Dear Mandy,

There often comes a time when God drops His little nuggets of reminder, or inspiration, or revelation, and you can only just stand in awe of Him.

I went to the Mustard Seed today. It was the IVCF's last week of serving and cooking for the homeless, and it was fun. Initially, there were only a few people: Gareth, Cai, Greg and Adam when I came over. Then subsequently, more people came. Elizabeth and Marie, Brittany, Janice and Amanda, Allie(Ally? Ellie?) Luke and a couple of guys who I don't really know came over as well. And it was fun. What with lettuce fighting with Elizabeth, spraying water from the lettuce over Marie, and basically just having all rounded fun and laughter.

When the homeless people came, and we served them, we were efficient. That I've gotta admit. The mad rush was.. well... mad. And if anything, the desserts were selling like hotcakes! And I had fun serving, and chatting with the people. Cutting up the cakes into small slices was the hardest task of the day.. Allie, Amanda, Janice and I were just exerting brute strength to cut the cakes, and it was by no means an easy task, cause the cakes had been placed in the freezer.

But that night, God revealed more to me, not just in fellowship and serving. But in simple truths.

I met Jeffrey that night, and how we met was absolutely funny. He asked if he could have another serving of chilli and rice, and well, I just gave it to him, and we started talking. He was working as a construction worker, and his hands were extremely callused and hardened. But he was happy. And he told me that he used to be a bad person. Moving from one rehabilitation institution to another, just a man angry at the world, and just on drugs and smoking. And he still is, but he's better now. And now, he told me "people are beautiful." He'd sleep on the streets if it meant that his friends could pay their rent. He'd be willing to go hungry if he can help his friends out with their debt. And he was happy- contented. And life is going well for him, because he was in the midst of discussing an investment with the bank. But... he was still smoking pot, and he drank beer? But he had cut down his intake by almost half, and the friends that he helps out, are all rallying him, helping him cut the habit. And I think he even has a girlfriend.

BUt what he told me was so impactful. He said.. "All you really need is a little bit of faith, you know? That with hope and love, and everything is just beautiful. I never thought I'd be able to get a job, but here I am, working hard, and earning my money. It's meaningful, you know?" And I was struck by the simplicity of his statements. Here was a man, with literally no home, working hard manual labour, but with the optimism and love of a little child. It reminded me of a verse I read in the Bible which says that the poor are always more willing to give than the rich... I think this is very much exemplified here. And before he left, he gave me a big hug, and said "People who don't like hugs must be nuts". And then off he went, into the rain and cold, but leaving behind me, with much wonder in the words he said, and knowing God had spoken through a homeless man like him.

After that, we had a bit to bite, and we cleaned up a bit. And I went outside to play with a dog, feeding it water, and it has such beautiful blue eyes! Then when I came back in, Allie was about to go, and we chatted for a while. And Allie said "don't underestimate the smallest thing that God prompts you to say. It could mean something to someone. I really want to thank you for sharing that song and testimony about your friend who was locked up for her faith. It spoke to me, and it assured me, because I was once like that too." And I was so astounded. I really like Allie, being honest. She's rather quiet, and keeps to herself, but she has a sense of humour that when she says something, it's actually rather funny. And she's always calm, composed, and I can tell, she's someone who really loves God. And that really reminded me of things. That if God has prompted you to do something, even if it's really weird, do it. Because you never know who you might be blessing in the process.

Well, as the day came to a close.. I thanked God, because I know that He was there, He worked through us, and all glory to God.

Dear Mandy,

As I'm sitting here, the day after "Exchange for Change Culture Fair", I look back on what has happened, and have been going on, and I marvel, because I see how God has been in it the whole way through.

Exchange for Change (Back row, L to R): Sherri, Martes, Stephen, Jet, Josh, Peter (Front row, L to R): Barbara, Emma, Me, Takashi, Tomoya (Not in picture): Juliet

When the project first started, we went through a slow start... choosing a beneficiary for our project, and discussing over it, splitting into committees... And then that's when the difficult part began. Coming from different cultures, Exchange for Change (EFC) is actually made up of people from England, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, and we all had to work together. Seeing clearly the meaning of Sociology when they say culture differences, each country actually had a uniquely different style of working and functioning.. or maybe, it's just an individual thing. On a couple of occasions, I was silently stewing over the progress of the meeting, and at times, certain characters and comments made at certain times. It got so bad, that I actually found myself praying to God for patience and tolerance, simply because of this simple thing: culture difference.

