walls. There are curtains on the windows and art in the living room. There's a garden in the back yard to go along with the fire pit. It's very much a home. It's my home.
706 Mount Vernon has gone by a few different names. Some call it the Man Cave. Others call it IV house. I'm personally partial to La Casa Leong. Whatever its name, it has been my home for the past 8.5 years and it has served me well. I've hosted literally dozens of students in here. We've had leaders meetings, potlucks, bonfires, and movie nights in this house. This is the first house of Meg and my marriage. It's Ezra and Thaliea's first home. It will be hard leaving this house; my home.
Our new place in Omaha is really great. I'm excited for all the memories that are coming for that new house. I'm excited for our new garden and for the kids to have rooms of their own. I'm excited to have a master bathroom and an office. Still, a part of me will always be here, at 706 Mount Vernon Avenue.
Our new place in Omaha is really great. I'm excited for all the memories that are coming for that new house. I'm excited for our new garden and for the kids to have rooms of their own. I'm excited to have a master bathroom and an office. Still, a part of me will always be here, at 706 Mount Vernon Avenue.
~Adam
ACF...
"Our mission is to be a community that shares Christ's love with the Asian and Asian Americans on campus."
This past week I had the pleasure of going to a wedding for one of my best friends, who also happens to be the grandfather of ACF. The story goes like this:
My friend was part of a large InterVarsity chapter during his undergrad. He made his way to Mizzou for grad school and missed Asian American community, so he joined the Asian American Association. While a part of AAA he saw that the students there needed Jesus so he started a Bible study for non-Christians. That led him to then call my supervisor asking if it was possible for a staff to be sent out to Mizzou to plant an Asian American ministry at Mizzou. My supervisor sent me and the rest, as they say, is history.
For 8 years I was ACF's staff. It was, and always has been, my baby. I remember our first meetings in a student's apartment. I would get there early to cook then we'd do dinner and a bible study. I remember when we first became recognized as a student group. I remember when we had our first Large Group because we were too big for the apartment. I remember the elation I felt when we held our first leaders meeting and the heartbreak of every one of the students who left the chapter or even the faith. I remember the faces of the students who made decisions to follow Jesus and those who decided to lead. I remember all of it because for 8 years, ACF was my life.
As I took on more and more responsibility with InterVarsity, it still kept coming back to ACF. I needed to stay connected to Asian American students because as an Asian American, I knew that the connection that I felt to those students was just as much for my soul as it was for them.
During the after party of the wedding, I looked around at the ACF alumni in the room and my heart swelled with gratitude and thankfulness. Of the people in the room, at least 1/3 of them I know came to a real faith in Jesus through ACF. To see them now thriving as adults means that ACF did its job. ACF hasn't been mine for the past 2 years but it will always be in my heart.
So, to Andrew, Laura, Grace, Roshani, Jay, Esther, Lyndy, Julie, Sarah, Dane, Chris, Barbara, Benji, Racehl, Asha, Melody, Lorenzo, Leo, David, David, Tim, Sarah Liz, Grace, Josephine, Arthur, Daisy, Joey, Emily, Colter, Bianca, Paul, Terry, Jin, Rachel, Kirstyn, Seth, Bryce, Shyna, Annie, Liu Liu, Justin, An, Kevin, Kevin, Duc, Paula, Philip, Charis, Jordan, Rachael, April, Kristen, Danny, Jerryl, Jared, Mia, Claire, Mary, Louise, Willin, Ivy, Samuel, Tim, Sarah, Kyoko, Jasmin, Emily, Vincent, Jessica, Kayla, Crystal, Renyu, Elaine, Hannah, Tina, Alison, Victoria, Young, Andrew, Tony, Margaret, Phuong, Yang, Nuria, Julia, Eunice, Jen, Yu-Rim, Soohong, Bo Hyun, Amy, Won Hee, Stephen, Lillian, Kang, Ktan, Satomi, Jennifer, Grace, Lauren, Vanessa, Nan, Andi, Chris, Lyly, Kha, Christyona, and everyone else who graced the doors of ACF throughout my time there, I say, "Thanks." Thanks for coming. Thanks for cooking and eating. Thanks for helping to set up chairs and lead worship. Thanks for leading bible study and small group even though you didn't feel prepared. Thanks for taking risks with me. Thanks for exploring with me. It's been a heck of a ride and I'm so blessed to have met each and every one of you.
