What's happening to the world???

Word of Wisdom

Anything.... for that ticket...

People on the right, don't look out of the window!!

Fortune Chicken!!

Me First

NOT MY JOB!!! I just have to mark the road!!

LOOK Where the Camera is facing!!

The Surgeon Says..

Interesting Shirt Design...

Natural Style....

Personal Reflection

We can ask anything from God,
Ask Him for protection,
Ask Him for the blessing of the day,
Ask Him for forgiveness,
Ask Him for the gift of the Holy Spirit,
Ask Him anything our hearts desire..

But do we surrender ourselves to Him..
Surrender to His protection,
Surrender to Him for the blessing of the day,
Surrender to Him for His forgiveness,
Surrender to the prompting of His Holy Spirit,

In every prayer.. we can only surrender,
Let His Will, His Word and His Holy Spirit fill us,
Surrender is stripping our pride and acknowledge our need to Him,
and let Him clothe you with the cloak of humility,
Humbly surrender ourselves in front of the Mighty and Glorious King.
Amen..

regards,
salina ;->

Building Up To Sydney World Youth Day

Related links:
Sydney World Youth Day 2008

First Holy Communion Seminar

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates... Here's a little update about an activity last Saturday.



The Sunday School teachers organised a First Holy Communion seminar on the 20th October 2007. It was held in the Blessed Sacrament Church Parish Hall.



A lot of students from all kinds of ages came to the seminar. Just name it, there’s 10 year olds, 6 year olds and even 16 year olds. One thing that I know from that part, God doesn’t care how old you are. You are never too old to receive your first ever Holy Communion.


At 8:15am, Aunt Rebecca, Carl’s mum, took the stage. She told the youth to about the toilet and other ‘stuff’. She even told them to leave their nametags on their chairs whenever they go toilet or outside of the hall so that they know who are having trouble with their war in the toilet.


Then, Aunt Florence took charge….





Yep, that’s her… She’s the one who got us VIP tickets for the Phua Chu Kang dinner on Oct 15, THANK YOU!!!!!! K, back to the story…


She was explaining a few things about our faith and God’s love. Unfortunately, some people were still in their sleep mode, so she called a few people to come up front. She asked them ‘simple’ questions like…

Aunt Florence : “What is that bread that Father held during mass??”
Cute kid : “Emm… don noe…”

She asked a few more questions…



Aunt Florence : “What is the communion to you?”
Blur kid : “…………………………….”
Aunt Florence : “Well??”
Blur kid : “Don noe………”
Aunt Florence : “My Goodness, what did you learn during Sunday School???”


From that situation, you know that there are some youth who still do not understand much about their religion. Some people say they are Christians because they were born as one, or because their parents are Christians. Those reasons are foolish reason….

These children will be exposed to a lot of influence in the near future. It’s really good that their parents allow them to go to this kind of seminars. Hopefully, they will return to their homes with a new heart and renewed spirit.

One positive side that I gain from them is that they are very honest people. If they don’t know the answer, they will just say, ‘I don’t know’. They are not ashamed to say that because it is the truth. Now, how often do we do that in our lives?

Aunt Florence called over Claudia. She wore pink.


She said she loves Jesus so much, more than anything in the world. There’s this saying, “Time will prove your love”. After a few years, will she say the very same words again? Pity, as we get older, we tend to care too much about things that are visible and important. Truly, Claudia’s sharing showed the innocence of a child.



Aunt Florence also shared about WWJD (What Would Jesus Do). As a Catholic, we should try to live the way Jesus did. During his life time on Earth, his faith never faltered. He does not judge people by their cloths, sickness and looks. He loves others. He even asked God to forgive us when He was crucified on the cross, God’s love is so great.



K, back to the story! She also shared about her family. One time, her sister broke a glass. Aunt Florence took the blame instead because she doesn’t want her sister to get beaten up. She loves her sister so much until she even lied to her parents. Is that a sin? She said she lied for the greater good, what do you think?



