Greetings!

To all who have blessed me in some way or another during my placement period, there is so much to thank God for. if i shared with you in the past 3 months, you will understand why i am so grateful. if not, you can ask me, i will gladly share. smiles.


Greetings in the name of the Lord!

Rachel, a child of God and a servant of Christ- Grace and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ be to you my fellow brethren.

Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in so many ways. In His marvellous riches, He has bestowed His mercy upon me, His most unworthy servant. Today, i boast of nothing except how undeserved i have been but yet in His great mercy and plan, He has given me an A- for my placement grade! How wonderful to be called a child of God! In Him we have His lavished love and plan for our lives, in most unexpected ways.

For this reason, I thank you for your generous giving in terms of prayers. I keep asking that because of your prayers, you may be blessed in every way as well, giving thanks to God for what He has done. I have not stopped praising God for what He has done. You too are included in this great blessing when you hear this testimony becuse you are His possession.

Therefore, i urge you, to never cease in your prayers and diligence in service to the Lord becausee He honours your work for Him. I am a living testimony of this truth. Time and time again I have received His undeserved blessings. Work hard for the Lord and serve Him in every way that He directs you, be fearless for Him and always keep praying.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. I, Rachel, type this greeting with my own hand. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

my strange dream

i woke up with a very strange dream this morning. i dreamt that President Nathan was the MP for my district and we had a chat. it was one of those crazily strange dreams. only when i woke up then i realised he was the president- in the dream he was only an indian MP. and we were talking about social work and God. He said he read my blog. Do you know how absurd that dream sounds? Very. but it left me thinking for a while. yes, it was a dream. but will i one day impact Singapore for Christ? will there come a day where the top leaders will declare the praises of the one who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light?

i start small. i will start plowing where i am. i have dreams but i start small. and i know that He is leading me to territories i have never entered before. places i have never been but places i will go. God is really full of surprises but He has a path prepared for you and me. and i am prepared to walk that path. i am prepared to go the path of simple obedience as Aunty Priscilla (rachlim's aunt who i spent sweet fellowship with in shanghai) said.

there is something heavy in my heart tonight. i cant figure out exactly what it is but i will sort it out with God. into my prayer closet i will go...

sneak preview

i am back! back from my previous "blogging hibernation" status and back from shanghai/shandong. finally, i had an awesome trip, one that i will never forget. well, i do not forget any of my trips but this trip has left me yearning for more. i will update you with more snippets from my daily journal, but here's a sneak preview...

Things that i have done for the FIRST time in my life for the past 2 weeks:
(in no order of preference, date, time whatsoever)

Food i ate for the 1st time
1. Fried insects (called can2 by the shandong locals) which taste like softshell crab by the way.
2. Duck chin
3. Amazingly sweet peaches (i can see suhui drooling- sorry abt the mishap dear.)
4. Man tous as staple food
5. Chicken feet as a cold dish
6. You2 tiao2 wrapped with chee cheong fan
7. Sour tou hua (yucks.)
8. Shao bing (something like roti prata but much thicker and stuffed with fillings in between)
9. Prawns that are the size of a 20 cent coins
10. Actually there are alotalot others but i dont know their names and i must have forgotten many.

Things i did for the 1st time
1. Co-lead a mission team to China
2. Teach in mandarin in front of at least a 100 youths and young adults
3. Have ah yi's (aunties- 40-80 years old) sit into my small group discusions and respond to my teaching
4. Pray in mandarin for healing for an auntie
5. Take a 12-hour bus ride with beds
6. Take a 16-hour train ride
7. Pluck peaches from a peach farm
8. Dance with a hired waiter at a thai resturuant (yum. haha!)
9. Wear a chinese princess costume and get a photoshoot, with very amused tourist shooting pictures too
10. Bargained until i felt tired
11. Have purple hair extensions
12. Be crazy enough over a drama serial called "The prince that turned into a frog" (erm, esther & hann: is that what it is called? haha) to stay up an watch it
13. Have to change my "script" and instead do a pre-evangelistic group discussion and teaching instead of an assigned material
14. Enjoy loving youths
15. See the Yellow River
16. i will add others as i recall...

There were many things i did, saw, visited and experienced. of which many brought me to know Him better, to love Him and His people more. i will update more i promise. and you can take my word for it. because i have learnt the power in sharinf testimonies- God works in marvelous ways. all i can say is- i am amazed. :)

right now, i will retreat to my more than comfortable bed. "oh my dear- how i miss you... clean touch of the sheets, the softness against my face. wait no more, here i come..."