Coke + Mentos + Curious Minds = Keboosh!

Whatssup This December?!

Have your December/s been boring, lifeless, totally not satisfactory? Let Rhema and Let Go of Me bring you some Oooooooooh La LA-ness! Have you not heard? Have you not seen? Let me introduce the 2 events that my church is going to have this coming December.

1. Let Go of Me Production Heard me saying about my 1 year prep for this production? Yup! TA DAH! This IS it! How exciting. :) The production consists of 5 true stories that some of the young adults in my church had gone through. Real people, Real struggles, Real Stories, Real Victories. How REAL can it get? You just gotta be there to be one Real audience to testify *wink*. It is a brilliantly written play as the directors and scriptwriter meticulously put together the stories. It is one that should not be missed. Call me to get the tickets. By the way, this play is specially written for viewers between the age of 15 to 25. Yeah!!! See you there.

2. Rhema Conference
Wanna learn Hip Hop for free? Are you into learning how to sing like a nightingale? Or simply just a sports Fanatic? This conference is for you at NO cost! Wow! What are you waiting for? Sign up today. Check out the brochure for more info. You can download the registration form, fill it in and then drop me an email. Or simply give me a ring to find out more.

What Makes Me Smile...

We had our Seashore Life program today. The whole school was mobilized to pick litters @ the East Coast Park. The children were so excited, especially for some of them who newly joined the school and have never seen the sea before. Shocked? Me too...*sigh. The photographer's camera went low batt and so soowei went to the rescue haa with my 2.0 megapixel phone. *wink* I think the photos turned out alright. Children are just naturally photogenic. Managed to capture some lovely ones...

Canal.

Boys being boys, thought they were supposed to pick litters. So thats how the idea of a man-made canal comes about. :)

"Hey Nemo, you in there?"

So many of them had their shoes wet cos they went so near the sea when the tide comes on. They went 'Oh - oh' and then continued playing with their shoes on??! Kids. :)

Masterpiece.
Girls, somewhat, would ver often do the more sane things.

Favorite Pic of the day.
Let me present to you Hasmul, one of my sugar rocks.

ENCORE!

Hey guys! Our TYLER Creasman is on Youtube! AHHH . Check it out! So farnie! Tyler is one of our SEC 1s btw. ENCORE!

Singlish Security Lecture

8.30am INPUT @ Tanglin Mall Mac.

Doesn't that sound so familiar? Tanglin Mall Mac almost become our second home huh? Frankly, I am so sick of MAC haa...anyway, congratulations my dearest CMs!!! This 'torture' has finally come to an end. Except for a couple of you who will be seeing me for the teaching input *wink* No worries, now the new coffee shop place is so much better isn't it? Keke.

To all my CMs: Thank you for standing along side with me the past year. Even though you were tired, you did not give up. I thank you for your dedications; the amount of time, effort and prayers put in to nurture our young ones. Thank you for being so cooperative with me and that is truly a blessing. Though we are going our seperate ways in terms of ministry but I pray that you'll continue to believe in our young ones and speak postively into their lives with the truth of GOd. So that one day they might grow and bear much fruits and be that person you are in Christ. I pray that you'll continue to be that gardener-teacher for Jesus; sow, prune and nurture.

Why God Made Teachers
By Kevin William Huff

When God created teachers,
He gave us special friends
To help us understand His world
And truly comprehend
The beauty and the wonder
Of everything we see,
And become a better person
With each discovery.

When God created teachers,
He gave us special guides
To show us ways in which to grow
So we can all decide
How to live and how to do
What's right instead of wrong,
To lead us so that we can lead
And learn how to be strong.

Why God created teachers,
In His wisdom and His grace,
Was to help us learn to make our world
A better, wiser place.

Boys, the 'retard' picture doesn't look like one lor.. but good try. LOL

Ben, Anna and Sheryl, you were missed. :)

Helen.

The semester is coming to an end so I wanted to buy some nice VCDs for my kids. Went to TS today and this particular VCD caught my eyes, "Helen the Baby FOx". I bought it for 2 reasons, it seemed like a show with good values and interestingly I just think that that fox looks like mao mao. :)

Each time the little boy in the show cried, I cried. Its not a sad show but rather a nice and heartwarming one that leaves you with much thoughts after watching it. Check out the music and of course, if you really wanna know what this show is about you can come borrow the VCD from me. Here's a review on it.

http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/helenthebabyfox/f3.jpg

Mao Mao.

