departure date revealed! :D

This is a tad late, and as you can see i'm obviously not much of a blogger! But i think i'll get more used to it while i'm overseas! :) A few things have happened since the last entry, so i'll try and recount some of the things i've been up to!

So anyways, last monday (yeah about a week ago now) i found out my departure date FINALLY! Turns out that although i have a language level placement test in Japan on the 2nd of April (which is also my little brother's birthday! Johnny bro i love you :D), it looks like i'll be missing that, as my flight is actually on the 4th...but that DOES mean that i get to spend at least a bit of easter here :) The problem with that though, is that easter means camps, and camps means my mum and little bro johnny won't be here during easter! My little bro won't even be here on the day of his birthday :( However, the late departure does mean that i may be able to pop by ETC (Credo's Easter Time Convention!) for a bit :) That would mean i haven't missed a single ETC since starting uni :) I am quite sad that i'm missing most of it though :(

Tuesday 16th march

Anyway, so the day after i found out about my departure, i was at uni once again for small group and public meeting. In between i managed to walk all the way to the Japanese consulate in martin place, grab my visa, and walk back within about one and a half hours (which is a terrible....terrible idea with thongs!). During PM my head started to feel horrible, and i felt crazy sick afterwards. Taking a few steps out of the room i stumbled here and there and ended up throwing up...in a toilet thankfully (thank You God that UTS has as many toilets as it has classrooms!). So yeah, from that moment and for a few days i was quite sick, but praise God coz i'm all better now :) I get the strange feeling that God was hitting me real hard on the head and telling me "you have GOT to take a rest before you go to Japan!" And so, i guess the sickness hit me hard, in a good way in that it showed me that 1) i'm human and 2) my time is not my own. Although there is not much time left before i leave for Japan, the things i end up being able to fit into my schedule will not be up to me, but the man upstairs :) So once again, if i have said that i wanna catch up with you but cannot find time to do so before i leave, it's not because i don't love you!

Friday 19th March

So last friday, i felt quite a lot better, thankfully (i didn't wanna miss out on the food my mum was gonna cook that night!), and so i was ready to take on whatever my mum set out before me on the dinner table :) If you don't already know, my mum is an awesome cook and is amazing at spoiling guests, so i'll probably die in Japan without her :( So mum, i know you don't use the internet, but i love you heaps :) So, a bit of background - previously VA told my mum how much he loved her cooking, and in particular one type of Cambodian noodles that she cooks, and so she said "why don't you guys come over one day before Harry leaves and i'll cook you up some of that stuff again". SO last friday i had the dudes and dudettes over for dinner, and it was a nice little catch up :) We watched "Up" on Blu-ray afterwards, and that would have been my....third time! Still love the movie though :D

Sunday 21st March

So church was quite normal as usual, except i was able to have a nice little conversation with one of the newer guys in our church afterwards. He's of Indian descent - strange in a Chinese church, but such a huge blessing! I just love it when people can take in other cultures and accept them - and this guy was telling me how he liked seeing how different churches do things differently. It's probably something i need to explore a little more deeply. Anyway it was a nice reminder that no matter what cultures and contexts we come from, as brothers and sisters we're all connected, redeemed and deeply loved :)

After dinner, i received an unexpected but welcome call from dic monkey, who i haven't seen in ages! So, as usual, the hangout at stratty, c'ador, and chatting late into the night :) It's gonna be something i'll miss when i'm in Japan... Speaking of stratty, i find myself getting more and more into korean music, and in particular SNSD (i know...kill me). I dunno how, but somehow i started to like their music, and when i saw the clip for their more recent release "run devil run" and saw that they actually wore pants for once, i fell in love! Well not really, but the song is catchy and the MV aint too shabby :) Oh, and if you haven't heard "dear mom" by SNSD, go listen to it. It's the song that made me realise that this korean girl group wasn't just about poppy songs and dancing and no pants (shirley kwan, if you're reading this, you know exactly what i'm talking about :P). Anyway, so the night didn't turn out as i expected, and i was able to meet a friend of an old friend who i haven't seen in a while, and her korean guy friend "Kwak" (apparently pronounced "quack"!). So after talking for a bit, this guy found out that i was single, and i dunno if it's my look or something but he seemed to think that i was desperate or something because every 10 minutes or so he would turn to me and say "don't worry man, if you want me to find you a nice korean girl just ask" LOL! Hilarious :) Anyway it was a nice night, and good catching up with dic monkey, nick ngoh and nat poon. Love you guys :)