~Adam
So, to Andrew, Laura, Grace, Roshani, Jay, Esther, Lyndy, Julie, Sarah, Dane, Chris, Barbara, Benji, Racehl, Asha, Melody, Lorenzo, Leo, David, David, Tim, Sarah Liz, Grace, Josephine, Arthur, Daisy, Joey, Emily, Colter, Bianca, Paul, Terry, Jin, Rachel, Kirstyn, Seth, Bryce, Shyna, Annie, Liu Liu, Justin, An, Kevin, Kevin, Duc, Paula, Philip, Charis, Jordan, Rachael, April, Kristen, Danny, Jerryl, Jared, Mia, Claire, Mary, Louise, Willin, Ivy, Samuel, Tim, Sarah, Kyoko, Jasmin, Emily, Vincent, Jessica, Kayla, Crystal, Renyu, Elaine, Hannah, Tina, Alison, Victoria, Young, Andrew, Tony, Margaret, Phuong, Yang, Nuria, Julia, Eunice, Jen, Yu-Rim, Soohong, Bo Hyun, Amy, Won Hee, Stephen, Lillian, Kang, Ktan, Satomi, Jennifer, Grace, Lauren, Vanessa, Nan, Andi, Chris, Lyly, Kha, Christyona, and everyone else who graced the doors of ACF throughout my time there, I say, "Thanks." Thanks for coming. Thanks for cooking and eating. Thanks for helping to set up chairs and lead worship. Thanks for leading bible study and small group even though you didn't feel prepared. Thanks for taking risks with me. Thanks for exploring with me. It's been a heck of a ride and I'm so blessed to have met each and every one of you.
~Adam
CoMO...
"You're sending me to South America?"
I'm glad those aren't the first words that came out of my mouth when my supervisor asked me to consider moving to for my InterVarsity internship. I didn't know that Mizzou was in Columbia, Missouri (as opposed to Colombia the country) so I was definitely thinking it but since I was in shock, I didn't say anything. When my supervisor then continued by saying that that was where the University of Missouri was, I breathed an internal sigh of relief and committed to taking a trip out to visit. On my way back from that visit, I said yes to moving to CoMO and things have only moved forward from there.
My experience with Missouri was St. Louis. My dad grew up on the North Side of St. Louis so when we visited as a kid, that was where we went. I have an aunt who lives in West County so I know that area a little bit too. When I went to school in Missouri, it was in St. Louis (Go Bears!). I had been to Kansas City once or twice to eat BBQ maybe but to me, St. Louis and Missouri were synonymous. When I moved out to CoMO, I saw that there were other parts of Missouri than just St. Louis and that those other parts are VERY different.
At first, it was a shock. Why am I surrounded by White people? Why is everything so close? You mean I can bike to ANYWHERE in the city? Why are there so many rocks and trees and parks and lakes and such? It only costs HOW MUCH to golf here? Over the past 10+ years of living here, I've learned to really love this town and it has very much been my home. Here are a few things I'll miss the most.
- Biking everywhere. For the past 10 years, I have literally biked everywhere. I've biked to campus more times than I can count. I've biked to church. I've biked to go play golf. I've biked to go fishing and to go swimming. I've biked to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I've biked with a grill attached to my back wheel so I could tailgate. CoMO is such an amazing town for biking. The drivers for the most part give a wide berth. There are bike lanes everywhere. The hills are present but not terrible. As someone who devoted an entire blog to the money he could save by biking places, CoMO really was a dream.
- Mizzou. Growing up in Southern California, college allegiances made some sense but not a lot. I knew USC folk, UCLA folk, UCI folk, Cal State Fullerton folk, and so on. Throw the Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, and Ducks into the mix and there really wasn't any dominant team that captured the entire fan base. In fact, you found just as many haters as you did fans of any particular school or team. Not so here in CoMO. Everyone bleeds black and gold and it is so great. I love seeing that everything is named "Tiger" something as an homage to the team. I love being able to talk to random strangers about the game last night because we all watched it. I love being able to go anywhere downtown on gameday and be pretty sure I can get a discount of some sort because everyone does a discount on gameday. I'm not an alum but you'd better believe I'm M-I-Z all the way.
