Sometimes, the past comes back to haunt me. At unguarded moments, memories of hurtful remarks, painful actions and even rejection replays itself through my mind, though some happen way back 2,5 or even 8 years ago. Some as fresh as memories of yesterday, as vivid as the setting sun and the shining blue moon.
'You loser!'
'What? Not with him. Anyone else but him..'
'Weirdo!'
'You just don't belong here Leo, perhaps somewhere else, but not here..'
And at times like this, it takes a whole load of guts to continue on. To know that I've changed. That it's no longer the past, but the present. Sometimes, the mental anguish runs rule over a calm mind as it feels like a thousand swords piercing through your heart and the very fabric of your existence. Words, though might not injure physically, can leave scars that run deep.
It was on one of these days when I was reminded of the samaritan woman. Rejected, ashamed and even perhaps ridiculed in the small town of hers. Her past had caught up with her and even took over her life. She could not even take water from the well with the other ladies in the morning, for she had to go alone in the evening, when it was empty of the people who might start pointing fingers at her. After all, she's notorious even among a society that did not value holiness and Godliness.
Maybe she had been doing this for awhile. Maybe for quite some time. And perhaps, for a number of years. Alone. Rejected. Without a glimmer of hope. She goes around with her shame covering her, just like her veil and her cloak. It's her past she's not proud of, and the very same past that holds her guilty. Society has been cruel in reminding her of her mistakes. How can she shake them off in such a time like that?
And as we read John 4:4-26, we find out that Jesus Christ had came specifically to the small town to set her free. The day was hers. The opportunity, hers. And finally, the redemption, hers. Redemption from the crushing guilt that people continue to hold her to. Redemption from the past that shackled her life. Redemption from sin and pain.
As God reminded me of this story, of His grace and mercy and of His promise of a yoke that is light and easy, I'm free again from the past that haunts me. Free from the hurts, the pains and the rejections I encountered through growing up. Free from expectations. And finally free to be myself again.
Though I might have to face the struggle of the past once again on another day, it's okay as I know God has redeemed me as He once did with the samaritan lady. He is a God of second chance that has given me new life to breathe and live again.
How about you? Would you surrender your life to Christ? Every hurt, pain and rejection that continues to bind you? Though it's a tough journey, God is there for us all.
God Bless~!
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Monday, September 27, 2004
The Passion of the Christ
I finally had the liberty of watching the movie, 'The Passion of the Christ' last weekend as Ken wanted to find someone to join him. And so, there we were, 2 guys on a date (hahaha, we're still straight guys ya~) at 1-Utama.
And it was a good movie that challenged me on my walk with God. Just before the movie:
Ken : I think we must go buy tissuelah, later cry man..
me : Tissue ar? Haihh~ I won't cry man..
Ken : Nevermind, I've got my pillow to hug if I cry..
Unexpectedly, the scene where Jesus was betrayed, the floodgates broke open. There was the realness in which the Bible Scriptures jumped up and became alive. The Pharisees looked condesending and degrading. Judas, the ever timid and yet there was the element of greed in him. And Jesus, willing to take up His cross even though He knew the suffering He was going to suffer.
The only problem was that Caviezel's injuries looked plastered on instead of being real. I was personally distracted by this, though, up to now, this is the best and most moving film on Christ ever made.
It seems that watching the movie only confirmed even more of what God's trying to move in my heart. Am I willing to take up and bear my cross just as Christ did it? Are you willing to do so as well?
Help me keep this passion~
God Bless~
p/s: I always wondered why it's called 'The Passion of the Christ' instead of 'The Passion of Christ'. Anybody for their 2 cents worth? hehe.
And it was a good movie that challenged me on my walk with God. Just before the movie:
Ken : I think we must go buy tissuelah, later cry man..
me : Tissue ar? Haihh~ I won't cry man..
Ken : Nevermind, I've got my pillow to hug if I cry..
Unexpectedly, the scene where Jesus was betrayed, the floodgates broke open. There was the realness in which the Bible Scriptures jumped up and became alive. The Pharisees looked condesending and degrading. Judas, the ever timid and yet there was the element of greed in him. And Jesus, willing to take up His cross even though He knew the suffering He was going to suffer.
The only problem was that Caviezel's injuries looked plastered on instead of being real. I was personally distracted by this, though, up to now, this is the best and most moving film on Christ ever made.
It seems that watching the movie only confirmed even more of what God's trying to move in my heart. Am I willing to take up and bear my cross just as Christ did it? Are you willing to do so as well?
Help me keep this passion~
God Bless~
p/s: I always wondered why it's called 'The Passion of the Christ' instead of 'The Passion of Christ'. Anybody for their 2 cents worth? hehe.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Humbled
The last few weeks has been a humbling experience for me. Industrial training, while with its fun, also shows dat the actual working world is harsh, tough and even sensitive.
