Pray for the sick (no, not me)

Shuen is down with bacterial infection because she didn't rest after being attacked by food poisoning after the OA trip. Stomach cramps and high fever have been plaguing her since she got back from OA.

Pray ya.

Wakaka. My first MGC post

Since this is my first MGC blog post, I reckon everyone should read it with much consideration and seriousness of mind and heart. Heh. No lar. Kidding.

Hwei told me how she felt the youth has changed. I felt the same way. Good thing!

Reminds me of when I was a younger youth. All the youths during my secondary school day has left. The last 'older youth' was Geng Yi.

All's left of my batch is Sharma and me.

There will come a time where everyone you ever knew in youth will leave. If you stay. ^_^

Jesus gave a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you.

Appreciate one another while you still can. Do kind things for one another. Make the most of every opportunity in youth. Serve! Teach the kids! Wash dishes! Go football! Songlead! So that when it's your turn to leave, you can leave with no regrets.

Happy Belated Birthday to Marcus!

No, we did not forget. I remembered while I was lying sick in bed yesterday, but I had no way to get up and post something about it.

But... HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY nonetheless!

We hope you're having a great time in NZ (being the math whiz and all *wink*). May your ketuaan help you more in gaining wisdom and knowledge for Him.

God bless you!



p/s: very not nice that you're not here anymore for us to play a birthday prank on you =(

OA Trip - Pahang

Note: Most of the photos of the Sunday Schools are with Uncle Charles, Uncle Rodney, and Shu Lynn. Read Shaun and Adrian's blogs too.

Practice on Friday was cancelled because sis wasn't back from Batu Pahat and Sharma was still at work in Alor Gajah.

We went to 2 Orang Asli villages in Pahang last Saturday & Sunday (19 & 20 April), with Uncle Charles as our guide. Participants:

• Uncle Rodney
  
• Aaron
• Adrian
• Hwei
• Sharma
• Shaun
• Shu Lynn
  
• Shuen

Saturday

• 8.00 am - Met up at Uncle Rodney's house in Bukit Beruang

• 8.30 am - Finished stuffing everything into the back of the Unser and left the house. Our butts were crying out for space.

some of us were even suicidal

• dunno what time - Reached Petronas in Negeri Sembilan and realized we left the props in Melaka
  

• dunno what time - Reached Econsave to buy new improvised props and packet drinks & food for the OA

balloon is Goliat's head after being chopped off
- Unc Rod's idea

• Had lunch somewhere (looked for a makan place with a lot of people wan) and Sharma finished the leftovers of the 6 plates of wa tan ho, mee, and bee hoon.
  

"you know the bottomless pit the guy in 300 fell into?"
"that was my stomach."

• dunno what time - Met up with Uncle Charles and sat through a bumpy ride (Uncle Charles: "macam naik kuda") in his church's van

• 2.15 pm - Arrived at the 1st village. Not as bad as the one we went to the first time (youths who went for the 1st OA trip are cringing now). Got proper church with a cement floor. Shu Lynn led the singing, Adrian taught the kids how to fold their helmets for the battle between Israel and the Philistines, we did the skit & memory verse, then handed gifts to the children.
  

• 5 pm - Uncle Charles brought us to Tasik Bera, where we first had a boat ride. There were 9 of us, so 5 went into Boat #1, and 4 into Boat #2. The motorboater in Boat #1 kept telling us: "mereka ada 4 orang takper. kita de 5 orang. bahaya." and "hah jangan bergerak-gerak. sini tak cetek. tengok tu. dalam. takde yang cetek." Ish.

so this is what we did on the boat: sit. still. real still.

• I didn't dare move even when I saw Sharma elak a branch. And so I got smacked in the face by a branch. Nevermind. Better then looking up from the brown water (and spurting the brown water) and having the 24-year-old motorboater smile down at me and say: "tengok. kan dah cakap jangan gerak-gerak?"

k la. once in awhile looked at the sky.

sometimes the water aso got other colours la.

• Anyway, after turning back to somewhere near where we started, we got to jump into the lake with our lifejackets and swim around =D
  

...and so we loosened up a bit after that (adrian blocked)

• 7 something - After splashing about forming human chains and having swimming competitions, we bersusah-payah climbed back up onto the boats and headed to the motorboat chalet to bathe.