It was Sam's 20th. Finally! *grins* Happy Birthday Sam! I look fwd to all the prayer items which we prayed for to soon come to past. Especially the final one ... Dum Dee Doo Dee Doo

Food was great, thanks Esther and Joel for preparing them. Company was great and Cher was missed. Nvm Cher, you are coming back for Christmas and CNY righto? *wink* I guess the bbq was a good time to unwind after a hectic week. But do you know what's the highlight of the whole party? It was --------------> M.A.O. M.A.O Oh yeah... Mao Mao.

We were first strangers cos I din even dare to touch it, then we became acquaintance... I was so afraid that it would bite me or kick me or I don't know what else it would do to me... But it din and so I began to trust her and we soon became...

Friends!!!

Btw, Mao Mao is a $450 rabbit, erm... thats if you have yet figure it out. Yes its an ah bit. *Grins* Wah can't believe that I really did touch it. Guess what? I even thought of kissing it, its so cuddly like a baby. Haaaaaaaaa. You know why its called mao mao? Cos its so MAO MAO! Thanks Jon, for the 'Mao Mao and I' pictures, I lurve it! :)

Happy Birthday, Sam. :)

'6 1/2' stairway

Couple of weeks back, got the chance to meet up with my primary school friends. Wah those were the days man. Catherine and Xiufeng, were the very friends who walked back home with me from school. Catherine and I especially shared alot when we were young and of couse she was my snack-all-the-time friend. The usual time we meet would actually be 8pm after the 7pm drama haaa gosh I could still remember. :) We would often take our aunty-looking purse and shop at the then, we considered as the best shopping mall - our downstairs ECON minimart. hur hur...

So where did we hang out? I lived on the 8th floor and Cat lived on the 5th. To be fair and square, we would hang out on the '6 1/2' stairway at our block. We really did. Even as I typed, I recalled the times we would snack, laughed and snacked and talked and snacked and snacked... no wonder I was in TAF club then. All these snacking tsk tsk...

As we moved on to secondary school, we each head our own ways but we still hang out once in a while at the '6 1/2' stairway. After I became a christian, I led Catherine to Christ as well. She grew despite her strong family opposition. I salute you, sister! :) It was so tough for her. She is one strong lady who pulled through it all with the strength of God. I saw how the Lord brought about the silver linings into her life and today I am just so happy that she found her true love and is getting married next in a couple of weeks time. "Congratulations... in celebration...Lalalala" Forgot the lyrics. haaa. :)

Catherine, its going to be an exciting journey as you walked down the aisle and continue your journey with a Godly life partner who loves you and am sure would support you. Praying that as you take time to prepare for this big day, you would enjoy counting the blessings that Lord had poured into your life. :) See you real soon pretty one, breathe and dun be stressed out. Its going to be a beautiful wedding. *wink*


Catherine, Xiufeng and Soowei @ Sakae, Westmall.



Wah! How pretty can we get man? Haaaa


Don't see Xiufeng fair fair, dainty dainty (though she really is..) this girl is in the navy man! Don't play play...


GOtcha! Candid shot! Congratulations once again Cat!!! :)

Vrooom Vroom...

Hectic! These last 3 weeks of school is so hectic. I was being emailed a TABLE of deadlines...ie. deadlines for these 3 weeks that are being presented in a table form. WHY? Cos there are just too many deadlines to fit into a one or two-liner. Anyway, amidst this hectic schedule, I thank God that I had some fun today. I sat on my colleague's bike. Wooooooo lala! How cool right? The both of us looked PRETTY Unglam with the orrr bit bit helmets. But thank God for the cheap thrill... Daddy chided me off for sitting on a bike today ... looking forward to the next ride... YEeeeeee HA!

So who is TOMMY?

Right! I forgot all about introducing him. Ha. Went for a Tommy Emmanuel concert and this guy was just amazing. I totally enjoyed almost every bit of his music. Some are just a little to zen for me but still impressive. There is just this particular one - Stay Close to Me, which made me teared. It was such beautiful music. Check this guy out on his official website. BREATHtaking! He plays the guitar like a piano man! Note for notes... when the guitar is in his hands, it seemed like no music was impossible. Wah! I was so impressed! Nothing beats seeing it live! Johann, next year front row! ;) Thanks for introducing. :)

God Loves Variety.

