26th August 2010

It's been 1 & 1/2 weeks since I last blogged. Time flies. No SOT on tue & today. Only those who still owe bible readings/assignments or have any makeup exam/reexam. My results were better than I expected (highest 90% & lowest 60%). Since I don't owe anything and have no makeup exam/reexam, am off on tue and today. But can't believe I totally forgot abt tue's prayer365 in the morning. Only realised in the evening that I forgot abt it. At that time I was working in the shop. *sheesh* CG tonight. Cannot forget also. :P Going to bring some stocks over to the shop. I want KOI but bugis outlet is always long q & I don't have the time to q. :(

Yesterday was chapel followed by class photo-taking. Finally got to see Pst Kong in SOT. Bcoz of the crisis Pst and the church going through, he only got to teach us in SOT once. But it's ok, we understand, we still love you Pastor! Last night was having gathering w SOT T25 at my place. We had an awesome time! Tmr is the last day of SOT followed by graduation weekend. So going to miss SOT days and ALL in T25 esp our dear Indonesian friends. After mission trip, I'm more in love w Indonesia. LOL! Wanna go for more mission trips (if possible). Going for both sat & sun graduation svc. I'm graduating in the sun svc. My number is odd number and I'm somewhere in the middle. Praying that the odd numbers will get to receive their SOT folder from Pst Kong himself. :P Congrats to the class of SOT2010, you ran the race well. *A round of applause for everyone* :)

14th August 2010

Looking fwd for svc tmr then it'll be followed by busy 2 weeks......

Nxt week is the week of morning and night prayer from 16th to 20th (mon to fri). Will be going for the 7am-8am morning prayer @ JW. Really have got to sleep earlier the nxt few days. Been feeling really really tired lately. On 16th (mon) will be rushing off to work after the 1st break to train the new FT as it's 1 of my FT off day & my other FT will have got to be in the other outlet. Actually my staff has train her but still have to assist/observe her as she only started a few days. On 19th (thurs) is our final exam on theology and romans. Both are "chimilogy" topics esp theology. All the big big words. Must start studying soon. 20th (fri) will be having our graduation dinner at Harbourfront. :) Then there's Pst AR Bernard weekend svcs on 21st and 22nd. Graduation full dress rehearsal will also be on sat night...after svc.

Then on the following week. On 23rd & 24th (mon and tue) will need to rush off to work after the 1st break since my FT will be taking turns for their off & my other FT needs to be at the other outlet. On 25th (wed) will be having our last team gathering b4 we graduate from SOT & b4 our Indonesian friends fly back to their hometown. They'll be leaving on the 31st. Sure going to miss all of them. :( CG on 26th (thurs) ; and most probably on 27th (fri) will be having gathering with my dear brisbane support group (brisbane support group is my CG in brisbane australia during my uni days there. Most of them are also fr CHC). It's been a couple of yrs since we last had our gathering. So far we only get to meet during weddings. :( Exactly 2 weeks from today is our SOT graduation weekend on 28th and 29th. Excited about it! :) But I don't want it to end so soon.

Not forgetting throughout all these. I still have accounts which are piling up since I left for mission trip. Have done the accounts for the past 1 mth++ of sales receipts. The rest of the accounts will have to wait till after SOT b4 I can work on them. God gives me the strength I need!

We're currently in the midst of training a new staff to replace my FT staff who wanted to quit on the 15th. We got her to stay on till the 20th while we train the new FT. But now she's thinking of coming back to work on the 1st after a short break. That means fr now until 20th we've got 3FT (1 of them is undergoing training); fr 20th to 31st we've got 2FT (SOT is still ongoing during this period. which means I've take leave to work on the staffs' off day. this I've already done so); and fr the 1st we'll have 3FT again. 2FT is actually enough...3FT??? More than enough. I can always work on staff's off days + my cousin is helping us out in the during the weekends. With 3FT, I don't have to work but more cost involved. Will see how are their performance 1st then only decide and rearrange work schedule if the need arise.

Mum intially thought of following me to church or attend the church next door but b'coz dad being a staunch buddhist forbidded her to go, she changed her mind. Dad has a temper (like a volcano) which all of us know & seen since young. Now is much better than years before. Recently, my parents bought/reserved 2 side-by-side ash urn slots in a buddhist temple for their remains when they pass on. Feel burden when I heard this. Really got to pray abt this and pray for open door for my family's salvation.

9th August 2010

No class today coz it's national day. It's a long weekend to some. But I still have to work. It's been giddy-ish weekend. Been feeling light-headed since sat.

Only 3 more weeks left in SOT. 2 more exams to go...1 exam this thursday (authority for victory & cultural mandate) & another on next monday (romans & theology) then it's graduation. :) Don't want it to end so soon though. :( Sure...going to miss team 25 esp our dear Indonesian friends. I'm loving Indonesia more and more esp ever since coming back from mission trip. I wanna go for more mission trips but my parents don't let.

Since SOT started, my parents been nagging that I spend too much time in church. Recently, my mum even regretted letting me study in SOT. She says studying such thing is useless. :`( My parents don't believe there're miracles in life. Just b'coz u dun see miracles happening, doesn't mean miracles doesn't exist. The God I serve is a miracle working God. Just to name a couple of miracles this yr. My left leg & arm increasing in length is a miracle. Medicorp Okto approaching us for products to be featured in 1 of their drama is another miracle. There's more. I feel that during these past 6 mths I've grown a lot in both personal and spiritual aspects. These past 6 mths has been ratehr fruitful although it has indeed been rather challenging. Like what Pst Bobby always says in class. "God is a good God. The devil is a bad devil. But we WIN!"

