Monday, July 27, 2009

Back from my 2 Weeks in TEKONG!!!

It sure was quite a memorable 2 weeks confine in Tekong!!! Can't really say much of the happenings there as was told that all army trainings are restricted! So will just share about the awesome sections mates i got to know in this 2 weeks!

Anyways first of all, i really want to THANK everyone who have been praying for me ever since i enlisted to NS! God certainly has been faithful! Protecting my section mates and me! A lot has happened oever the last 2 weeks but wld share personally only as i'm not allowed to reveal too much here!

Was enlisted to Leopard company platoon 2, section 2 the only enhance Leadership batch in sch 2! And i would say this 14 guys which i got to know here sure did help in my enjoyment in going through the tough trainings together with them! The camaraderie between us is building up! And the cheers and songs we sang together during our admin times and marches sure kept me going! Its also quite funny as i related some of the events to the Singapore classic show Army Daze in some of the trainings we gone thru and the personalities we see in army!

I really Thank God for my section mates! We really have 14 guys who have so diverse
personalities and talents living together! We all are starting to get our own nicknames already! Let me try to name some of them!

Starting from bed order...
1) Jeremy Sng (Holds the Guiness Record for the Fastest SMS in the World)
2) Kok Rui (aka Xiao Bai lian, is a Personal relation man at a ladies night club)
3) Boyce (the big strong guy who really has one LOUD voice!)
4) Louis loo (The avid liverpool fan who has watch all their matches for dunno how
long in a row!
5) Kang yang (the veggie man!)
6) Cheng Qian (WUSHU MAN!)
7) Raymond Lee (My awesome BUDDY!!!!...a Great singer! he got 2nd place in his sch singing contest!)
8) Ben Lau (mee! hhahas! wells they call me "Father or Pastor")
9) Desmond (aka Ah pui...the future "inche")
10) Ryan
11) Seng
12) Duane
13) Mark (If i'm not wrong he is the 13th place in the CS cybergames ranking in Singapore!)
14) Darren Teo (The recourse-cee who if not for him, our section wld be a little off track, as he had experience in BMT before! , he was also a regular emcee for his sch and supposedly quite high profile in his sch days)


A side note... SINGAPORE are 3rd in the WORLD in TCHOUKBALL, after narrowing beating Great britan at the WORLD GAMES in Taiwan! GOOD JOB GUYS!!!


Sunday, July 12, 2009

G.E.L gathering @ kesley house!

This will probably be my last blog post for quite awhile... as you all will know by now...that few hours time i will be enlisting to Pulau Tekong BMTC sch 2!!! And as im going in on a monday! Most likely i will be missing 2 weekends which means 3 weeks later than i will booked out!

But i would say its a nice last day to spend as a civilian...today was YM@Church today! First led the time of corporate prayer, then said a few more goodbyes to the ymers i met there... and then met my sec 1 grp GEL for 1130 service before we left right after for Kesley house in novena!


(The crosstrainer booth!)

@Kesley BIG PAVILION HOUSE!

Was really in awe as we all step into his house! It sure was a very open concept double volume architecture pavilion!!! It was really cosy and spacious as we hangout at his place the whole afternoon! Anyways THANKS KESLEY for opening out your house! And GELs really appreciate this "farewell" party for me! Anyways i may be in NS! But you all are one of my key motivation to be back on sundays each time!!! Seeyall sooon! =)

(His swimming pool!!!!)


(ROCK BAND! .... played some mini pool!)


(The music room where there is a drum set, few guitars, piano etc.)

(the lovely cards that my lovely GELs gave me...and this cake which max,walter & nick got me!)


(I will miss this bunch of lovely G.E.Ls!)

SEEYALL PEOPLE! For now i dunno when my next book out is going to be! but i guess it will be 3-4weeks time! but wellsss.... Please pray that i will meet like-minded christians there! For my Shin splint which i hope will not get worst at BMT! And wells! Most of all, really need ur prayers for me to keep my focus on the LORD all the time! Its going to be one memorable MISSION TRIP TO PULAU TEKONG!!!! =)

Saturday, July 11, 2009

A memorable weekend with God's Clay!

