Reflection for PPW

For the past two days, I’ve been thinking hard of what to write for reflection this week. I struggled to write out a good piece of reflection as I am aware that I’m already a university student, and because I’ve read books by amazing authors like Elizabeth Elliot and Max Lucado. Therefore, the more I need to produce a good reflection paper. I thought of picking a verse and reflect about it. I also thought of taking passages from book and write about it. But somehow I just couldn’t get my mind working and write out a complete sentence.

So I continue to read. As I read through this book by Elizabeth Elliot, I came across this sentence that struck me “When I start to pray, I just put myself in God’s presence. Psalm 46 urges us to be still and know that He is God”. This led me to realize that as I deal with my struggle, I did not put myself in God’s presence. I’ve set my own standard for myself to achieve. I’ve dwelt in myself. What’s worse, I’ve forgotten to just come back to God and be still.

Psalm 46:10a says God wants us to come to Him and be still, to be quiet in spirit and be at peace. Sometimes the best prayer could be just being silent before God and let God do the speaking. Let God do the lead. Know that He is in control and He is God. All He wants from us is our trust and simple obedience in Him in the midst of our struggles.

In the same way, when we feel life is a mess, things doesn’t happen the way we wanted to and we struggle to do thing in our lives, we need to ask ourselves these questions:
“Have I tried too hard to take control of the situation?”, “Have I taken away God’s position as the Director of my life?”. Every time we struggle, we face the danger of putting ourselves as the one in-charge of our troubles and our lives.

This struggle that I face may seem like a peanut, but it serves as a good reminder and good reflection of what bigger struggle that is to come in the future. It taught me the attitude and the heart that I should have in any situations. I believe that we all are growing and learning to take on more responsibilities this year and hence it will be a challenging year again for all of us. Our team will be scattered in KL, Sitiawan, Aus, Us and other places. We all might not be in contact or able to take care of each other sometimes, but always remember the ultimate Source to turn to is not anyone but God alone.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, as the year 2008 begins to unfold, let this verse “Psalm 46:10a Be still and know that I am God” be our constant reminder. It reminds us that when we do not know what to do, how to do, when to do, or where to draw strength from, then all we need to do is to come back to Him, be still in spirit and know that He is God. And if we proclaim that He is God, surely also we trust that he is the One in-charge of the universe and the Only Director of our lives. We are not at all in-charge of this life and we are not our own director.

Let’s set our hearts ready to learn simple obedience and to cooperate with the mysteries of His mighty plans this year, which in His plans surely includes also trials, hardships and surprises.

Lastly, I shall end this with Romans 15;13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
God bless U, IPWS+C+L.

Kampung Trip 22-12-07

Alright, here we go...!!! hehehe.. introducing to u, our one-day-Pangkor-trip on the 22nd of December 2007....!!! from left: Kelvin Yu, Daniel (Nigerina friend of Kelvin from IMU), SiaowFong @ my elder sister, Nick @ siaowfong's boyfriend, Me....!! hehehehe.. Daniel was here in Sitiawan for two weeks, so we took him for a trip to this humble old island, hehehehe....!! In this pic, daniel looked more like a "ketua Kampung" so Kelvin has actually named this trip as "Kampung Trip"...!!!!

Fishing village... fishing boats...

Can u see the huge lizard there..??? camouflage between the rocks....!!! super big lizard man....!!

On the way, in the ferry.. Mmm two-way ticket for an adult is Rm10.. ok la, considering the ferry is fully air-conditioned and the cushion chair was not too bad... see, i was the one taking pic for them....!!!!

The main transport for tourists here is this....!! the cute pink vans....!!! one trip around the island normally costs around Rm60 yea.. so the rest of the people hopped onto ...

to the van....!!!! and i am the photographer again... yer............

Me me me....!!!!! nice beach right... but when i get married in the future, i want to go to better beach for honeymoon....!!!!

Me and my sis =>.....!!! we were only 5 yrs old and 6 yrs old ok.. haha =P

Posers...! hehe, so fun yeah.. Daniel, Kelvin, Carmen, Me.. actually i think the dead tree trunk looked quite pretty....!!! we actually walked almost to the end of the beach and came across tgis tree trunk.. so take a pic lor.. hahah...!!

Mmm, have no idea what were in the mind of these two people..... hahahaha.... maybe an alien just attacked a human being on earth... cuz the human being spotted the alien landing near a dead treetrunk beside the beach.... yea, most probably.. =>

Daniel,being super excited coming to a kampung beach, jumping high in the air.. haha... "Ketua Kampung"...!!!