Then, the seminar took a 15 minutes tea break. The food are SOOoooOOo nice… Got nugget, got sausages, got mee also… What can I say, life as a blogger is getting free food.. ^^





After the tea break, I gave a bit of promotion work. I reached out to the youth and openly invited the young guys to become altar servers for the Lord. Hope more young servers will join us in the future.



Then, Aunt Florence thought them how to hold their hands during communion...






Loraine was then invited to give her sharing about her life. She’s 13 years old, the daughter of Aunt Florida. She shared about how she got a death-threatening disease and she nearly lost her eye sight… I always see her at church but didn’t know her past. I was really touched to hear her sharing.



To sum it all up, her message was keep Jesus alive in you every second of your life.

She also thought about receiving the Holy Communion. She said to take it slowly and prayerfully, don’t bite because it will make the Holy Spirit upset. The only bad thing is that she put her paper in front of her face a lot… Can’t see her cute eyes nia…

Anyways, Aunt Florence then called me once again to show the kids how to genuflect. Funny, I did it like almost every week but some how I had doubts on which knee to kneel on. Haa.. guess I got stage fright that time… Carl pandai pandai take picture of us lerr.. Good one man!




She also stressed the importance of coming to church. She called upon a kid named Victor. Victor’s not planned to come to the front but he gave quite a sad sharing. His parents can’t come to mass with him so he usually goes alone. We all prayed for his family. It’s very sad to see parents unable to go and celebrate the Eucharist with their children… May God bless his family…



After that, she told us about the breaking of the bread. The priest does it every time during mass and she stressed that it is vital for the young ones to know the meaning of the breaking. Jesus broke the bread during the last Supper and clearly said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me”. The host that we receive during communion is Jesus’ body specially broken for us.

She also wanted the youth to feel what she felt. She felt the warmth of God during a mass in the past. She was so tired so she fell asleep for about 20 minutes. During her rest in the spirit, she heard a different music than the one that the choir was singing. She commented that that music was the most beautiful music she had ever heard. She wants us to feel what she felt too…

Lunch break was near but the lunch were not ready yet. Aunt Florida came to the front and shared about how she felt during her first Holy Communion. She wondered how the host would taste like, like sweets? Like durian? Like mango?




After she received it, she was never taught about what to do after that. So, she knelt down and just said, “Jesus, now I receive you, you can do what you want with me”.



She also sang a song, the Donut song. Here’s the lyrics:


Life without God’s love is like a donut,
A donut,
A donut,
Life without God’s love is like a donut,
With a hole in the middle of your heart.


Sorry, I didn’t record the song, but you can always come to Blessed Sacrament Church during Sunday masses at 10am and ask her (the pianist) to sing for you. ^^

Everyone was so happy. Everyone plucked their fingers to the beat. Didn’t know Aunt Florida was that fun… HAHA..

After that, we had LUNCH!!! YUM YUM YUM!!


Then, Aunt Florence asked Carl’s sis, Sonia, to set up the DVD Player. Next up, is a video presentation.


Aunt Florence asked all of us to say a decade of the rosary before the presentation


First up is St. Bernadette




The story tells about a young girl who met with Virgin Mary near a grotto. She was told to ask the Bishop to build a chapel there. Although no one believed her, she never give up to do what the Virgin Mary told her. In the end, she had to eat weeds and drank mud.

These actions resulted in flowers where the weeds had been and healing water where the mud had been. Everyone believed her…

The story also informed us to pray the rosary for the sinners.




Secondly is the story of Noah’s Ark…

This story is about God’s punishment towards man. Unfortunately, got electricity problem… So, only can watch a bit… But if you want to read more, check out Genesis Chapter 6-9 from your Holy Bible.






Then, Aunt Florence invited 4 girls up front. They were the oldest First Holy Communion participants. So, she thought they could understand the story more… They were so shy… ^^

Well, only Elizabeth gave a confident answer. She’s the tallest and wore a white shirt.

