My Series of Fortunate Events

A lot have been happening in the past two weeks….whooh! :) I went back to Kuching (of course!), on Friday for the Raya holidays!

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I got a chance to visit my secondary school, SMB St. Teresa. I spent 5 years of my life there. The place has changed so much! So many wonderful memories…sigh. Met with my Chemistry teacher, Pn. Foo, as well! It’s been 10 years since I left high school…waaah.

On Saturday, I attended Bishop Aeries’s consecration service & celebration dinner with my family. The dinner was a pretty grand one with various cultural performances and the 6.45am choir also preformed several songs…very impressive! Revd. Roannie entertained us with some songs and Jerry Kamit performed as well!. Such talent!

It was indeed a blessed & memorable day! I also met my Sunday school teacher, Uncle William at the dinner reception! Wow…it really does bring back lots of memories. Makes me wonder where my Sunday school friends are now….

The next day, I stuffed myself to the max during Raya visiting. Haha…don’t dare to step on the weighing machine dah. I went out lepaking with my friends & mi familia too. Got to see my little cuzzies play sand art…haha (I think it’s the new craze for little kids. Heck even grown ups play ‘em). Found out a new hang out place called BarSaga. Pretty cool! It was indeed a great time…and always NOT enough time. I didn’t get to do one thing, though. I actually planned to watch a movie at the new MBO cinema at Spring. But tak sempat…as usual. Haiya…

By Wednesday, I’m back in Miri. Work starts loading on my table. (am procrastinating quite a bit already…hehe.) And then there’s the AYC AGM which was on Sunday. The LLC’s weekly challenge's due as well. Whooh, so much things to do! Well, am glad I managed & went through the week in one piece, haha.

On Friday, the youths…Vic, Elsa, Tim, Lydia, Shannen & myself joined Revd Alfred, SD Julius, SD Jackson & the MWF to Sg. Liam longhouse. There’s a service at the longhouse’s chapel that night which was celebrated by Revd. Alfred. It started off with a Praise & Worship session and then we’re divided into groups. Elsa, Vic, Shannen, Lydia & I handled the youth group. Our mission was to reach out to them. Revd Alfred mentioned to us that the youths there are being challenged with problems as such as drinking, gambling & smoking. We even saw some of the boys smoking at the tanju just before we started off our session!
The session was at the ruai of the longhouse. We started with an ice-breaking game. They enjoyed themselves! However, we were a bit concerned with the decibel level going a lil’ too high that it might disturb the longhouse folks…oops. The sharing session was on how to prepare for exams. They were proactive… they asked questions & responded to ours as well.

We took turn sharing & I struggled with my ‘jako Iban’..oops! as I’ve never done any sharing in Iban before and found myself searching for words or rather trying to translate my words in the midst of my sharing….haha. Nama meh penyadi… :p And lastly, before we bersurai, we prayed for them & ended the session by encouraging them & challenging them to improve themselves and do their best. After the service, we had supper at one of the longhouse folk’s bilik. They served very yummy local dishes and also durians! Haha! But, am not a fan of durians. So I just took photos of ‘em instead.

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The next day, Saturday, was another busy day…especially in preparing things for the AGM and also Family Service. (It’s the youths turn to lead in Praise & Worship). I was up & running since morning….helping out the Teenz practicing for AGM’s praise & worship session, practicing for the Family Service & then choir practice for the Miri Xmas parade. Apuu..ka luput ku..haha. I ended the day with Maggie at Chilipeppers. A nice time chillin’, releasing the stresssss & laughing out loud…literally!

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Come Sunday, we had a Family service in the morning, which is held every 4th Sunday of the month. And in the afternoon was the AYC’s AGM. We’re very impressed with the number of youths attending this year. For the past several years, we have never exceeded 40. This year, in fact 50 youths attended! Praise God! All the various youth ministries handed in their reports, which was verry good indeed. Aiseh. We also distributed our new keychains in conjunction with AYC’s 40th Anniversary….designed by Mr. Chairman himself. The meeting went smoothly & we’re encouraged by words of wisdom from Ven. Solomon Cheong, Bro. Tommy (our advisor) and Bro. Bajeng (Mr. Chariman).

