Jen Lee's week 6

Hi everyone,

it's full moon tonight :) just called my dad for a short chat - he's a Chinese romantic at heart who is prone to recite moon poetry such as the following at full moon:
chuang qian ming yue guang, yi shi di shang shuang
ju tou wang ming yue, di tou si gu xiang

Here's a translation provided by my friend Sun, who is from China and doing a masters in translation:

床前明月光,There is moonlight reflected to the front of my bed
疑是地上霜, i thought it was frost on the ground
举头望明月 raising my head, i saw the shining moon
低头思故乡 lowering my head, it was my hometown which was on my mind.

In the past when i was studying abroad in the US, my family and i would think of the moon as our "satellite", we would think of each other and the moon would
beam our love to each other across the miles (or rather kilometres :).

Anyway, looking to the present, here are some highlights of my past week and my prayer requests:

1. Parents' 37th wedding anniversary on 24th. There have been many ups and downs over the years, but I thank God that my parents have stuck with each other. It's something I do not take for granted. At first it looked like there was not going to be much of a celebration, but in the end they went out for a nice dinner :) Pls pray that they will continue to be committed to each other, not relying on their own strength to love but on God's.

2. Group work for my participatory development communication course: As part of our project, we planned to have small-group discussions with some PhD students but there was no way of ensuring their attendance. Twenty minutes before the first session on thursday, we only had one person confirmed coming - how to have discussion like that?
But thank God, in the end five of them decided to come and the next day more came :) Prayer answered! The discussions went pretty well and tomorrow my group is presenting our findings, and we've got to hand in a report after that. I've got to write up my part of the project after this email. Pls pray that I will write it well and that the report will flow well, as four of us will have input. Also pray for two of my project mates whose first language is not English, pray that they will not be too nervous, especially during the presentation.

3. My FIRST dive trip in Australia! On Sat, I went with about 15 others to dive at Cook Island, along Gold Coast. The trip was originally going to another place, but because conditions there were rough, they went somewhere else. I'm so glad they didn't cancel! I had to wake up at 5am and I was pretty sore by the end of the day because currents were still quite strong in some parts, but it was WORTH IT :) I saw sharks, turtles, rays, tonnes of fishes, beautiful tiny nudibranchs (sea slugs) and a lovely little red sea star. Pics are up on my facebook page for those who are interested :)
During the trip, I thank God that I got to know a few people better. One of them is from Russia and he was telling me that he gets pretty frustrated due to the communication barrier, he finds it hard to express himself in English. Another person is from Canada and she gets her food from the same community-supported agriculture scheme that I'm on (food is grown by local farmers, according to season). Yet another person was my dive buddy, who's from Singapore and he's the younger bro of one of my lifegroup brothers. Pls pray that I can get to know them better in the weeks ahead.

4. My FIRST serious assignment was completed on time - Thank God! It will comprise 20% of my grade for my planning development class. It was due on Monday, I finished it on Sunday night after struggling to understand the five articles that I'm supposed to summarise and critique. The articles are long and full of technical jargon so they are a real challenge. I did my best given the fact that I didn't fully understand the articles, ha ha. Will trust God with the results. In the coming month, I will have a lot more school assignments coming up and also lots of readings because two of my courses are intensive mode courses taught in just a few weeks. Pls pray that I will be disciplined in managing my time and also that I will be able to get what I read so I can synthesise my thoughts on what I'm learning.

5. Finally, I am looking forward to Good Friday and Easter as I remember the love and sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus came into Jerusalem and was welcomed by the crowds using palm branches, signifying his Kingship. But because He was not the kind of king they were looking for, He was betrayed, tortured and killed in the most cruel way devised by man. When I was in church and reflecting of all Jesus went through, I was moved to tears that He would go so far to "seek and save the lost". Truly I once was lost, but thanks to His love, I am now found. I will be attending a church convention from Friday until Monday, it will be held at Gold Coast so I will get to see the beach every day! Pls pray that I will hunger for a greater presence of God in my life, because where God's presence is where true transformation takes place.

Ok that's all for this week, dear friends and family. Thank you for reading and praying!

In-Christ,

jenlee

Jen Lee's week 5

Hi everyone,

I'm writing this while waiting to be picked up for prayer meeting...it has been quite a long day, so am praying for God's strength for the rest of the day.

