Monday, June 19, 2006

famine camp

i attended famine camp during the weekends. now i feel inspired to go and help them, go help build houses with the habitat for humanity, reach out to the little kiddies, sponsor a kid etc. it's like the most fulfilling job you can ever have! i mean, seeing how the lives of people were touched in the video, seeing how happy they were with a proper house to stay in and all, their smiles, tears of joy. oh man. made my heart melt <3333 ok. when i finish sch i'm gonna make a difference, go join them in overseas projects, sponsor a kiddie, give them LOOOVVEEEE!

i must say that world vision makes super good videos. i mean, they capture the most heart wrenching and melting moments that can't help but inspire people to help out and serve.

During the famine camp, we had to fold as many paper cranes as we could cos one crane meant a bowl of rice (roughly 100g) for someone who was starving over in some country. i learnt how to fold cranes and the entire camp just inspired me to help out as much as i could. folding cranes was something that i could do, so after the camp activities were over, su hui, briana and i were folding cranes till the next morning. haha. i'm proud to say that we folded over 200 cranes. YAY. that means about 20kg plus of rice for people!

the activities that we did weren't really effective in teaching us anything cause everything that is in real life cannot possibly be simulated. i mean, how can disaster chaoticness be created in Singapore unless it really happens??? the queuing at the evacuation centres etc, didn't really mean anything except a simulation and game to me. my dad found at me some evacuation centre and we went on to find more of our families. which consisted of like 13 people, which means that i had 10 siblings =S

my family was very quiet, and so called "supportive" in everything my dad decided, cos in order to earn money, we just went along with all the immoral activities like prostitution and even selling one of us away. we did of course earn the most money in the end, giving us 17 packets of sugared drinks just so that we won't drop dead and die halfway through the event. the only thing i learnt from it was that i could modify it to be used for other camps. haha. seriously, you can't experience the pain and actual experience of being sold for prostitution or child slavery just to earn money, neither can our "parents" feel the pain of doing so because we simply weren't related in real life, so there's no connection involved.

anyway, it was a nice time for su hui and i to meet my juniors once again after such a long time, to catch up with them and be updated on what is going on at ARC. it's quite sad to know about all the politics going on and on the friendships that has been broken or weakened when during our time they were just so close. we wondered how the brudders had still remained such god friends and realised that was course we stuck together throughout our entire 4 years in IJ and had no other good friends. haha. we sound like such sad people -__-''' but it's ok. i still love my brudders. haha.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

studying sucks.

urghz. i hate studying.

someone remind me why i went to SA instead of NYP. its not that i hate SA. i love SA. i just don't like the studying and exams and tests. ok. i'll get the same stuff even if i go to poly. but still, it's more interesting. shucks. i realised that i don't have a portfolio to show for my uni entry to the arts and media. URGHz. shucks. perhaps....i'll have to go to NYP after JC to get a diploma there and at the same time, build up my portfolio. hiaz.

ARGHZ ARGHZ ARGHZ.

something i took away from the bean picking game at SFC camp. JIA YOU! don't give up!!!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

SFC interview

today's interview was scary

i was sitting there waiting for my turn, slowly morphing into a dying nervous wreck. i couldn't breathe properly and i could feel my heart POUND against my chest. i seriously felt like puking man. and my hands were so cold i could be mistaken for Bobby by the blind and turn the SAS swimming pool into a skating rectangle with my nervousness. by the way, bobby is the ice man in X men. haha. seriously. i could have fainted and died on the spot if i refused to hold on.

Thank goodness it's all over. **HEAVES A SIGH OF RELIEF** i reckon the two male teachers in SFC are total opposites. haha. one turned up all serious and all in long sleeved shirt and tie while the other turned up in erm...t-shirt and shorts looking as if he just woke up from bed. put them together and you get Mr Eric Tan. HAHAHAHAHA. it's true. reminds me of all the good times in ARC. somehow i always end up in CCAs that never have it's name read out in full. heh.