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Kudos to the Praise & Worship team..Zara, Lydia, Cyril & Shannen for the great effort. It was their first time & I could see that they’re nervous but they are very brave indeed to take up the challenge. The guitarists were Daniel, Bartholomew & Melvin. Very proud of them!

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After the meeting, we had some refreshments & fellowship, as usual…di bawah pokok. :) By 5.30pm it’s time to pack up & go home.

Finally! I can let out a bigggg sigh of relief & thank God for His endless blessings & guidance. :D

Niah Getaway

Finally! I'm able to do some updates. I'm less busy today and managed to get my posts done.

Two weekends ago, I went for a weekend getaway at Niah National Park. It was an event organised by ADYC, which they called Partners' Weekend. And no, I did not spend a weekend in some gua looking for a potential partner, hahaha! It was a weekend for youth leaders to gather, share, be trained & be equipped to 'Transform our land in One generation'. We started our journey on Saturday morning. Janet & Bajeng carpooled with me. I was a bit worried about the condition of the tyres of my car...one of the tyres pancet the day before...but got it quickly done..And thank God, we arrived safe & sound.

Our first session started off with a walk into the caves. How awesome is that! The last time I went into the caves was back in 2005 with my colleagues..a week after I arrived in Miri. But it was raining so badly then & we had a tough time walking in the caves as it was very very sliperry. I slipped once! Sakit aa! So, this time the weather looks very fine and I was hoping that it would turn out to be better than my previous trip. :)

So, off we went. A whole 40+ of us! We have to cross the river by boat and then take a walk through the jungle before reaching the entrance to the caves. It was really fun! On the way there, I got a chance to talk to Ben, the ADYC chairman. The whole time walking, we shared stories...he shared on his printing business (which was very inspiring) and I shared on my teeny crafty business (a lil bud compared to Ben's flourishing business).

After walking for about...err...couldn't remember..coz was so engrossed with the conversation..haha...we finally reached the cave. So we prepared our torch lights and some put on their gloves(!) before we enter into the daaark. It did came across my mind, that this might be a good place to do hand mime with glow in the dark gloves! Hahah! As we entered the cave, it gave me a concoction of feelings....I was excited but then there's this tinge of fear & some sort of "misteri nusantara" feeling going on, heheh...the darkness can be a lil intimidating sometimes. But as I walk, I was more mesmerized with the formation of the cave ceilings and walls, than the looming darkness. Kinda make you stand in awe! I couldn't really describe it. You gotta see it for yourself.

After exploring the cave, we made our way back. The journey back got more interesting....haha...for Bajeng & I, that is. Well, Bajeng kinda slowed down after coming out of the cave..yup, he's "out of gas" even after we made a pit stop at the stalls for drinks. I waited with him, not wanting him to be left behind all alone. Kesian bah... After the pit stop, we continued walking (waaay behind everyone else) and all of a sudden his kaki began to have cramps! And he had to make stops after every few metres as it hurts quite bad. I, took the opportunity to freeze the moment and took a couple snaps of our surroundings. I snapped some rather interesting shots. So baad kan...there was Bajeng, in pain and all...while I was happily snapping away, hehe. It's nothing much I can do. I couldn't possibly carry him! He's more than twice my weight and size! Pengsan aku. :p

After a rather "loooong" walk...we're a few metres from the jetty. Finally! And not before Bajeng's foot suddenly kena cramp again....and this one's the worst. I could see it from the way he cringed. Akai.. Well, we waited for quite sometime, til his cramps lessen and finally, we managed to reach the jetty and there was Janet anxiously waiting for us! Phewh!

The next few days of the event was very encouraging & inspiring...eventhough we experienced butt pains from sitting on the papan floor for too long and in addition to muscle pains on our legs from the cave "walk", hehe. Well we had sessions conducted by Revd. Andy Shie from St. Andrew's, BSB, Bro. Ben and Bro. Stephen Wong. We touch on topics of leadership, taking care of your "sheeps" and Bro. Wisco from Region 5 shared on their activities and how they manage their ministries, as their region has been growing a lot for the past years. We also had games, which later we could do with our own youths.

The weekend flew too fast and without realising, it was time for it to come to an end & for us to head off home. It indeed was a fruitful weekend and I got to know more youths from various regions as well as those whom you already knew, you got a chance to know them better.