Just b'coz some fortune teller say that based on my birth 8 characters I'm not a business type of person, doesn't mean it is true. Stop repeating that to me. I renouce that in Jesus' name. All these fortune telling thingy, just instill in u a spirit of fear & ctrl so as to stop u fr doing what u're actually capable of doing. Why let ur life be controlled by what others say abt u? U can say whatever you like. I still stand firm on what I believe and hold tight to God's promises for me. The Bible says that God's promises are "yes and "amen". If God can say it, He'll definitely do it. Matt 6:33 - "Seek 1st the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

Sacked my part timer last week. He didn't turn up for work. Didn't picked up the phone. When we tried contacting him again, he switched off his phone. After abt an hr or so, he sms me telling me that he's not feeling well and asked me if I still need him to goto work. What is this???? Not feeling well...dunno how to sms me to inform meh? Is it THAT difficult just to sms. Told him straight that he don't have to come to work anymore. This kind of staff we don't want. Irresponsible!

1 of my full-timer is also quitting after mid of the mth (which means sun is her last day). That means we have got to find a full timer to replace her. Got a few recommendations for both part time and full time. But not everyone has got retail experiences (retail is different fr f&b. although both r customer service oriented but when it comes to the approaching of customers it is very very different. it takes very long to train up someone who only has f&b experience). Already have got one person in mind. She's recommended by an ex-staff and has a lot of work experiences in various industry including retail. Will be calling her in for training soon. Not intending to employ part-timer already. Once SOT ends, my parents want me to work in the shop as such no need for any part-timers. Not nice to employ a part-timer to work 1-2 days a week for the nxt 3 weeks and then "dump" them after SOT ends. Might as well take 1/2 day leave to work whenever necessary. My cousin is able to help cover this week thus there's no need to take leave. For the remaining 3 weeks left in SOT, I'll only need to take 3 days of 1/2 day leave. Have already applied for the 1/2 day leaves via the student portal. My nxt 1/2 day is on the day of the last exam. That means I can concentrate on the remaining 2 exams (other than having to work on new stocks) b4 having to take 1/2 day leave to work.

3th August 2010

FOP and 21st anniversary weekend was awesome! Great Presence of God in SIS. Was serving on sat and sun. For the 21st anniversary only, Pst Kong's MP3 USB sermon (Cultural Mandate & Sermons on the Mount) were was at a great bargain...only $21. That's a whopping 90% discount!!! But there were only 50 copies available and each person is only allowed to get 1 copy. Some in my team managed to get theirs. I was kan-chionging for them. Hahaha. Anyways, the USB were SOLD OUT really quickly. Of course la! So cheap! Attributes ministry members, like myself, didn't have to fight with the congregation. We had a batch reserved for us (also limited copies) but will only get it 2 weeks later. Have already ordered and paid for it. :)

Tonight at 2359 is the ultimate dateline of our last batch of SOT assignments - 5 book reviews and 10 sermons. I completed and emailed mine at around 2++am this morning. I literally chiong all of them after last thurs' exam. Phew! Finally all done! Left with exams. Lots of people are still chionging through them. 3++ more hrs to go...Jia you Jia you Jia you!!!!

We're currently doing "Theology" in class. "Theology" is "chimi-logy". Really chim sia. All the big big words. But it's quite interesting. We'll be having another exam this thurs and will be covering 3 books (Fivefold ministry 1, Fivefold ministry 2 and Sermon on the Mount). According to what Pst Kim Hock said, we'll be having another 2 more exams after this thurs paper. Looks like there is at least 1 exam for the next few weeks. Only 3 and a 1/2 more weeks to go in SOT. :) and :( Time really flies man when you are having fun. Our dear Indonesian friends will also be returning back to their hometown soon. :( Will miss them. :( Will surely miss these 6 months spent in SOT. Treasuring every moment left of it. SOT graduation dinner will be on the 20th. Planning for the next gathering on the 25th with team 25.

Came home after SOT class today to work on stocks. Yet to study for the exam. Should start soon. But having a slight headache now. Maybe didn't have enough sleep? Slept at 2++ after I finished chionging the assignments. Woke up at 6++ as our team is on PA duty this whole week and have got to clock-in by 8am latest.What we do for PA duty? Scan students cards, serve as greeters & ushers, running of errands. Was assigned to scan student cards with Chunshan & Anita. Scanning is fun! But not so fun when the crowd comes at around 8.30am. Quite stressful as we are practically racing against the clock. Those who clock in after 8.45am are late. Every 30mins of lateness accumulated, the person have got to fulfill another 4hrs of additional ministry hours on top of the ministry practicum requirements of 4hrs a week. Every min of lateness count. Yesterday we nearly caused a lot of people to be late as the system was not cooperating with us & we were not familiar with the system. The last person in the queue clocked in at 8.49am (that's 4mins late when in fact he wasn't late at all but caught up in the queue :( ). Felt so bad sia. Some of the students scolded us for it. :( But those on duty b4 understand & were very patient. We already did our best. Thank God the SOT staff adjusted yesterday's clock-in time to 8.50am latest instead of 8.45am. Today's scanning was much much better. More used to the system & also the system was more cooperative. We even laid hands on the scanners and the laptop b4 we started scanning. Haha. The power of laying on of hands. Tomorrow it'll even better. Shall lay hands on the scanners and laptops again. :) By friday, we'll be experts. LOL!