A word from heaven.

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My day 17

Today, we witnessed the holy spirit baptism of two visitors for high tea session. It was quite divine cox on the same seat they were holy spirit baptised, Eelee and me prayed and interceded for Hope chile and to meet the correct seed, in the afternoon. We prayed and prayed like never before and God is indeed faithful when he answered our prayers. I wasn't in the room but from what i heard from Eelee, the two really had spiritual hunger and can't stand "saturday christians" It was really refreshing to meet people with such hunger in this land. We want to continue to believe that God is going to do great things on this land.

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

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My Day 16

I cooked curry today. Not that fantastic but not bad for a first time i guess. The household have no choice, i cooked dinner. hahaa.. not nice also must eat.. heh..

Dinner

After dinner, me and eelee started doing recording work on the chinese syllabus we are using to teach chinese. it was well bad. We spent the whole night trying to curl our tongue but oh well, we'll try again tmr. There was lots of laugter though as we NG like dunno how many times..

Today i prayed, was reminded of the day i called home and my mom's "Ah boy has called home" When i started praying, it felt as if God suddenly jumping up, and he shouts to all the angels around him and say "Ah boy have called home!" Sometimes we don't think too much about praying, but i guess God is longing for our prayers and also waiting and anticipating the next phone call up to heaven. :)

I wanted to try how does ice cream taste in ice cold whether. Its not bad. Had two flavours. One had some wine and the other is a special local fruit in Chile. Show u pp next time.

Ice cream...

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007

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My Day 15

I led worship in Cg today. It was weird. Cox there were a few first time visitors and don't know how much they can take so was very careful. Was constantly reminding myself not to speak in tongues. Guess i didn't do well in the end. Was too focused on myself and the songs instead of God. I'll try to do better next time. Guess i need to be more secure in myself also. yeah.

David shared this:

Sometimes we try to be the boss of the whole show. To want to gain it. But in actual fact, we are losing it for the moment. When we are the boss of the show, the holy spirit leaves the meeting place. We need to be guided by the Holy Spirit all the time. As long as you do that, you'll be fine.

Eelee taught during the meeting for the 1st time. it was good i think. A very personal and convicted message about having faith in God. Jia you Eelee!! So used to preaching to hundreds.. and now she is teaching in a foreign place in a small cg. But its a step up for her i guess. from this small cg, one day, chile will be touched. :)

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

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My Day 14

Today is sunday. Like all sundays, its a relaxed day. Pui See cooked us a greek dish. Dunno what you call that. But it was quite good. We ate it with Red wine. Haa.. hope it doesn't stumble pp. Don't worry, we didn't get drunk.

Their wet market

In the evening, we visited another church. The church is located in a poor area of Santiago. It was so different when we stepped out of the train station. Imagine the downtown area is like London with alot of big deparmental stores in those older buildings. The place where we live is like Joo Chiat. Quite a clean place with some nice fountains. The place where we went to is like err.. rural thailand minus the farmlands. It was well.. run down. It was so different yet they are like 20 mins away from each other.

When we are in the car and still some distance away from the chuch, we could hear the drumroll of the praise and worship practice. The atmosphere was good from the moment we went there. Haven't expereinced a live band for quite long le. well... Didn't understand half the service though Pui See tried very hard to translate the sermon to me. But what was touching was that @ the end of the service, the pastor asked the pp to hug the person beside them. You see, south americans are very feel and affectionate people. The end of their service is like the end of our church camp. Everyone started hugging one another as a sign of love. But unfortunately, on my left was Eelee and on my right was cindy. We smiled to each other and preferred the Asian way of showing love. :)

Fat baby

Picture with Pastor Alex (the pastor of the church we visited)

Was touched again today by how different tongues can come together to worship the same God. The worship songs today were in spanish. They sang a song that had the word hallelujah. So although i was singing the english equivalent, everytime we sang hallelujah it will be in one common voice. How majestic God can be. :)

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.
~ Revelation 14:6 ~

Regards,
Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Monday, June 18, 2007

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My Day 13

The whole day today was spent on our youth English class. It is suppose to be a class in which we get to know more youths and through it invite people for caregroup. Me and Eelee dug up all the games we knew as the 1st session with them is purely learning english through games. It went well, though the invitation part was not very successful cox the students are all very busy. It's alright, we'll try again next week. Its the 1st time we meet after all. Yeah. Its quite exciting, cox we're setting up this English club which will have outings and activities beyond the class. Hope can get to noe more pp through it.

