Trip TO Doulos

Went to Doulos today with a few youth after camp comm meeting. it was really nice being able to get there and get a free tour by Simon. Managed to arrange after quite a bit of arrangement with Ee Ling... finally settled the details as to how we're going to meet Simon and stuff like that. so upon finally reaching the place, we toured the bookroom. I took advantage of the good offers [though i thot i'd spend more]... and got meself a CD!

haha wow. rui buys CDs? original CDs? :) yes! this is proof! haha yeh... haven't heard it yet.. rippin it into my com now so i can hear it properly. :) glad i got it though. i love 4Him songs so it can't be all that bad now can it. :) hopefully can spur me on to constant daily QT on the way to work/camp. :)

Yup, so here are some shots of Doulos from today. :P

The proud land-lubbers that are going to go aboard the Doulos. That's Simon.. far right.. duh. :) He's from Germany and he's 20 years old.

midway thru our tour inside the place... showing us photos of the stuff and staff of doulos... seeing how they work and live in these enviroments really impressed me to think how much better we have it.. even in the army.

Shawn posing to show how tight the wall spaces are... claustrophobic people would have a big problem working on the ship. haha...

The wonder herself. The Doulos... been sailing since 1914... two years after the Titanic was built.. yet God still holding up her hull and ministry afloat all these years...

The tour team after seeing the interior.

I'm sure we were all blessed by today's visit and i'm really glad i went... managed to say hi to Emma and Merkka too. :) yeh. so thanks to Ee Ling, Simon, Merkka and Emma for being such wonderful hosts [they will never read this anyways]... and for all who came for the trip today. it was wonderful. :)

Naruto Problems

on a lighter note, take a look at this. super cute.

Missions

Been playing in my mind since the afternoon of Saturday.

If we're all called to Missions when we accept Christ,
Why do we then call it a loss to leave home?
If we've seen and felt the love of God,
why do we still think giving up a bit of our lives is a sacrifice?
If we've enjoyed His salvation and peace
why do we deny it from others?

now i wonder to myself, what then is He calling me and you to?
Comfort? nahz, leave that behind.
Love? What? His love can't reach you out of S'pore?
Protection? He can't be at two places at one time now can He?

Is then missions just a normal and 'required' part of our Christian life?
Where have we gone to spread the gospel? when have we even tried? when has it even popped into our selfish minds?

Think of those who die every day without Christ. Will they die because we're sheltered here and refuse to leave? or will they die becoz they once were brought to Christ by someone and realized that life lost for Christ is not a loss at all?

Here I am Lord, send me. how many of us can say that?

If you can give 2 years to your nation, what's 2 years for God?
Is missions what is in store for me? for you?

inspirations. The Team from Doulos joined with Ee Ling.

Blah.

The Lord gives, and He takes away.

just a random thot b4 i go to guard duty. will be having guard duty on thurs evening till fri morning.

feel free to disturb me via sms. i'll be very bored. i know i will. :)

ps. Rockapella is GREAT.

Halloween BreakOut

So today was really fun... halloween went off a blast.. it was really great seeing the Exco all pumped up and crazy for the event. Special mention MUST go out to Tricia, Nick and Qiang for coming down 2 nights in a row so that we could all plan and prepare for the event. i think it was the determination and commitment that really touched me. For me, cancelling plans and making myself free was already a choice i made before the week began but for the rest of them, they had to miss dinners or lunches with frens and all.. thanks so much.
And for those who couldn't come down for the planning, i know you guys would have loved to but due to unchangable stuff you couldn't... we understand and we want to say thanks nonetheless coz it all turned out fine so dun worry. :)