On another note, i gotta stop myself from spending so much from my new debit card :( It's tempting! Especially buying music on iTunes... however i did come across this awesome song that i quite like! It's called "The Saving One" by Starfield. The lyrics are a nice reminder as well :)

What mercy was revealed
What selflessness and peace
My fate was surely sealed
Until He rescued me
His pardon for my sin
His bounty for my need
From slavery and shame
I am redeemed

And Heaven can't contain
The glory of the Son
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One
His love has made a way
The grave is overcome
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One

No fear can hold me down
Nor darkness steal my joy
For blood has been poured out
The enemy destroyed
Death could not hold Him down
The cross was not enough
To steal away His throne
For He is God

And Heaven can't contain
The glory of the Son
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One
His love has made a way
The grave is overcome
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One

Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved
Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved

And Heaven can't contain
The glory of the Son
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One
His love has made a way
The grave is overcome
Jesus is the Christ, the saving One (x2)

Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved
Anyone who calls upon His name
They will be saved
They will be saved

I don't get why some songs cost 2.19 on iTunes whilst most others cost 1.69... but this song was worth 2.19 anyways :)

Anyways...it's 2.15am, meaning sleepy time :) Goodnight world! Peace! :D

time really flies...

Wooooooooow it's already March!! It feels like just a month or two ago that i was saying "wow i can't believe i'm going to Japan in a year's time!" Time has gone by so quickly it scares me :( (For extra effect when reading this post, listen to "Time is running out" by Muse :D)

Although i'm quite excited about leaving, i'm also not really wanting to leave at the same time... it feels so strange that so soon i'll be flying over and that i won't be seeing many of you for such a long time.

It's also horrible that final fantasy XIII came out recently, and that i just ordered it, coz now i'm torn! I've been waiting for this game for so long and it HAD to come out so close to my departure! :( Which really means that i probably won't be able to finish it before i leave...unless i completely neglect everything else before i leave perhaps, or if i resolve to finish it real quick haha...i doubt it though. But please pray that i can use my time well and not be caught up in the things that don't matter so much :)

So, just yesterday i caught up with Danny Hung, Ollie Ho and Hanna Cho for dinner, and it was a nice little catch up. I hadn't seen these guys for ages so it was realy nice :) If you guys are reading, i love you all and i'll miss you heaps! (Except for you Hanna coz i'll see you in Japan anyway bahaha). Oh, and i met Hanna Cho's cousin Anna Cho (lol) at the dinner and they were telling me about these twin korean girls that have become quite famous on youtube. So i listened to some of their stuff and omgosh i think i'm in love!! Two beautiful Christian girls who are willing to use their beautiful voices to praise God - love it :D So here is probably their most popular cover to date: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtXr0pIRSg4&feature=related

It made me wanna go and download the original as well, but i think i like this version better :) btw how awesome is the harmony! I've been listening to this over and over for the past day!

Their other stuff is really awesome as well! I love their covers of the Christian songs :) But watching this stuff makes me think - why are koreans such good singers!? It's just not fair! :(

I can't say i did anything really really special in the last few months even though it's been an epically long holiday (almost 5 months?) but i guess there are a few important things that i can mention.

