It has been almost a year since we last visited Maesot in Thailand. It is kind of a feeling and it is indescribable. The warmth, the love and the unity. I just miss the life of simplicity in Thailand. The love that they have for the Lord is tremendous. Their lives speak of sacrifice, wholeheartedness and glorification unto the Lord. I really miss their presence.
It is only when people who willingly give of their time, talents and treasures, then will they be able to be satisfied in the Lord. Ultimately, we are just living in this temporary place call "earth" and we have greater things ahead to be blessed with.
Seriously speaking, I know that many will say that going back to Thailand to serve in missions will not help you in looking at a greater perspective elsewhere. But to me, re-visiting Thailand always encompass me to learn new things in new perspectives.
In fact, we will never learn enough.
Still, my fav pic of missions.
The granny and her grand-daughter...
This picture of the family in the church is the first pic that I took when I reached the village. Lovely family... :p
My twin in Thailand..
My family in Maesot...
There are more lives on earth for us to win over to the Lord than we could ever imagine.
If only we would step out of our comfort zone... we will never be able to realize how much impact we can bring to the people at all corners of the globe.
Labels: missions, people
I attended yesterday's Go Forth Conference evening rally and was greatly inspired by YWAM's President,
Rev Loren Cunningham. He shared a sense of humor but yet with a vision to reach the world population. The personal challenge for me is to reach out to the younger ones in other countries and to turn it around by being relevant, engaging and also to disciple 120 disciples in my lifetime. The key to reaching the whole world will be discipleship discipleship and discipleship. I think that is something everyone should hold onto in their lives. That is to be a disciple and a disciple-maker.
He also shared that there are 4,3oo+ Omega zones in the world. We need to start by sending one out to each zone and the Great Commission will be done!
So excited about what God is going to do and I just can't wait to see Jesus coming back for us soon!
Labels: missions
Kudos to our ushering team... who served without any complaints throughout the church camp... They are indeed the friendly and approachable ushers!
Here's a pic of me and XinYing, taken with her Canon camera (if i'm not wrong..).. very nice pic taken indeed... cos I feel so much like 10 years younger!! hahaha.. love this pic... :)
This was taken from my room's view. Cool isn't it? The architecture of the building is magnificent. But the every morning prayer at 5.30am is not that cool la... like an alarm lor.. haha... but still, cool view!
My UL and my member, Thomas. Know this man, Thomas has the gift of admin and he is very faithful in this area too! May the Lord add on to him more gifts :) and he is getting married in July and I am going to be his Emcee. woah... haha...
My CG, doing the form at the end of the camp. :p
Pastor Jeff and me. He saw how I grow up from a 15-year old silly girl to a 27 year old to be silly girl? haha... He is like a spiritual daddy to me and he is always so concern about the lives of the people in church. Really love his pastoral heart! Pastor Jeff, jiayou! By God's grace, I will continue to move on in this journey of loving and serving the Lord together with you!
Oh, this is Pamela and her sister... they looked so photogenic. And once again, haha, I am proud to say that my photog skill is really not bad de wor! kekeke...
Jieyi and Thomas.. poor Jieyi, fell sick and had high fever for the entire night. She was really weak when I took this pic of her. But thank God that her fever was gone by the time we were taking the coach back to S'pore. :)
Ok.. this is the pic of the flowers that my CG gave to me. Too bad, the flowers can't survive for too long. Btw, many were asking me which guy gave me these... haha.. I was like.. I also wish.. but dun have leh... hahaha... :p
Anyway throughout this church camp, I've shed many tears.. cos I just know that God has given me a pastoral heart for people. Missions will definitely be somewhere that I want to move towards. And people is God's heartbeat and I will follow that in a stable manner. Trust that God will be moulding me more this year. More sacrifices to be made but I am seriously willing!
Labels: care group, church camp, missions
It must be God. He is just so moving in my heart, mind and soul. He is placing a burden in me. It has been a while for me, to think through abt Africa. I never thought that it will be Africa. I thought it will be some nice city and beautiful place for me to do missions work. However, it is actually for the very poor and helpless that God has called me to.
For the past few months, "Africa" simply appears in every form in my life. May it be the sharing with friends or my sheep, may it be the TV programmes, may it be the news, may it be the videos etc. It simply brings a even deeper sense of conviction and connection.
