Malaysian Society Leavers' Party

The first thing that the new committee of Nottingham Malaysian Society (NMS) organize is the leavers' & thank you party. Basically a gathering for the volunteers for different NMS events and students who are graduating or leaving UK. Some people actually spend the whole night preparing food, fried chicken with sambal.

My customized pack, no spicy sauce:

Besides food and catching up, we are actually receiving our certificates for participating in events. The leavers have better deal, they are given a "graduation hat" and graduation photo session. I'm basically not a member of NMS, so I don't know most of them, but I definitely understand the feeling of seeing the end of the long/dark tunnel, great job guyz.

A taste of graduation before exam:

Due to exam and dissertation preparation, a lot didn't turn up for the free food (ooops~), so I'm taking back the certs for some friends. I'll probably join NMS for the coming academic year, gonna max out my remaining days in UK before I'm going back for good. Oh ya, this is my first (and probably last) cert that I got for performing in UK.

Gonna be postman for certs soon:

"Those who walk uprightly enter into peace"
-Isaiah 57:2-

Even in this foreign country, there are so many Malaysians here for different goals of life. It will be quite lonely and boring without each other, as fellowship becomes more important. May the wisdom and peace be with those who are facing assignments/exam/dissertation, all of this will come to and end, Amen.

Hair Coloring with Housemates

I usually dye my hair in the saloon after a haircut, but of course not in UK, it's gonna cost a lot! Well, my housemates suddenly have the craving(?) to dye their hair too~ so we're trying it ourselves. I did it once myself years ago but my hair is too dark, it's not really obvious.

Bought from Tesco:

I thought it's gonna be very tedious and difficult... at least covering the table is. They even labeled the bottles with numbers, the instruction manual has diagrams, as easy as reading comic. It took us about an hour for the whole procedure. Sean and Zi Jian came to help (actually just to hang out).

Mine is not very obvious, could be seen under the sun:

The girls actually look good with the colour. Haha, they used blonde but turn out to be slightly red on Ghee Vui and brownish on Sera. I guess different hair quality makes the same dye looks different.

Too much hair for them, it must have took a lot of effort to dye it all:

"I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you."
-Isaiah 44:22-

It rains a lot recently =.= Really pray that everyone won't fall sick with the ill weather while preparing for dissertation and assignments. This is always the season to pray for time management to complete academic work, Amen.

Congratulation to Catalin

We are invited to Catalin Catana and Sarah Woodward's wedding in St Leonard's Church, Wollaton. Catalin attends Cornerstone church sometimes, was a student in Nottingham University and just graduated from Master course (I guess it's their culture to marry at young age).

Wedding gift prepared by Sen Loong:

We don't have a lot of opportunity to suit up, all other people that attended are really well-dressed too. We are kinda outstanding because we are Asians, probably a little awkward when everyone else is English. I guess there are around 50 people who attended, a traditional church style wedding service.

Everyone's looking good:

Good thing that it's actually quite sunny in the morning, but the wind is strong too, everyone is shaking in the cold while taking pictures outside the church. Well, the bride is quite amazing, it'll be super cold with her wedding gown, but she kept on smiling for the whole photography session. I guess that's how love warms up somebody from the inside.

Photographs with the bridegroom and bride:

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."
-Isaiah 43:18-

This is the first wedding service that I've attended in UK (probably the only one). Really reminds me of Cheryl & Robert the newly married couple back in Malaysia. Pray that your future will be great under the grace of God and that this relationship and unity will strengthen each other spiritually, Amen.

Solid Rock Dessert Night

After the Solid Rock retreat, everyone is quite bored with Easter break and decided to meet up again. So this idea of a dessert pot luck pop out from nowhere. Me and Sera spent out afternoon making jellies of different shapes and colours~ As usual, she did most of the job :P

Trying to contribute for dessert night:

It's at one of the hall's common room, I'm not pretty sure around uni accommodation but this place can be quite scary at night (ancient Europe style big mansion). Everyone really put a lot of effort preparing for tonight, we have delicious desserts filling up the table.

Everyone's hard work on the pot into the tummy~

The night won't end so soon, we actually played 2 or 3 rounds of polar bear/mafia. I guess this new addiction will haunt any unofficial SR meeting for at least a few months. But if it gets everybody closer and understand each other more, then why not?

Game session:

"Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth"
-Isaiah 42:10-

After going through 2 semesters together in worships and discussion groups, this bunch of people are now really close to each other. Besides the fellowship, I really do hope that it is God's love that really move everyone of us and motivate us to do better things for everyone. All the best of exams and dissertation, and research... Amen.

Rain Down (WindMash)

Has anyone ever told you, when you're at the edge of giving up, remember the reason you started it. Recalling that initial driving force probably reminds us something important that we've forgotten. 'Rain Down' by Planetshakers is a song that I really loved even before I started serving in the worship band.

