Hi Everyone!!!! I'm back from Pahang!!! super tired yesterday so couldn't blog much. lol. actually, i didn't blog at all. lol. Ok...erm....here goes my adventure. Its not so pictorial coz didn't take much pics..... ok here goes the Movie Story haha!
P.S +LFAI is my exp. +SP are the encounters :D
+Life As It Is: First Mission TripDEAD FAST DEAD FURIOUS: PAHANG DRIFT24 November 2006~27 November 2006~The Story from Ted's AccountDay 1: Detoured!
OK! So here goes! Woke up at 6am....did one last packing and off i went to school! My folks send me off....met the gang there. Waited for the rest, took a grp photo and hit the road! Was sitted alone with Bag (My guitar bag)and Precious (My Pinked-stringed guitar), and my campp bag! coz bus compartment not enough space :( no worries though. Left school....Rev Michael Teh prayed for us before we left, so sad he couldn't go.
Reached....oh dear! I forgot the link! the newer one la.....then alighted.....got to know the CHS people a bit better....cleared customs and off we went again...another...5 hours!!!! So wad we do? Was forced to play guit for 5 hours haha....sing songs....just singing la.....Su and Chari though i was pro....aargh!!!!! WHy does everyone say I'm pro? I:M NOT!!!! I;m just an ordinary Teddy Bear! The pro one is God....so ppl should thank Him for giving me the skills and not thank me for the skills! lol....everyone's gettting it all wrong.....*sigh* Ku Mahu Ci.....ooops! anyway Yeah....played.....stopped a couple of times rest points.....didn't buy much though. Mrs Ang made me carry her stuff, Pastor Ben asked me to carry 4 1.5l water bottles, Julian ask me to hold stuff, had to take Andrew's items for a while....lol!!! Chari was laughing like crazy....coz i was like everyone's "trolley" lol. All dumped on me :( sigh.....
Hit the road again...stopped at just toilet breaks.....played, sung, SLEPT!!!! haha....not bad la...then finally reached Raub at 6pm or so. Apparently, thoughout the trip, the bus had many crazy encounters like coming head on towards an oncoming car.....thank God the car turned or might have accident. The bus driver was crazy la!!!! crazy bus driver haha.... We stopped at the church there.....but we couldn;t go base camp coz the pastor there said that it will be rainging very heavily...and erm...landslides and other stuff might happen, so we had to stay in the church for the night.
After that had dinner...forgot what is was but ITS CHILLI!!!!!!! ARGH!!!! ate really little lor :( nvm la, i also not so fussy about food. Then after that we saw a video presentation by Gospel For The Poor, the people who are evangelising to the OA. WHat they did and had to do was erm.....dangerous stuff. haha, but the pastor, Pastor Moses, said we are like in pri sch...so we do only pri sch things lol.... before we slept for the night, Pastor Ben said we needed to split ourselves into 2 groups for day 2:
Group 1: Do labour first before going for the night ministry
Route A~Another Village~: Will be staying at another village from the night.
Group 2: Do Afternoon Ministry then the labour
Route B~ Base Camp~: Will be staying at base camp.
Yup. SO much discussion...i was suppose to go grp * but coz the other side was "spiritually low", as pst Ben said, so haha, shifted to grp *. So yup, after that played more guit, and slept...... actually couldn't sleep.
*Refer to Sentimental Perspective: Encounterz #1* A boy from the church who was scared of ghost came over, and erm...he insisted that i teach him guitar, but he spoke chinese and i;m not good! lol. Thankg God pastor Ben was there to help.....then er. we prayed for him, he slept with us.....but aiya.....so disturbing....keeep waking me up..like hyper. lol slept at 5am, poor andrew knocked out alr...super cold!!!!! my sleeping bad was used as blanket for andrew, me and that boy. lol. He finally slept...and so did I....lol. woke at 6am...1 hour sleep!!!
yup thats day 1! here are the postings:
Group 1/Route A
~Liwei
~Samuel Tan
~Mr. Mah
~Jeremy Pan
~Pastor Lee (their local pastor)
and under them are...
