CAMel

CAM was recruiting today after church service in G2 and I registered myself to be a CAMel.

CAM = Creative Art Ministry

I have less than 1 year of drumming experience but I registered for it as this is my primary purpose of learning drum.
So I am keeping my fingers crossed on where this will take me to. I am not even sure if they will want me. There will be training provided if I get through the audition. Oh.. yes, apparently they have an audition. Will just wait for their call.

Joshua 1:9

" This is my command - Be strong and courageous!
Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your
God is with you wherever you go "

Importance of Fellowship

I faced some issues in office today towards the end of the day.
It's Friday!!! The week is supposed to end well, so I can enjoy the weekend. But hiccups have to take place and it is strategically positioned to disrupt my week and threatens my motivation towards work.

I did not want it to slowly eat me inside out. Such negative feelings isn't healthy. I decided the best way is to surrender to GOD. As such, I messaged two of my friends for prayer request. Surrendering my problems to GOD allows me to look at matters from a different angle. With God in the picture, everything seems to be much more bearable. The problem did not go away. It is still as real. But I seems better equipped to take on the problem.

People often ask me what is it about Christianity that draws me to it?

One main reason is that I know no matter what my circumstances, no matter how bad things are in life, there is SOMEONE who knows what I am going through. He is my limitless source of energy to fuel me through the difficult times. When times get so tough that I can't carry on, I know He provides a safe hiding place for me. Though He does not shield me from problems (whatever the reason I may not be wise enough to comprehend), I know He has the ability to see me through all my problems.

New Zealand - Taupo

Taupo is one of my favourite.
Here're some random picture during our stay in this beautiful town.

We did no adventurous stuff this time round but opted for a more relaxing cycle around lake Taupo. It was nice. We snapped and shooted, and snapped and shooted somemore.
Not just ourselves, but our shadows and the nearby ducks and geese lazing around the lake.
We did stupid stunts (See jumping pictures below) and had lots of fun trying to get the right camera angle and trying out different jumping style making sure it turned out well.

Not all is fine during this NZ trip. It may seems so far that 5 of us were having a whelming good time. It is true, but there were ups and downs as conflicts crawled their way in along the way. Glad to say that over here in Taupo, all was good. It is probably this reason why I like this town most.

Here's a video that offers a snippet of our cycling adventure in lake Taupo.

Live Reporting By Christina

New Zealand - Rotorua

We reached Rotorua in the evening after several hours drive down south from Auckland where we landed earlier in the morning. Carrying our big backpack, we started navigating to our hostel. It was an interesting walk as we observed the people and place. Then we came across this Nerdsville which we eventually forced Bernard to pose with. LOL...

We stayed in this HotRock place which has a rather cosy reception counter. From our room, we can see this stretch of road admist the greeneries and the nearby geysers. The road was broad, with the surronding grass patch neatly kept. Traffic is light and certainly makes for a very good drive. Anyway, with the help of the friendly receptionist, we got our activities all planned out for the next day. We had a mini bus catered for our activities which started with the gondola/luge, followed by Zorbing before we head for White-Water rafting. These were fun activities we did, especially the Zorb and Rafting. Only kel, Chris and CY did the Zorbing. Me and Bernard didn't. Haha.. I wasn't that sure I wouldn't puke inside the big ball. But I did regret slightly after seeing the happy faces of their after the zorb. Never mind.. I shall have that in my itinerary the next time :)

The highlight of the day came as we head for white-water rafting. You see.. we were all so excited about white-water rafting . It seems to be one of the must-try activity here. So we grabbed a brouchure, scanned through it and before we know it, we scheduled ourselves for an afternoon rafting trip. And before long, we were happily on our way to the rafting river in the van, the rafting operators started to introduce us to the history of the river we will be on later.
Then something about a 7m waterfall was mentioned.. Hmmm, since when rafting involves waterfall?? Haha.. And i tot it was a joke they cracked. Until we were on the river then we found out it's true. Haha.. Frankly speaking, I wasn't feeling all that easy once we got in the river. just feel a lack of control there.. We managed to conquer all the small waterfalls (1m and 2m) and some short rapids. Then came the 7m waterfall test. Not knowing what wil actually happened, we all headed for it, remembering the drill to execute upon nearing the fall's edge.
Then came the plunge into the water........................................
Not long, I felt we all dropped into the water. The raft did not make it. So I kind of loosened my grip on the raft and.......... I was SWEPTED on and on by the water current. I made somersaults like over and over inside the water. I started to panick as I was still submerged after quite a while. Struugling didn't help, and I lost grip of the paddle as well. CHAM LIAO I thought.... I continued to try swim up to surface. After dunno how long, then I surfaced. Relieved I was... I started swimming towards the nearest rock wall, and clinged onto it before I was rescued on board.

That rafting incident became the point of discussion for the remaining of the day, and the next few days that followed. All except Chris got flunged off the raft. But I was in water the longest. 30secs plus according to the instructor. It was dangerous man.. But an experience nonetheless.
Will I try rafting again? Eh.. Maybe. But definitely no waterfall again :)

Rafting experience aside, the rest of Rotorua stay was very pleasant. We had our first own cooked meal with ingredients purchased from the nearby mart. Dinner was pizza (Cheap @ $1.99 NZD but taste sucks), broccolis, sausages and Spaget. It was a satisfying meal. Breakfast was bread and Jam. I never eat this combi at home and I was surprised it tasted so good.

After staying in Rotorua for 2 nites, we carried on with our road trip. Travelling south, we headed for our next destination - Taupo.

(Way Over-due) New Zealand Trip Day 1 - Auckland

I had my graduation trip a few months back, 5th May til 20th May to be exact. It was with a close group of university friends.
The place was New Zealand.

4 months have passed, but the excitement still gushed back whenever I think of the clear blue sky and sea, the friendliness of the kiwis, the near-death rafting experience, the LOTR scenery, meal preparation at hostels, the snow mountain and so much more.
I am going to try and capture back these memories and hopefully to relive the experience as I do so.

Day 1 - Reaching Auckland Int Airport


After a long 16 hours flight with 2 transit and stopover, we finally reached Auckland Int Airport. The arrival level was nice but small. But recognizing it to be the start of a backpack adventure got me excited despite lack of sleep on board.

We had our first taste of backpacking adventure - brushing teeth and washing up in the airport toilet. LOL... It was our first taste of New Zealand, literally. After I was done, I exited the airport. What greeted me was this bright clear blue sky, with no clouds in sight. The sun was shining but you don't feel hot. With my jacket on, I wandered about the vicinity. The cool air freshened me as I walked and snapped some photos. I was only at the airport but I knew I would love New Zealand.


The few of us hopped onto a van with a trailer behind where we placed our big backpacks. It was an experience itself. Don't get to see these trailer in Singapore. With the van on its way, we bid farewell to the Airport which we would only see at the very last day of our road trip. Due to time constraint, we did not stay overnight in Auckland, but rather headed for a bus terminal (sort of) where we waited for our coach to pick us up to the next town, Rotorua. These kind of coaches is the Kiwis' (New Zealanders) common way of transport from one town to the other. It is this form of transport we relied on for most part of our Journey. Happily settled our lunch at a cafe in the bus terminal, we were on our way to the first real destination - Rotorua.