Then, the kids are divided to two groups. Each group will have their time at the prayer room to adore the Blessed Sacrament Church. For some of them, it was a new experience. It’s good that they are exposed to the Blessed Sacrament at such a young age.

After that, all of us are treated to ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Carl got 3 big containers full of ice cream left, bet he’s enjoyin it.. ahaha.. It’s his money anyway…

After eating / drinking ice-cream (melted nia…), they are briefed about confession. Then, they go confession. Sorry, cannot take picture, had to go back… ^^

Finally, the seminar ended with the last child to complete his penance at 5:40pm. It has been a very long day…


More photos by clicking here.

Change your day

How to change a 'CRAPPY' day to a 'GOOD' or 'BETTER' Day?

• Post some 'post-it notes' (small sticky papers) at your bedroom, your car, or class table or anywhere that you always break down about the positive stuff that happened in your life.
• Buy a card that has a meaningful message to you. Read it every time you feel down.

Do something for some else....

• Buy or make your friends a thank you card.
• Give a friendly sms once in a while
• Clean the church
• Help your family in chores

The last but not least, know that God has given you life....

He loves you, and he will always care for you...


Throwing away your life is like throwing away a gift from God...

God L-O-V-E-S you...

Read this post from Joel and you'll understand more...

Sydney World Youth Day 2008

Related link : http://www.wyd2008.org

God's Personal Love Message

This is a message from God through our beloved brother, Joel Justin George. Here is God's Personal Love Message to you.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stella and Joel and Jesus at the back

I dunno why I'm writing this... Maybe its cause I'm happier now... But one thing is for sure, is that God L-O-V-E-S all of you. For the blessed children of God... I hope that what I write will help some of you who reads this... BTW, I'm trusting the Lord to do this, something is just telling me to write this. Okay, here it goes;

My children,
I love you all,
Hath you been mourning,
Turn O children to me,
I will wipe away your tears,
Come to me and i will give you hope,
For all your burdens,
I will lift them,
Don't lose courage in what you do,
All signs will be revealed,
All words shall be spoken,
That I am here for you.

My sons,
Be strong and valiant,
Be with me and I promise power,
Haven't found it yet?
Don't worry, it will come,
And my sons,
Be like eagles,
Be like the wind,
Strong and yet caring,
I will guide you,
Across the river that flows,
The raging waters,
All will part in My name,
Go forth and do what you must,
There are those who will be there for you,
In your times of doubt,
But don't let loneliness grip you,
Don't let anger and greed tempt you,
YOU ARE STRONG...

My daughters,
As beautiful as you are,
Mighty shall you become,
As radiant as the stars,
Your beauty shall shine,
I shall accompany you,
All the days of your life,
I will carry you in My arms,
I shall not let you fall,
But i request that you remain still,
And not let anything bother you,
Just believe in Me,
Believe that I will do what I will do,
Trust in My words,
For they are everlasting,
Though Heaven and earth fall,
My word will stay forever,
Raise your faith and broaden your mind,
To the wonders that will be done in all of you.

My dear children,
This message I have sent to you,
Now that you have read this,
Believe that it is I,
Believe the works I did, am doing and the works that I am going to do,
All My actions, are out of Love,
Listen to My words,
Listen to My chosen people,
This child may know nothing,
But he is writing what I have said,
Now go forth into the world,
Never lose hope,
Never lose courage,
I am everything that you need,
Now and forevermore,
With this, I bid you all,
My children,
My ETERNAL LOVE,
To each and everyone of you.

Love,
YHWH.

P.S. Children, read this Jeremiah 31:3.

Bible Knowledge

This is a friendly message from Benedict Lo

Cheli just came back from a course organised by the education
ministry (exam section). we were told to target at least 3,000
students to sit for SPM Bible Knowlege paper from next year onwards. if we fail to do so, this subject will be abolished. in short, we
Christian teachers will one avenue less to reach out to students or
build Bible foundations.



