it's freeziiinnnggg. there's no central heater in this house.

I LOVE IT.

Today was another holiday great restful day. i spent the morning watching disney and Finding Nemo! i mean, is this the best mission trip ever or what???

ok i'm just kidding. but i really did do that for the morning and early afternoon. =)

significantly, i got to see one50's Discipleship Team (Dteam, for short) session today. And it's so interesting. Not all the dancers in the Dteam are Christians. In fact, one of the "leaders" herself isn't Christian.

I was really quite puzzled at first. like really really perplexed. But I managed to talk to the dance school boss for a bit and i got this from her: "We accept anyone. Doesn't matter if they are Christian or not."

That got me thinking abit. Firstly, i mean, i don't know about you but i reckon Singapore Church/Christian culture is quite conservative! We're naturally very rules-based (i mean hellloooooo PAP has like, trained us well) and very word-centric and respectful of the Bible. And those are absolutely important things. And they should never be compromised on. But i think what i thought i quite learn from the Aussies was how they were really open, in general.

It's partly a culture thing. Like most Aussies just warm up to ppl really naturally and they are really quite ppl-oriented. And it's awesome really. I spent half the day with Bek and her little sister who's 13. And they spent like 4-5 hours just sitting together in the living room, watching Nemo, and then fooling around and then dancing. I mean, no one even touched their computers, except me. They were all about one another.

So back to the original topic, Aussies are really open to one another and they put ppl before their work. Over openness isn't a good thing as it can very well give of the wrong impression or brinker into compromise. But i think the problem with Singaporeans is that... we are sometimes so work-centric or rules-centric, ppl drop in priority.

Everyone is created in God's image, even the homosexuals (just as an example). they are still to be loved. And if they don't change, it doesn't give me an excuse to hang out less with them or furrow my eyebrows at them or get upset. not that i compromise on my beliefs. But rather, that i just keep loving the person and valuing them as God's image. Their original worth and intrinsic value is much more than their sin because Christ died to redeem that, and that person must know that. And i must also know and believe in that, or rather, believe in God's good work and continual work in that person's life.

Wow, was that lengthy, PHEW! i bet no one's reading to this juncture anymore.=)

and i haven't even told you what Dteam is about!!! Ok, i'll try to keep this short. It's this group of girls from various clubs all over who are invited to join this class where commit to forming a dance team together for about 2 years which includes learning life skills and "touring" the churches. This is the best contact point one50 has got to share Christ. So that's it. and it's awesome. But... having said all that i said above. I'm still not totally comfortable with the idea of there being non-christian leaders. that's a bit weird.

At night, i went with Bek and her very awesome mom to a sign language class at their church. And i just had to share this with you guys coz i think it's such a fantastic and loving thing this church has done as a community! You see, a few deaf ppl have been coming to the church. And so, they thought they would start a few classes to teach sign language so that church members can communicate with these members. It is really such a lovely thing to do! And such a great testimony to the people around. Like, who are these people who are willing to put in hours of their time to learn how to communicate with the deaf anyway???????? This is what a church should look like, I reckon! God, what a great original blueprint you had for the church indeed. I see what you were getting at!

wow... this is such a long and rather technical post already. thank you for reading this far and i will be posting up a prayer list soon (today's post seems way too long to continue!) i really miss u all.=)

pictures up soon too! (once i get my hands on a usb cable ;))