Dear Mandy,

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL! This has been a spectacular Christmas, to say the least, and I guess it's finally time for me to blog about everything that has happened so far... meaning my Cameron Highlands trip and Christmas @ Orchard! :)

CAMERON HIGHLANDS

Welcome to the enchanted forest. :) I spent most of my trip in the jungle trails, and trust me, though I get kinda unnerved that I'm in the jungle so quickly after NS, all the same, I found myself having fun at the challenging trails, climbing up and up. And the jungle near the top was like rather misty, so nearer the top, it looked like the picture above, like I was entering an enchanted forest. It had this very mystical feeling amidst all the moss collecting.

The above three pictures are just some of the specifics of the flora and fauna... the red rose on the left was taken at the rose garden, in the middle is what is called the Christmas moss and the one on the right is the ever so common Lucobrium. So yeah, as most of you know, I went for a moss picking spree, but I also got a lot more out of it than I bargained for, with beautiful flowers to take of, and wonderful views... The views atop the mountain of Trail 6 was absolutely breathtaking, to say the least... and then throw in the waterfalls... my goodness... I was in heaven!

The waterfall on the left is Parit Waterfalls, the one in the middle is Richardson falls and the view on the right is the view atop the mountain along Trail 6. It was a totally amazing view and experience, let me tell you that. Oh well... Basically, Cameron Highlands was a very relaxing place... Mom and Dad were there with sis and I for the first 3 days, but the next 3 days? We were on our own... we went to the Boh Tea Plantation, and I really like the long walk in... well, we ended up being quite wet cause it kept raining sporadically and quite heavy as well... Food wise was pretty alright...? But the suppers were pretty cool... oh, and if u ever go to their night market at Brinchang? You have to try the pizza, the BBQ chicken and the deep fried mushrooms!

That's all for Cameron Highlands... I'll blog about Christmas @ Orchard a later time... :)

Dear Mandy...

I'm back from YEP, and it has been such an enriching journey, that I find myself quite moved and changed by what has happened. Thanks to God's grace and blessings, there were minimal casualties, but maximum impact and emotions as we set about to be of whatever help we can have... let me recap.

We gathered at Changi Airport's budget terminal, and the service there left much to be desired as we were waiting at the check in counter for close to 2 hours before we could settle check in and actually move into the waiting area. When that happened, we found out that the flight was going to be delayed, and well, imagine how we felt... so technically, we were waiting for close to 3.5 hours just to be able to get our butts on the plane seat and ready for take off. It didn't bode well, believe me, and I found myself mentally marking down not to take budget flights unless it was Jetstar Asia.

By the time we landed in the Philippines airport, it was close to 6am, and it seemed to me as though it was 8am instead! We linked up with Rudi, the Operations manager from Habitat Philippines, and headed off for breakfast at this fast food restaurant called ChowKing (of course, being VJC people, we immediately linked it to chao geng! Hee...) and it's a chinese fastfood restaurant that even has it's own radio station! Haha... amazing... here's the picture of us at the restaurant.

After that, it was a good 3.5 hour jeep ride down to the hotel called Lucena City Fresh Air Hotel... and it's definitely not as fresh as it claims to be, but reminded me very much of a regular army 2 man room, just a bit more broken down, rickety, wooden and with an air con. No television was a bit of a minus point for me, but the weird sounds like creaks and what not were enough to make me wonder what I got myself into. I bunked with Wen Xiang, and I quite enjoyed the time with my roomie! :) Here's a picture of us in the room.

We then changed and went down to St. Dominic's Village for our orientation brief, and subsequently work... We learnt about how Habitat Philippines works, as well as our schedule for the next few days, and then prepared ourselves for our briefing for what we would need to do. Well, we didn't expect to start working so soon, so most of us forgot our gloves, but nevertheless, we were ready to begin our "careers" in construction. I volunteered to shift sand, and earned somewhat devilish smiles from Rudi and our supervisor, Gerard. Basically, I was given a sifter and had to sift what seemed like a mountain of sand. So, I was like -_- and shrugged... I soon got the hang of it, and it can be quite therapeutical... Use the shovel and load the sifter, then sift sift sift sift until you're left with the rocks and all the fine sand had gone through.... then move the sifter forward, back then forward and throw the rocks far far away... quite fun! Hahaha... along the way, Nav, Shermaine and Wen Xiang came over as they were waiting for more work to do and they had a hand at the sifter.... haha... Then, I had my first taste of something other than sifting when I went to collect gravel and help transport cement. I had my first taste of what a construction worker would really do, and well, the funny thing is? I enjoyed it. I enjoyed working and I enjoyed the ease and flow of things... Here's just a view of what we did...