Thanksgiving and prayer:

1. My friend, Sun, attended lifegroup last Friday and he liked it so much that he told people that he would be back, without me having to ask him :) He had just bought a second-hand car and was offering to give people rides and everything :) On Saturday he invited me to meet his friends who are also from China and doing masters in translation. thank God my Mandarin was good enough that I could understand them and vice versa. One of his friends is a part-time masseuse and he said he would help me ask for a job. (For those of you who have asked me about my job, well, I haven't started because there are currently no vacancies. That is probably a good thing because I hv a lot of school work at the moment).

On Sunday, I invited Sun to attend a panel session involving a Christian, a Muslim and a Buddhist. The talk was organised by another church on campus and Sun made time to go even though he had some school work to finish. The panelists were asked questions like: Do you believe there a God and if so, what is God like? What are your beliefs about life after death? What must one do to join your faith? Sun's conclusion of the hour-long session, which he shared without me asking, was that Christianity was the clearest and simplest way to God. We also had an interesting conversation about the reality of God and sin. Please continue to pray for him. He said he had no objection to being a Christian, so maybe I will ask him to try it out - after all, he has nothing to lose.

2. My housemates and I had our second prayer session yesterday and afterwards Vanessa said she appreciated the opportunity to reflect on the week. She also said it was great to see how God had answered our prayers (for example, the two of them had complained of back ache, but it was better this week). We then got into talking about faith matters. For her, coming from a Catholic family, she said she gets confused about the differences between strict Catholics and Protestants. I told her that the most important thing is what she believes about Jesus and that it is vital that she have a personal encounter with Him. Otherwise, things like going to church and reading the Bible will just seem like chores. She feels guilty for not doing those things, but I told her that guilt should not be the reason for doing those things. If Jesus was real in her heart, then those things would be an outflow of the real relationship that they have. Pray that she will take ownership of her own faith, instead of being ambivalent.

3. Last week I had classes every day (as opposed to normal weeks when I just have class on mon and thu) because one of my intensive mode courses had started. this week we are to do group work and I am thankful for my team mates - Brydie, Lorena and Pthai. So far we have been working well together. Please pray that we will be able to apply what we have learnt in our participatory development communication class to do a needs and opportunities assessment. The presentation and report of the project is due next Wed and Thu respectively. I also have another assignment due next monday for my planning development class - I have to read 5 journal articles and write a summary-cum-critique in a few hundred words. These articles are LONG and they have so much jargon that it's a challenge to get through them. Please pray that I will be able to really understand the articles and effectively critique them.

4. Had a great dinner with my cousin who is working as an ultrasound specialist in Perth. She was in brisbane for a week of training. We ate at a Portuguese restaurant - the chips they served were good :) even better was our conversation, felt I was able to really know her and what she goes through in terms of her work, relationships etc. We also made a call to our grandmother in Seremban, she has mild dementia, but thank God she has been reviewed by doctors and with medication, she should be getting better. Please pray for her health and for me to grow close to my extended family. It's easy to take them for granted, I want to appreciate them more.

5. Finally, I hope to go diving this weekend. It's being organised at the moment, it has not been decided whether it will be on Sat/Sun. I hope it's on Sat so that I don't miss service. Please pray for safety and for me to get used to my two new pieces of gear - a pair of second-hand fins I recently bought and the buoyancy control device that my friend lent me.

Thank you to everyone who prayed about my friendships here and who showed concern. I'm happy to report that I'm not unduly worried about the issue anymore. Jesus is my Best Friend and He will provide me with whatever support I need, no matter what the situation :)

Till next time, take care and God bless!
In-Christ,
jen lee

jenlee's week 4

hi family and friends,

I've been in Brisbane for exactly one month today! As I look back on my first four weeks here, I'm thankful that I've been able to share the journey with you.

