FCC Phnom Penh

Am finally at Phnom Penh with Adrian, Elroy and Zi Hao. It was quite an uneventful trip so far. So far, the hospitality of the people in this country has been great, but mostly at a cordial level. The people do speak quite a good level of English here, so there have been no problems getting around.

Am currently typing this entry at the FCC. It is the Foreign Correspondent Club in Phnoh Penh. Many a journalist had spent their time here getting a drink and filing their stories. The place faces the Tonle Sap Lake, with a supposedly magnificent view of the sunset. But grey clouds hid the sun from view today, though we get to enjoy a most wonderful breeze after half a day of walking.

Ah! What place to muse. Tomorrow going Siem Reap by the Mekong Express bus which we booked today. Pray tomorrow will be another God Blessed Day!

And Yes! I hope to be able to post an entry and pictures on my birthday revelry soon. Thank you to all the peeps for made it such a unforgetful and thoroughly meaningful 21st for me! Especially Disong, Yiqing, Diwei, Dijie, Min Min and Huiwen who helped out in more ways that one. *hugz

A Beautifully Chaotic City.

Am back from my trip from Ho Chi Minh with Di Song. The allure and the beauty of Saigon is something that will me a lifetime to explore and understand.

When will we be back?

“I shall wrap myself up (with the blanket) like a cocoon and wake up like a new man” – Disong at his poetic best.

the long day journey into the night.

Went for Er Jie’s 21st Birthday party today. Haha! He was really touched to know that we pushed back our Vietnam trip so that we can come. *grinz It was great catching up with such a nice guy. : ) I still remember the stories of how Er Jie’s dad and my dad used to university classmates. And we both went to Chinese High and played rugby. Ah! I’ll miss him at Cornell, but before that, we will get to see each other next Friday. : )

The Ruggers’ look.

Heh. Leaving for Ho Chi Minh with my buddy in a few hours time. Would be back 25th July 12.05am, Jetstar 3K554.  It will be a good time of PHO and friends. And to spend some quality time with my buddy instead of answering SOS calls for once. : )

And there is the small matter of the birthday revelry to look forward too. : )

Beautifully Founded on Christ.

I think I’m giving up on getting my bible back again. Because I managed to believe that it contains too many personal annotations and letters for somebody to throw it away, and hopefully whoever is reading it (including my precious highlights) will be touched by the Word of God. I’m sure God don’t want me to lose my bible for nothing. Though it did some take convincing and some cynicism on my part when my buddy told me to think that somebody may be benefiting from it rather than it ending up in a bin.

 As for me, I actually feel that God wants me to reaffirm myself in His Words again, to view it in a new light, rather than be guided by my highlights and annotations. But first, I have to shell out for a new book and new tabs, which I’m feeling too. Ah! I can start revision on my scripture memory again. So I guess it isn’t so bad, with school starting and more and me definitely needing to guard and guide my heart with the Word.

And if you are reading this, don’t feel so disappointed. I’m sure the seeds have been sowed, but the harvest is not for us to reap :) take heart in Jesus!

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I was at the hospital again yesterday at 3pm when I decided it was too early to visit my mother who should still be sleeping after the operation at noon. It was then when I realised the Botanic Garden is next to Gleneagles, and since I hadn’t been to the garden since I was a primary school kid, I decided to take a 15 minutes walk and do some reflections on what has happened between my dad and I and of course some of the other perspectives I got from the VCF camp.

What was supposed to be a 15 minutes walk transpired into an hour long walk. I had the opportunity to see swans, a squirrel, a Jelawai, wedding couples, a father teaching his kid how to play soccer and a beautiful flame tree among many other interesting sights.

The leaves pattern of this tree juxtaposed against the cyan sky reminded me of the basic 5 petal flower that I used to draw in primary school during art school. In fact, my flowers are still drawn in this way now.

I was taken aback by the sheer height of this tree (reminded me of the legendary Changi Tree) when I saw it near the Tanglin Gate entrance of the garden. I like the way it grows so straight and tall, like it is reaching out to the heaven. And it has a larger trunk than it seems.

I walked to the iconic bandstand of the Botanic Gardens. There was a sweet wedding couple enjoying their moment of quiet time together. And then I started dreaming. What a foreign feel.

Girl on a swing. Commissioned by David Marshall. One of the few statues in the garden.

