Tsunami Mercy Mission

I'm going to Acheh Province, Indonesia.

Be joining a medical team from Melaka. There'll be 11 of us, from
different churches. Be there from 24 Jan till 1 Feb. Specific place
that we are going to is called Melabo, the worst hit town in the
province.

Why am I in the medical team? Well, that's a good question. I'm going
there to teach the local contact in Medan/Acheh on how to use the
fogging machine. We'll be bringing a fogging machine to kill the
mosquitos and also whatever insects that is in the area. Am I an
expect on that? No. Just that I've used it before ... well about six
years ago in Honduras.

Latest news... I might not even got the chance to use the fogging
machine in Acheh due to transportation problem. Anyway, will pray that
everything will be transported to our base camp without much problem.

Also I've learned to do balloon sculpturing for this trip. Didn't got
time to learn a lot but only the dog, monkey, bear and bird designs.
Hopefully I can use my knowledge there in Acheh. Also I will take care
of the photography while we are there.

Well, looking forward for this trip.

Clarissa Bong is back at home.

Praise God! Now Clarissa Bong is back at home. Spent 3 days at General
Hospital because of jaundice. Thank God that she got better.

During the visits to the nursery ward, I managed to talk to a few
fathers. Learn a lot from them, just by hearing them. They need a
listening ear and I'm glad I could provide that for them. From what
some of them had experienced, I'm thankful to God for His protection
and love for me and my family.

Now Michelle, Annabelle and Clarissa Bong are at my in-law's house. As
for me, I'll be going back to office tomorrow.

--
David Bong

Clarissa Bong in her grandmother's arm
Posted by Hello

Mother and daugther at the ward
Posted by Hello

Yawning away.
Posted by Hello

Peeping to see who's taking the photo
Posted by Hello

Clarissa Bong
Posted by Hello

The Birth of Clarissa Bong

I witnessed the birth of my second daughter Clarissa Bong early this
morning (Thursday 9-12-2004).

Michelle experienced contraction pain beginning at 8.30pm yesterday. I
was in the church attending the Wednesday prayer meeting. Had asked
the members to pray for fast and smooth delivery for Michelle.

When I arrived home from church, Michelle told me about the pain. The
pain came regularly at 5-7 minutes interval. Decided to go to the
hospital that night. Sent Annabelle to in-law's house and went to the
hospital. Went straight to the "Wad Bersalin" and checked Michelle in.
After the check-up, Michelle told me that the cervix is already 6cm
dilated. Looks like the delivery will be fast.

I waited outside, waiting for the nurse to call me in. As I've taken
the "Kursus Peneman", I'm allowed to accompany Michelle at the labour
room. At 1.15am, the nurse called me in. She was surprised to see me
coming to her when she called for Michelle's husband. She wondered why
a Malay looking guy came as she expected to see a Chinese man. The
nurse gave me the white robe to wear but before I could tie the string
to the robe, the other nurse at the labor room called out to me to
hurry. Michelle is already going to give birth. Rushed to the labour
room Room 4. Michelle was already in the position to give birth, both
legs spread out and three nurses was beside her to assist.

Went beside her and just then Michelle had her contraction pain and
the nurse asked her to push. Michelle pushed and her face turned red
as she forced herself to push the baby out. Still the baby did not
come out. She rested for a while and about 30 seconds later the pain
came again. This time Michelle pushed harder and with the nurse's
help, the baby head came out. Wow, it looked big (compared to
Annabelle's head when she came out from the womb last year). After the
head is out, Michelle had to push again and then the whole baby's body
came out. Time: 1.25am.

And to my surprise again, the baby is a baby girl. Again, we thought
that the baby will be a boy (though we didn't inquire about it from
the scan). I know Michelle would be surprised, I just hope she will
not be disappointed. The nurse held the baby and showed her to
Michelle. Michelle was indeed surprised to see a baby girl. (Well,
Michelle's father will definitely be disappointed).

I was then asked to leave the room and the nurse needs to clean up the
baby. Waited outside until about 3.40am before they pushed Michelle
and the baby out to the ward. At the ward, I hold my Clarissa and
dedicated her to God.
Praise God for another precious gift to Michelle, Annabelle and I. All
thanks and praise be unto HIM.


