Christmas Eve Countdown 2010

Christmas is less than three weeks away. If you have not invited anyone, here is the invitation that you can use to invite your friends. This year we are going to see all our young people getting involved in the organising and showcasing of their talents! We have also got a 'foreign' group of young teenagers as our guest performers. Come, eat, play, see and hear the Good News. It's going to be a fun time as we work towards the Christmas countdown! May this year's celebration be a memorable one!

Fear Factor

It is very challenging to do cross cultural missionary work. There are lots of new things to learn and get used to. Only recently someone just shared how his daughter had to learn three languages to serve on the mission field so that she can deal with the authorities and the target group she works with. As Malaysians we enjoy our food a lot and would go to great distances to taste something good! But I wonder if we are as adventurous when it comes to some of the strange things that missionaries have to eat.

Here is a list of some of these strange things that one missionary gathered from his friends:
1) Grilled dog (Honduras)
2) Raw monkey brains (Indonesia)
3) Goat head (Haiti)
4) Cockroaches (Thailand)
5) Termite larvae in goat's milk (Central America)
6) Field rat (Philippines)
7) Stewed wildcat (Honduras)
8) Grasshoppers (Mexico)
9) Boiled ant larvae (Thailand)
10) Mice-on-a-stick (Malawi)
11) Giant black snail (Nigeria) - tasted like an old tyre!

The list can be longer! Like the apostle Peter, the Lord may have to show us that there are some things that we may call unclean that He has made clean before us! Of course it was in the context of taking the gospel to the home of the Gentile Cornelius. For the gospel, Peter entered the house of a Gentile for the first time. Something a good Jew would never do so as not to become impure. Peter preached the gospel and the whole household was saved! What would you eat for Jesus? Are you be prepared to go anywhere and do anything for the gospel? Start by giving your life fully to Him where you are. Allow Him to show you the way and overcome some of your fears and even dislikes for the gospel!

Ps Ben

Disqualifying Yourself

A golfer in USA disqualified himself after winning a junior PGA tournament! He did so after discovering that he had violated a rule of having an extra club, which incurred a penalty and hence incorrectly signing his scorecard. He could have kept quiet and got away with it as no one knew about it. But he did not. Upon discovering his 'mistake' he called the tournament director, explained what had happened, and returned the medal the following day.

You may be thinking that this is another story about honesty. What struck me about this story as I read it was that this golfer, Zach Nash, is a 14-year old. Even his parents did not expect him to have done that as they thought him to be just a regular teenager! A pleasant surprise. But they must have certainly done something right that their son did not hesitate to do what was right. Being honest can be costly in the short term but for Zach, it had made him more aware of all the rules of golfing! In his next tournament, he counted his clubs three times!

BK Postal Bible Quiz 2011

The BK Quiz for next year will be held earlier than usual in January 2011. The actual dates for taking the paper will be confirmed later. For all of you who are taking this quiz, you can get a head start by reading the Bible text from Genesis 15-19 and Acts 1-9.

Farewell

Last Sunday we had another farewell! This time it was for Adrianna, who will be leaving by the end of August for Canada to further her studies. We will miss her. But we will remember her for the time she was with us and before the Lord who will watch over her. Here is a group pix (courtesy of Jason) of the group after our lunch at Empire Gallery.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Adrianna, Benjamin, Jason & Chiing for taking this important step to get baptised today. Don't stop here but go on to greater heights that the Lord has planned for you all!

Here are some pictures of them sharing their testimony. Maybe some of you would like to share your experience during the baptism?

The B-Day

This Sunday (July 11) afternoon @ 1.30 pm we will have four of our youths getting baptised. We thank God for their faith and commitment to want to obey the command of Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:19). We have used different places all these years but this will be the first time we are using a place within the USJ1 area. Thanks to the dear brethren from the Household of Faith, who allowed us to use their premise. It will be a slightly different experience to do the baptism indoors. Let's give our support and encouragement to Adrianna, Benjamin, Jason & Chiing by praying for them and coming to witness their B-Day! ('B' can mean Baptism or Big!) We hope to have some pictures of the celebration and also some personal accounts from them in future blogs! Yes, I am looking forward to that day! Are you?

Ps Ben