What’s up? … random views and opinion from Sui

Will keep this entry short. Today slept in and woke up at 10. Then had lunch with 2 friends at suntec. Bought some stuffs for people in Sydney who asked for them. Then went to library at esplanade. The seating place at the library has such a nice water-front view. Then went back home. My dinner plan was canceled because my friend had some unforeseen circumstances. Made another plan to have dinner with Felix. At home, took shower and got online to chat with a few people. Then went out for dinner at Plaza Sing. Managed to give “Guidance and the voice of God” book to my other friend who was nice enough to come to meet us at Plaza Sing. And just when we were about to come home, Ivonne called us. She should have called us earlier during the day, but somehow didn’t. Anyway, it was too late for us to go out with her, so she will have to wait until tomorrow to go shopping :]

Today I finally feel really tired, just before dinner time. Could be the combination of meeting lots of people, walking around a lot, and a few days of sleeping late but wake up early. But its still a fruitful day for me (except at suntec).

Had another breakfast meeting at 9.15 with another friend from church. Had a good catch up and listen to their plan for the future. Was really encouraged by him, its the meeting like this that makes me want to keep meeting up with people :] Then went to get my sis’ camera before having lunch with another 2 of my friends from church. One of them had to leave earlier straight after lunch, but the conversation with the other guy really encouraged me again. And btw, these are the people who are supporting me, whether in prayer or financially, so in some ways they are involved with the ministry at Pelita too :]

After that went to suntec city to try to look for things that I need to buy. Didn’t really find the stuffs, and even got slightly lost there. It was quite a waste of time, and quite a waste of energy too, since I had to walk around a lot, both in suntec itself and from the nearest mrt station to suntec and vice versa. But I guess it was a good exercise for me, especially since some of my friends here commented that I have gained weight!

Then rushed from suntec to meet another friend at Toa Payoh hub. She did 1 year MTS in Taiwan, but now is back here for a year, before going off again next year to Taiwan for another few years with OMF. Again, another good conversation and encouraging time. But by the end of this meeting, I was feeling quite tired already. Then went to Bishan for dinner, before attending the Bible study with my group here. Oh, managed to get Death note 1 at Bishan :] We had good number for the BS, with a couple of new people that I don’t know. And good discussions from Romans 8. Was reminded that we are heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ. Fellow heirs with Christ! That means whatever Christ gets from the Father -whether throne, rule over creation, glory- will also be given to us! What an amazing truth! Isn’t that fantastic? :] And there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus! Which is one of my favourite verses of all time :]

Had a meeting for breakfast with another friend today (or rather it was brunch, since we ate around 10.30), and good to hear that he will be coming to Sydney with his family to do Master at SMBC. Talked about different stuffs, and even got some advice from him. After that went to Bishan library to wait for lunch meeting with another friend. Was thinking to do some work, but didn’t manage to do much, I found out that I need a big block of time to be really effective. I need a while to warm up, so 1 hour is not enough for me to do much. Went online instead to check my email and chat with people, using free wireless internet connection thats available throughout many different spots in Singapore. That is something that I don’t think we will ever have in Sydney.

Then met my friend at AMK hub, which has changed much since my time in Singapore. When I was here, they were still building the mall. Anyway, this friend is someone who worked with me before at the hospital, but now she has left and working at another place. I have written about her before in my blog, but of course without her name. We didn’t manage to catch up when I was here early in the year because she was busy then, but now she has some free time before starting her new job. We had lunch for 2 hours before she needs to bring her mom to see a doctor.

After that, went back to Bishan library again, and didn’t realise that time passed by so quickly. Then rushed back home, had shower and changed, then went for the wedding banquet of my friends who got married on saturday. It was a normal wedding banquet, with lots of family and friends. One thing to notice, since so many people in our group have got married, now the members in our group can be said to be professional wedding helpers! Just ask them to organise a wedding and they will do the job perfectly :]

Had an early start again today, with a breakfast meeting with a friend at 7.20 am (supposed to be 7.15, but I overslept a bit). Thankful for him to come all the way to Sunset Way so we can just eat the breakfast at the hawker centre downstair and I don’t have to travel (and therefore I don’t have to wake up earlier!). We had a nice catch up, and managed to challenge him a bit with what he has been doing, and his thinking behind it all. Should remember to pray for him.

Then went to 9.00 am service at Gereja Presbyterian Bukit Batok, because thats Jason’ church here in Singapore. Met Jason and was introduced briefly to his youngest(?) brother, who also looks very much like him. Didn’t manage to meet Arlingga’s twin brother though, maybe he was there but I was the one leaving too early after church. There were quite a substantial number of people at the church, the bulletin says the attendance last week was 186 for 9.00 am service and 210 for 11.00 am service. They use Kidung Jemaat, and I found out that I can still remember all the songs that we sang today at church, and even enjoyed singing those songs again. The person who chaired the meeting and led the singing (an elder, who isn’t old at all) could use more smiles at the front.

The preacher gave a sermon from Joshua 21:43 - 22:8, titled “janji Allah dan respon manusia”, and the content was doctrinally faithful, but I think he made too big a jump from the Israelites to us. For example, he was saying (in my own words): just like the Israelites were given the promise land and they should respond to God in obedience, we who are living in Singapore are living in a land full of promise and should respond to God in obedience too. Or something like that. He correctly said how we should respond to God, and he tried to make the application as concrete as possible, touching on the issues of serving at church, etc. Oh, one interesting thing is, before the preacher went up to the pulpit to give the sermon, he was given a Bible from one of the elders, and after he finished preaching, he gave it back to the elder. Don’t know what to make of that, I’m sure they have a good reason for doing that in the first place, but I’m not sure how many people in the church actually understand why they do such thing. Also, he started the sermon by showing a movie clip about illegal chinese immigrants in UK, which had nothing to do with the sermon, except helping him with the introduction about how people always want to find better life, etc. Personally, I think he could start his intro without the movie clip, and the intro itself was quite long (not counting the movie clip itself, which was around 10 minutes I think).

