Hi! I'm Elissa! I was one of the youths dancing for Christmas. Behind the scenes, there's an amazing story made possible by the one and only God Himself.

I went for every dance practice except for the first one and my dad allowed me to go. But on 23rd December, the day before the performance, my family had some problems, and my dad was in a bad mood. He told us not to go on the 24th for some reason. I was troubled but carried on with the children's party on that day. Later that day, my sis returned home and I was at informatics for dance practice. I called home and asked her what my dad said. She told me that my dad said that I shouldn't have gone for dance practice since I was not dancing on 24th December anymore. I Hung up and started crying. I thought about how unfair it was, because I had gone for all the dance practice, everything was arranged and now he won't let me dance. I told Arlene and Gladys what happened and Arlene prayed for me. Later on, Arlene told the dance team what had happened and they prayed for me too. I was greatly encouraged by everyone.

When I reached home, my dad was out watching soccer so I didn't have the chance to speak to him. I woke up super early and prayed. My dad was still sleeping and the conversation went like this:

Me (whisper): Dad, can I go for dance today?
Dad (Just woke up): Huh?
Me: Can I go for dance?
Dad: ok...ok.. (back to sleep)

You can't imagine how happy and excited I was. I really thank God for making this possible. Through this, He has shown me He works in my life and He is all powerful!!! May God continue to bless all of us in the years to come. Glory to God in the highest forever!

The Greatest Book Ever Written!

I always knew in my mind that the Bible is the greatest book that man can ever read. 66 different books, written by many different authors who lived in different times and in different places, all bearing the same message of God's redemption plan for mankind--who can deny how wonderful that is? And did you know, that the Bible tops the world's bestseller list year after year? Isn't it amazing that a book that has been around for so so long is still on the top of the bestseller list? Just another fun fact: The Bible has been translated into over 2000 languages. Wow!

After many years of being a Christian, these were just facts that I knew which did not really leave me in awe of how God inspired the writing of such a book. BUT... now that I've gotten a fresh perspective of things, it is different! I was struck with the wonder of the greatness of the Bible this week on a bus ride home, while I was thinking about having to read the whole of Genesis as a homework for a Bible study class that I am currently attending.

Well..it suddenly dawned upon me that the Bible really is the greatest book of all time, simply because it tells the most complete story in the whole wide world! It starts from the very beginning (see Gen 1:1)and it ends right at the end where Jesus comes again. Which other book does that? What other book has the past, present and future all contained? hee~

Go read your Bible today and join many many others in reading the greatest book of all time from cover to cover!

posted by VIOLET...

I just heard sad news that DLT is going to be cancelled!! How can that be happening?? But is okay, God gave me (and everyone else!) another option, discipleship classes next year! Encourage everyone to go for it!!

Wanted to promote DLT, but no DLT to promote, is quite sad, because the speakers are really good. But nonetheless, I believe that God has His purpose for everything, so just want to encourage everyone to go for the discipleship class to be FISHERS OF MAN FOR GOD IN HIS GLORY!

Matt 4:19 ‘Come, follow me’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make fishers of man.’

To God be the Glory!

Love by Eric

Before the camp started, I was struck with ambivalent emotions and anticipation. It’s my first ever church camp and posts from Arlene and Zhong Fa were building up the hunger and desire for me to go through this experience first hand. Yet, I wasn’t sure if I could fit in well. I knew very few people and wasn’t particularly close to anyone. Moreover, from past camp experiences, cliques often form naturally and once you’re excluded from that circle, the entire journey would be a dull, unexcitable and dissatisfying one.

My uncertainties were quickly reversed once the camp got underway. Everyone seemed willing and ready to mix around even though we might be seeing or speaking to one another for the very first time. Getting involved wasn’t too tough and I was blessed with a group of nice people from Peter Pan… yay! Above all these, God was slowing revealing His purposes for me in this camp, answering my prayers in the process.

Recently I’ve been asking God for the meaning of Love. A week ago, Brother Jin Hang guided me to a passage on Love in 1 Corinthians 13. My understanding of the passage was very technical in the beginning and Love became a word I associated with certain actions and attitudes, but still, I know not how Love feels. On the first night, I went through the passage again and I was beginning to address it in a different fashion. That night, I learned that Love should be a source of motivation if you’re truly and willing to serve God and others with a genuine heart.

On the morning of the second day, I received a surprise message from Tina and on the card, it says:
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:7

This message really warmed my heart. I’ve hardly spoken to Tina till then and given that she was busy carrying out her committee duties, I felt really welcomed into this camp, into Youth Fusion. Thanks Tina! Really appreciated it.

During devotion time, I was surprised to find out that the message on that day was about our Love relationship with God. It emphasized on The Greatest Commandment that God has called us to obey:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Mark 12:30

That night when I addressed that passage once more, I began to perceive it from a different light once more. The importance of love cannot be overemphasized. God desires us to have Love as the virtue that rests upon other virtues, Love as the attitude that forms the base of all purposes, Love as the sincere craving when we seek to serve and know Him and Love as the resolution to all our sorrows, pain and hurt.