The day started out crazy. woke up and did my mad crazy last minute rushing out of stuff coz i didn't get much sleep the night before... we stayed up as best we could to do the final prep like the slideshows and clues and all... it was crazy... fighting the sleeping bug like anything. haha.. but yeh, woke up and after rushing lots of stuff, went out to meet Amin and Michelle at Tampines Mall to discuss t-shirt stuff... then ran some errands [buying of certain items for halloween]... must say that Michelle was a HUGE help running around with me and carrying some of the stuff i was buying coz she didn't want me looking auntie auntie with like 3-4 bags in my hand. haha... then we went to the bubble tea stall and michelle ordered a drink while i secretly 'borrowed' their straws for my game later on in church. haha it was funny la. when they turn around or look down, then my hand will come up and grab two straws.. then michelle take 2 and then i take 2 more and stuff... hahaha baaad! stealing from the shop. oops. haha.. but their oreo crush with pearls is NICE! wanna buy it the next time. haha

So upon lugging a pack-o-ice and many many other things to church, i reached there to see the exco, minus a few people, hard at work tapping up the remaining windows and stuff... it was fun fun fun can! when we played the spooky music over the PA, it jus set the mood right there and then... no one wanted to stay in a room alone after that lor! ahha... but yeh, as time ticked closer and closer, the stress level got higher and higher... but mostly all prepared liao la. :)

Then the rain came and we were like... awww man!!! so we started late but it was all good la... the spook factor wasn't too high [which was kinda good and kinda bad] but the lessons learnt were surely brought across i guess. :)
Some people that MUST be mentioned for 'actively' participating in the event coz they screamed and really were spooked out...
Celia, Michelle, Cherie, Lynn, Sean and jus for mention... Zhi Han and his fake screams. -_-;

haha.. the rest of the stuff has to be captured on film but i dunno whether adrian was able to get good shots.. we'll see, he's still editing. :)

Thanks to everyone who came down or prepared for the event. it was smashing. looking forward to the next big event!!! :)

Tired

Guard duty takes life away from you. You just become a shell... waiting to sleep.

good night world. i'm going to sleep.

Halloween BreakOut Publicity

Today the Exco dressed up as a King, a Tigger, An Angel, A Flower girl, A Santa-ress, a Joker and a Cowboy to publicize the upcoming YF activity this Saturday... Halloween Breakout!

It was real fun... we walked around the fellowship hall after service... much to the amazement of the children and adults, the youth were attracted to the sudden change in sanity of the committee... we walked around in pairs giving out worms... ok fine, GUMMY worms which had the invites PIERCED thru their lengthy bodies. :) managed to get the P6ers and some other we dun normally see at yf.. :) it was real fun la... being crazy for a short while. haha.. can't wait for this saturday. when we go full force. :) mwhaha. watch out.

Other than that, today was very tiring. from the start of the day till the end, it was rushing here and responsibilities there. sigh. busy busy but still lovin' it. :) Everything went to plan and nothing messed up la.. so thank God.

mum performed tonite and it was nice... been a while since i heard Choral music so it was like stepping back in time to those concerts we were forced to attend in choir. haha...

Random thot: The Lohs are such hospitable people and I was indeed, touched by each member's little contribution to making my day fun, special and loved. :) thanks.

Cool online shop

Funky B Christian Apparel

So tempted to buy many many many stuff. hahaha.. :P eee. bad bad. :P

展开清晨的翅膀

wanna share a real nice song with everyone. it's a really nice Christian Chinese song. :) if you want the mp3, here it is.... ps. hope you can see chinese in your browser. :)

展开清晨的翅膀.mp3

展开清晨的翅膀

主耶和华祢已经鉴察了我，
我坐下　我起来，
祢都已晓得，
我行路　我躺卧，
祢都细察，
祢也深知我一切所行

我舌头上的话，
祢没有一句不知道，
祢在我前后环绕着我，
按手在我身上，
这样的奇妙，
是我不能测透，
祢的至高，
祢的尊贵，
是我永远不能所及。

我可以往哪里去躲避祢的灵，
我可以往哪里去逃，
可躲避祢的面，
我若展开清晨的翅膀飞到地极，
就在那里，
祢的双手也必引导我。

Changes to skin

Thanks for noticing that small error in the archives nick.

i like this skin. so you gotta bear with it. why? COZ IT'S MY BLOG. *evil laughter* Mwhaha.

