HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARYN!!!!! you are God's gift to me... thank you for just being YOU!! love you lots. keep me UPDATED!!!!! (oh yeah, you know what i'm talking about)

All she ever wanted was to serve Her God, to speak of His name in places where the gospel has not been preached. Throughout the last year, all that she can ever think about was China: deep in her heart she knew that the Lord has filled her mind with this nation for the purpose of prayer--so that she can devote all of herself to pray for those whom He loves.

As the summer was approaching, she started imagining herself being in that glorious land where her heart belongs: speaking a new language, meeting new people, and most importantly spreading the word to those who have never heard. Her heart pounded as she started to plan her summer, and then it happened-- with a gentle voice, her Father, who knows of all things, commanded this girl to stay in Toronto and wait. "Be obedient here, " He said, " then I shall send you back."

Her voice spoke with hesistant, "Here? in Toronto? Are you sure Lord? But..my heart belongs to China. Yet, your will be done..."

...and it was. Although being confused, even doubtful, of her God's victorious plan, she finally decided that her heart must obey and wait. Within only weeks of being in Toronto, this girl started to see Her Saviour's hand moving amongst her softball team and church. Even more so, little did she know that her God was preparing her for something much greater...

One ordinary night, this young girl came home from a weekly softball prayer meeting. Being all tired, she threw herself on the bed, thinking that she'll get a good night sleep, and maybe even a peaceful dream (bahamas, relaxing at a beach)... Yet instead of sleeping, she found herself tossing and turning. (Through past experiences, she knew that whenever this happens, her Daddy usually wants to tell her something...) so without hesistant, she started praying. It was at that moment that her God started revealing to her people who are hurting, people who need prayers. Being moved by the spirit, this young girl started to pray and cry out to her God for them. Each and everyone, some by name, some whom she doesn't know, even some whom she may never see again... one by one, she lifted them up to the One who hears. In the midst of cyring out to her God, she heard a gentle voice: one that is full of love, full of mercy, it said:

"A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Light shall shine out of darkness. The army in Canada is rising up. The army in Canada is rising up..."

Recognizing right away that it was He, she replied: "Oh Lord, I want to be part of this army.."

"You must draw in more people. Those who have ears will hear. Those who do not, they shall be left behind.. It is time."

Very shortly after, she heard another voice. This time, not so gentle, nor so loving. With a loud and angry shout, he said: "You cannot take my people from me and destroy the work that I've done." Then he started reminding this young girl of all that she has been doing: the prayers that were lifted up to her Father, the people she has been talking to, the dreams and visions she wanted to see in this nation... Finally, with a loud shout, again he said: "I'm not going to allow you...."

Having a clear mind of what was happening and the full assurance of the victory she has in Him who is greater, this young girl said to her enemy: "I shall do whatever to claim back what belongs to my God, no matter what it takes...it shall be done."

The very next day, her God provided people around her to pray. They gathered around, each crying out to the same God--their hearts yearning for the same desire: to see change in Canada--toronto. Together they cried out: "We want to see your kingdom come and your will be done in this nation."

Her heart was moved and in awe of what her God is doing in this land. She went home that day feeling excited of what is to come. She thought to herself, "more people will I gather, to fight, to press on, and to claim back our land."

"Where have she read this before?" she thought to herself, "It all seemed so familiar." It was then that she opened up the Book. It was not a mere coincidence that this young girl decided to randomly pick a chapter to read from the bible. Somehow, her hands rapidly turned to that specific page: this innocent page was the one the Lord has chosen to speak to this young girl with. She started reading chapter six in the book of Joshua. Within minutes of reading, the Lord started again to stir up her heart...

It dawned upon her: the trumpet has sounded. this is war and we shall win. Like the Israelites, the Lord shall give us the land which He has promised: the land flowing with milk and honey.
"I ask for the nation."
"The nation shall be given to you."
"At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, 'Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.'"
"Arise! Take all the people of war with you and arise..."
"the son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil...."

....and claim back his people, his city, and his land....

................are you ready to fight? As kat had said, "let's move..."

As she pondered of all the things that have happened this summer: the amazing people she met who have such a desire for toronto, the things that are going on in her church and on her team. Then she thought about all that the Lord has shown her, she felt, for the first time, so privileged to be part of the Master's plan, here in Toronto.

this is a picture of us trying to imitate CHOW'S famous hand thingy he does whenever he tries to explain something... HAHAHAHA.. those were the days...HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHOW!!! WE WILL SEE YOU REAL SOON!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I LOVE YOU SONJA!!! I MISS YOU. Sorry that I couldn't make it to London this weekend. Remember this time last year, we were all celebrating your birthday at Hebei university..:)

This weekend was...WOW.


