During the Memorial Day weekend, Vision went on a weekend tour to Central California. It was a blessing for many of us. There were 12 of us that went to the prisons led by Glenn Duh, Richard Kang, our speaker, and Mrs. Patsy Chien, our business manager, while the rest of the team (16) went to First Chinese Baptist Church (FCBC) in Fresno. On Friday night, most of the team members got together at Old Pasadena and to have dinner together. Our reservation was supposed to be at 8, but we were not seated till 9. We had a fabulous dinner, and had so much left over that we ate some of it for lunch on Saturday. By the time we were seated, most of the team members had shown up. Only three people were "late". It turned out because the road was under repair and detoured, they ended up being in Eagle Rock rather than Pasadena. Then before they could join us, Anna Yuban felt sick so she and her fiancée drove back home. It was as if the enemy was trying to stop us from gathering, from having a time for the team to build unity and love.

When we got together for Vision practice Saturday, we found out that Richard Kang was going to meet us at the prison. He was supposed to leave with the team to go up to the prison together but had a wedding to attend. One of the team members forgot that we were going on this trip so he rushed home to pack his things for the trip. It took him almost 3 hours to come back to church. We were concerned about him taking so long. We tried to call him but no one answered the phone. He showed up later and told us that he had to do the laundry because he didn't have any clean clothes. Then one of the team members who was going to catch the train to called and told us that he missed his stop and ended up in Pasadena. So we had to dispatch a team to go pick him up immediately. The pressure was being turned up even before we left.

After a quick lunch at the church, we left a little after 1 PM and got to our first destination a lot earlier than we anticipated. Though we had been to Corcoran before, we ended up at the wrong prison again. At least this time, they did not come out with shotguns chasing after us as they had done in some of our previous trips. We finally arrived at the prison a little bit early and praise God, Richard Kang was right behind us. The timing was perfect. We ate the sandwiches packed at lunchtime at around 4:30 PM and checked in shortly after. We had a difficult time of warming up our voices. We couldn't hit the notes or even stay in rhythm. We spend some time praying and left it up to God. We sang outside by the field to about 60 inmates. We didn't sing that well but it was OK because it's not about us. It's about God. He can use anything and bring glory and honor to Him. We even ended up singing a song from last year's team. Our interaction time was great too. The guy John Ngai was speaking to was leading a Bible study. They are studying from the book of James. Since John had also been studying and memorizing James, it was great. After praying with some of the inmates, we left to drive to Fresno. The roads were dark, most of us were tired, and we were a little concerned whether or not we could make it there. Thank God that most of us are experienced in these situations. Everyone kept the drivers awake the whole time.

Meanwhile, the other team of mostly younger folks with a few older ones to balance the sections out, drove directly to Fresno. We got there in the late afternoon to be greeted by members of FCBC, who were preparing dinner. We met with members of their high school group, played a few games and sang some fun songs. It was a time to just interact with fellow students on a non-threatening level. Dinner was wonderful, with so much food left-over it was enough to feed the prison group when they finally arrived at around 10:30 PM.

Though we had been to FCBC several times, the prison group got lost once again. We couldn't find the church. We knew it is within the several blocks but we couldn't find the church. When we finally found it, we were really excited. The whole team greeted us like we had not seen each other in weeks, when in reality, it was only 9 hours that we left. It was a joyous sight for us, giving us a wonderful sense of koinania. The entire team gathered outside the church to sing "Majesty and Glory" under a clear night sky. It was great to sing and see God's beautiful creation at the same time. After that, we ate the leftovers from the church and headed off to someone's house for shower. We came back a little after midnight and went off to bed.

The prison team woke up around 5:30 AM because we needed to head off to North Kern County Prison for our next concert. We got to the prison on time and started to warm up in the chapel. Maybe it's because we sang the night before, but somehow we were able to sing without any problems. We interacted with the inmates before we started service. Worship started and it was a wonderful time we all enjoyed. Maybe one reason is that the people in prison are more real. The church sometimes can be very rigid and stone cold. People in the prison can tell whether or not one is being genuine or fake. Many people at church wear a mask. What a shame it is that the house of the Lord has turned out to be like this. After worship, Vision began to sing. Richard gave his message. We went back on and sang again. The first song we did was "I Have Decided (to Follow Jesus)". Then Glenn spontaneously went into "Majesty and Glory". We felt something different by that time. Several people in the congregation closed their eyes. Some raised their hands, some began to weep. Richard too began to weep. As we get close to the end of the song, Anna Yutan began to cry. That began a chain reaction: soon most of us were weeping. We sang into "Amazing Grace". Everyone in the congregation rose and sang with us. Most people were now in tears. It was awesome to see how God has touched so many of us in this little chapel. We were overwhelmed by God's grace to us. It was wonderful.

Not knowing what was happening, but knowing the hour when the prison group was singing, those of us at FCBC had gathered to pray for their service. When we specifically prayed for the prison team's singing that morning, it must have been close to the time the prison team was experiencing God's touch. Afterwards, when we compared notes, we could see the importance of intercessory prayer for one another. We sang to an almost full congregation, since FCBC had asked their children to stay for the service to listen to us. The music was wonderful as this small group sang and blended beautifully together. The highlight occurred at the end of the service. We had closed with our "Jordan Chiu" skit about someone who kept putting off making a decision to follow Christ. After we sang, the FCBC Pastor asked if anyone wanted to receive Christ. A man raced up to the stage and did just that even before the invitation was given. We thank God for using us, maybe in a small way, to cause this man to realize his need of the Savior was immediate! After lunch, we drove back to LA with no incidents.

Meanwhile, the prison group was served lunch with the inmates and rested a bit after eating. None of us got enough sleep the previous night. The drive was long and the first service was so powerful that it drained a lot out of us. We went to our 2nd service and ran into some old friends. It also turned out that one of our members ran into his high school friend. He used to attend FEC Cerritos but he strayed away and now he is doing 8 years of prison. This service was very different. We sang, Richard spoke, and at the end, Richard felt the Holy Spirit was leading him to have an altar call. He extended the invitation to the congregation to receive Christ. There were about 11 people who raised their hand. Praise God! Who would have expected that? One of the people who made a commitment was someone who has been coming on Sundays for the past several years listening to Vision. It was wonderful to see the harvest being reaped. Praise God!

We left the prison and headed back to LA without any incident other than being exhausted and tired. We had a great time. We feel so privileged to have been used by our wonderful Lord.