YIPPIE....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! me me me....!! jet ski....!!! hahahhaaha.. super 'sua ku" la....... =.=''' but expensive hey.. Rm60 for 20mins ride.... but nvm, once in a lifetime experience, right... so, in order to save cost, everyone took turn for a ride, hehehehehe... lol...

Aiyor, Kelvin... still got time to turn back and posed, lol.. hahahah.. cheers cheers, safe journey ahead okie...!!! hehehehe... hahahah...

Mmm.. Nick looked rather frightened.... muahahahahah....!!!!

This is my sis, hehe.. looking excited after coming down from the jet-ski.. haha....!!!

Hmm, so here's the insturctor.. look so thin, and is so thin.. he and the rest of the people were apparently very excited seeing a Black coming to this beach... hehe... thanks to daniel for steering the speedboat.. lol...

before leaving the beach, we took a group picture, hihihi.... Kelvin, Daniel, Nick, Catherine (cheahyen la... haha) and siaowfong @ carmen... the beach was short, like the distance between road and seaside was only less than 10metres neh... however, this beach was rather packed with stalls and peoples, so kinda interesting compared to what we normally see on normal wide-stretched clean beach.. this beach has the malay kampung feel... yeah man.. hahaha...

from left; cheahyen, daniel, siaowfong. It's the view of our Kota Belanda. the Uncle who drove the van introduced it to us as a four-wall-three-hole thing..... hahahahah... because it was all that was left, the remnant of the war last time when the belanda people came to conquer this island. Just a small historical piece of thing in a small piece of land. and true enough, when we arrived and went down for a walk, it really is only a four-wall-three-hole remnant.... nothing very special bout it, hehehehe.. but nice spot to take pics though....!!!

Still at Kota Belanda, hehehe... this time i was the one taking pics for them. Right after taking pics, i burst into fake-tears cuz i was not in the pic.. aiyor... hahaha... =P cuz this pic is too pretty ady so i wanted to be in as well.. hahaha...

So the day ended with Ais-kacang treat at Lumut at night, hehehe.. there are 5 of us, but daniel was the one holding the camera, so only four ppl were in this pic, hehehe. My sis is now back in UM to ctudy, Nic is back to working in KL, while Kelvin and Daniel are back in IMU to study as well. Oh well, almost everyone is not around in town, except for Hannah. guess, it's time to take a break from activities and just do some quiet stuff like reading and lsitening to songs, or just helping with the errands at home. =>

Ps.Wee's wedding on the 20th Dec 2007

Today 20th Dec 2007 is the day of Ps.Wee's wedding, also the fisrt wedding of our PPW team members. Hence, the first picture will be the picture of our team, Prayer Praise and Worship. What a wonderful delight that i am back to be here again, with the rest of the team, feel like hugging everyone tight and not let go... and now witnessing the first wedding of our team member, i count it as grace from God. and by His grace, two faithful servants of God finally tie the wedding knot in this church!
i think wedding is not between two people, but it's about three-God,husband and wife.

From left to right (front row) : Catherine Hor, Sophia Wong, Carmen Hor, Ps.Lina Chai, Ps.Wee, Nick Guok, Samson Lau, Hannah Ding, Samantha Ding, Amy Yu.
From left to right (back row) : Kelvin Yu, Ps.Desmond Kok, Zhi Wei, Ps.Ling Kee Chai, Tommy Eu, Samson Sip, Timothy Kok.

This is our great family...!!! established four years ago after receiving vision from God in Batam, as a worship team from Manjung, we have sinced travelled to various states in Malaysia, leading worship and prayer in different conferences. In the process, we all (me me me) have learned a lot. Our pastors were great people who care for our spiritual growth and also our growth as young people, building and constantly moulding our characters and attitude. Anyway, back to Ps.Wee’s wedding. =>

So this is the entrance to pulpit, decoration courtesy of sis Grace from Shalom Florist, hihi.. Amazing right, seriously of all the wedding ceremonies i’ve attended in this church, i think this is the best. I like it cuz it’s all so white, so clean. I think Ps.Wee and Ps.Lina love it too...!!!

A closer look, there are lots of heart shape floating balloons. => simple, sweet and pure. The whole sanctuary is in pastel colour and it gives the wedding a really soft and gentle touch. I took all the pics before the guests arrive, hehehe..