On the third day, God showed me how basic and simple Love is. I saw people like Jun Hoong helping others without self-glorifying or reward seeking in any sense; they did it just because they could and wanted to. That just a simple ‘Hi’ or a ‘Are you fine?’ is too, a sign of Love. There was no need for fanciful gifts or sweet nothings. This is because Love is not a pre-rehearsed action but a natural reflex. Love is not only what has been done, but also the emotion that is felt after what is done, from both the giver and the receiver.
“Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
1 Corinthians 13:4

God went one-step further and showed me the vastness and greatness of Love. During my course of study, I’ve learned that regardless of what approach you apply to get a distressed client out of his or her depression or trauma, the key ingredient for success is for the client and therapist to have a close and sincere relationship with one another. During Patrick’s sermon, he shared the power of God’s Love with the story on the Vietnamese boy who was a victim of racism. If the Love of a human being can slowly guide a person out of pain and suffering, just how much more can the Love from God heal. How much more can the Love of God restore? How much more can the Love of God do? For Love is undying and “Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:8)

Indeed, God has shown me the truest meaning of Love and blessed me with the opportunity to experience the Love from Him and all fellow brothers and sisters during the camp. I did not feel a tinge of loneliness during the camp, for the warmness of Love was delighting entirely. I thank God for bringing me through such an amazing journey of discovering Love. He has allowed me to ‘taste’ of His Love and to ‘see’ His Love in action from the stories that were shared and the wonderful things that many people did during the camp.

God has answered my prayers, shown me the lighted path, and filled me with Love that overflows. I believe that from the new strength and wisdom that God has blessed me with during the camp, I’m ready to bring my intimate relationship with God to a higher level.

Just as Si-er said, Youth Fusion will be One, United, a fabric that is closely knitted, intricate joints that cannot be dismantled in the coming year. I believe that Love is the virtue the will bind Youth Fusion together as we embrace God’s purposes for us in year 2007.

WOOHOO!!!! Let us REJOICE together with the angels in heaven for the salvation of Qi Wei & De Wei!!!

Jiang Yin's cousins, Qi Wei & De Wei have come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ during Youth Camp! They accepted Jesus Christ into his life, as their personal Lord and Saviour!!!

left: De Wei right: Qi Wei

Let us extend our warmest welcome to the both of them into the house of the Lord and into YOUTH FUSION!!!

*more photos from the camp... will be out soon...:)*

Pre-Camp Sharing!
(a post for those who are checking this blog before camp)

Woohoo! Before we go for our youth camp *yay*, I need to share something that makes me really excited about it! Remember in my last post I wrote something about being excited about hearing from God? Well..here's something on it that happened to me today!

There's this very special passage that I've been thinking about because it really ministered to my heart some months back and also for the past few days I've been asking God to confirm that the passage was really for me. And you know what? While I was going through the devotional material for one of the days of the camp, the same passage appeared when I wasn't even expecting it to!

Haha! I'm not going to tell you guys what the passage is now, but I think I"ll share some stuff on the last day of camp when my heart is more prepared. But for now, I thank God that He is going to work in the camp, and I know that is for sure because the camp hasn't even started, and He's working through the material already =)

i was reading this from RBC daily bread (Christmas Edition)

During the Great Depression that hit the United States in the 1930s, a family in the Midwest struggled to put food on their table. they had no money for luxuries.

One day posters all over town announced that a circus was coming. Admission would be $1. A boy in the family wanted to see the show, but his father told him that he would have to earn the money on his own. The youngster had never seen a circus before, so he worked feverishly and was able to buy a ticket.

On the day the circus arrived, he went to see the performers and the animals parade through town. As he watched, a clown came dancing over to him, and the boy put his ticket in the clown's hand. Then he stood on the curb and cheered as the rest of the parade moved by.

The youngster rushed home to tell his parents what he had seen and how exciting the circus was. His father listened then took his son in his arms and said, "Son, you didn't see the circus. All you saw was the parade."

That story is a parable of Christmas. Many people get excited about the festivities but miss the main event. During this season, let's remember what happened in a humble and what Jesus' birth means to us. - Haddon Robinson

Great post by Arlene!
To add on the last part of her post, i've just got to share this with you guys!

I attended this particular festival of praise, led by hillsong team, quite a few years back
Darlene Zschech, one of hillsong's main worship leader, said this during the praise and worship, and i still remember it very clearly

a heart of expectation is a breeding ground for the miraculous


as we come to the camp this coming friday,
what are we longing for in our hearts?

Beyond the fun and all,
let's prepare our hearts that God is going to do miraculous works in ALL of our lives! Amen!! =)

Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

The Special Place Story =)

Before we head off for youth camp this Friday, I would like to share you with my story about a special place at SAV! You see, the Diocese building, where we will be spending most of our time, used to be the campus of Tung Ling Bible College where I did a 3-month course on ministry.