-Alan
-Nicholas
-Jonathan Mok
-Jonathan Ting
-Brannigan
-Leon
-Jaren
-Aldris
-Benjamin Ang
-Theodore KohGroup 2/Route B:
~Pastor Ben
~Rina
~Mrs Ang
~Gabriel (Gummy!!!!)
and under them are....
-Charissa
-Susanna
-Amy
-Andrew (yes, andrew lee)
-Timothy
-Aloysius
-Basil
-Jonathan Phang
-Julian
-Jeremy Lim
-and the whole village. haha!
Yup. So thats Day 1, where did I go???
Day 2: Group 1/Route A, Best Day Ever!
if you refer to the posting under grp 1/rou A, highlight the blank space after Ben Ang. haha! if u had done that before reading, you're super smart, of not, haha. Its alright, was being lame anyway. haha!
OK, woke up. The toilet was pretty good, closetted, but manual flush. Bathed with hose...super cold but shiok! haha. Then had breakfast....more like lunch . chilli again!!!! Then packed stuff and left! Sit a van to the start of the jungle trail. Precious was with....oops! forgot who. Anyway, sat on the second 4 by 4 Hilux vehicle. Guess who's the driver: Pastor Lee. lol. Pastor Lee: A Pastor, A CRAZY "taxi" driver, a guitarist and a translator. He super "bao-ka-liao" haha!!!
(After Day 4, with our deepest gratitude, Pst Lee has achieved the following titles:
Dead Fast Dead Furious!
The Pahang Drift!
Dead Slow Dead Dangerous!
Craziest Driver)
he were second in line of the 3 trucks that were there. Was with the BB ppl, grp 1. Pst lee just over took them all and lol sped off without waiting. We though he was the crazy bus driver! hahaa!!! Alan got hit by trees branches all the way.....lol!!! Everyone on board laughed LITERALLYYfor one hour...super super crazy!!!! Everyone went retarded...lol. We were like the noisest bunch haha...the ppl behind us like no life...lol. Very bumpy, but exciting and fun. AND NOISY haha!!!! just plain noisy....must have gain 6 pecs after laughing so much! haah!!!!
Then we played this game of DFDF:PD, whereby all of us gain levels and exp by dodging the oncoming tree branches. haha. Sam though of that idea, coz we had to dodge plently off branches along the way so to make it more fun...haha..lol. results so far:
Nicholas-Lvl 50- Defender: Take oncoming branches so lightly, he just had to push them away while of us were dodging; no kick for him haha.
Alan-Unleveled- Unlucky: Got hit the most, gain lvl by crapping. Made everyone laugh for 1 hour plus
Jon Mok, Brannigan and Sam were more or less pretty good in their levels! Sam is gamemaster haha!
Jem Pan- Lvl 12- Decreasing: often drop levels due to falling down and getting hit by branches
Jon Ting, Aldris, Leon: Leeches, just stone there, or sit on our bags. It was so comfortab;e i think Jon Ting fell asleep!!!! He prob gain lvl bby sleeping, soemore can ask "what happen ar?" after arriving. lol!!!!!! Sleeper. haha.....laugh like crazy.
Pastor Lee- lvl to pro alr- 4 titles- as explained above
and me?
Ted- Lvl 43- Critical: High Dextirity, able to dodge oncoming objects at a super critical time. hehe
Yup. thats about it. took a really long time. reached base camp in the afternoon.....had lunch there. Chilli stuff again!!! *sigh* Then went to out hut. haha. yeah. bamboo hut. prettty cool, a lot of rooms, small but cozy. have a river view too! but not staying there anyway to nvm la. haha. Left for a village after that. our first village. Pst lee was our driver, again! haha. He die die also must be in the lead...lol overtook a truck haha! *refer to SP: Service #1*
Then after that went back to camp for another service lol. *refer to SP: Service #2*. It was a confusion because the grp 2 ppl were suppose to go for it only. ended up grp 1 went also. lol. so how? grp 1 made cement bricks for 2 hours first and grp 2 did the rest! haha! grp 1 made about 4 bricks because of the time some of us had to go collect sand from a nearby pond. its basically it, plus cement, mixed inside a turner and form it to make bricks! Did one with Alan.