It was a nice time gathering at Chin Ee's & Mark place today, as she open up her hse for our small grp to come by for some high tea! =)



(The yummy foooood! And the chocolate fondue we bought for her wedding!)

(And we saw this rainbow! Its like everytime we gathered together God shows us this rainbow of His promise of our grp! The last i remembered was our small grp retreat last year!)

And indeed the time after the gathering@ Chin Ee's hse was indeed very memorable! We decided to actually spend some intentional time of really HONEST sharing with one another on how our grp has come & actually to really catched up with each other spiritual life! It was quite funny how we actually took away macs and actually sat down in a circle at some random void deck to do this heartfelt sharing! And i was truly encourage by the maturity of how each of us viewed & shared our honest thoughts on the grp! And all this sure did take our grp a step even closer to each other & im sure this is a new milestone for our future as we continue to strive to support each other in Love & share our lives each day!

Many last goodbyesss =)
Willl also miss all the wesley ymers too! As i spent a "Last supper" with them after GAP yesterday! And today was the last Tchoukball session with the Kovan team for awhile too! So was also given the opportunity to share my testimony to them during the devotion before training!
And
of course i'm sure gonna miss God's Clay when im in NS!!!!!!!!!! I'm my beloved sec 1, G.E.Ls who is organising a farewell party for me tmr in my LAST day as a civilian!


Thursday, July 09, 2009

Tchoukballll!!!!!!!

As usual have been really active playing a lot of Tchoukball and trying to start a tchoukball ministry in wesley before i leave for NS!

Tuesday night...

Paya Lebar Kovan played a friendly match against the National World Games Girl's & Men's team back to back! It sure was quite an experience playing with both teams! As they were really wayyyyy better than all of us! Manage to be in a game at one of the highest level of Tchoukball!

After the match was left with a sprain left thumb, strain 2 fingers & a pull hamstring!


(the first friendly against the Girl's national team!)


(A short video of the first friendly against the Girl's national team!)

Wednesday!

(Wesley Tchoukball Pick up game 3@ Fort Canning Park!)

4 days time to FREE ACCOMMODATION! FREE FOOD! $2 hair cut! Paid for doing exercises,going for field camps, holding a gun! And of course lots of new friends to be made at the best adventure camp ever in pulau tekong! =) Can't waitttttttt for this 2 years mission trip! =)



Sunday, July 05, 2009

Sharing at AGAPE CUP!, Running! Tchoukball! Soccer!

Its been one busy week playing a lot of sports from running,to exercises to tchoukball(ALOT of it), to Soccer every singleday!! But before that would like to share what i shared before our soccer AGAPE CUP match today!

AGAPE CUP – 5 July 2009

Testimony Sharing- Ben Lau

I’m honored to be given this opportunity to be sharing something really close to my heart to you all today! I’m not here to preach a sermon, but to just share a short story of my life!

I’m just like all of you all here! Soccer is one of my greatest passions, been exposed to this sport ever since my primary school days!

A short background of my life first, I was born in a Christian family, but I would say I was not really a true Christian in my first 16 years of my life, I would actually call myself a “Sunday Christian” . I was just this shy quiet boy whose life everyday than was really just about soccer! Looking back at my secondary school days, I’m really grateful of being given the chance to play for my school which is known for its good soccer record, even had the privileged to train with some of Singapore brightest stars than; many of them are now active in the Singapore soccer scene. And when I actually looked back at my secondary school life 4 years ago, God actually place a particular soccer coach that inspired us all, I still remember vividly before a key school B division national match up when he shared to us a challenging time in his life, and how God saw him through it. He then shared with us the importance of winning in the ‘game’ of life and not just the game of soccer. And somehow what he said actually sipped into my mind in a very subtle way.

