clean linen

I had a good night's sleep on the comfy air bed and was served with a lovely cup of tea before I officially got up for the day. It was a new experience to wake up to a meowing cat as compared to a barking dog... Talking about this cat, it is a very different cat from the stereotyped cat. It would follow the family members around like a pet dog wanting attention. It would sit near my feet and not mind me stroking it the way I would stroke and pet a dog. Just as how my dog would bark to be part of the (what seems to them to be) action in the house, this cat would keep meowing to be let into the house! I had a nice simple breakfast with Mike and Jane before it was time to really pack up and leave for church. We managed to prop up my phone camera and after 1 failed attempt, we succeeded at taking a group photo:) I took bus 36 to church as Mike and Jane were only attending the evening service that Sunday. It felt nice to just look out the window of the bus and to see the...

We have just about finished our England travels! We arrived back in Nottingham yesterday evening, and we will be in Nottingham until Thursday. I have loads of photos to show you as to where I have been this past week or so, but I will do it another time - maybe when I'm back in Singapore from 30 July onwards. Anyway, more importantly, today I went back to Christian Centre, and I felt so happy to be there. It felt really good to see all those familiar faces as well! After church, we headed over to the Giddins' home for a lovely lunch, which was followed with tea at the Attenborough Nature Reserve (a place I would definitely never come to know of if not for the Giddins!). Today has been a fantastic day. I am really very very happy to have been able to go back to Christian Centre. And yet, at the same time, it was very much a sad one as I said my final farewells to the friends I met at church today. Just as LSBC is very much my first church, and still is my church, T-street is ver...

I arrived in Singapore last night at 9pm. This morning, I attended the 9am service with my parents and stayed through the 11:15am service as well, chatting with people at the Melting Pot area. I also sat through the last part of the 11:15am service so that I could go for lunch after with my cell group friends. I took this photo during the 11:15am service when my dad was preaching. I was seated at the very last row. So, in the midst of taking this photo, I distracted no one (I think) and it was not like I was not paying attention to the message! Oh, and, I think my church auditorium is big and nice!!:) I took this photo of the worship team on duty today lining the wall right at the back of the hall: They were waiting to play for the altar call at the end of the second service - something very different between LSBC and Christian Centre. In LSBC, there will always be a altar call/closing song at the end of each service. In Christian Centre, it is not so. We took this photo before we left...

On Sunday night (30 May), I went to Tzen's house for dinner. It was REALLY good homecooked food! Tzen made lasagne and peach ice-cream, and she bought strawberries to eat together with the ice-cream! It was REALLY good! I don't know if I'll ever be able to cook like that!:D My 2 dearest friends from Florence Boot hall! Last night (31 May), I went to May Sum with my former small group mates. One thing I love about May Sum is their dessert, in particular, the chocolate fountain! From the previous time I had dinner at May Sum (which coincidentally happened to be a small group event as well, albeit with the small group I was in this year), their dessert spread has increased! As usual, I broke up some digestives biscuits into smaller pieces at the bottom of the bowl, then put a layer of chocolate over, and then put the ice cream with another layer of chocolate over - YUMMY! As for all the other things, I just had to put a layer of chocolate over them, except for the eclair and t...

I met some church friends for dinner at May Sum tonight. We were in the same small group last year. This is the second time we are all meeting together since we split into different small groups this year - something that is very hard to do as everyone is just so busy with school, work, church and other types of commitments. Miraculously, a date was found where everyone could make it. And this time round, it would be the last time Rachel and I would be able to meet the former small group like that. This is because I would be leaving for Singapore this Friday (OH MY GOSH IT'S THIS FRIDAY), and Rachel will be heading back to London some time next week, or if not by the end of this month, if I'm not wrong. They are a great bunch of friends and I always feel so loved when I am with them. I truly enjoy their company so much. And boy, am I going to miss them and meeting up with them in person! I will put more photos tomorrow. I should go sleep now.

I have survived a year of leadership of a small group in Christian Centre. I can't believe it is over... Thinking about it now, I can say with confidence that I don't regret taking up leadership despite this being my final year in Law School. There definitely were difficult times, but God brought me through them all and I have learnt alot through this refining process. Just now, there were 12 of us at the meeting. We were missing James, Pelumi, Kenrick, Yun Bing and Robin. We had our usual chatting, and then, even though there were no newcomers at the meeting, we still shared 2 interesting facts about each other - this is an ice-breaker my small group members always joke about not enjoying because it can be difficult to think of two interesting facts about oneself. But it has become something of a tradition in this small group I guess. I led in a short time of worship, just 2 songs, and we prayed for each other and blessed the small group as we 'parted ways' for the sum...