NTE (National Training Event in Canberra) was probably the first and only big thing i did in the holidays as i was away for 10 days in training and on mission. So that was a really awesome experience. Most notably i can say that the mission at West Cessnock Congregational Church was really awesome coz the people there were just so friendly and hospitable! Staying at the Schroders' house was amazing, and talking to the people there really opened my eyes. Hospitality is one of those things God has called us to offer to all people, and i think the guys at this church did that really well :) Also, on the Sunday of that mission, i preached for the very first time in my life, and i quite enjoyed it actually! The pastor there told me that he wanted to see me write more sermons, but i haven't gotten around to writing another sermon yet :( Yeah i know, i guess i've been rather lazy...but perhaps some day i'll be able to write some good sermons and preach better :) Anyways, i guess God has shown me some of my giftings.

One thing i've been doing heaps these holidays is meeting up with people in small groups or one on one and just talking, and catching up. In doing so i've been able to build stronger relationships with the people around me (which was really what i was trying to do before leaving for Japan) and encourage my brothers ands sisters. I feel that although i haven't worked at all these holidays, it's been well spent because i have been able to be around enough to be an encouragement to people. In having all this extra spare time i've had more time to spend with people - and i should do that as much as i can when i do have time. All throughout 2009 i was busy with either uni stuff, church stuff or credo stuff and i never really had much time to catch up with people, and i realised how bad that was. So yeah, i guess it was awesome that i could spend so much more time with the people around me throughout the holidays! I think it'll also be good at this point to note that usually the holidays are a horrible time for me in terms of faith - as the holidays would normally be a time of spiritual dryness for me. On the other hand, these holidays have left me feeling spiritually rejuvenated, and i feel that i am constantly growing in this relationship with God :) So praise God for that!

I can't say i know how i should prepare for the trip ahead, and this would be the first time i'd be living away from home for so long, but i think it's safe to say that i'm not afraid about what's to come. Whatever might come, i know that God will be with me and i know that His grace is enough to keep me going :) But i'll definitely be in need of all your prayers!

Oh yeah, in June/July some of the Credo peeps are going over to Japan for a mission trip! So i decided that it would be awesome to join them while they're there, so that's gonna be EPIC! :D That's one more thing that we'll need heaps of prayer for, and if you're keen on supporting us, i think the account will soon be open for donations, as we'll need heaps of monetary support as well! Stay tuned for that!

For those of you i haven't been able to catch up with that much, i'm sorry :( But keep in touch!

For those of you who wanna help me out with some prayer, here's a summary of points:

• Pray that i use the rest of my time here well, and that i spend my time mainly on the things that are most important
• Pray that i may learn how to sing like a korean (bahahahaha just kidding :D)
• Praise God for NTE and the awesome time i've been able to spend with the people around me these holidays :)
• Pray that i know how to prepare for the trip ahead, and that i may constantly lean on Him and not on my own strength / understanding
• Pray for the Credo mission team heading to Japan (and also the one heading to Indonesia around the same time) - that preparation for these two teams may go well

Thanks so much :) For those who have read this far, i love you all :D For those who didn't, you suck, but you won't know it coz you haven't read this far :P bahahaha! Nah nah i love you anyways :)

Departure date still unknown! :(

Blog post number 1 wooh! So anyways, as you can see i am still here in Sydney, and yes i know, although i have had a "farewell party" already i am still here! And please, for those of you who keep asking me when i'm leaving, i really don't know!!! I think i might find out on the 15th of march though! Thing is, the dudes organising this trip still haven't gotten the plane tickets and stuff organised so i'm left here thinkin "what to do...what to do..." while the other international studies students in Europe and China are already having a blast overseas :(

But hey it's still cool hanging out here for a few more weeks with you sydney people coz i love you all :D

Btw, for those who have seen "Up" already: "I was hiding under your porch because i love you!" :D Omgosh i love Dug! For those who haven't seen "Up" yet, hurry up and watch it already!

Anyways, so i think i'll be leaving some time near the end of march! There are still some things i need to sort out before i go, like my visa and buying stuff before i go. So please please pray for me as i prepare! :)