Wish You Were Here

2007-05-04T17:22:00.000+08:00

it may be uncommon for any other camp other than the FOC to have an "afterglow". but as the ambers from ABR lingered on, we embarked on the first ever ABR afterglow to sentosa!

(excerpts of a msn conversation)

me: so we're gonna stone in sentosa from 1.30 to 7?

yc: chills the word. why?

me: 5.5 hrs of stoning.

yc: why wats wrong with that? u did that during the camp mah

me: eh. where got.

so yes, the whole bunch ventured happily to sentosa after lunch together. head count at sentosa: siew may, janet, lydia, clar, steph, jt, jun, jane, bobbs, thiang, fukhai, yq, david, yc, kevin and edwin.

don't ask me what yc was doing in the last picture. ask him yourself. ahahaha. naturally, the usual games like frisbee and soccer happened. and oh yes, photo whoring as usual. we love the camera a little too much. however, the drizzle brought the games to a pause and we headed to trapizza for drinks to wait for the rain to die out. what to do? take more photos lor.

for dinner, we headed to carl's jnr at vivocity. took up 6 tables. whoot. some joined us and some left us. by dinner, headcount: lydia, steph, jt, jun, jane, debz, fel, esther, abby, bobbs, thiang, fukhai, yq, david, yc, dennis, joel, ansen and bryan.

it was really quite mad. we kept helping ourselves to the salsa and tomato chunks. and i can't believe i ate soo much. urgh. getting fat man. but after carl's jnr, we decided that we shld have dessert. haagen dazs!

more photos at the following:

Thiang's photos http://smusg.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16886&id=872955098

My photos http://smusg.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16750&l=20bc2&id=866370645

Jingting's photos http://smusg.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1964&id=222100413

so see.. you guys are honestly missing out on a lot a lot a lot. and i'm tired of updating for today.. so many more to report.

1. AGM and lunch after

2. mayday bbq at jingting's

3. st james power station! erm. maybe not.

4. suki sushi buffet on 4th may.

see la. who ask you guys to go overseas.

your fave correspondent.

Jun

2007-04-25T23:40:00.000+08:00

ABR Day 1
as gabe would exclaim, "Go Forth!"

and "go forth" we did as we ventured into the heart of loyang, nestled in the corner of the aloha bungalows. to learn about God. what it mean to be free from slavery to sin. and the Lord our God puts it in no better way but..

"Let My people go, that they may serve Me.." - Exodus 7:16, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, 10:3

we have been freed to worship Him. not to continue sinning but to start serving for the rest of our lives.. but what does it mean to worship him 24/7/365?? akan datang..

ABR Day 2

there is no greater love than this, that a man would give his life for a friend..

how true! looking at John 15, we were reminded to abide in Him. and the harsh reminder: as long as we do not abide in Him, we will be "thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (John 15:6).

Truly, paul says to us to be "imitators of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1). how can we ignore that sacrificial love that He demostrated for us and not respond in faith to hold on to that love? we have such great assurance and certainty of the hope to come. if He can make you righteous, what more reconcile you to God on the last days? :) truly, we can hold to that faith that He's given to us when we were so undeserving.

so with faith, what do we do with it? James 2 cannot be clearer. in v19, Paul does not mince his words. even the demons believe in the existence of the God but they do not display their faith. faith without works is dead (James 2:26). faith is not display thru mere speech. you show it in your actions.

works - faith = legalism

faith - works = hypocrisy

there's no such thing as a lesser evil. they are all evil. God's not telling us to take either. He wants both. that we display our faith thru our works. that's all He wants from us.

ABR Day 3

we've looked at how God's saved us thru His son.. How we are to continue in faith and display our faith thru works. what does this mean for us today? In Romans 12, Paul appeals to the Christians to present themselves as "living sacrifices". how? he goes on to talk abt the gifts of grace by God.. that we are to use them to serve Him by serving one another.

we learn the marks of a true Christian from v9-21. maybe we'll fall short. but who are we to stop trying? dun we have that assurance already? why aren't we responding in faith? at the end of the day, know that whatever decision you make, it shld center around Christ and not self-interest. only then will you serve Him in whatever life ministry you're in.

i know this "coverage" on ABR was really serious. but i cannot stress it more to my dear cfers out there. serve Him with all your heart, soul and mind and you serve Him by serving others. you are in full-time ministry already, whether you like it or not. you're just not paid for it. demonstrate your understanding of His love for you!!

http://dreamzwish.blogspot.com/2007/04/long-post-plus-photos-ahead.html for a more light-hearted cover. yar la, i'm directing traffic. ahahah. but dun wanna repeat all that i've said before. going from another angle. for more photos.. just go to our facebook account. hee hee.