While working in Chilli's Midvalley, I might have faced tough, problematic customers, but everyone was in their late teens to their late 20s, making all of us stand in equal footing as colleagues working as waiters. Chilli's was fun, great, eye-opening to my abilities and gifts and finally without much of a problem.
But working in this new, small environment, where I'm just a trainee Engineer is akin to walking a minefield, as the company has had a lot of underlying currents running beneath the relationships in the workplace. Though people might seem to be cheerful and bubbly, the truth is dat perhaps they aren't.
The crux point came yesterday, amidst some casual joking with the assistant manager and a few colleagues, when one of them suddenly grabbed me by my shoulder and said, 'Remember your position as a trainee ah...'. I was stunned.
And as I went, 'Huh?', he repeated it again and threatened to do bodily harm. Even the assistant manager was surprised to see his reaction. But as the storm calmed down, we found out dat he actually did this to another staff before.
I was left thinking about it the whole day. Was it my wrong? Did I offend him (though not on purpose)? My other colleagues did say dat it wasn't my fault. But how would it affect my testimony as the only professing Christian in this workplace? I don't know. *sigh*
Humbled, dats what I called this post. Humbled to know dat the world outside there isn't as nice, friendly and perhaps as forgiving as what we know when we're still studying and in church. Humbled to know dat there are a lot of sensitive people out there dat needs to be handled with care.
Humbled to know dat there is still a long journey to go, especially in handling people, though many have said I've improved much.
God, help me please~
Amen
While working in Chilli's Midvalley, I might have faced tough, problematic customers, but everyone was in their late teens to their late 20s, making all of us stand in equal footing as colleagues working as waiters. Chilli's was fun, great, eye-opening to my abilities and gifts and finally without much of a problem.
But working in this new, small environment, where I'm just a trainee Engineer is akin to walking a minefield, as the company has had a lot of underlying currents running beneath the relationships in the workplace. Though people might seem to be cheerful and bubbly, the truth is dat perhaps they aren't.
The crux point came yesterday, amidst some casual joking with the assistant manager and a few colleagues, when one of them suddenly grabbed me by my shoulder and said, 'Remember your position as a trainee ah...'. I was stunned.
And as I went, 'Huh?', he repeated it again and threatened to do bodily harm. Even the assistant manager was surprised to see his reaction. But as the storm calmed down, we found out dat he actually did this to another staff before.
I was left thinking about it the whole day. Was it my wrong? Did I offend him (though not on purpose)? My other colleagues did say dat it wasn't my fault. But how would it affect my testimony as the only professing Christian in this workplace? I don't know. *sigh*
Humbled, dats what I called this post. Humbled to know dat the world outside there isn't as nice, friendly and perhaps as forgiving as what we know when we're still studying and in church. Humbled to know dat there are a lot of sensitive people out there dat needs to be handled with care.
Humbled to know dat there is still a long journey to go, especially in handling people, though many have said I've improved much.
God, help me please~
Amen
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Missions Report : Day 1
Ah, it's all in reverse for this portion of the report. After finishing day 2 to day 5, here's day 1 before I forget anything (and jumble up the report again, heh)
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Day 1 : 2/9/04
We started off with devotions and worship. Can't quite recall who did devotions dat day though. After that, I couldn't recall what happened until we were in the car (haihh, can someone help me here?)
It was a one hour plus journey there as we used the way through Serdang to Kajang. Ken got us lost a couple of times as we manouvered ourselves through. We had great cheap chap fan in Kajang. (which was our last meal that was duly paid for by the missions fund)
Reaching Rumah Keluarga Kami, we unloaded. It was a sad sight seeing the dipilated state of the orphanage. There were two houses, one for the boys and another for the girls. It so happen that the one for the boys was in a worse condition.
We didn't have much to do there except clean up the place. Thus, as the girls cleaned up the insides of the girls orphanage, we, the guys, cleaned out the field before cleaning up the boys orphanage.
It was a sad sight with bad smell as we washed up the boys orphanage. Even sadder are the kids who are so in need of love and attention that they did things to get our attention.
After finishing with our cleaning, we set forward to entertain the kids and make them some baloons. It's astonishing to see quiet, adorable kids suddenly transform into Captain Planet once they have their lightsabers (ahah, those baloonsla) Audrey made her only bumblebee of the trip, cute baloon but it didn't appeal to those Captain Planet kinda kids.
And it was surprising too to see Chee Yong good with kids. Kids were practically hanging around him. Chris made another good kid handler too, especially with his baloon making skills. Presumably good dad in the future hor? (hehe, Jane'nette's gonna kill me if she reads this)
After everything, we needed to head back around 6 as the kids had dinner later and had to wash up. Thus, we prayed for them. It was a hard time for me as suddenly I felt for them and felt I should have done more and perhaps talked more to them (the older ones). Suddenly I felt sorry for their bleak future and their poor lives while we all live in luxury in comparison with them.
