40hr famine

hey guys... i'm sharing on the 40hr famine experience wif u todae... i spent my last three fasting on food... well, it was real hard!!! we started fasting on fridae nite, at youth at 8pm.. as a group of youths we spent the weekend fasting and getting sponsers for the hungry and poor ppl of east timor.. they have been struck with diseases and disasters, which made their situation worse, wif no food and proper hospitals to provide basic medical needs.. they are so poor tat they live in houses built of mud and at night, the cold night chill disrupts their sleeps and health.. In rainy seasons, crops are swept away by the torrential rain and the roads are dangerous ran over by unstoppable strong landslides.. with no proper food and clothes, these ppl have to get by each day hoping tat the next day would be better..

At church, we've seen the clip on how these ppl had to struggle wif the setbacks of their everydae life.. now i've done the 40hr famine, i could truly understand the clinging feeling of the unbearable hunger.. for 40hrs the hungry feeling clings onto ur stomach, and physically hinders our everyday activities as well.. For me its just 40hrs, but for them, its for life!!

$5 for a child to be fed for a month!! how cheap is tat??
for every meal u eat, u could potentially used tat money to save a person's life for a month.. in a day u spend roughly 20bucks on food.. for 2 days, u spend $40 on food.. through the almost 2 days of fasting, the money u've saved, could be used to save a child's life for 8 months!!! thats a pretty gd bargain!!! sacrificing 2days of food for 8 months of food for them... God is not a calculative person, he believes tat through us, others would be blessed... as others are blessed, more others would be blessed...

------------------------today's sermon at church's sermon was about WHERE TO INVEST??
++ Pastor Patrick said, that money is neutral/ amoral/ tool...
++ As Christians, our aim is to INVEST money for the purposes of the KINGDOM..

the money we have now are all god's blessings on us.. we should be grateful and glad he placed us here, in perth, in our nice cosy homes.. It could be us having to suffer and bear the tomentous weather of nature and hunger... it could be us sleeping on the streets of perth looking at ppl like us shopping in the cities with our money, mostly wifout a thought... FOR WE ARE BLESSED, WE SHOULD BLESS OTHERS...
there is no reason why the people in east timor should be lacked of blessings, that we are having now.. they shouldn't deserve the hardships..

why do we say grace everytime before we eat? its to thank God for placing these meals before us everyday.. most ppl in East Timor hardly get enough food for each day, and most of them don't even noe of our true lord and saviour.. We have not done anything to deserve such blessings, the ppl in East Timor deserve these blessings as well..

so my conclusion for todae, is that whenever u say grace for the food, pray in our hearts that the hungry ppl all over the world is able to feel contented.. i strongly encourage as well, to do the 40hr famine next year, so u can get sponsers to help these ppl out and to deeply understand true hunger, which many of us had not felt..

well, tats all for now!!! thanks for reading!!! leave a comment if u wanna...
-- ivan --

!~!~!~We're Growing~!~!~!

hey, wats up guys!!! its me again, ivan, blogging on the youth blog.. well, youth's been pretty gd and fun as usual, and the best thing of all is tat we're growing.. the amt of youth attending, is pretty much growing well.. we've so many new ppl, like ling ling's friends, Derek, Kevin, Chris and all!!! NICE MEETING U GUYS!!! our youth is getting more interesting, we've ppl frm malaysia, singapore, aussie, china, japan, mauritius, we're an international youth group now!! how cool is tat!!

its nice to see how talented our youth group is.. we've like heaps of musical inclined ppl!! ppl who can sing well, play the guitar, violin, piano, drums, even the cello!! man, we rock!! well, if u're unaware of this, we're performing for SEARCH FOR A STAR!!! So u're all are performing, everyone!!! no exceptions!!! well, u can get ur friends to cheer u on, as u all are performing... they'll see how cool u are, and how cool the youth group.. AND THEY WOULD WANNA BE LIKE US!!! SEARCH FOR A STAR is a gd way to get ur friends to have sneak preview on how cool and blessed we Christians are... if u want tickets, get them frm Chin Seng...

Beside frm this major event, we have another yummy major event.. we have the MAMAK NITE!!! its like a major ASIAN FOOD CONFERENCE organised by Chin Seng... we've food and fun all stocked up and ready for you.. we've satay, which is ''meat on a stick'', and teh terik, prata and all!!! the entry fee is $10, and its on tis coming saturdae, which is the 2nd sept... If u want tickets get them frm chui lin, get money ready by this fridae's youth...

i'm going for MAMAK NITE and SEARCH FOR A STAR... so its gonna hell fun and awesome... all the cool ppl are going, so don't miss out!!!

a CHRIST note

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)