Your graduating singapore correspondent

Jun

note: eh!!! someone has to take over leh... who wants??

2006-11-26T21:48:00.000+08:00

Softshell crabs, scallops, oysters, sashimis, blah blah...

filling meal. it was better than e one at sakae sushi where we had only 1 hour for buffet. cy can attest to that.haha.

CYa all you exchange pple real soon. one more mth, till some of you come streaming back!

--eve

2006-11-26T21:44:00.000+08:00

Sushi at paradiz.. daryl eating chawanmushi .. 3 guys acting lk powerpuff girls. lol.

2006-11-26T18:37:00.000+08:00

Heyo peeps.

it's the end of week 14 here already. tomorrow, week 15 starts. and i really don't wanna study anymore. a bit hysterical from all the mugging.. and i remembered that i promised more spiderman pics. so.. just for laughs. yongchang, can't u tell how much we all lurve you? *hee hee*

btw, week 14 wasn't thaaaaat bad. some went for sashimi lunch buffet on monday. some also went for dimsum brunch buffet on wed. eve has the sashimi lunch buffet pics. for the dimsum brunch, i didn't go so i ain't sure as to who has the pics. =)
spiderman and mary jane 1

spiderman and mary jane 2 (mary jane 2 also thinks that spiderman is cute. not tobey maguire. not peter parker. but yc the spiderman. looks like there's hope for yc after all.. or not..)
a blur jumping spiderman. too fast for us to capture him properly.
spidey unmasked
bday girl and spidey while david looks on

Yours
*cough cough cough cough cough*
Jun

2006-10-26T00:08:00.000+08:00

Ok, Wai's surprise party.

As you guys all know, Wai is leaving us to go to Perth and further his studies. so a surprise party was planned for him and we all packed into his house. it was really quite funny. all of us squashed ourselves at his living room area, waiting for him. yong chang was under the table 'cos he wanted to capture wai's shocked expression.

when the door opened, who should come in first but elliot!! yc happily snapped and wai caught sight of the flash. all's not lost. while we didn't manage to capture the unglam shot of a very shocked wai, he was even more unglam with both his red knee guards at his ankles. muahahaha. hilarious stuff really.

wai was touched, naturally. a bit upset with us 'cos it was the second time this year that we got him. the first was during his birthday where the exco, past and present, went to his place as well, for a surprise party. but that's another thing.

anyhoo, we ended up having waaaaay too much food. but it was fun while a couple of us horded the otak. the prawn otak was fantastic! and yes, i was thinking of jt and our fave prawn otak at Tangs marketplace when i was chowing down. the array of food was just.. massive. we had carrot cake, char kway teow, popiah, otak, duck, chicken (two types too!).. a lot lah. i only wrote down what i ate that night. ahahah.. can't really remember what else there was. desserts was brownies and sugar roll and tiramisu and ice cream... of which we didn't really eat 'cos everyone was just so stuffed.

it was really quite fun to sit around and chit chat. at the end of the night, we gave wai a love gift.. a token of our appreciation for all the effort that he's put in. yupe yupe.. so please keep our dear ex-staffworker in all your prayers, that truly, he will continue to grow in the Word and make full use of the opportunity that has been given to him to further his studies abroad. =)

Missing you guys tonnes!

2006-10-24T11:01:00.000+08:00

Wai telling his jokes......

2006-10-24T10:42:00.000+08:00

2006-10-23T10:40:00.000+08:00

Surprise Pary at Wai's.

2006-10-10T21:45:00.000+08:00

today was Fun day.. a whole host of activities 'cos it's finally catch-up-on-readings-and-projects week for us. Week 8.

headed down to sentosa after the 2-ways-to-live workshop in the morning. we started the day of with songs. sat around singing "Highest Place", "I extol You" and "Servants of the gospel".