Here comes the flowers gals marching in, accompanied by classical piano melody. Hihihi, so cute..the four flower gals (and a flower boy) are all nieces and nephews of Ps.Wee...!!!

This is my sister, Carmen Hor...! she is the bride’s maid for the day, pretty right...!!! hihihi.. the best man is waiting down the isle, lol..

Ops, this pic is out of order, shouldn’t appear here, but already uploaded. Nvm la yea, haha.. anyway, this is the presentation from BB boys! They were singing this love song and also a short sketch of how Ps.Wee and Ps.Lina met each other in STM (Sekolah Theologi Malaysia) and eventually felt in love with each other. Hahhahaha, super funny wei, the sketch...!! but they are so adorable and fun...!! actually the real version of what happened, was that when in STM, Ps.Wee always bully Ps.Lina, haha.. But Ps.Lina has cought Ps.Wee’s attention much earlier on, cuz Ps.Lina was the one and only student who never fail to attend morning prayer....!!! so romantic... love built upon God, yea, hahaha..

So here she comes...!!! Ps.Lina walks in, with her father at her right hand side.. the whole congregation gaze in admiration as she took her parade. Flashes from camera make the walk even more glamorous.. And what’s more SURPRISING...!!! Ps.Wee had actually composed a love song, and he sings it to her as she walks down the isle....!!!! OOOWWWW......!!!!! my heart melt 100x, even though it’s not for me...!! cant rlly rmmber all the lyrics, but it goes something like this “in the midst of billions people in the world, i found you.. for the rest of my life, i love you”.......... OK I WANNA GET MARRIED TOO.....

After the sermon and speeches by Rev.Kok and a lady Rev from STM, it’s time for this sacred ceremony. Aih, i forgot to insert in the picture of them both exchanging rings.... but this one is not bad too lor, seeing both of them kneeling before the Lord in exchange of vow and commitment.. and receiving blessing from current church reverend, Rev.Wong Kong Hoo. I couldn’t stop smiling, i think everyone couldn’t stop smiling.. =>

After that, Ps.Wee thanks everyone for attending and contribution for making this wedding a success. This is also the first wedding where i see the bride and bridegroom actually thank their parents for their sacrifices all the years. Ps.Wee and Ps.Lina step down from pulpit and walk towards the parents, handing them bouquets of flowers and gift, and plus, a hug....!!! really special right....!! Aunty Mei (Ps.Wee’s mother) was holding back tears ok.... sobz..

Ok, after that, Ps.Wee, by request from congregation, again sings his self-composed love song to Ps.Lina. hihih... sweet sweet sweet... funny la, first time seeing Ps.Wee so shy, haha... Ps.Lina couldn’t stop smiling all the way, ok...! haha.. woot, then this Ps.Ling Kee Chai requests Ps.Wee to give Ps.Lina a kiss and ... congregation cheers like mad, haha.. both of them are like hesitating and shy-ing for some time, but eventually kissed.. i want to take that pic but because the kiss lasts like 0.01 sec only, my photography skill isn’t good enough to catch that moment of bliss...!
The ceremony finally ends with the group photography sessions and the out-parade of the newly-wed couples...! Congregation then proceeds to the wedding luncheon in our church multi-purpose hall.

Mm, then we all ( the team members) stayed back a while in the sanctuary to take pics..!! joy is overwhelming me, cuz i finally meet Amy, Hannah and the rest for the very first time after i came back from Perth....!!!! this is the pics of the bride’s maids and their respective best man, haha. I couldn’t be bride’s maid cuz i dun have a boyfriend.
From left to right : Nick and Carmen (bf and gf) , then Elise and Samson (bf and gf as well)... now u see my point...!!! oh btw, since Carmen is my elder sis, so basically Nick is my future-bro-in-law, hihihi....

This are the gals...!!! Amy, Hannah, Samantha, Me.. and Tommy’s gf from penang, first time meeting her though => .. we’re standing under the wedding arch.

This are the guys. all so smart and handsome, hehehehe....!! Samson, Kelvin, Tommy, Timothy, Zee Wei, Nick.

Me and Hannah....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! muacks muacks muacks....!!!!!

Me and Amy beside the wedding bells, hihihihi....!! hugzz hugzz hugzz...!!!

