Shake Your Bon-Bon In Singapore

We found a Japanese Summer Festival to go to last weekend, right here in the Tiny Red Dot! Justin drove us to a private estate in Changi, where he and Jasmine wore their supermarket-bought yukatas and took a long stroll in full Nihon glory to the Japanese Primary School.... to relive our bon-bon days in Matsumoto!

Actually, we have a video of us doing the bon-bon to the ponyo theme song, but I can't seem to download it from Facebook. Oh well.....

Macho Men

Japan: The Fantastic Food

What's a Japan post without the food???

Crepe-y junkies

Mamma mia! Those were the best peaches I've ever tasted!

Japan: The Dream Team

My tribute to an amazing team:

Charlton Ying

Justin Ho

Joshua Riordan

Ruth Lee

Jasmine Sia

The Wonder Boys & Girls

With our hosts, Glynis & Judith

Japan: The Children

Photo credits: Joshua Riordan

Japan: The Rising Generation

These are the children and youth we met and ministered to in the worship camp. For each of them, God has a perfect will for their lives and wants them to know Him more.

We had the privilege of igniting a fire in these youths' lives - through worshipping together, telling them our life stories, and teaching about our identity in Christ. Most of them grew up in church and saw Christianity as a tradition. Many had yet to encounter God in a personal way. But on the last day of camp, we got to pray for them during a power-packed time of ministry that took us by surprise. God touched both them and us significantly, as we prophesied and declared God's purposes over their individual lives.

Just today, I received a testimony from the pastor's wife, as she told us what God had done through this camp.

"I got some words from God in worship time. God spoke to me that He deeply loved everyone of us and really wanted to give His love. Everyone is a very precious existence and His child. So, let them draw near.

After getting those words, God showed me a picture; Mako who was a very shy girl was standing at the front holding a mike. And God spoke to me again, 

“I am weak, but I am strong,” That was exactly same words as that Justin shared with us.   

Next day, I noticed Mako was standing at front and singing with my daughter Eimie. This was very surprising happening because Mako was never did such a big thing. Her mother also was surprised and said to me,  “I’ve never seen that she stood before everyone holding a mike. She was to do that too shy.”

Mako (far right) with Eimie during a worship practice.

Japan: The Scenery

Here's the first installation of our photos. Sorry for the delay, Blogger's been acting up. 

This is Azumino city in Nagano Prefecture, where we stayed to run a youth camp and children's camp. Lovely, isn't it?

Our house

Photos: Joshua Riordan

CULTURESHOCK CULTURESHOCK CULTURESHOCK!!

I've been suffering from re-entry since returning from Japan 2 weeks ago. Been managing to bear with rude, inconsiderate behaviour, bad service and lack of graces. But TODAY! *blood boiling*... TODAY takes the cake for the awfulness of re-entry from a gracious society to an ungracious one.

I was already tripped up from a day of being bumped, pushed and almost-ran-into by members of the public who weren't very conscious of their environment (ie. laughing and joking with companions, stepping on my white shoes, etc), and mildly irritated with being back here. But when I went to withdraw money at Bras Brasah, the culture shock level hit "Cardiac Arrest"..... You know there're 2 ATMs at Bras Brasah, and I was waiting in between them, trying to get money to pay for my books from the second-hand bookstore which was closing already. When the first ATM was available, this middle-aged uncle comes from nowhere and steps into my path, ignoring me! I thought, maybe he didn't see me, and stepped up to tell him I was queuing up. The nerve of the man.... without looking at me, and without the grace to apologise or ask nicely, he says his motorbike is waiting at the road. Now, if he had graciously acknowledged my presence, or asked if he could go first, I would have let him.... but how rude!

I UNGRACIOUSLY muttered under my breath, "You are so rude...." Unbelievable.