For you. :)

Was reading a book while on my way to Tommy's concert. Who's Tommy? Will introduce him a little later *grins* Pastor Kieran gave me that book some time in Jul and sadly, I could only get started on it yesterday. Came across this sentence that went, "....God loves variety..." Eims went on to illustrate on that point as he brought his readers to the way Jesus selected His 12 disciples. He was talking about how God chooses ORINDARY people for ministry. He chose people with differences; different personalties and giftings etc. If we were to take a closer look at his disciples, we really do see alot of differences. Eg. Simon the Zealot hated the Romans but Matthew the tax collector worked for them. Men from different walks of life, men who have different level of faith in God etc.

Life is so boring without variety. Isn't it? Different seasons in our lives spices things up too. We learn to appreciate the various seasons though at times we might think that winter is so cold but imagine the fun we can have with snow. Why on earth is Summer so hot? But Oooo... imagine the boyenberries, strawberries and wah lalala cherries!!!!

Who cares if you are a Sanguine, Choleric, Phelgmatic or Melancholic? OR Why am I so loud? Why am I so task-oriented? How come I so Bo chub huh? Oh man! Why am I sad again? :) Temperament doesn't define you, God does! And like David says in Psalm 139, "...for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." In essence, let's appreciate how the Lord has created us and learn to accept the way that we are made and then constantly moving towards becoming more like Jesus.

You are not alone on this METAMORPHOSIS journey, many are and I am too...God loves variety and I love you :)

Divine Opportunity? See it? GRAB it!

Many a times I overlooked what God has placed in my life for His purpose because of how hectic my life could be. However this year, God has trained me in this area rather specifically, and I am still learning not to wait for opportunities to share agape (unconditional) love with people instead, I look out for God's divine opportunity for me each day to do that.

Don't you ever ask:
Why am I here at where I am...?
How come there are like a million and one people and yet you could meet a certain group of people / particular person somewhere, some time?
Why do you see what you see and hear what you hear?

The world defines it as coincidence! I would define it as God's divine opportunity. Nothing escapes God's hands and sight. That is how Soverign He is - in every aspect!!

The past week, I did PSLE paper 1 marking at a neighbourhood school and Jurong and my grandma lives just opposite it. The first day, I mislooked the opportunity. By the second day, I asked God, "hey why was I sent here and not anywhere else?" I believed it was the Lord who reminded me about my grandma. I called her on Monday night and said that I would be popping by on Tues afternoon for lunch. As expected, she was thrilled.

For the next couple of days, I made it a point to eat with her during lunch since I had a 1 hour lunch break. Instead of joining my friends, I decided to visit ah-ma. We had good chats, though I listened more than I spoke since I am really lousy with my hokkien. Why would I say this is a divine opportunity? Cos grandma isn't a believer yet and grandma and I are not naturally close. I wanted to bridge that gap, I wanted her to feel GOd's love and know that Jesus existed before all else that she believed in.

When I was there, I was pleasantly surprised by all that she cooked for me. Simple dishes with extravagant effort and love. I think I would have so regretted it if I did not grab the opportunities to bond with her and let it just slip me by. Whats my joy at the end of the day? When I thanked ah-ma for cooking for me, she went, "come back tomorrow, I'll cook you something else." Its not mainly the food but rather, her looking fwd to seeing me again. With these couple of hours I laid a brick of the 'bridge'. Its worthwhile.

Xiaoli's 10/10.

She made it! :) Just before school started, she came to me and asked me to test her all the spelling words. I was so thrilled to see that she could spell every word! WOW! What an achievement!!! Check out the way she spelled "Friday". She could not even get that right but she managed to get all 10 spelling words correct. Truly FANTASTIC! Ooooooooo lala! Going to Zap it and put it on the board of honour!

That Roller Coaster Ride.

Anyone tell you that teachers are very often placed on a roller coaster ride? Here I would mean emotionally. At a split second, you could shift from being angry to a smile. From a grin to near tears. Today I was on that ride.

