Australia Day 2 – Sydney

Sunday. Malisa joined us in the morning. We wanted to go to Pancake on The Rocks for breakfast and got a bit lost. Haha. Apparently we took a rather scenic route on the way there! Loved it! Took a lot of wonderful pictures that I will post soon! Pancakes were delish! Oh man my mouth is watering from just thinking about it haha.

We went to The Rocks market after that and walked around, Nalinee joined us and we went to Bondi Beach to chill and take lots of photos! Haha. Beautiful la, beautiful.

Thrilled to be here. All the more thrilled to be here with my church family. Can’t wait for the conference to start!

– Posted From My iPhone

Australia Day 1 – Sydney.

The overnight flight was not at all like I expected it to be, I couldn’t really get much sleep. But I was pretty impressed with Qantas’ selection of movies! Caught Date Night and Clash of the Titans – movies I wanted to watch but for some reason or another never got the chance to. On the flight I was really just penning down a number of questions, and stuff I’d like to seek God for during the conference that will be happening in a day! I was ‘catching up’ or more, remember what I read about in John Ortberg’s ‘The Me I Want To Be’. Was also completely overwhelmed by the fact that I am so blessed to be able to go on this trip to Australia, my first time nonetheless but still! My parents gave so sacrificially so that I could go. Grateful grateful grateful!

And so we arrived in Sydney via Melbourne (we almost missed our transit flight!!!) and every where we turned I couldn’t help admire the buildings, the activity and what have you. Beautiful place, Sydney. We went to Paddington’s market (got a new wallet) and watched WICKED!!!! It was… WICKED LAAAA. On another random note, I don’t have mobile data, and the nights are really cold (love the weather every other part of the day though!)!

coming up…

i’ve been really busy these past two weeks and the month to come, with rehearsals for an upcoming dance concert. just realized this morning that i’m covered in bruises la. haha.

the experience thus far has been surprisingly pleasant. dancing under F and WN have been really fun. i guess the choreographer/teacher really makes or breaks the experience. i’ve been feeling really jaded with the whole dance thing. felt like i couldn’t dance etc. but i thank God for putting me through this.

details for the concert are in the poster attached k! haha and the photoshop/design skills i learnt from principles of visual communication have been put to good use! woohoo.

FGA’s ultimate frisbee challenge

i need to be sleeping right now cause of the ayg opening ceremony tomorrow, but i really felt the need to blog a little about the above…

i think it was a success! (= thanks to angie, joanne, joshua, shunyuan and so many others who made it happen!

we should do it more, seriously. i (and i think quite a few of us did) really enjoyed it, despite being hit pretty hard on the nose by the frisbee (its hilarious cause i prayed for no injuries – like me, a number of us are so accident-prone – and then this! hehe). my nose bled just a little by the way, but it was an awesome time, really.

i think some more happened that just the competition and the horsing around, and the barbeque dinner, and the bunch of us that hung out at macs after…

what can i say la, i love my church.

“community reflects the heartbeat of God”. (=

a birthday surprise.

i’ve been busy with a couple of “projects”, one of which couldn’t be blogged about because it was supposed to be a surprise.

kenneth’s birthday was on the 20th of June, Saturday. it also happened to be the first day of church camp, which happened from the 20th to the 22nd of June.

as it turns out kenneth’s thing wasn’t much of a surprise cause 1) i suck at surprises and 2) he’s too smart haha. it started from nic and i discussing about what to give the birthday boy… and ideas ranged from a box of shirts from threadless (yes kenneth we notice you’ve been wearing the same shirts over and over and that you want more shirts before you go to australia) to figurines/blades from the anime he likes. we settled with giving him a self made notebook filled with quotes and pictures and what have you from us and the shows etc. that he likes. and yea i pretty much dived into putting together quotes and page designs together with nic.

there wasn’t really a plan to surprise kenneth too actually haha. phail. and you wonder why he wasn’t really surprised. i mean, he walked into rhordan’s office while i was working on one of those pages for his notebook with his name plastered all over it. we brought his present over to batam in a clear plastic bag with a card in it that said “KENNETH” in hugely bold print. and he walked right into the cafe when nic and i were getting his cake ready. so yea. a surprise that wasn’t really a surprise.

all that said, happy birthday kenneth.
i pray that in the year to come, despite studying in australia, that you remember us and more importantly that you have a God that yearns to be a part of your life. and the best part is God will be there in perth for you, even though we can’t be! be blessed, dude!

gratitude.

“enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” – Psalm 100:4

this is one verse that’s really been said way too many times, and yet so often we really miss out on the heart behind this verse, and that was what boss was sharing during devotions during one of those nights in KL. we need to have a heart that says ‘i will be grateful for the good things God’s blessed me with’ and not risk being ungrateful.

the main point of that devotion was that we need to be grateful, both for God’s goodness and for it being displayed through people giving us opportunities and opening doors for us.

i share this because i ended up packing half of that huge shelf in my room when i got home, and came across a few books and letters/cards my previous lifegroup leader gave me. and it sent me into a very reflective mood.

i’m here today because of so many people who have given me heaps of opportunities to grow and learn, because of the many people who have invested so much into my life and because of the people who’ve kept and have been keeping me in prayer. my previous lifegroup leader, for instance. i’m by no means saying that she’s the only person who has impacted my life. but this post, is dedicated to her. (=

i don’t know if she’ll ever read this, and i don’t think i’ll ever be able to fully express how grateful i am for her investing into my life. thank you for seeing me through God’s eyes, seeing not the crazy mess that i was (i’m still growing, don’t get me wrong) but seeing the person i could become. thank you for your constant encouragement and i’m sorry if ever it felt like i stuck a “straw” in you.

and some part of me feels like saying “look, ma! i’m here because of you!”
you really were like a spiritual mom to me and for that i’d be eternally grateful.

and like any grateful child, i guess the only way that i’d be able to show you how grateful i am is to be the best person i can be.

thank you for letting God use you in such an amazing way.

FGA KL trip

so, a team of us went up to Full Gospel Assembly (Kuala Lumpur) from the 5th to 8th of June.

it was so awesome la. i guess the main thought going up there was that we were going to minister to and serve them. but boy was i wrong.

guess God works in mysterious ways huh. i ended up being so blessed by the guys in KL and ministered to by God. i was telling the rest on the team on the coach – it was as if there was so much output yet still more input.

during our debrief, boss asked us a few questions: what did you learn from the KL peeps?what did you learn about yourselves? and, what you did learn about God?

what i learnt from the KL guys:
the idea that they devoted themselves, and that despite their boss (or as they call her, their mommy) having so much to do, it appeared easier, just cause so many people were behind her and devoting themselves to their church.

it really challenged me to step up my game. if we claim to care so much about our church, we really should do more for it!

another lesson learnt was from D who joined our band on the bass. he was the only one who followed my directions during one interlude during our last set – it wasn’t what we rehearsed, but i did it intentionally to shorten the interlude and only he followed… the rest of the band followed what we rehearsed. it got me wondering if i supported my leaders as much as he did. and he didn’t even know me all that well, too. it kind of reminded me particularly of when i sang for the KL team’s worship leaders when they came over.

what i learnt about myself during the trip:
it was my first time leading worship outside church!!!

haha frivolity aside i think i really was challenged to prepare harder and just, prepare more when i lead worship. i was really challenged, also, to really examine my reasons for doing things when i lead worship – you know, the jumping around and the spinning. i guess it started becoming just going with the motion or grooving with the music and less about what it used to be about – joy that God’s given me.

what i learnt about God:
on a related note to the point i just mentioned, i learnt that my Daddy God is a God that loves righteousness, justice and truth. and it challenges me more to ensure that my motivations behind doing the things i do are right.

i think what really sealed that lesson in was when i read boss’s blog and he blogged about glenn packiam, the worship leader from new life church/desperation band and how some half-truths or lies about worship subtly creep into our systems. yup.

and here are some shots that i really liked. and links to the albums on facebook are
here and here

the big pao tong bought on the bus to KL

after breakfast on saturday

this is a shot i took on rach’s camera of nic. cool right!

we were supposed to show crazy faces but some people look so normal! haha

jump shot in front of this super cool muriel!

the group that took the coaches to and fro