That night, we went for the official opening ceremony at this nice restaurant, and well, we had a short programme, which included introductions between the Habitat Board of Directors, Philippines and Team Victoria, which happen to be us. Then I went up to sing a couple of songs as did the Habitat staff before we ended off with John Denver's "Country Roads". After which, we returned to the hotel to rest for the night. I, being trained to have 7 hours of sleep, was asleep by midnight, and promptly awoke at 0615hrs for the next day.

Breakfast was at the hotel, and nothing much to say about this since every day will be rice, eggs, bread, peanut butter and tea. Hahaha... standard breakfast. By 0800hrs, we were at the Village and starting the day's work. Once again, I chose to work at the cement plot, and we managed to do until half the floor was covered with cement, and then it was lunchtime. After lunch, we exchanged roles with the other group and we went to do excavation for the playground. Now, I was trained to do excavation in the army, what with the ET blade, the changkol, shovels, boonkee and pickaxe, so I was looking forward to that... so imagine my surprise when they entrusted in my hands a tool that resembled a spear except instead of an arrow head, I got a blade... which is relatively heavy and "in the way", and it was 4 of us working on the excavation of the perimeter for which we would lay bricks for. It was no fun feat... we worked ourselves until we felt our muscles ache, and our consolation came from the fact that the Lord blessed us with a slight shower and a cooling wind... it wasn't so warm, the weather was just right, and we managed to clear a route of close to 20m... that included the excavation of a lot of grass, rocks and stones. Not entirely fun. We stopped work at close to 2pm and subsequently went back to wash up and change so that we may go and be part of the ceremony for presentation of the houses to 5 families.

The ceremony began at about 1530hrs, and it began with an introduction to the 5 familes... one of them had 7 children! Gosh! And they were squeezing into a house that is single floored... Then it was then that I heard that there's a family living in the same quarters with children... I am amazed at their resilience and flexibility! Haha... the ceremony was pretty meaningful... we presented a key to the family, cut the ribbon then went into the house where we presented them with a Bible and a candle, which signifies the Risen Christ... they are Catholic families, so yeah. But nonetheless, we felt happy for these families for having received their houses... There and then, I prayed that God would bless these families and may they be elevated from their primary problems of a shelter over their heads and a more defined lifestyle as they now lived in a community. Here's a couple of pictures:

That night, we went to the mall, and I purchased nothing except for a net for which we would tie for the basketball court. Dinner was KFC, and the Philippines KFC was really not bad! Haha... after dinner, we returned to the hotel to rest up.

That night, it rained heavily, and we were awakened time and again by banging of the balcony door and the toilet door, and the rain came down in torrents. In the middle of the night, we had to salvage our clothes which we hung to dry or air simply because the entire balcony was almost rained wet. It wasn't until the morning that we found out a typhoon had hit Philippines, and the rain was part of the effect. And because of the rain, we couldn't go shoot the rapids, and well, we made up for it by going to the mall in the afternoon- the bigger mall. And this one, I bought a fair bit of things, and I quite enjoyed the shopping... However, the highlight of the day has to be the dinner. Whoo-hoo! It was my first taste of authentic Spanish food, and it was really really good... I think pictures speak more than words, so here's some pictures of how bad the rain was and the food!!