Can you find harry potter?

Treating ourselves

Our Great Feast

After the youth English class, Cindy, Eelee and me gave ourselves a good treat at a nice restaurant. We ate Chilean bbq. Basically its a hot plate with alot of meat. They have this wine called pisco sour here. Its a local wine which is cheap and good. Taste good with meat. Haa.. church planters do know how to enjoy themselves also de k?

Something hit me today. Do you know that if chileans cannot turn up for an appointment or event, it is the norm not to inform anyone? I mean in singapore you don't even need to be biblical, just basic courtesy to tell someone that you are not turning up. It just hit me that yeah, the way pp think here, they way the norm is set here, the culture is so different here and i believe it will be another set of norms somewhere else. I came to this conclusion.

The world is so big, the cultures are so different and the great commission is so diversified as the gospel is being preached in so many ways and methods.

At the end of the day, it'll sumount to the glory of God.

It is not difficult to make one country adore you. Imagine Hitler
It is not difficult to make people of one interests look to you. Imagine Beckham
It is not difficult to make everyone know you. Imagine George Bush

But imagine you have to make people speaking differnet languages, having different customs, different norms, different races all shout with one voice "Hallelujah!" That's the glory of God.

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Monday, June 18, 2007

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My Day 12

Hi, I called home last night. It was just a random call to say i am safe. I didn't really think much about it. But the moment my mom picked up the phone, you could instantly feel the kind of joy and excitment in her voice. "Hey, Ah boy had called home!!!" Den she started to pass the phone round to my sis and asked me if i have enough money and things to wear, like all mothers will. My heart sank when i heard that. To think that i didn't really think much about it yet it meant to much to her.

I was thinking from the position of my mom. She have never really travelled out of Asia before and she is seeing her son and daughters fly all over the place. Each time they call home, each time they tell her about what they experience, she'll always listen with expectancy. On one hand, you do want to keep your son by your side, on the other hand, you know that you need to let him fly, to experience the world. Thanks mom. I guess i have never really been a good son. If i really go church planting one day, i cannot imagine what will go through the both of us. The pain of not wanting to let me leave yet knowing that she should not stop me from chasing my dreams. I guess if i am to really go, i need to prepare them for the day @ the airport.

Tomorrow is Father's day in Singapore. My dad doesn't talk much, like all Asian Fathers. He didn't really talk much to me about the trip to Chile. I'll never forget the moment when i was about to leave the house. He came up to me. "here's some money, take it with you" With that, he stuffed a thousand dollar note into my hands. I didn't take the money in the end but this gesture with few words meant so much to me. Running around with David these few days really reminded me of the days when you took me out to teach me things about your work, about how and where to buy certain things and about life over the dinner table. Thanks dad. You've been a great great dad. :)

My parents, there is so much they have done that i can't repay them enough. One day, when i tell you, "I'm sorry, i have to go" please understand, because being part of the great commission mean so much so much to me. Till the day come, i'll learn to be the best son, i can be. I'll learn to appreciate every small thing you do for me. It may not be enough, but i hope that you'll understand.

My Family

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Sunday, June 17, 2007

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My Day 11

Day 11 was alright. I made a decision today not to hibernate so much. I'm like sleeping 9 hrs everyday becasue it is so cold in the morning, you just don't want to get off your bed. And it is not the lazy to get off bed type of feeling, its a wait for it to get warmer 1st b4 i leave my bed nest. Oh well, need to make use of my time better here. So i shall wake up everyday when david wakes up. Its quite early by the way. In this way i don't feel so bad sleeping so much while the rest are so busy.

Was @ home during the day doing some trying work for David. Quite alot to do. but alright not too bad. It is still raining today. Wind plus rain plus winter is a deadly combination. Went out in the afternoon to buy track shoes so that can go gym with one of my contacts the next day. So fast got contacts le.. oh well.. God works wonder.