And I began to appreciate my family more, although mom and dad seldom brought us out while young and emphasised a lot on results, but it was good. They sheltered us from the fact that we were living poorly. In fact dad saved most of his money for us all.
Dinner was at some place in Kajang. It was good as the dishes were superb. We didn't have money from the missions fund for our dinner as we had given it to the orphanage when we left.
Later on, we dropped Angeline off at Putrajaya before heading to Tesco, Alamanda to buy stuff for the missions proper. It was good too to see a live band playing 'Girl from Ipanema' in Alamanda. A really nice place with nice decor. And it was fun crapping with the rest.
Think I was knocked out by the time we reached back Cyberjaya. But it was an eye opener to the Temerloh/Mentakab trip
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Day 1 : 2/9/04
We started off with devotions and worship. Can't quite recall who did devotions dat day though. After that, I couldn't recall what happened until we were in the car (haihh, can someone help me here?)
It was a one hour plus journey there as we used the way through Serdang to Kajang. Ken got us lost a couple of times as we manouvered ourselves through. We had great cheap chap fan in Kajang. (which was our last meal that was duly paid for by the missions fund)
Reaching Rumah Keluarga Kami, we unloaded. It was a sad sight seeing the dipilated state of the orphanage. There were two houses, one for the boys and another for the girls. It so happen that the one for the boys was in a worse condition.
We didn't have much to do there except clean up the place. Thus, as the girls cleaned up the insides of the girls orphanage, we, the guys, cleaned out the field before cleaning up the boys orphanage.
It was a sad sight with bad smell as we washed up the boys orphanage. Even sadder are the kids who are so in need of love and attention that they did things to get our attention.
After finishing with our cleaning, we set forward to entertain the kids and make them some baloons. It's astonishing to see quiet, adorable kids suddenly transform into Captain Planet once they have their lightsabers (ahah, those baloonsla) Audrey made her only bumblebee of the trip, cute baloon but it didn't appeal to those Captain Planet kinda kids.
And it was surprising too to see Chee Yong good with kids. Kids were practically hanging around him. Chris made another good kid handler too, especially with his baloon making skills. Presumably good dad in the future hor? (hehe, Jane'nette's gonna kill me if she reads this)
After everything, we needed to head back around 6 as the kids had dinner later and had to wash up. Thus, we prayed for them. It was a hard time for me as suddenly I felt for them and felt I should have done more and perhaps talked more to them (the older ones). Suddenly I felt sorry for their bleak future and their poor lives while we all live in luxury in comparison with them.
And I began to appreciate my family more, although mom and dad seldom brought us out while young and emphasised a lot on results, but it was good. They sheltered us from the fact that we were living poorly. In fact dad saved most of his money for us all.
Dinner was at some place in Kajang. It was good as the dishes were superb. We didn't have money from the missions fund for our dinner as we had given it to the orphanage when we left.
Later on, we dropped Angeline off at Putrajaya before heading to Tesco, Alamanda to buy stuff for the missions proper. It was good too to see a live band playing 'Girl from Ipanema' in Alamanda. A really nice place with nice decor. And it was fun crapping with the rest.
Think I was knocked out by the time we reached back Cyberjaya. But it was an eye opener to the Temerloh/Mentakab trip
Thursday, September 16, 2004
The working Engineer
Ah, I finally got online, courtesy of my brother's spare pc and the streamyx account dat we have at home. It's been a hectic week since coming back from the mission trip in Mentakab.
Firstly, I finally started work as an Engineer, albeit a trainee Engineer in the repair center here with SEL Telecommunications, Puchong (SEL = Stuttgart Elektrik erm..forgot dy, heheehe). It's pretty tough as work is from 8am - 5pm dailly. Find myself lying in bed trying to fall asleep (and trying to dream I'm on a dream holiday lying on the beach in Hawaii with a good book in my hands or skiing in Switzerland with a helicopter filming my greatest stunts *grin*)
There's not much to do here except learn about testing & learning to fix PCB boards, screwing and unscrewing items & some minor field work. Every 2 hours or so we talk and joke around a bit (though the jokes my colleagues crack are usually hamsap jokes, haihhh~ Dat happens when everyone working there are guys *sigh*).
One good thing though. We had company dinner at Kelana Jaya Seafood Center on my 2nd day at work (and it was free! Heh)
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Secondly, was a bit discouraged on the state of the church since coming back from the mission trip. There's so much more we can do, so much more we can achieve, so much more than just doing church on Sundays. And the thought has been going on for sometime oredy.
There were times recently dat I felt like quitting, giving up and letting go, and just moving on to some other church where it's easier. Where people are more gung ho and want to do something more. Where the fellowship between members are closer. I just dunno at times...