That night, we played Polar Bear until 2am in the morning... so imagine our faces when we awoke the next morning. We were supposed to be working, but due to the heavy rain, we ended up playing with the children instead. We tried to teach them Captain's Ball, but in a demonstration, we broke a lamp (yeah, it shattered!) and we ended up relocating to the basketball court. It was here that I got an injury (the ball hit my face cause I wasn't looking and I cut my lip) and my VJC ring got lost. I guess it's God's way of asking me am I willing to let these things go for a greater good, and I readily said yes. I was a bit bothered at the loss of my ring, since it is after all, about my commitment to VJC and VS, but in the end, I know that God is all I need, and after an hour, I was alright. The kids then went back to the multi-purpose building for colouring, and we guys set up the net before playing 3 on 3 with the locals. Totally couldn't win them at all... haha... we then went back to the building where we took part in some colouring before the guys became part of the piggy back service... Totally ran ourselves ragged!

Lunch came and went, and soon, we were working again. This time, all of us were sent to the excavation site as the rain left it difficult to lay any cement as it wouldn't hold. So we split into 2 groups... one group to do the perimeter, and the other group to do levelling of the playground. I went to do levelling, and soon came to grow a distinct dislike for grass and rocks as I kept encountering them while I was using the spear like tool to break the ground... and then imagine our dismay when we later found out that we had over levelled and had to re level the ground. All in all, we kept at it... shovel after shovel, hit after hit, rock after rock, bucketful after bucketful of mud, soil and rocks. When time came to stop work, we were all exhausted, and were thankful for the opportunity to go shower.

Dinner that night was at a very nice restaurant which took 45 minutes to reach by jeepney, our mode of transport. The restaurant was very elegantly designed... we had to walk on bamboo bridges over a huge pond, and the pond was beautiful to say the least. Couple it with a beautiful star lit sky... it was enough to trigger the word "romantic" in my mind given the right preparations and planning. We had to eat by hand that night, and the food wasn't that equivolent to the beautiful architecture. But I count my blessings when the view made it all seem worthwhile... call me sentimental, but that's the way I am. :) Then we had a little tour of the Youth park, and it was quite brightly decorated with lights and whatnot for the coming Christmas... Then, we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, we awoke and by 0800hrs, were at the worksite again. This time, we broke into 2 groups: the excavation group and the cement group... I chose the excavation group again, and was immediately presented with the daunting task of digging a crater so we could bury a boulder. It's similar to digging a command post! And the heat was rather sweltering, so we got to work. Wen Xiang, Shermaine, GuoJie and myself set ourselves to task, and even with the help of the locals, we were only making minor headway... so we dug until our shirts were soaked through, we looked like we had just showered, and we had only made minimal headway. We were exhausted and drained, so when GuoJie accidentally speared the water pipe and water spurted out, it was all we needed to trigger a laughing fit! Haha... lunch came shortly after that, and we were exhausted that I needed time to just sit and compose myself... after lunch, we headed back to the crater, and an hour into the excavation, we were working on pure frustration and motivated by the resting group's cheers. Partly, we were lamenting that the locals were just sitting there doing nothing. Close to break time, GuoJie asked us if we had any water, and he was replied with a gushing sound. Unknowingly, while he rested the spear, he has once again speared the water pipe! The locals came to help us mend the pipe amidst the laughter fit triggered once again, and amazingly, the locals aided us in digging this time around! GuoJie and I immediately deduced the "service bell" was to spear the water pipe. Quite devilish, I know... haha... anyway, we completed the crater at about 1630 hours. Here's the crater!

After the hard work, we spent the remaining hours saying good bye to the children. It was pretty much a joyous yet emotional moment for us, as we realised that this would be pretty much one of the last times we would ever see them. Everybody gave piggy back rides, and we were all mobbed in one way or another... be it for rides, or just to play hand clapping games, or to have a group of kids calling me "Aiden Kiss", or something like that... time seemed to fly so quickly... 1 and a half hours passed by and it was time to wash up and go for the formal closing...

That night, we went to Giuseppe Restaurant for the official closing ceremony. After dinner, we kickstarted the programme... First the Chairwoman of Habitat Philippines gave a vote of thanks, before Nav and I gave our testimonials for the event... We all agreed that it was nothing like city life... more like... a chance to finally see the other side of the world... the poor and the homeless side... and a chance to really see how lucky we are to live the life that we have... we then hada certificate and token of appreciation presentation ceremony... and then had a singing campaign... We put up an item "Wherever you will go" and then had a karaoke session... I sang duets with Nancy and Elmer, before it kinda toned down. GuoJie gave us a rendition of "Chasing Cars" and I serenade with "You needed me" before we headed back to the hotel for our last night.

