* just an add-on, that Samuel did come for the cell grp after all! he was wearing punky blue specs...wooo! haha it pays off to visit pple to encourage to come, although they say no, God still works in them to change their minds! like cailing n puili. samuel didn't seem interested during cell grp though, n left quite quickly after that. just hope tt he will still decide to come for cell grp meetings again.
Wahaha just came back from an adventure.. in the familiar land of Tanjung Balai Karimun Indonesia!
Lemme first start from the day before, fri the 13th. I went to Vivocity Daiso in search of seashells - anything to do with seashells, be it decoration, stationary in the shape of a seashell...etc. i shopped for other items before i decided to ask the staff if she could help me find anything seashell. WOWEE, i managed to find a bag of seashells! $2! i thought i might have to spend $2 per shell.
so after tt i went home. only started do do my QT when it was late, and ONLY STARTED to plan my sharing for word after that. oops.. n also only started to pack my bag after that. so i slept around 3am.. and so woke up slightly late, 7.45am. i wasted too much time at home la. ended up reaching there at 9.20am, unsure if gail could get tickets. thank God she managed to. oh this time only me n gail went in, on sat, persis, joseph n priscilla came in on sun. once i reached HBF cruise centre we hurriedly checked in. but we were still early la. the ferry hasn't arrived yet. our ferry was supposed to be Penguin 10, but we were quite confused when they announced Waterfront 1 going to Tj Balai. well since it's going to the same place, no harm taking it even if it's the wrong one. =P shared with gail what i had planned to share for word. we also talked about tibet for mission trip.. sounds like a really interesting place. i'd like to visit it one day. i didn't slp at all on the ferry. sleepy but not tired. hmm... or the other way round? i was yawning to a point i stopped feeling tired. :S oh yah forgot to mention, on the ferry there was this guy who kept talking to us, asking us about mobile phone. he'd probably just got it n doesn't know how to use. he asked me to help him take a photo n then set it as wallpaper. he kept saying tt it's nice, a bit zi lian~ hahaha.. interesting encounter la.
when we reached, phei phei was not at the jetty yet, cuz i told her we would reach at 12noon. but we arrived about 10 min earlier. gail saw someone familiar. she probably got to know her thru Pastor Hadi's time. that lady was waiting for her boyfriend. the couple look so cute together. =D then gail n i went to confirm tickets. gail was going back on the second ferry on sun, but me on last ferry on sun, because i wanted to stay for the main service. then pp arrived. we took the oplik to Asun gu's place to put down our bags, went to the room to watch Doraemon with Aimei n then went out to eat. PP brought us to Yess cafe. i'd say another standard-upped place. pp says the owner opened the Cipes cafe too. WOW, must be rich sia. n very good business mind. Price is low n affordable for students. n the whole place looks very clean (if u know how tj balai is like u'd agree tt there's a great contrast between inside n outside!). i had mie ayam n ES TEH-O (aka teh-o bing)! n that meal cost me only 10000 Rp.
after tt we went to take the oplik to find cailing, who moved to a new place. actually we went to find her friend Puili, to bring us there. we walked very far into the hills. we were curious to why her family chose to move to such an ulu place, then we found out tt it's cheap n tt her family is poor. they are having problems settling their electricity bills, because they dun use much, but are charged quite high. after chatting inside the house for some time, we moved to chat outside the house. it was a small...hut built by cailing's brother. much cooler outside but much more flies. thank God for the whole trip i wasn't very harrassed by mosquitoes. (probably gail was shielding them from me, but i helped her kill one anyway.) then cailing's father told us tt cailing has some sores on her feet. n flies are super attracted to the sores. i kept urging her to wrap her feet so tt the germ-carriers can't deposit bacteria in the sores. n we kept trying to get cailing to come for youth cell grp. she wanted to give it a miss because she would need to walk very far to the main road n can't go home after tt because it would be dark n dangerous. we got her to stay with us at uncle Asun's place.
