Sydney & Hillsong Conference 2009

WAHOO I’M BACK!

I don’t know where to start. There’s so much that I want to say about this 6-day trip to Sydney! I am so blessed to experience Hillsong Conference 09 and I know that none of us were there by chance. My perspective about certain matters has changed. God spoke into our hearts and there is no doubt that we were there for a purpose.

We arrived Sydney on Monday night. Our group comprised Ps. Ken, Charlene, Nicholas, Ann Jill, Jan Ng, me, Tim, Daniel, Gail, Cecil and Julie. The conference would start with a rally on Tuesday night. We had one and a half days to tour Sydney. Monday night, we went to Darling Harbour and had seafood at Jordans, facing the beautiful city skyline with the lights’ reflection on the water.

The next day, Ps. Ken took me, Ann Jill, Tim and Daniel to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We took countless pictures! I enjoyed myself, but one thought kept nagging at me: I REALLY WISHED DAD & MUM and JANNA & JIRENE WERE THERE TO ENJOY SYDNEY WITH ME!!! Someday, someday. =)

Every morning from Wed to Fri, we took the hour-long train from the city to the Acer Arena in Olympic Park. We woke up at 7am and stayed out the whole day till 11pm. But on two nights I had decided to go back to the hotel & have dinner on my own. Haha. I like some nice quiet time to reflect on what I learned at the conference and just withdraw from all the noise. xD

I was greatly blessed by the morning and night rallies. We would have praise & worship by the Hillsong team and throughout the 4 days we had guest speakers Jentezen Franklin, Louie Giglio, Craig Groeshel and Joel Osteen – all from USA. There was a great variety of messages and each one ministered to the people in its own unique way. We also had sessions in the day time. There were so many to choose from. I greatly benefited from the Song writing session.

On the last night, the Holy Spirit’s presence was so real. I knew that my cup was filled again. It has been a while for many of us. I can remember just crying out, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” over and over again. The worship team moved so well with the flow. There’s something so powerful about Jesus’ name. It stirs something up within you.

I finally understood the verse saying God is looking for worshippers who “worship Him in spirit and in truth.” It’s not about how well you sing and it’s not about the music. It’s not about you or what others think. Even when tears are streaming down your face cause’ the encounter is so real and you look like a wreck, you just don’t care anymore. It’s now between you and God. To truly connect with God, we must have the Holy Spirit. We can never connect with God in all our human-ness and with pride in our hearts. Only the Spirit of God can break us down and connect us to our God.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” Matthew 4:23

I learned many other wonderful things about God and His Word at this conference. I once again thank God so much for blessing me with this opportunity. I will write about them in the future. I’m looking forward to what God has in store.

For now, I shall narrate with my first half of pictures from Monday to Wednesday. Enjoy. =)

Our first night we went to Darling Harbour. Just 15 mins walk from our hotel, Hyde Park Inn. We had dinner at Jordans.

Soft-shell crab. The food wasn't great and it was super expensive unfortunately.

Tim, Ann Jill, Kathy, Daniel, Jan, and me

Darling Harbour

City skyline reflected on the water

It was beautiful.

This was our view from the balcony at Hyde Park Inn.

Charlene booked this nice place. We even had a kitchenette.

Our second day, we visited the fish market in the morning. This is a harbour with a beautiful bridge in the background.

Good, reasonable-priced seafood

Love the view. Throughout our trip, the weather was rainy & cloudy. Only on this day the blue skies were visible.

I like the bird soaring at the top.

After lunch, we went to the Sydney Harbour Bridge & Opera House.

I couldn't believe I had such an opportunity!

Ann Jill & I

Love this jump shot. :D

After all that, we went straight to the Acer Arena for our first Hillsong night rally.

Half of the arena. There were 22,000 people!

Charlene, me, Dan, Jan, Jill, and Tim

Praise & worship

Our first night speaker, Craig Groeschel.

They were giving away Hillsong's latest album, Faith + Hope + Love. Melvin managed to catch it and he gave it to me! First time I got something free like that. Haha. Anyway, that thing on the screen is on the album cover.

Hillsong had a grand opening night. It began with a green laser light. Then many, many laser lights shot across the arena. It's hard to describe. I'll post the video sometime. But it was so creative altogether. Loved it.

Opening: Suddenly out of the darkness this guy on an upright piano appeared and he played something while the screen displayed a video.

And it ended with this. It started with darkness, then the laser lights, then this cross appeared out of nowhere from the darkness. There was much in the opening. Hard to describe. Wish you saw it! Haha.

I shall continue in my next post the pictures taken from Thursday to Saturday. Man, tomorrow school starts again. I’m haven’t even caught up on my sleep since coming back! There’s so much to do from tomorrow onwards! I’ll update you guys soon. ;)

Have a great week. God bless.

