The mid year break.

I don’t have time to write because school’s starting tomorrow, but here are a few photos from my two trips this hols. They were brilliant.

Saints to Triam Udom Suksa School

Sri Lanka

Our trip to Thailand certainly deserves more mention, but the Thai students who hosted us are coming over pretty soon, so more then :]

A few updates.

Hello world! Recently, I’ve been having the time of my life.

In the spirit of econs, my new-found love:
On the one hand, life’s getting tougher what with the jc workload and how everything’s just packed together (I always thank God for Sports and Fitness Club for getting me home slightly earlier most schooldays), but on the other hand, I’m really enjoying this stage of life.
Why? I prefer the jc system over the one in swiss cottage. I have great people as friends, not just in school (but you guys from church as well! and the 6A brothers, of course) And SAJC’s a great school. When I talked to her, lizard also mentioned feeling this sense of belonging in St Andrew’s. It makes being in the school worthwhile. Yeah, I think it’s all that and a little more. Regardless of what I mentioned, there’s always reason to smile because, well, this is the day that the Lord has made, and why not rejoice in it? :D

What have I been up to lately? Well,

Caught a few matches after school. This is the girls' soccer semi finals against MJC.

And I watched the rugby finals! Couldn't miss it. This is SAJC vs ACS (I) @ the Padang. My heart’s with Team SAJC, but I think the ac guys played much better and deserve to win, fair and square. The SA support that day was fantastic though :]

Life Concert '08. I never thought our CC could look so hip.

I think school looks rather grand at night. Like a hotel. It always reminds me of my stay at Palace of the Golden Horses in KL, sometime back...

I've also been enjoying all the dinners after church with the cell. It's great to have a group to trust and let one's hair down with. Yeah, and dinner never fails to be interesting. Here's a pic of the time that a cat dropped from the ventilator above and landed in my plate of (finished) food. Cats like me.

My neighbourhood's still the same, but I think the vandals are running low on inspiration...

And I've been watching sunsets. Beautiful stuff.

I’m leaving on Wednesday for a student exchange program to Thailand. Goodbye Singapore! Be back in eight days!

What do you see? iC! i see...

I thought I’d write a bit about the spectacular camp that I spent my mar holidays on.

iCamp. It was called iCamp because the i stood for Identity in Christ. The camp was a secondary segment camp held at the GB Centre at serangoon, and though it was a secondary camp there were plenty of new P6s. I was supposed to go help lead one of the groups, that is, play the games with them, bunk with them, and just be there for them. I don’t remember having any thoughts about being a camp leader (maybe I was too caught up with JC work) but I’m definitely glad I agreed to it. I really enjoyed the time I spent with my group, even though the group took a long time to warm to each other and the leaders. There’s a certain gratification in living for someone other than yourself, and simply put, I believe it’s because seeing somebody you care about smile makes you want to smile too.

Funnily enough, the parts of the camp I enjoyed most weren’t on the program. I liked singing in the bunk during free-time and talking late into the night with Chong Hao and Clarence. And I liked bathing at night in the cold water and eating food out of a packet. I think it reminded me of BB. (:

Today, I was sitting at the church hawker with some other iCamp-ers helpers after we broke camp. Samuel was next to me and he just turned 17 today. Someone said “I can’t believe I’m 18 already” and someone else said “yeah, same.” I’m going to be 17 in four days, and you know, I can’t believe I’m so old either. It seems only yesterday that I was the cute P6 in the camp.

Oh speaking of which, please don’t get me anything for my birthday! I think I’m really more than blessed already. :D

After a week and three days.

What we took after dinner with our sec school classmates. The 4E2-SA people! My schoolmates for 4 years and counting. =]

Mission Trip to Bangkok, Thailand. 14 - 22 Dec 2007

I’m keeping this short. Why? The more I write, the more long-winded I get.

Hmm. Fluffy.

This is the view from our hotel. More specifically, from Franco and Eugene’s room, where all our team meetings and team breakfasts were held, and where there was a balcony overlooking the city. I distinctly remember just sitting down and watching the cars zoom past one morning (Monday, if I’m not wrong), and thinking what a privilege it was to be there.

The aurora rays of Thailand. They call it ‘sunset’, I think.

