Sharing Of A Missionary in Japan

Usually, we have our discipleship bible study with people from Cornerstone Church in Portland building, but it's a little special this week where a lady will share her 35 years of experience in Japan. Few of us walked from Dunkirk to Wollaton Park for 20 minutes and we found Dorothy's house, thank God that night is not too cold.

First time in a British home:

We had spaghetti for dinner, custard pudding for dessert, and a little chit chat with chrysanthemum tea. I actually find my discipleship group kinda amazing, that we have Malaysians, Mexican and China students. Despise of her old age, Dorothy did amazing blending in our topics.

This is how puddings look like in British:

Dorothy shared with us some bible verses about reasons and needs to evangelize. She's under OMF to church plant in Japan since 1955. She met her husband along the journey, and also told us all the challenges, meeting different people, and leaving families behind. They're all so encouraging and miraculous.

A life dedicated to God in a foreign country:

"The one whose walk is blameless will minister to me."
-Psalms 101:6-

Personally, I've met several missionary in Malaysia, like Chris Abner. I know the sacrifices that they made and how hard is it to start a ministry in a new place. However, the fruits that they harvest is the greatest comfort and joy that would be remembered forever. May God bless the heart and works of these people who dedicated their life for You, Amen.

Fried Rice for Dinner

The Pharmacists in my house are having a big test soon, so I gonna cook dinner for the first time =.= So far, I just acquired two new skills after I got here, "Maggie Mee" and "Fried Rice", still learning "Pasta". The plan is to cook big plates of fried rice, first time cooking for more than 1 stomach as well.

Sausages, carrots, mushrooms, pork chops, peas and rice:

It feels like some cooking show where I open the fridge and search for ingredients that I can find. Cut cut chop chop, and there they go into the fire~ Stir eggs with rice, and let them socialize with each other in the wok. Now the sauce... by using the same concept as playing keyboard, "add whatever you feel like adding".

Some tomato and oyster sauce~ hmm:

I think it took me one and a half hour to prepare, still not too late though. Haha, a good sign is that my housemates are still surviving after the dinner. Nah~ it's not too bad, quite fine actually. The only problem is I cook too much, but it's enough for lunch tomorrow.

All is well, eat in peace:

"He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them."
-Psalms 99:7-

There's gonna be more cooking slot as their exams approach, pray that God bless us wisdom to be able to bless others. Also pray for assignment and coursework preparations for those who are suffering from it. Amen.

Worship Conference at T-Street

After some spiritual talk til late night 5 am, me and Sean woke up at 8 am to attend a worship seminar at T-Street church. It's a £12 course, whole day inclusive of lunch and a worship concert ticket at night. They kick start with vocal warm up and singing parts of a random worship song, not bad.

Worship on Saturday morning:

A few worship leaders shared about their experiences, then it's lunch time. Amazing, they served really really good food (potatoes, bake beans, minced meat & desserts). The session resumed with band dynamics demos (expected), but I really liked it when we are grouped in 5 to discuss some given questions, then several leaders (musician, vocalist, sound engineer, dancer...) will answer from their aspect.

Lunch and some band demo:

We're done with the seminar and the Solid Rock people brought me to Peachykeen for buffet dinner. It's kinda pricy on Saturday night but I'll make sure it worth it (another £12 with student card)! They're not super tasty but sure have good varieties.

Buffet dinner, time for meat!

With a full tummy, and a great night of worship concert, I would really call it a tiring yet satisfying day (we didn't really sleep the previous night). The girls took the bus back to Dunkirk, but me and Sean were too excited and decided to walk back from town at night. A good chit chat time, and surprisingly it's just 30 minutes walk.

Ending the day with worship concert:

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
-Psalms 90:12-

It's been a while since I can really relax and experience a great worship session without thinking too much. Guess it's time to take a break. Pray that this great experience will recharge and remind me of all the important things and mindsets as a worship team member, Amen.

Solid Rock Band Practice

Solid Rock has their worship practice every Monday night for Friday's praise and worship band. The only place that we can have the instruments for practice is the chapel in Portland. Same setting as Solid Rock meeting itself, so it's a venue advantage, and a lot better than practicing few minutes before the thing starts.