And hey! I am NO WEAKLING!! Why everyone was surprised that i stepped forward to help Alan? lol...everyone looks down on me :( i;m not weak just because i don't like labouring lol! At least i realise i got perseverence and courage to step forward to help. And yes i shoveled the heavy sand and formed the bricks almost single-handedly until the village ppl who were helping us thot i couldn;t take it. sad......even they look down on me, but hey! i carried the whole brick and proved to the crows I AM CAPABLE coz God made me so! So next time anyone looks down on me like that....they better remember Who's their Creator hehe....I did it!
Ted is not weak. wait..Ted is weak but his God is strong!
So after that short 2 hours, grp 2 took over and we had dinner. i fasted because was nervous aboutt the night ministry. *refer to SP: Highlight*will explain more later. Pst Lee droved grp 1 again. haha. the ride was rather bumpy. Encountered the top 3 most scariest exp. haha.3rd- A sudden depression. Super deep
2nd- Another depression, but couldn't see it. worse
1st- Dark alr....going up a steep slop when Hilux suddenly stopped and went backwards!!!!
It was 7pm alr when we left....suppose to be a short ride but Pan's calculations are always wrong lol. Saw many things on the way. It was really really pitch dark after a while. So it was really an exp i will never forget. Laugh like crazy again....then had 3rd and 2nd scary exp haha. 1st scary exp was really scary, like the whole thing gonna fall down! Really thank God for protecting us, coz we were literally in the mountain and clouds. felt the mist, now can tell Mrs Ang then we reached the clouds! haah. Lightning was seen also but thank God nothing happened to us :D
Arrived there at about 9pm.....*refer to SP: Highlight, which is the best, must read!* Service ended and had dinner. Had my first PROPER meal. the food was suuuppppeeeer delicious!!!!! i ate and ate...aldris and bran though i go crazy. they served tea with and without milk also. it tasted super good, exactly like secret recipe!!!!! SOOOO NICE!!!!!! They somore clear for us. The village ppl were nice :D Ended the night with some songs....haha. Dogs came in a number of time. Pan just had to sing "Then sings my soul.....!!!!!" and the dogs ran away. SUPER FUNNY!!! haha!!!! his voice probably scared the dog away, and not the song haha!!!!! haha
Cold night...dogs visited again and again. they could somehow unlock the door...lol. Attap hut like tt one la. SO out a red lightstick there to scare them off. Appaently ppl went to see stars at 3am....nvr wake me up!!! Ended day 2
Day 3: Pahang Drift!!
Woke up with Pst Lee in right in my face. Argh!!! prob went towards him. super scary haha! They said i was the most sound sleeper. haha.....no snore, no movements haha.Yup, thats just like me, Ted the Sound Sleeper :D Had fried rice and the tea for breakfast. Super nice! A dog came in, with chickens!! haha. lol. the roosters were the one that apparently woke the rest up, but not me. i just slept until they woke me up haha!
After brakfast, walked around the village. Saw dogs, roosters, chickens, goats, SHEEPS! Yes real sheeps!!! haha. Had a bit of fun in the nearby river. super cold! Ben was there to make sure i didn't fall, thanks Ben Ang! Liwei in the end wet me when i didn't want to get wet!!!! grr....then change, took a pic and left haha. went to another village......on the way he acquired the Dead Slow Dead Dangerous title. haha! *refer to SP: Service #4* then left for base camp.
Stopped by the real river area *refer to Sp: Encounterz #3* and left. haha. twice, a dog would challenge the 4 by 4 by blocking the road. but pst lee just went faster and the dog would just siam haha! so cool! Pst lee super crazy haha! had a lot a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!
Arrive back at base camp. We were like "Hallelujah!". and they went "Amen!" that is how the communicate here :D super cool! had lunch with them, finally reunited. Then packed up and went to the last village. On the way we change truck. I somehow landed myself in the inside if a truck with Nick, Andrew, Pst ben and myself. I so tired i think i slept on both Pst ben and drew...!!!! feel super bad :( haha. Then arrive at last village *refer to SP:Service #5* then left for the church. Not a very good ride coz it was hot, sleepy and humid lol. And it was going to rain. transfered to a van. Pan and Liwei wanted to act hero so that remained on the truck. It rained and...haha!!!!!! too bad for them lol
arrive in time for dinner. had a last service there. *refer to SP: Service #6* Then had fun! haha. PLayed more guit. my poor Precious had to last until midnight before taking a break lol. Had a lil worship session when andrew decidded to write a song....not sure if manage to complete but will pray for him :D then slept....really good :D ended day 3!