Haowen and Nasirah
They fought and I had to speak with them during recess to do conflict resolution. Tough but I could feel how God led me to ask them appropriate questions that got them thinking. They made up and Haowen offered Nasirah tissue while she sobbed. Rather heart warming when you see children made up. They too have their pride but they are just more forgiving and magnanimous as compared to us adults.

Xiaoli
She is one of my weakest pupil in class and for a period of time I noticed that she kept scoring 0 out of 10 for spelling and just a month back i got her to study just 3 instead of 10 words for spelling and if she gets all of them correct, she still gets her star. Apparently, that worked! She studied for those 3 words and have been getting her stars. Today I went through the spelling list again and told her that this time I would increase it to 5 words for her. Her smile from afar assures me that she was going to study hard for it. Just before the class ended, this was what she said:

"Miss Sim, I try the 10 words can?"

I was pleasantly surprised by her enthusiasm. Just after supplementary, she came to me again and this time she said:

"If I get 9 marks can?"

I know that she wasn't confident and so I told her:

"I am sure you can get 10. But even with 9, it is a great achievement!"

This got me quite happy knowing that my children want to learn, to excel and has the desire to know more.

Cecilia
Just a couple of minutes later I had a talk with Cecilia and that got me down a little. Just before supplementary, this girl was found crying outside class while the rest of her friends were seated in class getting ready for lesson. I went out to class and asked her to come in but from her unusual sobbing i somehow gather that she fears to walk into class. I said, "come with me. I will protect you!" She followed on.

After class, she mentioned that the class accused her of doing something and no one believes her when she tried to explain. With a mere, " i believe you", her sobbing stopped.

Then I noticed cane marks on her hands. I probed and she shared. Its the first time she spoke so much. But after hearing, I realised I can no longer say, "Come I protect you." anymore. I can't. Its beyond me. I realised my limitations and I wished I could do more.I prayed.

"Missing?"

Cecilia strikes 3! This time she was mild, but I guess proper correction should still be done. Brought her to the office after school and she was really guilty of what she did in class just a couple of minutes ago. After all the talking...

Soowei: So Cecilia, what are your thoughts? What do you have to say?

Cecilia: Sorry Mis sing (miss sim)

Soowei: My dear, I am still here, I am not Missing. I am Miss Sim. :)

We both laughed.

One of the most beautiful worship experience.

Today I had fun with Norman and Joey as they educated me on PIRACY. Gosh!! We are just so much in it that I dun even know it. Anyway it was fun just having these guys around. Each of them is funny and with both of them, HILARIOUS is the word. :)

Whats it got to do with the Blog title? WORSHIP experience? With them? Nah..During Youth Service? NAh... During YA yesterday? Nah... All were good but about 5 minutes ago, I truly had one of the most beautiful worship experience. Not alone! Not just with GOD! But together with my MUM!!!! Since the time we came back from the Malacca trip, I openly asked her if she would like to join me in worship. How did I do that? I picked up my guitar, strum the chord and began singing and told her to join in. With the limited chinese songs and chords that I know, I could only play 真真好. This went on for quite some time.

Tonight was just different, the Lord brought to my remembrance the song 我要赞美耶和华. I realised I know the chords and so I just medley it with the 真真好 and finally ended with the simple 'Hallehlujah' song. So why was it beautiful? Cos my mum worshipped. She raised her hands!!!! When the song went, " ...我高举双手宣扬..." I could not believe it. Though, by the time we reached the 3rd song she started walking around, its ok... I prayed and spoke in tongues while she was walking. Thank God for His marvelous work. Do I hear salvation ringing? YES i do!

Do you know them?

Princess 1.
Princess 2.

Princess 3

Zayan.

I have a mildly audistic boy in my class and everyone loves Zayan now even though it din start off that way at first. :) He is such a pleasant boy, I mean he has problems with his school work but never with behavioural or attitude. When I first took Zayan, he scores 2 or less out of 10 for spelling. Because of his condition, I make a conscious effort to affirm him in every little thing that he does well in.

I gave him a certificate for being the most determined boy in class. He is! During one of the Art classes, they were told to draw a picture based on the theme of 'Environment'. After an hour, all kids handed in but Zayan was still drawing. He can't finish not because he was slow, rather, he was being meticulous. He drew every little details. I sent that picture in for competition. He was beaming with this wide grin on his face when he received that cert from the Principal. I was so proud of him.