The Vanda Miss Joaquim Garden. I have seen artist impressions in paintings and sculptures Singapore’s national flower, but this is the first time I see it live after 21 years of my life.

 

When I first saw this Jelawai (Terminalia Subspathulata) tree, I was reminded of the illustrations of the “Magic Faraway Tree” by Enid Byton. I imagined ‘moonface’ and ’saucepan man’ living in these holes that are magically enlarged to contain a few rooms, and a new land can always be found beyond the thick canopy of the tree. I also thought of the stories of squirrels hoarding their nuts in holes like this.

The palm leaves of this plant are huge! Make good roofs for temporary huts and also shelter.

There were many people seeing, but not looking. A lot of people missed this squirrel that I noticed long before it scampered up the tree to feed. I stood under the tree for quite a while looking at it.

I was taken away by the beauty of this Flame tree. One of the botanic gardens workers who was equally enamored by the tree enlightened me. He said the Flame tree at a particular season will shed all its leaves when full bloom, leading to the spectacular sight that we are seeing now. Amazingly beautiful creation!

One of the many tortoises I’ve seen at the garden.

It was very delightful to see this father playing ball with his boy in such an environment. If I have children, I want them to grow up in contact with as much nature as possible. And as much fun. Like a real childhood.

Very pretty flowers growing on the shrubs along side Swan Lake. They were growing at eye level unlike Vanda Miss Joaquim, so therefore I was able to take a good shot.

Swans in the Swan Lake. They surfaced apparently when I was heading out of the garden.

The ‘Swan Liberation’ statue in the middle of the lake. It looked very symbolic…

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Chae Huah celebrated her 21st Birthday earlier than expected. I didn’t have the group pictures so here goes for those that are in my hands.

A blessed 21st birthday Chae Huah! Thanks for all your graphical contributions to Uth Talk, Lost and Found and of course the Christmas posters that we made together…

My buddy’s new haircut. Maybe I’ll cut something like that after my birthday as a statement of intent that I’m going to put my focus on academics before I start school.

Min Min and I both went diving but apparently I seems to be getting darker instead of lighter. Just like to reiterate how much Godsis has been a blessing to me all these while. She literally lights up my world sometimes with that spirit of her. =)

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Geraldine gave me a call just now. Hope I had helped and pray that her trip to visit her grandmother in KL would turn out fine, and that Lord you will bless her journey abundantly. “Fear not for I am with you” – Isaiah 43:5

Anyway, I was reminded I haven’t posted any pictures yet from the camp. So here are those from my camera while I wait for Wee Chin to send us those from his camera.

We are Sapphire! Top left: Geraldine, Michelle, Li Xin (OGL) Bottom left: Dean (OGL), Serene (Comms), Zheng Ping, Song Yang, Wee Chin and me.

There were some blind-folded games on the last night that tried to give us an idea on the persecution of Christians in other countries where freedom of religion is not permitted.

Recite as many verses as you can from the gospel books…

Song Yang, a honours yr student. I like the way he listens patiently to everybody and disagree with wisdom. I learnt quite a bit about God just from having him in my group. From AJ too!

Michelle, Li Xin and I had to leave the camp a day earlier because of various reasons. We boarded the last monorail out of Sentosa. Soon after this picture was taken, I realised that I left my bible at the Beach Station…

Zheng Ping and Michelle’s friend, Pamela. Equally frustrating and funnily corny.

Ah… I thank God again for the camp. It really made me rethink on what does it mean to be founded on Christ. And for the friends made and the powerful testimonies that touched

Family Reflections.

I went to Gleneagles yesterday to visit my mom. It was my first time seeing her in hospital considering the fact that I was the only one in recent times to be in and out of the hospital for my lazy eye.

When I reached home at night, I saw daddy sleeping on the couch as usual, not noticing anything that was amiss. Dad woke up and we watched our favourite television programme “走向共和” together. After the show, Dad went to bed while I started to do some housework and clear some backlog work like my birthday invites and also additional CORS planning. Mid-way through, I heard violent coughing upstairs in my daddy’s room. It was so loud and violent that I went up to daddy’s room only to realise that he is feeling unwell too. He was suffering from a very bad headache because hadn’t been eating well. For a moment, I realised I haven’t been noticing that my dad’s heath has been deteriorating for so long.

