philippines rawked!

Finally my return. On a serious note, I didn’t wanna come back home. Nobody did wanna face up to reality once we touched down Malaysian soil. Missed the weather, missed the shopping and mostly missed the warmth of the people This trip was amazingly, the cheapest, the longest and the most variety compared to the past final year mission trips. Our contact in Philippines, Pastor Tham Wan and wife were graciously the best host you could ever find!
How rawking Philippines was:

i) There was PORK everywhere! The inevitable fact that pork was served in everything we ate. We had pork burger, pork chop, pork skins….hmm leave you guys to your imaginations.

ii) Music was one area which impressed me to the max. Even the mountain churches built on bamboo has the basics of a drum set, electric guitar and bass. Everyone was just purely by nature gifted. By the roadsides of Manila, you’ll see live bands set up one after another and it’s just amazing!

iii) You see jeepneys everywhere, fitting about 20 plus passengers. Since all vans and jeepneys are diesel fueled vehicles, the fumes in Baguio was totally choking. I wonder if the life span of people are shortened due to the fumes. Baguio up on the mountains, cooling with scenic views. Roads are winding, steep, and it makes you wanna puke each time you ride on a jeepney. We weren’t used to the roads, the left side of driving, holding hands were normal when crossing.

iv) Kids were everywhere! When it rained it flooded because there weren’t any proper drainage system. They were happily splashing each other likewise similar to the kids here just that kids here splash in the swimming pool. You see kids begging in the streets. They pout and put on the most sympathetic face. Totally heartbroken. I wish I could do something…but there’s nothing I can do.

v) Amazingly, Philippines has a population of an estimate of 95% Christians, mostly roman catholics, thus the freedom of ministering in public schools. How cool can that be? You needn’t people send sms verses. It is all over Philippines. “Jesus is God” “God loves you” etc. You get to speak freely about Christianity. They even have specific tv channels where preaches preach. Ps Tham Wan told us that even we could end up preaching in tv if we wanted to. Shocking? It was to me.

vi) The best part was, eventhough it was a missions trip, we were blessed with people treating us good food. We had hong kong 8 course meals, there was Mongolian buffet, Filipino food, and fairly strange food with pork. Pork pork pork. I think I’ve put on weight since the trip. Can’t explain how blessed we were. People were friendly and warm and just down to earth.

About missions. You might be wondering how on earth we’re doing missions and at the same time having so much fun? Let’s just say, this was a different missions trip. We visited mostly, churches, bible colleges, seminaries and it was a different experience altogether being able to encourage these people. I think they were blessed and on top of that, we, the team were strongly encouraged by these people. Who knows, some of us might be called to study and get our masters in theology in APTS? Just maybe. We’ve made some friends there and the relationship made with the pastors and youths were greatly something to remember.

I’ve got so much more in thought, but I’ll leave the pictures to say for itself. Enjoy!

the team

bye malaysia! yay! check out the man utd plane!

where we stayed

baptist seminary

jeepney

@ ps tham wan's house

dreamland valley

mountain church (itogon) rawks!

formation of human shadows

one day old chick (odoks)

wow! what large pizzas!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee BALUT!

cheers to balut!

mongolian buffet

more food!

buffet PORK PORK PORK

part of 8 course dinner

bacon burger

yummy filipino food

breakfast @ ps tham wan's house (nasi lemak!) catered for 17 malaysian

steamed corn and popiah melted with sugar banana

baguio national high school

at bekkel elementary school

children @ bekkel elementary school

name: aina *soo pweety*

rain @manila

tree grows through house

outside APTS view

living quarters

pink horse!

the girls with ps brian

girls at dreamland

the messy street cables

rach, ps dennis and me

tough guys wear pink!

group pic with ps tham wan & ps moon tee

bridge to hot spring

boys behind bars

St Augustine Catholic Church

Idol of Jesus

ceiling paintings

dump site in Quezon city

me and rach, gonna miss ya girl

bye bye philippines :( :(

.........speechless........

Results weren't out yesterday as what the uni has promised. (thanks to collin) I randomly browsed through the mmu website for updates today because he asked me about it...and tada!!!!!!!! The results were out!!!!!! I passed all. That's not all.....since grades weren't out, I had to calculate the gpa for the semester. It was a miracle!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe what i counted, so i calculated like 10 times?......NEVER in my life in uni i got such good results......NEVER NEVER. This is the peak.