In the evening, we went to a contact's house for on-ce. They don't eat dinner here. on-ce is like their high tea. Just plenty of bread, avogadro, and ham. It's healthier i guess. I guess the chat was pretty shallow not knowing spanish, but considering it was the 1st meet up, it was not too bad already.

@ the house

I came to a conclusion that it is so easy to look at yourself and feel insecure, feel unappreciated, feel under valued when you are serving in the kingdom of God. But i guess this household taught me that no matter how you contribute, what you contribute, @ the end of the day, just do your part of the job, get it done, get the best out of it and we push forward the kingdom of God. When we are serving God, we need to take our eyes off ourselves and look at the main thing. God does not need everybody to be Moses or King David, he just need everyone to do their part to the best of their ability and the kingdom of God will advance.

Regards,
Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Saturday, June 16, 2007

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My Day 10

Today, i went to the wine shop together with David. He wanted to buy some wine for some friends in Chile and i went there t buy wine for my dad. Bought a white wine for sis and red wine for dad. Chile is a famous wine producing country. Do you know that the latitude of 38 degrees north and south is most suitable for growing of the grapes required for making of wine? That's why you see all the major wine producing countries in the world are along this latitude.

The wine shop

It rained today for the 1st time this year in santiago. For your information, it is june already. Santiago is basically located in a valley and the clouds can't get in. The thing is the pollution can't get out also. So the rain brought some relief to the air pollution. Besides the pollution, the place is not bad, with lots of ice capped mountains visible everywhere you go.

Outside the train station

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Saturday, June 16, 2007

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My Day 9

Day 9 was fast. The day started with me going to a place like ikea to buy all the household stuff. Really reminds me of my childhood where my dad will take me on his lorry to go around buying all the household stuff. :)

After that had to rush down to university of santiago to meet cindy, powla and her friend. Eelee joined us after that. It really feels like real ministry. The adjustment period is going to be over already i guess. Took one whole week to get used to the weather and settle down man.

When i was praying and interceding for the people just now, God spoke to me that i need to personalise and take ownership of my stay in Chile. That God has sent me here for a reason and i should not want to go back without leaving a seed behind. Now i really want to see a strong university group here b4 i leave. Its amazing what God wants to do yeah? I was only suppose to be here for vacation and "see see look look" but now i'm here doing active minstry.

My lunch appointment with the contact

Hi, if there is any young adults or graduating students who happen to look at this blog please please consider to make plans to come to Hope Chile. Let me give you 10 reasons why you should come.

1) Church Planting is the only way to finish the great commission

2) It is not beyond you totally to make yourself available for Church planting

3) Your ministry in Singapore don't need you to stay

4) You are sick and tired of the rat race in Singapore

5) You will gain a global experience that your peers in Singapore will never be able to get.

6) Your experience in Chile can be used to give yourself value-addedness in your future job in Singapore.

7) You'll learn to appreciate things around you much more

8) You'll learn to stand on your feet in all four realms - Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual

9) Everyday on the missions field is the bible come alive

10) Hope Chile needs a replacement team quite urgently.

Here's the situation. We have 4 church planters here. and some of the church planters needs to go back to singapore to rest by this yr or the next. We need a team to replace the current team who have been here from 3 to 5 years.

We have landed this team 5 years ago with David and Peter. We send our church planters off @ changi airport, missions conference with much funfair and encouragment. Moving on from there, we need to support these teams when and where they need help. And yes, we are looking and waiting for the replacement team. 5 yrs of hardwork and foundation built by all these people has to be continued.

It cannot just end like that.

In David's words:

Hope church does not believe in people only staring to serve when they think they have a calling from God.

I guess there will be sacrifices along the way. There will definately be. But i don't believe one bit that if we give up certain things for God, he will not bless us many folds back. God will never short-change us. As we count the cost, just remember that God was never calculative with us during the many times he blessed us so let's not be so calculative when we stuggle with whether to go for missions.