So I switched on the toilet lights so that I rub the medicated oil onto his temples. Mom always say that I have the best hands and techniques for massaging the temples, but I realised it has been many years since I last did something like that for my dad. As I gently massaged his temples, under the faint orange glow of light that was diffused throughout the room, I saw my dad aging before me. He wasn’t the same stubborn and the fiery character that I knew he was. In fact, he looked soft, tired and aged.

As I continued to massage the temples of my dad, he closed his eyes and started to talk to me. He talked about Mom’s cataract operation, the risks, and then grandma’s refusal to go for the same operation for the same illness. He started to tell me why he started having headaches and feeling nauseous; he worked late at PSC yesterday and did not have time to eat a proper meal. He did not have the chance to visit mom too. I would be worried if he did. I was looking at my dad and wondering why he wanted to work so hard, when it struck me that the answer was obvious; to give his loved ones a better life.

I went downstairs to get Vaporub for him and helped to massage his tummy, chest and neck for relief. I remembered this method because my mother used to do the same thing for me when I was a young boy and not feeling well. And I like the warm feeling of having my mother’s hand on my skin, to let me know that I am fussed and loved. When I stopped, daddy had fallen asleep.

It is time for me to become even more responsible, to be the man that can lead the house. I was suddenly touched by many epiphanies and the warmth of God. The Lord is My Shepherd. I shall not be in want.

vcffoc07

I brought back from vcffoc07 much more than I’ve expected I would. There were new friends to be made and ‘new old’ friends like Gabriel, Kelvin and Ywee Ern. I was placed in the group Sapphire with 5 seniors and 4 freshies including myself. I like the honestly and the unique testimonies, perspectives and experiences that we bring for each other that helps us to multiply our growth by more than the sum of our individual experiences. For that, I’ll like to give thanks for my OGLs Dean and Li Xin, Seniors in Wei Chin, Song Yang and Serene, and of course fellow freshies in Geraldine, Michelle and Zheng Ping.

Just for a brief sharing on FOC. The workshop that I went to “Not ashamed of the gospel” opened up my eyes to new ideas that I’ve never thought of or seen before. The speaker asked us to reflect on what does the gospel means to us, and why the gospel that used to excite us so much doesn’t seem to be as mind-blowing anymore. Before the speaker started, he asked all of us why did we choose to come to this workshop. For me, as I was in SanFu, I wanted to go to the workshop to get other types of perspectives on evangelism. For others, it ranged from wanting to break out from their shyness so that they can share the gospel to others to not having the courage to talk about Jesus to their friends for fear of alienation… It was liberating in the sense that everybody voiced their opinions openly to let the others know that they are not alone.

The speaker did not teach us how to evangelise, but instead, make us reflect on what does the gospel means to us. I guess his method made us think again, that our problems lies with how we view the gospel as ‘mystic’ when talking to non-christians instead of something real and solid as evidenced in our own lives. One of the questions that he made us reflect on was ‘what are the implications of living the gospel’.

It was interesting for the others in the camp to hear the experiences of someone who has been in a chinese based christian church. Praying in chinese is apparently a big yet beautiful thing for some of them… I hoped I had created some awareness on the strengths and needs of the chinese churches, and to encourage people to get out of their comfort zones so that they can experience the God that transcends language and culture! Bring on Abundant Grace Presbyterian Church!

I feel rejuvenated again in my quest to live Christ as my foundation.

the Rock.

I misplaced my Paulo Coelho book and inside which I used as a bookmark was the birthday card that Min Min gave me last year. In fact, I was so worried that I went back to church later in the evening after dinner at grandma’s to look for the book myself, but I couldn’t find it. Hoping somebody find it soon, the book and my card. =(

It feels good to stop procrastinating and get things done. Something I’ve learnt from my buddy. Am heading for VCF FOC camp for the next 4 days. It will be another week that will pass by very fast. I know my God is with me.

30 minutes with God everyday is the homework that ShiMu has given us. It is something unique, but even on my first day of trying it out, I realised how little time I really spent talking to God. Am glad that ShiMu is teaching us how to communicate with God and listen to Him. It has been something that I’ve been praying for a long time. In the time when MuShi and ShiMu is around, I want to gain as much from them as possible. And that goes for the rest of the brothers and sisters in my class.

The Witch of Portobello.

After my separation from her and the great suffering that followed, I wondered if I hadn’t made a bad, irresponsible decision, typical of people who’ve read lots of love stories in their adolescence and desperately want to repeat the tale of Romeo and Juliet. When the pain abated – and time is the only cure for that – I saw that life had allowed me to meet the one woman I would ever be capable of loving. Each second spent by her side had been worthwhile, and given the chance, despite all that had happened, I would do the same thing over again.