anyways, jus came back from watching the show "The Covenant"... it's MAJORLY bad. really really bad. hahah i wasted my money TOTALLY lor.
sigh... please please dun pay for it. dun even download it off the net. it's not worth the time. :) I hope no one else has wasted their money on it. haha

yuppers. things are going good. today, i started out the first Christian Small Group meeting in Camp... pulled together 7 Christians and during the break time today, we shared around a circle... intro-ed who we are and where we're from... background and other related stuff. :) it was nice to get them all seated together, learning about each other better. :)
Reid, Terry, Staff Philip, Joshua, Clarence and Alvin were the attendees for the first meeting. :) we'll see where this goes and see how God will work in our lives la... hopefully can meet once a week or sumthing to pray or what la. :)

Tricia just called. All the best for your chinese me dear girl. i'm sure you'll be fine but nonetheless, here's a prayer for you! :) Will be lookin forward to hearing bout the results when they're out.

Tomolo's WOW Worship... managed to get Alvin to come. thank God that i've been able to invest my time and effort into him. wanna bring him back to God and wanna help him get back on the path... dun want him moonwalking [backsliding] anymore... you never know who you can impact in the short time on this earth, i hope i can impact him. :) Thank God he's open to being impacted. haha

Thanks be to God for most of the things going on in my life. Getting thru day by day is already a blessing i cannot thank God more for. He sends peace and strength my way with every waking moment.

New Skin

I Love my new Blog Skin. oh my.

love it to bits. :)

L. :)

YF BBQ

Wow... last nite was smashing. it was a real treat seeing many new faces and some old ones we don't normally see. :) It was an ultra busy day for me with many many things to accomplish. Thankfully everything was done on time and i guess nothing went wrong. :) thank God for His providence in keeping everything within His plan and ours too. haha...

Special mention goes out to Julia, Michelle and Abigail for leading worship with me.. they did a splendid job and it was really... great seeing how they jus were so willing to share and be open about what to say. could tell they were kinda nervous too... but they did really well la. and thank God for the new refreshing change in worship. :)

saw many new people too.. some friends of friends and stuff like that... Vera, Chelsea, Alicia, Jamie all came!!! was really glad to see each and every one of them la... hope that they'll be able to come for sumthing else too... like youth camp. hehe... we'll see. :) heh...

yeh, jus wanna blog bout the bbq and how everything went well, was able to lead well and do the ppt out and stuff. :) yup. gtg. ciaoz.

Carrying On with what's left

First of all, this post is dedicated to my dearest Mei, Jamie...

Happy Birthday my dear Mei. May the Lord watch and bless you in the coming year as you continue to dedicate your life to our loving Lord and Saviour. Continue to shine and be a blessing to those around you... in other words, keep up the good work. haha Hugz!

Thanks to everyone who cared and still care. Doncha worry... as i said, i'm fine... just wanted to make sure i got my focus right.

For those who asked, i'm really sorry that i can't tell ya what's going on or how i'm feeling. It's something i gotta sort out with God and no one else... at least for now la.

Kinda glad that i'm being tested by God this way actually. i mean, who likes tests right? but it's only thru these times where you learn the most about His character and faithfulness... i think times like this teach you lessons that no sermon or discussion can ever try to match. when it's personal, it goes to the heart and stays there... so i'm gonna be blessed after everything in the sense that i'll be able to have the hope of knowing God just that bit more.

i guess when there's nothing you can do about a situation, the helplessness of it all makes ya lean on Him only... and when that happens, dun be surprised to see daily miracles of His providence, His grace and love... slowly.

So other than that, i'm busy busy busy for tomolo's YF... well, by now it'll be today's YF. got to plan worship, slide show, poster for yf camp, and many many other stuff. sigh but it's ok... at least i'll get to have a fun fun time at the bbq... managed to get Vera, Chelsea and Alicia to come for the bbq la.. it's gonna be so like last time... jamie, chelsea, vera... like youth camp. haha.. sigh. it's been a while.

yup. enjoying time with God during my mornings too. :) the journey to camp everyday means more and more with each passing day spent with God in the MRT. haha... We dunno how long we have on this earth... are we using every moment we can to prepare ourselves for eternity?