But I guess every church would have it's weaknesses and strengths. It's been a great 1 and a half years in church, where I've grown much in confidence, personality and even maturity. Where the people are loving and accepting to my faults, my weaknesses and my crappiness. (Ah, Jeff is more crappy than me! hehehe)
But coming back, I just dunno why, but I felt it's time for us to take the next step up in faith and commitment to start something new and to help grow the church. And coming back, it was pleasant to find the church expanded with a 2nd floor and all.
We might be starting a Youth ministry soon. And I might get involved in the drugs rehablitation ministry as well. Everything is still under discussion. But, there is a genuine need for a church in the area to meet the needs of the secondary school kids. I pray that the church is our church.
Guess dat's all. Do keep us in your prayers. God Bless~
p/s: Will update on mission trip and post photos by Friday night, hopefully *smile*
Firstly, I finally started work as an Engineer, albeit a trainee Engineer in the repair center here with SEL Telecommunications, Puchong (SEL = Stuttgart Elektrik erm..forgot dy, heheehe). It's pretty tough as work is from 8am - 5pm dailly. Find myself lying in bed trying to fall asleep (and trying to dream I'm on a dream holiday lying on the beach in Hawaii with a good book in my hands or skiing in Switzerland with a helicopter filming my greatest stunts *grin*)
There's not much to do here except learn about testing & learning to fix PCB boards, screwing and unscrewing items & some minor field work. Every 2 hours or so we talk and joke around a bit (though the jokes my colleagues crack are usually hamsap jokes, haihhh~ Dat happens when everyone working there are guys *sigh*).
One good thing though. We had company dinner at Kelana Jaya Seafood Center on my 2nd day at work (and it was free! Heh)
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Secondly, was a bit discouraged on the state of the church since coming back from the mission trip. There's so much more we can do, so much more we can achieve, so much more than just doing church on Sundays. And the thought has been going on for sometime oredy.
There were times recently dat I felt like quitting, giving up and letting go, and just moving on to some other church where it's easier. Where people are more gung ho and want to do something more. Where the fellowship between members are closer. I just dunno at times...
But I guess every church would have it's weaknesses and strengths. It's been a great 1 and a half years in church, where I've grown much in confidence, personality and even maturity. Where the people are loving and accepting to my faults, my weaknesses and my crappiness. (Ah, Jeff is more crappy than me! hehehe)
But coming back, I just dunno why, but I felt it's time for us to take the next step up in faith and commitment to start something new and to help grow the church. And coming back, it was pleasant to find the church expanded with a 2nd floor and all.
We might be starting a Youth ministry soon. And I might get involved in the drugs rehablitation ministry as well. Everything is still under discussion. But, there is a genuine need for a church in the area to meet the needs of the secondary school kids. I pray that the church is our church.
Guess dat's all. Do keep us in your prayers. God Bless~
p/s: Will update on mission trip and post photos by Friday night, hopefully *smile*
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Missions Report : Day 3
Day 3 - 4/9/04
I was halfway through the previous post when I realised I did not write about the trip to the orphanage that was part of the missions trip. Now I know when we went to Alamanda. Anyhows, will post that up later
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We woke up early for the next day. Actually I woke up one of the last as it was very tiring for me (haiyoo..paiseh paiseh, hehe) At 9 am, we did our morning worship and dailly devotions as Su Chen led. After that we went into the 4 cars and also the Jeep as Charles led us for breakfast. We changed into the Van and Jeep just before breakfast.
It was great to finally sit in a Jeeper jeep for the 1st time in my life. In our excitement to sit in it, we ended up cramping 5 people in it. Dat was the start of the butt ache story. The rest, as they say, is history...
Breakfast was another crazy experience as we never expected so much food. It seemed that Charles wanted to fatten us all up (to be cooked?! Aiks~!!) There were 3 dishes on the table when Audrey snapped a photo, thinking it would be it. But the 4th came, followed by the 5th, the 6th and finally the 7th (!) And all were different style of noodles plus 1 Yong Tau Foo dish. Now I know where all my six packs went to, haihhh~~ It was already slowly dissapearing like a Houdini act then
After the sumptious meal, Boss went off to buy his undies supply (which ended up as too tight, hahahaha) and forgot to buy me my towel. So then, I had to run to the Pasarraya to get mine. We did manage to have some time to play pepsi-cola, though its called different names in other places.
Playing dat does bring back the good times I had in primary school. Pepsi Cola, Police and thieves, badminton, etc etc. Unfortunately, Charis killed me with her 1st move (*sigh*, what's with girls bullying guys nowadays? hmm...)
