Yesterday was one of the most important days of my life. I was formally accepted as a disciple of Master Yang Jwing-Ming, along with my other four brothers.

We woke up at 6am to start cooking breakfast and prepare all the food for the cookout after the ceremony. We had to cook for about 18 people on breakfast and around 30 people on cookout. We cooked Salmon salad; Curry dumplings; Hot dogs; Hamburgers; grilled Salmon, White fish and Shrimp, and other stuff. The neighbors also brought some dessert to add to the menu.

The ceremony lasted about one hour and twenty minutes, and we had the privilege to have the presence of famous martial artists (Master Pat Rice, Master Nick Gracenin and Master Jose Johnson) , family members (for some), and also some neighbors. It began with an introduction to the MC (master of ceremony, Master Jose Johnson), followed by an introduction of Master Yang’s dream and the YMAA CA Retreat Center, after that, the MC made a brief introduction of the disciples to the audience. After the introduction, the formal ceremony of acceptance by the master as formal disciples began.
We did it one at a time, and it consisted in walking towards Master Yang and Mrs. Yang, kneel down, bow one time to Grandmaster Cheng Jin-Gsao’s picture, and Grandmaster Li Mao-Ching’s picture. After that, we bowed three times to Master Yang and Mrs. Yang, then we got up, took three steps back, kneeled down again, three more bows, stand up, three steps forward kneeled down and bow three more times, making a total of nine bows. After that, we served some tea to them and he came to pick us up and gave us a hug, that way accepting us as part of the family. We huged Mrs. Yang too and after that we thanked in Chinese and got back to our place. From that moment, he became our Shifu (father-teacher) and she our Shimu (mother-teacher).
All five of us did this procedure. After this was finished, the three masters made a small speech, the youngest of us, also made a speech and also one of the neighbors. The ceremony ended with a last speech from Master Yang and a thanks to everyone’s presence.

I cried many times during the ceremony. I was so emotioned that I could not retain my tears from falling when some persons gave their speech. It was a very important moment in my life and in martial arts society. No one ever made something like this, this is big. I will do everything I can to make this project worth all the effort and time expent by everyone related to the project.

After the ceremony, came the moment to feed the starving animals inside our stomachs. I enjoyed a lot this moment to meet other people and to get to know better our neighbors. It is good to know that we have many friends in the area ready to help us when we need and that we can spend some good time with them.
The rest of the afternoon was free, so we could rest.

This day was the beggining of the official committement between master Yang and us. We committed ourselves to be here for 10 years as his disciples, learning directly from him and to carry on what he knows and even more. Now, there’s no “Well, I guess I don’t want this!”. Our time for decision making is already over. Now, no turning back, and I don’t really fell like I want to. I feel very happy to be here, and I think that I will definitely not regret my choice.