Looking at the video last night at the District Missions night brings me to a greater sense of urgency and desire to fulfill what has been called of me and every believer - to fulfill the Great Commission in our lifetime. The end is pretty near us and I do not want to waste any more time. I shared with my shepherd about my conviction, with pretty much of laughter and I guess that she thought that I wasn't serious. But I am serious. Seriously serious.
She shared that this is and will be a commitment for me to respond to being a missions goer, to Africa. I told her that if I want to go, I would not want to test ground. I simply want to go. Haha.. what a faith-filled me right? haha... but she said "NO!!". I need to go there and see the people, test the ground and develop even much more compassion for the souls there.
Ok. I agreed. I will take the next 2-3 years to grow and root myself strongly in the Word, doctrines, V&P, teachings, skills, foundation, health and stamina etc. There are so much things to learn and grow when you seriously consider the fact that you don't have much youth left. I aim to leave for missions before I turn 30. If not, I think I will really grow old and unable to move. I am willing to give up my rights. Yes, I will.
"Learning to stick to the reason for mission - The Cross"
Labels: conviction, missions
Yesh!! Ms Tan Ee Lee will be back this Friday in the morning... and I'm so so happy! Pray for journey mercy and good rest on the plane. Most imptly, pray for her to stay young and pretty.
Anyway I promise her a lot of gd food!! muahahaha... Eelee, you'll be in for a good deal!!!
Labels: friendships, missions
Ever thought if you would have been in their shoes? What would have happened to you? Or what will your response be like?
I can never imagine myself being in this kind of circumstances. I think I will cry, I will whine, I will complain, I will isolate myself. But these people are the very people who needs help and rescue. They need someone to speak hope and love into their hearts today.
As I read the news everyday, the photos, the description, the grief and the heartaches.. simply bring my heart to cringe. My heart was filled with compassion and helplessness. I want to help bu I don't know how. I want to help not by just donating money or writing some words. I wish to fly there and give hope and encouragement to these children, orphans and families.
Today, as I reflect and think about my life, I know that I am still way more blessed than these kids. I wish that I can bring more joy and hope to these victims.
I know that there is a purpose and calling from the Lord for me. I am reminded of the prophecy that Pastor Jeff gave to me many years back, when I was still leading the youth ministry. Perhaps, it is time to revisit the prophecy and make something happen soon.
Lord, simply send me...
Labels: compassion, missions, prayers
We had our Unit Meeting yesterday, after 2 months plus of break as we had WFL at Bible Hse for the past 2 months. So, the Unit meeting was kinda familiar and bonded as we all miss fellowshipping with one another. What made the Unit Meeting yesterday even more special was that Andrea, Cherise and Jaro (Andrea's Dad) came for the meeting with us. We had a good time of fellowship and worship together. After the whole thing, we went for supper together.
Man... the group was really BIG! We went to Chinatown Smith St for supper and we had 3 tables combined together. We had so much sharing and it was just so automatic that we all bought some stuff for each one of them. What I bought for Andrea and Cherise was these cute little stickers with their names printed on them, kept in a cute little card holder. I bought something else for Uncle Jaro. It was a metal box that can allow him to keep sweets, pills or vitamins inside... so that he won't have to keep them somewhere else. haha...
In return, they gave us a card each with this sweet photo of the 3 of them inside. I think Uncle Jaro was so touched by all of our acts that he started tearing. Oh man, once he started it, Cherise couldn't control as well, that her eyes started to well up in tears.
It is amazing to have brothers and sisters from all over the world, loving the same God and having the same vision. I enjoyed their companionship a lot. It seems that we do have many things in common...many common topics to talk and share about.
I will miss all of them. Just hope to go US one day to meet them... in Arizona. :p
I love u guys... u guys are just such dears to me!
Labels: friendships, missions
It seems to be increasingly more of a habit to blog after my lunch. I think it helps me to get rid of my dizzy spells after the full lunch.
And now, I would like to present to you my friends from the missions field!! And she is Andrea Zukewycz. We (the STM team last year) got to know her at Agape home last year, at Mae Sot. It was through our visit there that we got to know this gal, who is so full of passion, to bless the orphans and the children at the Agape home.
The gal beside her is her best friend, named Cherise. They have knew each other since their age of 5? haha... I am so amazed at their friendship together. It is a blessing to know these 2 gals. Share with you more later on when we meet them up in Singapore again...
