on ON

sorry about that title, i just couldn't resist! =)

ON Institute (from Orientation course for New staffworkers) was a great experience. about 33 of us, from all over east and west asia - malaysia (obviously), indonesia, phillipines, cambodia, laos, myanmar, vietnam, hong kong, korea, kyrgystan, and mongolia.

it's one thing to know in my head that the church is a united body consisting of just about every tribe and tongue in the world, but it's another thing to know it in experience. worshipping together with new friends from diverse nations was a profound experience. it's really something to know that, although you can hardly communicate with the other guy because you don't speak the same language, you already agree on all the things that really matter.

i think that one of the things of greatest value that i take back from ON is the relationships that have been built there. i do hope that they will continue, but based on past experiences (various camps, international students' camp, regional conference 2006) i know that most contacts won't be kept up. most people are just too busy to keep up long-distance friendships. i did meet a couple of people at ON that i'd first gotten acquainted with at the regional conference though, so i was glad for this opportunity to renew those bonds. =)

apart from that, i guess most of the classroom-learning was more reminders than new stuff; but some of it remains mere head-knowledge and needs to be internalised. especially stuff like SU's aims, objectives, and working principles. oh, and one question which stays with me from the youth ministry modules is, how can we be more incarnational in our youth ministry? which, to cut out the jargon, means how can we better reach out to, and be with, and love the youth wherever they are?

besides classroom learning, we also had field exposure times. we did a church deputation in cameron highlands on 12th august, a bible rally in ipoh on the 18th, and were sent in teams to more than 10 churches in ipoh on the 19th. after which, the vietnamese group went up to penang to minister to a vietnamese migrant community there, some delegates went to our (as in peninsular malaysia's) SUPA - Scripture Union Primary Age - camp, other delegates went to young writers' camp, and the majority went for a Sunday School Teachers' Conference in PJ.

next post - young writers' camp. if u wanna know more about ON, feel free to ask in the comments; don't wanna bore the average reader with too much information (hope i haven't already done so). =)

i'm back! =)

hullo everyone! i'm back!!! =)

ON Institute, YWC and KK were great... YWC ended up with 25 campers, haha... i'll try to update more on those in the coming days.

in the meantime, life goes on... the house is (more or less) in good order... i have a SCF Meeting at St. Paul's Seremban on monday (3 Sept)... staff meeting on 4 Sept... planning meeting for NSCF Leaders' camp on 6/7 Sept... got to do some thinking and planing to update the SCF database by middle of Sept... speaking at Rawang SCF on 14 Sept... speaking at Sri Permata SCF on 21 Sept... Prison Ministry on 23 Sept... and i'm still in re-entry mode*! aargh! heheheh

will post about ON soon. till then, ta! =)

*re-entry mode is the mode i usually find myself in after being away from the office for 3 days or more... time seems to move rather slowly and it seems strangely difficult to get anything done... like trying to run in a swimming pool. basically it's just a time of re-adjusting and re-aligning myself to the rigours and routines of everyday work... sigh

Refugee Camp!!!

that's what my new house looks like now. yes, instead of moving in early september, The Wife and i stepped up the schedule and moved in yesterday! the total load was 2 trips with a one-tonne lorry, 2 trips with guojeng's lovemobile (actually it's a proton, haha), and one trip with the super-spacious AD Resort. this not counting the previous 2-3 trips with the AD resort that we made on previous days.

a million billion thanks to GUOJENG for helping us move! i would have collapsed and died from exhaustion and Chenmay would be 76k richer from the insurance if not for him. =)

so now, there are boxes and bags and all kinds of stuff strewn in the hallway. it seriously looks like a refugee camp. but at least we managed to clear and arrange the tv and sofa-set, so that the living room is like an oasis of peace in the midst of the chaos.

we put up minimal lights, hiring people for the job. and last night, we had a surprise visit from an uncle and aunty from our new church (Taman Ujong Methodist Church) and the uncle was kind enough to help us put up the curtain railing for the front sliding door. he showed us how to use a power drill and set up fixtures on the wall, and it is really not easy man! thank goodness we didn't opt to set up the lights ourselves. chenmay says her father will come and stay over to do the rest of the lights for us, which is nice of him, but i feel bad about it... especially now that i have an idea of just how hard the work is!

Speaking of work: on the work front, the SCF meeting scheduled for today has been postponed to early september. which i really really thank God for, because as you can see from the last post i have my hands pretty full already. Rawang SCF and BK Oral Quiz are over and went well, so that's more gratitude for His grace. now am stressing about Young Writers' Camp: only 12 campers' forms in so far. also, because i won't be in the office from tomorrow to the camp, i have to pass on my duties to Runa, my collague... and that might be messy if i can't get all the loose ends tied up before i go. so... u know what to do. [hint: it's often done on your knees!] =)

this will be my last post for a couple of weeks cos i'll be away for ON and YWC. will try to post as soon as i can after that. till then, may God be with each of you in all your comings-in and goings-out. =)