Newsflash

Brazil CEIFA team at the Esplanade. Making friends in the background


Practising with Dan who flew in from Japan

The team learning J-pop songs for December's Tokyo trip (l-r: Brian, Justin, Dan, Regina, Clarence, Jachin; and Ben is missing)

Praying together, different cultures united for the glory of God


I will be away for a month in the mountains, and in the meantime Justin will hold the fort. Please direct all queries, complaints and rantings to him, thanks! Be good!

Regina

Japanese Jamboree

Wow. Truly, God never fails us.

This week, from Tuesday til tonight, a group of us has been practicing for the performances in Japan this Christmas. It was the first time we all played together. Some were new to each other, but God's fingerprints were all over this.

No.1:
God put a perfect team together. A month ago, Jachin and I were joking that if the trip is just the two of us, we'd be happy to do drums and piano set. Then through a KFC Zinger burger (ok I won't say ;P), we met Clarence, an old friend of Jachin's. Acoustic guitarist - check. Ben came along and said he'd go. Nice, a bassist. Justin's prayers were answered and ta-dah: electric guitar. Then Brian the Japanese scholar decided to come on board. Complete! A translator makes all the difference!

Now, it came along so effortlessly, and as I look back on the short month, it's clear that God hand-picked this team. This week, we all played together for the first time, and it was amazing. I'm amazed at the character and humility in all these guys. Something that Clarence prayed at tonight's closing was that we're all not perfect, but God would and could use us (something along those lines). And I amen that.... God's put a great team together, by His grace.

No.2:
The icing on the cake came in the form of Dan, a young man from Tokyo. I met Dan in his Tokyo church in August, and asked him if he'd like to sing for a ministry like ours. He was keen and we arranged to email songs and arrangements in prep for December. Never did I expect him to appear in Singapore this week, with the intention to check out YWAM, DTS and worship in Singapore.

We learnt J-pop songs, and honestly, I'm already brain-dead from deciphering those ever-modulating keys, extremely-sharped chords, and playing in B (Dan's favourite key). Yet, it was a rare learning experience. And when Dan belted out "Above All" in Japanese, it made sense why God chose him as our singer. The presence of God just brought us all together, united in worship. For me, my heart was stirring. This was a glimpse of the dream God's put in my heart to see the nations worship Him.

I'm in awe. And so thankful to God for His hand upon us. I thank God for this team and every individual's journey, destiny and purpose. There's much more practice to come, much more brain-numbing chord work to be done, finances to be raised, intercession to be made, but it's gonna be an interesting 3 months. Stay tuned!

Reg

Bao Ge Liao

bao ge liao (singlish/chinese); meaning: everything also covered/the whole package

Wah, my China trip is really baogeliao-ed.

Few weeks ago, I started to look for a vocal teacher. Yah, I know my voice needs serious help. As a musician, I feel for the poor people in the congregation when I lead worship. So I asked God to help me improve and thought about asking people to help me. Didn't work out though... but today, my fellow tripper, who happens to be a producer/musician/singer-songwriter, summoned me for a meeting and drove us to PS to look at keyboards and discuss our teaching plans.

OK, I don't know if he could tell my voice really needs help (boohoo!!) or if it was just diverging off our conversation about cultural worship, but he started off on a whole overview of what it takes to SING.

Wah, I couldn't believe I was getting these tips for FREE... It was a vocal technique 101 lecture with the expert! He covered topics like singing forward instead of backward; breathing in from top to bottom and back to front and transferring your breath everywhere possible in your body in different directions (how?!?); facial structure and cavities; speech level singing; posture; different types of voices; physical and vocal warm-ups; musicianship; blending; harmony; diction, attacking the notes and a lot of other things I can't exactly remember. Oh my, it was a good deal man.

Yay, we're gonna be in China for 2 weeks together! More coaching, heh heh heh. God knows. =)

Reg

Today's Treasure

Here's a shot of the boys doing the unglam work - take the trolley and transport the amp kinda stuff. Yepp, there's a lot of unglam work behind the scenes for us, especially wrt gear. Only today, if you look carefully, you'll see a keyboard on the trolley. Guess what? We found an abandoned Korg synthesizer near the base at Lorong 9! Xiao!! I mean, God MUST have left it there for us! In Geylang leh, who uses a Korg in Geylang????

So we carted away our happy find. OK Justin, credits to you for seeing it, happy? =)

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.