sports day in greece (6 june)

this is the day that deserves it's own post... cos the photos are too nice =P
we took a boat tour this time, got chaotar on a tour of the islands, climbed a dormant sea volcano (70 deg celsius), swam to the hot springs... swam in the hot springs (haha we had to jump off the boat and swim in open sea... cool huh) and watched an amazing sunset.

amazing...
flowers growing on volcanos...
and the sunset - man... we simply take for granted that we'll see the sun everyday - and i think that if i lived in santorini i'd take for granted the beautiful sunset everyday... but this is creation - God's creation, and every bit of it is amazing and for us to enjoy

let the pictures do the talking

huuge chillies in the supermarket
jun-liang fruit juice advertisement
our tourist ferry
'crocodile' island
winding paths on the sea volcano
flowers growing on the volcano! amazing.
an attempt to show off the muscles
and God divided the waters from the waters - and God called the firmament heaven
'london' in greece
we climbed many many stairs to avoid sitting on poop machines (aka donkeys)
but that meant i could get amazing photos
'city on a hill'
the person who painted this had amazing colour sense
i like the ship - if only i had a telephoto lens
the sunset begins
i love the character of the place
too much exposure - but it makes for a nice magazine shot
sunset on the city
halfway setting sun
junli's sunglasses and a lot of squinting made for this photo =)
more squinting
i think the photo doesn't do it justice
and when the sun was set... everyone clapped (for the creation instead of the creator. how sad)

beautiful.

what a way to wake up

to two adults screaming their heads off at each other -.-"

by psychological definitions of parenting and all the parenting models... i should be mentally and emotionally unstable and present with medical problems.

thank God for Jesus and for grace

sunny days (4-5 june)

4th june
4am bleary eyed and sleepy and running on adrenaline we took the bus to the train to gatwick airport to the plane to athens and made a temperature transition from 8deg to 30deg. in athens we got lost, asked various people who couldn't speak english where we could find a bag deposit, walked in the sun from one underground station to another, found the lockers eventually, stuffed the bags in... and got the locker key stuck in the door.

two guys shoving at the door trying to keep it closed... and one trying to get the key out. and nothing worked... but we were saved! praise God... by the station guy who shoved the locker and got it to close properly. greek strength ehe. [this was godsend #02 actually... the first one was li-en actually making it to the train cos she didn't wake up -.-]

the underground actually has archeological exhibits for the stuff they found while digging the tunnels

walked along the shopping belt in athens for a while before heading off to catch the ferry to santorini. godsend#03: we thought the ferry was an overnight one... therefore didn't have accomodation. thank God titus' group were also headed to santorini and already booked accoms - so we managed to get some just by calling.

red light district??
how to make a japanese flag with tissue paper: travel to a hot country and have a nosebleed
i love this photo... it's like some primary school oral thing
i can do chin-ups better than you on a support bar of the ferry!

anyway... we reached santorini safely at around 1230am where the hostel owner packed 17 of us into a van (i think it was a 10 seater) with luggage sitting on top of us and drove us up the cliff from the port to the hostel *wow*. there weren't rooms together so gordon chrissie and i got carted off to a neighbouring hostel (probably owned by the same guy) whereupon the hostel lady, gordon and i each killed a cockroach in the room in the span of 30 min. hurrah. oh and the toilet door smelled like dead fish everytime we moved it. thank God we got a room in the main building the next day!

5th june
woke up... changed rooms... and signed on for a bus tour of the city: museum... architecture... and quite a lot of walking

arms before tanning 'nippled ewers' the sign said
house photo... apparently there are more churches than houses... and the bells represent the holy spirit 0_o

second last stop of the tour was perissa beach and lunch. i don't particularly like black beaches... they're hot hot hot hot... as if the sun isn't hot enough already... but the photos we got were hilarious... and lunch was awesome

greek salad *drool*
from this photo... i got called 'chunky legs' and chrissie got 'flabby thighs'
attempting the ballet pose again... harhar
from this gordon got called 'weak hips'act cool onli =P
the four kung fu stances: monkey, eagle, drunk, snake

last stop of the day was a winery... where we got to taste their local produce. the factory design was quite ingenious... using gravity instead of pumps (so green!) and the view from the tasting place was amazing

buggerit

i can't simply walk out of people's lives for 9 months and simply waltz back in just for the summer can i.
.
.
.
.
can i?

last 2 days of camp

the normalcy of life is rather infuriating - rather... the fact that i have no control over my schedule and the parents keep asking me to do things. right-o. but i want to spend time with them... not doing things for them -.-"" (ok stop whining now)

