Rebirth

The Holy Week entering Easter - a renewal of faith and commitment. I felt different this year.

Monday - Wednesday: Life was ...down the hill. It felt as if I was walking towards the place of crucifixion, being spat on, jeered, mocked.. I wondered if that was how Jesus felt. I felt the burden of the cross he carried.

Thursday: The evening of prayer and waiting.. I have never knelt so long before the Lord, yearning for his presence, for his grace and mercy. I have never felt so sorry before him.. putting myself in Judas' shoes. I was sinful.

Friday: What greater love than a man to lay down his life for another. It was a day of solemness, a day to reflect the perfect love portrayed.. and a day of which my dear puppy died being knocked down by a car.. Much despair and hopelessness.. silence engulfed me.

Saturday: Day of breaking free from all the lowliness, all the hopelessness. For Easter - the resurrection, a new life will begin. Easter Vigil that night was wonderful, a time spent with family celebrating the new light of Christ. What greater JOY to hope for than the one from God!

Sunday: The Coffee Morning sale, a big hit despite everyone lacking rest due to last minute errands and preparations. Learnt more about making things happen than saying things happen. Being childlike was the Lord's calling. The Lord indeed rose from the dead, that even death could never do him apart .. a miracle of rebirth, in me.

I died with Christ on Good Friday, and he lifted me up on his Resurrection Day - for I am his beloved, nothing can take that fact away. (Lev 12:26)

I pray for a new life in you too this Easter! He is RISEN! Alleluia! :)

In the Calm..

In the calm.. of Your presence, I am listening Lord....

This song struck me today as I read a friend's blog. I have been having a very crazy 2 weeks, rushing over 2 assignment reports, 2 presentations, 2 friends in my group. I think I even rushed God to "do good" to me. =.=

With the upcoming trip, life was even more not pleasant. So much to finalise and everything had to be done there and then. So much for seeing light amidst darkness.

Yesterday was the presentation, 2-4.30pm, 5.15-7.20pm. A whole long day indeed. My group was the first, and being typical me- always getting the "First" lot. So we kicked off everything. I would say, I am very proud of my teammates, for they gave their all despite the language barrier, despite the many glitches - they were serious about being in a team, and doing their best for the team. :)

Rushing for RCIA Mass - Presentation of the Creed, I arrived 2 minutes before it started, much to Fr Albert's astonishment that I was almost late. I was grateful I did not crash anyone during my drive from college to Church. Haha.

Rushed for EMMM meeting after that, to know that meeting was ending. -.- My college mate resisted attending meeting after nights of endless assignment rushing. It was a day of fast. Lol. Adrenaline rush, he said. Haha. 'Cause immediately after we're done with our presentations, we felt hungry and tired. Hmm..

Amidst all the happenings, be it of my will or not, I felt God's presence in the people around me. I actually trusted my whole presentation day to him, knowing he would put words into my mouth when I forget what to speak about. It was difficult to trust the whole morning, because I was so tired from the previous night and weak as I was, my human side told me to strive harder and work from my self limits. But God was all so amazing, to grant me a Spirit-filled stomach, mind and soul. He was amazing, to the extend that I said "I am presenting for the Lord, and I will present my best for the Lord." Knowing he is standing beside me always, I trusted. And HE never failed my trust.

All glory to the Almighty KING!

As the week died down a little, the trip will continue to boost up the confidence that God does not stop working just in my study life. He will journey with us and I pray and trust, that he will use us, his unworthy instruments for the salvation of all!

Time to sit still. Care to join me? :)

The Ending, and Beginning

2009 is ending soon... in 4 days. Come to think of it, this year moved quite fast. :) Perhaps because when you are busy, you don't realise time flies.

So, updates...



After weeks of practising hard and memorising scores, we ended up having...


The best carolling experience so far. :) Look at the smiles. Beaming shouts of joy!

Beautiful children singing beautiful songs with beautiful voices. Awesome.

That's Christmas. Celebration of a Son's birth, so great and mighty; trumpeted on rooftops and chimneys! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Which leads to...

New Year 2010! And another year of awesome happenings to look forward to!

Can't wait, can't wait!! XD

rof nyleve wohc

Once upon a time there was a girl who was born on the eve of the next day. She was born with bright colours and enlightening eyes that it made her parents feel...so bonded and close to her that they leaned on her dearly!! So here comes... eVELYN@eve@lyn@missCHOW.

This girl has nice eyes but she's always deprived of sleep hence the closed eyes during the day...

"Sleepy lar.... faster liao..." (smiles)

She loves to talk... so she puts on this look whenever she's on the talkative mode.

I tell you ar, my hair's the latest one you know! It covers my pimples right here! *points*

As you have noticed those plates pushed aside, this friend also loves to eat! Man, she can appreciate food.... (And never get fat! Though she has a shirt that says "I'm fat! Really?" Well, you're not.)

"Ooooh...food...yummy.."

When you bring her for lunch with good food as such:

She will immediately say:

"I want!!!"

And being a fan of handbags and fashion, she loves to shop and put on nice things whenever she goes out.

