Wednesday, December 29, 2004

my dear william


matthew admired God's creations at 11:08 PM [comment]

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serena's going tomorrow :( 

matthew admired God's creations at 11:05 PM [comment]

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no, she didn't give me a burger sweet, she wuz asking me to open it for her  

matthew admired God's creations at 11:02 PM [comment]

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this is an entry about my cousin, serena. this excerpt is taken from my cousin jingmins blog cuz "and my cousin! i have to blogg about her. serena's her name. and she just came back from America. for a short trip.
shes four
but shes an adult trapped in a lil girls body. its soo hilarious.
for one. her christmas wishes? in her words - a pet(thanks yanrong), a laptop and a boyfriend!!
and did i mention she was four?
oh well another example! my aunt was playing a game with her. and when she was tired and didnt wanna play anymore. guess what she said to her mum
you know. i know you are doing pretty well so far, but i dont think you've tried your best!
shes/ four.
and she makes everyone gather at the dining table every evening. to report the american news. and soldiers come from Arizona and Florida. and you have to donate water, food, guns and chocs to them. lets see.
shes FOUR! hahah my cousin's really cuteness defined. her bro is/ too sciency but well special too! hee. great that they are spending Christmas with us!!:)"

 

matthew admired God's creations at 10:51 PM [comment]

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Tuesday, December 28, 2004

zuizui from northern thailand. the pictures in shutterfly are complete already, go check them out !


matthew admired God's creations at 11:27 AM [comment]

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Monday, December 27, 2004

i'm now at my cousin yanjie's house, just finished playing counterstrike:condition zero, its pretty fun cuz u must complete some certain stuff for every stage in a different map. the worst was when we had to kill 2 people with a scout and survive the round. its a really pathetic gun.

anyway i 'celebrated' christmas by visiting zion BP church in the morning, cuz my church didn't have any christmas service ( we had ours on the 24th). the message was entitled 'nothing is impossible with the lord' but i think what impacted me more was that 'true joy' was mentioned. i think i have experienced this 'true joy' before when i actually just sat on a bench in my estate and just looked at the trees, the sky, and everything around, and it was really comforting because i was filled with gratitude.

but anyway afterwards i headed to pasir ris for this gym gathering thing, and it was pretty good...somehow or another i've become the unofficial photographer at all these occasions, no one else ever brings cameras. we played soccer, hunted for hermit crabs, went to the playground, ate, and talked! i've never really liked parties but yesterdays one made me think twice...i went home late like 12.10...was dead beat. and yup the gym pictures are upppppppp =D




matthew admired God's creations at 5:09 PM [comment]

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Thursday, December 09, 2004

its been a great trip. i really benefited a lot from this mission trip and i have truly witnessed what God has done for these people, whom are mostly drug addicts/ex-drug addicts. and i finally got a chance to experience what mrs yak has been teaching these 2 yrs, the terracing, irrigation canals, the rivers, the natural vegetation (i think it wuz deciduous) etc etc =D

Day 1 1st Dec
it felt weird waking up at 5am, yet the excitement helped me to get out of bed and i soon got to the airport at 6, courtesy of jQ's father. we soon boarded the plane and went off to bangkok, thereafter having to transit to chiangrai. the whether was GOOOOOOOOOOOOD cus its northern thailand, and as we got up the mountain it got colder BECAUSE THE HIGHER THE ALTITUDE THE LOWER THE TEMP ACCORDING TO THE NORMAL LAPSE RATE WHEREBY THE TEMP DECREASES BY 6.5 DEGREES EVERY 1000m.

we got to uncle richards house (a missionary who went there in early 1990s), and according to others who've been there before, the living conditions were much better. we had to share compounds with children uncle richard had taken in, for the guys it was 3 boys, ahkang, ziyan and limeng. i can't remember the girls names hahah.

shucks i can't really remember what happened on the first day.