With a nice reminder of why our little fellowship even existed, we got down to the dirty part... the games. esther had 3 games planned out for us. the first one, a team member had to lie down on the sand with a bottle on his/her stomach. another team mate would run down to the water, scoop water, run back and pour it into the bottle. then the one pouring would take the bottle and now lie down while the next member runs to fill up the cup and do the pouring. the first team to fill the bottles up would win. sounds easy? there's a catch.

the people pouring had to stand upright (no bending!) and the cup cannot be lower than waist level.

as all of our games, integrity was thrown aside for the love of the game and people slouched.. others tried to "blow" the trinkle of water away from another group while trying to fill the bottle up.. yadda yadda.. you get the picture..

we couldn't just stop there.. esther made it tougher. now the one running to fill the cup up and pouring had to carry 4 balloons as well: one in the mouth, two under the arms and one between the leg. it was hysterical watching them try to burst the other team's balloons. and quite a sight too..

the last game, each member had to hold two balloons while running around, trying to burst the balloons of the other teams. at the end of 3 mins, the team with the most balloons would win. no prizes as usual but it was fun, nevertheless..

the day ended off with the usual frisbee and capt ball "at your own time" games. followed by dinner. dinner pictures are with eve. bryan has more pictures of the day's events. when he sends them to me, i'll post some more up.

wish you were here!

Luv,
your sick Jun

For more pictures of sentosa, check out Jun's Gallery!

2006-10-08T18:32:00.001+08:00

(edited)
7th Oct... 8 happy troopers head down to the Chinese Garden for the last night of the festivities of lantern displays.. despite the crazy PSI readings of over 100. the haze situation is a lot better today, i.e. 8th Oct. it stayed above 100 range yday, dropping to a healthy level of less than 50 today. but yes.. Lantern Festival at the Chinese Gardens.

'twas a fun night of walking around, taking a lot of silly pictures for those overseas. so here are pictures of us for you to remember us... and oh. of food as well.. muahahaha

prawn mee...

laksa...

us!

your very pretty laydees

(yes, a bit of idiot-playing is always fun..)

Spidey!!

felicia has a pic of jer taking pics of belly dancers.. get the link from her!!

and oh, 78 more days to Christmas!

from your tired, aching and coughing correspondent
Xiujun

2006-09-30T16:15:00.000+08:00

2006-09-30T16:11:00.000+08:00

i dont really have many spider men pics. you must ask chong yak about them. poor yongchang was perspiring in his suit but he was the most popular guy tt night, kids and girls alike swarmed to him.haha.

2006-09-30T16:07:00.000+08:00

2006-09-29T23:35:00.000+08:00

yes, i apologize for the dreadful lack of updates. but this will be photoless blog until Eve or someone else posts up photos of Eve's 21st.

23rd Sept 2006 was the day we celebrated Eve's bday. not that it was her birthday. But it was pushed forward because her sister was leaving for studies overseas on 25th Sept.

As all birthday parties, it was filled with small talk, food, games, food, cake, food, photos and oh yes, food. yet this party had a little special element. we had a special visitor. SPIDERMAN!!

you need to see the photos to believe this man. "Spiderman" paid us a visit and left most of us in stitches, especially when the moron decided to scare a poor little eurasian kid. the poor boy was grabbing his mother's legs for safety and squealed with horror while running away whenever "Spidey" tried to get close. so much for being a superhero. muahahah

all in all, it was nice to push away the stresses of the term ('twas the end of week 5 then) momentarily to come together and just give thanks for our dear sister in Christ, Ms E-bay. In case you're wondering, her actual bday is today: 29th Sept.

anywayz, today was also Sports Fiesta in SMU. we sent in 2 netball teams but i can't tell you much abt the performance. had a silly tax planning quiz in the afternoon so spent my time in the meeting room trying to study. that story, i'll leave to the neh-ballers to tell you more about it. so yar.

Miss ya bunch and still wishing that you were here!

Luv
Jun
(still searching for a nicer blogskin whenever she needs a break from the studying..)

