er........after party?

almost give daniel the best poser...and this shot came along...

juliana has the best arm shakin pose.it is proven over n over again. mgc kids are too hyped. oh wait.. adrian's clear all the way.*searching searching*

this pic has a blur adrian but a clear livia.hancur adrian. we almost got a perfect shot n u appeared blurr...ARGH! how fraustratin. *just jokin*

geesh..no perfect shot.hancur. ROFL

ok..lastly. our representatives lah. both clear shots.


BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!! good job on the skit n mime. hope many were touched.

After the 25th

Hey everyone! Our Youth Christmas Celebration turned out alright! We'll put up the video Aaron recorded of the skit and mime soon. Soon as in maybe a week later ^_^ So don't wait up *sheepish grin*

To the youth who painstakingly turned up for the demanding practices... God bless all of you for your efforts and commitment! I'm very happy ALL of you made the effort to talk to everyone who came that night. You've all grown a little more this Christmas!

However, successful as the event may apparently be, do not forget why we went to such pains to have it. Remember the purpose we had in mind when we decided to muster all our minds and strength to take on a presentation that we'd never done before in our entire lives. Remember the little pep talk we all had one fine Sunday. =)

Don't ever let fun and apparent good reviews cause you to forget that one reason we celebrate Christmas.

Your friends have heard the Gospel. They now know why Christmas is such a big deal. They have seen for themselves what Christians are really like.

Does it end there?

Don't slack and say that life has become meaningless now that Christmas is over.

There is much more to be done.

MGC Boleh!

Skit & Mime Practices

Skit:

• 15 December (Saturday): 4 - 6 pm
  
• 16 December (Sunday): After church

People involved:

• Sharma
  
• Melissa & Juliana
• Livia
• Jessica (but won't be around this week)
• Fong Wan
• Shaun
• Chen Li
  
• Yen Mei
• Adrian

Next mime practice is next Thursday (20 December), 8pm.

Please inform me, Shaun or Daniel if you can't come. AHEAD of time ya =D Thanks!

Practice hard!

Due to Popular Demand...

Practice schedule for mime:

1. 13 December 2007 (Thursday), 7.30pm - Mime with dark clothes, lights and all
2. 14 December 2007 (Friday), 7.30pm

That's the schedule this week. Next week's schedule might change, so I'll post it up next week. Till then, do all those hand things in front of the mirror everyday! =)

Our Condolences to Auntie Yu Ming and Family

Auntie Yu Ming's cousin, Tien Leng, fell from a 3-storey building in Genting while trying to get his keys. Auntie Yu Ming sent a series of sms-es to ask for prayer:

1 December 2007 - Morning.

Hi, would appreciate if you could pray for my cousin, Tien Leng who had an accident in Genting. Fell out a 3-storey building. At KL GH now. Critical condition. Bleeding from lungs and brain. No proper treatment. No beds available at ICU. Thanks.

1 December 2007 - A few hours later.

Thanks for praying! Cousin in operation now. They are working on his stomach and lungs. Pupils of eyes fixed, not responding. Probable brain damage. We are going up to KL in late afternoon. Thanks again.

2 December 2007

Hi, just wanted to update you on cousin's condition. Vital signs stable. Unconscious, on respirator and dialysis machine. Biggest concern now is brain damage. They are going to take another X-ray. If blood clot in brain, needs to be removed. Grateful for all your prayers!

Uncle Anthony announced in the prayer meeting yesterday that Tien Leng had passed away on 3 December 2007. The funeral was held yesterday.

We offer our condolences to Auntie Yu Ming and Tien Leng's family.

Please pray for Auntie Yu Ming and family, that they can handle it well. Auntie Yu Ming just sms-ed and said that she's fine and thanks us for our prayers and condolences. She asks that we keep her cousin's family in prayer.

Pray that they will return to Malacca safely. Pray that no one's faith will fail because of God's "No" to our prayers.

We don't know why things happen, why death occurs so suddenly when there was once hope.

We question God's judgment and falter in our faith.

That is how the disciples must have felt as they watched Jesus die on that wooden cross.

And yet there was a reason for it all. The resurrection of Jesus proved that God's wisdom is never to be questioned, for His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways (Isaiah 55:8).

God has a reason for everything. Sometimes we, as humans, are unable to comprehend those reasons. So let us hold fast, while doing the few things we can do - and that is to pray and to comfort the grieving family.

Pray. For there is still much to pray for.

Freedom!!!!!!

Congratulations to the STPM, SPM, and PMR(hehe) students for finishing your major examinations! Don't worry too much about the results but leave it to God ya? Anyway, as you come back home, drive safely. If you're reading this post, it means that you're already save and sound at home! Those who wanna go party also drive safely ya, and please share the computer with your good siblings, ehem, those who helped to do houseworks. Practice for the mime will start this Saturday, so look at the videos a lot a lot of times ya!

Updates

Well, first of all, congratulations for the SPM students for going through the whole exam. Remember to thank God ya? If you want more challenges such as this, you can always go Form 6! See how much the STPM students are 'enjoying' it. Anyway, continue to pray for STPM students, last paper on Monday. Also, my eldest sister, Shuen, will be starting her training this coming Monday as well but then she'll be going Bangi with her senior to start work. She's still in shock over this matter, so pray that she'll be able to handle it and also for save journey as she goes up to Bangi and also be a good testimony whenever she's around. Mark has been working for 5 days already but haven't gotten news from him. Anybody care to give informations can contact me or just edit this post. SPM students! Must do quiet time and stay strong STPM dudes and dudettes!

Mark has left the building

Today is the last time Mark will be in Malacca and attend MGC for at least in November. All of us will miss you Mark, or at least try to miss you. Anyway, it was always a blessing to have you here and it was pleasant to hear you say you love Malacca (Malacca hebat!). While in Penang, behave yourself and obey your parents ya. All the best while working and don't slack in work like how you usually slack during classes. The badminton club is gonna miss you too. By the way, remember to do quiet time and grow spiritually in God as well and be a shining light for God wherever you go.

Prayer updates

Just had a brief chat with Chen Li. Though she's sick, she has no time to rest so pray for her that God will give her strength to carry on as well as speedy recovery. Please don't forget Geng Yi in your prayer list as well, as he's quite busy for the time being. Last but not least, pray for SPM and STPM students. Some seemed pretty relaxed on the outside, but in the inside they may be going through a tough time, especially since England loss...oops keluar topic. If you have any prayer requests then feel free to tell me on msn or email since I'll be in front of the computer almost the whole day everyday. God bless.