Some of you may say i'm naive. Or i have not seen the real world yet. Or i've not even made a decision myself. Yes its true, i have not even started my uni studies. But, what's wrong with having a child-like faith that if i give my life to God in missions, will he not help me and protect me. Sometimes, we're too complicated for our own good.

5 personal reasons against missions.

1) Career Path

2) Marriage/Family/Parents

3) Debts/Repayments/Financial Problems

4) Insecurity

5) Establishing a new Social base

Is God not above all these?

You 1st have to decide to go for missions then make efforts to overcome the difficulties in the way. Don't look at the difficulities in the way then decide if you can go for missions. Trust me, you'll never go. Don't work towards the decision for missions, work towards missions.

It is a decision you'll never regret.

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

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My day 8

Hmmm.. Day 8 was well... Enjoyable? Again started the day late. Cooked breakfast for myself den aft that David asked me if i want to go out for lunch. Went out to a nice cafe for a full meal. It was quite a good meal @ a good price too. :) He shared a little about his past in Singapore and how he was part of the landing team in Chile. I guess its good to have a fatherly figure around. :)Never felt so fathered by someone besides my dad b4.. hahaa..

My Lunch - Spagetti with pork rib

The knights in the white horses

@ the presidential palace

Can you find the Singapore Flag?

In front of the oldest church in Chile

After that, he took me around a little and dropped me off @ the presidential palace. I did a little sight seeing by myself around the down town area.

At night there was caregroup. Not too many people turned up but its alright, we have to persevere on. It just shows that we need to work harder. Maybe we need to give people incentive to come back. Like the spiritual experience during caregroup. But well, guess i need to observe a little longer 1st.

Picture b4 the cg

Ended the day early cox wasn't feeling well. had stomach upset. Think the intestines not taking the non singapore food too well. :(

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

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My Day 7

I started the day with a jog with David. It was a refreshing to jog in the cold autumn wind. I just love jogging. Chatted with David as we jogged. He is quite a fatherly figure. Will tell u all the nice places and nice food as you jog. :)

The world trade centre of Santiago on the backdrop of a snow-capped mountain

Nothing much happens in Santiago on sunday. The whole city basically becomes a ghost town because people stay @ home and hibernate. Most of the shops are close and so are the food eateries. Nothing much happened after the jog and we had a prayer session in the late noon. Was quite administered by the song "i live to worship you" It reminded me that as i go on this trip, it is God i should focus on instead on focusing on the lesson i can learn from the people.

After the prayer seesion, David, Pui See, Eelee and me went to Julio's (its pronounced as hulio in spanish) house for high tea during err.. dinner time. The people here don't eat dinner, they call it high tea from 2pm to 6pm. After that they don't eat. Weird arhh.. Anyway, duing the session, i met Julio's son, Ricardo, and he's a really nice guy. Talked to him quite abit. He invited me to a soccer session on friday. Yeah.. quite excited.

An aerobic session in the park. Eelee and Pui See was inside.

the oncho (high tea) @ julio's house

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Monday, June 11, 2007

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My Day 6

Today was a busy day. The day started at 9am. Hardly slept the previous night cause we prepared the Singapore Seminar till around 3 am. Had trouble sleeping @ the beginning again. But guess everyone does that so who am i to complain. yupp, We're all chipping in whatever manner we can. Oh well, its getting better. Thank God. Anyway, the Singapore Seminar went well and we managed to meet quite a number of new faces and new contacts. Some whom we did not expect to come turned up. The seminar went on smoothly without any major hiccups. Never felt so patriotic in my life before. The language barrier was not too bad today as some of them could converse in English.

The preparation for the food took the whole morning

Speaking @ the cultural event

Our Chile "Luo Hei" It actually tasted quite good.

Our Family Photo

After the Singapore event, we had a nice warmly dinner @ a restaurant nearby. Its a rare treat. But yeah, was nice that everyone could sit down for a nice meal without having to rush here and there. yeah.. i had a nice steak which was not bad. its getting colder by the day but i guess getting to know the people here better helps and they are really nice people. if you get to meet them one day in Singapore, be sure to grab
them and learn from them. They are really very simple people but have made spirit led decisions and have remained biblical as they do God's amazing work in Chile.