2006-08-30T00:25:00.000+08:00

Welcome Reception 2006

30 Aug. It's week 2 of the new term after Vivace. SMUCF embarks on another journey..

to welcome the new blood in SMUCF

Yongchang led us in a time of songs to remind each other of the blessings that we've received.. that grace that we're so undeserving of. after which, James took centerstage and gave a short talk.

Looking at Mark 2:1-17, we were reminded truly of our priorities. just as Jesus recognized his. it wasn't to perform miracles. it wasn't to cast demons or heal sickness. it was to preach the gospel. it was to preach the good news of reconciliation with God, our Father. He came to tend to those who needed Him... which was basically all of us. we had to recognize our position... that we were desolute sinners who were helpless. and He took that place on the cross.

Application for us? How much does that grade matter? So what if i get a B in place of the A that i want? it's not gonna matter to God. But if i teach that God is sufficient during bible study and then not go out with group for a quick dinner just because i need to study for a test that is next week, i'm not walking the talk.

my priority becomes me and my grade that fades into nothingness when i die. where's God in my life then? something that i teach every bible study and not respond to? A clear resounding reminder to the people. it's very real as a student in SMU. we're Christian students... (christians who happen to be students), not student Christians. we have a responsibility to perform in school. but we have a greater responsibility to our Lord.

after the talk, we proceeded for refreshments provided by the welcome reception committee. small talk was made as the CF mingled, ate and chatted. time well-spent. =) let's pray for the term that it will be a fruitful one for the CF!

for photos, go here http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/nookweis/my_photos and click on the welcome recep 2006 link

2006-08-26T01:52:00.000+08:00

start of the day, naturally still fresh..

one of the last remaining COEs, our dear jingting..

middle of the day. still smiling

ok. not all of us at least..

yongchang.. antagonizing people.. as usual..

~ Wish You Were Here~

2006-08-26T01:27:00.000+08:00

Vivace 2006 was a blast!

SMUCF decided to declare war on the calendar. by celebrating christmas in august! afterall, shldn't the reminder of the birth of our Lord be something that we celebrate each day? so we were armed with chrismassy decorations of bells, presents and a small tree that was stuffed into the locker of the unfortunate youwen (who got a shock by the overwhelming greenness of his locker which he had already loan to us).

Dressed in reds, greens and whites, the CFers weren't looking to increase numbers. Nope, as every year, we were looking to spread the word of God. it didn't matter how many signed up. what that mattered was that we put in that effort to want to reach out to the school.

it was the usual "fanfare" at vivace. very noisy. for those who remembered our horror at last year's booth... we escaped samba masala this year. and ended up with SMUBE who had decent music at least even though it was really loud at times. yet it was fun nevertheless. tiring but naturally fun as all cliches would go.

in addition to the ongoing lappie viewing.. oh wait, we upgraded. borrowed jeremy's projector and voila! we had it up on a makeshift screen. along with photos on the panel from the VIVACE comm.. and of course the usual pamphlets.. this year, along with our theme, we had...

Carollers!

Decked in white, we went from one end to the other end of the concourse, singing christmas carols. mainly "Mary's Boy Child" but the song was so catchy that guitarissmo accompanied us when we walked past and FIDES and UNI-Y (did they as well?) sang along as we passed their booth as well. even SMUX welcomed us as we treaded into their "territory". there's something about Christmas that makes people happy somehow.

most importantly, we had worked together to serve Him. and that's what that really matters to me. to see the CF come together and want to please Him a little more everyday. i'm definitely in need of a good full body massage now..

Kudos to Gwen and her team who made this one memorable for those involved one way or another. also a hand to edmund and dennis who were both in the vivace comm for looking out for us when they could. and who can forget our dear gabriel tan who'd squirm with amusement whenever we were pointing violently to our booth when he was live on air? of course he caved after a while and mentioned us. ahahah.

and of course we're still thinking of you.. hee hee.. do take care, my dear COEs...

Your Dear Singapore Correspondent
Xiujun

2006-08-20T22:48:00.000+08:00

Sentosa on Monday with the girls!!

the other days, we didnt take any pics.

Someone stop me before i turn this blog into a photo blog. I get carried away at times.haha.

2006-08-20T22:06:00.000+08:00

hi all... ok.. just for those on exchange and not on exchange, here are some details.