But time, as well as healing all wounds, taught me something strange too: that it’s possible to love more than one person in a lifetime. This, however, doesn’t mean that I have to renounce all my past experiences, as long as I’m careful not to compare my two lives. You can’t measure love the way you can the length of a road or the height of a building.

Once , when I went to fetch Viorel and bring him back to spend the weekend with me, I decided to ask her why she’d reacted so calmly when I told her I wanted a separation.

‘Because all my life I’ve learned to suffer in silence,’ she replied.

And only then did she put her arms around me and cry out all the tears she would have liked to shed on that day.

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‘Why won’t you give me communion? Can’t you see you’re humiliating me in front of everyone? Haven’t I been through enough already?’

 ’The Church forbids divorced people from receiving the sacrament. You signed your divorce papers this week. We’ll talked later,’ I said again. 

When she still didn’t move, I beckoned to the person behind her to come forward. I continued giving communion until the last parishioner had received it. And it was then, just before I turned to the altar, that I heard that voice.

It was no longer the voice of the girl who sang her worship of the Virgin Mary, who talked about her plans, who was so moved when she shared with me what she’d learned about the lives of the saints, and who almost wept when she spoke to me about her marital problems. It was the voice of a wounded, humiliated animal, its heart full of loathing.

‘A curse on this place!’ said the voice. ‘A curse on all those who never listened to the words of Christ and who have transformed his message into a stone building. For Christ said: “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Well, I’m heavy laden, and they won’t let me come to Him. Today I’ve learned that the Church has changed tose words to read: “Come unto me all ye who follow our rules, and let the heavy laden go hang!”

With that, she turned and left in tears, her baby in her arms. I finished the service, gave the final blessing and went straight to the sacristy – that Sunday, there would be no mingling with the faithful, no pointless conversations. That Sunday, I was faced by a philosophical dilemma: I had chosen to respect the institution rather than the words on which that that institution was based.

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Each of us contains something within us which is unknown, but which, when it surfaces, is capable of producing miracles.

We all work for some reason: to earn money to support ourselves, to justify our life, to get a little bit of power. However, there are always tedious stages in that process, and the secret lies in transforming those stages into an encounter with ourselves or with something higher.

For example, the search for beauty isn’t always associated with anything practical and yet we still search for it as if it was the most important thing in the world. Birds learn to sing, but not because it will help them find food, avoid predators or drive away parasites. Birds sing, accordning to Darwin, because that is the only way that they have of attracting a partner and perpetuating the species.

Wednesday.

I had Su Ai over for lunch today. We ate the fresh yellow noodles cooked by me and the desserts by her. She was browsing through my collection of books and borrowed quite a few and a highly recommended show titled ‘L’Erfant’. After which we both went down to the CC to mug japanese and medicine respectively. It was indeed a good afternoon well spent catching up, especially we can do so since we only live a few blocks from each other.

I was looking at my schedule just now and I realised I am running on overload. It was because I was trying to squeeze in time for an event and I realised I have no place to put it till it will be too late. This is so horrible! Anyway, thankfully, I managed to find time tomorrow to go and recce my birthday gathering site. It will not be at Aranda anymore. Instead, it will be at a more convenient location in town, albeit a pretty special place. Contrary to some belief, it is not a museum though I may as much be a culture and history buff. Am doing recce with Disong tomorrow morning. Hope things will turn up well.

And yes. Though you will not be reading this, thank YOU daddy for wanting to sponsoring me without letting me know. =) *hugz.

Am having supper with the NM guys after tuition tomorrow. Looking forward to it tomorrow. And thank you Lord for letting Kenny answer my prayers about CORS! I’ll better stop here before I start getting too random.

Lost and Found Concert @ AGPC

This is a friendly evangelistic concert organised by the youths of AGPC. Even though I’m not really doing much for this thing except through prayers and the ‘三福’ team, I’m really touched by their efforts… There will be food, testimonies, a skit and good music for all. So do come down if you have the chance. Christians and Non-Christians are welcome. =)

Don’t let it slip… *grinz

Date: 7th July 2007
Venue: Abundant Grace Presbyterian Church
Address: 240 Jalan Kayu
Time: 7.30pm