Wisky anyone?

Our Family Dinner

Our lovely Church Planting Newly weds

Anyway, i almost burnt down the house today. Left the iron on, on my bed. But thank God nothing happened. Or else i be remembered as the person who burned down one church in the Hope Movement.

I guess the whole day reminded me that i'm not here for holiday. Guess its a time of moulding myself and developing myself. I really learnt alot today by just being part of the team that prepared this Singapore event. Worked my socks off but the dinner helped to relax everything down again.

All the best for the youth camp back home. Will be praying for you people.

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

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My Day 5

Hi people. Today as i was thinking what to prepare as breakfast for Eelee and me. I stood there for 5 mins thinking if i should take the egg. The rationale behind this is that the team is really very thrifty. They'll walk three MRT stops to save SGD $1 of transport fare. But in the end can't resist the egg and cooked out own chicken mc muffin with egg. haa.. We're so fortunate in Singapore where we use 3/4 eggs to cook one fu rong dan. haa..

After breakfast, we left for the university of Chile. It is the best university in latin America. Guess what, it is located on a hill. So when you step out of the school building, there is mist all around and its much colder then the ground temperature. Just imagine schooling on genting highlands but just a colder version and the people around you all ang mo.. hahaa..

The view from the school overlooking parts of Santiago

As you are travelling up to the richest university in Chile, i was told that right outside the university, are some of the poorest communities in Santiago. What a difference you see. And the students will drive pass these communities in their flashy cars with huge indifference. The social divide here is obvious. The rich are very rich and the poor are very poor. Guess in Singapore we have a fairer system of meritocracy where even the people @ the lower rungs of the society have a reasonably fair playing field.

I love the way Julian, our church planter in Peru puts it,

"Our church does not function the way a church would function in Singapore, even at the pioneering stages. "Church" to us is a loose organization of fellowship groups.

Much of our work is club based (from the NGO - volunteer work), and from there, we slowly bridge towards Christian fellowship.

Hence, strategies change so much that possibly the only thing that remains constant is our efforts to extend God's kingdom. Everything else is a melting pot of different strategies and methods."

Amazing isn't it?

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Saturday, June 09, 2007

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My Day 4

Today, I stayed @ home the entire day. Thanks Keng Suan for teaching me about the ginger tea. Will try to find ginger later. Was busy preparing the Singapore seminar coming up on Saturday where Eelee and I are suppose to present Singapore. It is an outreach event where we hope to meet more contacts. Quite stressed over it because I also dunno what is there to present. Haa.. so we were two Singaporeans busy searching the internet to know more about Singapore.

Imagine you are a lady; you are far far away from home for a long time; and its a cold winter night; you are really busy with your work; you struggle to make ends meet; you sleep an average of 5 hrs a day; you have to cook for the household and worse of all; you fall sick. For all those who by God’s grace is reading this, please hold what you’re doing now and spend sometime to pray for sister Cindy k? Pray to God for healing. We had a short time of worship to break our fast. When people are driven to a corner, sometimes, in fact, all the time, all you can do is to pray. It may sound clique, but when all you can do is to pray a simple prayer of, “God, help me,” will God not have compassion and answer the payer. As I see her struggle on, rushing her dinner after the worship because she have class after that, without a hint of complain, I asked myself if I would have given up if I were her. Yet again, I am so humbled.

I had a short chat with David over dinner. He really talks like Pastor Ben. He was commenting that the Chileans are really smart people and they are a bit like the Chinese Business man who are intelligent and won’t let you know what they are thinking and leave you guessing.

The people here would rather embrace negative news then good news. If something bad happens, it is alright, when something good happens, they get suspicious.

There is a very high level of distrust among people in Chile. This can be stemmed from the past where a military dictator ruled. Neighbors don’t trust neighbors because one may be a spy from the military government and the other a supporter of the democratic fighters. If the democratic supporter gets found out, the secret police will just take him away and people will never see him again. The situation is a bit like Singapore’s HDB where people just go home and close their doors at the end of the day and mind your own business. Just that the element of distrust is much higher. Thats what 20 yrs of dictatorship did to the country. Since people are not trusting, building of relationship here is so important. We need to win their trust and friendship 1^st, before preaching the gospel.