The special place is a spot on the first level of the building (on the right side when you walk into the building) underneath one of the arches that are part of the architecture. It is special because on one morning when I was doing my morning devotion there (5 years ago) God spoke a very assuring word into my heart, and it was that before I even asked Him for anything in prayer, He would have already known my needs. =) The amazing thing was that after that truth was 'dropped' into my heart, and I was searching for a confirmation of it, I opened my Bible and I found a verse that said exactly the same thing! Its from Matthew 6:8b which says 'For your Father knows all you need before you ask Him'.

I'm really looking forward to this youth camp, partly because I would really like to go to the special place to sit and to be still before God =) And one thing I am sure of, is that, special place or no special place, God is going to speak to the hearts of all of us during this camp! And I'm sure that many of us will have lots to share when it comes to testimony and sharing time on the last day of the camp!

HEY EVERYONE! YOUTH CAMP 2006 'THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE' IS STARTING NEXT WEEK! ARE YOU ALL EXCITED?

What are we expecting during this year's youth camp?

1. EXCITING GAMES
2. MORE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE WORD
3. PRACTICAL WORKSHOPS
4. YUMMY FOOD
5. CLEAN AND NICE DORMITORIES AND BIG HALL
6. SHOWERS INSTEAD OF PAILS! :p

MORE IMPORTANTLY, A TIME LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE WORD OF GOD AS WE EMBARK ON A JOURNEY TO DISCOVER THE NATURE OF OUR FATHER AND DESIRING AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM!

WE ARE GOING TO....

'TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD....' Psalm 34:8

And here is a reminder for those who haven't paid for the youth camp, please make your payment of $30 to Rhys or Janice by this Sunday.

Let me just do a little short update on the 3rd e-cell – Agape Love

In total, 13 new friends joined us and I just want to take this time to thank all of you who came. In addition, I would like to specially thank all those who were involved in this event as well. Without you guys, this event couldn’t be as smooth as it were. We hope you guys enjoyed the event as much as we do!!

1) Kelvin (Joanie’s friend) 2) Heng Liang (Jinhang’s friend)
3) Joyce (Celine’s friend) 4) Emily Lu (Celine’s friend)
5) Michael (Jasmine’s friend) 6) Makoto (Jasmine’s friend)
7) Ying Ying (Si’er friend) 8) Jack (Cindy Leticia’s friend)
9) Jonathan (Joanie’s bro) 10) Jonathan’s gf
11) Fabian (Caroline’s friend) 12) Chin Ying (Janice’s friend)
13) Pei Ling (Janice’s friend)

We had fun time snatching for shoelaces, and laughed while watching others trying to burp after drinking one can of coke. All thanks to Reginald’s weird but fun ideas! And guess who won for the “LOUDEST BURP” category??



TIMOTHY!!!!!




Anyway, a few pictures uploaded.

Kelvin

Makoto & Michael

We hopes to see all of you guys who came for this event, and previous events as well for the next movie out – Nativity Movie outing on 12th December 2006, Tuesday. Location is not confirmed yet, but will update again. So keep a lookout!!!

Just wanted to share something that happened today

During youth prayer meeting today,

God placed a bible passage in my heart during the worship
2, in fact...

the Armor of God in Ephesians 6
and the Great Commission in Matthews 28

i stepped forward and shared with everyone present

and a strange thing happened
my hands were trembling so hard i had to put down the microphone i was holding
and i held my bible with both hands

at that instance, there's this wave of authority that swept through
and i read out the passage like never before

the feeling was like
standing at a hilltop facing a vast army
and reading out the emperor edict

it's both scary and exciting

after i returned to my spot to worship,
i was so overwhelmed by the Spirit that i had to kneel

there's a couple of things that God spoke so clearly to me that i've got to share with all of you
He revealed Himself so clearly today
and the message is this

I am God.
This is my word.
It is more powerful than you can ever imagine
Do you WANT it?
---

I often find myself guilty of just reading it, just like reading any other book..
I've got to ask myself

Do I seriously treasure His word?

the devil wants us to think that the bible is just any other book
he is grinning ear to ear when he sees us not reading it
but he trembles when we obey God

James 4:7 says
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

this book.. is not just any book
it's the WORD OF GOD

it's the BREAD OF LIFE!!

There is GREAT GREAT GREAT power!!

and here's the best part
it's readily and freely available to all of us, who believe in Him
if we choose to!

so look here, bro or sis
what are you waiting for??

Open up your bible and discover the treasures that God wants to give you!

----
a material, for starters, which you may find useful
How to study the Bible

Hey everyone!

Registration booth for youth camp 'The Ultimate Experience' will still be opened this Sunday! those who wish to sign up and/or pay up may do so at the booth. Enquiries about the camp will also be entertained.
Please confirm your T-shirt sizes by this week if not we will assume XS size for you. :p

Meanwhile, do keep the camp, the campers and the committee people in prayer! :D