18th June 2006:Pastor Khong live in Tokyo! (Long overdue - exams ended on 21.7.06)

18th June 2006: Brother`s 27th birthday and Father`s Day where I get to see my great-great-spiritual- grandfather in person, along with my best friend Junee in Tokyo!


It is not by chance that Junee, the person who brought me back to God, was with me as I sat in Shinjuku Shalom, my homechurch in Tokyo, listening to Pastor Khong. It was a moment that I was able to share with her, in a church away from home, feeling really proud of our great-great-spiritual-grandfather preaching at the pulpit.

Pastor Khong with Pastor Elmer who is so animatedly translating Ps Khong`s sermon that got everyone amused! Gentle Ps Elmer is transformed because Ps Khong`s humor is so contagious!

The message was on `Keys to unlocking supernatural fruitfulness`. Something i had heard before earlier this year but i was thirsty for more, and i got new revelation, listening to this similar message in a foreign land. The verse was 1 Thessalonians 1:3

We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1) Work produced by faith　信仰 （しんこう）

`We walk by faith and not by sight.` How true this is! Never really thought about this verse, i could recite it from memory but i did not grasp the true meaning until recently.

How easily we humans fall into the trap of walking by sight... i know i am guilty of trying to take control of a sticky situation, fretting and worrying when something spins out of control and there is nothing i can do.. walking by faith means commiting beeverything to the Lord, there is true peace in your heart because God is in control, not you! Being in Tokyo makes me VERY aware of this fact because indeed, i can see that there are some things that are really beyond my control and being frustrated by my own fruitless attempts to rectify a problem (sometimes making it worse) made me humble myself and acknowledge God`s sovereignty in my life.

2) Labor prompted by love 愛（あい）

So many times would we be tempted to give up, if we were to depend solely on our feelings. It is LOVE that makes us want to continue, to do it despite.

Love brings the passion.

This LOVE is described in 1 Cor 13 (one of my favourite!): Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Take time to think over the definition of Love. It took me a long time to finally realise what this commonly- seen- on- wedding-invites stuff means.

3) Endurance inspired by hope　望み　（のぞみ）

The highest level of hope, is the day when Jesus returns. And we hope, like Paul, to present the lives we touched in our lifetime, the life that Jesus paid a price for. Daring to dream for God let us use the future to interpret our past, and not let our past restrict the future.

The secret to growing in faith?

Have a big dream that is so impossible that you see the miracles of God unfolding before your very eyes in your life!

Student life: Lunch time!

When it is sunny, we visit our favourite `Black tide supermarket` (黒潮市場), about 10min`s walk from our school, to buy cheap and tasty bentos and walk back to Classroom #11 to chat and enjoy our lunch. Lunch kakis are Xinyi, Yihui, Kewei, Wang Yuan and Jimmy. My mandarin has so improved after speaking to them everyday, woohoo! I even picked up some Taiwanese colloquial terms.. 賛！

from left: Yihui, me, Xinyi and Wang Yuan. (Jimmy MIA... Kewei is the photographer..)

If it rains, then I will go to Xinyi`s room where Yihui and her will pool resources to whip up some yummy lunch! We will of course, pig out on snacks after our main course (something i learn from the Taiwanese.. titbits are part and parcel of a meal!!!)

Yummy mish-mash of canned food and rice... sent from Taiwan with love from their families and here they are, sharing these precious commodities with me! *touched*

Home-made green tea jelly, made by Xinyi at my place. Ahh...a taste of Japan... a tad too bitter though.

Yihui attempting to eat chezels with strawberry jelly!!

Titbits are Xinyi`s life!! (シン：お菓子。。。わたしの命！）

When all else fail, there is always the LAST RESORT... the school cafeteria.. heard many horror stories about the not-so-tasty, over-priced food from friends and teachers.. but today, it was raining so heavily that we decided to give it a try, after 2 months in the school..

Not so happening but very crowded today. gotta buy a meal ticket from the vending machine.. costs about 350-450 yen per dish ( SGD$5-$7).

This is my donburi, 400 yen.. taste is so-so but at least it is piping hot. Bentos we usually buy are cooked way earlier so it is always cold.. free flow self-service miso soup..

Xinyi ate ramen, which is actually Chinese dan-dan mian （担担面） and it tastes totally like canned minced meat, according to them. Guess cafeteria food is really not so recommended after all..

The girls trying to look excited to tuck in! ha! Gotta return the tray after eating, haven`t done that for donkey years since NUS! Free flow of diluted genmai/hoji/sen cha, using not-so-sanitary-looking cups *shudder*