Well, I'm managing to write more posts than I did on my previous site - I do believe this is my 8th. Only 2 weeks of school left - I can taste summer! It probably has to do with the end of year meals I keep having - MS hockey team dinner which was yesterday, MS hockey parents dinner tomorrow, HKIS end of year teacher's celebration and grade 8 celebration dinner dance. This means that in about 2 weeks time the seams on my clothes will be splitting. I must go to the gym...maybe it can help save my wardrobe!
I managed to watch "The Notebook' today - quite a weepy towards the end. Very much a chick flick - good to do the ironing to. Those kinds of films really aren't worth going to the cinema to watch. I think my cinema viewing is reserved mostly for action/ special effect movies e.g. X-men, spiderman etc...unless of course it's a $25 showing where I think I'd allow myself to watch any movie - usually cheap summer before 11am films...always good!
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Mutant Powers
Saw X-men 3 on Thursday night. I was excited about it as soon as I got the e-mail asking if I was interested to go. So, my random question to my students on Thursday was 'What would your mutant ability be?' Most went for flying and teleporting, there were a few mind readers and one x-ray vision (but not all the time - I recommended eyewear like Cyclops'). However, the best was definitely Jack from my homeroom. He said that he would want Storm's powers. Now a 14 year old boy wanting Storm's (who is a woman) powers, seemed interesting. So I asked him why - and he had a good reason. He said,'So that I could control the weather and make tornados and storms. Then I could make a typhoon come and we could have a day off school.' Brilliant logic.
I had my hair cut and dyed red today. Wonder how many people will ask me if I want to be like Dark Phoenix/jean Grey. Truth of the matter is, I normally get my hair done like this but it takes hours - actually today it took 5 hours. So, as I usually play hockey on Saturdays I get my hair cut about twice a year! Anyway, I'd want to be Lady Deathstrike (the alive version!).
I had my hair cut and dyed red today. Wonder how many people will ask me if I want to be like Dark Phoenix/jean Grey. Truth of the matter is, I normally get my hair done like this but it takes hours - actually today it took 5 hours. So, as I usually play hockey on Saturdays I get my hair cut about twice a year! Anyway, I'd want to be Lady Deathstrike (the alive version!).
Sunday, May 21, 2006
31
Okay...so I'm 31 now...all those younger than me...you can be quiet now.
Well, I got to feel special at school - three of my students (Rach, Brooke and Tash) posted photoshopped pictures of me around school wishing me a happy birthday. They also baked a cake and got the hockey girls including Deayton to come and celebrate with me at break - nice.
Tanja Kerbs - she's a champ- organised a whole spread of goodies to make ice-cream sundaes at 9:30am in the morning. The grade 8 teachers were singing me happy birthday and I couldn't take my eyes off the colourful spread - m&ms, fresh fruit, canned fruit, nots, shredded coconut, ice cream, hundred and thousands, choc curls, MAGIC SHELL, maple syrup, brownies...it was crazy......get the teachers on a sugar high or what?? I laughed when Maureen from grade 7 said that you could smell the sweet stuff as soon as you walked into the room...but she was absolutely right.
My poor students had a Science test on my birthday....but now I have to mark it...D'oh!!!
Well, I got to feel special at school - three of my students (Rach, Brooke and Tash) posted photoshopped pictures of me around school wishing me a happy birthday. They also baked a cake and got the hockey girls including Deayton to come and celebrate with me at break - nice.
Tanja Kerbs - she's a champ- organised a whole spread of goodies to make ice-cream sundaes at 9:30am in the morning. The grade 8 teachers were singing me happy birthday and I couldn't take my eyes off the colourful spread - m&ms, fresh fruit, canned fruit, nots, shredded coconut, ice cream, hundred and thousands, choc curls, MAGIC SHELL, maple syrup, brownies...it was crazy......get the teachers on a sugar high or what?? I laughed when Maureen from grade 7 said that you could smell the sweet stuff as soon as you walked into the room...but she was absolutely right.