It was a long journey to the next village. And also a tough, butt-aching one as we cramped into the jeep. There, we (Boss, Joshua Chiam, Chee Yong, Chris Chou and me) formed the Jeep Crew as we cracked joke after joke (lame jokes included) on our journey there. Yea, the king of lame jokes was in the car as well, hehehe
Also, Josh, Boss and me had to share butt space in an already cramped passenger seat at the back. (and to think of it, Charis and Audrey wanted to change seats with one of us to sit at the back. We saved them the butt ache, heh) Yea, I wanted to doze off actually, but the fact was, it was impossible due to the cramped butt we were all having, haihhh~
We arrived at the next village in the afternoon, around 12:45 or 1pm but were too full from breakfast to eat the chicken rice Charles tapaued on the way there. Some din even eat at all.
As we hanged out the Church, Chern Liang, Bea and Charis amused themselved with the toilets (I wondered what they were doing, spending so much time outside the toilets, instead of being in them, hehe)
We sat around for awhile after lunch, being too full to move around but too sleepy to do anything else. It was really a lot of food.Perhaps dat was what being pregnant felt like. Thank God we didn't go burping around, though we would probably have appreciated the chicken rice better if we weren't dat full. Audrey had some ulcer in her mouth, warranting a shot, while Charis had a ladybird on her arm. Too bad it flew away as I tried a close up shot.
Oh yea, Boss fell asleep and wouldn't wake up although the gals, led by Bea tried to wake him up. Think Boss wouldn't wake up even if u pinched him. Thus, being the mischevious gals they are (ah, never expected this), they gave Boss the ultimate cool look. It was really amusing to see them give Boss a makeover, just like the TV series, Queer Eye for the Straight guy.
Anyhows, after introduction to the church elders and caretakers, the children came in. At first only a few came. And we thought dat's it, kau tim man. Just a few cute kids. But then, more and more kept coming in. There were 3 batches of kids I think and a total of 60 over kids, all full of energy and with a smile readily pasted on their faces. It was a bit scary for me as I never did handle sunday school before (Would be making the kids laugh around too much instead of studying~! haha)
And it was good as Ken took charge of the songs with all his erm, comical faces and Bea played the guitar. They had changed roles in the last minute. Thought it was a good move as Bea might just frighten off the kids with her comical face, hehehe (sorry ya Bea, just had to say dat *grin*)
I felt the team did a good job as everyone participated in the songs, doing all those funny moves and dances. You can even see the joy in the faces of the team members who were trying hard to get the kids to follow. And in the end, it was a good time of great fun, especially seeing the kids jump around in amusement.
Then came Chris with his puppeteers, Chern Liang and Josh and also Chee Yong the Goliath, who greatly entertained the kids with their puppet show on David and Goliath. It was really good and funny. Think we all had a load of laughter though we had seen it a couple of times. We are proud of them. Now, we can start our own sesame street huh? (Yah, and Spiderman do exists in Sesame Streetlahh. Really wan *grin*)
Later on, Boss did his version of a gameshow as he shared with the kids about Christ, salvation and christianity. The kids went into a frenzy as they were divided into 3 groups, led by Josh, Ken and Angeline. Now dats a good way to keep the kids attention. I was with the kids, trying to drum up more noise, haha, like asking them to shout even louder.
The pretty girls, led by Audrey did their wonderful dance(wah, spellbounding. Helped wash our eyes, hahaha) Su Chen did not do the dance as she joined us to cheer for them (haihh, we're the pom pom guys, heh)
It was after the dance dat Audrey, Chris and the rest then went around making baloons for the kids. There were visible signs of excitement from the kids as we took out the baloons and distributed it to them. As we passed the baloons around, some did not want to pass it to the next in fear that he/she might not get it. Though the fear was unfounded.
It was amazing to see them so excited over baloons though. City kids would rather have toys amounting up to hundreds of ringgit though.
As Audrey taught the kids from the front, the rest of us sat around the kids and
tried our best as well to help out as well as look macho in front of the kids, heh. It was hard for those baloon-phobic people like me and Ken though.
But it was rewarding to see the look of joy in their faces when we helped all of them to finish folding their baloons into rabbits. Thus was the end of our morning adventure with the kids from dat kampung. It was a good experience
We then said goodbye to the kids as we then chatted abit with the church leaders of dat kampung. As the Pakcik prayed for the food in bahasa Semelai, some of us were touched as it was the 1st time in the missions trip we actually joined them in prayer in some other language. After that, we finished up our goodbyes before heading off to the next place. It was really encouraging to see the response from the kampung kids, considering the experience of aversion the day before when we visited the Che Wong tribe.
It was a pleasant surprise as Charles took us to Tasik Bera. Charles had previously told us we were going straight to the next kampung to do some gotong royong/cleaning up job.
And it was another pleasant surprise when we were told dat we were going on a boat ride, something we never expected. We did worry about the cost though as we did not want Charles to go around paying for us.
