One of our sisters in the community has left us to answer God's calling, to be a Carmelite nun. We will never see her in person again as she has sacrificed the luxuries to live a consecrated life and that means never seeing the outside world ever again except certain circumstances such as illness.

Despite only knowing her for a short period of time (1 year to be exact), her words of wisdom and preaching the word of God gave each and everyone of us in the community the inspiration and understand Him more than we thought we had, and she is Karen Wee. She had left on July 7 2013 to return to her hometown of Sarawak, Malaysia as she chose to join the Carmelite monastery there and joined the other nuns on July 16 2013. Prior to that week, the Amplify community held a surprise farewell potluck party for her with some or shall I say most us sharing our tribute and thanks to her when we were given the time when it was nearing to the end of the program.

I loved how the event planners decorated the room with pictures of her with us throughout the years. Credits to them for the wonderful event and for being gregarious hosts.

Saying grace before meal, hoping that I will be able to pray spontaneously and willingly like her one day.

She was truly a mentor to all of us and with her intercessions, that surely kept us standing tall. Her kind and approachable nature gave me the trust and confidence in speaking to her about my faith and troubles at times and bring ministered by her occasionally also gave me a feeling of peace and security.

Thank you Karen for everything, like what Royston said, you are the "Mother Mary" on Earth. Though I'm happy for you, at the same time I'm sad that you have left us. It was a joy and privilege to serve with you in the intercessory team for Awaken 7, your words had truly touched me.

What a memorable night

Despite being a staunch Catholic, my spiritual life has never exceed the D grade. Long and charismatic prayers were never my cup of tea as I'm a person who prefers short prayer (that is 5-10 minutes). However God had a challenge for me and I had a choice, to accept or reject it. The verdict was to accept the challenge.

Awaken is a 4-day youth retreat held by the Amplify youth community and conducted by Archbishop William Goh in June and December every year. During this retreat, participants will experience the love and reality of God through music and life-giving talks. Having attended Awaken a year ago as a participant, I received the calling to be part of the service team once again for Awaken 7. This time a big surprise hit me, to serve in the intercessory team. Being poor in spontaneous prayer, I had doubts but eventually I chose to accept the calling and got all pumped up, ready to serve as an intercessor. My job was to intercede for miracles and conversion to shine upon the 132 participants who were awaiting their breakthrough, some came willingly and some didn't (eg. dragged by parents or friends). Among the participants in attendance was my girlfriend, Sandra. She was looking for a closer relationship with God which I, along with my fellow intercessors had to ensure it will happen not only for her but the other participants too.

I assumed taking up the role of an intercessor was just another walk in the park but I was given a slap on the wrist. In Awaken 6 which was held 6 months prior to Awaken 7, I served in the Environment team which primary role was to handle the logistics and was used to the long breaks I had and it wasn't that bad as I thought it will be. However, the intercessory team had only 10-15 minutes break in between sessions which was indeed a shocking factor for me. Each session lasted for an hour and a half with spontaneous prayers and as time passed, tiredness kicked in and I began having mood swings and felt antsy. I admitted to my peers that I wasn't happy and just couldn't wait for the retreat to end, the only thing that kept me alive and on-going was by playing the guitar (my hobby) for certain sessions. Somehow I felt a connection with God through that. Day 2 eventually improved for me, felt more energetic after a much needed rest and more willing to pray during sessions. The next 2 days was indeed my breakthrough, as much as not being able to put words into my prayers, spreading the words of giving praise and thanks to the Lord was adequate.

Being affirmed by my peers was indeed heart-warming, hearing words of encouragement from Ethelyn and Teresa (intercessory heads) to Amo (fellow intercessor) gave me the muscle to carry on. I had realised how my cockiness and self-centered attitude caused my defiance to God. I can be such a great servant of God, journeying with His people but I have to remember to be humble and surrender to Him whenever I feel the need to. It was also a privilege to recite the prayer for the faithful on the last day during mass, that was a much needed remainder for me that prayer wasn't for myself but for everyone. I am thankful for journeying with the other intercessors, they have been supportive throughout the retreat because without them I would have struggled more than I already had.

Awaken 7 intercessory team with His Grace, William Goh

Being in the Awaken service team was such a wonderful time to be used as God's instrument. Not only did the service team helped change participant lives but the time we went through together, from the times feeling electrified and to the times feeling zonked pulled us together for we are servants of God.