At the end of my sec 4 year, I went for a youth camp in my church where for the first time in my entire life, I actually had an experience with God! And that change my entire life totally! And I really mean totally! From that shy quiet boy, I suddenly gain the confidence in Christ! And looking back, I would NEVER EVER imagine myself than having the courage to share all this right now! Even in my perspective of how I lead my life now! Now I realised that it’s so true of what my coach said to us than! That there’s more to life than just winning every game in soccer! It’s actually knowing that God is the centre of my life, and I want to give my best for Him in everything I do! Be it in study, NS (which I’m going in next week) or in soccer!

And you know, recently I came across this article on this Famous player Kaka! I’m sure all of you have heard of him right?

For those who don’t know, Kaka was born in the Brazilian capital Brasilia on April 22, 1982, he once shared this…

“When I was young, I dreamt of becoming a professional player for Sao Paolo and to play a match with the national team. But the Bible tells us that life gives you more than what you ask for and that’s what has happened to me.”

What happened was… In October 2000, at the age of 18, Kaka suffered an accident that was a milestone in his faith. Coming down a water slide, he hit his head at the bottom of the pool and fractured the spine in his neck. He risked being paralyzed and bedridden, unable to play soccer any more.

This was a career-threatening accident. But his injury healed and the worst did not happen. He was able to return to soccer. Kaka believes that it was God in His grace who saved him from paralysis and allowed him to play soccer again. In his thankfulness for God’s grace, Kaka raises his arms to the sky whenever he scores a goal. And whenever he plays a match, he always wears his T-shirt “I belong to God” under his team shirt. He also tithes a part of his income to his church.

And now a key member of the Brazilian national soccer team, and recently moving to Real Madrid for a World Record Signing of €59 Million pounds from AC milan, Kaka is famous throughout the world.

Kaka is the poster boy of today’s soccer throughout the world. His imaginative soccer play and deep Christian faith is making an impact on millions of young men and women. But Kaka always remembers God. “I don’t win alone,” he said last December. “I want to thank God for all the victories and achievements I had this year as a player.”

To end off, I just want to say that ever since I came to know Christ there’s this inner joy in me that I can’t describe in words, that missing thing in my heart was filled by Christ Love for me! And it’s so great in my life that I just want to take an opportunity like this to share this Love with you all.

Like what my soccer coach once said…”it’s about the importance of winning in the ‘game’ of life and not just the game of soccer.” Thank You! =)


(That's my coach who shared his inspiring story to us during the national rounds.. we won the B'div South Zone title that year!)

Monday
Had a nice run at macritchie!... did those exercise circuit in between & after! And wow sure had a nice time reflecting a lot in those time of solitude!

Caught up with some crusade mates!

Tuesday
Tchoukball at Kovan CC at night!

Caught up with st.gabs mates!

Weds
Tchoukball training session with wesley ym at Fort Canning!

( Wesley Ym Tchoukball training session@Fort Canning)


Thurs
Precept classes...

Friday
The Tchoukball friendly matches between Wesley Ym & YDC for both the boy's and girls!

TcTch


(the guys match up! we lost 19-40... but i think we did pretty well for the first time playing together & going thru like 1 training only against a slightly more experience team)



(Videos of the girls match!-The wesley ym girls actually did quite well, even though they were playing together for the first time with some only going thru 1 training session! And at one end of the court for a moment they were up against 3 of the top national girl players and they even scored a couple goals past them! GOOD JOB team! =)
Saturday

(Training at Kovan CC in the morning)

Rush to Marcus wedding@ Church! met up with aysgls and than met up with ethel,jem,wenhao!...

Sunday
Last bible session with GEL for quite a while before i enlist! also the last crosstrainer comm session with them, and also possibly my last agape cup match for wesley! And finally got my first goal in this agape cup match,was pretty surprise that the ball went in when i just tried a long range shot from the right flank!

7 more days till my hair is gone! This last week sure is going to be so busy, alot of unfinished buisness & catching up before my hair is gone! =)