Thursday, February 24, 2005

Sporty Night

I sat for my Operating System paper last night. It was my first test for this semester. I had two subjects to take this semester excludiing FYP. My other paper would be next week and it coincides with the passing up of the first draft of my FYP report. I spend the whole day at home studying all that I can but was unable to memorize or remember all the facts for this subject. This lead me to staring blankly at the paper for a couple of minutes as I could not recollect the facts that I had studied. Some of it I could roughly remember, others seem foreign to me as I could not remember. I quickly went through the paper and did what I could do while leaving the uncertain ones to the end where I ended up crapping my way through it.

It was after the exam and I decided to paper myself a little my reading newspaper and watching television after coming back from Serdang. There was an interesting show going on TV and it was the up and coming talents for NBA. There was a variety of games which includes team shootout with veteran basketballers, station games, three point throw and the ever interesting slam dunk. I was pretty impressed by the slam dunk session of it as a fellow up and coming talent, Josh Smith from the Hawks display an interesting style of putting the ball in the loop in which he was able to do because he was able to hang in the air long enough to do it. It reminded me about Michael Jordan days. I decided to go to bed thereafter but couldn't sleep. Knowing that there was a football game going on at that time, I decided to wake up and watch the match between Barcelona and Chelsea. It was an interesting display of football where Chelsea was down to ten man and Barca had to capatalise on that by making ever effort in front of the strong defensive side of Chelsea. Their perseverance and patience paid off and they were up 2-1. What was even more interesting as I saw the game was a spirit of sportmanship. I was equally impressed with Ronaldinho and Eto's dedicating each attempt on goal to God. Very Christian indeed.

It was a night of sports for me and I guess I am pretty amazed of what sports is and can only thank God for such a thing call sports.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Catching Up

I had the oppurtunity of meeting with Danette last night with my sister. We finally got to meet one another after almost a month and half of setting up a date to meet and not being able to due to being occupied. It was good to catch up with her after such a long time as we had dinner at the Asia Cafe at SS15. One of the things I told her is that she is one of the few who had taken the initiative to call back to meetup. There are many whom I had made plans to meet and catch up. Some I had managed to meet, others I am still trying to. It is not easy to actually find a suitable time to meet up with people due to individuals involvement. There are some whom I had been calling for almost two months to meet up and have yet to do so.

It is quite frustrating at times when one is doing the initiating all the time. I do sometimes have thoughts of giving up trying to meet up. Frankly, I believe in mutual communication. Meeting up would be best if both parties intend to do so. One of the reason we normally catch up with friends is to keep in touch with them even when we do not see them often anymore. Keeping in contact would help in continuing the friendship that was made and allowing both parties to have something to talk about if they do meet.

There are many I have known that I have no longer been in contact with. Many of them I used to be closed with have suddenly became alien. It is hard to strike a conversation more so want to keep in contact with them. However, I would try to keep in touch with as many people as possible. As I begin to prepare myself to go into the working world where work would be apart of my life, I hope to be able to continue to keep in touch with friends that I have met and known. It is not easy as I see that my seniors hardly can find to do so. Knowing this, I guess I have to prepare myself for it. It takes a lot of initiative and perseverance to keep in touch. Friendship takes work to develop.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Loosing Focus

Things seem to fall apart at times. I realised that I have began to loose focus. It is constantly happening to me and at times I do not perform to my utmost best. Many times, I have ideas and things I want to do. Most of the times I managed to get it started yet fail to finish it. Is it because of my uncapability? Is it because I am not serious enough? I hope to see myself refocusing this week particularly in my studies, my future and my walk with God.

Obedience

Its pretty hard at times to live life doing what you really want yet have to subject to authority. Many times I feel pressured at times but I have grown use to it already. Its hard to always been under scrutiny and supervision. This is one of the reason why I find myself at times confuse or even struggle to grow up.

I have been brought up in a very strict family ever since I was young. My parents have always been very protective for their children. It has been difficult after I had entered university. My parents, in particular my mom would always call to check on me. Many times she get upset or angry with me when she finds out that I am not in my room at a certain time. At times, it may boil up to an argument as well. Mom has a tendency of being very possessive at times and its has been pretty tough for me. Sometimes I fear leaving my home and hanging out with friends or even going for any CF related events or meetings because I know that she will call me. My dad has since follow suit as well.