It's the final countdown - Part 2

2nd week for SPM students and 1st week for STPM students. All the best alright? God will always be by your side no matter how good or bad you've done in your paper. Though God may not help you in the way you want Him (just a guess, like Him giving you superb memory), He will work in different ways that may benefit you more than what you can imagine. So trust God in this one alright? When has God ever disappointed you?

BERSIH March for Electoral Justice 2007

Hey guys, as obedient as we are to the second part of the command, "do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10), let us not forget the first part.

The recent march, organized by BERSIH, sparked interesting discussions and speculations nationwide and worldwide. For those of you who don't know about it, check out the various websites listed on my blog.

Even if we don't openly discuss it here, I feel that it is important that we each bring home a thought (Ei? You guys are already at home) concerning this issue. The event left me asking questions about whether Christians should take part in demonstrations like this, peaceful as they may be.

I picked my brain pretty much in my blog (as well as the Wordpress one, it looks nicer actually) so those of you who have longer attention spans may read it. If cannot tahan, just read the first few paragraphs la, then skip to the last few paragraphs also enough already.

I think this issue is worth a discussion in the Youth, so we might have it sometime next year. So please be in the know la, if not become like the speaker syok sendiri only.

Ok?

Thanks for making it till this paragraph! I'm off to study!

It's the Final Countdown

Flip through all the pages as you like, study all you want, for it will certainly matter. Anyway, always remember that the other youths will be there to support you throughout the SPM examinations and most importantly, remember that God is always with your whenever you enter the exam hall, start writing, or blank out in the middle of the paper. Don't sleep too late ya, and all the best for it. Remember, all glory goes to God.

Mark

I had just received news from Mark himself that he rejected the job offer because his parents want him to go back to Penang. So pray for him that he won't slack and find a job. That's all for now.

More Updates

Well, after considering KD's proposal to put upcoming birthdays, I think this one will do for now. It's the birthdays for our church for this coming month. It might not be perfect so I'm really sorry if I missed out any of your birthdays for this month. Please tell me if I didn't put your birthdays. You might not know some of them so here's a brief introduction of them - El Sen is the tall guy who's studying in Lim Kok Wing, Danny is Chen Li's friend studying in The One Academy(somehow it feels as though there will be some dramatic music every time I mention The One Academy), Ngee Shin is Ah Derk, Ah Zheng and Qi Qi's elder sister. Wei Jin is Li Lian's brother and haven't been seeing him around. Wei Jin, if you're reading, stop playing too much Halo 3 okay? We also have Sin Yee, most of you might know her because she talks a lot...I mean sociable. Mark is an MMU graduate and is started his 'work' yesterday. Anyway, that's all for now, study smart SPM and STPM students!!!

Success!

Just some updates. The practice for our mime was a success! Although we were blur at the 1st place, we managed to adapt and pull through until the end! Now we can keep up with the beat of the song as well as do lots of stuff. Training will be held tomorrow but it will be a short one. Anyway, continue to pray for those who are having exams, SPM and STPM is just around the corner, more of around here. It's always refreshing to see people take time out of studying to come and worship God. Hebat.

Tee Jhin's Accident

News from the Shuen Network

Tee Jhin met with an accident on 30 October 2007, Tuesday, and was discharged two days later. He has a lot of stitches on his neck and mouth.

Tee Jhin was planning to stop work in Malacca and try his luck (so to speak) in KL the last time we spoke, and his current status is unknown as of the time of writing.

I'm going to get more information from The Network, so updates will be up soon!

In the meantime, pray for Tee Jhin and sms him to encourage him ya :

Chew Tee Jhin : 012 - 694 9158

Updates

Daniel gave the green light and the youth is gonna have a mime for Christmas!! The mime isn't as simple as the last one we did(We are the reason), give any suggestions if you have. If any other youths or young adults who have free time by then can always drop by to help us or take part in this event as well, and remember to invite your friends. The date is most probably on the 24th or 25th of December. Training will be starting next week so all the youths available must come to Youth Meeting ya!

Prayer Items

All about the same, exams for everybody else. Latest news is that Yen Mei will be sitting for one of her papers again because question leaked, and it's a difficult paper so pray for her. It will be held next Friday. Other than that, pray that those studying outside Malacca will be safe and continue to go to church and do quiet time..You never know when Hwei will bring her hand phone out and call one of those "lucky ones" and ask how are they doing....spiritually...muahahahaha. Don't forget Ah Derk as well, he's studying in Singapore, seems quite stressful as well. Continue to grow in height and spiritually ya!

Bloody Juliana and Her Cursed Swearing

Yep. We're all infected.

I voted her speaker of the day for Youth last Saturday. And the first thing she said to kick off her session (after praying all that) was:

It's so damn hot today. Ok. We can start now. Let me get my bloody paper first.

Whoa. Swearing in church!

She looked at us and smiled:

How did you all feel when I used those words?

I don't know about the rest, but what I was thinking right then was: This session's gonna be good.

Let's rewind a little bit. Just for fun.

Juliana didn't want to use the mic and asked the youths at the back whether they could hear her. Then a short but funny conversation between her and Sharma started that sent the whole crowd laughing!

You all can hear right?

Tak dengar, tak dengar.

Aiks. Tak dengar boleh jawab.

And hence Sharma keeps quiet and boleh dengar.

She then began her sharing without the mike, and claimed that we swear to "express" ourselves: It's DAMN hot today or when we're angry with someone: Go to HELL or something like that. Being an English Language student, she pointed out that English is a beautiful language and should not be "destroyed" by swear words.

She went on to say that as a Christian, swearing will only menghancurkan God's name rather than mengharumkan it. She compared swearing to drugs, concluding that they will give you a bad reputation in the end, which is not according to what we're suppose to do.

Swearing not only shows our bad behaviour, and smears God's Name and our rep, it also shows how bad our English is. Also, most of us said that we use swear words or kata hubung, as some people call them, when we're angry. Ju said that when we're angry, people can already see it, by the way we talk and through our actions, so there isn't a need to call attention to our already obvious anger. She gave the example of Jesus, when He was very angry with the people who traded in the temple courts.

