Brazil Samba!

The Brazil team gave me a report on their Friday at Esplanade. They stayed til 11pm hanging out and chatting with the kids in the basement, and 2 got saved! To all who thought it was hard, I hope you're thinking twice. It's a great place, just shed your inhibitions and go talk!

Thanks, Brazil! It helps to be able to samba....

Horrors! Welcome to "The Ethnos Speak Mandarin Campaign"

Dear people,

Soon, I will be disappearing to China for a month to guide some young Tibetans on leading worship. Being a great woman of faith, I trusted God to bestow upon me the supernatural ability to teach on worship using Chinese. Ah, the perils of being an "Ang Mo Pai" (westernised person)... I confess that it will be sinful and shameful if I make you listen to my Chinese. And now, I've only got 2 weeks to get my mouth churning out those lines like butter - smooth, velvety and pleasing to the ears *mmmmm....*

So, today I had my first Chinese lesson with Mabel. I worked hard the night before to prepare my teaching notes for her to teach me their translations. We agonised through sentences of explaining what worship is/ how we worship/ how to lead worship/ bible verses/ chaacter of God vocabulary/ spiritual phrases/ syntax, etc.

Acccckkk, by the 2-hour mark, I felt like I had paralysis of the mind. But I was triumphant.... I did it! I'm all set with Mabel's translations! The new and improved me can now teach them how to lead worship in Chinese! All the biblical explanations are at my fingertips! Hooorah hooorah!

Then I went back to my office and proclaimed my victory. And someone congratulated me, asking, "So now you know how to say 'verse' and 'chorus', 'key', 'chords' and all that?"

... ... ....

Dang! I clean forgot about all the technical terms!! Boohoohoooooo..... I thought it was over......

Please, pray for those guys to be healed from my butchering of their language and for more proficiency for me.
And seriously, pray for the Chinese-speaking believers in Singapore to rise up to bless China. We need them! "Ang Mo Pai" here calling for help!
Pray that the Tibetan youth I'm working with will understand their relationship with God and people, not through me but through the spirit of God.

Long overdue pictures!

Here're some pics from Japan in August...

One fine night, the team decided to check out a club in Roponggi (warning!: sleazy nightlife district). Unfortunately, we were duped by a bouncer and the dodgy Time Out Tokyo guide. So we were left wandering past midnight, and the policeman said it'd cost us US$150 to take a taxi back! GASP!! So at 1 am, we took a long walk to Shibuya train station to catch the 1st train home at 5 am. Here're some highlights from the long walk....



Making use of the gritty tunnel to alleviate boredom

Oh, what's this! We found a shop open at 4am...

Wow, it's owned by a chummy DJ dude. Doesn't he look teddy-bearish? So friendly, offers to bring us to a nice club after hearing about our Roponggi fiasco...

And he brings us to a true underground club in Tokyo. Bingo!! Made some more Dj friends there (is everyone in Tokyo a DJ or what??)

This is the scene at 4.50am outside the Shibuya train station... everyone stayed out the whole night and caught the first train home too! Yikes!

Brandon is very affected by our long night out.....

A typical scene on this morning train home. They were out partying the whole night.

Our capsule hotel!

Ok I'm getting sleepy... last two before I crash! Now this is the cosy cafe we're gonna perform at in December. It's owned by a young Japanese artist who used to be a YWAMer and now opens this place for YWAM to do outreaches. Pray for them, and for more groups to come perform!

Lastly, I need to rave about the price of my keyboard there....look at that price tag: only S$800!! I got mine for more than $1500 ok. heads up, gear collectors.

Ok i'm done in. Nights!

Reg

Alive!

I'm so sorry, for leaving this blog so dead for 2 months! 2 months flew past just like that! In between, there was a trip to Japan, stay tuned while I find time to blog about that. Susi-lovers, music-lovers, I promise you'll love it there!

And end of this month, I'm off to Shangri-La (not the hotel) to teach keyboards and how to lead worship to the locals. I'm stoked, psyched and caught in this fast-forward button God hit... He's doing something vicariously in missions, just open your eyes to see it! And don't miss out!

Oh yes, we have a Brazilian acrobatic team in town. They are like the circus! Catch us at the Esplanade underpass on 4th and 5th Sep, 6.30pm onwards. You won't miss their spirited dancing/twirling/juggling/hip-hopping/flying. We're there to hang out with the people there. Join us!

Regina

Recruiting & Searching

Does anyone have a heart to help the Japanese church reach young people in Japan over the next one year? We are looking for musicians or translators (English-Japanese).
Does anyone have a heart to train worship teams among the people groups of Asia?
Does anyone have a portable keyboard to give away, to use to train keyboardists in a new church in far-flung East Asia?

Please leave a comment or email regina@ywam.org.sg

Ethnos in Prayer, Expect New Things!

Hello World,

I know it's been quiet on the ministry front, but Ethnos is currently in prayer for God's agenda so we've been pulling back and lying low. We've encountered some setbacks with our band and some closed doors, so please be praying for us to bounce back and for God to work things out.

One thing's for sure, God's re-aligning us to WORSHIP, which is the passion that started us. A passion to see young people in nations worship Him the way he created them to, to know, love and obey Him with all their lives.

Do pray for open doors into the nations. I, for one, am getting restless staying here! Wanna get out there to be with the people.