I'm having trouble adapting from a gracious society to this. Especially since I try so hard to have a gracious spirit nowadays - to be nice, polite, go out of my way, give way, give up rights, etc. But it bugs me that our people have societal norms that eschew COMMON SENSE. It's common sense that when someone is holding her ATM card, standing beside the ATM, she's waiting to use the ATM. And common sense tells you that you should at least ask if she's gonna use it before entitling yourself to it just because she wasn't positioned directly behind the queue.

Maybe I have too high expectations, or possibly I have to learn to be gracious to the ungracious - like loving the unlovable, turning the other cheek, and giving up even more rights. Gaaaahhhh.

HA! THIS ROCKS!!!

Omigosh, this is just too good!!

Live Up To Your Potential

Gideon.
Joseph.
David.
Jeremiah.

Do you feel like either of these young men right now? Has God put something in your heart but you're left feeling limited to do it? Are you clueless about how things are going to happen for your Godly intentions?

My question is, are you going to ignore/put off the call to missions, ministry or a specific role much longer?

Lately, I've been feeling that I'm not living up to my fullest potential. Strange coming from me, as I've always tried to fulfill my life purpose intentionally. But lately, I've felt that there is more... there's a higher level that requires more faith and seeking from me, a level that once again brings me to the region of not-knowing-what's-next. It's called being in the discomfort zone.

At the children's camp in Japan, we acted out Bible stories of the abovementioned characters. Each story carried this truth: Even though you feel small and inadequate, God wants to, and will, use you to accomplish greater things.

How apt that we should be like little children receiving that timeless truth in our struggles regarding obedience and our individual call. I challenge you to live up to your potential. It's regretful if you don't.

Happy National Day!

Home from Nicole Then on Vimeo.

Found a lovely video of Nicole Then from Cherry Magazine singing "Home". Fresh after watching the National Day Parade, I realised that the good ol' National Day songs really strike a chord in me, especially after they've been updated and remixed. Pretty nice, to find my heart language....

What song is Singapore singing?
What song have You given us to sing, Jesus?

Addicted to Onsen

I am in agony.

Agony from suffering major 'onsen' withdrawal symptoms.... Allow me to introduce another very enticing reason to visit Japan: The onsen. Now, the onsen is the Japanese public bath where you get to soak in hot tubs containing volcanic mineral water that's good for you. It leaves your skin smooth and soft, and apparently has healing properties.
We went to the onsen twice on the trip, such nice dips they were! Man, it's soooooooo relaxing.... it's soooooo addictive....
For the uninitiated, here's how the onsen works -
1. You check in, pay and leave your shoes in a locker.
2. Enter the onsen - separated into mens' and ladies sections
3. Once inside the locker room, prepare for a cross-cultural shocker: Everyone's walking around without clothes! For the shy types, after the initial giggling/hemming/hawwing, you can discreetly remove your clothes and make a dash for the wet area. Personally, I've got really thick-skin so I am as Japanese as that gets!
4. Enter the wet area and head for the showers (pic below) to scrub yourself down real good.
5. After you've scrubbed yourself squeaky-clean, you're all set for THE HOT TUBS!!!

Ooooo, this is the BEST part of the onsen.... you have a few tubs to choose to dip yourself into - indoor tubs, outdoor tubs under the moonlight, jacuzzis, milky mineral tubs, outdoor tubs with reclining seats to star-gaze at night, quaint little personal tubs with cute flowing taps, all filled with enriched mineral salts. *HEAVEN* Plus, there're mist-showers, saunas, pressure showers and waterfall seats to try out! One onsen even had a dimmed meditation room (which was really too hot to sit on and didn't give me any peace-of-mind at all). But yea, you get the heavenly idea. It winds you down and purifies your clogged pores.... Oooooooo........

I keep feeling my arms just to get a sense of how soft it's made my skin! Oooo! Man, I could just go back to Nagano for the onsen.

I just had to talk about it to deal with my addiction.

We Are Back!

Hi hi! We are back from Japan and had an amazing trip.... there was depression when we had to pack up and get on that train :( The onsen (hot tub under the stars) made my skin so smooth. Sigh! I miss Japan. More tales coming up when I've gotten the others' photos....

Reg