MARCHING ON

A playlist of my current favourite K songs to accompany this post. Click play! :)

March has been a month where i invested in people's lives. Not that i don't do so in the past but the kind of investment i am making this time round is different. My investment for this month is not in a traditional sense whereby you expect some returns from the investment but simply giving my time to do things that are more worthwhile. God purposely ushered people into my life and i deliberately reached my hand out. I got to spend time with so many friends and know them in a deeper level. I got to understand them, i got to take a step into their lives. It is only now that i recognise what privilege it is to be able to do so. Previously, i had just see it as a chore haha.

Celebrated Jolene's birthday with a huge feast.

Jess and I celebrated Jolene's 22nd birthday. We have now know each other for close to 3 years but it is only this month that i had deeper conversations with Jolene. God gave me opportunities to spend alone time with her and i told her honestly how i felt about our friendship and my desire for us to delve pass the superficial topics like school and dramas. And as we talked and shared about our lives, our views, our experiences, i felt that we opened up to each other and it was great :) I felt our friendship transited from being instrumental to intrinsic haha. Hopefully in the near future, i will have opportunities to do so with Jess as well. But! I think we did bond over doing manicure hahaha.

Getting pretty skilled at painting people's nails.

I caught up with old friendships this month as well. HY initiated a meet up and at first i was rather lazy to go (HAHAHAHA) but i got reminded how precious our friendship is through the meet up. Most times i take him for granted and forget that he really is a precious person God has placed in my life to be able to share ministry sorrows and exhilarations, for us to encourage and sharpen one another. I think our friendship has really come a long way. When i think back to the time when i was a fresh believer and he was my leader, to the times he shared vulnerably, to the times i cried, to the times when we laugh and make fun of each others' stupiak moments, to the times he invested in my life, to the times we invested in others' lives to now being able to support one another, i am very grateful to have such a friend who saw my spiritual journey from the very beginning :)

Rebecca

I recently got to know a lot of Koreans! Rebecca is someone i met thanks to Val and MX. They were approached by Korean missionaries in Singapore who held a small evangelistic event in NTU and i thought no harm going for the event. Got to know Rebecca from there who turned out that she will be doing exchange in NTU for the semester. She's such a cute dongseng hehehe.

I met Julie (& Shawn) in service. My lg had to sit on the last row as we were late and halfway through the worship, the usher plopped 2 people next to me and told me that there were visitors. I was quite surprised but decided to host them well throughout the service. Eventually, me and Julie exchange contacts and we kept in touch. I had such a great time talking about our lives/culture/faith that 2.5 hours whizzed by just like that! I felt so sad that i had to leave because i wanted to talk more hahaha. But i'll be meeting her again so that's awesooooooome!

Guess who took this photo lol.

So, XX and i did an Easter video for Campus Service. Honestly speaking, i was quite worried when we were editing the video. We were laughing like mad but i was quite sceptical if others would find it as funny as we do. I was reminded in Sec school when we would look at each other and know what we are thinking about (the situation) and laugh while our other friends would be asking "What's so funny?"

But i'm glad that NYC enjoyed the video nevertheless. And so thankful for all those who availed themselves. Really die to self leh, but i think we had a lot of fun!

Met Pong for shepherding this month as well and i just want to say that 1. So thankful for her to be so open about her life to me 2. and even more grateful at how she's been growing. I am so excited to see her grow in her spiritual journey and i know God has great, great plans for her :D

Anginn came back over Easter weekend as well. I was so happy to be able to spend time with her (albeit a short one) and simply talk. We exchanged ideas and theories of what we've learnt, roamed around Haji lane, got kidnapped by this shop owner to model for him (HAHAHA this is the most random thing everrrrr), went for Easter service and updated each other on our lives. I think i am liking one-to-one conversations a lot nowadays. It is so nice to just be able to chat and know one another on a deeper level.