...

my previous post was so wordy... so some pics

um... RSM = cool?
jer and his towel - i said it looked like a hair salon... therefore we have this picture
camera crew at work (and i'm slacking off and taking the pic)

Day 4
session 4:
to round off the preaching for the camp in the morning...
ministering by pastor... amazing stuff... he went around laying hands on everyone (i bet RSM people were really stressed) and people were just getting slain left right centre. cool huh. basically the anointing was for impartation of giftings and callings

that said... when i kena the anointing, what Daddy was talking to me about wasn't quite on the same topic. giftings-wise... i definately received something, but i have no clue what it is specifically lol.

they changed the program yet again and cancelled the malacca race in the afternoon. really thank God -> it was an answered prayer cos the whole time i was longing for some time of sharing with the servers... to hear what portion other people got and how Daddy has touched their lives. but as servers... all the cluster time that's planned into the camp schedule is usually spent preparing for service and 'fighting fires' of program changes along the way (i applaud the camp comm... i think they barely slept for the whole 5 days)

i was surprised to be singled out during the big-group-sharing - but i was really affirmed i think... didn't expect what was said at all... to me it's just normal to serve (even though it was one day from touching down to sg and all)... a heart of a server? me? really? i'm just faithful to the One who was first faithful to me... who pulled me out of the darkness i couldn't escape no matter how much i ran

last session:
or more of a celebration... heh. we had the time-honoured pool-side dinner, with no pool to be seen -.-" cos the covered area and the pool was separated by a wall lol. then performances by each cluster, worship and non-sleep that night

i can't pinpoint what/ who i was blessed by that night... only that there were a few 'dmc's in the course of the night... and also rubbishy things lol. made new friends... made new-old friends... learnt that people aren't as frightening as i've always thought they were... a lot of little little things, bits of 'building-up' and confirmation

Day 5
gosh this post is really disjointed.

i got latched out of the room when i wanted to go to sleep at 5am *tsk* by mistake at least... cos the latch was half closed but i just couldn't open the door. slept in the ballroom... on the chairs outside the ballroom (and found out on sat that my cg was awake and sharing in JJ's room just opposite mine. it wasn't meant to be i guess haha.)

then it was breakfast and packing and trying to wake my roomie up and leaving for singapore. i ko-ed for the first half of the bus ride... had a bit of worship in the 2nd half and then found myself in sg eating fried blue cheese with vid people..

congratulations. you have reached the end of the camp experience. fortunately this is not the end of the God experience...

i think camps are amazing... cos they're an awesome opportunity for acceleration... 5 days of God knocking you off your feet with revelation after revelation, and experiencing more and more of His love. i kind of feel like i've been to a chiropractor... bones aligned, well stretched, dusted off and ready to run another year. eh Lord... i want to learn to walk in this kind of revelation... in Your kind of life.

HIS-tory making in 5 days

i'm back from camp - therefore i will post about camp before i forget cos i only managed to journal something like 2 lines per day. here you go... 1X long post (hope whoever's reading it doesn't get bored)

to begin with... getting into camp was a miracle in and of itself:
- i don't qualify in terms of having attended cg or services
- i was in London and had to source for the camp forms, get parents to do the sign-up etc etc
- camp dates were nicely put such that i came back from greece to london to singapore with about a day's buffer time

favour. indeed... with God and man

Day 1
blurry-eyed and jet-lagged i went to clementi to report at 7.15 for the coach ride to malacca. there i was greeted with 'you're back!' and 'wow haven't seen you for so long' etc. you get the drift. it's good to be home =) though it was rather odd to hear singlish again. the bus ride up was spent with much anticipation, sleeping and taking vid footage of malacca signs. serving right from the start =D another of the things i've really missed over in London

arrived at hotel equatorial, checked-in, dumped bags, off to lunch and to the ballroom to hide behind the av stuff. i was quite happy to hear that vid min had expanded - selfishly happy haha. that other people would serve at some point in the rotation so i could go up to receive. then kind of disappointed when hwei told us the rotation - ie. the videographers served every service cos there were only 3 of us at any one time and the services were really long. nevertherless. it was my decision to serve... and my decision to receive. so somehow God would have to make sure i got both in the end.

