kuala terengganu and upcoming camp

the trip to kuala terengganu was good and fruitful. people there were very friendly and hospitable. strangely, i had pork at every meal... it's like they were trying to make a point, "terengganu may be considered one of the most islamic states but we can still eat pork!!!" =P

the reason i was invited to KT is basically because i have a friend, a doctor who was posted there for his housemanship... he's the one that made the connection to me when the priest (it's an anglican church) said he wanted a young person in full-time ministry. so it was great to reconnect with this friend...

my preaching on friday morning went well, i got some encouraging feedback, as well as constructive suggestions... i do believe i'm improving, slowly but surely... thank you for praying for me =) i also had a good time sharing with the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu students... didn't really have enough time to impart all that i had planned, but i trust they gained something anyway...

there's a sense of isolation and abandonment in some of the christians over there... both my friend and the priest of the church mentioned that all the events, camps, seminars and etc were accessible to those on the west coast, but they on the east coast are always left out. if we can work something out, i may be doing more east coast work next year...

on the bus back to KL, i met this guy named Kashfullah... he's a PAS member and a really devout muslim. he could quote the Quran in Arabic and asked me if i knew Hebrew! malu man. we had a good discussion about some of the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity. he has 3 bibles: an NKJV, an NIV, and a Bahasa Indonesia one. so... i pray that he will continue to read the bible, and the God will enlighten him and help him to see the truth... for aren't we all seekers of truth?

i'll be in camerons 28-30 september, speaking at UTAR Kampar's CF camp... i have 4 sessions to prepare for that. i have a rough idea of what i want to share, but still need time to organize and polish it... please pray for me.

thanks and God bless! =)

Now you see me, now you don't

i pity The Wife.

just got back from melaka on sunday.

[ melaka was good btw. good food, good fellowship and ministry with teachers, pastors, and students. thank you for praying for us. =) ]

last night i had a Young Writers' Camp planning meeting. this means i had to sleep in the office. this means The Wife was home alone, again. =(

[ Young Writers' Camp is a great camp which aims to build up a new generation of Christian youth who can impact the world through the written word! if you enjoy writing, have RM180, and are 13-21 years old, it's a great opportunity to meet like-minded people and hone your wordsmithing skills. check out youngwriterscamp.blogspot.com and come! =) ]

and tomorrow i'm off to kuala terengganu, and will be there 'til sunday.

[ i'll be speaking at a church in Kuala Terengganu. it's their missions month, and they wanted a young person who's in full-time christian ministry. i plan to speak about calling, and challenge them to see calling not as "going full-time one day" but rather "serving and glorifying God right here, right now". please pray for me, as you all know, i'm not experienced in preaching from the pulpit. ]

[ i'm also doing a bible study on Jonah with a uni CF there. please uphold me in prayer for that, too. and please pray for The Wife, who's left home alone yet again.=( ]

thanks for reading and praying. may God bless you richly, as you have been a blessing to me. =)

yi jien, SOE, running, and melaka

this is going to be a rambly sort of post...

most of you would already know, yi jien is missing. no point in me re-writing things that better writers have written, so i'll just put some links here. for email updates on the situation from Aunty Kim Guat (yi jien's mom), click here. for a discussion among hikers concerning his disappearance, click here. for a comprehensive news report about it, click here. for a description of his planned hiking route by an experienced hiker who was hiking in Glacier National Park at around the same time as him, click here.

i know yi jien from sitiawan days... he's just a year older than me. surprisingly i don't really feel the emotional impact of his disappearance. this may mean i'm cold and heartless, or i have feelings but suppress them, or don't know how to feel because he's missing and only God knows if he's actually dead or alive. i'm just praying that he'll be found soon, dead or alive (of course much preferably alive). so that family and close friends can either grieve with closure or celebrate with joy, rather than being caught in the limbo of not-knowing.

SOE (School of Evangelism) went well! thanks to all of you who supported us in prayer. i did a session on intro to evangelism, covering what evangelism is, why we need to evangelise, and an overview of various methods of evangelism. besides that, we had 4 sessions to help the campers understand the 4 basic points of the gospel more deeply (can't share what you don't understand) - God, Man, Sin, and Salvation. i did the God part, and i tried to cover arguments about the existence of God, the question of theodicy (if there is a good and all-powerful God, why is there suffering and evil in this world?), and a little bit about the character of God. i also did a workshop on how to share your personal testimony, and did the closing challenge.

on the last night of SOE, they had a Gospel Cafe Nite. the whole youth group was involved in this (only 17 came for the SOE), and they invited their non-christian friends. attendance was very good, and feedback from the visitors was encouraging. many said that they enjoyed themselves and would like to come to more of such events. there was a band performance; a magic show which illustrated some aspects of the gospel in a part of its' act; free drinks (very nice ones too, mixed and created or innovated by the youths themselves!) and free cake; a powerful skit which depicted how we were intended to enjoy a beautiful relationship with God, how sin spoils that, and how Jesus redeems us and brings us back to God again; and also a time for the campers to practice what they'd learnt in SOE, and share either the Gospel or their personal testimony at the cafe tables.

for many of them, it was their first time sharing the gospel. for some it was a positive experience, as their friends listened with interest. for others it was not so positive, as they had to share with strangers who were less interested in their message. but we encouraged them that it was a good start, and to remember that evangelism isn't just an event - it's a lifestyle. ideally, our whole lives should speak to those around us of God's goodness and love.

in conclusion, i think that the goals of SOE were met: campers left with a better grasp of the gospel, and new skills with which to share it with their friends. let's pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to convict and motivate them to be ambassadors of Christ, as we are all called to be.

i've let joshua (a different joshua from the last post's joshua) persuade me to join him for a 10km run. i must be crazy. i'm so out of shape, i have no idea how i'm ever gonna be able to run for 10km!

so far i've "trained" for this about 3 times. since my stamina is non-existent, i'm concentrating on time more than distance or speed. i figure that to run 10km, i'll have to run for at least an hour (probably more). therefore, the fact that i started off huffing and puffing after a mere 5 minutes of running is very troubling. this morning i just broke the 10 minute barrier - i managed to run for about 11 minutes. still a loooooooooooong way to go though =P

my aspirations for this run are: to lose weight, get fitter, get more disciplined, finish the race, and (if possible) not be the last person to finish. oh, and i may be crazy, but i got The Wife to be crazy together with me... she's running too! =P

this weekend i and the whole staff team of Scripture Union will be going to melaka. on friday we will be speaking at 3 SCFs (School Christian Fellowships), and have a fellowship and appreciation dinner with the SCF Teacher-Advisors in the evening. on saturday we will have a combined SCF training seminar on saturday morning, a Bible exhibition which will be open 10am-1pm and 6pm-9pm, and a Church Youth Fellowship meeting 3pm-5pm. on sunday, we will be visiting 7 churches, and speaking at 6 of those.

please pray for us for a meaningful time of ministry and interaction with partners in the ministry and students. many thanks =)