I'm just speechless and I tell you, it's a miracle and God was behind it all the way. The day I had the accident which caused me to be late for exam, all the fear of failing that particular subject, not being able to graduate. All these mixed feelings, all ended well. A big thank you to the Lord cos God is real and He surprises you all the time. Prayer works. :) :)

I still can't believe I've gotten such good results. I'm never an A student. This explains how shock I am. However, my overall cgpa ain't that amazing. But, at all outcomes or situations, I wanna give thanks to God. Simply amazing, isn't He?

missons :the philippines

This is where I'm going. Will be away for 2 weeks! All excited and nervous! Till then! Await for my return! muahahha.

People of Philippines, here we come! BALUTS, VILLAGES, MOUNTAINS, CONCERTS, CHILDRENS, YOUTHS, YOUNG ADULTS, MEN AND WOMEN!! woohoo!

Paalam! (Goodbye in Tagalog)

it's all about tomorrow

My mum took me for a spa! It lasted at least 5 hours. :) Hmm..I felt a lil uncomfy initially. Well, you've heard about stripping naked and all..so yah! there goes. Interesting..but amazingly fun and de-stress-ful. This time, I did not scream when the therapist perpetually massages me. *beams* by the way, therapist was a girl lah.

Talk about destressing;
RESULTS WILL BE OUT TOMORROW!!!!!! Deep down, uncertain. My hearbeat increases, a thousand times faster each semester when I anxiously stare at the computer screen awaiting for the results page to load. It'll be the same tomorrow, probably with extra fear.

To a certain someone, I'm sure God has planned out everything, YOUR LIFE, for a purpose. Let's not rely on results alone to justify His goodness ya! God loves you and you have my support all the way. *wink* You have been awesome just being yourself and a great testimony. All the best. Love ya, friend!

injections

I hate injections!!!!!! Or rather, freak out when it comes to one. Today, I had an injection, a shot of B1, B6 and B12 vitamins.

RELUCTANT!!!!

Since my aunt’s a nurse, she insisted for a shot on my butt! OUCH! Even before the injection, I screamed my lungs out. Best part is, my mum just stood from afar, laughing at me.I bet my 92 year old grandpa’s laughing hard inside as well. GRRRR.

OUCH OUCH OUCH! Poor butt. Had to go through such aches.

i love kids!

Well-scrubbed faces belong to luckier schoolchildren who must have had a good breakfast before trooping to their classrooms. Some six million of their poorer cousins, particularly those in the hinterlands, go to school hungry and malnourished every day.

(The Manila Times)

6 million pupils go to school hungry in Philippines. The malnutrition they get. How poverty has affected these kids. How on earth are they suppose to concentrate during classes? My heart goes out to these kids. Similar to Cambodia, the children here too beg for money, experts at pouting. Street kids are at large. I can’t imagine how I would respond to them when they come begging. The advice given was not to contribute in any form for once you start giving, you’ll probably be swarmed with many more. It becomes scary when they persistently beg and cling on to you and never to let you go until you give. My sympathy to them. Moreover, we can never know where the money goes to, probably not to these poor kids. I pray that somehow when we do street evangelism, God will somehow help us understand them better and maybe encourage them in some ways. God, protect them and have mercy on these kids! Amen!

home sweet home :)

yay! I'm now back home with my family..*snigger* nothing beats the comfy bed compared to 5 days of backaches snoozing on sleeping bags. I'm too old for this! Feeling the cracks and aches everywhere.

5 days of training and preparation has made me, for somehow, more prepared for the mission trip. I still don't think one can be absolutely ready for something they prepare for. In this case, i'm finally, in a way, more prepared than the first day. I've learnt so, so much from the 16 of us and of course the 2 pastors! Flexibility is the word for missions. Somehow, you just gotta do things you've never imagined you would be doing, eg. sermons. I freaked out, i was afraid, but i made it at the end. I really thank God cos prayer works. *smiles* Well, training was dead tiring. On average, 6 sermons a day and we've been mentally exhausted, physically as well. Band practices, skits, dances, gifts, all in all, drained us out. Despite it, we had so much fun together. The laughings, the cryings, the stressed out faces, the "brokeback" talks! it all made us understand each other better. We'll be cooking over in philippines for the locals for a taste of malaysian food and an informal performance about malaysia's culture. Besides, we did have tagalog lessons and songs! How cool eh?