The next morning, we went to visit the centre where the kindergarten kids go for lessons at the Missionary, and we learnt pretty much a few things... how troubled these families actually are despite their smiling and unassuming nature, and it struck us even more how much we had been taking things for granted all this while... and when the sisters confided in us about some of the problems certain families face, and more so when they took us to their private chapel and said that they pray there every day for the families, it was all I could do to kneel down at the pew and say a silent word of prayer to God. I cried in my heart to God that He would be with these people, to watch over them, and to give them joy in times of need. However, I think that God wanted me to see more when Rudi brought us to one of the families' previous house in the slums. This family is a family of 8... and the father is a widower. His eldest daughter, aged 16, had to quit school to take care of her siblings... and the family has 6 females and 2 males in the total tally of 8! I was even more stunned by the condition of that... structure! I mean, the roof was supported by a can! After that, we went to the mall again to buy some stuff, and for lunch before we packed and got ready to return... here's a look at the slums.

On our way to the airport, we stopped at the village for a final 10 minutes... and as we looked around and said goodbye, every idea of the sweat, toil and blood shed came back, and the boulder had been buried already. Just felt really fast, these last 6 days, and all to soon, we were heading back to Singapore. And as we set off for the airport and jetting off, I believe that God was happy with what we had done... for as the sun slowly set on a journey soon to end, a colourful rainbow spaced itself across the horizon, a significant ending to a new beginning.

Dear Mandy...

I'm typing this, amazingly from the Airport, Changi's Budget Terminal as I await the flight of my re-scheduled flight. It's been quite the hectic journey from the start until now, and I'm quite enthusiastically (sarcastic) awaiting the flight so that we can finally get a head start on our journey here.

It's going to be 3 days of building, a day of orientation, a day or 2 of r and r, plus interaction with the villagers. To me, I think it's also a form of recce for the 20th Students' Council as I prepare myself to evaluate if it is a trip worth going for the 20th. It's pretty amazing, if you ask me... and being perfectly honest, I must thank God for such an opportunity. The Lord Almighty works in ways that still continues to astound me, and I'm certain that His plan for us is beautiful.

Yesterday, I was called last minutedly down for the OVA Membership booth, and trust me, I immediately entered into a world of chaos, and what nots. I guess that 23rd are trying to work out their kinks, and I believe and know that they have progressed from strength to strength, but they still have yet to officially gel as a unit, and have yet to iron out certain things with their working style. But, I'm optimistic for them, because I believe fervently that they have the heart and the drive... just that they lack that assurance and confidence as yet. They'll get it before long, I believe in that.

SDD was in itself, a fun event. I was particularly inspired and motivated by Jie Shi and Anita, in their perseverance in trying to sell flowers, and poor Anita was selling flowers despite her flu. Impressive, definitely... and of course, there was Clara's flower from a certain someone, there was Elise and Valerie in the loop, and Daniel Ong and myself buying a flower each for Charlene, and doing our best to make her feel a little but awkward, but nevertheless happier. And I bought 8 more flowers, gave 6 to 23rd ladies and 2 to the VJC String Chamber. Haha... oh well, I had my fair share of fun, and my fair share of experiences as well.

I'm happy... and for a long time now, contented with the way things are. I pray to God that the next few days will be smooth sailing and that there will be minimal casualties, and that we will all have a good experience, and work together as one. I will need to watch my own flaws as well, so I'm crossing my fingers and know that God will be with me.

20th... as I leave, I just want to say that I love all of you. You all have and always will be a pillar of support for me, and a source of inspiration. Whoever knew that a council could give me so much care, concern and love, and I never expected myself to have such a close group of friends, and even found heartfelt confidantes in some people... I'm blessed to have such a council... and I thank God for that every other day. You people are my family now... and there's nothing that I can say that will change that.