Labels: friendships, missions
Ok. I can finally update on my first day at MaeSot. But before that, let's talk about the 8 hours coach ride to MaeSot. We boarded the coach at about 10.30pm and the coach left at about 10.45pm. And guess what? Bad choice.. I chose to sit with Mikka at the first 2 seats of the coach, upstairs. Thinking that there will be loads of leg room, we happily stretched out our legs throughout the journey. However, the thing came when we were nearing MaeSot, 3 hours before reaching, we were in this very curvy and dark road where the coach driver kept flashing the powerful lights that were just in front of us. And this resulted in me not able to sleep well. Throughout the bus journey, I only slept for like 2-3 hours? The rest of the 4-5 hours I was trying to sleep?
When we reached MaeSot, I was simply super duper tired. We reached a brand new interchange, one that was different from what we went to last year. When we loaded down our lugguage, Junming realised that his backpack was heavier. Guess what? Someone mistakened his lugguage for Junming's and took it away and that guy was a Caucasian that I witnessed taking a backpack and went on with a Thai guy riding a bike (supposedly paid transport I guess..). Thankfully, the Caucasian realised that the backpack wasn't his and he asked the Thai guy to send him back to swop the bags. That's when we all saved a big load of trouble, thank God.
We waited for quite a while for the Ajarn Wajana and Wee. The girls went on to the ladies at the interchange to wash up and I chose to wait to go to the church then wash up. The wait was not too long I guess. After 10-15 minutes of wait, I finally saw Ajarn Wajana, Ajarn Nuy and Sister Wee. The moment I saw them, I was just so so glad... and I hugged Sister Wee and Ajarn Nuy!! So happy to have met them again!! Ajarn Wajana was still the same... very shy Pastor. I can see that he is very happy to see me and Desmond. Haha... I missed them so much for the past one year!
Ajarn Nuy drove all of us back to the church... and it was already 5.40am. When we reached the place, we saw the team of people waiting for us at the entrance of the church...and this time, the location has changed to a bigger place than before!! Can I describe it to be like 8 times bigger than the previous one? :p The first few that I managed to recognise were Oat, Noon, Jui and Bas.. The rest I can't really remember their names le. Hee...
You know the moment they saw me and I saw them, we all know one thing in common that we share... which is we have all put on weight!! haha... Noon and myself have grown rounder I supposed! Oat also seemed to be rounder this time round. haha.. no doubt that everyone's progressing well.. haha... Oat was very nice to draw the faces of us on the whiteboard and everyone took a picture with it. (pics to come soon..)
Anyway, we had a room in the church for the sisters and a separate room for the brothers. But we were more privileged as we had a toilet in the room.. the guys dun have wor... haha..
After we have settled down, we met the MaeSot leadership team for a time of prayer and worship. They were singing in Thai and I was trying hard to figure out the songs in English, and I did try to lead our team to sing some of the songs. But guess that the songs were too 'new' (old) for them, thus, not many of them know the songs. haha... After that, we had a time of prayer and worship on our own. It was a refreshing touch from God. Many of us were refreshed by the Holy Spirit. I guess that by spending time with God, it will always be a brand new start.
At about 10am+, we went to the Ruam Thai church with some of our barang barang... the girls were trying hard to bring as little things as possible. However, I think we failed. haha, especially for me... for a night's stay at the village, I brought like one small backpack and one big bag. alamak.. I can't cut down my packing for nuts... fyi, I packed like 3 bags for this trip lor... crazy right? haha...
Back to the Ruam Thai church... I was so excited cos it was the second time for me there. When I reached the village, I was all smile... cos I met familiar church members the moment I alighted! Some kids really grew and some others had new members to their families... and the babies there were so numerous.. wished that I can play with them more.
This was the first picture that I took when I alighted from the car. They have been Christians for almost 10 years or more. Look at the little girl, her hair is naturally brown and 'highlighted'.. nice right? So maybe I can stay there for a while so that my hair can be like that?? haha...
now u know what I meant? The kids are just so adorable!!
We had a time of Praise.. woah... It was so cool to see the church members praising God and dancing together... guess what? Villagers dance better than us siah..
Junming and myself shared testimony about God's goodness in our lives. The funny part is that when I was sharing, it started raining. Then, I started sharing that God rains for a reason, and the reason is that we need rain, so that our harvest will be good. God stops the rain for another reason too, bcos He doesn't want the fields to be flooded.. haha.. I shared this with them bcos God wants them to know that everything happens for a reason. His plans are perfect and all we got to do is to trust in His timing. Well, I think this is avery timely message for myself as well, isn't it? :)
after the Word and sharing, we went on to prepare lunch and guess what? Everyone's hungry... And the members of the church really went through a lot of trouble cooking for us, especially when it was raining on and off...