Jesus was so angry that He overturned the tables all that. People could already see His anger. But when He spoke, He didn't say: "What the hell are you doing in My Father's house?? Get the HELL out of here!!!" Instead, He said: "It is written: My Father's house is a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of robbers.'"

Good one eh?

She also said we tend to swear to emphasize the importance of something. E.g. I'm so damn hungry or Bullshit. There are better words to emphasize things. Instead of damn, we can say I'm extremely hungry, and in place of bullshit, we can actually use synonyms like nonsense or ridiculous.

All of us have been swearing, even me. After Youth Meeting, when I went back to my house, unknowingly I had swore two times in front of my brother! Though it may seem difficult, but we have God here with us who'll always be giving that extra push and support that we need to go through. I'm sure all of us can do it if we really try and rely on God.

GUIDE - Writers and Quotes
shaun, hwei, juliana, sharma

Prayer Items

Continue to pray for those who have exams:

PMR
Oopps..over d.

SPM
Jessica and Jeremy..the two Js, Sharonne and also Kevin(Chen Li's cousin)

STPM
Daniel, Hwei, Marcus, Adrian, and Raymond (Sim).

UEC
Yik How

MMU
Yen Mei, Kevin, Mark, Jun Yi, Siew Chen, Frederick, Gary.

University life
Shuen, Melissa, Gary, Sin Yee, Sin Lan, Ah Zheng, Ah Derk, Sue Lyn, Teng, Darel, Chen Li, Juliana, El Sen... There are many more out there....

We have prayer meeting every Wednesday, so please come and join us and pray together especially those in Malacca...hehehe...

Your Tongue As Whose Pen?

Date: 29 September 2007 (Saturday)
Psalm 45:1

My heart is inditing a good matter:
I speak of the things which I have made touching the king:
My tongue [is] the pen of a ready writer.

Warm-Up
To show what it is like to be a writer with Writer's Block: I gave them 4 essay topics:

• My Pet
• Why I Love My Father/Mother
• My Goals/Ambitions
  
• The Girl/Guy I Like Most And Why

And I allowed them to substitute any one of the above with a topic of their own that they were comfortable with.

And so they wrote. For 20 minutes.



After they finished with their essays, I broke them into groups of two to share their essays with each other. It was interesting to hear some of their essays. Shaun's essay about his "pet", Shaun the Sheep was particularly fascinating. Ahem.

Findings:

• The essays that were the easiest to write were concerning topics they've written about many times before, were familiar with, could relate to, were personal to them, and interesting to write about.
• The essays that were the most difficult to write were concerning topics that were boring, or topics that they could not relate to or knew nothing of, such as My Goals/Ambitions

Dynamics
Think:
How many years have I been in church/youth?
Post/responsibility in church/youth?
Have I done it? Have I done anything at all?
How well? Have I done anything that has helped someone else?
Has anyone ever told me how encouraging I was or said anything encouraging about me?

All of us have talents, skills and gifts. There's no reason for us to flaunt them and show off, but there shouldn't be a reason for us to hide them either. We're supposed to be workers for God, not just people who help out once in a while. We need to start channeling our energy and time into the work of the harvest! If not with the gifts given us, at least with the tongue that each one of us have.

Is your tongue the pen of a ready writer or the pen of a writer with Writer's Block?

Conclusion
We ended by gathering around the piano and singing the song, Clouds Above. A huge Thank You to the MHS boys who sang along when I asked them to! I think that was one of those times when we really felt like a real family with a common goal and a common purpose. I sincerely hope we can be like that everyday, even when we're not singing together.

Psalm 45:17

I will cause Your Name to be remembered in all generations,
Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.

We are not only to remember Jesus, we're also to cause His Name to be remembered in all generations.

If the world were to forget Jesus one day, if there were to be a generation that would forsake Jesus Christ, let it not start with us. Let our generation not be the one to break our Lord's heart.
Let us strive towards the day where we would join that crowd of faithful witnesses, spurring the generations after us towards the finish line.

Gambate, everyone!

Life's Brief Candle

It is with mixed emotions that I pen/keyboard this down tonight.

Mrs Chua's aged mother passed away yesterday morning - Wednesday, 19 September 2007. The elders, the adults and Kevin went to see Mrs Chua yesterday night after a short prayer at MGC.

The funeral wake will be held at 8.30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, in Mrs Chua's house in Klebang Besar.

The funeral service itself will be on Sunday, 23 September 2007, 10.30am.

Mrs Chua's mother was almost 90 years of age when she passed on and walked into our Lord's arms. Mrs Chua has been holding on to her mother's life through years of hardship and patience, seeing to her every need as a bedridden individual.

We mourn with Mrs Chua for her loss, and yet, we rejoice for the new life she will henceforth walk.

God bless Mr and Mrs Chua for their unending labour of love through the years, and may God use them even more mightily as He reveals a new turn in their course of life.

And we thank God for saving the soul of Mrs Chua's mother. Though we know her not, our hearts are bound together by the bonds of a Christian heritage.


Take a moment to pray for the couple.


And then let us begin to prepare to live a life that will be worthy of a place in the blogs of young men and women, when we too, walk the golden streets one day.


Amen.

Brief Updates

I'm gonna go briefly here. Sincere apologies for the recent lack of updates to this blog! Guess we've all been kind of busy. I'll make this a prayer list too k?

PMR students: 1-5 October
Shaun

SPM students: November
Jeremy, Jessica, Sharonne, Fong Wan, Kristie, Jess Heng

STPM students: 19 November - 3 December
Tse Hwei, Daniel, Marcus, Adrian, Seok Ling

College/University students: Assignments, Exams
Shuen, Sin Yee, Sin Lan, Mel, Juliana, Chen Li, Ah Zheng (just shifted into new house outside campus), Kevin (final year), Frederick, Gary, Wei Jin, Li Lian, Sherene, Yen Mei, Sarah, Ei Leen (studying+working)

Overseas
Derk - Singapore. Auntie Kiat Tin says he's very stressed out so pray for him; his combination of subjects that he chose are quite difficult, literature being one of them brrrr.