Me and my sis, on the red carpet, kiss kiss kiss.. after some time of photo-taking, we all finally proceeded to the luncheon as well, haha... =P

Ok it’s time for food feast. For Foochow people, nothing beats the time of food feast... everyone loves eating and everyone eats a lot...!! really a lot a lot ok... hehehehe.. Ops, forgot to take pic of the food.. nah, actually my camera almost run out of battery ,that’s why only take one pic of the food... and oh ya, 20th Dec is also the birthday of Ps.Wee...!! that’s why we have this red-wine-mee-shua as one of the meals... hihiihhi...

Presentation by Ps.Wee’s nieces and nephew as we are busy enjoying the food on the table. These kids scream at high notes man.... hahahah...!!! rlly great singers, rlly....!!! cute cute...!! especially the guy nephew, he’s daring. He dances and moves and shakes all the way man... like he’s the star of the day, hahah... well, he is when he sings, hehehe...!!

Then there’s this hot walts dance from Sis Grace’s children. So “geng” ok...!!! like watching one pro one in tv...!!

The church young people sing a few songs. =>

Timothy presenting this song You Raise Me Up.

Mmmm, Timothy is being naughty la. he asked 4 other guys and the bridegroom to go up stage, and had the bride figuring out who's her hubby by touching thier backs.... BIG TIME FAINT....!!!! every one in the hall laughed man...!!! eventually she got it correct, hahaha...!!! applause...!!!

Lots of presentation by church young ppl...! mostly dancing. hihiih... i used to dance a lot too.. but my time has passed, now it's their time.. seeing them makes me miss my yuonger time in church as well, haha, makes me sound so old. but true, i rlly miss those time, busy practising for dancing and others, spending whole day in church and cycling to nearby shop to buy chinse tea and chinese bun for teabreak time. etc...!! anyway, back to topic, hehehe..

i want to get married too. Sometimes, in the middle of studying, i will dream of getting married, The Big Day with white gown, walking down the isle, congregation witnessing and my family is there! The only thing is that the face of the bridegroom is not clear =P. but chill chill, i know this is not the reason i should get married, not because for the excitement of the wedding day.

(^.^)A

Kids Christmas Celebration at my mum's cellgroup

Today is Sunday 16th Dec 2007, and i thank God that i am here in Taman Bintang again to join in the annual Christmas celebration for kids over here. Hehehe....!!! In Chinese, we call it as “Er Tong Le Yuen”, and i think it’s loosely translated to English as “Kids’ Happy Garden??” hihihihiihhi.... true to its name, it’s a happy place for the kids here. 2hours of every Sunday evening in Taman Bintang @ TB is dedicated to creating a place for kids staying around this housing estate to come together to just have fun and sing songs and listen to stories in the bible. Mainly run by a group of aunties who cooks and keeps the place clean, and a bunch of teenagers from church MYF who regulates activities for kids.


To kick of today, two aunties-namely Ah Hoon aunty and Eu Ing Aunty ( my mum la... hehe) started preparation for cooking. Hihihiihhi... i climbed onto a plastic chair to take this picture ok, hehe... lol.. i was initially helping in open-air kitchen as well, but later Ah Hoon aunty asked me to decorate the Christmas tree... not too bad, it was fun, heheheh ,so happy to see my own masterpiece, hahahah...!! oh well, it looked much better when the sky turns dark and the glittering little light bulbs were lit on!! After that, i proceded back to the kitchen, doing nothing much other than cutting the spring onions, papaya and watermelons. Mmm, wanna tell u all a secret.... that is, aunties here always eat while they cook... hahahahah....!! like, the papaya... after placing the nicely cut papaya into plates, aunties started taking piece by piece to eat while they talk and cook at the same time. Same fate goes to watermelons, lol....!!!

Ya Pin Aunty in action...!!!! kihkihkih.. she was one of the most hilarious anuty i've ever talked to. When i showed her pictures from my camera, she told me her eyes is from Private Limited Company "you sien gong si"...... i went blank not knowing what it meant... then she burst out into the contagious kind off laughter....!!! aah.... rupa-rupanya she meant that her eyesight is limited.... apalah.... hahahahahahaha....

Curry => and that was my mummy's pair of hands... hihihi, my mummy cookis rlly well, in most occasion she has always been the main chef....!!!!!!! well, eventually prayerfully i'll inherit her skills, nehnehnehneh........!!!

by 5pm, kids started arriving in church vans, cars and motorbikes (adults driving la, of course).. before events started, kids crawled on the floor la, teased each other la, chit chatted la, and run around, hehehehe... we then had prayers, worships and games, hehehe, the kids participated and laughed. and this is the pic where the teenagers were hosting games. kids had fun time...!