Really happy to see that your desire to know God better came through during the 4 days. Despite not seeing you often during the entire retreat due to my duties as an intercessor, I have always been there supporting and praying for you. Hope that you had a great experience, looking forward to serve alongside you in the future. God bless you my dear.

Credits to Dominic Lee for the picture

What a well spent day at the Singapore Zoological Gardens. We have decided to make the trip on that Wednesday as it was Labour Day, a public holiday in Singapore. It has been almost 4 years since I've been to the zoo and being an avid photographer, I thought of it to be a great location to put my photography skills at work.

Ray, Sandra and I stopped by for breakfast first at Choa Chu Kang interchange before our adventure kicked off, settling on McDonald's. It has been awhile since I last had hotcakes so I said "Why not?". It took us approximately 20 minutes to reach our destination, the weather didn't seem too friendly on that day and we feared that it would rain and our it turned out to true as it rained heavily in the later afternoon (Oh crikey...) but thank God it lasted for a short while, therefore not hindering our trip as time was precious. Looking the at sign above the entrance relieved the happy moments I had at the zoo during my younger days. I recalled the days my Godfather used to bring my brother and I here during the school holidays when we were in primary school. Not much has changed since my last visit, except an additional sign beside the zoo which reads "River Safari", a park recently opened and it houses the pandas, I shall pay a visit in the future but not too soon. Upon entering, the childlike excitement surfaced just like the good ol' days and I had one goal in mind, complete the park without missing any exhibits.

Was lucky to capture this shot

We roughly spent 10 minutes in each exhibit observing the animals (with me on the camera lol), I wasted a little time figuring out the best settings on my DSLR Nikon D5100 to get a splendid picture. Ray and Sandra went with the flow while I was the "leader of the pack", couldn't forget the two of them trying to hide from me while I was distracted with the pictures, I usually caught them in the act  but they succeeded a few attempts (=.=!!!). The hardest picture to take was probably the cheetah as it just couldn't keep still, the easiest were probably the crocodiles and the komodo dragon as they were stationary (no effort needed :P). We managed to catch a show on the way called "Rainforest Fights Back" which educated the audience on preserving the wildlife, after which we headed for lunch at KFC which is the cheapest dine-in at the zoo (Still prefer the old KFC layout to the current one). The skies were dark for a period of time and rain finally started showering down, fortunately we have arrived at the restaurant, otherwise we would have looked like we just came out from the shower as it was raining cats and dogs. 

By the time we had lunch which was about 3pm, we had covered half of the zoo, popular animals such as the white tigers and orangutan had been covered, but the lions and the giraffes weren't. There was an elephant ride at one of the attractions on the way but paying $8 for a one small round which probably lasted less than 15 minutes didn't justify the worthiness of the ride. It may be fun for the little ones, but not us adults as we are the ones who faces the butterfly flying out of our wallets. One of my favourites was the reptile garden which houses various species of snakes such as the king cobra and python. The fragile forest we visited near the reptile garden lets the animals such as the lemurs roam free

and they are harmless anyway, though I received a little pinch from one of the birds (couldn't remember what bird it was) after allowing it to climb onto my hands (naughty bird using it's beak to pinch). Overall, it was a pleasant day at the zoo spending time with a good friend of mine and my girlfriend. The only disappointment I had was that the polar bear exhibit was under construction at the time and that was one of the iconic attraction. The weather was also something we took note. As Singapore is a tropical country, it will be humid so we didn't expect to leave the zoo dry (if you know what I mean) and our expectations were right.

I would certainly visit the zoo some time in the future, my next destination to visit will be the River Safari. Just hoping that the entrance fee of $35 will be worth my money. In my opinion, Night Safari was a disappointment as I could barely see the animals and majority of the time was spent riding a tram.

Friendly lemurs

Somehow the statue got bigger in 2013

Back in 2009

The popular white tiger

Adopted by Tiger, how ironic 

Ray's turn

                                                 

This is it, no more seeking permission or approval from parents when it comes to official documentations or consent forms. I have turned 21 and am an adult officially by law in March. That means there is no longer any age restrictions yipee! So I decided to throw a party at my home and sent an invitation to friends I'm close to in the Amplify community.

The "comedic duo" setting up the decorations

 

Lol at his sinister smile

The party began at 6pm with the numbers gradually increase as the clock ticked, with two of my second in command for the party arriving first to assist in the decorations and bringing the cake, the "comedic duo" Jerome and Kwan. As usual, their comedy antics were shown by belittling each other all because of the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" sign being too low *roars in laughter*.