anyway. this interview is superbly different from all the interviews that i had. I was ushered into a room where there was this table seated with 7-8 people looking at u. if their eyes could shoot darts i would have looked like a porcupine by now. it was super intimidating. and even the questions were different, but yet, easier than what u would normally get. i didn't know what to expect, since we are after all a christian cca, so i knew there were gonna be questions about your spiritual life and all. but at the same time this was an interview for leaders. so i expected to get questions like what do u expect of a leader? haha. i didn't get any of those questions. got more of the what has God been doing in your life kinda questions. which was good cos it was answers from the heart. no model TYS answers that you could give =) and i walked out of the room feeling good about myself cos everything i said was true and i meant it. =) Whether i get a position as a leader or not doesn't matter. cos i'll still probaby end up staying late to help out and stuff. haha. call me itchy fingers. plus, God wants what's best for the CCA. if there's people more suited for the job than i am. so be it =) it feels good to be at peace. haha. now i wonder why i was so nervous. -___-'''

anyway, i stayed on in the library to continue studying. it was good for me. considering how undisciplined i am at home. i believe i should go to school to study more often. was intending to run after studying. but i forgot that i had to settle my lunch and i was too lazy to walk out of school and back again. haha. so i just left for lunch.

i randomly went to hougang mall and i ended up wondering why on earth i was doing there. i ended up at the library and i was about to borrow my books when i looked at the horrendous queue and i just dumped my books into the browsed box. anyway, hougang mall has changed so much. oh gosh. i can;'t wait for all the good food to come out. hahaha.

speaking of shopping. i realised my wardrobe needs changing =S seriously. sure took me a long time to realise that though, sadly, i'm stuck in the stage of knowing that i need to change but yet don't know what to do. it's annoying. my brother should bring me shopping. haha. i know it sounds weird. but he's the only person i'm comfortable with shopping with. we think pretty much alike, and i can trust him and his comments. hahha. my brother rocks. i love ya!

he brought me out for an X Men movie and a sakae sushi buffet treat which was long overdued. haha. the two of us ate like 25 + plates of sushi. our original target was 30 but we almost died stuffing ourselves with sushi for 2 hrs non-stop. can u imagine how terrified of sushi we were after that??? even the sound of some jap word that sounded sushi-like scared the daylights out of us. i'm serious! i believe i'll be staying away from sushi for quite a while.

ok this is superbly random:
it;s dumb how they keep coming up with stupid toys that repeat over and over again...the craze of yo-yos is back. only in the form of a stick. and this stupid kid happily flicked one right in front of my face while i was in the bus. kids. -__- you should be thankful i do not have scary reflexes like amy. haha. i still love u amy. u know that =))))

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

church camp

just came back from church camp. it was like the slackest church camp i've ever attended, but it's also one of better camps.

was quite shocked to find out that i was a discussion leader for the sec ones. especially since the leaders of the cell groups werent leaders and i who has never led a cell grp discussion before was given the task and i was even informed about it. so imagine the shock i received when i found out. they even got my surname wrong. i was known as gloria CHING =S

it's quite scary leading a bunch of youngsters esp when u dun know them. the day before during qt i had a feeling i was supposed to be a sheperd for God's sheep. i was really hesitant about it. cos i'm not exactly that kind of a leader. but i figured that it would give me a chance to learn to really lean on God for guidance and strength cos i was fully aware of the fact that i can't do it by myself. so i said ok. i never expected it to be so soon. like the next day. and at first i was quite fascinated to find that my group leader happened to have the same name as me. until i realised my name wasn't in the group and i didn't know any other glorias. then. i realised that the gloria ching person was me. yes. me. i was super scared, and on one hand, slightly annoyed at how they had just plonked me with that task without asking me or even warning me about. yet. perhaps if they did, i wouldn't have this experience of leading them...even if i didn't exactly do anything during discussion times.

i didn't know what to do, or how to lead the group....this bunch of sec ones. =S the discussion questions given to us was more or less catered for the adults and even us discussion leaders found it difficult. let alone the smallies. i didn't know how i could make discussion interesting or fruitful for them. i didn't want them to leave this camp unchanged and all. and i was a super worrywart about it. sadly, all that i had intended to do for them went down the drain after the first discussion whereby my co-leader which was a more senior leader than i was, simply brushed aside the discussion questions to play games and watch videos on his laptop. =( i didn't dare to tell him anything considering how the kids liked him and that he was a more experienced leader than i was. so i just left everything to him. honestly, i felt so discouraged knowing that the smallies were gonna leave this camp gaining nothing. me too. Still, God was good and He gave me time with my own age discussion grp, so i did get to pick up good stuff from pastor dave in his discussion group. plus, it was really encouraging to see how the boys in the group really contributed and how matthew, the youngest in the group happened to be the one who paid the most attention and gained alot. good job dude!