So, when they were all busy cooking and preparing for the lunch, this little girl was doing..??
Haha... gotcha!! She was busy eating up the ingredient!! A cucumber... haha... My fav pic of all.. She is so adorable... easily satisfied with cucumber whereas kids in Singapore will look for?? Fastfood?? hmm...
Meanwhile, some of us were not slacking too.. we were busy learning to cook out in the rain... with the big charcoal stove, wok... It was an unforgettable scene... haha... indeed, it is still so fun when I thought of the situation.
Then, I saw this granny with her grandchild. I met this granny before last year... hee...
You will be surprised at how friendly they are. In fact, one of the member still remembers my name and when she saw me, she kept pulling my hand and calling out my name, "Yan Yan"... I was so touched when she called for me. I felt so so loved... :)
Here is Jui and Boss. Yup, Boss is the small boy... He is actually the son of Bas.
Haha... This little boy is so michievious... And he dun like to play with us... but guess what?? I managed to take a picture with him... this pic is like so precious lor... hehe...
The lady in the picture is Sister Wee, our translator. She is a woman that loves God and people. Always so loving aand patient. I miss her so much...
After the whole sharing, we went from house to house to do visitations. We visited like almost 8-10 families. Visit till blur liaoz... Here's a pic of how rainy the weather is. I was in the truck while the rest were at the back.. took some pics of them...
And we didn't visit them to chit chat only.. but the main thing is to minister and pray for them. Throughout the trip, some of us were drenched due to the rain, and some feet were all muddy le. But did anyone complain? Hmm, come to think of it, dun have la.. but some of us were tired n sleepy haha...
Walking towards the next destination...
A girl walking in the rain, just finished school I guess...
And... ta dar!!! our most lovely and loving couple of the century... Pastor Wajana and Pastor Nuy... So envious of them... hehehe...
This is one of the families that we visited... we took a grp photo at their house!!
But thank God for His protection, no one fell ill. Praise God! At one of the last few families we went to, I prayed for this lady's family. She shared that her husband backslided bcos of his fear for evil spirit and her dad is also somehow believing in that. I was all filled with faith to pray for them. She was a woman that loved the Word and she treasures it when I read her a verse from the book of Timothy. I shared that God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline. Thank God for the sharp word that gave her and us strength and power. :)
The night was great! We went to the church for dinner and after that we had P&W followed by God's Word. But before the mini service started, the Pastor saboed me once again!! He suddenly asked me if I have any special song for them... I was so lost!! And my team kept teasing me lor... haha... So I went up and took over the guitar... Nope, no Hillsong... I sang my own composed song... I was quite awed by the song even.. cos they were all listening to me so intensely. The translator managed to translate the lyrics at the end of the presentation. I was all shivering man.. *stressed* Hope that no such saboe again!! hahaha...
During the praise, I pulled the girls over to dance along with me, just like what I did last year. Haha.. they were all bitten by mosquitoes and I gave them Mopiko to apply... and that was much better!! After the Word, 2 girls put on their traditional costumes and they began to dance for us! Cool.. so talented they are!!
After the Word was preached by Desmond, we had an altar call and time of ministering. We went around praying for the people. Hope that they were very much encouraged by the Holy Spirit. And lastly, we took a group photo as a church. It was a very memorable night!
The first day at MaeSot and Mong Village was filled with many mixed feelings.. maybe because everyone's tired, especially after the overnight travelling, when we didn't even sleep much. But It was a fruitful day indeed!! Thank God for all that has happened!
Labels: missions
Hooray!! I’m finally back from the trip at Northern Thailand. It was a trip that encompasses many blessings and breakthroughs! With the hand of God upon us and the Holy Spirit guiding us, God blessed us tremendously throughout the trip. Definitely, there are bound to be changes every now and then. However, God has guided us through and as we allow the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor, we have surely survived with great power from Him who gives us strength.
I have so many blessings to share forth but I just don’t know how to go about starting this. For the next few days, I will start to share in bits about my trip, day by day, hour by hour, photo by photo. The God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. God’s Name be praised!!
So a little preview... this is one of my fav pic!
Labels: blessings, missions
This week has been a really long and challenging week for me. I had quite a number of trainings this week... and mind you, I was training when my throat was hurting so badly and i was still having fever, flu and cough. But still, really thankful that God sustained me throughout.