Here are the highlights of the past week, along with prayer requests:

1. Last Wed I went to a video screening of a debate between atheist author Richard Dawkins, who wrote The God Delusion, and his Oxford colleague John Lennox, who defended the Christian faith in light of Dawkin's proposition that science displaces the need for God. After the video, there was a Q+A session with three UQ professors (a biologist, a physicist and an engineer) who said that their Christian faith has never been threatened by science, in fact it has been enhanced when they learn more about God's design through scientific methods of inquiry.
It was great to hear them take a stand and share their convictions. I had invited my coursemates to go but when none of them came, I asked God to lead me to someone with whom I can befriend and share about being a Christian. I saw this Chinese guy come into the lecture theatre on his own and I felt prompted to go sit with him. We ended up having a great conversation after the session about all sorts of things and he accepted my invitation to come to church on Sunday.
After service, he hung out with my lifegroup for dinner and then we had a pretty in-depth discussion about Christianity during which I also had the opportunity to share my testimony. He said he wanted to understand how the other religions looked at the world, so I invited him to another church service this sun because the message is going to be on Jesus talking to Buddha and Muhammad. He said he would come if he was free, so pls pray that he will be free and that my lifegroup and I can continue to engage him. One open door is his love for basketball, some guys in my lifegroup got his number so they should be playing together some time.
His name is Sun, pls pray for his salvation.

2. On Thursday I was having lunch with a coursemate and she revealed that she has been in an affair with a married man for the past year. She feels she needs to be in a relationship in order to be happy, although she admits that her current situation has no future. "I cry every day", she said. She let me pray for her and I prayed that she would meet Jesus and find true joy in being whole in Him. Today I prayed for her because she had not been feeling well. She was very appreciative.
Pls pray with me and ask God to guide me in showing love to her in such a way that she will be drawn to Jesus.

3. The lifegroup that I've decided to be settled in is called Judah 2 (J2). On Friday I went for my first Fri lifegroup and it was a blessed time. The girls have a separate discussion group from the guys and we talked about how to respond in a Godly manner to stress. The next day, we met up for a salad lunch and to watch rented DVDs. Monster-in-Law, starring Jane Fonda and J Lo, was our movie of choice and it was pretty good. After the movie, we had BBQ with the guys. After BBQ, we sat around playing games like Speed, Heart Attack and Monopoly Deal.
I was pretty wiped out by the end and I started thinking whether I could really find that kind of youthful energy to engage the people in J2, all of whom are quite a lot younger than me. The more I thought about this, the more I missed my close friends and cell group in Singapore. I asked a few friends online to pray for me and I called my sister to do the same. While talking to her, I started crying. Maybe I was just tired from the day's activities, or maybe it was an accumulation of emotion. I guess I was also concerned that if I didn't have the energy to engage the people, I would not have a network of support to count on if my depressive cycle returns in April/May.
But after praying, I felt much better and the next day at service, the pastor preached on friendship through the passage in Ecc 4:9-12. I was assured that close, supportive friendship is God's idea and just as He had provided for me in Singapore, He will do the same for me here. I have no need to fear. I went forward for altar call to commit myself to be a good friend to others instead of just focusing on wanting to have good friends. I have since shared this with a few sisters in J2 and I am thankful for their understanding, support and prayer. By God's grace, I know that our friendship will deepen in His time. Indeed, the process has already begun! :)
Please pray that I will get rooted in J2 and be able to grow and serve together with my brothers and sisters there.

4. My housemates, Vanessa and Jesslyn, and I have decided to pray for each other every week and yesterday was our first time doing that. I happened to have this bible study guide called "surviving the storms of stress" and the two of them agreed to use it as the basis of our weekly sessions, so that as we pray, we can also be strengthened in His word. The verse that the guide talked about in the first chapter, which identified sources of stress, was 1 Tim 6:6-8. Godliness with contentment is great gain. We had a good time of sharing and praying.
Please pray that we can continue to encourage each other in our walk with Jesus and also to be a blessing and testimony to Xing Ting, our housemate, and our neighbours who are pre-believers.

Okay that's all for me this week. My dive trip last week got cancelled due to prediction of adverse conditions (4-metre high winds, that type of thing) so I didn't get to see real manta rays. I did attend a talk by a phd student on manta ray research, it was interesting. Ah...the joys of being in university where all sorts of interesting research is taking place :) I'm going to be embarking on some school projects myself, both individual and group work.
Pls pray that God will help me to do my best and work well with others. Especially important to be able to read scholarly articles and absorb what is being said, QUICKLY.

That's all from me this week. Replies are not expected, but always a nice surprise :) Prayer requests are also welcome, even as you pray for me, I would like to pray for you :)

Take care, God bless!
In-Christ,
jenlee