There we were divided into 4 groups as there were only 2 boats. Thus the other 2 groups had to wait as the 1st 2 went off.
Thus, there were Josh, Boss, Chee Yong, Audrey, Me and also Ray playing Mafia while waiting for the rest to come. We were stranded. 6 bored people. 5 guys and a gal, so we can't probably go around playing masak-masak could we?
At least it was better than to just look at the lake for birds and fireflys. Though, the game opened my eyes to Mafia. And I found that it was a really addictive and fun game as well. Ya, plus all those bluffs. Josh tried tricking us to believe he was the spy once, haihhh..he failed miserably. Audrey tried to pretend she's the spy as well, hahahaha~!
The boats came after 20 minutes and took us for a ride of our lives. We were still at mafia then~! And I was the mafia and I wanted to kill Boss next..*sigh* The boat ride was fast, adrenaline rushing and good too. Not to mention deafening Still can't forget the way Audrey screamed as we approached some crazily small opening with the boat. It was the skill of the boatmen that kept us alive then, heh.
And it was a surprise (or a shock) to see Su Chen, Charis and the rest in the water, forming a circle. What happened to the civilized Su Chen I thought I knew? Hehehe. Apparently they were trying out some synchronised swimming/or trying to play dead as Chern Liang said. I personally thought that they capsized (!) for dat matter, heh. Must be an overactive imagination huh?
We soon joined them with only Audrey and Ray opting to keep away from the water. Chee Yong tried to, but we caught him and threw him in. Ray was smarter though. He held on to his camera. *sigh* And Audrey? Hmm, we're gentlemens.
And there we were, some farting in the lake, others pissing in it (man, Christians, kononnya) and the others just playing around with water and bullying others. It was real great fun, really...Never had so much crazy fun for a long time dy. Guess dats one of the hallmarks of this mission trip, we just be ourselves without worrying about impressing others.
It was all us again as the 1st 2 groups then left for the ride of their lives. (wondered if they screamed like crazy, hmm...) So guess what we did? We Mafia-ed again! Crazy people aren't we? And it rained, and it was cold. But we didn't care, for we were mafia-ing. It was really great fun. Hahahaha, din feel like I was all the 24 I was. Chee Yong and Josh made some patterns on the bushes with their piss though (sigh..)
We arrived at the pier only to wait as it rained heavily. No Mafia this time though. Guess dat everyone was really tired at this juncture. Tired but happy. It has been a long time since I had so much carefree fun. The Tasik Bera chapter of the mission trip was an experience I would always treasure *smile*
After the rain subsided, we washed up and went to the next village, Pak Sudin's place. At that time, we were famished and hungry. Not to mentioned, worn out from all the playing. I could have eaten a wild boar alive if there was one then, hehehe.
It was a nice and cosy place that Pak Sudin built for himself. Somehow, it just felt like home. We had dinner after settling down. Dinner was good with good nice wild boar pork that was well cooked. It was also an eye opener to how nice petais could be as it was well cooked then.
I turned from a petai hater into a petai lover dat night (think a few of us converted dat night, when's the petai baptism ceremony huh? *grin*) And it was interesting talking to Pak Sudin about how he cooked the food and other stuff. It was only later that I found out dat Pak Sudin was a former Chef with some hotel.
After dinner and clearing up, we had a great time with the debriefing. This time, it was turned based as individuals took turns sharing what they've learned and what they expected. Still couldn't believe that they had a heartful of laugh when I shared my side of the story. Man, I was being serious and was sharing my heart....*sigh* But still, it was a really good time to understand each other better and more.
Later on, we walked around looking at the stars and the moon and not forgetting the artificial satellites. It was indeed nice and at times I regretted not jumping in the river that was next to the place Pak Sudin built. If only I was more crazy (!)It was a good and nice talk I had too.
We then washed up and got ready to sleep as the night went on. It was indeed a day to behold as I felt the events brought us all closer. An eventful day. A really nice day.
I was halfway through the previous post when I realised I did not write about the trip to the orphanage that was part of the missions trip. Now I know when we went to Alamanda. Anyhows, will post that up later
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We woke up early for the next day. Actually I woke up one of the last as it was very tiring for me (haiyoo..paiseh paiseh, hehe) At 9 am, we did our morning worship and dailly devotions as Su Chen led. After that we went into the 4 cars and also the Jeep as Charles led us for breakfast. We changed into the Van and Jeep just before breakfast.
It was great to finally sit in a Jeeper jeep for the 1st time in my life. In our excitement to sit in it, we ended up cramping 5 people in it. Dat was the start of the butt ache story. The rest, as they say, is history...