National Swimming Team

• 8.00 pm - Arrived at the 2nd village (got big church, toilet, and TV - what kinda OA village izzat!) and did some improving on the props (the previous village's kids said Daud killed Goliat with a tukul & bom) before dinner. After that, we started the Saturday Sunday School. This time we had a game, led by Sharma (the previous village's church was much smaller, so takut the windows go ping pong piang) in place of the craft. Then we handed out the toys and clothes that some MGC-ians had donated. Toys were cool.

check this out

• After that we hung around with the kids and did some silly stuff with them. Some of the photos are with Shu Lynn, so we'll check out her blog later (when she's free).

sharma doing some original super basketball skill

• Then we practiced our song item (since we really didn't feel like performing the skit for the adults for certain reasons ^_^") - You Are My All In All - and the testimony-ers ran through their testimonies again.

• 11.30 pm - Tidur. The girls, anyway.
  

Sunday

• 7.00 am - Woke up, did our Quiet Time, and began practicing song item and running through testimonies again. Oh ya. Shu Lynn taught us a really cool Hindustani dance. And sis taught us the equally cool Chicken Dance.
  

• 8.30 am - Breakfast - Bee hoon, fried eggs, milo.
  

• 9.00 am - Villagers were not ready for service. Uncle Charles said they looked to the sun to determine the time (really? couldn't tell if he was bluffing) and it just so happened Sunday's sun was a little late. So we went to the river to look-see. And we did some other stuff.
  

free kick. guess what happened after that?

hint: hwei's the goalkeeper

• 9.30 am - Worship service began with Uncle Charles telling everyone to "boreo" (senyap?), and then he commenced the meeting with a prayer and a song. We sang a few songs in BM, and a few in the Semelai language. Quite interesting. Should try that in Melaka one day. I passed a songbook to the uncle next to me, and he said, "Takper. Tak faham." And so most of the time, he didn't sing. A few of the adults were illiterate also. Hmm. The song requests were mostly by the ladies. The men sat and listened. Sometimes sang. Then Uncle Charles read from Psalm 92, about how some people would prefer to tanam padi, pancing ikan, and toreh getah on Sunday, and sneer at the OA who came to church and call them fools. Admired how he made the psalm applicable to everyone there, regardless of occupation or culture. After the singing, we introduced ourselves (and were interrogated on our relationship statuses ^_^"), Shu Lynn and Adrian shared their testimonies, and Uncle Rod shared on 2 Samuel - David and Bathsheba's Adultery. It was long, but substantial. I personally think Uncle Rod preaches better in BM than in English. Maybe because the malay language is more expressive, and less polite (as in doesn't say bad things in a good way etc).

• After that, we mingled somemore with the children and finally took some photos with them.

no OA trip is complete without teaching them the 'peace' sign

and having them use more fingers for it than two.

hyperactive brothers with a cute big-eyed baby bro

• Finally left them and started the journey back to Melaka. Sis was feeling very sick the whole of Sunday. Had stomach cramps and vomited. =( We did some stuff in the car which I don't find appropriate for mention here in this blog, but which I might write about in my own blog ^_^"
  

this is all i'll let out here

Easter Evangelistic Nite 2008

Due to popular demand (by the Cheeses =D), here's the update on the Easter Nite.

The choir from Bukit Panjang came up to Melaka in the afternoon and went for lunch in Bei Zhan. They started practicing in church at 4pm (and I was an hour late *paiseh*). Around 40 came, I think, though the choir only consisted of 20+ people.

Sharma and Shaun started the night with a prayer and singspiration. songleading) The choir started immediately after that instead of having dinner first, so their voices wouldn't get messed up by the food. They sang 3 songs:

• Two Kingdoms - Heaven and Earth
• What Kind of King?
• Is He the King?

Then Mr Loo Wing You from Bukit Panjang GC shared for erm quite some time before we headed downstairs for some refreshments.

Sharma looked so nervous XD But a pat on the back for a job well done anyway! This was actually his first time songleading!

Altar call didn't receive a positive outward response (except for the one hand that went up), but as someone said:

Judge not each day by the harvest but by the seed you sow.

We may not have seen a padi grow that night, but we may have begun the seeding process for someone else to water and harvest =)

We made some new friends that night, and Lai (Yen's friend) came for Sunday worship and last Saturday's youth meeting.

Continue to pray for those who came that night k?

Thanks to the Cheeses for your concern and enthusiasm! Sorry for falling below the mark in ours T_T



p/s: I don't have any pictures cuz I didn't snap any ^_^" There's one in Yen's blog though. I'll try to hunt around to see who took photos that night, besides the Bukit Panjangers!