Take care people. See you all in a few days! :)

Grey's Anatomy ( Season 2 )

This is one of my favourite scenes in Grey's Anatomy Season 2... as in... I wish that I'd be able to say with conviction someday, this to the person I love...
"I love you. In a really really big, pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window... unfortunate way to make me hate you... love you. SO pick me, choose me, Love me... "

Dear Mandy...

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."Genesis 12:2-3

I have officially returned from Encounter weekend, and it was really an eye opening experience, and one that I believe I won't ever ever forget for a very long time. The amount of tears, the revelations, the experiences... everything feels kinda surreal, but yet... so real.

The very night that we reported for camp, I guess I could already sense that God was going to do something very special in this weekend. The moment I stepped into the dorm, and the people that filed in, Andrew immediately identified me as a VS guy, and I think it's God's hint that these few days would require us to stay together, and He helped by placing someone I and Victor Ong could relate to in the same dorm.

The night started with what a true encounter is, and God struck me very much when Victor Sim started crying already... I could sense God's presence very much after that session, and that night, I prepared myself mentally, emotionally, and prayed to the Lord that the Holy Spirit would come unto me and that He would keep my heart and mind open and receptive to His touches.

I awoke early on Sat morning to run with Yew Fie, Mike and this other girl down to SRJC and back. It was a good jog... not too tiring, and the distance was just right. And breakfast was good. And the day kickstarted.

The first session, about God's love for me, was something that I could really relate to... and yet, it's still amazing how much He loves us, despite any misgivings that we have had before. I cried very very badly for this one... really. And the Lord just told me, very very gently, that... well... my best times so far was with the VSPB in Sec 3 and Sec 4, and the best was with the 20th Students' Council. Because for the main reason that they love me for me, and after I left Council, why I keep feeling so lost, and so out of place, is because I was afraid to accept love from the people around me. And the Lord told me, that He loves me. And that triggered the tap... I just sobbed and sobbed... and when Yew Fie prayed for me, it just made me feel even more vulnerable... After about 15 minutes of crying, I simmered down, and composed myself once again... Amazing what Army training can do to your handling of emotions, and Victor Ong also composed himself. It was then that, we all realised Victor Sim was still crying, so Isaac, Victor Ong and Wei Liang, under the suggestion of Yew Fie, gave him a big group hug.

When it came to the next session on the meaning of sin, well, Ps William actually challenged us to look at Jesus on the cross... and that was something I felt was difficult for me. I mean, would He accept me as who I am now? What if I went forward, only to be rejected by Him, and to find out that His love for me is lesser than others? But nevertheless, I took the leap of faith forward, knelt down and prayed. And once again, the Lord displayed His amazing grace when He told me this "You don't have to be perfect before me. You don't have to attempt to be flawless to come to me. All I want from you is a sincere heart, humility, the courage to admit your sins, and the conviction to repent. That's all..." And I cried again... somewhere along my tears, the Lord gently reminded me of the time when I was at TCT for the Christmas@Orchard leader training, and when Ps Bel prayed for me... God said to me "Through Ps Bel, I told you that I love you, and I am pleased with you. And I still am. Because you are my son." You can already imagine the tears that follow.

After that was lunch, Joel came down!! Haha... as did Biling and Ps Jimmy, and we enjoyed chatting to our spiritual father... The two sessions that followed were pretty significant... the redemption plan, and tearing up my sin list and nailing it to the cross. It took me some time to tear up my sin list, but in the end, I told myself I will leave everything in God's hands, and by faith, I will take that leap forward. And from then on, I felt at ease and peaceful about everything... And after that, we went off to play soccer, and I played keeper... and even assisted in a goal! Haha.. then I went to bathe, and then dinner... before the heartbreaking session.

We had the lesson on the ministry of the cross after dinner, and well, it was something... definitely. They showed us a clip on "Passion of Christ" and it was a music video for this song... I started crying, and we all knelt down after the first screening, and they kept replaying it. I never looked at the clip again, but in my mind was etched the scene of the cruxifixtion. And the song... the lyrics... cut deep into my heart... so so deep... it was heartwrenching, and I found myself crying even harder that my nose completely blocked, breathing became difficult, my ear became blocked, and all I remember thinking and crying to God was "Please, let it stop." And God told me gently "This was what my son did for salvation... this feeling you feel, don't ever forget it. That is was Jesus who died on the cross for you." Imagine the tears...