I guess the reason for their over possessive nature is because they are worried. My parents tend to be very anxious over things. They seem to see the world as a very wicked one. Many of it have been influenced my the reports and news the see and read over the media that have made them fearful. Besides that, they are always concern about my studies due to my not so good grades and have persisted that I should do well for this last semester in uni. There is much expectation before me especially being the elders in the family. With all of this, I find it a struggle to serve or even do the things I like to do.

Many times I had thoughts of giving up. Give up serving the CF and church because I can't take the pressure at longer. All I want to do is to make them happy but many times I am not. I do not get much encouragement in my involvement in both CF and church. Studies seem to be the top most priority in their life and that I should do well in order to secure a good job and well deserved salary. Its hard to be obedient, especially to parents. However despite having many thoughts of giving up, there is something that spur me to continue because I know that God is with me. I know that I have one life to lead and that I want to experience as many things as I can. It is not easy but I know I have to trust in Him

80

A number that many would hope of reaching in their life. One such person that have reached that age is my beloved grandpa. He turned 80 on 19 February while my grandma turned 71 the day after. A birthday celebration back to back.

My aunt Carol decided to plan for this special occasion about 3 months back. It would not be a big scale celebration like those we read of in the newspaper where relatives from all over the world would return for this auspicious. We decided to have a small occasion instead by inviting some relatives over, those who were close to my grandpa. This celebration took place at the Kota Permai Golf and Country Resort at Kota Kemuning at Restoran South Sea. We had four tables all together.

Food was soon served thereafter. Our list of dishes included Yee Sang, Four Season, Sweet Curry (Vietnamese) Prawns, Fried Baby Spinach, Assam Fish, Mango Chicken and Mango Sago. Besides that, we had two cakes from Secret Recipe, Cheese Cake and Blueberry Cake. All the portions were huge and I was particularly surprise when the table that were occupied with kids finished the whole plate of prawn when some of us barely finish half of it. I was motionless at times due to the full stomach. There was simply not a single space left that I could stuff myself with. I guess the food from Chinese New Year still lingers in my stomach.

During the whole dinner, I was glad to see my grandpa very happy. His face seem to light up during the entire dinner. He was happy to celebrate his birthday with his family and see so many people celebrating with him. It was simply a good day.

I have always had a high respect for my grandpa. At the age of 80, he is still very active though not as alert as before. He used to play tennis every evening but have recently discountinued. Now, he spends his time tending to his garden and is still actively involved in the Association for the Disabled people. Besides, he still drives around town to do his shopping. I have learned much from him especially in his hospitality where he is ever ready to open his house for guest and relative to visit, his patience and independance. I am glad to have a grandpa like him and will always treasure this time I have with him. Happy Birthday Yeh Yeh!

Friday, February 18, 2005

Godhelp

There have been a couple of things in my head recently. Things about myself that I have learned about during past week. I guess the reason behind this was because of having to attend the Election Committee meeting that lasted for almost an entire day. A group of seniors had met to select the new batch of CF committees who would be taking over the leadership in a few weeks time. Many hours were spend evaluating each of the candidates on their strengths and weaknesses to see wherether they be able to fit into a committee to bring the CF to higher level in the next academic year. It was quite interesting in a way as I got to know the nominees a little more better and also the people in the election committee as well. I realised that each of us are made different. Each of us have our strengths and weaknesses. These differences is what I find interesting.

As we began to evaluate each individuals, I realised at that moment that I was also evaluating myself. There were many things that I said regarding about the nominee seems to relate to me in one day or another. I realised then my imperfect nature and areas that I needed a change. There were some areas in my life that were lacking or weaknesses that I needed to deal with in order to grow further. Some of these weaknesses were only known to me and no others. They were not public lifestyle issues like drinking, smoking or clubbing but were private lifestyle issues that needed attention. I realised that the flesh is weak. When temptation comes and the urge to sin calls out to us, we would normally fall if our flesh is weak, what not our spirit also. I realised I needed to strengthened my spirit and God was the only answer to my weakness. There is a need for me to constantly do my quiet time everyday. I realised there is much strength from the Word and in prayer when it comes to the dealings of everyday life.