I trully think that it's also a good way to start connecting with each other....to share on materials & informations for our youths. We exchanged e-mails and numbers before we parted. I don't know when will we see each other again, but I'm most sure we will. Because we're in this together.. we're partnering with each other and most importantly God...to transform our land.

This is just the beginning of the journey... :)

A day under the August sun

Last Saturday, my group of friends & I hit the beach (well not exactly on the beach…in close proximity, is more like it) at Taman Selera for some fun, food & fellowship under the August sun! The occasion was an appreciation get-together for those youths who have helped out during the recent Diocesan Youth Sunday service, which was a success!


Kudos to Maggie, the organising chairperson, who worked her butt off (hehe)…I meant, worked really hard, that is, in leading the team to bring the event together! :)

It was a great time together, despite getting sun burned (real bad especially poor Lisa who's now sharing the same colour tone that of a lobster) afterwards & bitten by sand flies (I kena 3 gigitan…which is itching really baad right now, urrgh).

A concoction of laughter + food + great company + beautiful view + good weather (however, I would have hoped that God would turn down the heat from the Mr. Sun for a teeny bit..hehe. Didn't happened though. :p), was in our menu for the day.

These are some photos to share, of what we did on the first day in the month of August (seriously?!! It’s August already!) Eh enjoy…:D

Some of us either barbeque or get barbequed

While waiting for food to be served, some prefer to sit around & read primary school books. They're very educational.

Or some just can sit quietly & look adorable doing it. ;)

Some pick on tiny people :p

Some sit bawah pokok

Some take time to share stories & laughter

But above all, one can't help but marvel at the nature that surrounded us that day.

What beautiful sights to set eyes on.....

And thank God for His goodness & greatness!

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?"~ Isaiah 40:12

Diocesan Youth Sunday 2009

Last weekend was indeed a memorable and a busy one! Heck we've been busy all week! All these busyness is to prepare for the Diocesan Youth Sunday on 26 July 2009. This year the youths decided to hold a Youth Service to commemorate this day, with the theme "Take Up Your Cross". Hehe..our very own service, how cool is that! A day in a year where it's purely for youths!

I was involved with the band and oh ya...I've found my very young "padwan" keyboardist...the young & petite Phoebe. I'm glad that she took up the challenge to try out and play for this event when I approached her. It has been quite sometime that I've been wanting to ask her to play (in other words to ganti me..or at least I have a substitute, so to speak), and now finally dapat..hehe! Anyways, we, the band and dancers started practicing since two Sundays ago and had practices every other day, ever since, plus with meetings which kinda left me having only 1 free day!
Phewh!

Saturday was our final practice and as well as decorating session! Mag and I were at church from about 930am til 930pm that day!! Imagine that! Never in my life, have I ever been in church for that long! "Holy" indeed! Haha! :p After our practice and rehearsal we started off with the decorations for the church. Well, we planned to make a wooden cross and decorate it with small purple & white balloons. We also decided to use folded crepe papers to hang around the church which we gave to the "dancing girls "(Lisa, Jill, Shannon & Nunun) to do. The huge challenge was that our church has such hiiiiigh ceilings, which make it impossible to decorate anything up there, so ended up, they hanged the papers onto the tiangs...hoping it will remain sticking til Sunday afternoon (crossing fingers!). However, I guess the biggest challenge yet was to find wooden planks and construct a life sized cross. But it wasn't til Uncle Dennis, who overheard us deliberating on it..jumped into our conversation (and saved the day!) and said that the church already has a wooden cross which they used for Easter. What a relief! Challenge no more! Haha..well...not entirely. A problem surfaced when we couldn't find a part of the base which holds up the cross. So the boys (Adam, Bajeng & Malcom) decided to use what's left of their Kemahiran Hidup skills & try to construct the missing base for the wooden cross. With much groans and grunts...partly infused with occassional laughters (by us gals), they managed! Not bad, though the cross kinda looked "senget"...but it stood, alright! And THAT'S the most important thing. While the boys were busy with the Cross, us gals (Jo, Mag & I) unleashed our hand painting skills..hehehe. The plan was to make a "guest board", so that those who attend the event can write comments etc.. on the board. We decorated the board by "stamping" our watercoloured hands along the corners and thumb printed the borders. It was so much fun! At one point, I almost wanted to paint my tapak kaki and smack 'em right on the board...tapi tak jadi. Heheh. Melampau lah pulak.