My poor students had a Science test on my birthday....but now I have to mark it...D'oh!!!
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Vine Album recording weekend
It's now 10th May, and the recording took place last weekend - 5th to 7th May. Friday 5th and Saturday 6th may were the two days of live recording at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre.
On Friday I arrived at about 1230 to start my service managing duties. Well, to be honest there wasn't much for me to do. I ticked that the people who were supposed to be there were - easy. However, on the way to the venue, Anna Gardener had called me about a cold pack as Carmen had hurt her foot in a rehearsal that morning. So by the time I arrived, her foot was elevated and iced. The dancers were busy having their hair and makeup done in the dressing room.
To be honest, there really wasn't much for me to do. I went around trying to find little jobs for myself to keep me busy. I didn't really want to read my book as I just felt it would get me out of the mood of it being an exciting day of recording. So, I did little things like fill the water boiler for the singers (so they could have warm honey water), display the food and water, get more ice for Carmen etc. Part way through the afternoon I felt like it was really useless me being there - I was quite frustrated as I felt like my role was unnecessary. I was backstage thinking this and I felt God just prompt me and say' Is this about you? It isn't about you. What are you here to do?' The answer? To serve of course. After that, I felt like God used me to pray for Carmen who was rather upset about her injury and not being able to dance. I also had an opportunity to encourage and pray for another dancer - Elein. Things didn't go according to the rundown sheet, as the soundchecks (all 3 of them!) took longer than the scheduled time - but it was important considering the worship was being recorded after all. The dancers finally got to rehearse their dance on stage a couple of times. The different teams prayed separately that night due to time constraints.
At 7pm the doors opened and people entered. At about 7:30 Derek introduced the evening, got the crowd pumped up and shouting. The show opened with the cool dance with 12 dancers , then we had the first set of songs, John sorted out the offering and introduced Ned Davies, Ned spoke about our wonderful creator God, made an altar call (where several people became Christians) and then there was the second set. At the end of the evening we went to in and Out for some grub and a drink.
The following day (Saturday) I got up, had breakfast and got ready for the day. I rang Victor to see if he needed an 'errand person' as he'd expressed that the previous day they had needed someone to do a few things. So, I went there earlier than originally planned and saw Michelle repetitively thumping on the bass drum and Victor sorting out sound things (yes...I have absolutely no clue whatsoever!). I talked to Michelle and we got the lunch orders from people...I managed to get orders for Chinese food and Starbucks, and needed to get drinks from Park n Shop. Thankfully I had a mini brainwave and rang Anna (bless) and she got the Starbucks on her way. I managed to find a Dai Pai Dong to get the Chinese food and got the drinks from PnS.
Later on I had to go and get water for the worship team and dancers - we reckoned on 3 boxes. Adam went with me and had quite a hilarious time trying to carry these boxes back to the theatre a)without dropping them and b)in the fastest time possible. Well, we had a good laugh and you should see how toned our arms are!!
Due to having experienced one day of recording, the soundcheck and set up went well and we prayed together that evening. Ned was great talking to us and encouraging us that this was a new night, and it was not to be a repeat performance. We were also encouraged that this was a team effort to glorify God in whatever role we were playing and it wasn't just about the worship leader or worship team.
The evening started with Derek giving the intro. The Carmen, Nate and Adam performed their dance which was great - it had cheers in the right places! Then the second dance started. In the middle of the dance water started falling from above the stage, towards the front. At first I thought ' Wow that looks cool!' then it was 'That wasn't in the rundown...AAAAAARGHHHHH!!!!' I quickly ran backstage and saw the backstage lady communicating with someone else, so I reckoned they would be onto the problem. I ran back out to the corridor and thought, "What do I do??? Mops and buckets!!!" I ran through the theatre while the dancers continued and asked the people for mops (thankfully it is in my Cantonese vocabulary). The cleaning lady appeared and I repeated that we needed mops, she opened a backstage cupboard and got a few mops out and some buckets. The dancers had come off stage and the lady said to me,"We can't mop this - there's too much water!" at which point I grabbed a mop, gave it to Vinny, took the buckets and started mopping. All I knew was that we had to get the water off the stage. Soon, more help arrived - the Africans from Togo were great. Mops were placed to catch the water that was still falling. More people from the Vine helped clean up using mops, cloth and toilet paper. I remember turning to Aaron Rogers and saying,"If this doesn't show teamwork, I don't know what does!' While we were cleaning up the last bits, trying to work out how long it would take the electrics to be checked and the possibilities of recording the following day, Ned spoke to the audience and led them in worship.