CFers-on-exchange (COEs):
Ansen(Mexico)
Deborah Williams (Mexico)
Jane (Florida)
Jing Ting (Canada)
Weicheng (Sweden)
Youwen (Ireland)

You Correspondent

Jun =)

2006-08-20T19:09:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone,

Here is my first entry in this blog for cfers out there, who are missing home and missing CF.
Basically, this week was a fun-filled week full of just spending time together.

There were so many activities that I was actually quite overwhelmed by them. I managed to last till the fifth day though. Another day would be too tiring and I might not have made it to school. haha. ok shall not exaggerate. Here's what we did.

Monday: Sentosa with Jane, Stephanie and Jingting. Just spent time lazing around at Siloso Beach. It was really peaceful. Nice place to chat and all. Too bad the sun was not as hot for the girls to have a tan. Steph and I were hiding under the shade.haha.

Tuesday: Basketball in SMU-Jingting, Dennis, Jeremy Loo, Daryl, Fu Kai(yr 1), Eugene(yr1) Guan Hua, Victor, Jer's 2 friends. We played full court at the beginning, then changed to half court. It was quite fun initially, till the guys stopped passing the ball to us.haha. We had beef noodles for lunch. Yummy!!

Wednesday: Mahjong at Michelle's house. Jingting, Joshua, Gwen, Yong chang. There was this particular seat that kept winning. Watched Amelia(forgot how to spell) A french movie about a girl whose life was transformed to do good works for others. Not bad, I must say. Then we had Pizza for dinner and Dennis joined us later on.

Thursday: Badminton in the morning, at Tampines Stadium. Jeri, Elaine, Jeremy Cher and Loo, Joshua, Dennis, Jing Ting, Gwen , Zaixiang. Was quite fun working out and all, but the muscle aches from Basketball and Badminton was quite bad initially. Thankfully, they are better now.
Then we went to Eastlink to have lunch. Was supposed to roller-blade but due to a lack of response and the exhaustion from the straining workout, coupled with the fact that our members were slowly falling sick, we decided to shop around before finally going to my house to watch Click. Felicia joined us at my house. Poor girl, the distance from home is quite long.

Click is real cool. Nice movie. A Must watch.

Friday: Romans bible study in the morning, led by Chong Yak. Poor guy. He just got back from Taiwan and was quite exhausted. Esther, Daryl, Dennis, Michelle.

THen we went for DIM SUM buffet at excelsior hotel. The priveleged people who were able to savour these delights: Benjamin, Chong yak, Jing ting, evelyn gay, Xiu Jun, Dennis, Esther.

YUMMY!! i know you people would have been so envious! its super yummy la.!!haha. HAr kow, congee, omelette with prawns, xiao long pau, char siew pau, Chicken feet, Fish that people didnt want to touch, Kou lou you( pork), barley dessert, mango pudding, gui ling gao, fried prawn thingy. What did i miss out?? I cant remember all the stuff that we ate but the food was definitely delicious. Maybe it is just that i love DIM SUM!!! ok shall not cause everyone to salivate.haha.

Saturday: I didnt go to Sentosa but I think some of them went to Sentosa then later on to Jingting's house for bbq. The banana marshmallow chocolate fondue and durian strudel were super delicious. They tried to get Jun drunk. Thankfully, she was just giddy after a few glasses of Chivas. If you want to know how to get fat, just join CF. lol.

Yup this is basically how our last week before school starts went. Wishing you all were here... Take care, wherever you are. Ansen, Deborah in Mexico, Jane in Florida. 2 wks from now, our dearest Jingting.

Nearly forgot to sign off,

Bay

Your correspondent from Singapore........ :)

2006-08-09T23:58:00.000+08:00

This blog is created specially for the CFers who have taken a term out to go for exchange. a simple place to be updated on the many events that we have..

the fun gatherings..
the dinners..
the lunches..
the suppers..
the expeditions.. (durian, JB.. whatever we will think of..)
the camps..

basically, all the stuff that you, our dear COEs (CFer-On-Exchange) are missing out on! no worries, as long as you have us showing you how much fun we're having, rest assure that we're constantly wishing you were here.

From the creator of this blog,
Your dearest Xiujun