--
David Bong

Coconut for Michelle before her delivery
Posted by Hello

so round... blinking from the camera's flash
Posted by Hello

My shy Annabelle
Posted by Hello

Sports Ministry

Help to organize the Sport Ministry Seminar in church. Not so easyworking together with other churches especially when the representatives that the senior pastors sent came with no authority to decide. Its so frustrating to plan events with people who can't decide.

Why must the senior pastors be afraid to let go of their controls. Anyway, I don't want to complain. I want to thank God for helping me organize the seminar. Two days where we received lots of new insights as to the wonderful way to reach out to people in the community. Hope that I'll be able to apply what I've learned to the people I meet during my football games. Glad that the seminar is over. I feel very tired. Then this coming Saturday, there's the Food Fair at Salvation Army. Hope that I'll have the energy to bake and sell the Ikan Bakar.

Lord... what is your direction for me?

Itchy hands

I got itchy hands. Just want to scratch and scratch. Sometime nice
sometime painful.

My color

BLUE You give your love and friendship unconditionaly. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive. Find out your color at Quiz Me!

feeling the pain

wahhhh... now I'm feeling the pain... the pulling pain (berdenyut-denyut).

Hopefully it wont take so many days to heal. Lord, heal me. Thank you Lord for your healing touch.

Accident today

met with an accident today on the way to work. One big brown dog
suddenly cross the road. The dog was looking at the other side of the
road when it want to cross the road. Couldn't brake on time. Hit the
dog, my motorbike skidded.

Thank God there is no vehicle behind me. Then someone sent me to the
nearest clinic. Now, at home. Thank God for His protection and mercy.
In all things and circumstances, give thanks to God.

Below are the photos of the victim... i.e. me and not the dog.

right hand
Posted by Hello

front view of the victim
Posted by Hello

close up on the face
Posted by Hello

left knee also kena
Posted by Hello

my small finger feeling the pulling pain.
Posted by Hello

Team members with Pastor Joseph and family
Posted by Hello

testimony by Belle, one of the team members
Posted by Hello

breakfast on Sunday
Posted by Hello

team members with the car
Posted by Hello

the team member's car that was stuck in the mud and got splashed with mud
Posted by Hello

the children enjoying the song with actions
Posted by Hello

Gunung Ledang from the kampung
Posted by Hello

one of the kitchen in the village
Posted by Hello

The headman (Batin) that almost shot one pastor about 10 years ago.
Posted by Hello

Mission Trip to the Orang Asli at Gunung Ledang.

The team is from MultiMedia University, Melaka consisting of 8 students, mostly first year students. Met them at Durian Tunggal and drove to Kampung Jus to meet Pastor Joseph Boon Chai. After lunch, we rested. Managed to get some sleep for a while. At 3.30pm we traveled to Gunung Ledang. The journey took us about 45 minutes. Along the way, we had to stop for a while because of construction work. The road up to the village is not tarred and uphill. The cars had to go up slowly as the road is not even with potholes along the path.

The OA children were excited to see our group. After visiting the headman (Batin) of the village, we spend some time visiting a few families. As this area is new to the ministry (pioneering work), much effort must be made to build relationships to reach out to them. I was told that in the past, when another pastor tried to come it to evangelize, the Batin took out his shotgun and wanted to kill the pastor. Thank God for giving Pastor Joseph the wisdom as to how to go about ministering to the people here. As Pastor Joseph, Pastor Joanne and I talked to the adults, the children flocked around the team members. We conducted the cell group at about 6 pm. The team members presented songs, sketch and storytelling using balloons.

On the way back, one of the car got stuck in a muddy hole. A few people had to push the car before it is back on even road. The car was made dirty by the splashing of the mud. We reached Jus at about 8.30pm. Had our dinner and thereafter took our bath. At about 11pm, I had a short briefing with the team members. Most of them had not gone for a mission trip before. They shared what they have observed and learned from the trip to the OA village. By midnight, we all went for our sleep.

Woke up at 7am. After washing up, the members were served with breakfast. Coffee, bread and biscuits. Every Sunday at 7.45am, there will be a short prayer meeting. Then at about 10.15am, the Sunday Service will start. Enjoyed the BM service very much. The songs, the team presentation and testimonies, and the sermon have been a blessing. Pastor Joseph preached about David and how he persevered on to trust in God even though he faced many problems in life. Lunch at 12.15noon and we traveled back to Melaka at 1.15pm.