Anyway, after church went to ARPC to find another friend to catch up and have lunch together. We talked about roughly the same things that we talked about when I came back earlier this year. The situation has not improved, and we just have to pray, wait, and see what will happen. He said something radical might happen in 5 years time, for better or for worse, but I sure hope it will happen for better and happen sooner! Sometimes its just frustrating and painful to see whats happening, but you just can’t do anything about it. You know whats the problem, but unfortunately others might not see the problem, or worse, they choose not to see it. At the end of the day, we just need to trust that God knows what He is doing, especially when it involves and affects His people.

Oh, had Cafe Cartel’s pork ribs for lunch, and it was less than $13! They have the special price for their 10th anniversary or something like that, but even at its normal price ($15.20), I still think its really cheap! Plus we ate at Cafe Cartel Junction 8, and they have a promotion of a free upgrade to a complete meal if you order the ribs! That means they throw in a soup and a drink for free :]

After lunch, met up with Felix to go to Pulau Ubin together. It was just the 2 of us, because his friends already had their own plans. We went around cycling for 2.5 hours ($6 per bike for the whole 2.5 hours!), and by the end of it we were really tired. And we didn’t even cover the whole island! But it was a nice exercise with nice surroundings (nicer than bicentennial park! :]), and we really enjoyed going down the slope with the wind blowing on our faces :] Managed to take some photos along the way, and I’m sure Felix will post it up on his facebook (in fact, by the time I finished writing this entry, I can see the photos already! :])

But, because Ubin is outside Singapore, and we won’t be able to make it back on time, I had to cancel my dinner with Sam (sorry Sam!). Had dinner instead with Felix (he doesn’t like mee siam, it tastes weird he said :]), and walked around and bought the Death Note series. Didn’t buy the first one though, they didn’t have it, but bought the second one, and the spin off from the series, about L. Now I’m really looking forward to watch it, but might not have time until I’m back in Sydney. And certainly will try to find the first one to complete my collection :]

As I said in my previous entry, today had an early start with the decoration at the church. After spending 1 hour there, me and my friend left for ARPC leaders’ EE. He was quite new with our BS group when I left for Sydney last time, after I finished my contract in Singapore. But now he is one of the co-leaders, and will be helping leading the group more often. It was only 2 of us from our group who went to leaders’ EE, so spent some quality time with him, getting to know him more as I didn’t really know him. And was good to hear his testimony of how he came to know Christ.

After the leaders’ EE, we came back for the wedding. Everything went well, and nothing much to say except that we are really happy to see another 2 of our friends getting married :] After that, went to orchard area to buy Colbie’s CD for Dan Ong. Then met up with Felix at chinatown, since he’s joining us for the karaoke. We had 3 hours of karaoke for only $10 per person, plus free drinks! And they sang lots of chinese songs, some of which I know, some I don’t. But Felix can really sing chinese songs, he even sang one hokkien song! :] The karaoke place has an extensive list of chinese songs, even the latest ones, but unfortunately they don’t have many indo or english songs, which is really different from the karaoke place in Sydney (at least the one that we always go to).

After karaoke, we went for supper (have I said that we always eat in Singapore?). Thankfully, my friend can send me and Felix home, so we save on both the time and transport cost. But he asked me again -again, because everytime I came back he will always ask me- to consider coming back to do ministry here. That wasn’t something that I never consider myself, and at times its really tempting to minister to the people here. I mean, I know the people, the culture, the language (singlish haha), and there are many opportunites here. But I have to say no to him again.

Anyway, tomorrow will be another long day with an early start. People always say that they will get bored after spending just a few days in Singapore. But for me, even 2 weeks is not enough!

Today, most of the day was spent at True Way Presby Church, to help out with the decoration for my friends’ wedding tomorrow (ie. saturday). The church looks really pretty with all the flowers, and I’m proud that I took a part in decorating the church :] While we were busy working, the mom of one of my friends (who is in charge of the whole decoration) suddenly asked me: “so, when is your turn?” I can’t believe I’m already in the stage of life when people are starting to ask when will I get married! haha :] Well, I just said that I don’t know. After all, what can I say? Something like, “don’t worry, I’ll invite you when its my turn” ? How do I know that there will ever be my turn? In fact, was telling Charles last time that I already had 3 strikes, so I’m out of the game (just like in a baseball game) :]

After doing the decoration, went to meet up with a few of my ex-colleagues (one of which was the girl that I gave the book on monday, but decided not to ask her about it, especially in front of others, which would make it difficult to have serious conversation/discussion). We decided to go for dinner, but had to wait for the brother of my ex-colleague to come and join us. When he came, we went to Plaza Sing for dinner. Had a light dinner and conversation with them, and took some photos.

After that, went to meet DK at city hall for my second dinner! What else can you do when you meet people here in Singapore other than eating? :] Anyway, we had a nice catch up, talk about different things, from church, his work, his BS group, his family, Project Timothy, etc. And told him the updates from FOCUS, things that he hasn’t heard from others.

Anyway, need to sleep soon. Tomorrow have to wake up early as we need to do some final touch of the decoration. And tomorrow is gonna be a long day! After the decoration, will go to SBC for ARPC’s leaders’ encouraging and equipping. Then after lunch have to rush back to church for the wedding itself in the afternoon. Then after all that, at night we will go to karaoke! :] Was just thinking that after I’m back in Sydney, I will need a few days to recover from my ‘holiday’…