Thai Day One
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Woke up immediately first thing in the morning by my alarm. Actually surprised that I managed to fall asleep rather fast. Usually if there's some exciting thing that happens tomorrow I would find it difficult to catch some sleep.
Still in disbelief that we are flying heh. Just spent most of the time today travelling. Really interesting to see the clouds beneath you again. It's been awhile since I got that chance (Germany last May).
Reached Bangkok and we were met with two 'fans of Gladys'. They were holding up a sign that says Gladys (written on the back of their notes heh). One of them was in sawang last year if I'm not wrong and the other is just a friend tagging along. Which is amazing if you think about it. She only knows Gladys through her friend and yet she is willing to come meet us in Bangkok.
Arrived in sawang airport and we met our translator, aunt Nara who has this cool English accent. American accent I suppose? Bynes' luggage was vibrating throughout the whole journey and was even stopped at Bangkok (but somehow Janice managed to trick her thinking that the sound was coming from somewhere else) and turns out it was Bynes' electric shaver heh. Travelling tip : remove batteries from appliances before packing them. Met the pastor (I have no idea how to spell) and we drove off to the church.
Amazing to see the scenery of the countryside. And to also take in all the smells of the sugarcane and the food from the roadside stalls! It seems that primary (or secondary?) students are able to ride motorcycles already (maybe it's not legal?).
Dropped off our belongings and then went off again to the supermart to get stuff we need for the classes tomorrow. Everything is so cheap! Brought a lot of snacks/sweets for the classes. It's always amazing to go to another country's supermart to see the different variety of stuff they sell, especially cup noodles.
Went to eat dinner after that with the Thai people and it was interesting to see that even with the language barrier, there are some common topics (like Korean dramas and superstars apparently) that we share. The food was delicious but most of them were really spicy. Many levels above mcspicy in my opinion but it was good. As they say in Thai 'aroy mak mak'.
Returned back to the church where we are staying and had a devotion and briefing. And then it's off to bed. At this point I still had some concerns and worries but after praying, these were just lifted away. Had to make last minute changes as we found out that the time for lessons is shortened and we had to cut off some activity. Slept almost immediately upon hitting the bed.
-
Realise that we may say it's easy to find 10000 reasons to praise/bless The Lord when asked but sometimes I do struggle to think of one reason.
#5 : for the friendly and hospitality from the Thai people!
#6: for the amazing genuine Thai food! Amazing that there are so many different types of cuisine in this world. The legendary status of the food here as told by the previous team still holds.
#7: God for bringing us safely here in Thailand as we travel.
(Prolly missed something out cause this was written on the second day)
@ 7:38 pm
Sunday 23 February 2014
Seems quite surreal actually. Can't believe that we are going to fly off tomorrow. To be honest, I'm feeling both exciting and afraid. Afraid not only because it would be my first time going off to a mission trip, but also because of all the uncertainties and challenges that will come. Also, this is certainly way out of my comfort zone ; every step feels like a 'death to self' moment. But I know I can just rely on God and His Holy Spirit to enable me and the mission team to bring glory to Him. Just like the past evangelical missions and leading worship (and also prayer) , when the Spirit fills and leads you and you ride on it, all fear is taken away and you find yourself at peace and able to do all things through Christ.
Thanks Jia Wei for this timely verse heh
@ 11:59 pm
Mission Prep / and some other sec 3 memory revelation
Monday 17 February 2014
One week left to the mission trip. Can't believe that the time went by so quickly that before we know it, we are going to fly off very soon. There's still quite a number of stuff left undone and there's a sense of time running out. Hopefully we can get ready all our stuff by the deadline. God will hold it all together and make a way!
-
#2: the opportunity to go to Thailand to serve
#3: for the mission team and the members that God had chosen. I realize the team is quite diverse heh
-
Speaking of Valentine's day, I recall back in my secondary three days that I had received a 'card' and I actually went searching my blog for the post that I had written about it. It didn't make sense at that time but looking back it actually made sense. Everyone in the class had received one of these cards but I can't remember who gave to me lol.