after chatting for quite a long time, we decided to go find Puili's friend, Samuel (in indo it is pronounced as 'saa-moo-wel' n gail kept changing it to 'seng-muei', meaning sour plum.. LOL). he lives in kampong bukit, about 10-20 min walk from cailing's ulu place. on the way there we saw pigs!!! haha took photos of the pigs cuz i've never seen it in tj balai before. also took photos of a dead headless rat on the road. =x also found a badminton court, built with zinc. anyway, samuel went to shower when we arrived at his place. actually i went into the house last, so gail told me tt samuel looks very different from Puili n she can't understand how they can be good friends. when he came out i saw tt he's cute. hahahaha!!!! well. he seemed very quiet n shy. his whole family is christian (praise God!) except him. n we kept asking him to come for cell grp too, but he refused because there are few guys. so after tt we decided to go.
we had dinner at a bakso stall. then some baskers came to sing n perform for the customers of the bakso stall. i thought that it's good tt these guys perform as a way of life, as a means of earning money, because tt's probably what they find they do well, n also because they're not like most youths we see there, out of job n depair. i didn't want to eat at first, cuz i wasn't hungry, but i didn't want to miss eating bakso >.< so i ordered too. after that we took oplik to Baran Dua to find ahyang, whom pp mentioned is going to Batam to work. when we reached his place, his mother told us tt he has gone to Batam already. aww...
we walked to church n reached around 7pm, for the cell grp. there were a few kittens outside church. what a delight! but timothy (about 8 yrs old) had used a string to tie 2 kittens together. my heart ached to see that. so disappointed in him. i had thought cell grp was around 3pm, so i asked gail to come in the 2nd ferry, rather than the 3rd. i was a little anxious abt word cuz i did not rehearse n go thru my notes thoroughly. we started playing icebreaker game Blow Wind Blow, to get them mixed in seating. then gail led worship. it was havoc just before cell grp started because gail realised she didn't bring out the songsheets which she photocopied for them. but during worship it was spirit-led. such that there was this new girl Xiao Lan, who started to utter something n wanted to leave. everyone pulled her back, because it was obviously the work of the devil. they started laying hands n praying in tongues for her. gail was a bit not sure what to do at that point, but she continued to play guitar n ministering to her. after that things settled. then it was time for word. i had to assume tt most of them know God's word well enough for me to dig into deeper stuff. shared about firstly their identity, secondly their purpose in life, n thirdly their priorities. language was a barrier, but thank God for gail n PP who helped to explain my points when i couldn't find words. then i told the story of a couple collecting seashells during their lifetime, when they shld have spent it "collecting souls" ie. bringing pple to Christ. so i gave out the seashells to them, to remind them tt they shouldn't be "collecting seashells".
after cell grp, some of us went to Indo A. Yani supermarket to shop. i wanted to buy what i always buy, Indomie Goreng. but there wasn't stock, cuz they had just pulled down a wall to make space for more stuff, n were rearranging their stock. so in the end i bought nothing. went back to uncle Asun's house, knowing that there was a blackout. but we didn't realise tt the blackout wld continue till an unknown time. we could only pray for miracles. felt hot n sticky after the whole day, but after shower it felt good. haha.. the rooms were actually more windy because the windows, protected with mosquito net, were opened. so we went in to sleep about 12am.