That’s for people who are above 17. For those born after the dictatorship, the youths like to play punk because there is this new found freedom that the people do not yet know how to use. It is a little like the American youths. With freedom comes responsibility.

The people here mainly have a Catholic background, and people are sick of it. The word God and Jesus is almost used as a swear word here. We need to bring a new perspective to the bible that it can be read in an applicable and relevant manner.

The Chileans like our fellowship and gatherings. But at the end of the day, they are like most South Americans, they don’t commit and stay. After a while, they leave. We need to build them on the word, the truth because at the end of the day, it is the only way to make them stay.

Morals are not being talked about in this society. Although PM Lee may not be a Christian, he does address the nation about morals. It is totally different letting God come into the government and preaching about God. The President of Chile is agnostic and does not share much about values to people. There is just something very wrong about the system here, be it the government or education system.

As you read this, do pray for Chile k? I hold on to a belief that anything without God will degenerate over time and Chile is in a bad degenerating state now. Do encourage your friends to pray for us as well k, because, the only thing we can do now is to pray.

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Friday, June 08, 2007

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My Day 3

Today started late. Eelee cooked for the 1st time in her life today. The food tasted alright but you'll not want to drink the soup after you see how she prepared the food. Let's jst say food was flying all over the kitchen. I shall keep the rest for her to confess herself. Hopefully my stomach will still be intact by tmr.

Eelee the house-maker

Shopping with Cindy

In the afternoon, went out for lunch together with cindy, another church planter. She shared a little about her life and how she ended up in Chile.

A little about this young girl. She is like the housekeeper of the household. Always concerned about whether dinner is done and buying of groceries and where to get the cheapest stuff. On the other side, she is really a woman of God. She is one you can really say have went out of her way and convenience to serve God. Her decision to come Chile for the 3rd yr running has not went down well with her parents. But as she say, we have to trust God and by his grace the family is alright now after a period of persecution.

The Interview over lunch:

~ Jie Hui ~
What made you come to Chile in the first place?

~ Cindy ~

Actually at first, i wasn't interested in church planting at all. It was an idea of send my brothers and my sisters. But eventully, as you see your close friends go church planting one by one, you start to think whether you have a role in it as well.

Actually initially i was in the team that was researching on Argentina, but eventually ended up in Chile because there was a need to strengthen our existing churches before pioneering new ones. So basically i came here because there was a need to.

I have never lived out of my house before i cam here. So it was a good chance for me to learn to live on my own. And also i'm a super phlegmatic. Coming here really bought me out of my comfort zone.

Also i began to realise that God has blessed me so much. We are blessed to be blessing. So i made a decision to go.

~ Jie Hui ~
How long did you take to settle down into the culture?

~ Cindy ~
I would say the language part took the longest. To just be able to communicate in Spanish with the locals took me one year. Initially i committed for two years but it is actually really too short because by the time you start to settle down, two years is up.

~ Jie Hui ~
When and what was the most down time?

~ Cindy ~

I guess it was last year. When a few of our members left the church and my two years was up. At the time my parents insisted that i go back to Singapore. You start to ask yourself questions like whether it is even possible to plant a church in Chile.

Chileans are people who fear commitment alot and they are a busy bunch of people. We can't really do things like confirmation because they are very "see how" people. A lot of them come for a period and when their emotional scars are healed, they leave. They are a predominantly catholic country who are in the post chiristianity era where people are sick about the word - bible. It has been really tough building up the church here.

~ Jie Hui ~
What has been your greatest lesson learnt here?

~ Cindy ~
Firstly, I think we really need to learn to trust God. There are times when everything seems impossible, we just need to learn to trust Him.

Secondly, we need to un-learn alot of singaporean things. For example, in Singapore, everything is very planned and structured. But in South America, everything is very last minute and flexible.

After the lunch with Cindy, we went to meet Walter, a contact at the University of Santiago. Its a university for the middle lower class people so its not a very rich surrounding. Will go to the rich one on friday.