Breakfast was another crazy experience as we never expected so much food. It seemed that Charles wanted to fatten us all up (to be cooked?! Aiks~!!) There were 3 dishes on the table when Audrey snapped a photo, thinking it would be it. But the 4th came, followed by the 5th, the 6th and finally the 7th (!) And all were different style of noodles plus 1 Yong Tau Foo dish. Now I know where all my six packs went to, haihhh~~ It was already slowly dissapearing like a Houdini act then
After the sumptious meal, Boss went off to buy his undies supply (which ended up as too tight, hahahaha) and forgot to buy me my towel. So then, I had to run to the Pasarraya to get mine. We did manage to have some time to play pepsi-cola, though its called different names in other places.
Playing dat does bring back the good times I had in primary school. Pepsi Cola, Police and thieves, badminton, etc etc. Unfortunately, Charis killed me with her 1st move (*sigh*, what's with girls bullying guys nowadays? hmm...)
It was a long journey to the next village. And also a tough, butt-aching one as we cramped into the jeep. There, we (Boss, Joshua Chiam, Chee Yong, Chris Chou and me) formed the Jeep Crew as we cracked joke after joke (lame jokes included) on our journey there. Yea, the king of lame jokes was in the car as well, hehehe
Also, Josh, Boss and me had to share butt space in an already cramped passenger seat at the back. (and to think of it, Charis and Audrey wanted to change seats with one of us to sit at the back. We saved them the butt ache, heh) Yea, I wanted to doze off actually, but the fact was, it was impossible due to the cramped butt we were all having, haihhh~
We arrived at the next village in the afternoon, around 12:45 or 1pm but were too full from breakfast to eat the chicken rice Charles tapaued on the way there. Some din even eat at all.
As we hanged out the Church, Chern Liang, Bea and Charis amused themselved with the toilets (I wondered what they were doing, spending so much time outside the toilets, instead of being in them, hehe)
We sat around for awhile after lunch, being too full to move around but too sleepy to do anything else. It was really a lot of food.Perhaps dat was what being pregnant felt like. Thank God we didn't go burping around, though we would probably have appreciated the chicken rice better if we weren't dat full. Audrey had some ulcer in her mouth, warranting a shot, while Charis had a ladybird on her arm. Too bad it flew away as I tried a close up shot.
Oh yea, Boss fell asleep and wouldn't wake up although the gals, led by Bea tried to wake him up. Think Boss wouldn't wake up even if u pinched him. Thus, being the mischevious gals they are (ah, never expected this), they gave Boss the ultimate cool look. It was really amusing to see them give Boss a makeover, just like the TV series, Queer Eye for the Straight guy.
Anyhows, after introduction to the church elders and caretakers, the children came in. At first only a few came. And we thought dat's it, kau tim man. Just a few cute kids. But then, more and more kept coming in. There were 3 batches of kids I think and a total of 60 over kids, all full of energy and with a smile readily pasted on their faces. It was a bit scary for me as I never did handle sunday school before (Would be making the kids laugh around too much instead of studying~! haha)
And it was good as Ken took charge of the songs with all his erm, comical faces and Bea played the guitar. They had changed roles in the last minute. Thought it was a good move as Bea might just frighten off the kids with her comical face, hehehe (sorry ya Bea, just had to say dat *grin*)
I felt the team did a good job as everyone participated in the songs, doing all those funny moves and dances. You can even see the joy in the faces of the team members who were trying hard to get the kids to follow. And in the end, it was a good time of great fun, especially seeing the kids jump around in amusement.
Then came Chris with his puppeteers, Chern Liang and Josh and also Chee Yong the Goliath, who greatly entertained the kids with their puppet show on David and Goliath. It was really good and funny. Think we all had a load of laughter though we had seen it a couple of times. We are proud of them. Now, we can start our own sesame street huh? (Yah, and Spiderman do exists in Sesame Streetlahh. Really wan *grin*)
Later on, Boss did his version of a gameshow as he shared with the kids about Christ, salvation and christianity. The kids went into a frenzy as they were divided into 3 groups, led by Josh, Ken and Angeline. Now dats a good way to keep the kids attention. I was with the kids, trying to drum up more noise, haha, like asking them to shout even louder.
The pretty girls, led by Audrey did their wonderful dance(wah, spellbounding. Helped wash our eyes, hahaha) Su Chen did not do the dance as she joined us to cheer for them (haihh, we're the pom pom guys, heh)
It was after the dance dat Audrey, Chris and the rest then went around making baloons for the kids. There were visible signs of excitement from the kids as we took out the baloons and distributed it to them. As we passed the baloons around, some did not want to pass it to the next in fear that he/she might not get it. Though the fear was unfounded.
It was amazing to see them so excited over baloons though. City kids would rather have toys amounting up to hundreds of ringgit though.
As Audrey taught the kids from the front, the rest of us sat around the kids and
tried our best as well to help out as well as look macho in front of the kids, heh. It was hard for those baloon-phobic people like me and Ken though.