i fell asleep quite quickly because i had started to feel cooler after a while. in the middle of the night the electricity came back on, n the lights came on too. tt probably woke me up. gail also was stirred, n she nudged me to go switch off the light. i thought it was soon time to wake up but decided to go switch off the light anyway. then i just felt like i had slept very long n lai chuang for very long, but it wasn't even time to wake up yet =D had set my alarm clock to go off at 8am. went to wash up n then pack bag. just then wiky was awake already. specially mentioned this because he is actually someone who also likes to lai chuang. =P we wanted to go out for breakfast, but there wasn't seats at the coffeeshop, so we decided to order takeaways. i ordered roti prata kosong n telur (egg). the telur one was interesting, it comes with coleslaw too. yes, i swallowed the veggies. but i requested TAK MAU BAWANG (dun wan onion)! Wiky had lovingly made teh-o for gail n me. awww.... =D
after breakfast we went to pelabuhan (jetty) to fetch Persis n gang. gail was there because she was due to leave after they arrive. n i was there because i wanted to discuss with them regarding timing to leave. in the end i still decided to leave on the last ferry though they were going back straight after Sunday school. after tt we took oplik straight to church. Persis n gang conducted sunday school while i helped out with the acting for the story n arts n crafts (which i learned during sunday school itself - haha). after that this girl called huiying gave her art & craft work to me. i asked her y not give it to her friend, n she answered "you're my friend lor!" in mandarin. awww...! =D
went for lunch with persis n gang at a stall we haven't been to for a very long time. i ordered cha kuey tiao, which came with A LOT OF garlic. (yucks! >.<) n some funny pig-stomach-like stuff. then persis n gang left while i went back to church. vita was very nice to ask me out, so we went shopping while there was still an hour before service starts. i had always wanted to go Hawaii, this big shopping centre between Balai (city) and Meral. saw a lot of nice and cheap clothes there! i want to go there again. probably not when i'm scheduled to go there n not in the context of "mission trip". i also want to cut my hair there.. there's a hairdressing salon tt cuts for 10000 Rp (S$2)!!!! heeeheeeheee... also went to a nearby supermarket, probably bigger than Indo, to buy my Indomie goreng! =P then it's time to go back to church.
Vita's dad started coming to church because of drums - a good excuse but not a good example. because before joining a ministry, a person shld be (at least a little) mature. but i find tt his beats are a little off. =x service was good. i felt tt i could understand pp's sermon, taken from Numbers 20:1-13 and 21:4-9. i was sitting beside vita n it was very funny, i forgot the difference between Bilangan and Ulangan (books of the Alkitab - Indonesian version of the Bible) n when she was searching for the passage in Ulangan i thought it was correct. then halfway thru the sermon she flipped to Bilangan n we realise we were both so gong! hahaha... after service uncle Asun asked me to pray for Xiao Lan, who explained tt she has been demon-possessed since she was 14. she would suddenly do something without realising it, n pple around her had to tell her what happened, n a lot of pple would laugh at her for her behavior. i thought it wld be something tt happened at tt time, like probably someone started sharing Christ with her, so the evil spirits would try to stop her. but i urged her to get baptised asap, when she could get rid of her old sinful spirit n exchange it with the Holy Spirit.
after tt i went to wait for pp, cuz she said she would accompany me to the jetty. while waiting, i saw a roadside stall selling my favourite - telur goreng (fried eggs!!!!) oops i actually went for it instead of accompanying Wati n Vita to Pang Chuan-cek's house to do something. then pp took a little long to do something, so uncle Asun n tai-cek were worried tt i might miss my ferry, so tai-cek sent me to the jetty!! i took his motorbike, without helmet! although my dad rides a motorbike, which means i shld not be afraid of being a pillion rider, i was still scared. didn't know how to get up on the bike. =x i must be very heavy. oh no. hahah.. was hanging onto dear life on the handle at the back of the bike so i didn't take photo/video of tt experience. but i was very happy to have experienced that. so many first times in this trip!
also my first time taking ferry alone. together with many DOMs. i went up to the rooftop for sea breeze, n because i was alone, i didn't have to ask anyone if he/she minds me going up there or not. but the DYM (dirty young men) sitting beside me were talking abt women quite loudly the whole time. half the time i tried not to listen. haha. irritating. n i was quite ..hmm surprised tt so many pple drink n smoke so much on a ferry. i also spent the ride taking photos of the sunset. i spotted a ...ship/sea vehicle carrying sand. u know, the thing tt has been going on between Singapore n Indonesia. but i didn't get a good pic of it. urgh. after i got off the ferry i found tt the sea breeze gave me a new hairstyle (n i like it!) hahahaa...
thank God for the safe trip home.