To the right, you can see a white building which is a flat in the first residential area we visited. It’s the home to mainly middle-income Thais, and it’s where Derric hosts his kid’s club. We had the honour of joining his kid’s club party as oversized kids from Singapore and playing with all of them. I really enjoyed it. Mainly, I was struck by the simplicity of it all. We weren’t doing much, just hosting a few games and singing a few songs, but each boy and girl that came left different, and that’s what matters. Through even small things can we be a blessing to others.

Here, I sit in awe of Chong Hao’s singing.

This is the only picture I took of our Ajan’s house. Ajan is our Thai pastor, and we call him Ajan because it means pastor in Thai. To us, he was like THE one and only Ajan, so once we started calling him that, it stuck.

This is a picture I took standing in the hotel thinking. There was a song that was playing in my mind at the time. The Thai song we learnt to sing to the people we met. It’s called piam rak, which, if I’m not wrong, means ‘great love’. And though it was a song that was meant to minister to the Thai kids and parents, I think it was definitely a song that ministered to me. Through my lousy Thai, I could pick up a few bits and pieces of the message. “Yesu” – Jesus; “Rak” – love; “dai” – can; or able; “khon" - man. And that’s the Christmas message for you.

The one thing I won’t forget about the trip are the people I met. The team for one. Brilliant people – we really managed to get along well despite being so different. But the people that impacted me the most are the people who resonated the love of God in their daily lives. Yeah, the love of God. It’s hard to explain. It’s not rational, certainly. But I could see it, really clearly, in people. In Pastor Derric, who put aside his life in first-class everything Singapore to live in Thailand, and serve and love its people. In Ajan, who put up with all our rubbish with many smiles and a ‘mai bpen rai’. And in the way you can see he’s pastor not only to his ministry team, but to his family as well. His young son was being outright annoying, but the way he disciplined him wasn’t harsh. It was assertive and sincere. The love and care he showed them, I feel, really reflects the love Jesus shows us.

A sidenote – Ajan’s son is named Pray. At least, that’s what it sounds like in English. I think that’s a brilliant name.

 

En route home. This is the airport. I like the blue tree.

Song:

Piam rak

Em
เปี่ยมรักจนเต็มล้น
Piam rak jon tem lon
C
ผู้คนในใจ
Puu khon nai jai
D
ด้วยความห่วงใย
Duay khwaam huang yai
Em
จึงได้เสด็จมา
Ceung dai sadet maa

บรรทมในรางหญ้า
Ban tom nai raang yaa
C
ทรงนามว่าเยซู
Song naam waa yesu
D
ผู้คนควรรู้
Tuk khon khuan ruu
Em
ว่าทรงเป็นผู้ใด
Waa song bpen puu dai

Chorus
C D
นี่คือข่าวสำคัญ
Nee kheur khaaw sum khan
Bm Em
ที่สุดในหัวใจ
Tii sut nai hua jai
C D
เพราะผู้ไถ่ได้มา
Pra phuu thai dai maa
G B
อยู่กับเรา
Yuu kap rau
C D
เปลี่ยนความเศร้ามือมน
Plian khwaam sau meut mon
Bm Em
ด้วยแรงแสงสว่าง
Duay reng seng sawaang
C D
แห่งความรักพระคุณ
Heng khwaam rak pra khun
Em
และเมตตา
Le maet taa

ที่เมืองเบธเลเฮ็ม
Tii meung bet-ley-ham
ที่เคยเงียบเหงา
tii kheuy ngiap ngaw
ผู้คนปวดร้าว
Puu khon bpuat raaw
ไม่มีที่พึ่งพิง
Mai mii tii peung ping
ตะวันเริ่มทอแสง
Tawan rerm thor seng
ประกายแห่งความหวัง
Pra kaay heng khwaam wang
ผู้คนสุขสันต์
Puu khon sooksan
ผู้นั้นเสด็จมา
Puu nan sadet maa

Gideon Chew
25/12/2007

Merry Christmas (;

Hello World.

Yes, just when you thought it was gone... the blog is back. :D Honestly, I think I'll write much less than before. Mostly, I'm going to use this blog to put up anything interesting I type. The first post shall be on my recent mission trip - yes, it's the same as the one in the peterloke cell blog - but I think it's a write up I want to keep, and this is a good place to store it. More shall come. Oh and if you're asking why blogger, you won't believe how user friendly this server is...