Oh i nearly forgot! Pst lee did the Pahang drift on day 3 hehe, ok. lol yay!!!!!!
Day 4: Back to Singapore
Was the last to wake up hehe :$:$ bathed...the water stopped alot of times coz a lot of ppl using at same time....so i ask the ppl outside choto for a while then resume haha! then had last breakfast. took a last pic and left for singapore! Precious was useful again and haha.....yup. stopped a lot of time coz aloysius needed to pee a lot of times haha. Ate A&W for lunch....50 bucks for 4 ppl haha! we ate a lot between me, drew, aldris and pan haha. then left for singapore.....wrote a song on the bus about our trip lol. must ask Chari for it haha!! yups thats about it!!!! really fun trip. Now for the main bit.
+Sentimental PerspectiveEncounterz #1: Zi Guang And the Unsleepable Night
Yup. on the 1sy day of the stay in church. This guy name Zi Guang was interested in guitar and came over to join us and asked if we could teach. Being a bad teacher, I asked Pst Ben to help haha. he did so it was ok. taught him simplified D,A,G chords. lol. he however insisted that i play a song. lol! why me? anyway play. just play haha. He spoke in chinese, cantonese and malay only so couldn't talk much lol. he is 12 years old. short hehe. So why i write about him?
Zi Guang's encounter would be a lesson for me. one i hope would remain and increase constantly. He came to us when mostt of us were sleeping. i was reading the Bible, when he came over and sat next to me. After asking, he revealevd that he couldn't sleep because he was afraid of ghost. God suddenly showed me Joshua 1:5-6 which says,"....He will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageos" Thank God for Pastor Ben, who spoke pretty fluently in chinese, explaining to him and teaching what to do, like praying, trusting God etc. We prayed for him and later invited him to sleep with andrew and me if he wanted. After some time, he came.
but not to sleep! lol he kinda disturbed us lol. playing with my phone till 1 battery bar vanished! lol. he disturbed a few others, but finally slept at 3am. poor andrew and tim had to bear with him while i tried my best to get him to sleep lol.
But what Zi Guang learned applied to me as well. Trusting God. this would lead to the Highlight section actually. but yeah, Joshua 1:5-6 spoke to me as well. I was going alone without Pst ben or Andrew to another village, which means i;m their only guitarist. So i was quite worried, but i really thank God that thru Zi Guang God taught me about faith and trust in Him. He did it again.....teaching me Faith, in a gentle way :D
Encounterz #3: Rapid Rescue
This happen when we went to the main river rapid area on day 3, group 1 only! hah. we were the privileged ones. The current was strong and the rocks were with algae, making it slippery. one by one everyone fell into the river haha! literally slide down. i'm no exception. super freezing water!!!! haha. It all started when alan wanted to go pass a small fall in the water. he did. but the problem started when the rest of us mistook that is was ok to go. lol, there were shallow rocks all over!! it hit everyone. Painful haah, had one cut but no bruises. just pain lol. the strong current made it impossible to go back. aldris was nearly and literally swept away if it wasn't for Samuel who got hold of him in time. Joining hands, one by one, we helped one another to get back to safety.
God was there again. No doubt! Everyone managed to back to the safe area safetly. God worked through th adult leaders like Samuel to rescue Aldris. God sustained us and made sure we won't get swept away. through this encounters, God saved our lives, he saved mine. Unity was what brought us back to shore.
God provided many things around me when I;m having difficulties in my daily life, to make sure I get to the safe area. Really thank God for showing me yet again that He is in control and I don't have to worry about anything.
Service #1:Eye Opener
Basically their services were about the same. it was made up of mostly children and some adults. The first one we went to was really an eye-opener. They had guitarist, but the key was quite flat as the guitar quite old lol. Sang songs, malay one of course. Its really inspiring to see kids worshipping God by singing and participating! They do this everyday! The irony is that we have all the time in our own society today to worship God, but we don't. some people dun even come for services. Whereas there, they have so much freedom.....
Presented the song items to them and just sat and listen to Pst Lee speak...in Malay. Jon Phang gave his testimony...