"You, buy me that bag!"

"Look! I've got a new watch!" (Notice her bracelet and necklace too? *winks*)

Not forgetting, when she's down and out...

"Talk to the hand, people... I'm tired.." (but can still smile)

But knowing that in her journey of life this far she has met great friends, she found God through a fellowship of children similar to herself..and she can be herself just like the rest of them...

She cannot help but find freedom to live her life as God has planned for her after God said to her "I love you!"... so she appreciates her life more than before, even in the washroom. XD

And so, dear Evelyn, a very happy and blessed 21st BirthDAY!! Now that you're legal, BE GOOD ok! Here's your birthday cake!

Looks familiar?
I'll poke in the candles soon. 2 big, 1 small.

Oh ya, one more! Did you count the smiles?? Haha! :D

ps: Photos courtesy of cath and pls no stealing of photos without permission. This post is dedicated to a good friend and sister-in-Christ.

The Week

Ah I'm back... :)

After a whole long week of ....rush and all sorts of feelings and experiences, time to get back to reality and sit here and type again. So what's with the week?

Sunday - Tuesday: Mid-Term review of the Pastoral Focus on the Family by Archdiocese of Kuching. Had the priviledge of sharing my life story to 300 delegates from 11 parishes including the Shepherd and all other priests.. wow. :)

But with the car cooking my patience on the second day and causing lots of inconveniences and panic and worries, ah.... I almost died of I-don't-know-what-to-do... yet things just unfolded fine on its own at its own time.

Wed - "Break time" before the 'second half' of the week. Supposingly to get rest and take a break off the 3-day conference and prepare for the Leadership Formation camp (LFC) but... as usual, last minute-ness and craziness ate me up. Battery almost ran flat.

Thurs morning - supposingly get all shopping done for camp the day before but something else crept up and somehow things had to be done alone and unknown. So shopping carried forward and was "supposed" to go up Mt Singai in the morning but the car meragam again and caused more casualties. I got to rest no doubt, (well I needed it in the first place) but then things at camp happened and there were miscommunication and...no one's cooking for us? Thank God for an angel who just 'happened' to be at camp who's taking cooking lessons so he cooked for us with a team of half-pail knowledge assistants. :D

Camp dragged for 48 hours and we got back Kuching on Sat evening, of which we (as if not tired enough) went for makan and minum at Open Air and then back to office to chit chat and then later at night went to McD for a farewell drink with the "camp chef" before he leaves for studies.

Sunday - How time flies. It's a week gone. Supposed to get the assignment done, yet nothing's ready. Quiz on Monday yet I was flat at home, recharging. Mum insisted to go back to her dad's place so had to tag along and spent half morning, lunch and half afternoon there... Pond harvesting. :) Swimming in the mud for the guys = cool~ Got back home and dozed off for 15 minutes before going out again. I almost died. My legs ached madly, going up and down the mountain twice. I salute those guys going up and down 4-5 times, each time carrying stuff up, eg. diesel 5 gallon x 3 sets x 6 persons. Thank you guys. :) I'm sure you will be rewarded with muscles soon.

Sunday night - dinner. And there we laughed like crazy people who've never laughed before. Now with 4 crazy animators, we have a new generation of crazy student leaders. :S

Monday - morning I couldn't get my brain to work. Dad drove me home to sleep after mass and breakfast and I only touched on supply and demand 3 hours before the quiz. Brain froze at the start of it, but got it done in the end. Hope all's fine.

And so... the week's over. I've got office work piling up, camp work to be finished and some minors here and there to get settled. Life's just the beginning of something new. When one thing's done, something new and better creeps up. Till then, goodnight!

KAYD Weekend

Kuching Archdiocesan Youth Day (KAYD) just ended. :) Well, the weekend passed but I'm sure the memories and fire are still bright and burning in the hearts of servants and participants alike.

Having to juggle three ministries (two hectic ones to be exact) was enough to keep me on my feet. I sort of enjoyed being able to serve to my limits and give my all despite the moments of 'argh' here and 'gasp' there when things did not go as I expected. Perhaps they were meant to be as such, else there's no excitement. :D

Seeing youths from everywhere coming together as One, amazing. How God's love draws the hearts of many, young and old, far and near.. awesome, simply wonderful. Too magnificent for words; only actions can speak for His blessings.

The next one will be in 2011. Hoping to see the participants for KAYD09 serving in KAYD11. Let us build God's kingdom for all generations! Praise the Lord! :)

Weekend Work

The weekend was spent with an inter-campus camp. The camp was actually running well on Sat until I got phone calls from the office and under unavoidable circumstances, I had to rush down from camp site to do the work. Skipped lunch, worked full hours straight and rushed. Pressured, watched, supervised; rushed back to camp site after the 5 hour strain. Had taize prayers that night and went straight to bed after that. Never in my life had I been so tired. Even ASC was not that bad. This time it felt like I ran the whole ASC for 1 whole month.

Sunday. Finished camp. Came down rushed to office. It was 3pm and I stayed there till 1130pm. You may ask "Is that necessary?" I can't seem to find the right explanation for that. To say it is, I'm half-hearted. To say it's not, then what's with all the rush?