Working youth/young adults
Geng Yi, Ngee Shin (UK)

Miscellaneous
Yik How (Pay Fong)

People with illnesses/burdens

• Mr Chua (prostrate) and Mrs Chua (taking care of aged mum and mr chua)
• Mrs Tong - arthritis
  
• Uncle Beng - leg was grazed by a car a few months back, now on crutches cuz there was a blood clot in his leg, and is cooped up in Unc Rod's house with very little moving capacity and almost zero comfort
• Beng Hui - broke his collar bone in an accident a few months ago. Not wearing the cast anymore, but he still hangs his arm near his side as if it was still in a sling. Gonna check out his condition on Sunday so more updates then.
  
• Auntie Nancy - taking care of aged parents

Special Prayer Item
Ei Leen (Cheong from Cheng) is studying in the Open University and working at the same time. Things are stressful for her as she has to juggle her time between work and studies. She tore a ligament in her leg also. So pray for her k?


We recently had a BBQ-FamilyNite event in MGC. Last Friday, to be precise. There was quite a good turn-up, with the youth and children making up most of the crowd.There are quite a number of children who are keen on coming for the Children's Hour every Saturday. So pray that their parents will not disallow them to come. The photos are with Chen Li so when she's free enough (kinda rare), I'll bug her to put them up here. Wait for it!

Gotta go now. The RM0.50 I put in for my one-hour stay in the office is fast running out of value.

Buhbye!

Breaking of bread with Auntie Kim Neo

Hey guys, two weeks ago, a few of us went to visit Auntie Kim Neo. Well, she seemed cheerful. I was just a bit sad to see her so thin and frail. Anyway, we sang a few songs before we passed the bread and cup around. Juliana "ter-take" a big chunk of bread. It was funny. Before we left, we took a few pictures with her.

Look at Adrian Mau lah..... haha... Anyway, continue to pray for Auntie Kim Neo okay?

bongkar!!

why was eng siang super chuak?

i've got proof. muahahahaha.

Port Dickson Trip

On Saturday, a handful of the youths and the Children Hour kids went to Port Dickson. There were about 50 people in total. We went to Port Dickson by bus and inside things were really peaceful at first. You don't see many people walking here and there, noises from the usual youth and laughters from the girls, aka Jessica, Julianna, Yen Mei, Chen Li, etc, etc. Our first destination was the dunno-what-museum with Malaysia's history. It was really interesting to see our own country's history actually. To learn about these things by looking rather than read the text books, I think all of us agree on that right?

Next, we went to the beach to have our lunch. Had Cap Fan but then got no spoon. Wonder what you all will do if there weren't any spoons eh? Well, we improvise. The adults use their hands and then we youths tore out the polysterene to ganti as spoons while the kids were all scattered so we didn't really know how or what they use. I'll leave that to your imagination k?

We then played Techniqoue or Techniquet or something la throw throw the round thing and must masuk the stick wan. It's been an MGC favourite game since before my father's time and we adopted it lately. Kids were playing and having and this kid, Koshiar, from Iran, came and join us for the fun. People like Daniel and me sometimes join in and leave but Adrian and the rest of the youths were playing while Hwei became the Video-dudette. After the round-thing-game ended, Koshiar's parents took some pictures of us and thank us for the great time their kid had. We then play the stack it long long game before we moved on to the lighthouse.

Adrian steps up to show his superiority in height.

Koshiar is the little boy in the middle.

Koshiar's parents ask us to take a photo with him before they left.

Me giving my email so cun-ly :D

We had to walk up to the lighthouse and it was kinda tiring considering the games that we played. It's like walking up all the way to Brinchang(only some may understand the pain). Nevertheless, we still managed to all the way up to the lighthouse to catch a glimpse of God's magnificent work. The scenery was quite wow, can see the sea and waves and also the monkeys hanging around and the mosquitoes buzzing to get a taste of our blood. Aunty Tina was scared to go through the small path overlooking the sea even though me and Aunty Bee Wan was there. Anyway, A. Tina went through another way and we all walked down again. By this time, our legs were already getting tired and pain.

After another 10 minutes of walking, we arrived at the bus and was heading towards Malacca already. Those who wanted to go and "shi-shi" went to the toilet(Hwei was the 1st there). Thank God the trip was a save one and we got the chance to talk to people. So let's continue to pray for the people who went for the trip that they might join us for more activities and that we will make an extra effort to go and talk to them.

Update on Eng Siang's surprise ...partyy?

Okay...I know I very lambat on updating this. Eng Siang was to leave on 2 Saturdays ago. So, the church youths pakat-ed with his parents to surprise him.
So the plan was that we sneak into his house while they were out for dinner. We got the keys from Uncle Philip. It was super stressful cos' Ken Ken was so hyper. And the tension was quite high considering we had to open the 3 padlocks everytime one of us came. Auntie Tina became our ally by calling us when Eng Siang's parents called to tell us they were coming back. We decided to hide in his room. Lawak betul So many of us in his room and we saw a big clock there.


Ketawa until gila man. Ah Zheng, Adrian and Marcus became the spies.
When Eng Siang they all came back, we all ran into his room, off the lights and tried to keep as silent as possible. Quite impossible considering our youths all kept on joking and making one another laugh like gila. But when we heard Eng Siang coming, we all were rather silent. Then when he opened the door, we yelled, "SURPRISE!!!!!" and the expression on his face was.........

Priceless.


Lawak man. Caught it on video. Everytime we took a look at it, sure laugh one. ater only post the vid. Then we took a group picture and headed towards Subaidah's Corner in MITC. 6 cars man. So funny. Especially when the youths that came pulled out from the back alley of Eng Siang's place. We had to hide the cars ma. Like escort dunno what big shot like that when we went to MITC. The food was good. Very fun. I taught this Jess and Livia that stupid "act cute moves". The fingers thing. Siao one. Ketawa like gila.

Anyway, it was a great night. Although Eng Siang with his super observant eyes noticed a few stuff like my slippers... -.-!!!, toilet flush refilling (Daniel...-.-!!!) and his room door closed... (all of us -__________-!!!) we still managed to surprise him and made him jump. Wahahaha... So the very funny.

I think we should really have a MGC Surprise Team Agency laaaa..... Hehe...Lastly...the video...
Enjoy!