Rev.Wong arrived rathre early and hence, lol.... became one of the contestants in the games... aiyo, hahaha..

Rain started to pour down heavily not long after, but it didn’t damped the kids spirit, they run around happily, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it was raining heavily out there, unlike adult. A valuable lesson to learn from kids...

the kids all gazed at this smartly dressed uncle, eyes tailing him as he made his way to the front of the crowd, hehe.. the kids must be wondering who’s this uncle, he’s so handsome and smart- he’s our pastor la!! Rev.Wong...!!!! applause...!!!!!! Pastor was funny too, like when he said no one else in the place look more like Santa Claus other than him cuz hes got the tummy but he forgotten to bring his fake beards, hehehehe.... He also said Christmas ( in Chinese) doesn’t mean chicken laying eggs, but it means the birth of our saviour King, Jesus Christ.

anyway, we had fried meehoon, fried mee, curry chicken, fried hotdogs, nuggets and all sorts of fishballs. Papaya and watermelon as desserts and Ribena as drink, hhehehehe...!!! to make things easier, we sorted out the food into plates so the kids wont have to wait long before getting everything on their plates, hihihi.. sometimes, kids can get quite messy, u know, hihihihi..

Our lovely cute Rev.Wong having fun time with the kids. all the kids were looking up to him cuz he said he looked the most like Santa Claus with his big belly protuding out... =P Rev.Wong is very funny with kids.

Oh ya, wanna introduce to u this cute boy, hehehehehe... i like him very much....!!!!!!!!!! he’s so cute...!!! what makes him so cute..?? everytime other kids are eating the food prepared for them, he wont eat them but rather asks for biscuits... YaPin aunty said, this kid never eat anything that was prepared, regardless how sedap the food was-like Chinese bun, sandwiches, fried mee, curry, buburchacha, etc etc etc.. he’ll say “aunty, i want to eat biscuits” .. hihiihhi... and btw, he’s the loudest kid among the whole bunch, loudest to pray and loudest to shout.. talkative, lol... hehehehe, so cute, tiny body but loud spirit and loud voice, i mean how loud can kids be, it’s funny hihiihihihh... i actually was secretly taking his picture, but the camera flash attracted his attention to my direction, and he looked at me blankly as the camera took his still picture, looking straight into me... woosh, paiseh-nyer.... got caught red-handed, stealing picture of a cute boy.. heheheheheh... and because he eats only biscuits, the aunties refered to him as the “biscuit boy” or in Chinese “ping kan zai” ....!!!! so cute...!!!!!!!!!!! ah, i really like this kid....!!!!

Me, went around taking candid pictures of the kids^^

See, kids admiring the christmas tree =>. glad to see them liking it. when i was young, i didnt have the opportunity like them, but it's alright =>. decorating one and let the kids admires it was more that fulfilling =>.

Yup, this is the one i decorated, it's not very big. but it's so pretty...!!! haha..

The group of energetic and vibrant teenage people who willingly and gladly sacrificed their time and effort to help make this kids celebration a success....!!!!! hihihihi....! some as dancers, some as MCs, and some as kids best friends. well, all were kids best friends...!!!

The Heroins of the day...!!! clap clap clap....!!!
From left: Ya Pin Aunty, Ah Hoon Aunty, Yu Ing Aunty @ my mummy, Mei Siu Aunty.

Mmmm, so ends the day with us packing up and cleaning the place. Every one was glad, the kids were happy to recieve gifts and met santa claus, the teenagers were happy to serve, aunties were happy to do mass cooking and spending time together and i was happy to be photographer and helper.

At the end of the day, the question was what's the true meaning of Christmas..? to me, it is the joined celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ by people of all ages. What i've experienced for the past many years in Chin Hock meth Church clearly shows how joy was passed from one to one, from adult to kids and from kids to adults. maybe kids are not able to understand yet when teachers said, Jesus was born into the world, but i believe in thier mind, Christmas will always be a time of great celebration of One's birthday, and a time of great joy and peace and time when they see angels wearing all white and singing carol songs from house to house.

Lord God, may You always teach me to have a pure heart, and to be as naive as the kids, not to doubt or question, but to rejoice in You and all that You have provided. Thanik You Lord for giving me Joy this day. Amen.