Journeying together

I never really know how to begin writing a blog. Every time I start it always looks really awkward but somehow once I start going, it's almost impossible for me to stop.

 

Last weekend, two of my classmates came over to our OM guest house to revise and hang out and most importantly, to have a bonfire with roasted marshmellows and a birthday cake (for one of my classmates). I was a little surprised that we actually managed to go through all the modules that we needed to study for though some were more helpful than others. In the end, we played Monopoly and I won- just had to share that because I think it was the highlight of my weekend. =0)

 

Anyway, this week, I'm back in school for two weeks of revision and then my exams start and only end on the 29th of May. Prayers are much appreciated and I do know that people are praying so thank you very much. It is an encouragement in itself to know that people remember me at all during this time, especially when there are so many other students going through similar anxieties. Please do continue to pray for my classmates as well, as they do not yet know Christ. There is one girl, an ex-classmate, who I recently had a really good conversation with who is very very open and has been asking some very sincere questions. Unfortunately, I am not able to spend too much time with her since she goes to a different university in a different part of the country and I know for a fact that she has been stumbled quite badly by some "Christians" in around her so please do pray that God will raise up some strong mature Christians around her to be able to set a better example. If you'd like more specifics in order to pray, please do let me know as she is definitely a person very much on my heart and would appreciate more prayer for her and also her family.

 

More and more frequently, i find myself also trying harder to stay in touch with people. Some of you have already accused me of being too much on top of this but I always feel like I can never write enough letters or enough emails. I have been really blessed by various people over the last few weeks who have corresponded what God has been doing in and through their lives. What an incredible encouragement! What incredible answers to prayer! God certainly is amazing and though we often remember that in our heads, it is something so wonderful to experience in reality! There have been about four people recently who have been most faithful in relating their life through words over email and though I don't want to mention their names, I really do appreciate you out there and hope that I can be just as much of a blessing and encouragement in return and hopefully God will also use me as an instrument to stir people up unto love and good works. It's definitely an interesting lesson to be able to speak truth in love and and to love as Christ loves, is something I wonder if I will ever be able to comprehend fully- probably not, or at least not while I am here on this earth.

 

As always, it's great to also have my dad back though he's off travelling again and won't be completely ours until we all leave for our travels in June. I really do look very much forward to seeing a few if not many of you during these upcoming travels. I'm already drooling at the thought of all the good food back home in Singapore and dearly missing so many of you, my close friends who I know I probably won't be able to see this time. Be assured I do try and keep you in my prayers and I trust that God is doing something extraordinary in your lives, as He loves doing. In the words of George Verwer (my dad's immediate boss), "Keep on keeping on, in His grace and grip"

Coming back from OCF last night, I was praying on the bus and really thinking through what had happened in the day. Yesterday, I had a "last minute" meeting with a good friend whom I haven't seen since the beginning of the school year I think or was it just the beginning of the semester? Anyway, it was a great time to meet up, good excuse to eat some good food, and just talk about what was on our hearts. You know, I really do value and enjoy Christian fellowship especially in one-on-one situations or even a much smaller group. I think I sometimes really miss that ability and freedom that I had on the ship where I could almost find anybody, especially close friends nearby and just talk and share life.

 

I was thinking yesterday on the bus that I would love to have a closer fellowship group that could meet more often for personal Bible study and prayer. In my mind, it would be great just ot be able to read the same passages as this other person or persons and just be able to talk about it and about what God is saying to us personally and how that is effecting us. I find it sometimes a little distracting when we have a fixed amount of questions that we have to answer and go through. Not that this is wrong or bad because it is also helpful in some cases but I think it would also be great to have that deeper discussion that is not bound by a fixed question book or whatever so that we can share person struggles and thoughts and then help each other in prayer to overcome these struggles. I wonder if you who are reading this have any idea what I'm saying. In any case, it is something very much on my heart that I want to be praying about and I trust that in God timing that He will bring up somebody whom I can do this with.

 

It's especially difficult when I think of where I'm staying in comparison to the majority of the friends I've made since coming to the UK as well as those really really close friends that I made on the ship who are now all over the place though I praise God that I have still managed to keep in contact with most of them.

 

Of course, many of you probably also know that my exams are coming up. It has been a major struggle for me to getting into a revision mode though this happens every single time. I have 8 exams this coming May. (6th-29th) and also one 30 minute test sometime in the first week back at school, which I actually know nothing about at this point of time. Two of my classmates are planning to join me a two day revision thing over in our OM guest house on the 17th. I know you think we won't be revising but I think we will be disciplined enough to make sure we do and that we cover all of it if possible. It is also a way for us to be celebrating of my classmate's birthday so we're going to treat ourselves after the revision to a good bonfire and some marshmellows and all those good things. =0)

 

I've been really excited by the friendships that God has given me. Just the other day I was talking to Vanessa Nicholas, one of my dearest if not best friend. We have this thing where we contact each other on the first of every month and just tell each other how we've been doing and just being somewhat accountable to each other. It was only when I called her on the Doulos just a few days ago that we realised we had been doing this for about 7 years and that before that we were still together on the ship! I have constantly admired her faithfulness in keeping in contact with myself and how God has used her in so many ways. She is one of the only people if not THE only person who reasonably regularly writes me a proper letter, which is a seriously big deal since hardly anyone these days bothers to write letters though I find they are a hundred times more personal and special than any email or ecard I have ever recieved. Praise the Lord for Vanessa and I pray that I will be able to be just as much of a blessing to the people around me.