We later found out that the guy came down, checked the electrics and decided it would be fine to continue once power was back on. Some of the worship team, started some acoustic worship and the rest of the team joined them on stage. After a little while, the power came back on midsong. A few things were checked and the announcement was made that we'd run through all ten songs which we then proceeded to do. It was sooooo cool - everyone was so up for it and worshipping their hearts out. Seriously - Satan tried to stop this, but God had bigger and better plans for the evening.
On Friday I arrived at about 1230 to start my service managing duties. Well, to be honest there wasn't much for me to do. I ticked that the people who were supposed to be there were - easy. However, on the way to the venue, Anna Gardener had called me about a cold pack as Carmen had hurt her foot in a rehearsal that morning. So by the time I arrived, her foot was elevated and iced. The dancers were busy having their hair and makeup done in the dressing room.
To be honest, there really wasn't much for me to do. I went around trying to find little jobs for myself to keep me busy. I didn't really want to read my book as I just felt it would get me out of the mood of it being an exciting day of recording. So, I did little things like fill the water boiler for the singers (so they could have warm honey water), display the food and water, get more ice for Carmen etc. Part way through the afternoon I felt like it was really useless me being there - I was quite frustrated as I felt like my role was unnecessary. I was backstage thinking this and I felt God just prompt me and say' Is this about you? It isn't about you. What are you here to do?' The answer? To serve of course. After that, I felt like God used me to pray for Carmen who was rather upset about her injury and not being able to dance. I also had an opportunity to encourage and pray for another dancer - Elein. Things didn't go according to the rundown sheet, as the soundchecks (all 3 of them!) took longer than the scheduled time - but it was important considering the worship was being recorded after all. The dancers finally got to rehearse their dance on stage a couple of times. The different teams prayed separately that night due to time constraints.
At 7pm the doors opened and people entered. At about 7:30 Derek introduced the evening, got the crowd pumped up and shouting. The show opened with the cool dance with 12 dancers , then we had the first set of songs, John sorted out the offering and introduced Ned Davies, Ned spoke about our wonderful creator God, made an altar call (where several people became Christians) and then there was the second set. At the end of the evening we went to in and Out for some grub and a drink.
The following day (Saturday) I got up, had breakfast and got ready for the day. I rang Victor to see if he needed an 'errand person' as he'd expressed that the previous day they had needed someone to do a few things. So, I went there earlier than originally planned and saw Michelle repetitively thumping on the bass drum and Victor sorting out sound things (yes...I have absolutely no clue whatsoever!). I talked to Michelle and we got the lunch orders from people...I managed to get orders for Chinese food and Starbucks, and needed to get drinks from Park n Shop. Thankfully I had a mini brainwave and rang Anna (bless) and she got the Starbucks on her way. I managed to find a Dai Pai Dong to get the Chinese food and got the drinks from PnS.
Later on I had to go and get water for the worship team and dancers - we reckoned on 3 boxes. Adam went with me and had quite a hilarious time trying to carry these boxes back to the theatre a)without dropping them and b)in the fastest time possible. Well, we had a good laugh and you should see how toned our arms are!!
Due to having experienced one day of recording, the soundcheck and set up went well and we prayed together that evening. Ned was great talking to us and encouraging us that this was a new night, and it was not to be a repeat performance. We were also encouraged that this was a team effort to glorify God in whatever role we were playing and it wasn't just about the worship leader or worship team.