This is my first time sitting in an Orang Asli Sunday service. One thing for sure, this ministry needs a lot of support especially financially. Hard work, perseverance, hard ground, relationships, endurance, listening patiently, sensitivity, and God’s calling – these are some of the words that will always be associated with the Orang Asli Ministry.

Broadband finally arrived.

Hurray!!.. Finally, the broadband has arrived to church. The Telekom
guy called in the morning and said that he was on his way to the
church. It took him 2 hours to set up such a simple thing. But can't
blame him... the church computer don't have network card... some more
very old pc. He kept on sniffing... think he is catching cold. Told
him to take cod liver oil and vitamin C. He agreed and said he knows
about it also.

The wifi connection will be done on Thursday evening. Once that is
done.... no more online monopoly. And faster downloading and uploading
of files too. I'm happy...... yeah, yeah, yeah....

Preaching on "Persuasiveness". Notice the hand gesture... like my pastor.
Posted by Hello

Had a wonderful time preaching on Saturday. Indeed I can feel the
presence of the Holy Spirit in the church sanctuary. Praise God for
His anointing. I pray that the church members will learn to be more
effective persuader for Christ. That the world may come to know the
love of God and accept their salvation which comes only by believing
in Jesus Christ.

After the preaching I felt relieved... mainly because it's not so easy
for me to preach. It is a huge task to preach... cannot simply preach
for preaching sake. Somehow... every preacher's prayer is that the
Word that is being preached will touch the hearts of the listeners.
And that the Holy Spirit will minister to every persons in the church.
It takes me more than 5 full days to prepare for this preaching. Not
easy especially when I'm supposed to share on a topic that I myself is
not good at. But... God is good. Thank you Lord.

Went to play football on Sunday evening. Our team won 4-2. Managed to
score one goal. Long time no chance to score coz had to play defense.
Praise God.

Annabelle photos are in.

Already uploaded Annabelle's photos to Photobucket. Can see her photos
already in the slide window.

Working today even though it is Melaka Governor's birthday. Will be
preaching tonite about persuasiveness. How lah... seldom persuade
people but have to preach on that.

God... help me!

Pastor Joseph

d0005.JPG
Originally uploaded by Starhawk.

Pastor Joseph teaching the story of the birth of Christ to the Orang Asli in Kg. Lubuk Lawang. Since the OA couldn't read, pictures are used to illustrate the story.

d0014.JPG

d0014.JPG
Originally uploaded by Starhawk.

Cell group meeting for 5 OA families in Rompin. Enthusiastic children singing praise and worship songs.

Photobucket photos

Just found out the the free account for Photobucket.com has just deleted all the pictures from my album. They do that every month. So that explains why there are no photos on the Annabelle window. To be a premium subscriber will cost US$25 for a year.

For the mean time, will try and find other sites for web hosting.

taking care of Annabelle

Today, I have to take care of my daughter Annabelle. My mother in law
had to go to the hospital for check-up and I'm left alone to take care
of her.

Thank God she woke up at 10.15am. By that time, I had already bathed
and ready to take care of her. Played with her for a while. Noticed
that she shitted ... then washed and bathed her. By then she is
already hungry... so gave her morning cereal. She finished it without
much complain. Then played with her again until lunch time. Michelle
came back for lunch and brought her to in-law's place for lunch.
Annabelle didn't want to eat her rice... asked her to switch on the
VCD player for her daily Barney & Friends show.

Took her back to the house and now she is sleeping soundly in the
room. So far, so good.

Doing my cybermissions course

Right now, looking at the course requirements. Had to do this course
at night as I'm busy in the office. Anyway, hope to be able to
complete this course on time.
Interesting ideas. And also the church wants to embark on this
strategy to reach out via cyber. Maybe starts with the basic and
discipling using cyber.

Broadband delayed coming to church

Today, I waited and waited. No calls... no sign of the Telekom men. What lah... say only want to come but didn't come. Fed up. Some more, this morning while I was online, Pastor came in and he wants to use the internet. But I was still online.... so he cannot use. Maybe he is not happy but what to do. Only one line. First come first serve.

