November 11, 2012—A Rebel Race participant gasps for air as he emerges from the bottom of the mud slide obstacle during the annual event held on Kimball Farm in Haverhill, Mass. Photo by Junhee Chung.

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Flickr set of this event coming soon… ‘twas the best shoot I’ve had in a while.

DERPIN WES

October 7, 2012—Bingxia and Galin Ma feed each other wedding cake during the reception of their wedding in the China Pearl Restaurant in Boston, Mass.  Photo by Junhee Chung.

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Full gallery up tomorrow!

October 7, 2012—(From left to right) Joshua Choe, Galin Ma, Zeewei Guo and Jaemin Huh pose for a photo in between the ceremony and reception of Ma’s wedding in the China Pearl Restaurant in Boston, Mass.  Photo by Junhee Chung.

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Full gallery of Galin and Bingxia’s wedding coming very soon.

One of my best friends I have ever known got married to his beautiful wife Bingxia yesterday.  Even though the wedding process was rushed, the event was amazing, beautiful and one of the happiest moments of my life.

A bit surprisingly, the night before the wedding, he asked me to give a toast.  I thought about saying no because of the short notice, but I knew the effort to write/rehearse it in one night would be worth it.

So I stayed up until 3:30 writing my toast and it went like this:

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they meet their one true love.  That moment came for Galin four years ago, when he met me.

I met Galin, who is a year older than me, sometime my freshmen year at BU.  Both of us can’t really remember when or how we met—probably because our memories are so terrible.

However, one memory sticks out to me.  It was a typical, non-eventful Wednesday night during his senior year.  Galin and I were leading a freshmen small group for our campus fellowship and we had creating a strong bond with each of our freshmen, most of whom are here today.

It was late during second semester and Galin and I had been trying all year to get our freshmen to begin to share on a deeper level.  It was kind of like trying to crack walnuts… made of steel.  Galin was never really sure why it was so hard for them to open up, but I honestly think it was because they’re Asian.

On that particular night, we succeeded for the first, tangible time.  A few of our freshmen told very personal, emotional stories of their pasts that night.  A few tears were shed and hugs were given and after the freshmen left and Galin and I met for our usual debriefing, we took one look each other and gave each other a big hug.

The elation that I saw in Galin that night only proved to me more about Galin’s loving character.  He cares about his loved ones so very much and takes immense joy in his relationships.  The relationship I have with Galin is one I treasure deeply and I know that his love had a huge impact on our friendship and our brotherhood.  This care and love that I know Galin possesses will surely translate wonderfully as he enters a new, beautiful life-stage.

So as you can tell, this toast is a bit rehearsed because I like to write out these sort of things and so when I was writing this toast, the song “Hungry,” by Kathryn Scott, came up on my iTunes… And if there’s anything Galin knows about, it’s “hunger.”  In fact, the sensation of hunger is something we all know.  And what is the natural reaction to hunger?  To appease it.  To feed.

My wish for Galin and Bingxia is that they can hunger to love each other more and more every day—that they can hunger to be better and better parents for their child—and that they can hunger to lead a fulfilling life together, forevermore.

These hungers must be fed—constantly. 

Galin and Bingxia, these hungers will come… and I hope you feed them.  If you do not, then you might grow thin and weary.  I, along with every person in this room, would not be able to bear the thought that.  But we worry not… because as it says in Exodus 14:14 “the LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

I pray that your marriage will be full of many great hungers and many great feasts.

To feasts!

(Raise glass)

Although I was nervous to give this toast, and I read off the paper a bit, I could tell that he was happy that I did it.  That’s all I really wanted, I guess.

Congratulations again, Galin and Bingxia.  You are going to lead a wonderful, long marriage.  May our Father be your guide now and forevermore.

I love ya, man.

September 29, 2012—David Park and Richard Salazar perform a cover of John Legend’s song “Ordinary People” in front attendees of Ambassadors for Sustained Health’s second annual fundraiser, ASH Bash, in Refuge Café in Allston, Mass.  Photo by Junhee Chung.

May 12, 2012—Members of the Boston University Hip-Hop Dance Troupe Fusion, (left to right) Xavier Nuñez, Sheryll Estrellas, Brendon Bowdr and Hail MacDonald, dance during a photoshoot in B.U.’s College of Communication in Boston, Mass.  Photo by Junhee Chung.