- Hard conversations. Let's be real. Being a person of color living in CoMO has been hard, especially these past few years. It's not easy feeling like you have to represent your entire people group because you're the only Chinese American a lot of people know. It's kind of exhausting getting into disagreements and fights with people about issues of justice and racial equality. It's been hard hearing the comments, the names, and the dismissals from people when I try to share about my experiences as a POC living in CoMO. But you know what? It's been really good. I've been stretched. I've been humbled. I've learned. I've been loved well and I would like to think that I have loved well in return. I can better talk about issues of race and justice now because I had to constantly do so while living here. I don't know what Omaha will bring but I know I'll be more ready than when I first moved here.
- My spots. People know that I'm a creature of habit. I have my spots. I have my golf course. I have my restaurants. I have my chairs at the library. I've spent the past 10+ years figuring out what my spots are but now that I'm leaving, it's going to be hard to say goodbye. So long, LA Nickell Golf Course. I never broke 90 but sure had fun golfing you. Goodbye, Plasma center. Thanks for all the extra fun money. Adios to my downtown restaurants l
I'm glad those aren't the first words that came out of my mouth when my supervisor asked me to consider moving to for my InterVarsity internship. I didn't know that Mizzou was in Columbia, Missouri (as opposed to Colombia the country) so I was definitely thinking it but since I was in shock, I didn't say anything. When my supervisor then continued by saying that that was where the University of Missouri was, I breathed an internal sigh of relief and committed to taking a trip out to visit. On my way back from that visit, I said yes to moving to CoMO and things have only moved forward from there.
My experience with Missouri was St. Louis. My dad grew up on the North Side of St. Louis so when we visited as a kid, that was where we went. I have an aunt who lives in West County so I know that area a little bit too. When I went to school in Missouri, it was in St. Louis (Go Bears!). I had been to Kansas City once or twice to eat BBQ maybe but to me, St. Louis and Missouri were synonymous. When I moved out to CoMO, I saw that there were other parts of Missouri than just St. Louis and that those other parts are VERY different.
At first, it was a shock. Why am I surrounded by White people? Why is everything so close? You mean I can bike to ANYWHERE in the city? Why are there so many rocks and trees and parks and lakes and such? It only costs HOW MUCH to golf here? Over the past 10+ years of living here, I've learned to really love this town and it has very much been my home. Here are a few things I'll miss the most.
- Biking everywhere. For the past 10 years, I have literally biked everywhere. I've biked to campus more times than I can count. I've biked to church. I've biked to go play golf. I've biked to go fishing and to go swimming. I've biked to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I've biked with a grill attached to my back wheel so I could tailgate. CoMO is such an amazing town for biking. The drivers for the most part give a wide berth. There are bike lanes everywhere. The hills are present but not terrible. As someone who devoted an entire blog to the money he could save by biking places, CoMO really was a dream.
- Mizzou. Growing up in Southern California, college allegiances made some sense but not a lot. I knew USC folk, UCLA folk, UCI folk, Cal State Fullerton folk, and so on. Throw the Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, and Ducks into the mix and there really wasn't any dominant team that captured the entire fan base. In fact, you found just as many haters as you did fans of any particular school or team. Not so here in CoMO. Everyone bleeds black and gold and it is so great. I love seeing that everything is named "Tiger" something as an homage to the team. I love being able to talk to random strangers about the game last night because we all watched it. I love being able to go anywhere downtown on gameday and be pretty sure I can get a discount of some sort because everyone does a discount on gameday. I'm not an alum but you'd better believe I'm M-I-Z all the way.
- Hard conversations. Let's be real. Being a person of color living in CoMO has been hard, especially these past few years. It's not easy feeling like you have to represent your entire people group because you're the only Chinese American a lot of people know. It's kind of exhausting getting into disagreements and fights with people about issues of justice and racial equality. It's been hard hearing the comments, the names, and the dismissals from people when I try to share about my experiences as a POC living in CoMO. But you know what? It's been really good. I've been stretched. I've been humbled. I've learned. I've been loved well and I would like to think that I have loved well in return. I can better talk about issues of race and justice now because I had to constantly do so while living here. I don't know what Omaha will bring but I know I'll be more ready than when I first moved here.
- My spots. People know that I'm a creature of habit. I have my spots. I have my golf course. I have my restaurants. I have my chairs at the library. I've spent the past 10+ years figuring out what my spots are but now that I'm leaving, it's going to be hard to say goodbye. So long, LA Nickell Golf Course. I never broke 90 but sure had fun golfing you. Goodbye, Plasma center. Thanks for all the extra fun money. Adios to my downtown restaurants l
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