Also, my house phone bill came today. Internet bill goes up to RM49.55. It's time to switch to broadband already. Will get the RM44 per month package. Thought of getting the unlimited package but I don't need to be online all the time. Anyway, let's see how it goes.

Now.... broadband is coming not only to church but also to my house.

Hai ya.... today didn't eat my oat drink. Tomoro must eat.

Broadband is coming to the church.

Praise God! Broadband is coming to the church. Been waiting and hoping that it will come fast but only today the Telekom guy called and said that they will be coming. But they didn't turn up. My wife's office has already installed the streamyx and she has been telling me about how fast the connection is. Well, when it comes to the church, hehehehehe... I'll bless it first. Then I will use it. No more waiting for other people to finish using the line. Hurray.!!!!

I wish you enough

Grace Tan send me this email which I find interesting and worth sharing.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last
Moments together at the airport as the daughter's departure
hugged andhad been announced. Standing near the security gate, they
the mother said,
"I love you and I wish you enough."
The daughter replied,
"Mom, our life together has been more than enough.
Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom."
They kissed and the daughter left.

The mother walked over to the window where I sat.
Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry.
I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by
asking,

"Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would
be forever?"

"Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking but why is
this a forever good-bye?"

"I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead
and the reality is the next trip back will be for my funeral,"
she said.

When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, "I wish you
enough." May I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down
from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone."
She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in
detail and she smiled even more.

"When we said 'I wish you enough' we were wanting the other
person to have a life filled with just enough good things to
sustain them".

Then turning toward me, she shared the following, reciting it from
memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear
much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough helloes to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person,

An hour to appreciate them,

A day to love them,

And an entire life to forget them.

Classic IQ Test

For those who want to check their IQ... just to see whether they are
genius, or moorrooon, here is the site:

http://web.tickle.com

All the best in knowing what you already know.

Cyber missions

Hai yah… couldn't get on the net now. Pastor is using the line…
monopolization of internet line. That's why I'm typing this on the MS
Word and will send it by email later. So while waiting for Pastor to
get OFF line, here's my ranting. Oh ya, wanted to be online to do my
Cybermissions course. Hehehehe doing cybermissions with only one line
to use… mati lah. Somemore, most of the time Pastor is online. Sure
drag wan…. From 12 weeks course to 24 weeks course..hehehe. Hopefully
the streamyx will come fast lah.

According to the articles that I've read, there are over 945,000,000
people using the internet for this year and a whopping 709,100,100
eMarketer out there. Talking about selling, the internet is really a
mega market place. And the internet language population is changing
from the dominant English to other languages.
The statistic is for September 2002: English 36.5%; Chinese 10.9%,
Japanese 9.7%; Spanish 7.2%, German 6.7%; Korean 4.5%; Italian 3.8%;
French 3.5%, Portuguese 3.0%; Russian 2.9% and Dutch 2.0%
Wah… must learn Chinese alredi lah, or Japanese.

Oh yes, Pastor OFF line alredi. Time to cyber with a missions.

Classic IQ Test

The Classic IQ Test

I took the IQ Test and this is my result. I think they rated me too high. hehehehe.... was thinking of below 80.

 

 

What's Your IQ?

Congratulations, David!
Your IQ score is 122

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. (Visual...hmm, I agree... always look at other people...mostly girls...).This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results.

Men's rules

I found this to be true.... speaking on behalf of most men.

Women, this is from us.

Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
JUST SAY IT!

hehehehe.

Food and people

I'm not a food lover. I don't really care whether the food really
taste nice or not. That doesn't mean that I don't like good food. I
loves good food. I know whether the food is delicious or not. I know
between awful and delicious food. And I don't like bad awful food.
But....I'm not crazy about food.

I know people who are so called food lover. And these people know who
you are. The extent that they do to get the food that they like is
sometimes beyond my understanding. I mean they would be willing to
spend lots of money just to be able to eat the delicious food. Some
would travel as far as 4 hours journey so that they can eat the food
that they crave. Some would travel to the remote areas just to try a
certain kind of food, just because they heard from others about it.

I wouldn't understand these kind of people. Maybe that is what drives
them. Delicious food drives them, seduce them, allure them, just like
magnet to iron. Guess I'm just not crazy about food. Eat to live, not
live to eat.

Eat to live, not live to eat

taking a bath after hair cut
Posted by Hello

not so easy for annabelle
Posted by Hello