This morning, Monday - got it all done. But there was a story behind. I was at the tip of finishing everything, when the computer jammed. It just lagged and stopped responding. I thought perhaps I worked a bit too fast so waited for the lag to stop. But it didn't, instead it remained frozen. Switched it off, and it restarted. But it stopped at the loading page. And never moved for the next half an hour. It was 1030am and I had to get things done by 11am.

I was losing myself then. Didn't know what to do, was so worried about the work which I saved inside the computer only, not externally. And I went to dad and he came over and saw to things. Switched it off. Waited. He prayed over the computer, and it restarted. And all went well after that. No documents missing. The power of prayer.

Perhaps you reading this might not feel the real stress in handling such situations at the very last minute. Perhaps this does not apply to you. Perhaps this might even be a funny joke to you.

But all I can say is; despite the hecticness, the pressure, everything, God makes sure you are fit for it. He won't give you something you can't handle; he just wants you to take the extra step to do it for him. In my case, sacrifice. At the very last minute, this morning say - I was so tired from lacking of sleep after camp and burning midnight oil in the office, yet he kept me fit enough to just finish everything, and this afternoon I rested since all's done. He plans your path, and as long as you are willing to submit to him and face the waves that come alongside it, all plans will unfold nicely.

That's my weekend story. For camp story, perhaps another day. A busy week ahead, but I'll make time, hopefully. :)

Upcoming

The document's out. Preparations must be done. Thought it was not right to do it that way, so we did it another way yet now it was consented to do the former. ...what a waste.

Anyway, upcoming events!

Ever wondered why sometimes we get soooo excited about a certain event coming up very very soon, and when the event date comes nearer by just a week, you tend to lose those anxiety and excitement? I suppose that happens when you have too much to look forward to, till you forget which one to be more excited about. And it's happening.

It seems rather a tasteless feeling that things and people fail you one after another. As people would always say, give them another chance. Yea. Another chance. And another, and another, and another... so that you'll be given chances too, when it hits back on you one day. Ah... the counter-attack.

All the same, :) I suppose smiling is still top on my list. It gets very annoying that you know the other side of being on one side of yourself. Doubt if you get what I mean, but it's so hard to think of the fuller half cup at times. Sometimes I wish to just pour everything away and start refilling once more. It frusts when you try to go against your own human self, knowing better of the spiritual self. Ahh..

With all these upcoming events, I've been thinking whether I'm up for it. Whether I'm really into it now, as I awaited its arrival weeks and months ago. I don't know why all these were planned, but somehow I contradict myself lately. Perhaps leaving it up to God would be the best decision, yet at the same time to do some personal thinking as well. :S

GiveMeOnePureAndHolyPassion - song of my day. thoughts of my heart. cries of my soul.

New YOUTH BLOG!

Calling ALL youths!

Check this OUT!

Our very own NEW YOUTH BLOG with news covering from all parishes, and events happening all over the Archdiocese of Kuching!

Click on it and spread the word!

:)

Giving or Running?

That trip.

IS it just an excuse I'm giving, not to go? The signs clearly showing up in front of me.. NOT to go. Even the one who has the final say finally put forth his views. "Should let others go.."

Then there comes the latch. Contradictions. Encouragements. "If you don't go, how would you be trained?"

Dilemma.

Cooking up excuses, finding out pros and cons of going. Doing SWOT analysis. What to do???

:(

To decide in 3 days! Someone... I want a hug..

End of ASC

ASC just ended. Everyone is writing about it. The people, the experiences, the events.. and everyone's missing it too. Hard to admit, but so am I.

I wouldn't write from Day 1 to Day 14, since most days had similar agendas. I would just share the summary from my own experience.

Overall, it was a memorable event. Awesome! (as Evelyn would term it), best LOC (as Asian team called us), Great! (as Kak Steph said). I myself would say, we are not the best LOC, but we just performed the very best we could by keeping ourselves focussed on God, and it turned out just fine, well, smooth. Praise God! Despite some glitches, miscommunication, minor problems here and there, we LOCs left an unforgettable memory in the hearts of our delegates, and we learnt a whole lot of new lessons from the delegates.

Through the many ups and downs, from the 40 days of Lent, entering Holy Week and finally facing Good Friday, the very much anticipated Easter came. The day when all things fell into places nicely, just as God planned them in the first place. Finally we stood on top of the mountain, enjoying the final view of the whole ASC after months of climbing and slipping now and then along the way. Thank you Lord. :) I'm just happy this offering is the best offering we could give to the Lord, and I pray we can give more in future!

To view photos, please find from facebook accounts of our Mutimedia Crew. To read more about stories from the event, please find from facebook, blogspot or multiply blogs. There are too many for me to list down, but I'm sure they're not too hard to find. :) There's a purpose for putting up links of 'people called friends' somewhere down there (scroll down), you know.

Thank you everyone for support and prayers! :) God bless!

ASC ends, but it's the beginning of something even more exciting! Are you up for it??