The evening started with Derek giving the intro. The Carmen, Nate and Adam performed their dance which was great - it had cheers in the right places! Then the second dance started. In the middle of the dance water started falling from above the stage, towards the front. At first I thought ' Wow that looks cool!' then it was 'That wasn't in the rundown...AAAAAARGHHHHH!!!!' I quickly ran backstage and saw the backstage lady communicating with someone else, so I reckoned they would be onto the problem. I ran back out to the corridor and thought, "What do I do??? Mops and buckets!!!" I ran through the theatre while the dancers continued and asked the people for mops (thankfully it is in my Cantonese vocabulary). The cleaning lady appeared and I repeated that we needed mops, she opened a backstage cupboard and got a few mops out and some buckets. The dancers had come off stage and the lady said to me,"We can't mop this - there's too much water!" at which point I grabbed a mop, gave it to Vinny, took the buckets and started mopping. All I knew was that we had to get the water off the stage. Soon, more help arrived - the Africans from Togo were great. Mops were placed to catch the water that was still falling. More people from the Vine helped clean up using mops, cloth and toilet paper. I remember turning to Aaron Rogers and saying,"If this doesn't show teamwork, I don't know what does!' While we were cleaning up the last bits, trying to work out how long it would take the electrics to be checked and the possibilities of recording the following day, Ned spoke to the audience and led them in worship.
We later found out that the guy came down, checked the electrics and decided it would be fine to continue once power was back on. Some of the worship team, started some acoustic worship and the rest of the team joined them on stage. After a little while, the power came back on midsong. A few things were checked and the announcement was made that we'd run through all ten songs which we then proceeded to do. It was sooooo cool - everyone was so up for it and worshipping their hearts out. Seriously - Satan tried to stop this, but God had bigger and better plans for the evening.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Album recording 5th May - Day 1
Here I am at home and out of bed at 9:27am on the first day of the Vine Christian fellowship's live album recording. I've just printed a map to show me how to get to the venue - Sheung Wan Civic Centre and I'll need to print my service manager's sheet. Last night I went for dinner with Anna, Mandy and Yan and then went down to the Vine for the prayer meeting and just chilled out there. I managed to find out more about times of arrival for various people for today, so hopefully my checklist is fine, so I can help make sure everything runs smoothly.
It's actually the day of the recording - it's quite surreal and exciting all at the same time. Well, I have my Vine shirt clean and ready and my clipboard ready...better go and get myself ready!
It's actually the day of the recording - it's quite surreal and exciting all at the same time. Well, I have my Vine shirt clean and ready and my clipboard ready...better go and get myself ready!
Dumaguete Easter Mission Trip
Thursday – fly from HK, arrive at hotel, pray on roof top and rest
Friday – Open Air Clinic – pray for patients, pastors, church outreach and pray for pastors and outreach team
Saturday – house building, swim in sea
Sunday – ICM church kids from children's home – Anna preached, went to lake
Monday – devotion at care ministries, minister to pastors of Dumaguete, outreach in field 800
Tuesday – ministered to care workers, special cases video, visit special cases -= pray for Antonio, Arnold’s AOG place- worship and minister, pray for healing for Dwight’s mum
Wednesday – team meeting shopping and leave
The Dumaguete, Philippines Mission Trip seemed like one huge exercise in trusting in God. From start to finish our team was constantly reminded to lean on God. Our first reminder was arriving in Manila and transferring ourselves to the old domestic airport. Half the team were taken to the new one, when we were finally reunited, Nicky’s bag went missing. We realized we had to pray and it was like God asking us if we intended to do things in our own strength or in his. Thankfully, in the last minutes of checking on our luggage, the bag was retrieved having been stuck in the X-ray machine.. Interestingly enough, the Vine’s verse is:
I am the vine you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15 v5
For me, this was not just another mission trip. I didn’t know particularly what to expect as we hadn’t been given an agenda and we were partnering with International Care Ministries. I felt that this was a huge exercise in trusting in God. There were some outreach events, but this trip had more ministry time than I had experienced on other trips. We prayed for patients in a Care Ministries clinic, for care ministry workers, pastors of Dumaguete at a pastors meeting, people at a worship meeting and some special cases for healing.
