:: trip update 21st Oct ::

yay i'm back.. first 'chop' on my passport since i renewed it.

haha i didn't know what to do/prepare for Sunday School till Sat night itself. and sunday morning i just grabbed my crafts toolbox and materials right before i left! haha.. oh my.

Thank God my dad was going to work at about the same time and it stopped raining so he could give me a lift. To Potong Pasir at least. Met Persis and confirmed our tickets. Then i learnt that we could buy tickets from church Chinese Cong office, at a lower price! hmmm... haiz.

took Falcon 5 (sianzzzz... haa) to TBK - Tanjung Balai Karimun as the youngsters here call it - and i had to pay tax upon arrival for transporting a scanner. :( the guy at the customs asked for S$10, but no receipt was given. heh! i gave him a 50,000Rp and he let me go.

went to confirm return tickets. Phei Phei arrived and took us to church. We had some time before Sunday School starts so we went to buy materials from the shops nearby. For Sunday School Persis and I led worship (last min arrangement haha), then Persis did word and I did Art & Craft. Message was taken from John 4:43-54, about the timeliness of a miracle Jesus performed. So for A&C we used felt cloth to cut out shapes of a clock, and glue beads on.
*Reminder to myself: Huiyi requested me to help her get a craft toolbox like mine next time i go in.

After Sunday School we had lunch nearby church. i love the soup there :P~~~

had time to slack before service started.. so we sat around to chat. Got the youths' Yahoo messenger ids. haha.. they're into it these days.

during service i was touched by the worship songs.. There was a part where Paul knelt down and cried painfully.. that broke my heart. And i'm already a very hard-hearted person. Can you imagine how much more broken Jesus' heart is?

Asun-gu preached. I understood probably 75% of the sermon. It was taken from Ephesians 4:17. vs 18 mentioned "the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts". I felt that this verse jumps out to me. Have I gone back to my old self? A new self can't fit into old clothes. As I pondered about this while Asun-gu preached, I thought of an analogy: an old corn cob with its old leaves: it decides to shed its old leaves --> it becomes a new corn --> it puts on new leaves. Sometimes we feel like we're struggling, we feel uncomfortable being Christians and doing the things we do because we're new corns, still in old leaves. They just don't go well together. To stop struggling and be comfortable we have to DECIDE to shed the old leaves and put on new ones. Because that's the way we ought to be.

prayed for the pple after service. Auntie Liqing very funny, asked me to massage her back. haha.. she fell down after climbing on her roof to save her grandson from bees. We met her grandson on our way back from lunch, the bee-bites were ALL over his body and look so terrible everyone would crinch at the sight.

Then we took the ferry back to Singapore. had dinner at Thai Express. Though i love the green curry there i couldn't finish it. I think i can't take spicy food anymore. awww.. worried that i might not be able to sleep the whole night due to indigestion but thank God I managed to.

today i added the youths in Yahoo Messenger. finally managed to chat with Frenky!!! added him in friendster some more. aiyo i'm so vain! lol.

:: trip 21st Oct 2007 ::

going in on Sunday only because I've got a cousin's wedding to attend on Sat and Persis has something on too.

This may be my last trip for 2007.

I'll reveal plans for 2008 some time later. =)

:: photos ::

too many photos! can only choose some to collage.

:: trip update 29-30 Sep ::

Didn't go in August as I wanted to, because I was very busy with work. I had wanted to introduce New Life Kit to the cell grp, not sure if they've done it before, so I asked PP. she thought it was a good idea. I also shared this idea with Gail and Jac and got confirmation tt they should go ahead with NLK. If I were to go in August with it, I had to get a copy of the discipler's manual, but i had not been able to. Anyway PP has a copy so she went ahead with it.

Sep trip.. was with M'kkadesh. Haha there were a lot of emails to each other confirming this and that, that PP had to go online on Yahoo Messenger to talk easier (and cheaper than SMS). Last thing confirmed was the ferry tickets. I sent in the email to Penguin with all the passport details the night after I received it from Elena, with my seldom-used email account (i wonder y) and had assumed that it would be successful as usual. On fri night i was still at office when I decided to check the email account for good news. (I suddenly remembered abt it on thurs night but i was in bed already.) When I saw the reply from Penguin i was going to cry already man. i was thinking, I am sooo screwed. They actually told me to reserve through Indofalcon instead. Why couldn't they pass it to them, they were just ONE counter away!! tried calling Indofalcon, but it was 9+pm already, i figure they must have closed. so i reminded myself to wake up early and call them first thing in the morning. (Suzanne and Gail were awaken by my calls hehe..)

