Fine Dining Pictures

Candles to lit up the atmosphere

The Appetizer; Mushroom Soup and Garlic Bread

The Entree: Chicken Wrapped with Ham

Finally the Dessert: Chocolate Mint Smoothies

Vulnerability

A human heart, not physically is always vulnerable. In many ways, we are often hurt by the people closest to us. People always say that your best friend is your enemy and to a certain extent, it is true for me. Not as in a friend who wished to harm or kill you but as a friendship grow and as both party starts to reveal certain parts of their lives, expectations come in. I've had this kind of experiences and it is not a pleasant one indeed. Could it be possible to keep your heart locked inside but love without conditions? Yeah, to love without condition. When I thought about unconditional love, I felt that as a human, it is something impossible. But on the other hand, if such thoughts came through my mind, then what I chase after would be a desire to be secured with my friends which would mean that God isn't inside the picture of my life. Truly God's love is unconditional. Truly without Him as the center of my life, my soul is sick. Oh Lord, may You rule over my thoughts, may I be able to experience Your deep and unconditional love and may Your love touches me deeply.

Fine Dining

The fine dining gang

"Hey Ed, I'm thinking about having a small Christmas gathering at my house. Look, here are some beautiful organice tealight candles. Shall we get the purple one or the green one?"

"It would surely be the purple one lahh. Sounds good. How about making it grand a bit."

"Grand? How grand do you want it to be?"

"Well, just a bit only lahh...We could think about the appetizer, the entree, the main course and finally, the dessert. Not only that, let's have a dress code, we would be wearing formal."

"Huh?"

"Ooh..aah..let's move the table to where the chandelier is located. Then we could have the fine dining atmoshpere. That would be so cool."

"Aaaaaahhhh....*sweat*" Matt was rolling his eyes looking around.

"One more thing, let's put candles too."

"Ok. That would be nice. I'll get the candles."

So, on 29 December 2008, we had our first fine dining experience in my house. To cut the long story short, it was a wonderful night. It was a bit awkward at first wearing formal clothes at home. However, the food was awesome. We started out with appetizer; mushroom soup, garlic bread and salad. Next was the entree, Edmund's best dish yet; the chicken wrapped with bacon. It was finger licking good. With our stomach hungering for more, Peking duck came next. Paul taught us to eat it Beijing style. You have to fill a rice paper with zucchini, onion leaves, bean sprout, Peking duck and lastly, the special sauce. Then, roll it up nicely and upon placing it into your mouth, you could taste the special sauce bursting in your mouth. It was truly an awesome experience. Yummy. Finally was the dessert; chocolate mint smoothies.

Crazy People

Although the dinner was great, the Word of God topped it all. It was about placing Christ first into our lives. If we do not think of Christ first in the morning, if we do not consider Him in our high and low times, if we neglect His laws, then we are truly sick. But when we are wounded, have we considered the suffering of our Lord? When we are in poverty, have we ever thought about the richness of our Lord? When we are suffering, have we pondered upon the comfort that God wants to give us? Well, if we could honour the name of our Lord by going into the depths of the world just for His name sake, if through death, we could add another trumpet of praise to His kingdom, if through our lives, we could glorify His name, then may our desire be so. Let's pray that in everything we do, say or think, it will be for the glory of God.

Children Adventure Camp '08

The children camp I went over to help was the most amazing thing that happened in my life this year. It was fun-filled and exciting. All the children were adorable but naughty but they just melted my heart..haha..

Well, on the first day, I was in charge of the 11 and 12 years old group of children. I met one who resembles my little brother in terms of character and level of 'naughtiness'..haha.. Anyway, guess what's the name os my group??It was none other than Sponge Bob Square Pants..the other group got jealous so they called us Sponge Bob No Pants..haha..It started out quite awkward at first maybe because they were between children and teenager so there would be this cool factor coming in..trying to be 'coolness'..haha..

