FiOne- God’s Freed One

Here’s the happenings of my 11 days in winter China from 2-12 Dec 2006, especially for those who couldn’t make it there! Initially time crawled like an old snail, especially during the weekdays where we didn’t have activities with the Dreammakers (DM), the students of a local polytechnic. Brain-freezed, most of us felt like hibernating in the cold weather.. Well, our Ms Sally had done us proud in this area by clocking so much hours of sleep~

.

We had a short time from 10-1pm on the 3rd Dec (Sun) of ice-breakers, introduction and teambuilding activities with the DM . The Code-breaker game that we had difficulties trying out ourselves, the 30 DM were fantastic at it because their memory power was trained from young!!! Then we went back to the school 2 more times to watch their Singing competition rehearsal and Sports Day. It seemed to be the school’s 1st Sports Day event. You should see how funny we looked, trying to group-skip in the cold, rainy winter. haha.. But jumping kept us warm. And it’s fun to play along with them instead of just watching them from a side. Ask me personally and I’ll tell you what were their prize for winning. Sally suspected bEn fall sick after that fateful afternoon. It snowed! Tiny winy snow flakes~

.

9th Dec was the day where DM were supposed to invite at least 1 friend to our exam blessing event. Our DM were also grouped into Hospitality, Ice-breaker and Logistics team. After all the fun at ice-breakers, food and feedbacks from their friends, we had a time of birthday celebration with the DM. Wah, this was the time they really let their hair down and started "smearing" cream unto one another’s faces! Yes, they were touched to have somebody celebrating their birthdays. Even those whose birthdays don’t fall between Oct-Dec, wished they were born on those months. Hehee… They didn’t know this celebration will be part of the quarter programmes so that no one will be left out. Well, for the 1st time in my life I heard my name being shouted from the 7th floor of their hostel as we were leaving the school compound. I was thinking "Hmm, one day they’re gonna shout Your name too, Lord~".

.

On the other hand, the other free times during the weekdays were also quite well spent as I got to know the teammates (both Spore and LZ team) better. Those times were memorable:

.

chatted till late nights in the dining area

played Rummerkui in the living room

fought for toilet usage (5 guys 2 ladies to 1 toilet)

last minute "arrowed" to lead worship & devotion for the morning

watched little Isabel run in & out of the apartment, looking for someone, eating and sometimes playing her violin

the hassle of dressing up & taking off outer coat, headgear, gloves, scraf & socks

and of course the birth of many jokes. Hahaa.

.

I have met my personal goals to "make friends" in this trip. Sounds weird? Yes, it’s "MAKE FRIENDS". Somehow before I flew off, Holy Spirit revealed to me that I need to overcome the fear of friendship. Friendship that goes beyond the surface. As I looked back into my life, I would not regard having any best friends (except Jesus) because none of the closer friends I once had is still in close contact with me. Sad huh? I’m quite a lazy person to make the 1st move to contact others. Even if contacted, I would be hesitant to express my concerns for fear of rejection. E.g. I saw this friend of mine would definitely need a drink. In my hesitant (for fear of rejection & possibility of being laughed at) to get this friend a drink, someone else had already bought one for that friend. Yup, some of my thoughts are not expressed in the form of actions which I think are quite "Yi2 Han4". Never mind, that leaves room for improvement!

.

To my surprise, I actually felt the withdrawal symptoms before we reached Singapore. We couldn’t do much while waiting in Beijing since most of our things were checked in. The coldness in the airport seemed to freeze my emotions (so that I didn’t feel what I felt) until Eric blasted some songs via his HP and we sang along. Right behind us were our cousins, I wondered if they find us disturbing… Haaha. Initially, we just tried to "Tong"; not to sleep. Did all kinds of funny things (huh, Sally?) and jokes to keep awake. Uncle CK was the 1st to join the Zzz group after we were informed of the delay. Thank God for bringing us home safely. Couldn’t imagine the fog which caused the delay, was to be formed after the flight had taken off… Maybe I’ll see God earlier than all of you reading this.

.

Thinking of what lies ahead.. Should I say a "Yes" or "No" to March trip, given the invisible pressure of wanting to provide for my parents by getting a decent job? I even questioned why can’t I be like my peers working and earning. Me want the right 4-5 persons to be on the March plane too. Sometimes I wonder if God had asked me that question while in China for fun. That question was "Do you want to come in March?". He gives me a choice, this time without revealing the plans ahead. It takes real faith now. Today I read about this explanation for the presence of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil besides the Tree of Life — in the absence of choice, free will is nothing. My struggle now is to give Him an answer, whether is it a "Yes" or "No.