Pre-Mission Trip

Before we had to leave for Philippines, we have to go through a 5-day "training week" in the church. To me it's more of a planning week than training week, 'cause I kinda felt the same before and after. More of like we plan to do whatever-whatever stuff in Philippines than to equip ourselves with special skills before going there.

The only training we had was from Ps Tan who kinda gave us some extra knowledge on how to make proper sermons and prepare our hearts to reach out to the people

I was in the community development team, along with Darren and Kae Lynn. It sounded interesting at first, teaching the community new stuffs~ Until when we really started to think of what to teach the adults there. We had no clue what to teach at all because we didn't know what can they learn, what utensils they have and thus we cannot know what we can offer.

If weren't for the internet and Kae Lynn's baking skills, I think I'd be lost.

The other teams did planning as well, ice breaking games, concert songs, Vacation Bible School stuffs (for kids), youth activities, computer literacy programs, etc.

We did concert practices as well, and the concert team at first "cleverly" chose only Hillsong and Chris Tomlin songs, which in a way "turns me off", if you get what I mean. Anyway, I was clever enough to let Kae Lynn be the main pianist while I step back to the keyboard. Which turned out for the better, Kae Lynn was a very experienced pianist and I imagine most churches wouldn't thought to have more than one keyboard. I was RIGHT. =P

We also did sermons for those who haven't preached yet. As for me, I've done my part and all is left is to enjoy the peace within my heart and the presentations in front of me. In the end, our gifted preachers turned out to be Elaine Sua and Ong Kee Weng!

From top left: Darren, Joel, Wayne, Sylvester, Julian, Kee Weng

From middle left: Jin Wang, Renee, Shih Wen, Ps Joanne, Andrew, Jessica, Lucius

From bottom left: Laura, Kae Lynn, Kay Lyn, Elaine, CP aka Sippy, Louis, Joanne

These are the group photos that we took before flying all the way to Philippines. 'Twas a very nice week. And it gets nicer in days to come.

Back from Philippines

It's been two days since I've been back to Philippines. It was a very rewarding trip. And there are a few things taken note of in Philippines.

1. The sun rises at 4.45am. It's already very bright when we woke up at 5am or 6am

2. Every meal we ate surely consisted pork and pork and pork. With FATS

3. It's rainy season there.

4. The most common songs played on the radio are: 1) Way Back into Love, 2) Jai Ho, 3) The Climb (Hannah Montana Movie Theme Song)

5. There's lots of kinds of public transports in Philippines

6. The vans in Philippines are awesomely huge and powerful

7. It's hard to see tall Philipinos around

8. Stuffs there are VERY cheap and the food is VERY fresh

9. They utilize cement roads for smaller roads (cheaper I guess)

10. Thank God they know English!

Real Philippines stuff coming on! (My internet sort of sucks)

Things that Made Me Squeal with Joy

Star Trek movie was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Epic cool, uber nice. Made me wanna play the old games and watch the old series. =)

Funny part is (although quite expected), everyone's doing the Vulcan "live long and prosper" hand sign, and quite amusing when you get to see people who can't do it.

It's quite exciting to watch the James T. Kirk's era too, since the only James T. Kirk I remember clearly is through a computer game and my brother played when we were young. It's nice to hear the catchphrases too, "Kirk out", "Sulu, take us home", "Live long and prosper" etc. Reminds me of the old days XD

Everyone, try doing this!

While searching for Star Trek's posters, it's funny when I got inspirational posters instead of the film's official posters, which I usually did when searching for movie's posters.

LOL

Another thing that made me happy was when my sister asked me to do her assignment. Okay, I never liked to do other people's work let alone my sister's. But the content was tempting, which is creating a website. All alpha management kids should go through this before, and of course I did, too.

Plus, the topic is more tempting - LOTR. Can't say no to that, can I?

So I helped doing it in the end. I didn't do all, well, the typing part. All I did was just the designing.

Now, the alpha kids are using some software called KompoZer. Truthfully, KompoZer sucks. If you wanna create a website, use Dreamweaver at least.

Throughout the whole journey, I found this picture and I deem it very cool. Then I found out it's a game picture. So in the end I bought the game yesterday to find out how it is =)

Used two days to finish the whole website. Simple and nice. Love it. Especially the teaser page XD

You can view it here if you wanna check it out.