Dinner was sponsored and cooked by my mum with her curry chicken being the most popular dish among the people in attendance. Other varieties she cooked included fried fish, spring roll, bee hoon, thanks to "Possum" Gabriel, there was lots of potong ice-cream available for everyone to enjoy.

The night felt so young, with all the vibrant noises of joy and laughter. We spent the time playing card games together, interaction with each other and of course playing my trusted guitar! By 9pm, everyone was present so it was time to sing the traditional happy birthday song and cut the cake. Like the old saying, fun is short and it was time for the party-goers to say goodbye when the clock hit 10pm.

I would like to sincerely thank my mum and friends from community for attending and making this party a memorable one and of course God because without His guidance, this may not have happened. Though I have turned 21, I felt like a person in my teenage days once again.

After an awesome LAN session with the boys, it was time for dinner. As we were in the city area, food will be more expensive than usual and we decided to burn a little money out of our pockets just this once.

We stumbled across this nice little cafe in the perpetually empty MRT link mall located beside Esplanade

Dining out with these rascals :P

station and decided to give it a shot as the prices were reasonable, I ordered a Texas BBQ and Egg beef burger which comes along with free flow of drinks and soup for $10.90. We went along with a large classic dips for our side order which cost $5.90 and included 3 types of dips we could choose from the menu, and decided on inferno cheese, nacho cheese and spicy BBQ. 

The burger tasted fantastic and the patty was tender. It was cooked to perfection and the tremendous amount of BBQ sauce in the burger was a charity. The only downside was the amount of serving on the fries which came along with the burger, I really wished they could improve the quantity of the fries served along with the main course. The large classic dips we shared was in fact a generous serving and the fries were hot and crispy, the dips provided were sufficient and tasted just like how our stomachs expected. The free serving of soup had nothing to boost about, to my understanding their choice of soup changes daily, and it happened to be pumpkin soup on that day. The taste was mediocre and little too watery but hey it was free wasn't it?! 

My overall opinion: Good and worth visiting. Not only is the area quiet and peaceful but they also provide free wi-fi and plug in for laptops so it will be a good area to pass the time alone or with friends. For the vicinity, the price was reasonable and the taste justified it, definitely recommend this place.




Here is their website: http://www.rocknash.com/

We were one happy customers

It's the festive season, and the day where Jesus was born over 2000 years ago! So it's the day to celebrate his birth with a big feast such as turkeys!

First present, thanks Auntie Serene! 

 My community (AMPlify!) happened to have a Christmas party from 1-6am every year on this day and this was my first time attending it. Before setting out for the night, I was in a dilemma on what to wear and after much thoughts, I decided to don a suit with bow-tie looking like a real gentleman *giggles*.

First, I went over to Sandra's house for Christmas dinner. There were the usual Christmas dishes such as turkey, ham and roast beef (yummy!). They were heaven and the black pepper sauce for the roast beef was too spicy for my tongue to tolerate as spiciness isn't a good pal of mine. We followed up with exchanging presents after dinner and my first presents came to me soon after, as someone over 20 I could care less about Christmas presents but as a child, I enjoyed it regardless of what I received and one of my favourites were the crackers given to me by my grandparents bought from the US.

We then headed for midnight mass at Nativity which is located opposite our community and rendezvous with the others. Mass began exactly at 12 midnight and after mass, we headed for the party. There were food and beverages such as ham and once again I'm having it. The night was a joyous occasion having fellowship with the others, playing games together and most importantly was the time we spent together because happy people keeps the environment happy.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year, one more week and it's a fresh new year!

Before I begin sharing my long testimony, I would like to thank the Lord for His unending love and not giving up on me because without Him, I would have been a nowhere boy.

Now where do I begin hmm… OH YES, before my experience with God in Awaken 5. I was never a devout let alone a practicing Roman Catholic and the fact that I totally gave up on my faith and vowed to never serve God or go to church for a period of time. I used to blame God for a broken family and not having that one person around to call ‘Daddy’ because if He loves me, these wouldn’t have happened. Adding on to the fact that I skipped mass on a regular basis during my catechism days, just attending class and “Adios I’m out of here”. When I was confirmed in 2008, life went on as per normal and was glad that 10 years of catechism has finally come to an end.