In wanting to change and grow, I realised that I need to be open and humble. I do not mind people coming up to me and challenging me on my actions. At times, I realised that I am blind toward my mistakes and need people to point them out. That is why my mom is constantly nagging at me to change myself. I know that many times I turn a deaf ear and in doing so, I suffer the consequences at times. More often than not, I choose to listen to my friends than to my parents. The mentality that they are old fashion in their ways seems to stop me from listening to them. I realised that many times what they say about me is exactly what I am and what I needed to change. Even if they were strict in many ways even until now, I knew that they are the only people who understands me the most.

As I began to reflect upon myself, I realised why certain things had to happened at this point of time in order for me to realise and to change before it is too late. Growing up seems to be the biggest challenge for me. I know that the time is now to change and I needed to be on my own to do so. With this knowledge, I understood the reason why I am still single. I knew the reason why I had to go through a broken relationship to come to my senses. It would be unfair for her if we would still be together. Honestly, I still do think about her at times because I still like her. I know it is different now as we hardly speak or let alone meet with one another. But, I know that she is well taken care of. It is good to see the guy that she is with have changed. I can see that he has quit his previous lifestyle, attends CF, serve in church and raised his hands during worship. At this point of moment, I know that he needs her more than I do. I realised that it is no longer about me but what God wants in our life. To gain is to loose. Even if I have lost someone I truly like, I know that I have gain an understanding at this point of time that God wants to mould me and I desire to take this oppurtunity to build my faith in Him and to know Him more. My goal is to change to be more like Jesus in everyway that I can.

One of things mention during the Election Committee meeting was about character and behaviour. It is easier to change one behaviour but harder to change a person's character. I do agree to it in some aspect but I also believe that God has called us to be His followers and to be more like Him. I believe God is talking about our character. If we desire to be Christ-like, we need God to help us in this transformation. It is a choice for us to decide, a choice I have already decided. I know that it is easier to speak of it than to act on it, but I pray with God's help and the people around me that I would humble myself even if it means breaking me into pieces, I want to achieve this goal because I know it is attainable in God's sight. In God's hand, I surrender my life.

BSAD

Brothers and Sisters Appreciation Day (BSAD) is once again celebrated in CF in conjunction with Valentine Day which happened to fall on the day before. It is a day where the both sisters and brothers would prepare something special to appreciate each other.

I do not how the sisters when about their preparation for the guys, but I could give you a glimpse as to how we guys prepared. Initially, I decided not to be involve so much in preparing for this day. This was to allow the juniors to take up the responsibility of organising it and I participating in it. This was not the case as many juniors who were given the task to do it decided to call it off the last minute and the organiser was left with no choice but to ask my friend Terry to come out with something for the sisters. Both Terry and I had initially wanted to do something for the sisters which is to present a sketch that Terry had done previously in his church the year before. We wanted to add to the other performances that were supposedly to be organised. One thing let to another and Terry was given the responsibility to do the sketch and also come out with the song. Our initial plan to help out turned out to be a responsibility passed down to us. It was quite sad to see not many juniors wanting to do something for the sisters on this special day. I wonder how it would be like in the years to come.

Anyway, Terry and I got ourselves prepared on the sketch on Tuedays morning. There was not much of preparation needed as the the script was already at hand. Terry then prepared the necessary things needed for the sketch like the power point presentation, the clip board with the script in enlarged letterings and the "Brother" and "Sister" tag that we had to place in front of us to differentiate the roles we were goin to play. We then got ourselves an empty tutotial room and began our run through.

The night soon came. We had some visitors from UNITEN joining us for the night. The sisters presented their thing, a spoof to the reality show, "Queer Eye for A Straight Guy". Then, it was time for them to "sabo: us by displaying their skills in hairstyling. All the guys had to had their hairs soaked in coloured gel and styled in a way that we could never have tried or think of. It was quite fun as I got to see the rest of the guys hair in a particular. I personally like the Lenard's and Ken's. Seeing the treatment that the girls had for the guys, ideas were soon brewing in our minds to "sabo" them back. Anyway, I guess the softer side of the guys got the better of us and all we did was gather them into the dark room and fed them with jelly. This was followed by a game of busting of the balloons that the sister had to prevent the guys from attacking it.