Silver Linings

I'm doing ok. I'll be fine. Stop asking.

Today God showed me a different side to look at my situation now. thots that ran thru my head today.

1. God's taken away the one thing that was in between Him and me. Now, I go straight to Him only.
2. He's shown me that if I say i'm willing to lay all my life for Him, i DO mean ALL.
3. Although i can't talk to anyone about this, God is there and that should be enough. why am i complaining?
4. Every cloud has a silver lining and every day has a brighter tomorrow.

and finally, the most impt positive thot today...

5. It could be much worse.

HAHAHA..

i'm fine. thanks for caring, tagging, msning.. whatever-ing... :) I'm sorry i can't share or tell you... but i gotta get thru this alone with God.. it's my little alone time with Him. Jacob had his alone wrestling time, i'm just asking for mine now. :)

See you guys when i do. :) can't wait.

Left Behind

it's funny. i have no mood to blog. yet... i dun wanna forget anything that's going on in my mind. apologies people but this one can't be published to the public evil internet eye.

it's just that today, some part of me died coz of some stuff. funny... some part of me keeps dying... wonder how much is there left...

just know that i'll be a bit off sorts for a short while. going to run away and do some sole soul searching. leave ya with a few nice words running thru my head now... plus some lyrics.


"the problem with building your life around someone, is that if that someone isn't God... be prepared for it to crumble one day."
"don't expect or hope. it only leaves you to be disappointed"
"because of you, i never stray too far from the side walk... Because of you i dunno how to let anyone else in... Because of you, i'm ashamed of my life because it's empty... Because of you i am afraid."

Sorry world, friends... i'm just not able to be me right now. I'm fine, dun worry. i just dun wanna blog when i'm not me.

Bye Bye Thailand

Tik, Sab and Golf during our last church service.


Golf, Tik and Me in the car to Harbour Front.


The 3 host families with our kids. [i'm taking the photo]


The Tans and our lovely guests.


Golf, Tik, Sab and I. Friends across countries.

Just like that, the three days flew by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that i stood up after service on the 8th of Oct. Looking at the group of 22 Thai students wondering to myself which kids are ours... i remember sitting there joking with Kenneth and Hsiao Yun about this being like some adoption day... how nervous parents are just waiting to see who they're gonna be including in their lives. We met them up and then poof, here we are, standing at Harbour front saying bye for the last time in God knows when... sigh. it was sad.

But i'm really glad that they came into our lives for these 3 days... they were special in their own little way.

Tik - So fun, so enthusiastic and so smiley. three words that remind me of tik. She was quite a bright change from the rest of them. The thais were quite quiet actually... but Tik was quite noisy in the sense that once she got comfortable with us, you could really see her real personality coming out. always see her eyes going really big and then she'll burst out laughing la... haha.. even if it was in the small stuff like comparing how much a Mitsubishi Lancer costs here as compared to Thailand. One brand that i'll always link to her is Volkswagen. :) when i see a beetle, i'll remember my thai fren.

Golf [pronounced GAAF.. like Gafffield] - She was sweet. Really demure and her eyes were just something you could get lost in. Never one to be rude or even less than polite, she'd eat anything we give her and all she would say was "yes. yes.". joked with my family that that's all she knows... but no la, she's actually quite acquainted with her surroundings... just that she's more introverted than Tik is la... good mix i say. :) Glad to have her as my guest la, surely no doubts about it. prob the easier one of the two to satisfy whenever we tried to ask what they wanted to eat or do. :)

Yup, so they leave tml at 4pm... sadly i can't be there to send them off... but i guess i might see them again next time in emails or what... just kinda sad to see them go just when everyone was getting familiar with each other. :) Pray that the message will grow in their hearts. That even though Tik's father's against her converting to Christianity or what, pray that one day, if she does one day believe what Aunty Belinda says is true, then she'll find a way to serve God and her family.

