glad to be together in this team!

Hello team :)

Surprise! This post is dedicated to you!
(shall take this chance to share my joy to be part of this. blogging from my room.)

(me, joyce, serene, calyn, weiling, timothy)

I really thank God for all of you - from the very beginning when we met as a team the first time at RELC level 2 with Jiehui, before service. I still remember that things were still very raw then.

On hindsight, I really see God's leading and fingerprints all over our plans in Cambodia.
Many 'first time' for all of us. Also my first time serving directly with Joyce and Serene.

Really love the shared moments during this trip - on the plane to Cambodia, on tuk-tuk with mask, daily cereal breakfast in the hotel room, quality cold jokes moments, disgusted by our ice-cream-turned-yoghurt last night, eating sweet corn, fried maggots, crickets, beetles, tarantula spiders just now.

For the remaining 2 days for R&R, let's get to know each other more on the personal side and build up this friendship and as we return to Singapore and into our various ministries, we shall continue to encourage each other towards God!

God's Presence and blessings continue to pour in as we enjoy this Godly fellowship.

See you later at the guest house lobby at 645pm sharp ah!

- Guan Rui -

Thanksgiving

Didn't manage to find time to type a detailed post of yesterday's event (limited time and laptops). Here's a short one:

I really thank God for this team, for putting it together. It was divinely put together by Him. We didn't just get to know one another better during this trip, but there were many shared moments as God just brought together so many complementary gifts (eg. Guan Rui in drawing, Wei Ling in decor, Joyce having many materials and experience with service ops, Calyn and Serene engaging the youths at a personal level, etc etc), yet all flowing in the same Spirit. Only God could've put it together so well!

Thank you team. Really blessed to go through this with each of you guys (even Calyn!).
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reaping the harvest which we have not worked for . . . Day 4

Official Day 4 - 070110

Freedom Concert @ NIE

Today we started the day with a time of praise and worship and QT together. I led the time with Open the Eyes of my heart and Mighty to Save. As I was preparing the time I was reminded that we need to ask God to open our spiritual eyes so that we can seek beyond what we can physically see. Also, a reminder that regardless of a person's economic status and background, everyone needs forgiveness, a love that's never failing.

Part of the passage we chewed on during QT time.

I thank God for speaking to me to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. I need to be more fervently reading and understanding the Word of God, guided by the truth and not just serve out of a good heart.

In this trip, I hope people who receive Christ is not because of our wise and persuasive words, but they are truly touched by God's love directly, just like the Samaritans, they encounter God personally.

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
John 4:34-38

So many things were going on before we came to Cambodia. There were many people who sacrifice for the Gospel and the Word was preached and lots of plowing were done. We just felt that the FREEDOM CONCERT is going to be a time of harvesting of souls.

Posters . . .

(Timothy and Somien)

(Praise and Worship)

There were many hiccups during the rehearsal. People were late. Bad logistics. Incompatible power sockets. No floor management. So many things that went wrong. If these things happen in Singapore, we will really get into trouble. During dinner time to debrief on the whole experience of putting up the FREEDOM CONCERT, Julian asked us a few questions.

"What irritates you most during the preparation stage to the end of the FREEDOM CONCERT?"

It wasn't difficult to list out them.

"Out of these, which are ones that are due to cultural difference?"

For me church planting still seemed like a huge decision to make. But I thank God for this opportunity to open my spiritual eyes over here! On one hand I always feel inadequate, but on the other hand I see that God loves these people as well. I am so blessed in Singapore. I appreciate the strict training I went thru in Singapore as I grow up in my faith as a Christ follower. Thanks to all who played a play in guiding me in my walk and training me directly - Shirley Sim, Aaron Chua, Bowen, Qiao Ping, Huili, Jan, Sihui, Timothy.

I was encouraged by what Julian shared to us on how our team managed to endure the challenges. He said that our team has been very ready to minister and execute the impartation in Cambodia. He mentioned that these would not be possible without the strict training we had in our years of growing up as a disciple and encounter hardship as a leader in various aspects.

I am sure God is preparing me for greater purpose, and I desire greater gifts to serve Him wherever I am.


Thanksgiving
after the Outreach event - FREEDOM CONCERT, all of us felt relieved and glad that God was with us all the while. Although we did not have the best planning possible in Singapore (and with many things in our mind, for example ESS, Christmas, UNI-YA Anniversary), He gives us strength and wisdom everyday when we leave our guest house to Joko's place to conduct workshops and minister to the people. Without Him around, things would not have worked out so well. As we learnt more and more about the Cambodians and their culture, it gives us a better understanding of how we should relate to them.

When we returned to the guest house at night, we prayed and gave thanks to God for His presence with us! We sang loudly - songs of praise and worship unto God. Thank Him for this opportunity to learn and open the eyes of our hearts.

("sometimes Calyn can be quite **crazy crazy**, and that explains why no one dares to sit on the bed with her", said the rest of the team.)


("Why nobody wants to sit with me? Why are they staring at me like that?", Calyn ponders...)

(thanks sisters for packing up our "busking" luggage after a tiring day!)

- Guan Rui -

Thank God for today!

Today's event went well! Thank God! Praise God! It was interesting working together with the cambodians and learned a number of things regarding culture differences and once again we had a very good and fruitful debriefing session with Julian!

The challenges of church planting isnt about dealing with Spiritual warfare but with people and culture differences. Things that will frustrate you and irritate you and make you feel like giving up. We had a taste of it today and it was interesting! :) hahah... Going church planting, you need to be resilent and persevering in order to sustain through and to last for 5 years.

With cross culture differences especially in developing countries, their lifestyle and response to things will truly frustrate you and to instill biblical values in them will probably take you 4 years and lots of modeling and repeating for them.

Had new perspectives into church planting and also new understanding of the Hope Spirit! :) The spirit of sacrifice, faithfulness and perseverance, standing firm in Christ.

Everything went well at the end :) God really provided a way out for us, there were so many hipups here and there but God moved amazingly and we saw how God provided a way for us. For His grace is sufficient :) We had problems with projector and the electricity but things eventually turned out well too.