Amelie & Camilla’s Farewell

Yesterday, our family invited my two piano students, Amelie and Camilla over for dinner after Amelie’s last lesson. All thanks to my mum who had kindly suggested it! And my dad spontaneously said, “Why don’t you invite Camilla as well?” We had such a fun night hey! I’m so glad my mum brought up the idea. :D Amelie said, “Oh, this is simply the best night I’ve had since the holidays started!” =)

My mum cooked a mix of Chinese and Western with salad and some marinated chicken. She also did two desserts, Banana & White Choc cake and a sweet coconut milk with sago & sweet potato. We had a hearty meal and a great conversation time. I’ve never really got the chance to talk more with Amelie cause’ she learns from school, unlike Camilla, who comes to my house. I’ve talked to Camilla a lot more. But surprisingly, Amelie opened up yesterday and she started talking non-stop! :P Haha. Yes yes, I’m a very chatty piano teacher. I’ll ask all about my students.

Amelie is from Germany’s capital, Berlin, and Camilla’s from Denmark. They told us many things about where they live and Amelie told me tons about her trips to many countries. It’s so good for them! They get to visit all the cool places in Europe, and it’s all just like 1 or 2 hours away! Going to Paris or France or Italy is just a breeze. If I went to Italy, it’ll be a big, “Oh wow!”

I’ve learned tons from teaching Amelie and Camilla. At the same time, it opened many other opportunities for me. My piano teacher, Sandra, also found out about it and she occasionally gives me some teaching advice. And yes, I’ve always wondered why Mrs. Carrington (my violin teacher) asked me to teach Amelie. After all, I’m a new student myself. And even if I was that good, she probably wouldn’t have thought to entrust me with an international student, right? Well, that’s how I see it. But all glory to God, I did pray for such an opportunity to teach. I just didn’t know how it would come! =)

Anyway, here are some memorable pictures we took. :D

At the dinner table. Yum yum. We found out that Amelie was a vegetarian. Haha.

Me and my beloved students at the piano! =)

Camilla playing Ballade Pour Adeline. I'll post their videos next time. :D

After dinner, we showed them some of my parents diving videos cause Amelie was telling us that she once tried diving in Cuba.

I'll miss you two. Amelie's going back next Sunday and Camilla in August. I only wish we had a longer time to teach and learn from each other!

Amelie and Camilla are such hard-working students! I couldn’t ask for more as a teacher. I don’t know if I somehow influenced them with my lunch time practices, or they just enjoy it that much. Amelie & Camilla practices 30 mins before school and 1 hour after school everyday! I could only wish that they had a piano of their own!

Although it has only been 6 months, Amelie has improved very much. At the start, she always had to write the alphabets under the notes, and I was quite annoyed cause’ she never read the music notes. But just a month ago I made my stand and said, “Amelie, I want you to stop writing the alphabets. Stop reading the letters. Read the notes! I know it will take you awhile, but if you force yourself and work at it several times, it will become easier and finally, you’ll be able to read music notes.”

To my delight, she listened to me! Two weeks later, she totally made do without the alphabets under the notation. Its so much easier to play now. I’m really brimming with gladness! Heh. ;)

Well, I gotta’ run now. I’m off to Sydney in 3 hours! With plenty of pictures and stories, I’LL BE BACCCK.

Emmy’s Birthday

Emmy is a new girl in my school. I only got to know her 2 months ago. But I remember we did have a pretty long conversation one lunch time, and I got to know her better. She moved here from England some 4 years back. She’s half Egyptian! Hmmm, I’ve had the privilege of meeting many people from colourful backgrounds and places since I came here. Anyway, Emmy invited me for her sweet16th birthday party.

I was kinda’ nearly the only one from Blackburn High at the party yesterday. Haha. But it was okay, I got to know her other friends from her church and her previous school. Here are a few pictures we took. =)

Nikki (Emmy's old school friend from Frankston), Emmy, me and Marina

Can you believe it, Nikki's younger than me!

Yes yes, I know, I was the only one not wearing a "party dress". It was freezing yesterday by the way. After taking the photos, I immediately put my red coat back on!

Happy Birthday, Emmy!

Winter Concert

Last week, our school held the second concert of the year: the Winter Concert. This time round Janna was performing in the Quattro Strings and I was again in the Senior Strings Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra. For the Senior Strings, we played two new songs, one was a jazz piece and the other called the Gaellic Overture. For the Symphony Orchestra, we had to play the same pieces that was performed at the EMR concert. We didn’t have time to prepare new repertoire, so yeah. The next performance that we’re rushing to practice for is at the Music Educators Conference.

Yeap, there’s lots going on! We’re having school holidays now. For two weeks. Next week I’m off to Sydney for the Hillsong Conference! :D Anyway, here’s a video of one of the performances in the Winter Concert.