Service #2: Pastor Ben's Revelation
Held at the church at base camp where both groups went. lol. Similiar like always, only tt Pst Ben was invited to play for them their malay songs. He had difficultty at first because its malay and they were already singing. he took some time to figuer out the key they were singing in. He has to play by ear. Praise God he did it! in F# lol...b ut he did it and it went well...Gabriel shared Jon Ting shared his testimony.
Throught ths service God worked again through Pastor Ben. He all along knew that he somehow could play by ear, but he never really realized or did it, until today. God indeed has shown pastor ben that he HAS that gift and he is able to use it well! Praise God! An inspiration for me too. Link to Highlight.....
Servce #4: A Classic Problem
haha....this one was funny. it was after the service after the night ministry. There was constructionn going on....had to wait for a while before it properly started. Its a classic problem because.....
1: The guitar was off tune......
2: the guitarist played chords in G
3: His G chord is my E chord
4: The guitar if tuned might snap!
5: The people were singing....in A!!!
lol....5 reasons why it was so classic. Guitar in G, struggled in E and sung in A. lol. super diao haha. so plucked lor.....haha. I shared my testimony about the time after crossing the road to church, a car just swept pass me, 1 cm away i guess.
the day before God helped me remember this incident, and till today I am still grateful that He saved my life from the car.....
Service #5: One of A Kind
Finally, the only service that has a good guitarist. Guitar was still falt though but hey! it worked out. God this time worked thorugh Andrew as he shared about worship. Pst lee translaterd for him. Both did very well! Praise God for the successful sharing. Gabriel shared his testimony
Service #6: The Difference
...is that the songs were in chinese and sermon in Cantonese. lol Pastor Ben shared while Pastor Moses translatored. Jeremy, Andrew and Mrs Ang shared their testimony to the congregetion. yes, its back to civilisation. Praise god for yet another successful sharing! Presented a chinese song itme for them. had only 5 mins crashcourse before that lol. Su played the guit. i forgot what song!!!! Need to ask Chari again lol.....
Highlight (Encounterz #2, Service #3): Shining for Jesus
I literally fasted dinenr on the day of night ministry. I was veery worried as i'm doing solo, without pst ben or andrew. no backup. just me. God referred mt to Psalms 119, the longest Psalm i think. And it really spoke to me, about how to trust and use God's Word. Every single sentence applied to me and I'm truly blessed.
And it happened. I prayed that God would use to the fullest and if need be add skills. i was asked to play for them, solo. With Precious, talenTED and my neverous self, i walked up and waited. But I had the whole kingdom of Heaven behind me :D They sung. I....I knew i had no choice but ti play by ear, It also never occured to me I could play by ear in a time of need, but. ok i tried. Capo 5,4,2 cannot. so i capo 1 and played in G#. Praise God!!!!!!!!!!! I found the right key they were singing in! Truly God was working in me that night and used a gift which i never really thought i had! God is truly wonderful and awesome working in me like that! That was truly the most memoriable exp ever......
After the service the rest came up and were in awe....but well, no glory to me, all to God. If it wasn;t for him, i would be a sitting duck then.
Yup! thats it!!!!!!! Super long lol....will leave with this song I;m crazy about.....
Kuman Cinta Yesus
KumaU cinta Yesus selamanya
KumaU cinta Yesus selamanya
Meskipun bagai selih bergandi dalam hidupku
KumaU cinta Yesus selamanya
Ya Abba Bapa ini aku anakMu
Layyankanlah seluru hidupku
Ya Abba Bapa ini aku anakMu
Pakailah sesuai dengan rencanamu
I love You Jesus Forevermore (thanks clr!)
I will love You Jesus forevermore
I will love You Jesus forevermore
No matter what storms may come, You'll be in my heart
I will love You Jesus forevermore
You're my Father, here is Your child
I will keep You firm in my heart
You're my Father, here is Your child
Fit me in your plans as a glove fits the hand
Its a really wonderful song....will play and put it here ok?
>>>The "Cast" of the MovieExtra Catch Phrases:Halllujah! Amen!PanKohLeeTan Washing Services. haha!!!!! Enjoyed it oo!
# candlelighTED @ 9:17 AM