Our sketch came thereafter as a punishment for the guys not being able to burst all the ballons. (Actually, it was a reason for us come in with the presentation.) The sketch was about two professors presenting a research paper on the species we call as "Sisters" in the insect world. We then change our roles alternatively into girl and guy to show an current example of what we meant. I had hope that the sisters enjoyed the sketch or more so understand what we tried to bring across. I asked my sister after it about her comments of the sketch. She said that she understoof what the sketch meant (PHEW..thank God!) and the script was not an easy story to think of. However, she did mention about my acting and heard comments from the people that were around her that I was acting abit gayish. I guess she actually meant during the part when I had to act as a girl and display all the feminine characteristics that I could think of in my head. It was just a way of getting into the role, I guess.

It has always been a joy for both Terry and myself to come out with sketches. I guess this was partly due to our interest in films and also the influence we got from joining theatre as part of our co-curiculum subject. Its nice to bring across a message to people through a different mode of communication like theatre. I hope that it will spur me on into working with other messages in mind, hopefully a full length drama for Easter someday.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Xin Nian Kuai Le

The year of the roaster arrived with such a bang. The sky was filled with firecrackers all night long signalling the beginning of a new year. I was impressed by the variety of firecrackers that were released in my neighbourhood. It seems that firecrackers were either cheap or people had a lot of money. They were simply beautiful as big crackers like the ones we would normally see during big celebration like New Year or Independance Day filled the sky. I personally took a liking for the one that burst in the sky and trickle down like sperms. The last time I saw it was during the firecrackers presentation that Mines had a couple of years back.

It was quite a splendid Chinese New Year for me. I had my reunion dinner with my family on the Saturday before the real day. This was so that Auntie Carol and family could join us before heading up north to Penang for the celebration. The array of food that was prepared by my granny was simply outstanding. My sister and I had came earlier in the day to help in the preparation. The menu include two plates of Yee Sang, two kampung Roast Chicken, Duck Salted Vegetable Soup, two steamed Ikan Bawal, Fried Prawns, cooked radish and achar. The entire table was practically filled with food that everyone forgot about eating rice with it. As nothing in my granny place goes to waste, the untouched pot of rice was made into Nasi Ulam the following day by Auntie Tina. Boy, it really did taste good. Uncle Yeoh also came up with a dish made popular in Thailand that cost about more than RM10 here. Its include Ketumbar leaves with plum source, cili padi, onions, garlic, fried shrimps, lemon skin and groundnuts. It was my first time trying it and I simply love the quiet taste of it. Eating had been continuous from here onwards until Chinese New Year. Hunger has never existed in granny's place.

It was uncanny for me to go out during Chinese New Year eve as we would normally stay at home and go to bed early as we had to wake up early the next day to go to grandpa and grandma place. However, I joined Eric together with Vishnu, Terry and his brother Jaemy for the preview of Constantine. I was quite surprise by a large crowd who had gathered at the cinema as most of them were Chinese. There were some familiar faces there as well especially seniors from my school and some classmates of mine. It was good to see them all. Well, the show started thereafter. Overall, the movie was quite interesting to me and there was no complain after watching it. It was probably I went to see it without any expectation and was pleased with the outcome of it. Keanu Reeves is undoubtedly the best person whom I can think of that suits the role of a cool and blur look kinda guy.

The next day, my family and I were up early. We wished one another happy new year and received ang pows or red packet from parents. Most people would normally changed into their new clothes but I borrowed one of my dad's shirt as I had forgotten to bring back my new clothers from Shah Alam. For us, its not a must to have new clothes during new year like most people do but wearing red seems to be the most appropraite colour to wear during new year. We went to grandpa and grandma place thereafter to help out with the preparation. They have always had their annual open house where friends and family would come to eat my grandma's famous nasi dagang and kari ikan haji. However, my grandparents to have a small scale one this year for the family members and some guest. Therefore, there was not many people this year which was much easier to handle compared to previous years. With that, I took some time off to visit Eric and also Daniel. I manage to learn how to play Risk at Daniel's place and we ended up playing for almost three hours. I find its a really nice game to play which is mainly suited for guys as there is much strategy and the idea of trying to conquer as many nations as one can.

After that, it was going back and forth from KL and Seremban as my family and I visited friends and family. It was usual was us to go down to KL on the second day and visit people. It seem like a pilgrimage for us as we would normally visit the same people every year without fail since we were young. It has always been my parents idea to see these people mainly to keep in touch with them and it is always a joy to see them especially those whom I had grown up with since small.

Chinese New Year is still going on and it won't be done after the 15 day which is Chap Goh Meh. I guess my eating will also not be over till then. Mian, I am getting fat.

