Hello friends, and welcome to this year’s Blogmas series. In case you weren’t following this blog around this time last year, the goal for the month of December is to blog every single day until Christmas, as the title of the series may or may not suggest. Last year, since I was juggling two jobs, school, and other student obligations, blogging everyday for almost a month was probably a bit too ambitious, resulting in me skipping a few days here and there, and stopping at day 15 of the series. I tried to be a little bit smarter about it this year, and I’m determined to get as close to the 25 day mark as I can, skipping as few days as possible.

Since the first day of December happens to fall at the end of the work week, I figured what better way to start off this year’s Blogmas (and end my month-long hiatus) with a How Wow Pow Chow. Again, for those of us new here, this is another series that I had going for a hot second, where I would reflect on the week by answering the following questions:

• How has God been working in your life this week?
• What is something great that happened this week?
• What is something that happened this week that wasn’t so great?
• Any noteworthy food you ate this past week?

Without further ado, here is the first post for Blogmas 2017.

How has God been working in your life this week?

I feel like I talk about this a lot, but this week, I’ve really been leaning into the boldness that the Holy Spirit has been putting on my heart, in regards to sharing my faith. As I was finishing school, I, along with all of my graduating peers involved in ministry, were being prepared to be good stewards of Christ by ministering in the workplace. This concept has always terrified me, and I never felt like I would ever be one hundred percent ready to explore that part of my faith. But soon enough, I began to find myself fearlessly opening up to people about my faith and how it continues to transform me. This week, I overheard one of my coworkers mention that she’s been wanting to get back into reading the Bible, but was just unsure about what capacity to jump into it. This awakened the campus ministry student that had been ingrained in me over the past couple of years, and I was able to share an app that I use everyday that helps get me into the habit of reading the Word everyday. Not only has this event allowed me to find my strength and boldness in sharing Christ with my coworker, but it has also turned into my coworker holding me accountable to diligently read the Word everyday.

What is something great that happened this week?

Now that I’m done with school, my schedule has become very mundane and uniform everyday: I wake up, go to work, go to the gym, come back home, and repeat the process the next day. On the days that I want to mix things up, I skip the gym and do some other mundane task like going to the grocery store or doing laundry. Yesterday, when I was at the gym, I got a text from a friend asking if I had anything planned later that night. Now that I’ve filled you in on my exciting post-grad life, you know what my response to that text was. Being overcome with nostalgia lately, and missing being around our friends from our undergrad days, she asked if I would accompany her to that night’s Cru weekly meeting, to which I very enthusiastically agreed. To update you on the past couple of months of graduating from being a student involved in campus ministry, I felt such a longing for that same community without harping back into the past too often. A few months ago, I found a small church nearby, and got into the routine of going to small groups and church service every Sunday. I finally found the community I’ve been needing for such a long time, and no longer did I feel the ache of missing out on all the cool Cru things that were going on without me. I felt ready to go to a weekly meeting again because I didn’t feel the same unhealthy attachment to Cru that I felt before. Getting to see everyone again was such a treat, as was getting to see how the movement has grown and changed since I was last involved. The concept of being restful was something that I’ve never been able to fully grasp, but the message that was delivered during the meeting was received well. Overall, getting to go to weekly meeting was a nice way to tie a bow around the months that followed graduation.

What is something that happened this week that wasn’t so great?

This past Sunday, my sister and I made the trek back from Sacramento for the holiday weekend. We had anticipated that traffic was going to be brutal, but we didn’t expect the six hour drive to turn into a nine-and-a-half hour drive, two of which hours were spent trying to exit a rest stop before the Grapevine. Needless to say, we finished the trip exhausted and, quite frankly, a tad beside ourselves, but the important thing is that we got back safe.

Any noteworthy food you ate this past week?

Since I didn’t eat any mindnumbingly amazing food this past week, I thought I’d share my Thanksgiving experience from last week. For those of you who don’t already know, I decided to switch to a vegetarian diet this past June. While the transition wasn’t easy, the overall experience has been rewarding. Not only do I feel way more healthy than I have ever felt, but my conscience is clear when it comes to the inhumane treatment of animals and the preservation of the environment. I wasn’t too worried about what I would eat on Thanksgiving, since I was never a huge fan of turkey in the first place. I was more worried about what family would say, and them making a bigger deal about my diet than needed be. There’s also the whole being Filipino thing, where virtually every dish is a meat dish. I’m happy to say, though, that I successfully evaded eating meat during the holiday, and still felt well satisfied.