Yeah, I'm bragging. Can't I feel proud of my, I mean, our work?

After the whole ordeal, this made me thinking. If I have the chance in the future, I'd take my second degree in IT. Got a feeling that I took the wrong course. Oh well, accounting's good in a way too.

Emo post... don't read!

Yea, I know. It's been a long time since my last post. It's always been a long time since my last posts, ain't it? I guess I'll have to be more dilligent now.

Here comes the last days of the last semester of the last year in MMU. Truthfully speaking, I never thought I'd be feeling sad though. Come to think of it, I've never been really attached to anywhere in my life, due to the fact that I always move around Malaysia, that I don't really mix around with friends after school, and that I always stay at home in order not to bother my parents and make them worry if I go out (and maybe get a scolding if I stayed out too late).

This place, however, gave me the freedom to do things I want without any worries of being a burden to anyone around me. (I have this character okay, I can't help it) I can go to town anytime I want, I can join clubs without being influenced by anyone, I can stay up late and I can spend time watching anime non-stop.

Can't do this anymore when I go back... (emo)

Here, I've met a whole bunch of acquaintances, friends, pals, buddies, brothers and sisters, wonderful uncles and aunties, people I look up to, people that depended on me, of course, people that I don't really like at all, people who successfully pissed me off.

Nevertheless, everything I've experienced in MMU makes it seem that 5 years of my life seemed not to be just 5 years at all. It seemed to be one whole life itself. In fact, this is the time of my transition from a kid to an adult, both physically and in mind. I don't really know whether I really have an adult mind or not, but I know I've matured a lot since the day when I entered this campus.

Coming here, well, wasn't really a deep decision. I did not make a research on every possible colleges or universities that offered the course that I want. I did not even initiate to come to MMU myself. One fine day in BP I was doing my own business when my mom called me to decide where to go. At first I wanted to take music, mom said only people that really really like to do music then should take and I'd most probably suffer if I do (well that's true, I hardly practise). Then I wanted to do IT (since I like to play computer games), then my mom said I'd stare at the PC whole day during work if I took IT (what's the difference now anyway? Auditors stare at the PC literally whole day during work as well).

In the end, I got so frustrated and I decided to take accounting in the end, since it's one of my best/favourite subjects. Finally my mom gave way.

(Basically that's how we make decisions at home. Mom says you can choose anything we want, in the end the "anything" came down to a teensy range of selections. Have to admit that I hate to suggest decisions at home)

Being in MMU was also a compilation of a lot of first times. Yeah, I gave my first times to lotsa people ;) First time using the internet, first time staying away from home for a huge amount of time, first time staying up till 7am in the morning, first time losing my beloved bible, first time involved in an event with a post, first time learning fencing, first time learning Japanese, first time buying pirated textbooks, first time going to prom, first time giving a 30-minute sermon, first time getting pissed till I cried... first time falling in love, first time feeling the heartbreak of an unrequited love, first time betrayed by someone I trusted, first time of feeling lonliness
I've come to know certain people which became close to me, Shin Dee, who has been by my side since the day we met; Huiyin, who is sitting beside me in every class since Beta until now; CP, who is my beloved sister in CF.

I'm so gonna miss everything in MMU. The events, the people, the place, the skies, the CF, the clubs (definitely not the classes), the freedom.

All will be naught when I go back. Sighs...

My first "real" sermon

I remember the last time I stood in front of a church congregation which totaled up to maybe around 100 people. 

Well, it's Youth Sunday... It can be considered as an annual event to the church, and a special day for the youths.

I've stood in front of a crowd before, I've been standing in front of hundreds of people every Monday for 3 years... But never because of something called "public speaking". 

The last time I spoke to the congregation all I remembered was fear, nervousness, painful stares, the too-short-sermon that I gave which was fully written on a piece of paper. My head was a total blank, I tried to look back at the crowd but never managed to do it more than two times. I've never did any public speaking like that before!

If you were among the congregation, I guess you'll remember me staring hard to my "piece of paper" and trying to avoid the cold, hard stares. Even the opening and closing prayer was fully written on it.

Gosh, what a scary experience.