Friday, February 04, 2005

Sleep Profiler Result

Got this off a site that a friend of mine had forwarded online. Pretty interesting, I think. If you "eat finish rice and don't know what to do", you can try:D

Your profile summary

Your sleep is very well optimised, scoring 77 %.

You said you sometimes have a problem with sleep, though you are not at all sleepy during the day, which indicates your body is getting the sleep it needs. Quality of sleep is more important than quantity. You may find your personalised advice below useful for the odd bad night.

Environment

Your bedroom should be mainly for sleep

  • Sleep experts recommend that bedrooms should be for rest, relaxation and a good night's sleep.
  • If getting to sleep is a problem, remove distractions from your bedroom if you can. If you use your mobile telephone as an alarm clock, try to turn off the mobile to avoid getting any late night calls or text messages. The alarm clock function still works when the mobile is off.You said light is a problem...
Your body is designed to wake-up in response to light.

  • To reduce your light problem, you could hang thicker curtains, a blackout blind, or wooden shutters.
  • Night lights in bedrooms can be enough to confuse your internal body clock (which takes its cues from light).
Making your bedroom more comfortable
  • As you've noticed, temperature has a big influence on how well you sleep. The body needs to cool by about 0.5°C at the start of sleep.
  • If the weather's too hot, it will be difficult to cool, even by this small amount. Keep the window open and buy a fan.
  • If it's too cold, your body will be working extra hard to produce heat, keeping your core temperature up.
  • Think about what you wear in bed. Breathable natural materials such as cotton are best for comfort.

Lifestyle

A regular bedtime will help you
  • You sometimes like a lie-in, but creating a habit of waking up at the same time each day (even weekends) will help your body know when to sleep - improving the quality of your sleep.
You know what works.
  • Well done - the things you do to help you sleep should be working - did you know there are real scientific reasons?
  • A warm bath offers a chance to relax (vital for a good night’s sleep) and in a more practical way, it makes the blood vessels in your extremities dilate and help cool the body.
  • There's new evidence that hormones released during sexual activity can promote sleep.
There are things you can do to improve your sleep
  • Health has a direct impact on sleep.
  • Exercise is a good way of improving your the start to the day. But if you exercise too close to bed time, it will make it difficult for you to sleep. After a heavy workout, your muscles may be tired, but muscles only need to rest, not sleep. Your brain will be too stimulated to calm down quickly.
  • Smoking and alcohol also affect your sleep - causing you to wake more easily out of light sleep (a stage of sleep that occurs for about half a normal night's sleep)
Have you considered caffeine as a way to increase your alertness?
  • Sleep experts say caffeine is a safe, natural chemical that acts as a stimulant so is good way to alleviate tiredness.
  • However, the effect only kicks in after about 20 minutes - so beware if driving - it won't make you any safer until it is in your system. (The psychological effect of drinking caffeine is probably instantaneous, but only makes you feel more alert).
  • Either as an alternative, or in combination, to alleviate tiredness, you could try napping for 15 minutes - test show a 30% improvement in concentration when you have a coffee and a nap.

The Big Picture

A picture is made out of many small pieces of jigsaw that are placed together. Each jigsaw piece is unique in its own way and each brings us closer in seeing what this small piece really means. This thought came to mind when I was having lunch one day. The only real connection that I could make was to relate it to CF. The big picture. I asked myself at times is this the picture I want to see or am seeing? Am I too familiar with the picture that I know how it looks like even when the jigsaw pieces have not be put in place?

It seems that the picture has always been the same but it was a different set of jigsaw pieces. We see people come and go in the CF. Some have come in as juniors, other has left as seniors. We see new people coming to CF, we see old people leaving the CF. The jigsaw pieces are different. How do we fit them in? How do we make the necessary changes in order to reach the big picture?

I see many pieces missing. At times, I can't seem to find them. Sometimes, it doesn't want to be found. Many people are missing. At times, I wonder where are they and why they are not coming. I guess perhaps they do not see the big picture or it is another picture they are seeing and trying to fit in. Some are not here because of different priorities. Church, studies, relationships.