Residential Bible School (RBS) 2008

Basic Details

Date : 26 December 2007 - 31 January 2008
Venue : Highlands Christian Centre (HCC), Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands

RBS is targeted at students in their late teens, specifically those who have just completed Form 5 and 6 and are waiting for their exam results. Others may apply and will be considered on an individual basis. Preference is given to youth from Brethren assemblies throughout Malaysia. Applicants from non-Brethren churches will be considered on a standby basis.
You must be a born-again Christian and the leaders of your church must approve your application to attend RBS.
If you are accepted, you must attend the entire duration of the school (exceptions will only be provided for family emergencies).

Cost

• Registration Cost: RM950 per person. You will be required to pay RM500. The balance of RM450 will be paid by your church. This fee covers all materials, food and accommodation during the length of RBS 2008, personal accident insurance and transport to and from your mission trip destinations.
• Transportation Cost: You will have to pay for and arrange your own transportation to Cameron Highlands at the start of RBS and your transportation home after RBS.
  
• Other Expenses: E.g. laundry, own food, book purchases. All students are required to purchase one book for a book report during RBS. You may allocate about RM40 for this.
  

Please contact the church leaders or the RBS Committee if you have financial difficulties.

Registration
Getting the application forms --> Either:

• Get it from Uncle Rodney or
  
• Download it here. If the link doesn't work, go to the RBS website.

Fill out the form and mail it together with a non-refundable RM100 deposit (payable by cheque only and in favour of ‘Residential Bible School’) to:

RBS 2008 c/o May Lee Hilmy
33 Lorong Burhanuddin Helmi 11
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
60000 KUALA LUMPUR

Closing date: 26 September 2007 Applications received after this date will either be rejected or subjected to a late registration penalty of RM50. Applications received without the RM100 deposit will also be rejected. There is a maximum student enrolment of 48 students (places at RBS usually fill up very quickly) All applications will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Contact RBS

• May Lee Hilmy at 016-240 6444 or
  
• Email ibayd@tm.net.my

What is RBS about?

Go to my WordPress blog for information about the programme, curriculum, and the things RBS will teach you. I put it up in my WordPress blog cuz I know you guys won't read a post that's too long so I have to keep it short here (=P) and the information brochure's in a PDF format, which I understand some of you do not have. Don't be lazy! Go read!

Seriously. Check it out.

A Moment of Thinking

My CF friend, Esmeralda, only some of the youths would know, shared something that got me and the other cf people thinking, and I hope it would have the same effect on those reading this blog.

She was talking bout how she and her family went to Korea for this evangelism thingy. They were walking along the beach and everything seemed normal at first, the people playing, having fun and stuff, but it all went wrong after that. There were 4 people quite far off the beach, and they looked like they were struggling in the waters. Not knowing their language, Esmie and the others didn't had a clue what was happening and suddenly, one of them cried, "Help, help! We're drowning!"


Geez, it was much more serious than this picture.



They didn't know how to swim, but fortunately an American who was in the evangelism programme swam all the way to where the four were and managed to rescue two of them before the rescue workers came and saved another life but the good news were then shadowed by the fact that one did not survive....he drowned.

If you're probably wondering what has it got to do with you, continue reading. She then said,

"Four of the people were drowning, but only one called out for help. It's like in real life, many people are dying but they actually are not aware of it! We see our friends dying in front of us, what are we gonna do about it?"

We have God and the Bible to help us save our friends. What are we gonna do about it? We see our friends "drowning", are we making an effort to try and save them? To conclude, it's not about how many lives we are gonna save at the end of the day that's important, but did we make an effort to save lives.

Breaking of Bread with Auntie Kim Neo

A morning worship and breaking of bread session was held in Uncle Barry's house today with Auntie Kim Neo. While in hospital, Auntie had always said that she wanted to go to church and be able to worship God and observe the Lord's supper. As it was difficult for her to travel, it was decided that we should have it in the house where she was staying instead, just like what was done for Mrs Chua some time ago.

I tried to recall who was there and counted about 23 people who came after our usual service in MGC. After singing a few songs (including Auntie Kim Neo's favourite - 'Lamb of God', as requested by Auntie Jennifer), Uncle Rodney recollected Beng Hui's earlier sharing on Psalms 77. We then broke bread and drank of the cup.

Auntie Kim Neo looked very happy and said that she had been waiting for everyone to come since Saturday. She had been really looking forward to worshiping with the church as she had not been able to come on Sunday for 2 and a half months. The ladies spent the most time chatting with her after the short service. She even joked that she refuses to take morphine anymore because she doesn't want to be a drug addict.

My dad commented that she looks very much happier at home and she smiled in reply. There's some swelling on her knees. She says she tries to take short walks outside the house but finds it increasingly difficult now.

Do pray for her that she will continue to find joy in the Lord and that she'll remain faithful to Him even during these difficult times.

Updates: Mr Chua and Auntie Kim Neo

¹Mr Chua

They've narrowed down his problem to his prostrate. No tumour!!!! Yeah!

Now he's in a one-bed room with an attached bathroom and a really comfortable setting in GH. He's on the hospital's waiting list and his turn is currently a year later.

Word is that he's super cheerful and goes down to Auntie Kim Neo's ward everyday to share his fruits with her. He's still carrying the urine bag around (still can't pronounce / spell the term for it) but he's also carrying on with his life as if the urine bag's a part of his clothes. Socks, maybe.

Yup. The Chua's are definitely a couple filled with joy~

²Auntie Kim Neo

Auntie Kim Neo's not doing so good. Her cancer's brought her back to the hospital for the umpteenth time. It must be horrible to be in and out of a dreaded place again and again. After a while, it feels like you're never gonna leave the place. Am speaking from experience, people. <....driving school.... brrrrrr....>

She's on morphine, which means that she's in great pain. She's lost almost all her hair, and she looks aged and worn out. "Not doing well", according to my mum. Visiting hours are only 2 hours each time, if I heard correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong. The rest of her day is spent resting alone in her room. By the way, her room's similiar to that of Mr Chua's, with the bathroom and all, except she can't really enjoy it. There's definitely something wrong with people who enjoy their hospital rooms. I mean, that is so sick. No pun intended.

³Auntie Kiat Tin says the morphine's causing Auntie Kim Neo to hallucinate. At one point, she thought she heard some of the church members standing outside her room, with the nurse forbidding them to enter the room. I wouldn't go into much detail here.

Anyway, seeing all that's happened to her all her cancer years, it isn't that hard to imagine her getting weary of life and wanting to fade away into nothingness and just walk through the gates of heaven.