Why the ministry is doing this is because out of over 300 thousands
students sitting for SPM every year, only 600-700 students enrol for
SPM bible knowledge . It does not benefit the ministry at all.
many parents do not allow their children to sit for this particular
paper because they fear for their children will not be able to score
well.


All the students need to study are these: Luke and the Acts of the
Apostles. the examiners are Christians and they will not fail the
students on purpose. it will not be a burden to the students to take
this extra subject up especially for those church kids as they have
foundation in the bible in one way or another ( through sermons or
sunday school).



Many years back, the education ministry threaten to close down
chinese literature and tamil language. The ministry gave them targets
too. the MCA & MIC stepped in. MCA helped by encouraging and
challenging all chinese students to enrol for the said subject. the
MIC bought books and distributed to the indians. Both subjects are
saved.



We Christians has no political party or organisation to champion for
our cause. the church must help to create an awareness among church, parents and youths. we don't want God to be taken out of schools in
this country. We also encourage non Christian students to enrol for
this subject. we convince them that it's not a tough subject to
score. in this way, we are teaching out to them.

The Holy Bible is vital in our lives as a Christian

Please help to pass the word around. I hope you this issue will also
touch your heart as the family issue does. I also hope priests and pastors in
different churches will also see this not as a small/ not important
issue.

Dinner with Phua Chu Kang

My gosh… Oct 15, 2007 will always stay in our heart forever. Some of us enjoyed the variety of food that consist mostly of seafood, live performances from International Music House (IMH) and not to forget, Aaron get his face artistically ‘lipsticked’ by Selina. The ending of the dinner was a superb one…

Before we go there, let’s check out what’s the dinner for…

Throughout the last few years, St. Joseph Parish Council has plans to build a HOPE (Home Of Peace) to house the needy like disabled, old and poor. To achieve this goal, cash is needed.

Various fundraising have been held. Besides that, a lot of may-god-bless-them donors donated various amounts of cash to support this cause. Currently, they have around RM1,800,000+ in their bank account. This amount is more than sufficient to build HOPE. So, the dinner is especially dedicated to everyone who contributed in HOPE and also to introduce HOPE’s vision to the public,

Actually, Aunt Florence got us a VIP table for 10 people. We love free food and Phua Chu Kang so it was a chance not to be missed.

So, we hitched a ride in Carl’s van. Aaron had a traumatic experience when that very same van broke down and he had to push the van in front of St. Theresa’s schoolgirls who were marching in that area. Tough luck mate…

Anyways, back to the story. We had to wait at the lobby for a while for Aunt Florence with our VIP tickets.. I repeat… VIP tickets!!!!!

The dinner was held at Crowne Plaza’s 3^rd Floor. It was an extravagant hotel I must say. Everything was so shiny and clean and sparkly and nice and beautiful.

We took our sits on table 9. It is just about 10 feet from the main stage. So, some of us were expecting to see Phua Chu Kang… Well, not that fast…

The waiters and waitress were very kind and polite. There’s this little boy who was much younger than any of us but handled the dishes like a pro.

The first event was the pride of all Blessed Sacrament Church. Our very own Olivia, Alex and Christine sang LIVE!!!!!!!! Their voice were angelic, what can you expect from someone trained by Aunt Florida herself… *hint hint*

Then, cute cute cute cute super cute kids around Form 1 and younger performed… Arrggh… I love cute stuff… There were so cute… Alex was with them and she fitted really well. Congrats!!!! I got to give a lot of credit to those kids… I can’t even sing Silent Night properly. ^^

Then, we were shown two videos. One from Archibishop John Ha himself and the other was a video about the building of HOPE. There were three big projector screens hung on one side of the hall. They really spent a lot on this stuff…

After that, we were treated to a boy band. Once upon a time, the world knew about El Divo.