Then came the period of stress. Half our committee went travelling over the reading break, and there was communication breakdown. Coupled with venue problems, booth issues, and publicity matters, it seemed like the event was struggling. But then, I remember reading once before, a story in Joshua Harris' book, "I kissed dating goodbye", about this boy's birthday party, where his dad requested that all his friends come with their fathers, sort of like a male fraternity party. But each father brought a gift to give to the kid. One father gave the birthday boy a nail remover. And he said "There will be days when you realise after building a house, that you've made a mistake. What would you do? Carry on building and risk the safety of those living in it, or start over from scratch and waste time and money? Well, these are the times when you would realise it's better to take the house down nail by nail, and to start from scratch. It would take an immense load of courage to do so, but it moulds character, and it is what God does with us."

With that thought in mind, I agreed with scaling down the event, and Josh and I proposed an alternative Plan B in case it doesn't come through. So the moment reading break ended, God prompted me to go and meet Sherri, the International and Exchange Student Services student advisor for this project, and to discuss and update what has been going on. Then came more whoppers, when some previous connections that we had established to help set up booths in the event could not be contacted. At this moment, I was really a tad worried.

Would you believe God knows? One Saturday, feeling overwhelmed, I wanted to click on Joel's msn to talk to him, or to e-mail Audrey, Yvette or Prisc.. and then Audrey came online so I could talk to her, and the next day, Joel msn-ed me, and even gave me a long distance call. And this is what he told me "God doesn't care about the end result; He cares about your heart. You're too used to organising good events, aiming for perfection, that when it comes to a time when this event isn't going well, you feel like the burden's on you. But carry the Lord's burden, and the Lord looks at the heart, and your attitude. What is your decision?" That day, I knelt before the Lord at night, and I prayed to commit the event into God's hands.

I was reminded of this song by Avalon, called "The Greatest Story":

"You cannot measure worth by human standards
That's always a lie.
Oh you have to see through heaven's eyes how

Your life
Woven day by day
Is a new design
Of the glory God displays
From the canvas of creation
To the poem of history
In the pattern of redemption
Running through the tapestry
Your life in Christ could be
The greatest story ever told"

So with that, I agreed with Josh's proposal for Plan B, and we decided that inevitably, we would have to scale down the event. God prompted me to go and meet up with Sherri, the International and Exchange Student Services advisor for the project, and we felt more allieved when she said she would look into finding an alternate venue. This that despite news that there were some problems contacting the Chinese Student Scholars Association regarding their setting up of a booth, it didn't affect me too much, because I took by faith that God was in control, and the event is in God's hands.

Daily I prayed for the event. And as God would have it, at the second last meeting before the event on the 27th Nov, everything happened. First, the Association for International and Canadian Students Society helped us book a place at the Student Union Building, and a Bangladeshi group had expressed interest in joining us. And if that's not all, we had plenty of donated prizes for the raffle draw! New Balance donated prizes, as did a bookstore and a cafe down at Caboro Bay, and so did some of the members on the Committee! And in one day, we started rolling. Posters were done up, raffle tickets were done up, and the handicrafts were ready to go.

The posters were up that coming Monday, and we started to publicise our event. Then, the CSSA said they couldn't help us due to other commitments, but they donated prizes to our raffle draw. The meeting ended earlier than normal, so that we could all go and do our own preparations for the fair. I headed home, Juliet and Beth came along, and we backed two batches of brownies (which are really nice), friendship bracelets and some administrative documents for the event tomorrow. I did get frustrated at some points in the night, Aud and Yvette know what it's about, but thank God that He got me through. Martina McBride is also a really good singer to listen to for late night stints... I survived the night on her Christmas album. =)

Woke up early and headed to school to set up the place for the event, and it was amazing. We got everything done in about an hour, and we had our first customer as early as before our opening time. That was truly amazing, honestly, because it was from my Psycholinguistics Class! Praise God, because it was like He was affirming me that it's going to work out. The weather was sunshine as well (it'd been raining non-stop), and that further affirmed me. I had to go for class, but I was certain that things would go well.

Imagine when God gave me a B+ for my Grammar test! All along I'd been getting B- for the last 2 tests... I jumped two grades!! Talk about amazing... which made me really excited (despite the lack of sleep). I went back, and well, we never really had a crowd? But we did make a substantial amount of donations, and sale of raffle tickets by then. What's important is that I felt God with me, and everyone had fun and bonded. So much so, that we were joking, laughing, and generally accepting that whatever will be will be.

We made $706 from the whole cash donations, and that's excluding the other donations that we got, like socks, sleeping bags and general utilities, so it was a successful event. And it was all that I could do, except to stop and say "thank you God", because He saw me through. He really saw the event through. So praise God and all glory to Him. =)

Our beneficiary, "Our Place" is a place for the homeless people of Victoria. They provide lodging, healthcare, showers, free meals, but are only open for 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, due to lack of funding. But the place is run, established and visioned by Reverend Allen Tysick, who's an amazing man. A bit on the rough edges, but passionate about what he feels God has called him to do; serve the poor and the homeless. Not an easy call, definitely. But something he does with gratitude and humility.