Walking to Portland building:

This week, me, Sen Loong(guitar) and Dian Han(drum) are in the team with another 2 from Singapore and Thailand. Haha, ConneXion people rock! Never have the chance to play with them in Malaysia, but glad that we get to serve here in UK together.

Band practice:

Something different is, I'm not on piano/keyboard. I'm playing bass! It's kinda nostalgic being a beginner again. Seriously it's harder than I thought, but indeed the easiest to pick up. Yeah! They allow me to bring the bass back to my room for the week.

I have the bass for 4 days:

"Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other."
-Psalms 85:10-

Lord, thank You for blessing us a good place and companions for accountability wherever we go. It's like Your omnipresence never fail to amaze me. Pray that our hearts will be righteous as we submit our talents to You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Christmas Present For Unknown

Cornerstone Church is having this project call Operation Christmas Child. Just turn an empty shoe box into a Christmas present and the church will deliver it to children in need in some other countries. I basically just chuck in toys and stationary.

Gonna specify gender and age range of the receiver:

So this day, most of us are holding a present box while walking to church. After worship session, then those who prepared will queue up and slowly place their box on the stage. Haha, the process kinda feels great, it's like everyone surrender part of them for the work of His kingdom.

Let's hand in the shoe boxes:

The participation is really good, the whole front stage is filled with present boxes stacking up. Then, the pastor is like preaching with a lot of Christmas boxes, thick smell of Christmas in the air. We won't know who get the present box, but God will deliver it to the correct one. Be blessed through blessing others, haha.

Full row of Christmas presents:

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless."
-Psalms 84:11-

Christmas is approaching, a season of giving and receiving. I give thanks for the blessings that I have as I arrive UK, and also for everyone who is preparing for Christmas, all the best and God bless you. Will keep each other in prayer, for another great experience with God, Amen.

Nottingham Malaysian Games 2011

The Nottingham Malaysian Games is an annual sports carnival of all Malaysian in UK at Nottingham uni. CJ got a slot to sell food and we're doing Hainan Chicken Rice, the preparation took us whole night til the morning. I was moving big packs of foods from Dunkirk to Portland building X_X

Setting up the stall for business:

The place is super crowded in the early morning, and our chicken are selling fast! Half of the team is selling in uni while the others are still cooking. It sorta feel great seeing so many Malaysians around. There're a lot of food stalls setup, but I didn't buy anything coz of the pound(£) sign.

There're nasi lemak, asam laksa, murtabak and all others:

After the others finish cooking and came up to help selling, I took a chance to walk around sports center. Badminton & basketball court are seriously packed, even upstairs at the audience panel is full. Thought that I would stay for a while to watch a game or two coz we are too tired staying up whole night, who knows we stood til all the games finished.

Super crowded sports center:

"O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God."
-Psalms 83:1-

It's kinda nostalgic staying up whole night for some event/group effort. Sure brings back a lot of CF and ConneXion memories. Pray that everything is fine back there especially when everyone's struggling with Christmas preparations. Not only for the stage performances and admin procedures, but most importantly the true heart to serve through commitment in us, Amen.

14th Month of PostGrad

For this first month in SID(Structural, Integrity & Dynamics) group, nothing much but getting myself familiar with solving equations in Matlab. So, it's mostly... or totally office work. Last year was mostly lab work, it's been a while since I work my brain on real mathematical programming.

Flow charts all over my draft papers:

Few weeks after my registration, they finally work out the funding issue and got me a desktop. I wasn't too excited about it since I'm fine with my laptop, but wow~ it's Window 7 and 4GB ram, far more better than the previous machine in UNMC. I can actually work without bringing my laptop to office.

New desktop for me:

My supervisor has been recommending books for me. I never used any single book in my whole 2 years of undergrad... but in this 1 month of study here, I've already borrowed 5 books =.= and I think there're more reading to do. Anyway, I found a pretty interesting topic call "The Adams Method" for solving ODE, but it seems too complicated.

Books about numerical computation on my shelf:

"May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die."
-Psalms 79:11-

Pray that God will guide me through the readings and understanding of knowledge. Also pray that I will be able to mix with the colleagues in my office. But above all, I thank for Your faithfulness in keeping the promise of deliverance, that I am here now settling down. Amen.