Blog?

The lady was slightly puzzled when I enquired about iTunes gift cards that were apparently on sale. She was unaware of such promotion.

“Where did you see it advertised?” asks the Australia Post assistant.

“Uh … a friend told me about it,” I reply.

That was kind of a lie. Technically, I was informed by someone, but it wasn’t a friend. I was a bit embarrassed to reveal where I had obtained such information. Besides, she probably wouldn’t even know what I was talking about.

The thing is this – I’d read it on a blog. I know – I’m a bit of a geek, and I felt that she wouldn’t understand me. There’d be this long awkward silence followed by, “Blog? Do you mean our catalogue, sir?” I would then have to educate the poor lady of the 21st century – something I’m not prepared to do on account of the twenty or so impatient customers behind me.

It left me wondering – are blogs a socially acceptable source of information? I suppose it would fall into a similar category to Wikipedia. These sites provide information but we must question its relevance and reliability. I don’t think they would hold much weight outside of cyberspace.

On a side note, I always welcome this package on my doorstep:

They only took two and a half weeks to arrive this time! Just in time for Christmas :) I shall be sporting my new shirts over the next few days.

Understanding.

More to follow

Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion for the Spirit of God to manifest His power.

Oswald Chambers

I haven’t blogged lately, and I promise I will post after I finish processing the thoughts and emotions.

Dear God

The trip to Philippines was truly amazing. I won’t lie – it was very challenging and draining for me, but I labour with joy as I see peoples’ lives transformed by Your love. The humidity was a bit of a killer, but our bodies slowly adjusted. The food was somewhat repetitive – rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner – but it sustained us nonetheless. And the sleep – almost non-existent – but You still gave me the strength to get up in the morning. I’m grateful that You put up with my somewhat too frequent complaining to You. I realise that You were hoping to deplete my natural strength so I may be sustained by Your supernatural strength.

I loved the people of the area – the kids in particular. Their lives are so simple compared to that of western society. Have we overcomplicated life? I also cannot forget about the lady named Joy whom we encountered in one of the villages. Thank You for the opportunity to enter her home and share the Gospel. Thank You for touching her and allowing her to feel joy within her heart. You really did come to seek the lost, the sick, the oppressed, the widows, the orphans. I witnessed with my own eyes You doing such things. The queue for healing after the rallies was sometimes unbearably long, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’m also grateful for our fellow team mates. I believe we were handpicked by you to work together, and I really feel a great sense of family when I am with them. I see their passion and desire to be Your hands and feet, and am very much inspired by it.

This trip was so unique, and I believe that it will have a lasting impression on my mind.

Lots of love

Jason.

Until next time.

Hello Singapore

It is day two in Singapore – I was far too tired to blog yesterday after getting little sleep on the flight over. The flight was delayed almost two hours – Asher and I were not quite sure why, but it appeared that all flights leaving Perth were delayed for the same reason.

We had a farewell party – cheers to the boys taking the time to send us off :)

We were greeted in Singapore by some old friends – Luwei (whom I didn’t recognise at first glance), Jack, Serene and Sherie. I was bracing myself for the humidity to smack me in the face like a misguided high-five as I walked through the doors to exit Changi Airport, but I think my mental preparation allowed it to not offend me as much as it did previously.

We hit the ground running and went straight to the Salvation Army … and then the running subsided a bit as we all (the Singaporeans included) caught-up on some sleep. After our quick recovery nap, we were ready to shake-up the anti-gum island.

	We ate some foreign fruit Apparently this thing is called a pear. It has the texture of a Beur Bosc pear, but has the shape of an overgrown apple. It was so big I couldn’t eat it all in one sitting. (Interestingly they sell their fruit per piece rather than per kilo here).
	We ate what the locals eat We decided to embrace the culture as best as we could by eating some of the local cuisine for dinner. Asher had a laksa whilst I had a fish ball soup. I was later informed by Ian that fish ball soup is usually eaten for breakfast. Fail.
	We visited Cold Storage not once but three times All in one day. Once for breakfast cereal and some fruit. Second for a bigger box of breakfast cereal and some UHT milk (as it is significantly cheaper than fresh milk) and then thirdly for some pens and plastic plates. We are almost on a first name basis with the checkout chick.

Tomorrow we leave for Philippines. We’re pumped and ready to go :)

Ignite.

Dear Australia

I will miss you. But I’ll only be gone for two weeks. In fact maybe I won’t miss your scorching heat. But I will definitely miss your lack of sweat-inducing humidity of which I will experience plenty in Singapore.

I will miss some of your food – a staple diet of three vegies and meat will be lacking from my diet. I have a gut feeling it will be replaced with mouth-burning, bowel-cleansing food (i.e. curries). I’ve been told that once the taste buds are burnt, the food is somewhat bearable. I’m a sceptic, but we’ll test the theory nonetheless.

I will miss my family – Sunday reminded me of how much fun I have around my friends. But soon enough we will be united once again.

Goodbye my sunny state. Take care of Jonni while I’m gone.

Heaps of love,
Jason.

Eight More Sleeps

These are the people I will be joining for the missions trip to Philippines! They are mostly strangers, but I will soon come to know them very well over the next two weeks. By the sounds of it we will be doing it much more rough than the Thailand trip – no fancy hotel with our own bathroom and balcony – this time we will be sleeping on the floor - I will have an ‘authentic’ missions experience this year :)

It’s only eight sleeps until I leave – I have so much to prepare before then! But most of all, I really need to prepare physically (routine exercise – which has become less routine towards the end of my exams), emotionally and most importantly spiritually. I’ve been preparing myself over the last few weeks – but I know I haven’t been pushing myself as hard as I potentially could.

Oh did I mention exams are over? When the words “Please stop writing – this exam is now over” resounded throughout the exam venue on Friday, a sensation of relief flooded my body. My study has paid off. It was all over. This is the hardest I have ever worked at uni, and Ps. Dave Reardon’s words continually echoed through my head:

“We’ve started it well – let’s finish it well”

And I reckon I did. On the 9th of December I’ll found out exactly how well.

Exhale.

Apostrophe Me

If you know me well, you would have come to grips of how pedantic I get when it comes to grammar and punctuation. Things I notice people mix up all the time are: there they’re their and the use of apostrophes. There is at long last a website dedicated to educating the general public on how to use an apostrophe. I particularly like their last rule:

Touché.