So when I called, Indofalcon told me tt Tj Balai ferries are no longer managed by Penguin. they probably outsource to them. and that i couldn't reserve through the phone, they simply refused to hold 16 tickets for me and insist I buy the tickets at the counter! i was thinking, if we can't get 16 tickets for the 2.20pm ferry Elena is going to murder me. but they said they don't have 2.20pm ferry for that day also. Other timings are 12.25pm and 4pm. so we took the 12.25pm one. i missed the MCG tea session in the end, gail had to explain for me and pass things to the rest for me. i reached HBF cruise centre at about 9.30am and i realise i don't have $704 to buy all 16 tickets, so i had to wait for Suzanne and Samuel to come while the lady processed the passport info i printed out. then we went to meet the rest.

had breakfast at Mac and then we checked in. we were early... i rather we go in early then miss the ferry, i was so kiasi by then, scared to screw up anymore. Praise God for the smooth ride, most of us fell asleep on the ferry. haha.

PP and Aling came to fetch us, then we realise other church pple were here too. Asun-gu and Sally came to fetch them. There was a bus chartered for them, some of us squeezed in with them too. checked into Hotel Rasa Sayang, went for lunch at the bak kut teh stall beside it. after lunch Gail, PP, Aling and I had to go for a meeting with uncle Henry at Hotel Maximillian, to discuss the direction of Tj Balai ministry work. Uncle Colin introduced the hotel manager to me and he brought Gail and I on an orientation of the hotel. So nice!!!! will post the pics when I get home. we ended the meeting late, so Gail and I rushed back to the hotel to meet M'kk to bring them to church.

at church some of them started setting up, some interacted with the pple there, and Gail wanted to visit Xiao Lan. So i brought her and some of the guys to her place. She was not home... haiz. Dinner was ready but i was still not hungry. Some of us went to give out pamphlets to invite pple to go to the healing rally conducted by COOS (i didn't even know they were involved in the work here as well). then Gail mobilised ah yang to come find us to rush us to go back cuz the children have arrived already. m'kk really zai, can get the children to get active and hyped up for games. usually persis and i couldn't la. haha.. Gail and I were still discussing what was shared at the meeting earlier. By the end of the healing rally, m'kk pple were really exhausted from the games. haha.. somehow i think the number of COOS pple was more than the other pple who attended it. hmm... i was hungry and thrilled at the idea of supper already.

took the chartered bus back (haha free ride!) and had supper at Long Beach. then PP took Gail and I aside to talk abt some situation that had cropped up. we almost couldn't go ahead with the Children's Day party as planned, but thank God for His intervention. anyway back at the table uncle henry was there and i realise he took kelas bahasa as well! haha.. he recognised me but i couldn't. and he spoke such fluent thai i thought he was really khon thai (he got the Chatchai, Somchai.. kinda look =P)

back at the hotel after bath everyone came to our room for debriefing. i feel tt debriefing is impt. sometimes when persis n i don't debrief, we end up not knowing what each other had experienced during the trip, which is a...pity? so i was a little pissed at first when everyone came in with a 'let's get it over and done with then go and sleep' attitude. after they had left, Suzanne, Gail and I chatted till 2+am.. haha.. it was good la, to have tt what my cell grp guys call an ah-pek session. after tt i tried to squeeze into the bed but felt super uncomfortable, so i went to sleep on the floor eventually.

next morning, woke up when my alarm went off (i'm usually not like tt). Woke suzanne up for breakfast with uncle ben. haha.. went to the market for some shopping and then went to a coffeeshop nearby. ordered 9 plates of Indomie goreng and man, that took like half an hr! there was a cute cat trying to fall asleep standing up. haha.. the indomie was so spicy i felt terrible after eating it. err anyway after tt they went shopping for sunglasses haha.. and then they wanted to buy Indomie (actually me included) so i brought them to Indo A Yani. we were running late so we ran back.. kena scolding from Gail =x ooppsss.. cuz PP arrived at our hotel to wait for us early. threw up my breakfast after i reached the hotel room. yux.

then we took oplik to church for Sunday sch. M'kk was amazing at getting the kids to play games again. Gail and i were laughing at vincent for saying some hokkien words wrongly.. oops.. if vincent is reading i actually want to apologise la. i myself am so lousy at hokkien and unwilling to make mistake and learn, still dare to laugh at someone who's trying. haiz.

had mie bakso for lunch, spent the extra time talking to Gail, still regarding the meeting and our purpose there. haiz. then as we were sitting on the planks, large waves started coming in.. woohoo~ the kids also came near to play. saw some not-yet-dried cement on the ground and so i vandalised it.. hee..

church service was led by COOS.. i was very seh by then.

we were almost late for our ferry.. actually the ferry was later than us la. haa..

had dinner at HBF Food Junction. the food sucks.