well i got my request. i was blown away by the very first service heh. by a lot of things (that maybe people in arrow take for granted)
1. the presence of God in worship that was so tangible
2. the fact that people were all worshipping - that the people were worshippers. being in vid requires you to be in a vid position... not a position of worship. ie. eyes open on screen - thinking about the framing, about the next framed shot etc
3. how i was able to worship and video at the same time (never before was i overwhelmed by God's presence and crying with my eyes fixated on the vid cam LCD screen and filming)
4. pastor went up and began preaching about calling (which was what the camp was about). precisely what I had asked God for. it was positively amazing

i was filming for half the sermon... so i don't remember much and have no notes - but just trust that the word has been deposited in my spirit. that Daddy's done/ doing the work even if i can't remember

Day 2
session 2: was largely about choosing to see things through God's perspective. ie. do you see the problems around you or the help that Daddy has sent?

what impacted me (i'm reading from my notes here) was pastor's comment that boasting in God's love for us brings favour - which may bring envy and misunderstanding. and the challenge to declare what God has put in your heart. that was so real.. cos it's so difficult to do that over in London - to declare 'Jesus' is difficult in the first place... to say that 'Jesus did this n that' you'd be labelled a nutter. i'm nowhere near there. so Lord You have to fill me up

case #47223:
ran around with camera =) caught some crazy green flour fish sauce games on tape... went through crazy green flour game with camera as if the camera was playing the game - you get my drift. i half wish and don't wish that i got to play the games =P that's one thing i really miss when filming - though standing and staring through a lens at people going crazy and getting dirty is amazing heh.

session 3: i have no notes... and no memory of the sermon (as always... when i do a live feed) but i trust that God has implanted the word in my spirit. all sermons were based on on joseph's story at any rate... with different aspects on different days.

i believe this was the session where there was ministering and such amazing love just poured out... restoration of so many lives and relationships. this session was also the one where i was wondering what i was doing standing behind the camera... going 'hey Lord.. i wanna be called up front to receive... i want more of You... but pastor isn't calling for my situation and i'm behind the camera... so i'm gonna stay here. give it here Lord' and i got a reply... 'I see you even if nobody sees... good and faithful servant' and so simply i was filled till i thought my heart would burst. no fanfare, no prayer, no one nearby, no closing of eyes, no raising of hands, no crying... but i was loved... so loved till i thought i would burst... that it would bubble out of my eyeballs or something if love could be seen

Day 3
amazing day of ALOT of grace... cos pastor decided that we would add a session cos we were so hungry for the word of God - therefore the program was completely screwed up and all the leaders didn't know what was going on either lol.

Q&A: again no notes... though i wasn't actually videoing anything hmm. stuff that's been repeated many times to me i guess.. since i've grown up in NCC (though whether or not there's revelation... tt one must ask God)

conference:
7 concurrent sessions of equipping - i went for the one on leadership and one on time... some really good principles (God really answered my prayer i think... this was equipping to the max) what i loved about the whole thing was the emphasis on Jesus... 'duh' you may say. but i think all too often we forget the most fundamental thing and dive straight into how 'WE' can do all things in and of ourselves with various skills

a funny moment with deacon sam:
me 'i don't think i'll be in leadership in the next 10 years... or at least not a leader in ministry anyway'
dn sam 'then where will you be?'
me 'ummm in MOE.....'
dn sam 'ok la that's still ministry... ministry of education'
everyone '*cold laughter*'

i must say i came away with more questions than answers... questions for God about what i'm doing and what He wants me to be doing in life etc. but for now those questions are for God's ears only

women's meeting:
oh this was hilarious. ps benjamin's wife pauline was sharing... the usual stuff i would say, in terms of principles... but it was that much more intimate and personal - all the life stories came out in answering people's questions... (dirty laundry aired hurhur.)

i was happily getting a few shots of her sharing on vid. then i walked back to the sound/video table. and guess who i saw hiding behind it? -.- pastor benjamin. so we of the vid ministry were blessed to have a commentary on what pauline was saying by the very man she was talking about. hoho.

[okay this is incredibly long and has taken me 3 rounds to write so i'll just post it first]

in-flight entertainment

2 flights in 24 hours... go me
and i haven't slept properly since yesterday cos i'm pack pack packing to go back to sg.

greece was amazing.
some of the things that happened were surprising
others were just rather suay
and i am rather burnt

trip summary in 4 lines lol.

quick update from greece

very very exciting so far... with one hostel lacking hot water and having OBS style facilities...

pray that the trip goes well - i got pwned by a rock in the sea and am now hobbling around with a 2 inch cut on the bottom of the ball of my right foot... and that it heals before camp. ugh... can't walk properly, much less play games =(

oh and also that i won't be quarantined when i go back - manz.