So, with the board and cross done, we have the cross yet to be decorated. Oh..we also found out that Amy & Sheila has ter-over blown too many of the balloons. We only needed like, about 30 balloons max and they, in fact have blown the whole packet of 100 pcs (but I think it was less that that. Siong Lee cheated us! Hmmph) of white balloons that we've bought! Noooo....another "garuk palak" moment! However, we timed-out for a bit & went out to grab a fast dinner as it was already half past 6 in the evening and we're famished! When we got back from our dinner, the cross was already decorated!

Thanks to Jo! Hehee. She didn't join us for makan & stayed back to do the cross. Yay! So, cross...done. Now...whaaaat are we going to do with the left over balloons(??!?)....Mag & I were still weighing our options while Bajeng has nicely tucked himself on one end of the church pews...sleeping(!) and the "dancing girls" (hehe) and Malcom still struggling with their crepe paper hanging issue..Maggie then came up with an idea to decorate the entrance doors with the balloons. Ok, agreed. We gathered the balloons and start tying them along the strings. I was already thinking that this would be a looong night and don't know when will we finish with the balloons and it's as if God heard me (well, of course He did! HE always does! Hehe...it's just that we need to be more aware & reminded of Him working around us rather than be overwhelmed by situations and issues), Iyok & Moi came to help out. What perfect timing! And the best thing is that, it so happened that she knows how to tie the balloons 'coz she did it before for her company dinner. And in no time, she's tying up the ballons at a pace that Maggie and I couldn't even catch up. I was on my 2nd balloon and got tangled up, whilst Iyok was halfway til done! So, feeling that we're the "biggest losers" in this balloon tying challenge, Mag & I decided to paste up posters instead! And oh, poor Baj's bike got pimped using left over crepe papers..hehe.
So, that's that. Finally we're done with the decorations by 9 plus and started packing our things. It's time to head off home. Despite being verry tired to the bones, I was satisfied with what the youths did that day...the deco and all, and thankful to God, our provider that has blessed & guided us throughout the day. A little proud feeling swelled in me but not without a tad of nervousness for Sunday's event! However, I shall not be worried, I reminded myself, for God is already there. Amen!

Come Sunday (the day!), the youths who are involved came early to church, all wearing their blue-white AYC tees! We look good together, aiseh hehe. :p

By 230pm, people started coming. Youths from Tudan, Taman Tunku, Chinese congregation and also Good Shepherd, Lutong made it to the service. :D By 3pm, the event is well on its way. We started off with a pageantry (which consists of the tambourine dancers, banner & cross bearers) to the song "Tiba Saatnya" and then a praise & worship session led by Bro. Bajeng. Readings from the Bible, thereafter by Nunun & Zara (part of the dancing girls..hehe). The sharing on the theme, Take Up Your Cross, was preached by Fr. Ramdan, who never fails to bring a blend of seriousness and humour to his preaching. A real good sermon indeed! After the sermon, was the intercession, read by one of our youths, Casper, a 15-year-old-who-sometimes-asks-the-most-impossible-questions, to which I saw potential in him. :) At one point of the intercession, my heart was touched as his deep voice looms over the microphone, reading the prayers. It's one of those heartwarming & inspiring moments I get occasionally. Hehe.

After interceding for the needs of the youths in the Diocese, we we're entertained by a song, sung by the Chinese Youths. I loved the song! I wonder if they have it in English too. Very melodious!

Before saying "it's a wrap!", Fr. Cheong shared a word or two of his story & experiences with youths. The service ended with a song "Hidup Tanpa mu", before everyone heads off for refreshments & fellowship, thereafter, di bawah pokok, atas rumput. :p Sue & I put up a small corner to sell our cards & notebooks too..!

After a few karipaps, sambal puluts and several packet drinks later, it was time to "close shop". But, before we head off home, we did some cleaning up and not forgetting (i repeat not ever forgetting)...group photo! And now, finally..we can say..'It's a wrap, y'all! Overall, the event went smoothly..well, not without a lil' minor hiccups & surprises along the way, but I believe that the youths did a great job and I too believe that there's always room for improvement!
Praise & thank God for He is good! :)