He's a nice guy, bought us around and we had a chat about him about God. Eelee is super excited about him. haa.. yeah.. think he is quite open but because we don't know the culture of chileans and how they react to such things yet.. so have to wait and sow slowly.

@ the university with Walter

Ended the day with a Chinese class. :)

Quite late and cold. Can't imagine how cold it will be during winter.

Regards,

Jie Hui

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Thursday, June 07, 2007

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My Day 2

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Hi people. Today was an exciting day for me and Eelee. Its really cold though. Think its hitting zero degrees.

Eelee washing plates

We stepped out onto the streets for the 1st time today since our ride from the airport. It was well, cold. David took us to view an apartment which the team is thinking of getting. Well, its a bigger apartment, definately more elegant, but location wise we may have to consider again. Its further away from the city center and more inconvenient to travel.

Their MRT but they call it Metro

Me @ the bus stop

The house we viewed

We had a nice talk over coffee with David. It was well, an inspiring talk to say the least. Just a short 15 mins and i've learnt so much from him. Before the talk, to me, David was the team leader and a church planter, but after the talk, got to know him personally to a deeper extent and he is simply a Man of God.

Here are some from excerpts from David:

On planting a church in different culture -

"When we church plant in a cross cultural context, the cross cultural part a lot of times becomes a bigger challenge in itself compared to the ministry."

On the lessons learnt -

The four things i learnt from being here in Chile:

1) Love the people

2) Communication is key

3) Forgiveness is important
4) Don't be reactive

On his career -

"When i compare myself to my peers back in Singapore and Malaysia, they are getting really high paying jobs and if i had continued in Singapore, could easily have gotten one as well. In the eyes of the world, what i did was what they call professional suicide. I studied mechnical engineering with a masters degree, and have a nice paying job in the banking sector. In 1996 IPC (International Pastors Conference), i made a commitment to God that I want to plant one church in my lifetime. It has carried me on ever since."

On tough times -

"There are times when the minstry is not doing well that you start to ask yourself questions. Questions like whether you are the man for the job; if I could turn back the time, what would i do."

"Coming to missions is like a baptism of fire. It builds your character in ways that my peers back home would never have had. The experience of a different culture really helps to broaden your view about the world."

I guess everytime these thoughts come in, the chruch planters will have to reconcile with themselves first. First on their relationship with God then on their purose in Chile.

I guess after hearing all these, i was simply blown away. These church planters are not people who had no job in Singapore or some average singaporeans but they are actually high flyers who decide to exchange the comfort in Singapore for the adveture in some far away land. Who else but God.

He's a man who does not talk much, but his wife compliments him well. He's firm about what he believes in and have an undying spirit of trusting God and despite all the circumstances eventually focus on why he is here in Chile.

Observing their life these two days, I could really see that the burdens of ministry, work and household chores is really taxing on the physical body. They sleep @ like 1am and wakes up @ 5am. It is so easy to be pulled away by all the businesses and one of their challenge is to be focused on the minstry here.

David says, "Ultimately, we are not here for money, it's the church which God has called us to build here in Santiago."

Yesterday, I saw the sacrifical side of the church planters. Today, I saw glimsp of their spirt and thought process. The fighting spirit and the Godliness behind it is amazing.

After the viewing of the house, me and eelee were left on our own and we decided to be adventurous and walk down the street. Walked from shop to shop looking for a friendly shop which will not laught @ us for not knowing spanish. But i guess it was impossible so jst walked into this western outlet and tried our best of order. There was a lot of pointing, akward silences and laughs. We were jst two "goon do" Chinese in the shop. so the food came in the end and we had a good laugh @ ourselves.

@ a park

I "pointed" out this burger

Had a good chat with Eelee over lunch. About her role in the church, building relationship with the team, living together with people you do not really know, expectations of herself in chile and others. It was a good chat i guess, hope it helped her.

After that, we went to meet a contact at an ice cream shop. Yes, and ice cream shop. why in the world would anyone want to eat ice cream when the weather is like 0 degrees. I had hot tea. The name of the girl is marcarina and she is gonna become a vet but she hate animals. so she's gonna to work @ the slaughter house. All sorts of people around in the world.

