The city of sin and beyond

2 Tim 2:12 - If we are faithless, He remains faithful for he cannot disown himself.

Amen to that as I can fully say I experience this wholesomely throughout the past 6 weeks of my stay in USA.

Even when I found convenient excuses to skip QT, He remained faithful. Even when I easily forget to say grace before my meal, He was faithful. Even when I disobeyed and sinned, He continued being faithful.

He calms my fears, He sees that the Devil do not come and take control of my soul, He makes sure that everything is right on track so that the whole trip is safe and fruitful. Just because I am merely man and He is God.

I am back from the city of Sin, and if you've been there,it really DUH to see why it is called the city of sin. The seven sins as we known are magnified in Las Vegas.But many people argued that this is the culture of that city.

Las Vegas has numerous hotels and each of their lobby is a casino. So either you can gratify your "gluttony" sin by tucking in to their buffets, satisfy your "greed" and "envy" sin by gambling. You can also give in to your " lust " sin by going to strip clubs, switching on your hotel rooms' tv to watch porn or call any of the flyers handed out to you as you walked along the streets.

Yes, it is truly a city of sin, but I still appreciate the kind trolley driver who brought us around, the hotel staff who were so helpful and the city itself for giving a fantabulous time.






Apart of Vegas, this trip also brought me to one of the world's seven wonders- Grand Canyon.



And I hope everyone back home is doing fine. Can someone please please post an entry of the baptism and worship conference?

I will be home soon :D

As I was working out at the gym this morning, I caught sight of many young kids who are in summer camps now. Okay, I admit... I purposely did the cross trainer right infront of the rock wall so as to see the children in action.

My friends who are in USA with me call me paedophilic... haha... but i do love my Tanglin Halt kids alot. Seeing those children in their summer camp reminded me alot of the Tanglin Halt camps where the children comes in different characteristics and looks, but one thing : nothing can match their innocence.

The lack of updates in this blog can be attributed to my dislike for technology. I am not a blogger by nature and this blog was started so as to keep accountable to the SYTs back home. I prefer writing by hand and it's only in my own personal writing then can I pen down the deepest feelings and emotions. The blogosphere is just too transparent and too intimdating for a private writer like me.

Nonetheless, as I was sorting out my photos yesterday, I realised that I have left home for about a month. I have been in Los Angeles for about 3 weeks already and week after week have been filled with activities. I have visited two churches in the last two sundays and it really reassures me that no matter where we are, we worship the one same true God. Standing in church, praising Him, worshipping Him with our hands lifted high has never felt better. It was a refreshing touch to go to church in US. Thank God for bringing me Christians as well as a church. I miss my close relationship with Him but I know that He is with me no matter where I go.

So, an update of what I have been doing so far :







Picture 1 & 2: At universal studios. It was really fun, chiong-ing around sitting all the different thrill rides.

Picture 3 &4 :At LA getty mueseum which is free for all visitors. This mueseum is fantastic as it is situated beautifully admist mountains and the landscape itself is so beautiful. When I visited, they were showcasing " Cruxification" as one of their art pieces. Very enchanting oil pieces.

Picture 5: I did a very embarrassing thing by going onto LA national TV. I was at the red carpet premier of "hairspray" that stars John Travolta, Zac Efron, Michelle Pieffer, Amanda Bynes and Queen Latifah. Honestly, I only like John Travolta but when Zac Efron came out, I just joined in the shouting. And I got all their signatures because I was acting so groupie. How embarrassing can this get, considering that celeb journ was never one of my forte.

And a shout-out to all my SYTs down there, I have received the Sunday Times and holding it in its phyiscal form never felt any better. I may have good Sunday Times everyday. But what beats Sunday Times and just my own home news?

You girls rock. And I pray that God will renew you and us through this baptism and you will blessed others in the worship conference.

Thank you:)

Worship 2007

As mentioned in my previous post, Worship 07 is coming soon and the SYTs left in S'pore so far has embarked on their journey to learn to worship God with flags, tambourines and streamers.

Date: 20th July 2007
Time: 7pm
Venue: COR Worship Hall

For more info, please go to http://worshipconference.blogspot.com/

If you're interested or have any query, pls approach any of the SYT or tag it!

SYTs: Add on if I forgot anything. Thanks!


From: Esther Neo

A starry-studded afternoon

How many times in your life can you say " I am going to Hollywood after school".

I find it pretty amusing that this is what I told my mum and sis where I will be going after lessons today.

I had a fun time in Hollywood today, not that I see any mega stars but I finally went to the Walk of Fame and go close up with the handprints of the people who graced the big movie screens. I respect their profession but I am not one of those who will go insane over them. It was exciting nonetheless.

And for xinjie, how spot on can you get? I was really filmed in Hollywood today. We were walking along Hollywood streets and there were people shooting a movie. It was so cool watching them do those scenes as it reminded me of my film course in CS and later when we walked back they waved at us and kind of beckoned us to look into the cameras.The camera then started panning and following us!I think that they are filming cut-aways to fit in between shots, but who cares, we are on a Hollywood movie. We were all so busy smoothing our hair, it was so hilarious at that moment. I do not recognise the actors by the way, but does it matter? It's Hollywood! Haha.