I acknowledge there is a gap but how am I going to help to fill that gap? A gap that is currenly small but will soon become bigger? I worry at times. Anxious at times that I would not be able to see the big picture unless I find those missing pieces or have those missing pieces find themselves. Sometimes I do wish there were more hands to fit those missing pieces into the picture. At times I only see a pair of hands. Am I the missing hand or missing jigsaw? I am praying that I am both. No idea how. Only the creator who is above sees and knows.

The Crippling Effect

It has been quite a lazy week for me. I had been having difficulty waking up from my bed every morning. It is not that I had not awaken but I had intentionally gone back to bed. This has became a habit for me not only recently but for quite a while. I would wake up by the sound of the alarm clock, switch it off, return to sleep back for an hour or two and waking up late knowing I should be up early preparing myself to go to campus to do my work. In the end, I realise that half the morning is practically gone and I would only be able to do some of my work in the second half of the day. It seems time had just passed by so very quickly and I have wasted quite an amount of it lazying around.

What am I doing? What is the problem? I could only think of it as laziness. Laziness. A common word to many and an action so regularly practiced that it becomes a routine in our daily life. I have heard much about laziness this week and I could personally relate to that lifestyle. A lifestyle? Yes, a lifestyle. An action that we regularly do that we do not do anything at all. It seems time passes by so quickly. How true is the saying that time waits for no man. And wait it does not yet it seems to become even quicker than we would have imagine. A second becomes a minute, a minute becomes an hour, an hour becomes a day, a day becomes a month and a month becomes a year. 2004 has passed away, 2005 have come. The month of January is gone and we are in February.

I asked myself at times what I have done or accomplished during this passing of time. There seem to be nothing much. I look at the times I spend throughout the month of January. Was there more that I could have accomplished of done? 31 days had passed by so very quickly but yet nothing solid was accomplished. I asked myself where has the time gone. The answer I knew. It had all gone down to laziness. What am I to do with this common lifestyle?

Its easy to comform to laziness, its difficult to break away from it. We spend much of the time knowing about it yet spending no time dealing with it. I am guilty. It seems that time is going by quickly and many times I missed it. I do not do the things I say I would do, I am not at a place when I should be, I should have done something but I had just missed that chance of doing it. Laziness. A crippling lifestyle that I and many can relate to.

I reflected on it before the end of January and knew I had to do something about it. It was not only taking away my time to do things such as cleaning the house, reading my unfinished book or taking time to do my quiet time. Sometimes, it goes to the extent of reaching my class late, not being able to make time to meet up with someone, finish my schedule task or take some time off to rest and be alone. I hope to be able to change myself this month and hope it starts with getting out of bed on time.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Tsunami Letter

I have alot of things in mind to write about but can't seem to gather my thoughts at this moment to lay it down. So, I decided to post a forward letter I received from a link a friend of mine forwarded to me.

Below is an inspiring story of God's hand of protection on His own in the midst of the terrible tsunami distaster. This letter is from a Brazilian colleague of Kristin Bohreer's parents who works in Aceh Province, Indonesia.

The letter is originally in Portuguese.

Dear Pastor Mark & Helen,

For your information, and so that you continue to pray for Aceh and especially for her people and those who will come to be His People:

We know how the terrible tsunami wiped to the ground the city of Meulaboh in Aceh Province. However, there is an extraordinary testimony.

In the city of Meulaboh, there are approximately 400 Christians. On the 25th of December 2004, they wanted to celebrate Christmas but the population of Meulaboh refused that Christmas be celebrated in that city. Denying them this, they said that if the Christians wanted to celebrate Christmas, they would do so on the mountain. Since they really did want to have a Christmas service, on December 25th, the 400 Christians left the city and went to the mountain to celebrate Christmas, and there they spent the night.

As we know, on the next day, on the morning of December 26th, the earthquake and terrible tsunami came, which destroyed Meulaboh, resulting in many deaths.

The city of Meulaboh was leveled and thousands of people died, while all God’s people who spent Christmas on the mountain were saved.

The population of Meulaboh that survived are saying, “The God of the Christians is punishing us. This can be said because many of our people died, while none of the Christians died.”

If the 400 Christians in Meulaboh had insisted on celebrating Christmas in their own city, they too would have died. But because of their humility, even having been rejected and ordered to celebrate Christmas on the mountain, they were saved and everyone saw that it was an extraordinary work of God.

Let us help our brothers and sisters in Aceh, and continue to pray for them because God’s hand is at work there.

Margaretha N. Adiwardana
AME