Something i learnt today is that when times are tough and when it is inconvenient to serve God, and after we decide to give our all to God, it is so easy to look back and have a spirit of self-pity. But i guess what i learnt from these people is that God is always in control and it is a privilege to serve him in such a manner no matter how bad the circumstances are.

Its freezing cold here.

Best of the day: The talk with David

Worse of the day: Bathing in Ice cold temperatures

Joke of the day: Trying to order food.

Quote of day: Its a privilege to be here serving God. (By Eelee)

Nightex

Jie Hui

Thank God for this.

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

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My Day 1

Hey people, thanks for visiting my blog. I will try to blog as often as i can on my south america trip. It has been a God sent trip for myself. On this trip, i'll be staying mainly in chile, but the trip will take me to peru, argentina and hopefully brazil as well. This trip will last for 6 weeks and hopefully it'll be a life changing experience.

Changi Airport

On Our 34 Hr flight round the world

Eelee and her hand of Midas

Me Transiting @ the Joberg airport

Our third transit @ cape town

My first day has been well about adapting to the changes.

The weather here is terrible. Its so cold. hazz.. for those who know me, you know that i can't take coldness. So now i'm comfortably seating on my bed trying to keep myself warm. The temperature can drop as low as -5 degrees.

When we touched down last night, we had a home-cooked meal and the chile team namely david, prisee and cindy took us on an orientation round the house. Eelee and me had to learn everything from scratch i guess. From how to operate the heater to how to keep ourselves warm to which toilet is used to urine and which to do ur big business (suddenly think of my cg member) hahaa... yeah.. In the morning, made myself as well as eelee a home made roti john.. hahazz.. its was still really cold, didn't want to get out of bed. A bit of jet lag as well. Its 12 hrs difference. Literally day and night.

My deepest thought till now is that it is really not easy being a church planter. I mean sometimes people always think that they are serving God like crazy and have given everything to God already but when i see how these people serve God in such conditions, i am truely humbled. Really.

Let's say for example eelee, she had everything going for her in singapore. A good ministry, a good job, serving God, loving Dmm, a nice warm house @ home and waiting to get married? hahaa.. why should she want to subject herself to such drastic changes @ this stage of her life. It just does not make sense yeah? the only reason i can think of is that God and the Hope Vision subject people to do things beyond logic and simply put it - extraordinary. Looking @ her packing her stuff, sweeping the floor, washing the plates, struggling to communicate with the people, trying to help to cook in the kitchen, carrying a carpet here and there (haa.. guess what, she banged her head on the wall while she was walking for.. err.. no reason.. somethings never changes..) I'm truely amazed. She doesn't have to do this but yet for God, she chose to do this. I salute u, girl.

In the evening, we had a matthew caregroup. The turn out was quite good. i think 10 plus of them turned up. We were the attraction i think cox i think only 2 of them were regulars. The rest of them are 1st time visitors or irregulars. Oh well, at least i am of some use. heh.. i was exibit A, Eelee was exibit. B. Haaa.. the pp here are quite good looking.. haa.. guys and girls alike.

The bible discussion class

The food after the bible studies session

Just mingling around

Some of them could converse in English, so i could speak to some of them. yeah. they are generally very busy people who have problems with commitment. Eelee and me will be follow upping on some of them this coming week, so hopefully, we can help them to commit more.

The bathing almost killed me. Its so cold. The washing of the dishes also. Imagine soaking your hands in ice cold water and wash dishes. agg... ur hands will come up numb and red.

The most hated sink in the world

That's all, tmr we will be visiting a new house that the team is thinking of getting. so yeah..

Worse of the day: Being in a discussion in spanish with a nice warmer beside you. Have to fight the zzz monster

Best of the day: Being able to talk after the matthew event. I'm sang.

Joke of the day: Cox in Chile, they greet each other by the cheek to cheek greeting. Den i didn't know that guys greet guys is not cheek to cheek but jst a hand shake. Thank God i reacted fast or else sure malu.

Eelee @ her desk...

And Finally.. My Bed...

See ya! Take care!!

Labels: My Chile Experience 1

The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007