But it was rewarding to see the look of joy in their faces when we helped all of them to finish folding their baloons into rabbits. Thus was the end of our morning adventure with the kids from dat kampung. It was a good experience
We then said goodbye to the kids as we then chatted abit with the church leaders of dat kampung. As the Pakcik prayed for the food in bahasa Semelai, some of us were touched as it was the 1st time in the missions trip we actually joined them in prayer in some other language. After that, we finished up our goodbyes before heading off to the next place. It was really encouraging to see the response from the kampung kids, considering the experience of aversion the day before when we visited the Che Wong tribe.
It was a pleasant surprise as Charles took us to Tasik Bera. Charles had previously told us we were going straight to the next kampung to do some gotong royong/cleaning up job.
And it was another pleasant surprise when we were told dat we were going on a boat ride, something we never expected. We did worry about the cost though as we did not want Charles to go around paying for us.
There we were divided into 4 groups as there were only 2 boats. Thus the other 2 groups had to wait as the 1st 2 went off.
Thus, there were Josh, Boss, Chee Yong, Audrey, Me and also Ray playing Mafia while waiting for the rest to come. We were stranded. 6 bored people. 5 guys and a gal, so we can't probably go around playing masak-masak could we?
At least it was better than to just look at the lake for birds and fireflys. Though, the game opened my eyes to Mafia. And I found that it was a really addictive and fun game as well. Ya, plus all those bluffs. Josh tried tricking us to believe he was the spy once, haihhh..he failed miserably. Audrey tried to pretend she's the spy as well, hahahaha~!
The boats came after 20 minutes and took us for a ride of our lives. We were still at mafia then~! And I was the mafia and I wanted to kill Boss next..*sigh* The boat ride was fast, adrenaline rushing and good too. Not to mention deafening Still can't forget the way Audrey screamed as we approached some crazily small opening with the boat. It was the skill of the boatmen that kept us alive then, heh.
And it was a surprise (or a shock) to see Su Chen, Charis and the rest in the water, forming a circle. What happened to the civilized Su Chen I thought I knew? Hehehe. Apparently they were trying out some synchronised swimming/or trying to play dead as Chern Liang said. I personally thought that they capsized (!) for dat matter, heh. Must be an overactive imagination huh?
We soon joined them with only Audrey and Ray opting to keep away from the water. Chee Yong tried to, but we caught him and threw him in. Ray was smarter though. He held on to his camera. *sigh* And Audrey? Hmm, we're gentlemens.
And there we were, some farting in the lake, others pissing in it (man, Christians, kononnya) and the others just playing around with water and bullying others. It was real great fun, really...Never had so much crazy fun for a long time dy. Guess dats one of the hallmarks of this mission trip, we just be ourselves without worrying about impressing others.
It was all us again as the 1st 2 groups then left for the ride of their lives. (wondered if they screamed like crazy, hmm...) So guess what we did? We Mafia-ed again! Crazy people aren't we? And it rained, and it was cold. But we didn't care, for we were mafia-ing. It was really great fun. Hahahaha, din feel like I was all the 24 I was. Chee Yong and Josh made some patterns on the bushes with their piss though (sigh..)
We arrived at the pier only to wait as it rained heavily. No Mafia this time though. Guess dat everyone was really tired at this juncture. Tired but happy. It has been a long time since I had so much carefree fun. The Tasik Bera chapter of the mission trip was an experience I would always treasure *smile*
After the rain subsided, we washed up and went to the next village, Pak Sudin's place. At that time, we were famished and hungry. Not to mentioned, worn out from all the playing. I could have eaten a wild boar alive if there was one then, hehehe.
It was a nice and cosy place that Pak Sudin built for himself. Somehow, it just felt like home. We had dinner after settling down. Dinner was good with good nice wild boar pork that was well cooked. It was also an eye opener to how nice petais could be as it was well cooked then.
I turned from a petai hater into a petai lover dat night (think a few of us converted dat night, when's the petai baptism ceremony huh? *grin*) And it was interesting talking to Pak Sudin about how he cooked the food and other stuff. It was only later that I found out dat Pak Sudin was a former Chef with some hotel.
After dinner and clearing up, we had a great time with the debriefing. This time, it was turned based as individuals took turns sharing what they've learned and what they expected. Still couldn't believe that they had a heartful of laugh when I shared my side of the story. Man, I was being serious and was sharing my heart....*sigh* But still, it was a really good time to understand each other better and more.
Later on, we walked around looking at the stars and the moon and not forgetting the artificial satellites. It was indeed nice and at times I regretted not jumping in the river that was next to the place Pak Sudin built. If only I was more crazy (!)It was a good and nice talk I had too.
We then washed up and got ready to sleep as the night went on. It was indeed a day to behold as I felt the events brought us all closer. An eventful day. A really nice day.
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