Looking back, March has been a crazy month filled with meet ups with so many different people :O God really gave me a lot of opportunities to be a friend to others. What is common in all of these meet ups is that i get to share Christ to them. Not in the direct, in your face, come my church kind of talks but simply through the sharing of life. Through sharing, I got to understand them better and at the same time, they got to understand who Christ is in my life. It is not the kind of intentionality when you invite friends for service/events that we sometimes have to bolster all our courage to ask but it is the natural overflow that comes from your heart - that when you share about yourself, you can't help but to testify Jesus because he literally takes up such a big portion of you. I am beginning to understand (though i had previously known) that outreach isn't just inviting people to church but being a friend to others and showing Christ to them in our everyday lives. I think it is wonderful to be able to share Christ in a personal manner :)

Other random activities that went on this month:

NOM: Wasn't super pleased with the standard of food. I mean it is still nice and all but because i saw a lot of raves online, i was expecting more :( However, the place is super beautiful and I'm glad that the NYC leadership team got to discuss ministry stuff in a more light-hearted and informal fashion hahaha.

March had been a really fulfilling month because through one-to-one meet ups, i learnt the stories of different people. I can't emphasised how important that is. When you hear the life story of someone, he/she ceases to be an object; a shadow in the midst of a crowd. You get to know the person as he/she is and recognise their human value. You get to see them as how Jesus would. I paused myself in the month of March - You don't pause your work, you pause yourself - because I realised there's so much more to life than just for the days to fly by. I want to enjoy the things that matter. And what can matter more than humans? 

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

There are so many connections we make with people everyday. Most times, those connections simply become fleeting moments that pass us by as we scurry along life. It takes intentionality to turn them into memories instead. The moment we don't, it will just be swept by the current, gone with the wind.

Cafe: Hyde & Co

People always expect me to talk; to hype up the atmosphere but with my sister i face no such requirement (heck she doesnt even answer half of my mandatory-elder-sister-questions). And so, we lapsed into a comforting silence as we chew our food and sip our tea. We were so quiet that everything else in the cafe sounded like noise pollution. It was a simple afternoon spent - she with a book and i with my camp notes.

I love the interior design of Hyde & Co, especially their vintage tea sets. I paired the ambience with Edward Sharpe & Magnetic Zeros and Kodaline playlist. Perfecto, i'd say (though the food was pretty meh and overpriced). In the future, i shall head there for tea and tea only.

Over recess week

Cafe: Tiramisu Hero

Hopped to Tiramisu Hero yesterday and i guess its quite popular even amongst tourists? Had a Korean and a Japanese couple sitting next to us. The food was alright. Nothing special or exotic on their menu but the food was decent enough. Based on what they served, i would say that the food is a little overpriced. Service was slow but at least the waitresses were friendly. The highlight of this cafe is definitely not in their food but their...

toilet.

No really. It is so gorgeous you dont even want to come out even if there's a queue snaking right outside the door.

Cafe: Chye Seng Huat Hardware • Windowsill • Tolido's

Chye Seng Huat's breakfast sets (or that's what i would like to call it) are so good. You'd think its merely a piece of bread and 2 poached eggs mixed with meaty bits and sauce (or spring onion pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacons for her) for 12 bucks but the taste exceeded my expectations. If you're interested, i ordered Italian Breakfast but it was not on the menu when i tried to google it. The cafe is indeed cramped especially since its a weekend but i really liked the open countertop concept. Not a good place to chill and talk but definitely a great place for a quick bite with nice ambience.

This cafe makes you feel like you are in a forest where Snow White and her dwarves could possibly be living in. We managed to get what i would call the "prime seats" aka the tables near the big beautiful window panes out of sheer luck. The S'mores cake was a little too chocolately for my liking but the banana cake was pretty decent. It could also be because i am a fan of bananas. Overall, the cakes are too sweet imo.

Located right across church, Tolido's is extremely crowded with church people just before services. We had to sit in the outdoor area, braving the heat while waiting for our waffle. The waffle was meh. But the rum and raisin ice cream mixed with maple syrup was good.

And that concludes our cafe hopping experience.

"Who knows but that you were brought to the kingdom for a time like this?"

King Jesus You're the name we're lifting high

Your glory shaking up the earth and skies

Revival we want to see Your kingdom here

We want to see Your kingdom here