-Amazing prayer, sharing time on Friday. I love you guys. *sniff sniff*
-Sat. Night was....... WOW. I'm in AWE of His presence. How much He loves His people. I can't even begin to describe the night: all I can say is that I saw a glimspe of how heaven would be like..:)
-Sunday: Made me realize how sensitive I should be to those around me. Much prayer is needed.
-Sunday afternoon: great softball game. I love my team.

all in all, Thank you for our God: To Him be the glory, forever and ever, AMEN!!!

WORK IS A JOKE!!!

I have been working at this telemarketing place for the last three weeks, and all i can say is that its boring, tedious, and boring!! But its good to have a few friends to join me in this life of boredom, on top of that, there is only a few days until this all ends... FINALLY!!!

So I was talking to this lady today and the conversation went something like this:

"Hello, my name is Cora calling on behalf of MOH. Can i speak with the individual who is responsible for setting up a Flu immunization program within your organization?" (mind you I was looking at other stuff online because I can memorize the full script by now)

"umm...we didn't have one"

"Why, what was the reason"

"Because all my employees are Indians and I just don't think they like shots."

*thought to myself* What does that gotta do with anything? you RACIST!!

*trying so hard not to laugh..* "ohhh.. icic" huh??


This other conversation went something like this:

I was talking to i believe an Indian man,

"So how many employees were vaccinated?"

"umm..ok"

"no sir, how many employees were vaccinated?"

"yup..yes"

"umm..i sorta need a number"

"oh. 45"

"ok. what do you think we could do to improve the program.."

"um.........um......um.....yeah...ok"

"sorry sir?"

"ummm....yes"

"No sir, its an open ended question.."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

and then this chinese guy hung up on me...

he was like:

"aiya..mah fan." heheh..j/k. but he did hang up on me..:(

2 more days....
let the countdown begin.....

A Heartcry for China

A long long time ago, in a far away land called China, Hudson Taylor began his work of ministry in spreading the word to the Chinese. At the beginning of his work, he led a young man to Christ, Brother Ni. After the truth was unveiled in this young man's heart, Brother Ni asked Hudson Taylor this question: "'How long have your people in Europe known about Jesus and His way of salvation?'
Taylor answered that the gospel had been available to a greater or lesser extent in Europe for hundreds of years. 'If that is so,' replied Brother Ni, 'why did my father in China have to search for the truth for twenty years -- and die without ever finding it?'"

This burden is still heavily laid upon my heart. There are still so many unreached people; people who have never ever heard of the gospel. Nations and tribes that are in need of someone to bring the truth to them. How can we, knowing this fact, not doing anything about it? Oh Lord, my cry is that you'll send me to unreached places, unreached people, so that your gospel may be known to those who have not heard.

The Lord has been teaching me a lot about prayer. I've been yearning to go back, but the Lord spoke to me yesterday, and said so clearly to me that I need to labour in prayer for China: His land and His people. That I need to educate myself with information about China so that I could pray even more. Oh Lord, my cry now is that you'll discipline me to pray for your people and instill in me, oh the more, a love that never grows weary, a love that would never give up.

I can't even begin to explain my weekend. At Campus Challenge, I was totally challenged. haha. As Carrie would say, "I smell cheese." But this weekend indeed was AMAZING. I'm so blown away by how BIG our God is. How wonderfully He works in different campuses spread out amongst Ontario. He is sooo much Bigger than the God of Western or ACF; He works sooo abundantly at THE SAME TIME among all the other campuses. That--is AMAZING!!!

I really didn't want to be there this weekend. I was like, "oh. its going to be like another TC." But it soo was not. the Lord was sooooooo gOOD. He truly proved me wrong this weekend. Not just about CC but a lot of things about myself as well.

...Break me o Lord so that you can use me.

MonKEyS!!

this girl is absolutely CRAZY! i love her though, she is sooo cool.

Western Peeps!

MCBC!!!!!

Is this how it is?
Is this how its going to be?
Upon this rock where it is built,
darkness reigns and angels laid still.
Serving the public and pleasing the crowd,
while the truth remains a muddle--
glossed with sugar so that everyone can cuddle,
in their comfortable, fancy, yancy, merry land
so that they can remind blinded, as long as they still have their fans.

Is this how it is?
Is this how its going to be?
I ran to the "meditation room"
so that I can lift my worries up to Him,
who seems to be forgotten by many.
I came to the door, only to find it shut,
"and 'thou shalt not' writ over it."
Sadly, I walked away, realizing that they tore down the "meditation room"
so that we can have another closet for our brooms.