After that, I had a heart to heart talk with Victor Sim about encounter and life in general... It was a really good talk.. we shared about VJC, his past encounters with church, and FCBC in general for about an hour plus... I really enjoyed sharing with him.

The morning opened with area cleaning of some sort, and then after that, breakfast, where Yew Fie asked us each for our evaluation... and he gave us each some pointers... then we went for our first session. The only 2 people who didn't go down to speak to our guides were me and Victor Sim... what I did was kneel down in front and have a conversation with God after stoning at my seat for a while. It felt awfully good... then I prayed for Victor Ong when he returned.

After that, we had a break, and then Ps Seng Lee came to share with us on the Holy Spirit. I quite enjoyed his presentation, and after that, he got all of us to pray in tongues, which I did... and then following that, he called the Holy Spirit to come unto us. The first time he did it, I felt nothing, and started peeking around to see what was going on. I saw a couple of people around me who had fell to the ground, and I was like "I'll pray." I prayed... very hard, for God. I kept saying "God, I know You're there... Touch me." And then Ps Seng Lee asked the Holy Spirit to touch us in a gentle way, and I felt something stir inside of me. Suddenly, I started moving from side to side... I was... dancing... yes... I was dancing... and soon, I was just letting go in the small space I was confined to... then Ps Seng Lee went around praying for us. And he placed his hand on my chest and said "More freedom! More freedom!" And I started shaking more vigorously, then suddenly, he snapped his fingers and said "Fall." A peace came over me, and I dunno what happened next... I believe I was on the floor, cause when my eyes opened a fraction, I could see people standing above me.

I closed my eyes again, and prayed to God... I was still "vibrating", but at a lower frequency, and then, a peace came over me, and I calmed down and stopped shaking... but instead, felt my heart growing warmer and warmer... and I placed my hand over my heart... and I felt the Lord tell me "I'm healing your heart... After today, go forth and receive the love that you are deserving of. Your heart will be more sensitive to the needs of others, and more importantly, to me." And I felt very very blessed... when I sat up moments later, I was in a daze... but in a good way. After that, I found out that God had made Victor Sim laugh uncontrollably. And then, Victor Ong joined us, and we knelt down, held hands and started praying... My prayers came in 2 waves, and then gave Victor Sim the opportunity to close it all off... We felt very euphoric after that... and well.... I personally felt very blessed. And then I was given the opportunity to say grace... Quite touched.

The last two session on water baptism and the vision, they spoke to me loads. My apprehension on water baptism was surfaced, and I knew that God was touching me on that... I guess that I do want to be baptised as well, but I'm afraid cause I will still need to partake in the chinese funerals also... but I'm going to trust God and bide in His time... and listen to Him. And thus, I stood up, and acknowledged to God that "Yes, I want to be baptised."

When camp ended, we all agreed to go for post-encounter together, and I left with a very light heart, and a new outlook on the World. That night, we went for dinner at Jack's place to celebrate sis's birthday? And we started talking about the story of Jacob in the bible... and it was the first time that I ever discussed the bible openly in front of my family, Praise God!

Today, I just apologised to Shi Ying, my ex, about our r/s. I apologised for not having fulfilled my responsibilities as a bf then, and for not having kept to the promises I made her, and most importantly, for not being the bf that she expected me to be... I think that God is really touching me, because previously I never was open about discussing our relationship, but I confessed freely my flaws to Joel and Edrei, and finally mustered enough courage to apologise to Shi Ying as well. And I think that God answered my prayers when Shi Ying told me that she never blamed me, and that she forgives me... I feel very liberated at the moment... and thankful. I never knew that I was carrying such a heavy burden all this while.

Thank God for everything that has happened... He is really almighty!

YEP is coming soon, and I depart come Thurs night. To all the people who have finished their exams, congratulations! Go have fun and enjoy whatever time you have!

To God be the Glory!