I think that when I’m on a mission trip I know and am reminded by our leaders that we are there to serve in whatever capacity God leads us to. I also wondered what my part in the team would be as I believe God created us as individuals and we each have our specific part to play. Our team prayed for some specific cases of healing and were truly believing in faith for the healing of a man with a dislocated hip and also for the healing of one of the Care Worker’s Dwight’s mum. Many people were reduced to tears due to anger against the sickness and the fact that we were believing but did not see the healing directly. I realized that as a recipient of healing I could easily relate to the person being prayed for – having faith for healing yet being frustrated with not seeing it happen instantaneously. However, as a recipient I could also encourage the team in the fact that we had intentionally come to pray for people – to minister God’s love – this reminded me of the time people had repeatedly done this for me – and how this had overwhelmed me with love – that it encouraged me to persist in prayer, to cling to God and to step out in faith by continuing to ask for healing. I know that on the journey to healing God taught me many lessons – but the main one was to trust in him, for the timing of my healing and for everything in my life.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3 v5 and 6
Amen!
Friday – Open Air Clinic – pray for patients, pastors, church outreach and pray for pastors and outreach team
Saturday – house building, swim in sea
Sunday – ICM church kids from children's home – Anna preached, went to lake
Monday – devotion at care ministries, minister to pastors of Dumaguete, outreach in field 800
Tuesday – ministered to care workers, special cases video, visit special cases -= pray for Antonio, Arnold’s AOG place- worship and minister, pray for healing for Dwight’s mum
Wednesday – team meeting shopping and leave
The Dumaguete, Philippines Mission Trip seemed like one huge exercise in trusting in God. From start to finish our team was constantly reminded to lean on God. Our first reminder was arriving in Manila and transferring ourselves to the old domestic airport. Half the team were taken to the new one, when we were finally reunited, Nicky’s bag went missing. We realized we had to pray and it was like God asking us if we intended to do things in our own strength or in his. Thankfully, in the last minutes of checking on our luggage, the bag was retrieved having been stuck in the X-ray machine.. Interestingly enough, the Vine’s verse is:
I am the vine you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15 v5
For me, this was not just another mission trip. I didn’t know particularly what to expect as we hadn’t been given an agenda and we were partnering with International Care Ministries. I felt that this was a huge exercise in trusting in God. There were some outreach events, but this trip had more ministry time than I had experienced on other trips. We prayed for patients in a Care Ministries clinic, for care ministry workers, pastors of Dumaguete at a pastors meeting, people at a worship meeting and some special cases for healing.
I think that when I’m on a mission trip I know and am reminded by our leaders that we are there to serve in whatever capacity God leads us to. I also wondered what my part in the team would be as I believe God created us as individuals and we each have our specific part to play. Our team prayed for some specific cases of healing and were truly believing in faith for the healing of a man with a dislocated hip and also for the healing of one of the Care Worker’s Dwight’s mum. Many people were reduced to tears due to anger against the sickness and the fact that we were believing but did not see the healing directly. I realized that as a recipient of healing I could easily relate to the person being prayed for – having faith for healing yet being frustrated with not seeing it happen instantaneously. However, as a recipient I could also encourage the team in the fact that we had intentionally come to pray for people – to minister God’s love – this reminded me of the time people had repeatedly done this for me – and how this had overwhelmed me with love – that it encouraged me to persist in prayer, to cling to God and to step out in faith by continuing to ask for healing. I know that on the journey to healing God taught me many lessons – but the main one was to trust in him, for the timing of my healing and for everything in my life.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3 v5 and 6
Amen!
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