Makes us feel dumb for every second we use to pause, sigh, and think that life is meaningless, boring and monotonous, doesn't it? Most of us are students working our way through exams and assignments. Some of us are adults, or young adults, working our way through life, colleagues and domineering superiors.

Studying, exams, homework, studying, exams, homework... then... waking up at 7am, cursing at the car in front of you, trudging to work, nodding reluctantly to your boss... death, finally... Sounds stupid (pardon the word) and meaningless, right? Like... it's never going to end, like that's all your life's going to be. In the end, it's death for everyone. So despicably common. So normal. Why should I go through all that? Why can't I just skip to the death part? It's like playing the PS2 Naruto game and struggling to get all the hidden scrolls and missions, but in the end, nobody really wins. Just a dumb adventure game. Nothing more.

Yeah, well... at least you get to choose your adventure. At least you get to put down that PS2 controller, go raid the fridge a little, visit the toilet, and then get back to the game. Most times, you're blessed enough to have a whole pack (or more) of game discs to switch to.

People like Auntie Kim Neo don't have that privilege. They don't have some other game to play. They don't choose their adventure. They're handed their "game" and they're stuck with it. If we are to talk about death, I say they have the right to want to skip to the death part. Just turn off the PS2 and be done with it.

Us? Deep down, we actually like that PS2. No matter how game-less we seem to be, we persist in seeking a game that will satisfy us. Deep down, we want to have a game to play. We just want some other stuff to go with it, like some good snacks on the dinner table, an Astro channel to switch to when we're tired of playing, and probably a good MP3 to blare music and drown out the Naruto theme song that gets annoying eventually. When we don't get those, we get bored, we blame the PS2, we call Naruto a fad, and we curse the PS company for marketing dumb games.

I went too far again. Apologies to die-hard PS2 Naruto fans.

Anyway, the next time you begin to think life is meaningless, and start wishing a random car would hit you and smear your remains on the road so that you can get to heaven faster... try to think of people in your local church and other people around you (in the news, maybe?) who're going through really tough times. Try to feel a little bit dumb.

Then grab that PS2 controller, choose a better game, feel happy about being able to choose a game... and start playing with gusto!

¹Wife: Mrs Chua. Mr & Mrs Chua open their house for the Klebang ministry.
²Brother: Unc Bvarry; Nieces: Sherene, Sharonne, Jaslyn
³Husband: Unc Kian Boon; Children: Shin Shin, Ah Zheng, Derk, Qi

Updates on Mr Chua

He was discharged two days ago, but he still has to carry a urine bag around because he can't urine on his own just yet. He'll be back in the hospital again in two weeks.

Continue to pray k?

Anyone who knows about anyone being sick or who needs prayer, you can either leave a comment here, or leave a tag on the chatbox, or email me at tsehwei@gmail.com.

Thank you!

Young Writers' Camp 2007

Hey, people~ this is the latest SU event going on (not really, it's just the one that I know of). Got this from Uncle Rodney.

Camp details
Date 18 - 20 August 2007 (blog's info)
Venue Grace Hill Orchard Lodge, Bukit Tinggi (near Genting Highlands)
Camp Fee RM 160 (inclusive of lodging, meals, and transportation)
Late Bird Special RM 180 (for registration after July 31)
Featuring Sivin Kit, Ng Wah Lok, KJ John, Colin Kirton and more
Other details For teens aged 13 - 19 (plus/minus is ok, according to them)

*Places are limited to only 30 campers

Links:

• Email : youngwriterscamp@gmail.com
• Blog : www.youngwriterscamp.blogspot.com
• Registration Form : http://su.org.my/images/stories/Camps/ywcform(2007).pdf
• Web : http://su.org.my/index2.php?option=content&task=view&amp;amp;id=154&pop=1&page=0

It's not like a school or anything. It's more like Scripture Union creating an environment that can encourage people to write, and write well. In the camp form, you'll see lines like:

• "How do I write a blog that people want to read?"
• "How do I write songs that inspire people to worship?"
• "How do I write Easter skits that my friends won't feel shy to perform?"
• "How can writing change my world?"
• "How can I write to give glory to God?"

What's the Programme Like?
Campers will be part of a 3-step programme over the course of 3 days.
First Step : Explore motivations for writing by learning to write for ourselves
Second Step : Learn how to use our gifts for writing to glorify God
Third Step : Putting our writing into action: writing for the community (writing for others)

After the camp, campers are then free to group together and embark on a project of their own choice. You may publish a book, launch a magazine, or come up with something completely unexpected... Read more>>>

Things Spawned by SU YWC Camps
Community Impact
YWC and Phases investigative reporting assignments have ignited friendships and connections leading to volunteerism, internships, political awareness and social action.

Pivotal Career Choices
YWCs were the catalysts that led many young Malaysians to careers in journalism, academia, publishing, policymaking, advertising and other fields strongly influenced by the written word.


Ex-Campers on YWC
"...A space where I could be loved for myself, and write to make sense of the world of God."

Petra Gimbad, media officer

"The Phyw (Phases Young Writers) helped me to accept who I am."

Woon Tien Li, undergrad student

"I was 13 when I attended YWC '01. It was a very talented crowd of individuals that met me there. Well read, outspoken, inclined towards a myriad of different things from art, society, books, science, music, writing, and randomness.
I was intimidated. I felt stupid.
And that was probably the best feeling or 'awareness' which I brought back from camp, the realisation that I did not know."

Hwa Yi Zheng, model & student

"For my first investigative report, I had to find people who have never bought an illegal VCD in their lives! It was extremely challenging..."

Catalina Rembuyan, postgrad student in UM

"The Phases community... provided me with excellent exposure, both to individuals who take writing seriously, and to the subcultures inhabited by journalists, literary critics, and Christian thinkers in Malaysia."

Hwa Yang Jerng, quantitative analyst & freelance philosopher

"YWC gave me an important tool I never knew I had. Now I need to hone it, use it and entrust it to His glory."

