Urgent Prayer Request!

Hi everyone, could I ask you to say a prayer for one of our potential team members going to Japan? He was on my team to Tokyo last year and was our translator as he's half-Japanese. Anyway he's in the US now and waiting for funds to come in so he can join us in Nagano in July. The recession situation in the US isn't good and he's been affected by it... but is really really trusting God to bring him to Japan with us, and really really wants to continue what we started there last year!

He's found a good airfare deal but will need to pay by next week. Will you please stand with us in prayer? For his airfare and ground fees to be raised and released from God's overflowing recession-proof treasure chest!

There're currently 5 of us on the team and all of us trusting God for our funds. Thank you for your prayers!

- Regina

Fun in the Sun

Actually, after looking at the breakdown of the kids' camp - telematches, running around, passing blocks of ice, frolicking in the park - I'm looking forward to a nice wild time of play in Nagano. Things here have been too emotionally stressful and I vow to play all I can with the kids!

Kiddy Land

Yeeeks.

Just got the brief for the children's camp we're doing in Nagano. It's 4 of us, getting all hyped and jumpy for 5 consecutive days of hardcore kiddy fun. Am I gonna survive this??

Monday - Gym Sports or Outdoor Fun Day
Tuesday - Swimming & Pool Games Day
Wednesday - Art & Craft Day
Thursday - Treasure Hunt & Picnic Day
Friday - Cooking Day

Plus, telling Bible stories, logistics, worship and singing, bringing them to the 7-11, cheering and rah-rah-ing.... my bones!

Seriously, whoever's reading this, you've gotta pray for us.

We leave 22 July to help Pastor Nori with his youth worship camp, then this kids' camp (all non-Christian kids), and return on 3 August. Sign-up, anyone?

My Eclectic Musical Tastes

Aside from the daily fix of worship songs, these have been looping on my playlist recently:
1. 楓 - Jay Chou
2. Home - Above & Beyond
3. Now We Are Free - Lisa Gerrard, Hans Zimmer

Shocking to see Jay Chou on my list but I think he's a hit! Eh the guy uses counterpoint (Bach's trademark technique) to compose, how can you not say he's talented?

As for Above & Beyond, sorry to purists but I have this affinity for dance music. I'm a keyboardist - I create weird sounds on a synth, what do ya expect?? :) Here, some videos I sneaked at their recent gig with my phone....

In the beginning... a bit blah

After warm-up: slightly better

Honestly, it was a bit of a let-down, felt they're better on CD than live. Or maybe I was too faraway from the action.

As for the ethereal, grandiose track (No. 3), I fell in love with it at last year's Night Festival at the National Museum. It was the track for a dancer swiveling in a gigantic ambient-lit sphere.... gorgeous. I went back the next day to catch the performance again coz I was so in awe of the water dancing and fluttering through the sky. Truly world-class.

God's Word To Us

Justin and I went to share about Ethnos at DTS yesterday. Word from a DTS student for us:

2 Chronicles 20:1-30

It's Jehoshaphat inquiring of the Lord during his crisis.
The people came together to seek God.
Prophecy was released: Do not be afraid or discouraged, the battle is not yours but God's!
The people worshipped God, the Levites stood up and praised God with a very loud voice.
Men sang of the splendour of His holiness, giving thanks for His faithful love.
And as they sang, God set ambushes for the invaders.
Victory! They returned with joy, singing and playing their instruments.

Jo Ee & Co @ Treehouse SMU 11 May '09

Trying to play catch-up now from the weeks of inactivity. Been busy lah.

I don't have pics of the band in action coz I was helping Jo Ee take videos of her performance. But they did very very very well and we were impressed! Must say I enjoy walking through the journey with people and projecting a greater call to them.

Oh well, all I have is the band at the parking lot with their gear. Better than nothing.... (hats off to Justin Boon for dismantling his own drum set and bringing it all the way down to Treehouse!)

Touched by the Stans

I was away on assignment to teach on a DTS in an anonymous area (the base would call it "East Asia"). This has gotta be one of the most touching trips in recent years. Look what the students gave me at the end of the week:

Totally unexpected... they don't own much yet dug into their possessions to produce things like: a travel set of fork/spoon/chopsticks; a notebook with verses written inside; Khyrgystan memorabilia that evoked my own memories of a past trip; bracelets, mirror, and most touchingly - a watch given by a father to a daughter, her 'jia chan' (family inheritance); even a staff hurriedly passed me a new blouse she had bought just before she left for a trip. *sniff*

Oh man, I didn't know how to react... I felt so bad, yet moved at the same time.

Also, I was very grateful to the YWAMers for coming alongside me to help me out with my airfare. In 2 hours, my entire airfare was covered after various ones came by to stuff notes into my palms. My pocket was full of money when I walked out out the lounge! Plus, money kept coming in, because I had to book my Japan air ticket! I could use the abundance of blessings for my next trip =)

I guess it's people who live by faith who give the most, who are the richest.

Here's the most exciting day of the trip - going with CM and Jane to visit the migrant people.
In we go!

We had to go through a tunnel, and weave through narrow, dusty, uneven paths to get there.... CM and Jane cracked me up in their heeled shoes (looking like local women!) and chanting "xi(2) guan(4) le(3)" (used to it already). Really localised already, those two!
Negotiating the tunnel.
When is it gonna end???
Eeks, watch your head ahead....
Finally, reached! Happy man welcomes us. He's a junk collector by profession, and has a family to feed.

Our purpose in going to this home was to find out what the teenage son's dreams and interests are, so they could find a course to enrol him in. As he's been cutting school, he needs to be equipped with a skill for his future. True enough, he told us he enjoys repairing appliances. The team is gonna put in money for his skills training, which counts as a big help to his family who lacks funds for his schooling.

Wow, this is what I call, Championing Young People. Helping them realise their worth and destiny. It's what we were created By God to do on this earth.
Funny things spotted on the way out: chicken backsides being fanned by an electric "fly-disperser"!
Street scene at migrant community. Bah Bah Sheep...
At K&V's cafe, V teaching the staff how to make healthy smoothies. Note Ken's new Terminator haircut. Very sexy.