Day 2 2nd Dec
the temperature up the mountains is like singapore during the day (due to the sun) but its bitterly cold at night and in the morning. there's actually dew in the morning so if u leave your towel out to dry throughout the night it'd be wetter in the morning.

morning was bitterly cold but we woke up pretty early at 7am instead of remaining hidden under our bedsheets. i shared the room with eugene, honghua, kinseng and jonathan while the other room was occupied by ahfeng, yanjie, jide and BK. we all slept on mattresses on the floor and i didn't really have a good sleep cuz i somehow wasn't used to it. by the way, the water's really cold...and there isn't a proper flushing system. after yu do your business there's this small bucket in this large tank of water, whereby u scoop up some water and wash the egested products down the pipe. ANYWAY we had a super breakfast and everyone was really hungry cus the night's cold. jizhu, uncle richards wife is a gooooooooood cook.

afterwards we headed down to the local christian kindergarten where we were to take charge of a morning of kids programmes (which we planned last night). the kids were SOOOOOOOO CUTE and it was ZC heaven. they ranged from 3-6 yrs and they looked at us with heartmelting innocent eyes................hahhah. we first told them a story about moses and the bronze snake(teaching them about faith), and then we had a short Q&A session. the kids were so eager to win the prizes that they kept screaming out answers whether right or wrong. what amazed me was that the prizes were just small soldier figurines, and im sure in singapore the kids would be complaining that the prizes were cheapskate.

afterwards, we organised the kids into 2 groups, the older and the younger children. jide was i/c of the younger children, teaching them how to play poison ball (with much difficulty) and the older children were taken care of BK who taught them how to play the squirrel/tree game which was really tough...cuz the game was rather complicated.

afterwards we taught them art and craft, and i was i/c of teaching the older kids how to make this sheep christmas tree ornament. after completing the craft, they had lunch and it was time for us to leave :(:(:(:(:(:(

we then went to the DRC (drug rehabiliation centre) where we played sepak takraw. over there, the people play sepak takraw and basketball, and only a little of soccer ;( afterwards we went to see the construction of a hostel for the kids, and then we went to visit weifang laoshi's friend (weifang laoshi was staying at the DRC with uncle yiguo, benghwa, mrs tang and jaryl), who was an ex-drug addict. she shared about how God changed her life and we ate her very own home-grown sweet potatos =D its quite amazing because she was formerly illiterate but after accepting Christ she was determined to learn how to read and write so that she could read the bible..

afterwards we went back to uncle richard's and after dinner we did some stencils for the art and craft on saturday (full day kid's programme) and had a debrief where we shared on thoughts for the day.

here are a few observations and thoughts i managed to jot down
kinseng - ppl here have time for others. for example, that day Yadu (an ex-drug addict) was on his way to dunnowhere went he met uncle richard and kinseng. then he was obliged to fetch kinseng to the DRC when yadu was headed in an opposite direction)

genevieve - we are supposed to come here and impact the lives of ppl here, but the ppl here have left a larger impact on her life. the chores that the ppl do for us - cook, boil water (so that we have hot water to bathe) require great willingness. the efforts of the ppl here are truly appreciated

honghua - the lives of the ppl here are so simple yet the ppl are beaming always. look at uncle richard! and li lao da!

Day 3 3rd Dec
in the morning we played soccer/basketball at the basketball court, our programme was cancelled i think. then we bathed courtesy of jizhu's boiled water, then visited villages/houses. first up was xin ji du chun (new christian village).

this village is exclusively for ex drug addicts and believers, and have no homes to go to. they are then allowed to reside here. its very cool the slopes really steep and there are houses along the way, mostly on STILTS. but there's no electricity in the houses so its dark even during the day. anyway, we went on a house-to-house visitation, and we saw eager kids running around, curiosity piqued by our arrival. through the visitations, we got to witness how God transformed their lives through testimonies. such is His amazing grace, saving wretches like them and us. we were lost but found, blind but now see.

one of the visitations which struck me most was the visitation to Yadu's house. who is a gifted interpreter - proficient in ahka, thai, chinese. from young he only learnt ahka and thai, and his ability to speak chinese was really a gift from God. he told me he just could speak it after listening to it, and didn't have to study extremely hard. im glad he's humble enough to accept this gift, and use it to serve Him better.

anyway, his daughters NA E MI. from the kindergarten from day 2. =D and the song that we sung at his house 'wo men dou shi yi jia ren' aptly caught the purpose of the visitations. we are all one family, all once lost but now found, so we are to rejoice together!

i learnt later on that Yadu's 16 yr old son had died a few months ago due to rat urine poisoning. i was shocked....and couldn't understand how Yadu managed to pull through this ordeal. it was really a trial by God, and he really is a living Job, an encouraging testimony to other christians. whenever i complain of something, i'll think of Yadu.

