OCIP

wow...time passes really fast. especially so when u are enjoying things so much. =(

OCIP was awesome. superbly awesome. i didn't want to go back home. it wasn't a 5 star comfort whatsoever, but it was the best overseas trip i ever had. the most meaningful one too. during the entire trip, i learnt alot of things, got so much back from it. so much more than what i gave. Thank you Father, for blessing me with this AWESOME opportunity.

it was very much a spiritual retreat for me actually. i thought i would have too many things on that i won't have time to do my quiet time. as u see from my previous entry, that was one of my prayer requests =) God really has a sense of humour. on the first day of the trip, i was placed to sit alone with a stranger. and yea. right there and then, i could do my quiet time and God really spoke to me and reassured me that He was in charge of every single thing and He would bring me through it. well,i changed my planned devotion and shared with the rest what God blessed me with. =)

i'm very thankful for the chance to be in charge of devotion. sure, i was really scared and nervous and all, but God really showed me the way and taught me to really rely on Him, taught me that i'm merely a tool for Him to use and that it's about Him, not me. i was so afraid that the devotions would be so christian that it would turn people off, but i'm glad it spoke to some of them and it was very encouraging receiving short messages from people telling me about how devotion has blessed them =) praise God for answering the prayers =)

apart from the plane ride, God also gave me other times alone and quiet to spend time with Him. you see, i share my room with two other people, but since they are in the comm, i often have the room all to myself till late at night, when i go to bed. haha. so yea, no one else would come and disturb me while i just sit there and do my quiet time =) yea. so thank God for that too =)

Thank God that everything planned went smoothly =) the HIV orphanage visit, the school visit, the building of houses etc. the kids there are really amazing. they are super friendly and all, both in the school and in the orphanage. we are all so alien, not speaking their language and stuff, but they welcomed us with great smiles, laughters, hugs and all. they were just so open to us, they didn't care who we were and all, they just loved us all the same. it was really heartwarming to see them so happy, so loving, so supportive of one another, even when someone got hurt in the midst of playing, they gathered together to see if he was ok. amazing kids. loved them so much that i'm amazed at myself too. i was never good with kids by the way, so it was really a surprise to me to even play with them.

the school visit was really a surprising one. we expected some run down village school in which their stage was this wooden platform. how wrong were we. that school was located right beside a beautiful park and a lake, with all their classroom air conditioned, having 4 swimming pools, cashless system, whereby each student has an identity number and they basically deposit a certain amount for each student. works sort of like a cash card system, but they even have a photo attached to each profile to make sure that the kid using that ID is really that kid. man. it's super high tech. they even had those cool marquee things in their hall to welcome us. it read "Don Brosco welcomes the Saints" and in thai and other sentences as well. it felt..wow. contrary to what the principal told us, they spoke pretty good english and they were really friendly, they were the ones to approach us and talk to us....in ENGLISH! yes. we exchanged emails and all and took photos =) so nice. their school is so much better than ours. similar to the SA village too, from kindergarten all the way to JC and they take triple science. their school system is really very siong. they have school 6 days a week, from 8 to 5, excluding CCA. everyone there aims to go to the most prestigious university. so yea. it's super stressful there. but the environment there is really awesome. it felt alot like in the show "Princess Hours" =)

the building of house was great too =) although it was tiring and gross working in wet cemented gloves and horribly hot rubber boots which gave u horrible abrasions, it was all a great experience, mixing cement, making the floor, building up the walls, climbing up on scaffolds, slapping cement on like ice cream......man. thinking about it makes me so nice and happy. i miss chay and bomb and all. sigh....and the dogs there. oh ya. i must announce this

WE ARE THE FIRST TEAM TO BUILD A HOUSE IN JUST 2 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

awesome ain't it??

anyway, the best thing on the trip was the really unexpected sharing session on one of the nights. pam and i wanted to have a praise and worship sessions originally, but because neither us of us knew how to play the guitar or lead in songs, we didn;t do it. but thanks to wan ling the the other christians in the team, they initiated a praise and worship sessions. it was really more of a sing-a-long session because christian songs are really nice. we got a chance to share our testimonies, ms lee, wan lin and myself and i'm very happy that God spoke to some of them through us. God's hand was really in this entire trip as He brought me through the entire thing safely and healthily =)

blah...im too lazy to update more stuff.....schweet schweet memories ;))))