Went to the District Missions Night yesterday. Met Eelee at the missions night. I was really surprised to see her there... had a little catch up time, which was proven to be MARVELLOUS! Eelee is my fellow core team mate during my youth days when we were both under JX's CG. We had many bittersweet memories and that everytime when we think or talk about it, we will always laugh and laugh... We simply miss our younger days. Eelee is flying off to Chile, San Tiago on the 2 June. She will be supporting the church over there. I am so proud of her, the first church planter from our batch of leaders. I will definitely wish her the best and I will surely miss her!
Matt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8 Eelee, Missions Night, Choon Yam's sharing etc... All these simply bring me back to the same understanding of why God sent His only Son to die for us. I need to do something about it... I need to be a goer. I cannot be in Singapore forever right? I need to grow and I need to go. I need to pray abt being a goer soon. I need to save up. I need to do so many things... I need to bring lives to Christ!
I want to be a Global Christian, a Global Follower of Christ and a Global Wammer. Lord, help me to see that all these will come to past soon. Prepare me for a greater calling!
Labels: missions
11 Nov 2006
After the long journey overnight, we reached Bangkok at 6.00am. While we were getting off the bus, the sotong me left my niece's pillow on the bus. aiyo.. I felt so bad after that cos my niece entrusted her little pillow to me wor... and I actually left it in a foreign land... *abish*.. so at the end I bought her another pillow... exactly same one leh...haha...
Sister Mai came to the station to fetch us. And we went back to the ministry house straight away. Tired we are indeed... rested for less than 2 hours, we washed up, bathed and went for breakfast at about 8.00am.
Shannen got onto the bike outside the ministry house as the bike is very petite... very suitable for girls.. but guess what?? The bike belongs to bro Tony is I'm not wrong... haha...
And we ate for breakfast and we ate Chicken rice again.. haha.. we are like haunted by chicken... but it is ok la.. the chicken rice very not bad also wat... 25baht wor... lol.. dun expect too much...
Pepsi in bottles wor... i only see this kind of packaging when i was about 3-4 years old. Now already extinct in Singapore le... so it is a must take pic... :P
Outside the stadium... we took pics with the 2 brothers whom brought us to the Indoor stadium. Wow... when I reached there, I thought I was at a hillsong concert... imagine us outside Singapore indoor stadium and all are Hope people... wah.. amazing vision... we will be there one day!
The youths outside the stadium... anticipitating the entrance to POP (Power of Praise)... very FOP isn't it?? hee...
A grp pic of the gals outside the stadium...
The ushers... wow..they look so cool and pretty... wat an impressive sight... imagine our ushers wearing very nice traditional clothes? hmm... like cheong sum?? haha...
We went into the hall and I immediately greeted Shirley and Royston enthusiastically. It is good to see familiar faces and close buddies in a foriegn land... that is for sure! And indeed, me and shirley met up in Bangkok. Too bad, we didn't have enough time to catch up in Bangkok that day.
The choir in Bangkok was really good! I am so impressed with their movements and their singing... they definitely rock! In total, they had 3 attires in all. The first one was the traditional robes, then they changed into a blue polo tee and the last one I can't remember wat colour le... But surely, I understand and know that the choir is really expressive when they worshipped! Their hands were lifted high and they were all worshipping God like never before. I'm inspired.
After POP, we went out to buy some souvenirs and notebooks for our CG pple etc... And after I bought mine, I saw this very cute little girl (above pic) eating her biscuit, with her grandmother and mother of cause. I had a little chat with them and found out that the grandmother attended Hope Bangkok since the church started!! Wow... so which means she has been with Hope Bangkok for 25 years?? wah liew... I'm so thankful that God let me meet one of the pioneers..
Later on, we went to FBT building for lunch, at the foodcourt. And there we met the Malaysia team... Ps Bong's team.
After that, we went on to shopping at Ta Wat Nak... dunnoe if this is the right spelling... anyway it is a shopping market next to The Shopping Mall. Cool place... things are so cheap that I nearly fainted... much cheaper than Chatuchak. Will go there again next year... if I have the time la... too bad, I didn't managed to go Suan Lum. Shirley went and she had pretty good deals. I also wanna go next round... hee... :p
Labels: missions, w.o.r.s.h.i.p.
Still, my fav pic of missions.
The granny and her grand-daughter...
This picture of the family in the church is the first pic that I took when I reached the village. Lovely family... :p
My twin in Thailand..
My family in Maesot...