God was good. He provided us good food to eat. Drove outskirts of malacca to Machap for exotic food. It was all good. Shan't mentioned what we ate though. *wink* There goes the end of training, and yet, a mission trip to look forward to. All excited. anxious. I can't wait for next week.

Today, a friend of mine got married. :) It's funny how you see the love stories of MMU students who ends up being affiliated with "MMU" people. This one, a multi racial marriage. I'm glad he finally found his life partner!!

This morning, a very dear friend of mine called me from the US. I almost burst into tears when I heard her voice. I miss YOU so very much! I wish that you were here with us for the missions. :( Conversation goes something like this :

my lover : hie. good morning. are you awake now?
me : (barely awake) yah I am. (in my mind i thought it was some irritating telemarketer)
my lover : do you know who's this?
me : (still blur) ermm...eh, nope. who's this?
my lover : this is "my dear friends name" here!
me : *screamssssss and jumps around*
my lover : calm down first, bel!

(Initially I could barely breathe)
My darling friend, if you're reading this, this shows how much I miss you. Can't wait for you to get back soon.
Since being in Malacca for the whole week, it did bring back certain memories. Went back to MMU Malacca to help distribute some flyers to the new intake of students to promote CF. It seems like Day 1 when I entered uni..how the registration and orientation took place. I was once, like them. 5 years down the road, in the making, you get the new me. I've finally made it through. I hope. :)

curently

* sick
* drained out
* physically, mentally, spiritually tired
* driving down to malacca tomorrow for philippines missions training
* need your prayers

:) people say, when you're sick, you'll need TLC. :)

walking down memory lane

simply amazing sunset

smelly shoes! spot mine!

twister-ing

sam oh sam

jason da superguitarist, me the super keyboardist? nah...

joash yappie, me yappie :)

mr deric aka korean boy and myself

cant live without em' : me,cheeyong,esther,weeliem,rach,mich

alpha group L to R (upper): mok,weeliem

(lower) : jason,me,mich,sam,kevin,amelia

graduates to be

cg no 2!

games group : tribe Kanaq

torture!! under very hot sun

detention camp : warden = evil

IF camp 2006
I'm quite sure everyone else would blog about IF camp, so I'll keep it fairly short and sweet. For the sake of others who have no idea what IF camp is, it would be a yearly affair when the two campuses of Cyberjaya and Malacca cf reunite together at camp. It has been 5 years in uni, and i would happily say that i've attended 4 camps altogether!

1st camp theme: "we are one" (Cameron highlands)

2nd camp theme : "fellowship of broga" (Broga, Kajang)

3rd camp theme : "the two campuses" (Penang)

final camp theme : "the return of the king of kings" (port dickson)

To cut the story short, this would be the very last camp i'll ever attend in cf. *sobs* It brought back memories when my very first cf camp i attended was at this very camp site and guess what! uncle mike was the speaker. It all had to end at the very same place. 5 years seems a pretty long time ago, but yet, i can't explain how hard it is for me to leave my cf and friends. At this camp, I enjoyed very much of the games. I like the whole scenario of growing up and a slight idea of the end times, with the mark. Despite having to commando crawl, sit ups, eat some sand, ate flour, duck walk, frog jump, being sent to detention camp for torture, it was all good because i went to heaven at the end. muahahaha. (ask me personally if you wanna know what happened) we played twister at night. hahaha. thank God i never twist any bones.

Sessions for camp personally were pretty much quite sensitive topics with various speculations about end times. Let's just leave the interpretations to the experts and our duty today is to follow on where God leads us, being prepared mentally, for it is to come to past. :)

I felt it when it came to the last night of camp. I'm sorry if i sounded terribly emo, but it is a fact which i can't hide. Leaving was hard. The good old memories will always stay and as Sam said, I hope I did leave some footprints in someone's life, maybe someway, somehow. It made a difference being just in the company of you, MMU fellas. Someday, I would wanna proclaim this verse. "I have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith" 2 Tim 4:7

i love you hunks and babes!