1/31/06 New Beginnings

Lots of news as we begin the new year:

• Mike and Corinna have opened their new home for our Bible study!
• Agnes and John have joined us!
• William got engaged!
  
• Maria and Justina are back from their trip!

Here are some pictures from the gatherings (click on the pictures to see more)

1/27/06 The Apostles perform miracles

• Welcome and thank you Ana for being the guest Bible study leader!!
• Welcome Alex and Albert to the Bible study!
  

Here is the invitation/summary from Maria:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Here is the information for this week's Bible study. We have a new location this week. After much hard work and blessings, Mike and Corrina are ready to open up their new home for our gathering. Thanks and congratulations! We also have a guest speaker this week. Welcome Ana!

• Bible Study: Acts: 3:1, Guest speaker: Ana Tsai

Another announcement and reminder is about SJCCC's Chinese New Year celebration this coming Sunday (1/29/06). Attached email has the detailed information. It is a wonderful way to start the new year and have everyone in our group share the joy of the spring festivities and receive abundance grace. Please rsvp to Kai Min with headcount if you would like to join the dinner right after the celebration.

God Bless,
Maria

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Dear Maria,
Hope all is well with you and Justina!

Attached is an invitation from SJCCC to invite everyone to the Chinese New Year celebration. The dinner is $10 per person.

Would you please include it in the cornerstone invitation email since I think quite a few people are not in the SJCCC alias.

God bless,
+Tony

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Dear brothers and sisters in Chirst,

Our community has a big celebration for our Chinese New Year this coming
Sunday (1/29/06).

Bishop Mc Grath and our friends from the Diocese of San Jose will join in
with us.

I am so happy to invite all of you to come celebrate our New Year and to have
fun.  Please try your best to dress to reflect "Chinese Culture".

Schedule as follows:

3:00pm ~ 4:15pm  Mass ( includes parish Jubliee Cross and the rite of
Honoring Ancestors)
4:15pm ~ 5:15pm  Reception (inculdes traditional show and red envelopes to
kids)
5:30pm ~ 6:30pm  Presentation (at resturanent)
6:30pm ~ ???     Dinner (at China Stix Resturanent)

All are welcome.  Please don't miss this wonderful celebration of Chinese New
Year.

ps.  If you want to join the dinner party, please let me know ahead of time
because we need a head count for the resturanent. Thanks.

May God be with us always and bless us.
Happy Chinese New Year

kai min

1/20/06 The coming of the Holy Spirit

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Here is the information for this week's Bible study: Acts: 2:1, Arthur will lead

We will learn about how God has sent his holy spirit to guide his early Church. How does this apply to us? Perhaps an out pouring of the Holy Spirit can help us overcome our own limitations in our quest to be closer to God. Come find out…

God Bless,
Maria

1/13/06 Jesus is taken up to heaven

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Here is the information for this week's Bible study. We will begin studying a new book - The Act s of the Apostles: Chapter 1, Mike will lead

Hope your week was filled with much joy, peace and blessings!

God Bless,
Maria

1/8/06 New Year's resolution

Dear brothers and sisters,
It was great to see many of you at the Friday night meeting. For those missing the meeting, we look forward to seeing you next week. Maria will send out an invitation/reminder during the week.

At the following URL, you will find the "Bible reading" sharing I talked about during the meeting. I am sending this to everyone since this is somewhat related to New Year and may help in everyone's New Year's resolution. :)

http://www.blessed-family.org/

It was one of my first testimonies from 6 or 7 years ago, please forgive my extremely poor Chinese. My language skills are pretty poor, but God decorate the weak parts with His glorious deeds, so hopefully it is still worth reading. On the site, you can also see a few other bilingual Lent related articles on the site. Over time, I will try to put up our other testimonies that we have published over the years.

If you are interested in the books or tapes referred to in the article, please feel free to let me know.

May God bless us to be touched by Him,
+Tony

PS, Eugene and Jenny, please forward this to Lighthouse brothers and sisters as well. Thanks.

1/6/06 The Resurrection

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Happy New Year to everyone! Here is the information for the first Bible study gathering of the new year. Bible Study: Matthew 28:1-20, William will lead

I look forward to seeing everyone again after a long break. Thank you Tony for sending out the notices last month! Praise and thank God for keeping us and our families in his good hands till we meet again. As I'm catching up on the happenings, I learned that it has been an eventful few weeks. Let us all keep each other in our prayers that God's grace will strengthen us and his spirit will continue to move us in putting our complete trust in Him, that all things happen for a reason, eventhough we do not understand it now. I'd just like to share a beautiful verse from Isaiah that I have found solace in over the years:

"My thoughts, says the Lord, are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts." (Isaiah 55: 8-9) Connecting the dots takes time. Sometimes, it takes more than a life time - Till that happens, lets keep our Faith, Hope and Love high and find encouragement and God's peace through each other's prayers, kind words and actions.

God Bless,
Maria