Yoshua Chua, IT consultant

*Taken and adapted from Scripture Union's Young Writers' Camp Informative Flyer and the Scripture Union Website

Ray Sim, Mr and Mrs Chua

Ray Sim

Raymond's currently in the Putra Hospital. He broke a thigh bone when his motor collided with a Waja (Waja's fault, according to the police). The impact was so great that the strap on his helmet broke and his helmet flew off his head, causing some bleeding on his head when he hit the ground. Well, before that, he smacked into the windscreen and then flew over the Waja. His doctor says he has to rest for 6 months before he can properly walk again. STPM's in November, and he can't go to school, so he has to study on his own (can't even go for tuition).

Ray said he kept laughing after he was hit (dunno why). And he wasn't like afraid or in shock. He was very cheerful and jokey when we visited him in the hospital, although it was obvious that he was very uncomfortable with his unshiftable position on the bed.

Prayer items: Speedy recovery, and that he can cope with the pressures of studying for STPM on his own; and thank God he's alive and didn't get a concussion!


Mr and Mrs Chua

Mr Chua's currently in the General Hospital. His stomach was bloated for a few days due to the inability to excrete (urine etc.). He waited in GH for a few hours before a medical officer (MO) in Auntie Bee Wan's (an MGC-ian and a nurse in GH) department managed to help him "cut the queue". Before that he was already vomiting real bad and he was still a Number 15 Emergency patient waiting for Number 2 to finish. He was diagnosed with urinary problem, and discharged with medication.

When he went home, he could neither eat or drink, nor excrete. His stomach was bloated again, and Mr and Mrs Chua left for GH at 7am the next day. He waited for quite some time in the emergency unit before he could finally get a bed in the ward. Uncle Philip went to see him yesterday, and reported that Mr Chua was his usual cheerful and talkative self. Those who've either talked to Mrs Chua in church or actually interacted with Mr Chua (especially those who go for football) will know that both of them are really fervent believers and classic "Paul"'s - people who rejoice in all circumstances and pray faithfully for other believers. Although they're already past 70.

Ask yourself if you can confidently say your fire for God will not mellow 60 years from now.

Mrs Chua's all alone at home taking care of her aged mother, and she's not that young anymore. Although she tried hard to put a smile on her face, yesterday saw her looking tired and weary from all the anxiety and stress.

Her eyes were welling up with tears when she told me about Mr Chua on Monday, when I went to take durians from her, and I really almost cried too, just seeing her be so brave and strong.

I don't really know what's wrong with Mr Chua, but it has to do with his prostrate, and it might be something more than just a urinary problem.

Prayer items: Pray that Mr Chua's condition isn't something really serious, pray for strength for Mrs Chua, thank God that the two are still clinging to God very tightly!


Please pray, and don't dismiss all this as something that will pass and be alright again after awhile. So many things have happened in MGC these past weeks, and it would really fill the whole page if I were to blog about Auntie Jennifer's accident at Jusco and Auntie Kim Neo's admission into the hospital. Maybe God is trying to tell us something that we've ignored all this time. Maybe it's that life is precious and time is short, that the harvest is ready to be reaped but we're not doing anything... or maybe it's something simple like the fact that most of us MGC-ians have not been prayerful individuals and that MGC has not been a prayerful church.

Pray as you would wish others to pray if the same thing happened to you or to someone you hold dear to your heart.

It's time to fold those hands and bow those heads, MGC!

Presenting the Birthday Boys. Birthday Men. Ahem.

Date : 23 June 2007 (Saturday)
Time : Approximately 9.30 p.m.
Venue : Uncle Anthony's House
The Event : Birthday Surprise

The Targets
#1 Daniel Lim Chen Wei, 22 June 1988
#2 Marcus Chee Sau Siong, 24 April 1988

Mel sms-ed everyone and said that the Gomes household was going to have a dinner for the youth.

Once an MGC youth, always an MGC youth. Hence, even the tua-tua belaka (no la) MGC-ians turned up for the makan.

Yen came up with the idea of buying a cake for Daniel and then having a surprise belated birthday celebration for him during the dinner. So we consulted Jessica and Livia, discussed and deliberated until we narrowed down the choices of cakes to Secret Recipe's cheesecake and fruitcake.

Cheesecake selected. Yen headed off to do her part of the job.

The Dinner

Shucks.

When we arrived at Mel's place, Mel said: "I wrote Daniel's name on the cake already."

Dong.

What cake??

Rupanya Mel bought a cake for Daniel already! Chocolate cake!

Yen rightly remarked: "Itulah, everything secret secret until become liddat." =.= Anyway, play by ear la~

We had some sandwiches and challenging (?) burgers, after which we played Sin Yee's Icecube game (Ah Zheng went to Ayer Keroh to fetch Qi).

Back in the house, Mel announced that we would cut the cake after the game. Sis and I were like, oh noes! What about the surprise?

Good thing Yen said we could bring out the chocolate cake first, and leave the marble cheesecake that Yen had bought for later. So we did just that. And though we tried super hard to distract the crowd with the suggestion of playing the Mafia game, Marcus' repeated calls for the cake couldn't go unheeded. So we brought out the choc cake and sang a super keng birthday song for Daniel in all sorts of versions and tunes, if I may so remark. Sis thought that since it was all already so climatic, the surprise wouldn't be much of a climax anymore. However, we really really really wanted to have a surprise, so... we devised a scheme!

We Have A Plan.

Sis would host the Mafia game, and while everyone closed their eyes after the calls for FBI etc., Yen and I would hurry to the kitchen and bring out the cake and set it in front of Marcus and Daniel.

We Have A Problem... Make That Three Problems.

1. For us to bring out the cake in such a short span of time was quite a ridiculous idea since neither one of us are real athletes (it would be peculiar to even call us fake athletes cuz we're mainly just lousy at sports. Me anyway. In that case, I'd slow Yen down! aargh!)
2. For the plan to be carried out, Marcus and Daniel would have to be sitting together. At the moment, Marcus seemed like he was gonna sit on the floor and Jeremy was sitting beside Daniel on the two-space sofa.
3. If either Marcus or Daniel died or was voted out during the game then habislah The Plan.

We Adapt.

Knowing Shaun's super powerful and efficient methods of persuasion, we employed him to get Marcus and Daniel to sit together. Scarcely a minute later, he'd seated them side by side on the two-space sofa. Dunno how he kicked Jeremy off the sofa la.

We Play.

And so the game began.

I got the FBI slip of paper! So I thought that if Yen was a Mafia, El Sen and I could kill her off easily by arresting her. If she wasn't, well, we could vote her off then muahaha~

As it happened, Yen wasn't a Mafia member. Sharma was voted off instead (he was the spy~ awwww). Nevermind. 2nd round.

