post WFCMC

hello friends!

it has been wayyy tooo loonng since i blogged so let's not catch up from where we left off:')
many things have happened and i have been sotong-ly living my life..
but God has been super gracious to me!
if not i most probably would not have pulled through the first half of 2016,
juggling work and school.

right now, i am at the phase of waiting for school to start..
and i will have to go through the motion of school, making friends, choosing where to sit on the first session, keeping up with pre-class quiz, online quizzes, assignments, presentations, rushing and traveling from one end of singapore to another....

my life is exciting and busy as usual and thus i took a day's off today to clear my mind and my room!
sadly, i only have 4 days leave left so i can't take a two days break..
but it's ok!
today was a good day :)
and my remaining three days of leave shall be left for my exam days.

you see, the problem with me, be it in person or virtually,
is that.... i take forever to get to the point.
and i have been talking to my sister about this "problem" of mine.
so we figured,
if you have given me some time to hear me out,
i am pretty much an easily understood person. hahaha!

so as i have proven my point...
5 paragraphs have passed and i shall be getting into my reflections of WFCMC!

WFCMC stands for World Federation of Chinese Methodist Churches.
and when i refer to WFCMC, i would mean the "WFCMC 8th Young Leaders' Conference" which i attended ok!

my heart wasn't prepared to go for WFCMC because i had extremely packed schedule throughout the entire duration.
however, i was secretly hoping that attending it will help me to have a "spiritual revival" of some sort...
on the day we reported to the ferry terminal to head for batam,
it was only then i started to feel that...
"wooh! I am the oldest one here. everyone is younger. yes, shall take care of them!"
so this was the mindset that i had and brought along with me.
and it all started well.

it wasn't hard to realize the great emphasis placed on security through all the briefing, etc upon our arrival.
it was also evident that coordinating a big group of international participants has its challenges.
but it was all good and cultural night proceeded as planned.

things started to take a turn when we were all gathering in the hall in a very serious manner..
all the leaders and countries reps had to do head count and be accountable for everyone and no one was allowed to leave/go to the toilet..
and after a significantly long wait and settling down,
the president of CAC announced the decision to shift all of us back to singapore due to safety measures.
so we were briefed of many matters..
and informed that we were to take the 4am-ish ferry back to singapore
and we had to gather at 3am-ish for head count and transport to the ferry terminal..
and we heard this "news" at 12am-ish..
[please take this portion with a pinch of salt. it was quite a experience and i won't say that everything i wrote here is accurate. if you consider the time and "state of mind" hehe..]

to keep this short,
we returned to sg safely and that was when we could inform our parents and all.
that night (or rather, morning) was all "media silence" so that there will not be any "complications" and unnecessary worrying.
and then AMAZING things follow.

the arrangements were all set.
we had a place to hold us,
breakfast was waiting for us,
arrangements seem to be already done for the overseas delegates...
and everything continued to flow..
not according to the initial timetable planned,
but it all went on just as a great big miracle.

here are some of my reflections if you like to read on :)
[i am going to control myself and not give you all too much prior knowledge of what happened. so if reading on makes you confused but you are really keen to know the details, come, talk to me k!]

#1 the Lord is Jehovah Jireh, our Provider
His grace is sufficient for all of us.
I know for sure:
-He made it possible for WFCMC to go on even though there is a sudden change of events
-He provided all the venues for us (you definitely know how hard is it to book places in sg)
-He provided all the resources (how the people who were originally not involved in WFCMC got robed in)
-He provided the 2 ferries that brought us back (as a sg couple had some connections with the ferry business)
-He provided cheerful givers (to suddenly offer us so many sleeping bags for all and many more. this is totally mind boggling by the way, how are you supposed to find 200+ new sleeping bags just like that?!)

#2 the beauty of a family church like TPCMC
many people were putting in a lot of effort to make things happen to host our foreign delegates.
i had the opportunity to be more involved with the tpcmc side thanks to technology (esp whatsapp)
and also at the same time hear about what are the outstanding needs of the Committee at WFCMC..
so many things were ongoing.
to host the delegates at tpcmc (for their accommodation),
asking and collection of pillows and sleeping bags was intense (i can't find a better word to capture the essence of this)
in the many (and i would also say it's few) whatsapp groups i was in,
people were asking and arranging things like never before...
"my mum will bring it down"
"i will ask my brother"
"my brother-in-law will send it over"
"my dad took it already"
"my aunt will take it from my house"
"i will go and collect it from you"
etc
etc
etc
it was crazy, literally.
but when you see how the place was set up in the super duper short notice (and may i emphasize it started off at midnight, not that they had a day to prep),
you really appreciate the interconnectedness of a family church.
and what's more, we are all a (bigger) family in Christ!
SUPER COOL.

#3 humility to serve
for the WFCMC name tags,
it doesn't indicate where you are a pastor or youth worker or church staff, etc..
so..
when you suddenly realize that a person actually has some form of "title" but having experienced interacting with him/her, the things they say/do, the respect they give you, the humility in all that they do...
it is truly humbling.
when you see a pastor chauffeuring others around despite all the trouble or being the road marshal for the longest period of time...
another humbling moment.
and more.. the JOY they have in serving..
WOW.

#4 God's plan surpasses human's plans
so everything was turned around but it turned out pretty well.
hui4 zhang3 happened to mention at one point: now i know why Jonah was upset when nothing happened to Nineveh..
for me, i think, if i were in the planning committee...
how much faith will i need to have to make the decision to take everyone back to sg?
how would i really feel that all the original plans were to be scraped after all the months of planning?
upset? probably.
but i think i will have so many questions... why ... why ... why...
BUT, God ways prevail and He works in the most amazing ways that is beyond our comprehension and ability to fathom.

#5 "reactions" when everyone was informed of the decision
-there was no complaining
-there was no commotion
-there was no worrying
-there was compliance and understanding
-there was peace and obedience
-there was submission to authority
-there was faith in God
if i was placed in a similar situation again/ some where else,
i don't think we will "end up like this".
the like-mindedness in Christ was so evident despite the diverse group of people and it was BEAUTIFUL.
well, to be very fair,
at one point there was a bit of discussion upon the decision being announced.
i am not sure is it because of the language barrier that some had to clarify any matter but at that point,
hui4 zhang3 happened to say something like: "we really need you to be attentive now. it would have been very tough for Moses to lead the Israelites across the Red Sea if they were not cooperative."
i don't think it was sarcasm.
but i think it was such a wise and clever reference.
even if it was not such a matter but it could be a small thing that God entrusted us to do,
how do we/ am I responding to His guidance?

#6 [self realization] increasingly being affected by "rejection"
i think i need to work things out in this area.
i learnt about myself that "rejection" bothers/ impacts me way more than before.
it could be being unappreciated, to being turned down when offering to take a photo for someone, or after taking a photo for others they choose to take a selfie right after, etc..
it affects me so so much.
i know it is because i put the emphasis on "me" in such times.
but still, it is a challenge, really.

alrighty, this shall be all.
good night =)