Day 3 night was a night in which i sat an emotional roller coaster yet at the end of the ride i learnt a lot. Day 4(tomorrow) was the full day kids programme and jide volunteered himself to help Honghua plan some programmes today the day before. but jide started planning at night, and Honghua wasn't happy, so from icantrememberwhichbk(i think Hebrews?) the analogy was given whereby the israelites were busy building their own houses and neglected God's house. i wasn't feeling too happy so i 'squared up' to him after the debrief, asking what was wrong with planning at night where there were more brains. so Honghua said something about eating a nice rice bowl by yourself and leaving a little left for God. i thought about it and i wasn't happy because i didn't feel his statement was fair. i went into the other room with ben, jide, yanjie, yunfeng and soon eugene came over. so eugene asked what was wrong and i started crying then after that jide and yanjie started also hahah. i was unhappy because i didn't feel Honghua had made a fair statement. i wasn't 'leaving a little rice left' for God because i felt planning at night was adequate, and it was a good time because there'd be more brains. Jide and yanjie were remorseful about not doing much. So i was the only unhappy one, and eugene shared about him and kinseng having a tiff before the trip. it went something like kinseng sharing about his planning and programmes and such, but after or during the meeting eugene said everything was still in a mess..so everything just got weird. sock lip (another of our church members) then taught him a piece of advice - whoever loves God more, give in.

i hope i remember that next time. nevertheless, i think that was a fantastic session, and we all felt very rejuvenated after that. Thank God we're boys and somehow i just feel guys bear less grudges, so we all decided to use this as a stepping stone in learning how to serve others better, just as Christ came to serve.

Day 4 4th Dec Sat
it was a full day kids programme, and it went pretty well. all of us were determined not to slack a again so everyone was really earnest. so we frequently took the initiative to ask whether help was needed, etc, and it was really encouraging. it was quite difficult to talk to someone u had been pretty angry with the night before, but we did it.

the games went well in the morning, and i think the kids enjoyed it. we then went for lunch at the DRC before returning to teach Art and Craft. at this point i was really feeling sian cuz the kids were being so lazy, asking me to do everything for me, and i really felt like slacking. haii, how fallible i am....after that we had balloon twisting session where the kids really went wild as we twisted hats, dogs, and swords for them.

after that was cool...we had a basketball match versus the local church. they're realllllly good but we lost,, only by less than 10 points i think. i played a little only, and during the first 10 seconds i fell and cut my palm. basketball isn't my forte....

the debrief was really interesting. genevieve made a cool observation that night. she saw the kids burning plastic. and they were jumping over the fire, and at 1 point she saw one boy's pants catch fire. he just slapped the part of his pants on fire, and went back in the queue to jump over the fire again. nonchalantly. she was upset yet happy on seeing this, sad because the kids are burning plastic where toxic gases are released, and they've no parents to tell them that this is dangerous. yet, she was happy because the kids are so independent and are able to find ways to keep themselves entertained..

also, during the debrief i shared about how last night was a good wake up call. during the day jingqin asked me to go help out in the kitchen at the DRC when i was slacking. i am a spoilt kid, i've never been without a maid all my life so i dont help out in the kitchen. so i stood int he middle of the eating 'hall' and was just chatting and waiting to be served. so i really was grateful for jingqin's reminder.

i was also greatly encouraged by the fact that yanjie resisted temptation to play basketball during the art and craft. he was also feeling the sianness but he resisted the temptation! i was so proud of him =D