Still remember during Semester 1 back in Nilai College (before I have anything to do with Christianity), Carl brought me to Planetshakers' worship conference, I joined because it's free. It was my first time witnessing so many people worshiping with arms lifted high (of course I have no idea what are they doing back then). While they play the song Rain Down, I was totally amazed not only by the band but it's really soul-striking.

After spending some time (it's already 2 semesters) to settle down in the UK, I guess it's time to get back to some recording. I did a twin mash of this song with Cry Holy also by Planetshakers. Another song that I really loved to listen and surprisingly not many heard of it.

I found that both songs are very similar in terms of chord progression and song structure, good ingredients. Besides, both songs are my favourite Worship songs of that time. Mash up is not really something new for me, but the software is, not too used to the equalizing and mixing, gonna try harder next time. Oh ya~ Seraphina sang the bridge together, she caught me doing recording in the kitchen :P

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."
-Isaiah 40:29-

Everytime the thought of giving up pay a visit, Lord help us to endure the temptation and find strength in You. I pray that we who earnestly serve You would find our purpose and gift so that we can focus on it. Remind us whenever we're down again, through Your words, and also the people that You placed in our lives, Amen.

Solid Rock Retreat (Part 3)

After the last session of the retreat by Sidhara, we have dinner! The team worked really hard to kept us all fed and this time we have some green noodle with mince meat (I took away all the cabbages). Probably because of the heavy lunch, I didn't go too much for this. Kelvin Wong performed a few acoustic pieces during the dinner too.

Green noodle with minced meat:

We played a game similar to Crime Scene Investigation at night. There is a "crime scene" to with clues and committee members cosplay as suspects, acting according to their character and even did relevant markings like scars and blood stains. Working in groups to interview suspects and try to map out the whole incident is quite fun actually.

We can ask the suspects 3 questions at a time except the "ghost" (victim):

Most of the plot is actually quite expected except the reason of death, but all of the team managed to find out who's the murderer *bravo to the committees' acting*. We're suppose to go and sleep after dessert and a short chat, but ended playing Polar Bear/chit chat til 5am... Sleeping later day by day =.=

Committee acting out the truth and dessert for the night:

Waking up at almost 8am the next morning to help prepare for breakfast again. Yeah, we have English breakfast besides toast, although we all smell like bacon in the kitchen but this is an awesome start of the day. Nothing much for the final morning, we had a sharing session while everyone is having breakfast, mostly about how they are touched and what they gained from this retreat.

Breakfast and sharing session:

OK, let's clean up and pack our stuffs, it's time to return to reality. Take a couple of pictures before leaving and played a while at the playground while waiting for the drivers to sort out. There goes the most awaited weekend of the semester, finally all official Soled Rock events and meetings of the year are done.

Final bits before we leave Harby Center:

"Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back."
-Isaiah 38:17-

Thank You Lord for keeping us safe throughout this retreat. We are blessed with good time and fellowship but most importantly, a great opportunity to experience You once again. For all the prayers that we have made, hear us from heaven and touch this generation from above. I pray for the seekers to find peace and love, also to continue to join us more, Amen.

Solid Rock Retreat (Part 2)

Oh yeah~ wake up early at 7am with the cold breeze out there, my favourite setting for devotion. It's so quiet that I can hardly believe I'm staying with 30+ people, everyone's still asleep I guess (coz I didn't sleep whole night :P). Breakfast is typical toast with different spreads, basically we're just taking our time until everybody is up.

Good morning everybody:

We have another morning session where Sidhara shared about loosing heart and rise up once again, a pretty touching topic for those who needs to return and search for love again. During the response time, some of us are in tears and we are just praying for each other for almost an hour, I'm so grateful that the presence of The Lord is so real at that moment.

After the session, went out to play with the lambs (yummy):

People are still having their free time hanging out at the playground and trampoline, I'm helping a bit at the kitchen since my group leader is in charge of the dinner. Lunch is spaghetti, with a lot a lot of mince meat *yeah!* and a lot a lot of onions *omg*. This is epic, I finished 4 rounds of spaghetti by myself, what a buffet.

Helping out washing cabbages, what a nightmare:

Game session in the afternoon~ we're doing it at the sports hall. This place is so well equipped, they have basketball court, badminton courts and even random sports equipment. We had some unique group games like "the longest-stretched-chewing-gum" and "twister on mayonnaise/ketchup/dog food"... creative enough but the clean up is also tough.

"I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!"
-Isaiah 37:35-

God, you have reigned over us, indeed. I am glad that I witness how Your spirit touched us again. For every prayer made, every tear that shed, I know everyone needs You, everyone is struggling to come back to You. Take us there, with Your mercy and grace, the promised end point where Your glory is shown in us. Thanks a lot for the healing, Amen.