I'm just awed by God in all of this. =)

Dear Mandy,

I'm sitting in Vertigo at the SUB now, with a nice teriyaki chicken wrap in my hands, a bottle of blueberry and cranberry juice before me, and a nice clique of Linguistic majors before me.

There's Megan Harris, who's quite the affectionate woman; almost like a big sister. Meghan Cobbs is this really smart woman. Maciel is really calm, and composed. And then there's Christine, who's like this energy bubble who's like a little sister to me. Yes yes, my clique of Ling325 people, and they're all amazing. We were discussing the 5th assignment of LING325, and it's interesting to hear the different viewpoints of each individual about the questions, and I really think that they're an amazing bunch of people. =)

And of course, there's LING370A, where my lab experiment group consists of Janine, Susan, Sarah, Meara and Dominic. We're a rather diverse and extremely fun-loving bunch of people who still manage to get work done efficiently. I'm just quite glad that I managed to find such wonderful people amongst the Linguistic fraternity.

So, pretty much, even in class, I find peace and friendship! And I LOVE IVCF! Wonderful group of people who serve God... though there are some aspects of IVCF that took some adjusting to because it's different in Singapore, but I do feel the Lord working in IVCF, and how they're a group of people finding their way in knowing God. =)

So while I'm heading back soon, trust me when I say I'm going to miss this group of people who are fantastic. Completely fantastic. =)

Praise God for His provision.

Dear Mandy,

There comes a time when you realise that it's not about you; it's about God.

I always wondered why God made me do a 40 day fast from meat, and to do a fish and vegetable diet... I found out just today.

I've been cooking the last couple of days. Cause it's the reading break, my landlords went to Tofino, and so, I was left at home. And the weather outside is frightful. Haha.. So I bought stuff, and I cooked. =)

Of course, being a novice, I'm not that keen to cook and experiment with meat... Admittedly, I'm seeing more green on my plate than any other colour, mostly because, well, vegetables, to me, are easier to cook. =) So, when my friends came over yesterday to crash, and I cooked for them.. they mentioned that it's mostly vegetables. And even today, when preparing lunch, they mentioned the same thing... and God reminded me of my fast. If I hadn't done that fast, I probably wouldn't have felt so comfortable with vegetables here. And it made me wonder about the immense awesome nature of our God. Truly amazing stuff.

And for the fish? Fish is RARE here. Haha.. unless I choose to go for the fish and chips, which I truly don't mind, except that it's kinda expensive actually. So I had my fair share of fish in the fast, and now, I'm truly truly comfortable food wise.

But what about other things? What about the friendships we hold? I'm glad that I've found a little clique here, and they've been an awesome bunch to be around and have fun with! God's provision is really sufficient. =) And yet, I miss the people back home. From what I know, there're a lot of changes, a lot of new adaptations. But through it all, I pray God's hands be upon it, because in all honesty, I don't know what else it could be. And well, even if it's something that isn't good, God can turn it around. There's a lot to be anticipatory about, and in that light.. I'll be prayerful.

Dear Mandy,

A song that God placed in my head this morning:

"You are welcome, more than welcome
To abide in this temple
To reside in this place.
You are welcome, more than welcome
Holy Spirit come and take Your place.

We are gathering together
To worship at Your throne
To exalt the name of Jesus
To worship Him alone
He is worthy of our praises
So we lift our voices high
Spirit come...
Take Your place...

You are welcome, more than welcome
To abide in this temple
To reside in this place.
You are welcome, more than welcome
Holy Spirit come and take Your place."

Lord, be with me as I go through this day. =)

Dear Mandy...

Well, as November has begun, I'm somehow torn. I'm quite tempted to explore the possibility of extending my exchange stint here, because well, the linguistics education here is really good. I'm learning a fair bit, and the constant assignments and submissions, albeit tedious, but they have really allowed me to constantly practice what I've been learning, and the interactive nature of classes, and the closeness of the lecturer all make me think that I can benefit here in terms of my education.

But there're a lot of factors that are involved in this whole thing as well. The major administrative hassles from the major institutions... the financial aspect... and a whole lot more. But well, I'll pray about it. If God wants me to stay here, He'll show me. =)

Had my first Bible study class yesterday, and it was great. Really great. I saw the chapter in the book of John so much more intensely and in depth than I've ever been before, and I really felt that there is so much more about the good Lord that I have yet to discover. Sure, I'm knowing Him more and more, but there's still a vast universe about Him that He wants me to know. So, while I'm typing these, I'm rather ecstatic for what is to come. And I firmly believe in Him.

So, Lord, here I am. =)