Sigh. Bye Tik, Golf & Drum [Kenneth's kid]... you guys have touched me in the smallest yet biggest way. :)

Tik and Golf, the 2 Thai students I'm hosting.


They sure had fun cycling.


Group shot. My dad's taking the photo so he's not in this.

Yeh, i jus came back from East Coast park. we brought the 2 girls cycling this morning. this is a super short entry coz i gotta rush off for the weddin in church now. :) but i had fun blading and trying hard to keep conversations alive coz their english is quite... hmm tough. :) but yeh, glad that my mum decided to make the commitment and host them. :)

Cheers Beer

Super funny advert. watch it with sound. the music is super funny... really worth the 1 minute of your time. :)

Dreams

sourced from 'http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs11/i/2006/186/b/6/Dreaming_In_Winter_by_larafairie.jpg'

Dreams... i wonder what they mean. sum say that they are the workings of your subconscious wishes taking a life in your subconscious mind...
Dictionary.com defines dreams as

• A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.
• A wild fancy or hope.

Interesting that they group the two under the same word though. well, to me... i think dreams are just plain confusing. they mess your mind up wondering whether what you dreamt makes sense and whether you should let it affect your life. Take for example me, i had a dream last night that i know is surely not sumthing that has already happened... whether it's GONNA happen, i dunno. prob not coz the circumstances and environments aren't really.. realistically possible. but what it means to me or how it has affected me is a different matter altogether. i'm doing fine dun worry [i hate putting these disclaimers everytime i type out a serious thot-provoking entry]... but i was just wondering whether dreams do play a part in making decisions.

Let's say you dream sumone died. the next decision upon waking up has to be to check with yourself and maybe that person whether they are doing fine. you know for a fact that nothing your dreamt could have affected the real realm of the world... but yet that un-nerving feeling within you screams at you to just drop them a sms or what. i've had that before. it freaked me quite bad when i woke and i couldn't like, say my morning prayers coz of it. but you know deep down that the person you dreamt of is fine... yet you can't settle your soul down. intriguing. no?

Now what if you dreamt of sumthing that you long for or hope for... long for sounds really extreme... now how that will affect your decision is more... real... you start considering whatever you hoped for as a possibility coz of a dream. now that's not right issit? the circumstances or situation in real life hasn't changed a bit.. yet your mentality towards that thing has gotten... hmmm hope?.. like it has fuelled your desire or motivation for that certain goal... and why? well, coz you dreamt it's possible...

now tell me, isn't that dangerous... isn't taking actions after dreaming... not good for you? :)

i'm telling myself. yet similarly, i can't seem to settle my soul. Dreams confuse me, yet i dun think i would wanna live without them. all i need is a Joseph.. no, i take that back... all i need is God. i dun really need an interpreter... i need the Dreamgiver. :)

intriguing, interesting... no? i say yes. mind blowing actually.

Just sum updates

hey peeps. life hasn't been too happening as of late. nuthing much to report. :) been hooked on this manga called Death Note... familiar? well, there's a movie coming out real soon. 19th oct. it's by real people la, not cartoons... so wanted to read up and do some research on the manga it's based on... and trust me, it's addictive. :) yeah so i'm quite a fan now. it's quite cool coz it's very intelligent. like CSI... hhahaha hmm... yeh.

This is my current wally.. pretty neat no?

Soon to be my next wally. :) jus waiting to be used.

other than that, CF recently had our mooncake eating festival at Sing's rooftop garden. it was real fun and we all had fun. abel, meliza and alwyn really did a great job leading and organizing the whole event. i was really glad and thankful that they did such a smashing job. here's a pic of the SP full force plus me and the cute janelle [baby].

Click for larger pic. SP CF and me.

Yuppers. it was a really fun time. when i get more pics, i'll send it la. but not sure who's camera was taking photos. haha

yeh. so jus dropping by to say that i'm still alive and kicking. mundane work week i guess.. thank God i'm surviving coz this week was a busy week with regards to after camp time... every evening was packed... so i've been quite tired. :) thank God for Him sustaining me though... really needed his help.