On the night itself, we played a game called counselor hunting where all the helpers will hide and the children have to find them out..well, I took 2 big garbage bag and then covered myself and then hid behind a tank trying to fool the children into thinking that it was only a BIG, LONG pile of garbage..haha..the first team came and they kicked me thrice adn then left..it was a success..but the second team came..they saw this weird looking human garbage and kicked it thrice, then one of them went over to where my head is..at that time, i was suffocating, i could barely breathe and i was sweating like i just took a bath..i prayed really hard that they won't kick me so hard..then..BANG...OUCHHH!!!!!..my head hurts terribly and i have to surrender..so, i followed them back and after an hour, the children went to bed and we had our counselor meeting..i was rubbing my head and found out that i was bleeding..haha..

2 days later, on the last day of camp, we passed by the spot where i hid and i asked the kid who hit me to show me the stone. (He said he hit me with a stone, i thought it was a torch light or something else)..i thought the stone would be a mini size one like a 2cm diameter stone but when he showed it to me, my jaws dropped at full speed..it was a 15cm diameter flat stone with sharp edges..I just can't believe what happened that night..I might be in heaven with Jesus if he threw it harder..haha..

On the second day of camp, we had a great time of bible study, recreation and crafts..I asked the children whether they came from a christian family, 90% raised up their hands..then i asked if you know why you are a christian, only 1 remained..so, i dig deep into the essence of christianity during bible study..there was a kid who asked a lot of tough questions..with national geographic and discovery channel, they can be really smart..Then we played baseball, had a basketball tournament and lots of chasing..

We also had a great time at the beach..I became the seaweed monster and a bunch of children were chasing me with seaweeds on their hands..most children should be having snow war right now in winter but in Malaysia, we were having seaweed battle..haha..i was running and laughing like spongy bob around the beach..

On the 2nd night, after sermon, 2 children rededicated their lives to be serious in God..they felt God prompting them to become serious..it was truly a wonderful night..we do not know when it happened and why it happened but God is at work all the time..Praise the Lord..

On the last day, it was the saddest day..i hugged all my children many times and saying goodbye to them was the hardest but they gave me a lot of sweet memories.. Well, i learnt a lot from them..they will be in my heart all the time..

Thanks for all the prayers that has supported the camp..Thanks for the wonderful time helping out in the children camp with the counselors..Thanks to Miss Cathy, Miss Pat and Uncle Roger for the wonderful heart of serving and glorifying God..your love for the children were amazing..

I will post some pictures in my next posting..

Matthew.

Mission Trip in Bangkok

Well, during the trip, i guessed the hottest news in town was about the protest against the government and also the attacks that was happening throughout the week. However, over at my place, Nonthaburi, which is located 2 hours from the heart of Bangkok, the situation was safe and everyone was minding about their business as usual. My mother even called me up to ask...haha..

Throughout the mission trip, we did prayer walk, giving out gospel tracts, tried really hard to interact with the locals but it was like a chicken talking to a duck..however, we did meet some who knew a bit of english, enough for us to communicate...the bible study was awesome..we were all blessed by the things we learnt from the Bible..we were committed to go through the book of Acts during the mission trip...it was a really good book in regards to mission work..and it turned out to be a blessing to the missionaries there..

Things did turned out unexpectedly such as the protest and the cancellation of our flight back home but it was a blessing in disguise..on that evening itself, i met Fifa, a young boy around the age of 11 in a cyber cafe..i was checking my mail and he was looking at me (all chinese will look like thai so they will talk in thai language)..he was shocked when i said hello..haha..he thought i was going to say sawadikap..so, we chatted a bit, i treat him ice cream and then gave him a gospel tract..well, God is in control..
And on that night itself, after going through a wonderful bible study on "Proclaiming the Excellencies of Jesus Christ", someone got convicted by God to serve in her own country..Praise the Lord..God creates missionaries, you do not know when it will happen but it is truly a wonderful thing..How great is our God..

I would say that our mission trip really happened after the cancellation of the flight..we grew closer together as we face this situation together..I am really glad that no one burst or complain but we were all assured that God is under control and we shall trust in Him..
And the best thing was a chance to go to Phuket so that we could catch a flight back to KL the next day..it was an awesome moment praising God and the work of His creation..

Well, i would close with this prayer..Lord, we would never know of Your deep wisdom but one thing we do know, that You are God and we shall place our trust in You and dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.