Cebu Part 8 (just to round things up)

Day #8:

I actually left day 8 out, since it basically consisted sleeping in and then rushing to the airport. Oh - we had major AAR (after-action-review). It was wonderful sitting at that table and just listening and sharing what we had learnt from Cebu. Kuya also shared some memorable things. Like how sometimes we cannot see things physically, but we need to take it in faith, if not we will burn out. Like how you should bring back seeds, not the plant.

So I guess now, Day #9 - ...

Who knows what God has in store for us? I know this trip had a great impact on me, and gave me a much needed spiritual boost. God confirmed some things recently as well.

But so... pray! PRAY!

POC loh!

I shalt help Joshua, since he has not posted.

Anyway, Joshua Lim will now be PTE Lim for a few days before he gets his next posting! Aunty Hazel, mum, dad and myself went for the Passing Out Ceremony. The food was good i must say! And it was a good video!
Here are some photos to whet your appetite:



Ghosts in the background:


The shiny head steals the show!


After that Joshua was so eager to get to cell - in his No. 4! Aaron was having a sorta mini-bday party, so we watched hairspray (eternal high), and half of you got served!

i shalt leave Joshua to give us a heart-warming story of God's goodness in BRTC - so faR!

Classic Budget Travelling!

Dramatic first day of Vietnam, to say the least.

We should have noted the ominous sign of the electronic signboard breaking down at the budget terminal. We experienced massive turbulence somewhere in the middle of Vietnam whilst on Tiger Airways (Daph screamed, Dwayne got his really sweaty palms). With a thunderstorm in the backdrop, our arranged pickup isn't really a pickup afterall. He shoves us into a cab and the cab drives off. Then, in the pouring rain, he asks us... "where we going"? The Ritz Hotel. And he didn't know what that was. OMG. (and i did not have the hotel's address, not like its Hilton or Sheralton).

Thank goodness for Ho-H0, a 3 mins call to her allows her to give us full details of the hotel's address. Lay Thai To. Dwayne fishes out Lonely Planet, finds the location and points it out to the driver. The driver is superman - thunderstorm, highway, using two handphones, one radio receiver, reading our map, and its a manual car. OMG.

So we reach where we're supposed to be and we see this shabby sign that says "RITZ HOTEL". Can't see the hotel but the sign points to a dark alley which looks even dirtier. We look at each other as we peer into the alley. Its still raining heavily. And the driver only speaks vietnamese. OMGGGGGGG GG GLHF.

I don't usually complain but..

I seriously used to love my fridays. Fridays mean book out right? Well, not this week. One week to PoC and my OC puts me down for guard duty. On a friday, for a ridiculous reason. Its lovely, he's a nice guy but sheesh friday. So okay, I didn't exactly mind doing guard.

Until, I was told that I was playing both services on Sunday and XYQ on Saturday as well. So basically, since 6pm last night, I've had maybe about 3 and a half hours of okay rest and I have to function till 8pm tonight. Simply stellar.

Yang, your holidays have bad timings. Either that or you must coordinate in the future with my OC. For that, you owe me one guard duty in which you will have to wear my uniform, pretend you're a private and do my prowling.

Keep your line open!

Oh, P.S - IPPT Silver (:

NUS

I just came back from one extended day (supposedly 4D3N) at NUS.

It's been one tiring experience, a mixed one at that. There are things to love and hate about my OG. The people are pretty good, but they can get quite clique-ish. I've made a few really good friends, but still can be left out at times. The girls (and guys) generally look good. But i dunno. Will have to wait and see how things work out :)

I have been one NOISY camper, and now i look back and wonder if it was all wayang. Serious! Now i've become quite high profile, so really will have to wait and see how things work out and all.

It is quite an exciting time though, and i think God may be moving me into something here.

The last lap.

Alas, the great adventure is coming to an end. From the cherryblossoms in Hokkaido, to the seaside hawker fare of Penang, to the karaoke culture of Cebu, its time for the last lap: Pho-crazed Vietnam.

Day 1-5: Hanoi City
Day 5-8: Ho Chi Min City

On a similar note, Joshua's kilogrammes have been disappearing on permanent holidays. I guess his old jeans should be migrating elsewhere for good too. Therein lies the tough question here: would you swap hokkaido, penang, cebu and vietnam and lose 20kg instead?

Both would be good. =) Well done Joshy-wa-wa.

Yang

Cebu Part 7 : "If God can use a donkey..."

Day #7:

Today was the great split. Ps Daph, Aaron, Daryl, Rachel, Abel, Ryan and myself stayed behind at Daan Batayan, but unfortunately could not sleep in. See guys, it's fair! Somemore we had to teach Sunday School. It's funny cause Abel, myself and some of the others who went to the other churches were preparing the night before, on the assumption that we might be teaching Sunday School for kids (whoa. long sentence). So we thought of doing the prodigal son, and stayed up to think about it a little. Guess what? Never used it lol. Because i had to teach the youth and Abel and Ryan had to teach the young 'uns, so they used the lost sheep and coin parables.

There's a story in that - i reused my devotion material, but ended up going off a little and focusing a little on how everyone has personal responsibility to reach people, how they have their own spheres of influence. And it touched on a point in Pastor Daph's sermon later on how the Holy Spirit is for everyone, that God wants to use us to touch others. And i believe God led me to see this young man who helped set up the chairs of his own accord - when i opened for Q&A he shared about his struggles in sharing his faith. His friends would tease him for not having a god made of wood or stone, and i felt that he was rather discouraged. So i shared about my dad, and i really felt that God showed me the incident of him helping with the chairs to reassure him that God notices, he sees the heart. Something like that lah.

The other testimonies from the other teams were great as well, only poor ah Tan had a bit of an unresponsive church (i bet she was happy Kuya was with her!). Euvin had an awesome testimony about how he and Lester had the same prompting. And some teams suffered cold Sprite.

So after the service we had the kids dancing, and i had my embarassment. Apparently, lemit (delicious) can only be used to described other things if it is phrased in a certain way, and i didn't know that. So i called the kids delicious. Haha.

Pastor Vic's son (darn, can't remember his name) is an awesome drummer, for someone TOTALLY self-taught, and considering that there probably aren't any materials or whatever to learn from... wow. haha! a talent.

Quick lunch, and it was time to bid farewell. Packed all our stuff, and off we went! i got to be in the jeepny (better mr chang?) this time, and time passed quickly, cause we had some matchmaking game, which i hope no one took too seriously ;)

Night was halo-halo! i personally think NOT mixing is nicer. Aaron and Hiang tricked daryl into nearly swallowing tissue. Nasty.