Is this how it is?
Is this how its going to be?
Oh Lord, come and heal our land.

I have to admit it; I don't know what to do...

It is always so hard being back home. As much as I am excited to be here, I can't help but feel a bit "off" and out of place. Perhaps being jobless plays a role in this, but lately, I been feeling confused as to why I am place here this summer. I've been dreaming about China again-yearning to go back and re-live that life of faith. I knew, last year, exactly that I was called to China, and from there, the Lord blessed me with soo much. Now, i can't help but wonder why I am here? Am I even supposed to be here? Can i even do it?
Bottom line, I think i'm just afraid. I don't know what to do exactly. I feel inadequate. How can I evangelize to these people? Would I even know what to say? I don't even really know these people? I don't want to just sit at a typical meeting, trying to think our brains out to figure out a "theme." I really don't know what to do... I don't think i'm adequately prepared for this... I don't want to do it and make it "good." I want it to be the best... How do I give back? Where do I begin?
.... All I need to know is the peace of the Lord. Because all shall be well when I know that I'm walking in the right path. No fears of inadequacy can stand in the way when the peace of the Lord is known in one's heart...
...that is what I need now!!!...

i have an exam tomorrow. and sat. i'm not ready for my tomorrow exam, and i haven't started my sat. one. ahhh.

i know how it feels to be forgotten, so before i forget, i want to say,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERICA-CA-CA!!!!

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH GUYS!!!

-my parents didn't even remember to call me, but i thank God for friends like you. To be honest, just a simple act of remembering this day means a lot to me.

to all the YouS...
thank you for remembering (even when i tried to hide it from you),
thank you for the cake at P and R,
thank you for the dairy queen cake,
thank you for the CD,
thank you for getting everyone to come out to prayer meeting, (knowing that that will brighten up my day)
thank you for the emails or msn msgs,
thank you for a night out to maggies,
thank you for the 'surprise' party,
thank you for the custom made t-shirt (pulling a cora since 1984),
thank you for the thoughtfulness...I LOVE MY NEW ROOM.
most importantly, thank you for just being there.

all in all, you've all made this special day..well. extra special, more than i could ask for.

i will post up more picture later on.

during our weekly prayer meetings today, we decided that it would be funny to randomly compose a poem about our dear brother Yun-Ping. (whose name, by the way, is also Alex).

Alex by day, Yun-Ping by night,
To the ball court he fights.
Will he take flight? O that might!
Do what is right, Yun-Ping by night.

this is what we do during our prayer meetings. see, i told you acfers; prayer meetings are nothing but fun.

i can finally breathe... well, at least for two days until i start studying for my exams.

let me tell you about my roomate, Doreen.

She is soo 'mong' (clueless) about everything.

One ordinary day, about 6 months ago, i was desperately looking for my pair for running shoes so that i could go to the gym. Realizing that i couldn't find them after 3 weeks later, i came to a conclusion that i must have left it at home or i could have just misplaced them somewhere.
However, 2 weeks ago, one very odd thing happened. i saw my pair of running shoes suddenly appearing on the lovely feet of my roomate, doreen.

i cried out a loud cry, "Doreen, you stole my shoes!"

She calmly and confidently replied, "No they're not! i stole them from my friend sharon."

"Well, they sure look like mine," said I, "even the scratch marks and the pain causing ankle part are there!"

Doreen said, "that is true; they never used to hurt my ankle. what size are your feet?"

I calmly replied, "7 or 71/2! yours?"

"Well, they couldn't possibly be your then, because my feet are 61/2."

Starting to doubt myself, I went up to check the size of MY shoes. "They are 71/2, Dor!"

"oh. they must be yours then."

"well. you better confirm"

One day later, doreen came to me with a bleeding ankle and said, "they are definitely yours! they seem to be a bit too big as well."

Anyhow, to sum this story up in a nutshell. I went up to doreen, nicely asking her to make sure that they are her friend. A week later, she came back with her friend's shoes which look nothing like mine! (yes dor, they don't look like mine). Nonetheless, she managed to mistaken them for mine. what a silly little girl. haha.

the Lord is slowly preparing me to go back; i just know it. i can't wait... the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few... so here I am Lord. here I am!

The biggest enemy is yourself; it only hurts when you try to hold on to it.

When satan tempts me to despair,
and tells me of the guilt within
upward i look and see Him there
who made an end to all my sin
because the sinless saviour die
my sinful soul is counted free
for God the just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me
to look on Him and pardon me

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