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. ~ Psalm 13:5

 

A lost child

The year 2009 came which I believe was the lowest point in my life, it was the year that I sat for my GCE O’ levels examination. Losing someone close to me in the family was painful, it affected my mood throughout the entire year and my studies, causing poor results. I totally gave up trusting in Him and hated the faith overall to the point of cursing the church. However, for unknown reasons I chose to continue wearing the pendant with a crucifix hung on it which I have been wearing since my early days in secondary school. Receiving my O level results was almost the final nail into the coffin, as it was a promise I made but wasn’t accomplished. After which I totally gave up on life and chose suicide to end the pain. But something or someone snapped me out of it, it just felt real even though I was alone at the time. It was pretty unexplainable how that after more than 6 months of grief and depression, that I felt happier and more peaceful after that incident and life started to improve bit by bit for me. That had to be the beginning of walking on the path of light back to Him.

National Service and experience with the Adversary

Then came the time which every Singaporean male must face once in their lifetime. I was enlisted on June 4 2010 not knowing of the challenges and obstacles that lie ahead of me. One night after lights out, I had a nightmare (During my trainee days to be a Signal Operator). When my eyes opened, something or someone was staring at me, the bunk was pitched black and all I could see was a black figure with horns. It started muttering in a foreign language and was odd that I completely understood what it said. I was frightened after hearing it say “Come to me, come to me” and mentioned something about Jesus in a demonic and furious tone. Moments later after waking up, I felt completely scared and shaken, not daring to open my eyes as it felt so real, the bunk, the bed everything! I just couldn’t go back to sleep, fearing that the same dream may occur again. At that point of time, I remembered the crucifix that was hanging around my neck and immediately grabbed the cross tightly saying “God if you are real and if YOU love me, then be at my side because I’m scared”. Immediately, I went back to sleep and everything went as per usual in the morning feeling relieved that my fears were gone.

 

God has indeed protected me from the Devil

This experience was the turning point of me trusting in Him slowly, but not surely because during lunch one the days, my fellow NS mate saw my pendant and asked if I was a religious person, which I immediately shrugged off saying in a cocky manner, “Oh I’m just wearing it for fun”. Oh Silly Ryan…

 

 Returning back to Church

The year 2012 came, and I couldn’t wait to shout “ORD LO!!!” on June 3 *chuckles*. It was also the year I finally returned to church and after everything I said earlier in my life, I just couldn’t believe it. It all happened one fine Sunday morning in March, being the usual lazy person lazing around in bed. To my amazement, I woke up early and something was different this time, I was itching to attend mass on that day and actually went. As time passed, I wanted to serve in a ministry and decided to serve in my parish, Holy Family. Indeed a sign from God that He hasn't forsaken me.

Church of the Holy Family, my parish

 

Awaken 5

My parish was advertising the retreat which took place in June that year. I was initially reluctant to go, but the encouragement and motivation from my seniors made me decide to go for it since I have been wanting to begin a new relationship with God, this also marked my first time attending a church retreat. On the first day, upon entering the compound, the service team members greeted me with huge and wide smiles and energetic voices (Still remembered Alex serving me juice ). During the first P&W song, while most of the participants felt awkward, I just had the urge to raise my hands to surrender (not being boastful lol).

I was placed in the group Goodness with 8 other awesome possum participants along with 2 powerful and inspiring facilitators, Isaac and Ethelyn. Over the 4 days, our bond grew deeper and the sharing got more intense as each session passed. Hearing Fr. William Goh talks were inspirational and found it meaningful, though I fell asleep most of the time *khekhekhe*. It amazed me how that over a short period of 4 days, many participants lives were changed, including mine. From all the awkwardness and silence among the groups to jumping around being a fool for God and being brothers and sisters in Christ. God was so real and I could feel His presence throughout the entire retreat. Confessing my sins made me feel delighted and lighter as the weight of sins that stuck on me for years had finally been removed. He was always at my side, just that he was doing his work on me and waiting for the perfect opportunity to give the positives, like what Don Marcus said, “When Jesus says NO, he doesn’t mean no but Next Opportunity”. In life everyone will face a time of hardship even if you’re rich because that makes us a stronger person in my opinion.

God truly does good and is good, my breakthrough has finally come and I have a great interest to serve in the Amplify community under the Hospitality sub-team, something which I first said that I will never do. Once again, I would like to thank God for giving me a community to serve Him in along with other youths seeking for Him which is truly a privilege and, my facils for giving us the strength and courage.

Awakened at last, Awaken 5 2012