Now, Kuching has El Nino!!! No no… nothing too hot… ^^ There were four men singing El Divo songs. If I would like to compare, I would be very bias so I won’t. Their voices filled the whole hall with awe, while some of us continued on munching our prawns…

Then, we had a performance by Michelle Wong. Sorry about the bad photo. Didn’t have the guts to get a better angle that time… ^^ She played her flute. It was fast at first but slowly becomes slower to suit our quest on finishing our bayam.

She played kinda long… So, we had time to have fun with our cameras…

A Chinese girl was introduced shortly after our photo shoot by the name of Josephine. She sang a Chinese song and wore a white cheongsam. Nice song although I don’t understand anything.

Then, the commentator, Alvin, stated that El Nino was for the ladies. Now, it’s for the guys. A group of ladies came on stage. They had super cute hats and they moved quite amusingly… to me… Then, some male musicians joined in and they plucked their fingers to the beat and sang a song that I had forgotten. SoorrryYY!!!

Then, there was this guy, Adrian!

He’s Adrian Lim.

I figured he must be some guy. He came in a unique way, from the back of the hall. How many times has we seen that already?? He sang three songs and it was really fun to hear him sing. He always sing with a happy smile on his face.

Next is an instrumental performance. Violins are used to substitute the traditional sape. Anyways, it was a cool performance.

Then, Reverend Father Albert was invited to go on stage to give a speech. Here’s a little story I took from his speech.

“The Dollar Notes”

-Rev. Fr. Albert

Note: Not entirely the same version as that night

In a purse, there was a few dollar notes. A fifty dollars note said that he’s being doing really well. We went to hotels and airports, all the high-class places. Life was really good for it…

Then, it asked the 10 dollars note where it had been. It said that life was good for it too. It went to Parkson and Tun Jugah, all the nice shopping complexes in Kuching. Then, it asked the 5 dollars note where it had been.

For the 5 dollars note, it had been at Thompson’s Corner, Kopi-O shops, all the food courts in Kuching. Life was fairly good…

Finally, the one dollar note was asked the same question as the others. The one dollar note said that its life has been very holy. So far, it had only gone to churches in Kuching.

So, that means that we tend to give small change during mass collections. This is not wrong but what is the needs of life compared to our spiritual needs? Collections during mass has never had a bar for everyone to par but this is the fact of modern Christians, we tend to spend more on our physical and earthly needs then spiritual needs.

Fr Albert added another money note to the story. A hundred dollars note was asked the same question as the others. It said that it has been kept safe so that it can be used to accomplish HOPE and thank God for all those donors, HOPE shall be a reality.

It was nearly 9pm and Phua Chu Kang was still nowhere to be found. Where is he???

Well, he made a grand entrance like usual. He single-handedly brightened the whole audience to another level. People were flocking to take his pictures, me included!!

He even called Gerald to go on stage. Then, he was asked a question. If he gets this right, he will receive a present. If he gets this wrong, he will be given a plastic bag to cover his whole face and would run around the hall with it. The whole pride of BSCYM was with him and his question was…

Phua Chu Kang : “How are you?”

Gerald : “Fine ^^”

Phua Chu Kang : “Colrect!!!!!

Gerald got a pocket watch and a pen. It’s a very good pen by the way.

Everyone had so much fun!!

Then, the highlight of the night was starting. For us BSCYM, the next event was centred on our beloved Aaron George.

Before

(Due to Aaron's request, his picture has been removed)

After

He had to put a RM10 note on his mouth, RM50 note behind his right ear, 3 belts on his right arm, and get his face lipstick-fied by Selina. Hey, give him credit for being brave! Finally, he had to collect 15 strands of hair. We were too smart so we counted 15 strands of hair for him, while the other groups just didn’t count and just grabbed their hair with their hands and went to claim their prize. We didn’t win anything but it was really fun. Sometimes, the smartest people don’t count…

Finally, he ended the night with three great songs. Aaron took videos for them and I will post it once I get them from him.

In conclusion, it was not a night to be forgotten. Thanks Aunt Florence!!!!!!!!!