And Hollywood will be holding the opening of Harry Potter premier. The child actors will all be coming to LA to put their handprints, footprints and WANDPRINTS on Hollywood walkway. How cute can that get!

After Hollywood, we went to this famous American diner- International House of Pancakes. As the name suggests, everything was pancake. This is what we ordered but I only finished one-third of mine as it was too sweet. Mine is the wholemeal brown pancakes with blueberry( I just had to choose the healthier version). And my amazing three friends, polished up their plates while I died from instant-diabeties setback on my seat. However , as compared to Sydney's Pancakes on the rocks, this is way far from it.

America has such a culture where tipping is like a norm. It annoys me as the servers only are nice to you at the instant where you are ordering and paying but after that, they become a totally different person. It seemed forced that they try to put on good service.

A little update about my normal life. I have been going jogging in the morning around my neighbourhood because the weather is just so pretty at that time. A most embarrassing thing happened today and I tripped and fell flat on the pavement. The people in the car zooming by must be having a good morning joke about me.

I miss Singapore food. I miss Tau Huey especially, my favorite food in the world. The last one I ate was at Tanglin Halt!

Song of the Season

If you hear a song playing when you open this blog, this is the opening song for Worship07. This is to share with Jing and others who might not have heard of this song before.

I don't know if you all can see the embedded player cos I can't. Anyway, this song will be removed once Worship07 is over cos I think you all should know right?

Enjoy and please do come, do come for it.

Majesty
by Planet Shakers
from Arise (2006)

Rising
I feel my heart sing
Praises our Lord and King
The wonder, the majesty
Welcome the King of Glory in

Every tribe and tongue
Every land will sing Your praise
To the end of time we sing
Majesty

All majesty
To the God of creation
All majesty
God of all generations
This anthem we sing
To the God of all nations
All majesty
We sing

From: Esther Neo

Praise be to my Father alone

Every morning, I will switched my Sim card over to my Singapore number to check the daily messages that you girls sent me. I have just finished doing QT and my phone started beeping with your daily word, I thank God for you girls.

Today was extra special as a Tanglin Halt kid send me this message : " I have a question for you. If Jane has 28 apples and she bought them at 45 cents each, how much does she has to pay? And, why were you not at tuition yesterday?"

Just this little thing warms my heart and added some colour to my morning.

I was feeling far from God in the past few days as I settled into LA and was caught in the busy-ness of school, checking out their transportation, washing clothes, losing myself in the big campus etc etc. I can rattle off thousand of things that take my time, but I know there are no excuses to just spend time with God. If you can go to the supermarket to get your food, what's with the time spending with His word which is the bread of life. This morning, I had a fruitful time with the Lord and He spoke so much to me that it made me ashamed but loved at the same time.

I have already been in LA for the past three days and school has been alright. The usual American school with all the sports culture and what not. What really caught my interest is the nice old buildings though.

The last day before I left for LA, I was in San Fran Gay Pride Parade. San Fran honours their gays and lesbians and even the government has set special protocol for fair treatment given to them and their families. America has reached a state where homesexuality is a norm and openess to it is a measure of your character towards others who are different from you.

I was there for the experience and although at some parts, the floats were really pretty, I have to constantly remind myself how homosexuality is not part of God's plan. The homosexuals themselves are however cool about their identity and in fact pride themselves as one big family.Throughout the parade,condoms were being handed out and I was pretty disgusted by those free giveaways.








This scene is something which is very real to me. God reminded me that this will be a likely situation I will be in when I worked in Journalism in the future. I will be faced with things and issues that conflict with His word and also my beliefs. In the media industry, there will be much more of this to come. I believe many of you are going through this now, especially Joyce, Bella and Jas who are on internship. I think this is call the "mid-youth" syndrome!

There is one picture I posted which shows a church supporting homosexuality. It still baffles me at how this whole idea came about as from what I understood from my faith so far, it does not go in line with the preachings. I am just discouraged by the message that he will be sending out ot the rest of America on how Christianity/Catholism can go hand in hand with homosexuality. Like what many pointed out, homosexuality is a personal choice and although I might not agreee with it, I do not discriminate.

In one corner of the parade, a man was bravely preaching about God's judgement on homosexuality. I would like to applaude his courage and will to spread God's word. I pray that God will protect Him and guide him as he braves the fire to preach about Jesus and never be discouraged by any trials or abuse from man. May God be with him.

I know that you girls are going through baptism soon and I pray that whatever spiritual warfare you are going through, know that you can make it through with Christ and He will make you stronger at the end. Satan might have his ways and God's ways are stronger than anyone else. He will help you and lead you through the baptism where you will be cleansed and renewed in His spirit. I am always praying for you girls and let's all trust in God to walk us through our journey with Him. He loves us more than we know.

And this is an image I got from God this morning: God reminded me that even I might be walking in the dark streets and dangers are lurking around, all lights can go out but He will be the brightest lamp to walk me home and ensure that I am safe. Men and things of the world can be like the rest of the lamps who might flicker or be dim when they have no energy left or just waste away as they are temporary, but God is ever-lasting and His faithfulness will always shine.

Praise Him and I pray that God will be with you always.

Hi all... to make my presence felt!!!! (2)

that was me btw.... Jas.. keep forgetting to sign off.. haha