Yen turned everyone on me by yelling that I was the Mafia.

Of course, that was after my dear comrade, El Sen, turned against me himself. Yes, after. =.= It was a good thing he did anyway. But this part quite kan chiong. 5 of the girls had already voted me off (tried my best to look guilty and suspicious). I was like sweating as I watched the guys vote for Marcus one by one. Oh noes!

I thought that I'd vote myself off if any of the other girls voted for someone else. Everything happened so fast that I didn't realize that I only Yen and I were left.

Yen immediately called out my name as the Mafia. And so... I died. Awwww.

Easy peasy now. When everyone had closed their eyes for the 3rd round, Yen and I sneaked off to the kitchen (Yen faked death, I guess). Sin Yee was already there with the cake. Ceh. Kan chiong dunno for wat. So she brought the cake out with the candles and all and whispered an amazingly loud whisper which was equally amazingly unheard by the crowd of youths on the floor and sofas: "Fannnnnnnn.... faaaannnnnnn".

Mel caught the hint and turned off the fan and light. We were all snickering and chuckling as Sin Yee set the cake in front of the birthday boys. Sharma had to go and set off another round of giggles with his: "Ooooo panas~ panas~" when the cake neared his side of the sofa (beside Daniel). The dead people and the schemers were laughing their heads off already, what with Marcus looking so serious about the game (eyes perfectly shut). Daniel was smiling a little bit so I think he knew already.

Sis was doing everything simply already, so everyone else adi know la. She was like "FBI open eyes, ok close eyes; Mafia open eyes, pick one person to kill, ok close eyes" before any of them could pick anyone to arrest, kill, heal or spy on. When they opened their eyes... that was the killer part la. Haha.

Marcus was like O_o !!!!!!! Daniel was like o_O !!!!!!

Super besar!

Marcus' reaction was probably due to the fact that his birthday was in April la.

So anyway, we sang the birthday song all over again for the both of them.

A very successful surprise indeed!

I love surprises muahaha~

*Gambar dipetik daripada s.H.[R].u.G.S.s

Follow-Up on Previous Posts - Wedding, Football

The Wedding

Yoke Woon and Beng Hui got emotional during the exchanging of vows. So touching ~ T_T

But I couldn't see a thing because there was this really big flower + flower pot on the piano that completely blocked my view. Well, not really completely. I could see Uncle Rodney. -_-

Beng Hui got really serious about the wedding on the wedding day itself and he even panicked a little bit, according to Tse Shuen. Yoke Woon and her dad had a lot of trouble getting out of the car and walking up the steps cuz of her big dress. It was really unique, by the way. Check out the photos Yen posted.

The Wedding March (the majestic and grand one) and the Bridal Chorus ("here comes the bride, all dressed in white" etc) were ok, I guess. I'm looking forward to Song En's wedding in July! Then I can *sharingan some techniques. Muahaha~

... Beng Hui's gonna be an Uncle Beng Hui soon!!!!!!! (I keep saying that ~hmm~)


The Football

Players:

• Geng Yi
• Yen Mei
• Shaun
• Sin Yee
• Yik How
• Mr Chuah (he's good. really good. puts us to shame.)
  

Auntie Yu Ming, Mrs Chuah, and I mainly cheered our hearts out for The Team (we actually have a team! Yeah!). Vicky @ Viki (I don't really know how to spell her name - can you tell?), the goalkeeper for the Indian team was really awesome. Her kicks were like whoaaaaaa, and her goalkeeping was like mannnnnn, and her solo-playing was like fuhhhhhh. Auntie Yu Ming said that she kept asking when the next Sports Day was because it was the "happiest day of her life".

Thanks to Geng Yi's pushing, we managed to mingle around with the neighbourhood kids. Of the Indian players, we got to know Viki and Gabriel (from SFI, very talkative). I'm not speaking for the rest when I say I don't know the other Indians. I talked a bit to Fitri, the young Malay player (very cute) who loosened up and joined our team in our attempts to capture the perfect Matrix shot. Shaun feigned doofusness and called him "Aidil Fitri" instead. The other young boy was Deben or at least has a name that sounds like that but might not look like that. He was super serious and was quite annoyed with Shaun and the other MGC players for their main-main spirit. He took several deep breaths before huffing-and-puffingly taking the penalty shot.

All I can say is... kids are just so adorable.

I didn't know that there were people who actually took football so seriously. Other than professional football players la. I mean, we can actually form a ministry for football! You don't hear about a volleyball ministry or hockey ministry anywhere.

I still don't get it. Hmm.

Anyway, for those who don't join us because you think football with kids is boring and you'll tar-pau them and that it's really much nicer to do something else on a Sunday than goof around with kids, I just wanna say that you're sorely wrong. For one, those kids aren't our typical MGC-kids footballers. They're not lousy or anything. They might not be as good as you are, but they can present at least a little challenge if they really play.

Also, actually putting aside yourself and your activities to recognize the need in this ministry isn't really that hard. When I first joined this venture, I felt a little lazy and like I was forced to go. But as the weeks go by, I feel like I'm enjoying every week more and more. And especially more when there are youths who show that they want to help. The saying, "the more the merrier" isn't a lie or a mere sentence. It's true! It's so much better when we all bear the ministry together, isn't it?

It's like me, sis and Shaun washing the dishes together instead of just one person doing it. It really makes a difference. Those who wash dishes at home would understand la.

Like Yen said: Join us!

But don't force yourself. Haha.


*Sharingan = a skill solely owned by the famed Uchiha clan in the anime + manga series Naruto, which enables its user to copy almost anything e.g. skill, technique, writing

football in klebang

Well, we went football again last Sunday. But this time I brought my camera along.
"We Are The Champions" walk. Macam right?

Self-proclaimed Ronaldhino. Ada gaya. This shirtless boy very semangat.

Sin Yee's pretty flexible.


Fellow MGC-ians tertumpas with the power kick from the goal keeper (matrix style).


The kid decided to go nuts with us. The ball is way up... couldn't capture it.


Nice weather, great fun.

Below is a penalty kick . Watch it. Proves what i say about the boy in the 2nd pic.

apa lagi... come join us!

the wedding day

the day came and gone. they are finally married.