~May Your Light Shine :D~

Sunday, June 29, 2008

It is 2 days before my last paper for the semester. Its been a pretty relaxed exam period if you compare it to the madness last year when I had twice the number of papers I have this time.

Its been a while since I last blog - though its just 3 papers, the amount of assignments and other stuff that had to be done during the period leading up to this was abit over the top. This will probably be the last time I blog before the holidays.

My July holidays have always been somewhat of an impromptu situation every time. The first year, I received news of my grandfather's death and had to squeeze onto the plane in time for the funeral. Last year, I booked tickets to Sydney just 2 days before I flew for the Hillsong conference, and as it turned out was one of the best spontaneous decisions I ever made (not that I make alot of these). This year proved no different.

From the beginning, July was a time of uncertainty. To go home, not to go home. At first it hinged on when my brother will be graduating - Dec this year or Feb next year. After forcing an answer from him, which led to undesirable consequences that I will not dwell upon, I decided to spend my holidays with him and his friends - snowboarding, hotsprings... An ideal winter holiday.

Alast! It was not meant to be when I found out I could not extend my air ticket which was due to expire end February next year. I have long decided to do my placement here in Australia and doing honours, meant this year's summer would be placement time and summer placement is from Jan-Feb. If my air ticket was for a few days later, there would be no problem. However, I did not want to risk rushing through placement just so I can leave by the stipulated date. But SQ refused to grant me an extension, saying that 1-year tickets cannot be extended. I didn't want to go home! SQ were increasing their ticket prices, almost double what I paid in the first year and I hoped not to have to spend money on flying if I could help it. But no choice...

The week before exams, I received a call - from Linda. This was the lady I met in Sydney last year that offered me an opportunity to do missions last December. However, as I wanted to spend time with family then, I could only go in Jan/Feb but we couldn't arrange for that. This time, she was in Adelaide to meet with some of my friends who are going to do missions this holidays and the Lord prompted her to call me. It was nothing short of a miracle she had her flight changed and found my number as she recently lost all her contacts. But she did and we met up.

As we were catching up, she shared with me about a summer camp for the orphans from the Sichuan earthquake and asked if I knew of anyone free during July-August and would like to help out. I responded immediately and said I was free. Since then, its been a mad rush to settle a number of things on top of studying for my papers. My return flight was booked on 6th july and I was waitlisted for earlier dates. However, I could only fly a few days after I arrive in Singapore and I needed to fly home as early as possible to be able to make it in time for the first summer camp which is on 7-18 July. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me, this first hurdle has been cleared - I've got a seat on the 2nd of July! =) Now, its up to the visa application and air ticket.

It sounds a little bit rushed and crazy but one thing I know is that where He calls, I want to follow. I am tired of just talking about missions and not doing a thing about it. Now that I have an opportunity to go, I want to go for it. I do not know what lies in store for me but I hope this trip will allow me to see if I am right for it. Thank you for all your prayers and support and please continue to pray that God's will be done.

Lydea blogged at 4:21 PM

May your light shine...
in the darkness...