Day 5 5th Dec Sunday
Today was Sunday so it was goingtochurch day for the locals, so we woke up at 6+ (the ppl here get up really early) and went down to the DRC by 7. we had a message by kinseng on the parable of the sowers, and then we went up to the big church to join the liu villagers. a malaysian pastor talked about evangalism, and the message was REALLY long because it had to be translated into ahka and la hu ( two local dialects).

for lunch we went to a town called cha fang. the food was sooooooooooo good...i ate kwayteow + fried rice+ egg it was suppper gooooooooooooood.

then we headed back to the dRC and we stopped by the future 'resort' which is build adjacent to the cliff so the scenery is really breathtaking..

at the drc we played sepak takraw! we improved a lot and it was really fun but somehow i still can't play centre...i get too flustered when i see the ball coming. jide's really good though..then afterwards we had dinner ( i think i helped out? hah) and then we went back to uncle richard's where we had a nice debrief...

pretty uneventful, yet pleasant day =D
we learnt this song...

in the presence of a Holy God
there's new meaning now to grace
You took all my sins upon Yourself
and i can only stand amazed

and i cry Holy, holy, holy God

How awesome is your name

Holy, holy, holy God

How majestic is your reign

And i am changed

In the presence of a Holy God

so during the debrief i was heartbroken to learn that zuizui and annang's father (zuizui and annang are a REALLY CUTE PAIR OF SIBLINGS) is serving a 36 year prison sentence for a drug- offence ;( and i came to realise zuizui and annang dont have what a lot of us take for granted.

ziyan, (who sleeps outside our rooms and carries pails of hot water for us to the toilets) has parents in malaysia but come from china. he only gets to call them when he goes down the mountaain, as there's no reception up in the mountains..

ahkang, who sleeps next to ziyan, has parents both in the DRC.

it kinda tore me apart to know that all these children i've grown attached to have such sad stories behind them...

Day 6 Tuesday Dec 6th

today was one of the last days, so we woke up early and after breakfast, headed to ahku village, which is a new mission field that uncle richard's intending to go to. we were going there to see if e ppl were willing to accept us, etc. the journey was really long and it was really deep into the mountains...

on arrival we saw lotsa pigs. haha, and there was this cute girl who was really clingy and was like asking to be carried, so ben, jide and i took turns to carry her. her sister was the jingmin lookalike...ha. anyway we went to one of the people's houses who was an ex-drug addict and had a new life in Christ, so we had a short sharing session there. then we went to the village chief's house. the chief was absent so we talked to his mum, who was really powerful in the village too. she was really nice and offered us a piece of land.

so God really helped us on this trip, and i really hope it is in his plan for uncle richard to go there to spread the word. afterwards we headed to the liu village church for a lunch with e malaysia mission team. we played with drums and the electric guitars in the church then we went back to the DRC(which is down the slope) , where we spent time with God alone individually before we played speak takraw and table tennis.

and at ngiht, we went to one of cha fang's restaurants, where we had a dinner with the co-workers to thank them for their hospitality. it included people like yadu, liumingsing(ex chief village), wentian (current chief village), the young pastor guy (cant rmb his name, but he's REALLY talented. he's only 25 and he's really good in sports and music, he can play bsketball, table tennis, sepak takraw really well and he can play the guitar too O_O)

after the dinner we headed back to uncle richards' and had the debrief. jide shared about what he learnt from uncle richard while sitting at his table ( we split up so we could interact with the co workers). uncle richard said something about why he was really happy. he knew he was living a purposeful life and, he wasn't afraid of death because he knew if God took him away, he'd go to heaven and it also meant that his mission on earth would be complete. i hope i'd be able to make that statement one day.

well, thats the end of the trip, on day 7 we woke up early to attempt to catch the sunrise but we failed miserably cuz the moutnains were blocking the sun -_- hahah. anyway i uploaded some of the northern thailand pics to shutterfly already, yu can check them out...i'll get more from jingqin. we were using her camera all the waaay =D

matthew admired God's creations at 9:39 PM [comment]

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