Each time he reads aloud for the class, I would praise him though there are many words that he can't read well. But he is praised for the words that he can read. :) I din really think very much about the way i handle him to have such impact on the rest of my kids until that day when Zayan stood and he managed to read a paragraph, WOW!! the class applauded for him. There was also another incident when i saw that they were having PE lesson and the teacher told them to jump over a hurdle. When Zayan jumped over, the whole class cheered. When did my class become so encouraging? What happened to all the "stupid you" and "shut up la"? Did I know that encouragment is infectious? Now I know. :)

Today, I was marking their spelling book and as I was marking Zayan's book I couldn't believe my eyes, he scored 10 out of 10. I awarded a star and wrote, "SUPER JOB!" Just then I took a second glance and I realised one of the words was mispelt. So he had 9 out of 10 instead. I changed the marks but the star was still there. Who says that only pupils with full marks can get a star? :)

1st week of the month.

Every first week of the month is very often the most challenging week for me because there are just so many happenings on weekday nights. Production rehearsal, RL mtg and Prayer and Power night. Not that I dread them but I do feel the strain physically as i move through the week. Thank God that from next year on RL meeting will be on 2nd week. :) This week I am extremely tired, not as efficient in my work. However, amidst all, its still a great week cos of all these:

1. Surprise by Cheryl Baby and Johann + Pint of Haagen
In my most unglam moment, I had 2 visitors. I was halfway cleaning up after dinner in my pyjamas when these 2 notie ones knocked on my door. GOSH! However, I was so blessed by the HAagen.. haa nah, its by their companion. The haagen is great but they were the bonus. :)

2. Prayers.
I had so many people coming to me this week asking me for my prayer requests and some even prayed with me. I really appreciate it, I guess God just know when I need warriors to stand by me. Its really so many!!! Haaaa

3.RL meeting.
Do you know going for RL meeting is such joy? COs Suhui just let her hair down and be herself. Not that I am usually not but I behave slightly different when i am with a pool of leaders, i become the kid. Haaa... I wonder what makes me so hyper... Audrey, it could really be you. *wink* Actually, we all become kids when we come together BUT actually I think I can't beat them.

Look at how cheeky our dearest Liying smiled. Haaaa.... I think she is super CUTE. If there is a program call "超级 Super Cute", I will send her there. 　

Know what these girls were doing previously prior to my signal of "cut it out"? They were pretending to be super studious and working real hard. They expect me to take that studious pose lor. GOSH. Haaa .They are hilarious.

This picture is the only one that shows us doing some work. But its cos we FOUND a Sony Clie. Til today we still dun know whose is it. Anyone lost one? RLs = Random leaders? Haaa

Here! Our spiritual mother! Pastor Cuicui. See! Even she becomes a little berserk when she is with us. Guess at the end of the day who is the most sane one? ME! *grins*

Thanks for praying.

Thank you all for taking time to pray for my parents as we went for the Saturday's Evangelistic meeting at St Andrews Cathedral. My parents did not receive Christ but I thank God that they went. As compared to the Malacca trip, I was very much encouraged even when my parents did not received their salvation that day. Partly because I had learnt from the Malacca trip to be grateful for all that God has been doing in my family. And of course the presence of my Sis, BIL and my sis' parents-in-law, gave me alot of support. Their presence cushioned the disappointment as I know that I am not the only one in it.

I thank God for a wonderful night as my dad was really attentive and I saw how he nodded his head and agreeing with Dongfang Billy as he shared his testimony about how God turned a bitter man like him to one who is of love today. I thank God for my sis' parent in laws, they are such great encouragement to me as they often remembers my parents in prayers and occasionally calling on me to chit chat with me and find out how I have been. I feel blessed as I see uncle trying to strike conversation with my dad and helping him understand about christianity, feel loved when I saw how Aunty accepts my mum and loved her the way she is, feel protected and supported when BIL and Jie sits beside me and gave me those assuring smiles. I felt so blessed that night learning that I am really not alone in handling things back home.

Jie and BIL: thanks for being there. :) Love ya guys loads.

Look at how straight they sit? Haa.. Daddys are interesting. Uncle Alan with my dad.

Women are just naturally more natural with the camera. This is Aunty Esther wth mum.

Hunky BIL and sweetie Jie. Such a handsome couple eh? :)

Soowei with Dad and Mum.