Of course at that time being not a Christian I did not understand what this card was saying. Who's Him? What everlasting and unconditional love? I remember just disregarding that card after not making sense of it and just taking the sweet that came with it. Who would have thought one year before X-factor camp I was being reached out to? (though very subtly I might add) It was an evangelical movement I wasn't aware of heh.
#4: this I guess. That God was finding a way to reach me (no matter how subtle the means) when I was still lost
@ 11:02 pm
Mission Yew Tee
Monday 10 February 2014
6th Feburary
Still not sure whether I should post this. But yeah I feel it should be documented as well. Heh as Andy said, if people think it's boasting then just let them think so.
This idea was born out of a random mentoring session and I can't remember exactly what led to this forming. Our target group was the foreign workers that frequent the area in Sungei Kadut. (Mostly the Bangladeshi). We want to go and bless them during this festive season and to make them feel appreciated while they are here in Singapore!
Unfortunately, Bynes couldn't join us as he is piled up with assignments and work from the army. We were not exactly in a hyped up state as well especially since we are doing a movement like this. For myself, I felt neutral really. Was really uncertain as to how things would play out and things would definitely not go as we expect to. As what Andy said 'When you feel the opposition, you know you are on the right track.' For this mission or movement, we were really just led by the spirit.
Pretty amazing stuff happened. Andy paved the way when he did the initial interaction. We were unsure of how to approach these two Bangladeshi that were chilling on a hill and Andy just boldly went and striked a conversation with them. From there after we sort of 'set up camp' at the bridge at the end of the park connector and handed out the food and drink that we bought. The joy and smile on their faces as we gave them these goodies were just genuine you can't help but smile as well. There was this dude that cycled by (rather fast) and we caught his attention when we greeted him and said we are giving food and drink for free. At this, he immediately jammed brake (you can imagine with me the tyre screeching sound) and reversed as we caught up to him which I find rather amusing and cute heh. I honestly did not think they would actually stop and mingle with us.
There was a learning point to be learnt as well for me. This group that I approached were rather shocked when I placed the goodies in his hand. He immediately said 'I have no money' to which he turned out his pockets as if to prove his point. Had to keep reassuring him that it was free until he eventually accepted it but not without still having that disbelief. It wasn't until Justin pointed out that it was probably because of my attire (I was wearing my office work clothes) that I realised why. I must have looked like I was selling something. Never look like a corporate agent when doing this type of thing heh. Justin then asked me to swap with him playing the guitar.
Wished we went for depth rather than width as was the original plan. But it's rather difficult to find those who are settled down and chilling who are not in a rush to get somewhere who are easier to talk to(we only met two). It wasn't until we walked back to Yew Tee that we found a large number of them chilling at the roundabout and the empty lot next to the shopping centre. (Another learning point!) Should have went there eh.
One group of them walked by flashing a thumbs up. We were not even playing a song LOL. It's really weird to play guitar in a place like this.
Eh here got better reception
Ready to go out to the mission field
It's always a great learning experience for me (as with the other movements) and I've learnt much from this experience. It's always a joy as well to serve even though I'm quite tired from work and there's stuff I have to complete for the missions team. It was actually fulfilling. This lasted about one hour when we exhausted our supply of goodies. Makes me really admire the Acts church where they sold all their possessions and gave to the poor. (We kinda drew inspiration from that).
Definitely more to come as we don't see this as a one-off thing.
-
As I listen and listen to the song 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord) by Matt Redman, an idea came to me. Why not try to list 10,000 reasons? By my calculations, if I do one per day it would take me about 27 years to finish, 54 if I do two a day. Kinda cool if you came up with the 10000th reason on your deathbed heh but yeah this could be quite an interesting journey. Not sure if I can actually get to 10000 but I can try. Also not sure if this is more suited for tumblr but for now, the first reason.
#1: our worth is not determined by our race, gender etc. He loves us all the same!
@ 11:47 pm