Only God Knows

The internet is overflowing with posts about Michael Jackson. Eh, I also want to write some of my thoughts. Haha. Boy, isn’t MJ one over-talented guy? Sadly, he’s another star with one of those tragic endings and a sad story. Honestly, I know nuts about his songs or even anything much about him, but like many of you out there, I was jolted back to the reality of life.

Isn’t he the King of Pop? Hey he thought he was Peter Pan! Whatever king you are, death doesn’t spare any man. Yeah, I guess it’s easy for me to say that. I’m turning sixteen and sometimes I also think I’ll live forever.

Honestly, I never liked Michael Jackson. I don’t know his songs. I don’t care that he’s the King of Pop. I thought he looked like a mask of a man with a plastic nose – in other words, pretty freaky. I read the newspapers about the stuff people accused him of doing. I didn’t like him. However, it really doesn’t matter what I think of him. Or what you think. Or what the world thinks.

I can’t judge Michael Jackson based on his appearance or his songs or what the papers say about him. Isn’t that what we all do? But now I realize that ultimately, only God knows a man’s heart. Only God knows what went wrong. Only God knows you and me from the inside out. He knows us even more than we know ourselves.

People say Michael Jackson’s songs and legacy will live on. Sure it will. But life still goes on. We all have our own worries and hopes. People will soon get over it and there’ll be another King of whatever-you-name-it.

Proverbs 24:12
If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

Tomorrow May Never Come

I came across Zoe Ng’s blog yesterday. Nearly a month back, she wrote about a friend who had passed away in a biking accident. He was a 16 year-old guy called Yu Vern. My eyes popped out. Hey, oh my gosh, I thought, I think I know him! I read on in disbelief. I remember Yu Vern. He used to be in the same home school center as I was, same with Zoe and Soph and the other GRC-ians. I remember talking to him a few times. He wasn’t a loud guy, but I thought he was quite funny at times. I never really knew him more, though.

As I continued to read on in Zoe’s post, my heart just felt a teeny burning sensation. Although I never really knew him, I just felt really sad. Later on I read some other posts by his sister and his friends – and I felt sad for them. May God sustain and be with you guys through this time.

I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept thinking about it. Some part of me wished I didn’t find out so I wouldn’t have to worry about such things that most of us don’t like to think about. But then, isn’t it just something that will stare you in the face at some point in your life anyway?

Really, really, no man can ever know what will happen next or even if tomorrow will ever come. So why should we boast about planning to go here and there, and doing this and that when we don’t even know if we’ll live to that day? I know, it’s just something we don’t want to think about. But of course, God’s word also says that we should not spend each day worrying about the next. Live today to the fullest – which we all fail at doing, most times.

I think we just need to constantly remind ourselves that only God knows how long we’ll last and our purpose here on earth. So wouldn’t it be useless to make our own plans and do as we please then? Certainly! In everything we do, God should be the center of it. He is our Maker and Creator. The best thing to do is to seek Him and know His will. We ourselves won’t know it, and neither will anyone else.

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-14)

Pondering on it the whole night, I was also reminded me that we should never, ever take people around us for granted. Yea yea, we all do. Sometimes we’re all just so caught up doing our own thing that we barely speak to our own family about what’s going on in our lives. How can that be? I am certainly guilty of not paying more attention to help my sisters and appreciating my parents.

Once we realize that we really may not have all the time in the world, our focus and priorities will reshuffle. Ultimately, what matters to me and you? Family, friends, fame, money? Is God in control or are we holding on to what we think are ours?

Hmm, we’ll have a long think about that.

Winter Begins

Man oh man, its already halfway through June 2009! And by the way, winter is here.

I hate to have to wake up in the early morning cold. Seriously, I now wish I had been more grateful to wake up in the “normal” temperatures in summer or back in M’sia. My dad always laughs at the way I sleep. I’ll cover my whole body – even my head – and wrap myself like a mummy in my heat-trapping blanket. Yeah, no wonder I dislike waking up and getting out of my warm cocoon.

Oh and I just realized that I’ve been already getting used to wearing 4 to 5 layers everyday. EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! It’s so troublesome, I tell you. Anyway, I’d better not complain anymore or else I’ll become more depressed about it. Hahaha. We still have until September to survive. =D … =/

But yeah, we are actually coping surprisingly well with winter, considering it’s our first. In the morning, we can even see “smoke” when we talk. Haha. It might sound fun. But remember, it’s really COLD. It’s a biting cold – in a sense that my fingers have a stinging sensation because of the cold.

Anyway, here’s another update other than winter blues: my mum has found a job! It’s a part-time telemarketing job. While we thank God for this opening, one of my parents still need a full-time job to fulfil the PR requirements. So yeah we’re praying for that. And for me, other than teaching piano, I’ve been trying out some work experience at an ice-cream outlet called Wendy’s in the mall near our house. It’s a pretty fun job. But I still need to beat my blur-ness at times… Hahaha.

Well, I gotta’ go now. Have a nice weekend, folks!