I attended the 9am service with John, Jon Cheong and Johnston today. Then we went to a small breakfast place really nearby church to have brunch. I will miss having relatively "easy access" to having western breakfasts/brunches like this when I'm back in Singapore!

It has been a great honour and privilege for me to be able to lead a small group with John Gell (Mr JG!) these past few months! I'm really thankful that John is really nice and easy to work with, and we got things done!:) He also always offered me lifts home after small group meetings, and I will never forget the one time we decided to borrow Kieran's keyboard for a worship-prayer night we had at small group. The keyboard was a little too big, and John's car a little bit too small for the keyboard. It was fun! Anyway, when Leah first emailed in June 2009 to ask me if I would like to become a small group leader for the school year of 2009/2010, I really thought and prayed about it long and hard. Eventually, I said yes to it, and I entered the 3rd and final year of my degree as a law student, a worship ministry keyboardist, and an Impact small group leader. And I survived. My grades haven't particularly suffered. And I still have time for myself, for friends, for family (...

I attended my last leaders' training on the Sunday that just passed. I'll still be around in church until end of May, and maybe a week in July before my graduation, but I won't be able to attend any more leaders' trainings. This group shot isn't complete because there were a few people who didn't attend the meeting, but it still is a great shot:) The leaders' trainings I have attended have mostly left me reflecting on something important or learning something new about leadership, life and God. To be brutally honest, one or two of the leaders' trainings have also left me rather tired. I remember returning home after one leaders' training feeling so drained, and I'm not sure why that was so... But, anyhow, I'm glad for these trainings, because it gives me a chance to learn from church leaders invited to speak to us at these trainings, and it also gives me a chance to fellowship with the other Impact leaders. And the Impact leaders make a fanta...

I'm reading for Thursday's Mental Health seminar on 'Leaving Hospital', and I have 48 more pages of the textbook to go. God help me. Anyway, Friday, I tried making risotto, but, it was quite a failure in that the risotto was too hard! It definitely looked nicer than it tasted... Hz and I finished it all up anyway, paired with potato salad from Sainsbury's, which tasted much better than I expected! The dinner ended off nicely with really nice and sweet grapes that hz bought from the weekend mini market in Beeston. So, although the risotto wasn't well done, I still thought it was a nice dinner. One day, I must try making risotto again! On Saturday, John came over for dinner and we got takeout from Hong Kong House. We ate and talked, ate and talked, then started playing cards. John left at 1:30am. It was a really fun night. But on Sunday, I woke up at my usual 7:30am, and attempted to read. Went to church, had leaders' training, went home, took a panadol to try...

Yesterday, we had a simple small group meeting. We were missing a few people, but there was still a very decent number of 12 people present. Kenrick led worship, and I led Word, focusing on Psalm 139. It wasn't a discussion, but more like me sharing my thoughts on Psalm 139, followed by 20 minutes of personal time with God. I also prepared cards and envelops for the members to write a 'love letter' to God in that 20 minutes. Basically, I just wanted to provide the opportunity for each and every person to just spend time with God, in silence, in writing. Because I know that, on our own, we can get caught up with so many things that can affect the amount of time we actually set aside to meditate on God's Word, to listen out for Him in complete, distraction-less silence. I was quite stressed out about this 'teaching' of Psalm 139. And when the meeting began, I actually suddenly felt weary, very negative. Thankfully, Kenrick led worship, and during worship, as the s...

Former Small Group Reunion... After many texts to find a date to meet up, we FINALLY found a date. Richard was also really generous as to open up his house for us to meet. He cooked as well! It felt a little bit like a 'blast from the past' because the last time we met in somebody's house, it was Richard's. And he was the one who cooked too. We ate loads, talked loads, laughed loads. We brought up things that happened in previous small group meetings, talked about Kieran's 2 goldfishes named Loz and Louise (who are no longer alive, unfortunately), somehow came to some kind of conclusion that I was going to open a Hello Kitty and/or Dear Daniel shop in Nottingham, which led on to the finding out of more information online with regards to Hello Kitty and her boyfriend, Dear Daniel, amongst other things... Anyway, here come photos. Our gracious host, Richard - who refused to 'pose' when I commanded him to: Besides food, Richard provided drinks too, i.e. squash ...