And last night I had to repeat that similar experience.

The difference is that now I am older, more experienced and I guess I know a bit more about God Himself.

But still, the scariness stayed. I've never really tried to talk freely for more than 10 minutes in front of a crowd, although I know I'm fully prepared and this was not the first time, I was really nervous.

My hand was shaking, my words hesitated to join together. Still, it was a good thing I did a full preparation, so it wasn't as scary as going in front and speak without anything in hand.

I talked about one of the rarest spoken sermon in Malaysia (at least I think it is) :  Tithes and offering.  Seriously, you can hardly get sermons about this. Maybe it's a sensitive issue? (I wonder why)

Through the whole 30 minutes, I guessed I got a bit comfortable with the situation because my nervousness reduced halfway through the sharing. 

When the sermon finished I wanted to end with a song. I don't know whether I did the right thing by going to the piano and playing the song (the pianist couldn't manage to play last minute so I had to be the backup...). Maybe I should leave the rest of the music team to play the song while I close the sermon with a prayer? Mmmm...

When it all ended, half of me was really relieved. The other half was still facing the aftermath of the storm of tensions. But all was well. Thank God.

One thing that I did not expect is that after the service, pastor asked me to preach on one Sunday in the future... It was a complicated mix of feelings between happy and horror at the same time. To add to things, the PA system always make a record of every sermon, and I heard my voice when they play a small part of mine.

It-was-seriously-E.M.B.A.R.A.S.S.I.N.G.

I swore my laughter was weird.

Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou ED - Aishiteru (Translated: I Love You)

Lyrics:

Nee, mou sukoshi dake
Mou sukoshi dake kiite ite hoshii
Nee, mou sukoshi dake
Mou sukoshi dake wagamama ii desu ka

Te ni ireta totan ni kiete shimaisou
Kotoba o kuremasen ka

Aishiteiru aishiteiru sekai ga owaru made
Bakageteru to warai nagara kuchi ni dashite mite
Aishiteiru
Sonna koto ga kantan ni dekinakute
Umaku aiseru you ni to
Ano sora ni inotte iru

Nee, shiritakute mo
Shiri tsukuse nai koto bakari de
Dakara hitotsu ni naranai futatsu no karada o
Seiippai dakishimeta

Anata ga iru sore dake de mou sekai ga kawatte shimau
Monotone no keshiki ga hora azayaka ni utsuru
Itsunomani ka hanareteita te o tsunaide aruiteku
Umaku aisete iru kana
Ano sora ni kiite miru no

Itsuka hanareba nare ni naru hi ga kite mo
Anata o omotta hibi ga areba sore de ii
Itsuka hanareta imi o shiru hi ga kuru yo
Yakusoku surukara ashita e

Aishiteiru aishiteiru sekai ga owaru made
Bakageteru to warai nagara kuchi ni dashite mite
Aishiteiru
Sonna koto ga kantan ni wa dekinakute
Umaku aiseru you ni to
Ano sora ni inotte iru

Ano sora ni inotte iru



Translation:

Hey, just a little more,
Could you listen to me just a little more?
Hey, just a little more,
Can I be selfish to you just a little more?

The moment when I just have it in my hands, it feels that it will vanish away
Would you give me just a few words?

I love you, I love you until the end of the world
Just you try and laugh and say I'm stupid
"I love you"
It's hard for me to say these words.
I want to love you with all my heart
that is why I am praying to that sky.

Hey, although I want to understand
There are still too many things I could not comprehend
That is why while these two bodies that would never become one
I would embrace them with all my might

With only your presence the world would evolve
The monotonous scenery will even burst to a fountain of colors
Before we've realized it our separated hands are held together while we are walking side by side
"Would I be loving you correctly?"
I am asking this to the skies above

Even the day comes when our paths would divide
If I have memories of you, I will be alright
Because one day will come when I will understand the meaning of our parting
Thus I make this promise to tomorrow

I love you, I love you until the end of the world
Just you try and laugh and say I'm stupid
"I love you"
It's hard for me to say these words.
I want to love you with all my heart
that is why I am praying to that sky.

This is why I am praying to that sky.

Friends - Micheal W. Smith

This is dedicated to all of you =) A very nice song