- YMOVE -

AHA.




I'm finally down to it.




To tell everyone about the Missions Trip.




First of all I'd like to clarify what we actually did on the trip.




As most of you think, and I can quite confidently say this, a mission trip is one where people supposedly go forth to distant lands to start preaching the gospel and sharing the word of God with everyone and Evangelising till we drop the moment we touchdown.





I'm not saying that that is bad, and if you do it by God's grace I say don't stop.




However, that is NOT WHAT WE DO.




In fact, THAT IS NOT WHAT MOST MISSIONARIES DO.




Unless you'd like to get kicked out of the country, martyred, imprisoned, tortured or worse.




Why??




For a start, in most other countries, a government is mostly made up of one religion.




Now if one crazy fanatic were to step into the middle of an alien land and started shouting:





"Jesus is the only way, turn or burn you foolish buggers!!!"





I think he'd/she'd be at gunpoint faster than you can say,





"I really really love and admire Jesus!!"




Well that's a possibility, but the real reason is that nobody is going to want to even acknowledge your presence.





And if nobody wants to acknowledge your presence, then you absolutely cannot tell them about God.





And if you cannot tell them about God, then they cannot choose to be saved.




And if they cannot choose to be saved, then you'd be just some retarded guy in the middle of sane people.





In other words, IT WOULDN'T BE A MISSION TRIP COS YOU'D HAVE NO CHANCE TO EVANGELISE.





So you could then either head back home and cry to your pastor, or enjoy a holiday.





I think I am going very off point at this moment haha.





Okay so back to the mainstream.





The purpose of a mission trip, or short-term mission trips to be more precise, is to soften the grounds.




Not literally, but to soften the hearts of people to they'd want to know about our God.




And this is done through skits, dramas, outreach activities such as Christmas Parties and other parties, the giving of free English lessons in local schools or simply interaction with them through sports.





And it takes years and years of softening before the ground is ready to receive the message of Salvation.





Most of the time in the mission trip therefore, is spent getting to know the people and showing them God's love, and bringing them to outreach activities so that they can fellowship with fellow local believers.





And hopefully, one day decide to follow Jesus when the invitation is finally given and the seed has been sown.





And that is pretty much what we do in YMOVE.





Outreach programs, evangelistic activities, english lessons.




And we are very short of manpower, so please JOIN US!!!!





Haha that's so advertisement.




Anyway, speaking seriously, we do need alot of help.




The ground in Thailand is very hard, and it has the highest percentage of Buddhist in the world.





In the first province out of two that I went to, the full-time missionaries there have been working for 3 solid years!!




And they have not seen even 1 salvation.




Can you imagine how depressing that can be???




To devote your life for the great commision yet reap no harvest??




I really admire them.





And one reason we go is also to encourage them and hopefully spur them on in their mission.





Alot of preparation is done so that we can get all the skits and mimes and lessons right, and the fewer people there are, the less we can do.





That's why I really hope more people will come to join us, so that we might prepare the way for the harvest in lands that have not seen the light.





Namely, for our ministry, Thailand.





Just to tell you all I really had no intention to post this in the first place.





It all just came out of me suddenly, so if I do seem abit harsh on tone, please pardon me.





But the need is very real.





I do hope you consider, and I do hope I have changed your views of Mission Trips.





Just to leave you with a verse:



"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" - Romans 10:14-15

CHRISTMAS DAY

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Happy Christmas
by John Lennon


So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young


A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear


And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so Happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight


A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

Go Tell The World That Jesus Lives

Alrighty.



I will be going to tell the world the Jesus lives this Wednesday.



Flying off to Thailand that morning.


So I won't be back till just before Christmas, and I will not be contactable as I won't be bringing my handphone along.



Well the camp was...



Just to sum it up in a few words...



Absolutely..

FANTASTICALLY-WONDERFULLY-PSYCHODELICLY-MINDBLOWINGLY-QUANTUNQUADRUPERSUPERBLY-BANGSHEBANGLY-WANGDAFILY-GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was really a time where I could feel the spirit so heavily in the midst of us.



C'mon Bobby you can do it, die to yourself daily if you want revival for this land.



You know what?



There's something else.



There's this girl.



I think I like her.



Maybe I don't.



No actually I do.



But for some reason.



She comes to mind even when I surrendered my emotions to God.



Sigh..



Do keep me in prayer..



Let doors that are meant to be open be, open and doors that are meant to be closed, closed.



Thanks.

- Sawadii Khrup -

I am such a lazy bum.



Hee I don't know why whenever I want to write something, when I get to the write post screen, I just don't feel like writing anymore.



Oh well, here I am after two days of Worship Retreat and Missionary training.



I'll get back to my subjects I wanted to tell after reviewing these past few days cos' they were super fun.



Lets begin with the retreat.



We had a 2 day 1 night retreat in church for the Worship Team where we stayed over night across the road at YMCA Orchard.



All the activities were quite fun and meaningful, but the night part was still the most hilarious.



After playing two rounds of polar bear in our room, then everyone disperesed cos it was already late into the night.



I still remember bunking with three other guys in a room with three beds only.



So this ultra tall 187cm Hwa Chong guy, a fellow peer from ACSI and I shared two beds.



And we sang a contemporary song before we slept. By Trademark.



The one that goes: "2 a.m. and the rain is falling..."



Peculiar thing was, it was really 2am.



And the rain was falling.



Heh



Then the next day during activities, I was running down a slightly muddy hill in my grip-less sneakers, slipped, and fell among rocks and mud.



And grazed my self in my right lower-shin pretty bad with lotsa mud all over the place.



The funny thing was, there was a group of Malays near by, and they were the ones that cared for me the most.



I mean sure, my fellow church members did ask after me, but the Malays had to rush over and check out my extent of injury theirselves before leaving me alone.



Wow... talk about social cohesion man..



Cool..



Anyway so after that I had to leave for YMOVE Missions training to Thailand.



I mean, we are going to Thailand mid-December, not then.



And we had A LOT OF FUN learning the Thai language.



WOW their language is really to melodious!!



You can practically sing every line and move your whole body to a tune!!!!



They have five syllables, unlike 4 for chinese, and lotsa other kinds of funny pronunciations.



Super duper cool, and furthermore, the men and women speak the same sentences differently!!



Heh.. well actually parts of sentences differently.



Yeah.



Did you know that 95% of Thailand is Buddhist??



Its like saying to be born in Thailand is to be Buddhist.



So sad right.



And ONLY 0.3% out of 60 MILLION people are christians!!!



SO PLEASE COME ON MISSION TRIPS TO EVANGELISE!!!!!



Man I really can't take the thought of so many ppl. dying without salvation.



Yeah..



So anyway I had two injections today.



One for influenza and the other for typhoid.



They don't hurt right now, but the doctor says its the second day that the pain really worsens.



Oh well I'm going to sleep now, and I'll tell you how it feels tomorrow.



If I'm not too lazy.. :D



So.. yeah gnite..



"Sawadii Khrup, yindii thidaii ruucak khrup!"

(Good-Bye, I was glad to meet you)