The crazy bunch of people

Can you see where we take this picha? Yes! We took this picture in the Police Station!!! 

I knew it for a very long time that this bunch of people are special, but I just can't describe it in words until today. They are not only crazy and noisy, but they also very chill and relax! In short, they are very chillax people!!!!!

I mean how often can you find people that would make noise in the police station until the officer ask us to tone down our voice? 

We help out each other, but we also have fun in every situation. That's what I love about them!

Khim even said that if somehow we face tsunami or earthquake, we can still have fun!! I can picture it in my mind already! 

Meraki Zoe

I really hate to do this again, but I this time, I changed for a super duper valid reason - The Power of Speech!!!!

So I said before that I will never ever ever again change my blog link. Oops... I break my promise. I came across "The Power of Speech" a few times in the past few months, and every time I heard about it, I couldn't help but to consider to change my blog link. But because I wanted to stay committed to God know who that is reading my blog, so I always wiped that thought out.

But recently I keep telling my friend that I don't think I look pretty and stuff, was very discouraged on this area, and when I came across "The Power of Speech" again, I couldn't help but to think that somehow I really make myself feel like I'm not pretty.

So I decided not to take any risk and just change my blog link. Having "The Power of Speech" fresh in my mind, I'm very careful in choosing my link this time. I thought of every single possible link that could work, I wanted to put something random like "Apple to Zebra" or "Elephant can't run", but they just don't seem right to me. I literally cracked my head on this and I decided to go Pinterest to get some inspiration! haha~ And guess what?! I came across this::

It caught my attention, passion, soul and creativity! I want to live my life that way, write that way, draw that way and snap pictures that way! So I thought of putting "Meraki Life", but it doesn't sound very nice to me. It sounded like some insurance company name. After randomly thinking of a word that could go with it, a light bulb blinked in my mind and I thought of the word "zoe". Other than the fact that "Zoe" is commonly used as a name, but it is actually a Greek word that means life. Since Merika is also a Greek word, then is a perfect match! Meraki Zoe~

I don't know whether the usage of the word is correct or not, but don't care la~ Is good enough for me, cause to me, it means living my life with passion, soul and creativity!

Back to reality

If this is a dream, could someone be kind enough to splash water on my face and wake me up? But clearly I'm still in the same realm, sadly I'm not dreaming. SOT indeed ended already, 7 months fly pass quicker than the airplane flight from KL to Singapore. To me is like a blink of the eye. Things that happened, moments tha I spent with my friends, tears that I quietly wiped away in the middle of the night are still as clear as though it happened just a second ago. I got to say, even though I looked forward to come back to KL, I miss SOT already.

So many things had happened for the past 7 months. Things that I never imagined will happen, things that distracted me from my original goals. I was super ambitious! I wanted to be the best preacher or maybe win the best attendance award, but I ended up winning nothing. I wanted to go missions in the forests, those places where you need to take a boat in and go tracking in the jungle, but I ended up going to Surabaya and had a great time staying in air-conditioned hotel. I totally went off track!

No matter how well I planned, God always have a bigger and better plan for me. Maybe at the moment I don't see it, but somehow in the end He will let me understand. 

In this period of time, I've given my first offering challenge, I lead my first praise and worship, I preached my first sermon, went on my first mission trip and experienced my first healing miracle. 

Honestly speaking, I always thought I can speak very well, preaching to my mind was a piece of cake! Men! Was I wrong! I was soooo nervous in my first offering message in CG I couldn't even understand myself! My preaching tests was like a roller coaster ride, my first sermon was good, but my second till the fourth was superbly bad, but by the grace of God, my last sermon was my best! And I thank God that when I was preaching in Surabaya, He gave me a word that is consistant with the church vision, to be a mission church! 

Out of everything, the one that I afraid the most is leading worship. I wasn't assigned to do it in mock CG, but I was assign to do it in my real CG. My CG leader, Johann gave us opportunities to serve in different area in CG meetings, which includes leading worship. To me leading worship is the toughest. You got to lead the people into the presence of God. I was super nervous I almost cried when we were practicing. But thank God it was OK in the end.

I really learn that when I stop trying too hard and be lead by Him, He never fails to show up.

I wish to say that my SOT went on smoothly and I have no struggle at all. But as we all know, Christianity is not a bed of roses, it ain't easy at all. Many times I wanted to give up and go back to Malaysia, many times the thought of going back to Malaysia brings tensions into my world, many times I cried quietly in the shower, many times I pretend I was sleeping but my heart was broken. But no matter what situation I am in, no matter how I responded to those trials and tribulations, God remain faithful and He never let me walk alone. He was always there when I cried out to Him, He was always there to wipe away my tears.

7 months was not totally a sweet journey, but I learned a lot. And I know I can't live without Abba. In everything that happened, I run back to Him. And that's one of the most important thing that I learned, as long as I hold on to Him, everything will be fine.