anyway. was quite shocked to find out that we were going to play angel and mortal game. and i didn;t have anything with me for my mortal or angel. rah. nvm. cos my angel didnt do anything for me and i could barey find my mortal. i found out after the camp that amos was my angel. -___-''' he's like super cute la. how he danced and all. haha. i sound like some paedophile. but i assure u..i'm NOT.

this camp has been pretty cool. how people in church have the passion for God re-ignited and revived. we believe it's the start of the revival for my church and it's cool man. people getting visions and all. there were loads of testimonies at the end of the camp -- something that never happened before. exciting-ness =D worship during this camp was cool too. never felt that good before =)

oh. and since we were at camp during the global day of prayer, our church had it on our own. and after that the youths had our own prayer. it was pretty cool. cos the leaders got prayed for and u can feel God working and all... funkiness. hahaha.

figured during the camp that i have a serious problem of a divided heart. my focus is barely on God, unless i'm like doing my QT, having morning worships, church, sfc etc. i still don't understand how u can include God in like 24/7 of your life. the dying for christ just to follow Him started to make sense after this divided heart thingy. usually we're so focused on ourselves that we ignore God, turning a deaf ear to Him and all. and to really be able to have an undivided heart for Him and to really just focus on Him we need to get rid of this "self" thingy in our life. to really allow Christ to take over, to recognise that our lives are no longer ours, but His. i learnt how important QT is as well. haven't done my qt in days. well...i suppose i've been very complacent esp since i've been at a church camp, but nothing beats having a personal time with God where He can truly minister to you. you can't feed on the spiritual highness of the people around u. i'm not a sponge. ok. even if i am, the stuff within me gets squeezed out or evaporated =S so i dun retain anything

coming for this camp has also allowed me to know a few of the youths better. partly cause the girls my age are all unable to come. leaving only natalie, sarah and myself. haha. the 3 rugby rivals, RJ, AC and SA respectively. it's fun how we usually diss one another's schools...for fun. so during the camp i ended up mingling more with the sec 2/3, even with some of the boys my age. haha. i realised how RJ students can be SOOOO SLOOOOWWWW. hhahaa. daniel and nat are good examples =) but it's ok. i still love u guys all the same =)

bah. i better study. i don't have much time left. oh boyyyy...but i must continue blogging...reflecting is good. =) makes ur brain work, helps u learn and realise things =) blogging is....COOL STUFF ;p

Friday, June 02, 2006

organising!

i realised during qt today, that God allows things to happen for a reason. even if it means having me to commit a sin =( u see. if i didn't fall into temptation and actually succumb to it,today's qt wouldn't be imapctful at all. and i also realised that when God promised that He will take u by the hand and lead u every step of the way, He will do that. As temptation lurked, His voice was loud and clear, warning me. yet, i ignored it. and i sufferred the consequences for it i could feel the fear and guilt. i felt God withdraw His presence from me. and likewise, i couldn't bring myself to do my queit time because i felt so ashamed. yet, thanks to the teachings of church and SFC, i knew that God would forgive me and i could still return to Him =) God made use of this chance to teach me. and i'm thankful for it. not only did He try and prevent me from committing the sin, He also taught me stuff about obedience, and the rewards that He used to attract me. It hit right in my heart and things are different now.

it's cool how u know it's really God when u can always remember that particular verse even though u never bothered remembering it. to prove that it's really clear, let me tell u that i can't even remember the famous verse of john 3:16 clearly (partly because i've been influenced by so many versions everything is mixed up =S) anyway. to all the Christians out there. this verse made me decide to really try and give up the things that are wrong in the eyes of God. it's super difficult. but knowing what's at the end is what will give u strength to carry on =)
1 Thess 4:8 "Therefore, he who rejects this instruction (living a Holy life) does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit."

anyway, i was packing my room. or rather. i tried to. cos i personally believed that i merely just spreaded the mess around the house. HAHAHAHA. let's look at the mess i created =S (this is already considered not as bad as previously. i already cleared up ALOT!!)

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during this packing, i realised what a sentimental person i am. i'm so unwilling to throw so many things away. keeping even my spoilt specs that broke into half. harry potter style. only i dun have magic to repair it. nor can i use scotch tape to save it =( i also realised how useful the church sermons were. all these while my mind was always shut. i always had this mental blockage that church sermons were useless and boring. but when i looked through them i was WHOA. these stuff are USEFUL! so ok. from now on i shall try and stay alert during sermons. however boring they are.

man. it feels good to be organised =)