Isaiah 43
"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise."

Doing Something About What You've Seen

Brooke Fraser. Writer of one of my favourite songs, 'Hosanna'. When she sings this song, strange things happen to me.... every time.

I'm plugged into my iPod, weeping at the bus stop. Or I'm walking along Braddell Road and *boom!* - I'm in tears. Or I'm going to Junction 8 and a prophetic voice is stirring in my gut, for this generation to be strong and rise up to make a difference. *Bam!* More tears. By now, I'm wondering what is happening to me! I see in my head the broken people I've met on my DTS outreaches/Go teams to India, China, KL, Cambodia. People crying out in their slums, on the streets, in rehab centres, villages, poverty-striken homes, hospitals, nursing homes. People being attacked. Dying of AIDS. Dying on the streets. Stuck in poverty, disease and hunger. Trying to overcome addiction. Trying to make a life out of nothing. Total brokenness.

I get visions and reminders of the people I've gone to to before, and visions of more hurting and dying, needing this generation to rise up to love, pray, heal, touch, and GO.

I thank God for taking me to so many places, to see so much. My heart breaks for the King to come and save them. My heart breaks for them to sing "Hosanna in the highest" in the midst of their pain and suffering, knowing that it is Him who carries them and has not abandoned them. It is my heart for them to worship Jesus as they find the answers in Him, just as I am worshipping him in the midst of my current pain and questions.

Back to Brooke Fraser. She went to Africa and made a decision to write this song, 'Albertine' to tell the world what she had seen there. One thing she wrote strikes me: "Faith without works is dead." My prayer is that many songwriters and worshippers would do what she does, stirring up love in action and prophetic prayers through the songs they write. Take a listen....

Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms,
I cannot let go till you are....

A Time for Everything, Your Will Be Done

Twice last week, God showed me this, and it's been guiding all my prayers.

Ecclesiastes 3

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

We know that He makes all things beautiful in His time. Trust the process, trust His timing. Your will be done.

How Do You Live Your Life?

It's not about the forms, songs or music. It's about your life being worship to Him. Anointing starts from true intimacy and obedience.

As worship leaders and musicians, let your life song speak louder than what you do in ministry. Because a tree is recognized by its fruit. (Matthew 12:33) The heart is what counts.

Casting Crowns with "Lifesong"

"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist,
and the less the artist does the better." - Andre Gide

It's About Who You're Becoming

Something to share about the present situation and what I'm gleaning as the dust is settling. You see, Ethnos hit a snag recently and it totally threw me into despair. I pulled back from everything and isolated myself, so the dust could settle and so I could process what happened. In the week of silence, I found myself led to plug into 2 particular songs on my iPod - Delirious' "History Maker" (from the album "Hillsong in London") and Corrinne May's "Everything In Its Time".

Go take a listen if you have those songs on your player. What struck me was the prophetic insight Martin Smith tapped on as he spoke and sang, and especially in the lyrics he chose... they had such gravity of meaning. It almost conveys the prophet's nonchalence towards the ignorant, as if saying, "Those who have ears, let them hear." Where did all that come from? What kind of a journey did he go through to come to such spiritual understanding?

Then Corrinne May's song.... it spoke straight into my despair. What depth of understanding she had into the questions, pain and disappointing journey I was walking through. Then she deals her trump card: Plain Truth. Now, Plain Truth has its own power to weave into your soul and bring closure to what you're facing. I must have listened to that song at least 20 times that sunny afternoon.

Now what I realised was: These aren't just SONGS. There's power in them. There's an anointing and the Spirit at work upon those who listen to them, ministering to the dark places of the soul, and calling out the depths of spiritual understanding.

These are songs that take the words right out of your mouth. And give you something Bigger to look for.

It made me think that to write such songs, it takes someone who's been through the process of questioning why, in spite of trying your best, there's no "Godly" answer. It takes a frustrated human who's questioned why there's no end to it - pain upon pain, angst-driven tears, failure after failure, disappointment after disappointment... your bones and spirit wearing thin and needing answers.

These 3 weeks of painful turmoil have taught me an important truth:
It's not about the outcome.
It's about the journey and the person you're becoming as you go through it.
It's about finding out what Jesus really is about - He accepts you no matter how messed up you feel.
It's about learning to love like Him, unconditionally.

God is looking for people who understand that to be His songwriters in this world. Songwriters who know pain, who've been though a journey that built their foundation deep. Songwriters who understand because they've been molded by trial and despair, and found that it's all about who they are inside.

A friend, Eeleen, sent me her newsletter a few days ago. She said, "It takes years for God to fashion a heart and produce a testimony that gives life." How absolutely true. Trust the process, and stick it out.

God has been saying this to me personally, and I hope it speaks to those of us walking through a tough time in your life that may be fraught with frustration, confusion, pain and disappointment:

"Don't beat yourself up for not being perfect. I am with you. Don't despise the pain you're going through. I know sometimes it's impossible to bear. Don't be ashamed at the process you're going through, even though it may be marked by tears, angst and brokenness, don't be ashamed of the turbulent emotional life that is within. I can use it to make you a better artist, musician, healer, teacher, speaker. I'm using this to build depth in your soul, so you can be more prophetic, insightful. Don't be ashamed."

Trust the journey, and look at the person you're becoming through it.

- Regina

A Picture Says A Thousand Words