Yes, this is the end of my blogging season for now. As you can see, some of you like Esther and the rest replied to my previous mail, and I did not reply. Sorry for this, I haven't forgotten you! Doing this blog has been arduous, and I have been putting off lots of school work for this. How do people like Esther blog everyday? Ah ger, better go study ah. And I also kinda gave a rushed reply to Johnson and Gladys. Hope this blog gets you all updated. Sorry!
I also went to the Hague and Brussels. Some other time maybezzzzzzzzzzzz zz zz zz z z zz
Monday, 24 September 2007
OPM
The overnight meeting was really great, and God showed up. We were all really touched and felt a strong breakthrough as we prayed for Holland and Delft. Wow!OPM
We had overnight prayer meeting too, to end Jesus Week on Friday night. It was held at this warehouse because Elrich's church just got burnt down a few weeks ago. So extreme! Talk about persecution. But everybody's ok lah, no one hurt.
We're wearing this (CWO!) vest because of Jesus Week in school. Instead of the usual evangelism, we ask people for prayer requests. May God bless all those we've prayed for. Some people asked to pray for school results, a girlfriend etc, and we prayed for this Iran guy's family too. We had a whole load of fun.
Evangelism in School
Janita and I also join a school evangelism team which goes around every lunchtime to the canteens to talk to people about Jesus. Going vocal with your faith really shakes you up in a positive way, as we have experienced. Over here, the culture is more free and people are open to talk about religion and stuff, so we had quite a few interesting conversations. This causes me to reflect about our culture in Singapore. Over here, since there are so few Christians around, the on-fire Christians are really desperate for peoples' salvations. The guy in the middle here is Elrich, an industrial design student, and he does this everyday. There are no pop concerts, or high-powered family carnivals and all. It's just pure gospel. We can definitely be more direct with the gospel as it really is.
Paul says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Rom 1:16) I guess this is what it's about..
Our Church in Delft!
Jun Xian and I are currently attending Delft Christian Fellowship, an Indonesian-Dutch church which Janita also attends. It is a G12 church, so the pastor, Pst. Victor also knows Pst. Lawrence Khong and Pst. Kong. Although it is a trilingual service and there are some difficulties (they preach in Bahasa and translate into Dutch, we sit in a corner and someone translates for us in English), it's actually quite fun and the praise and worship is anointed. The people are also nice and discipleship is good. So this will be our church for the next 3 months or so!TU Delft, Our School!
Our school in TU Delft, the Bouwkunde or Building Knowledge Department. It is a huge department with 13 stories and 4 architecture/urbanism streams. School's great too, and we cycle there every morning. Basically we cycle everywhere in Delft because the town is not really very big.
Alien Invasion
These few days, a London fun fair & Dutch Pasar Malam decended upon our little town overnight, and caused us to wake up in a state of shock the next morning. When we finally came to our senses, we went to take a ride on the Booster Maxxx, which is a this giant spinning pinwheel thing pictured here. While spinning on it, we could see the church and the whole of Delft-upside down! Weeu!>>Delft
Finally, after a month of travelling, I have settled into our fine little town, Delft. For those of you who do not know, Delft has one of the best universities in the Netherlands, and we're proud of our little town. The temperature's been wavering between cold and quite cold. This is a nice little canal outside our place at Papenstraat 8, so we see swans and little ducks raising their families outside every morning. Our apartment is smack in the middle of town, just a stone's throw away from the market square and main church. The church bells chime every 15 minutes (trust me, it's a bit much). In short, life is just great!>>Back to Rotterdam for Benny Hinn!
On my second night back in Holland, I attended Benny Hinn's healing crusade in Rotterdam. I went there alone and met with some of Janita's Delft church friends there. Janita's my friend from NUS Aki, and we used to do evangelism in NUS together. How amazing is it that God has brought us together so divinely in another country so far away! Anyways, the meeting was great, and there were many healings and salvations. There were a lot of Nigerians, Surinamese and Indonesians in the crowd too, and the people were dancing and jumping enthusiasticly, sometimes more enthusiastic than us in Singapore! Everyone could tell that God is doing something new in the Netherlands, and even Pst. Benny commented that the atmosphere is very different since the last time he came. Sitting beside me was a Dutch man and his mother, who used to be a missionary to Thailand for 30 years. So amazing... They told me how Holland used to be a great missions centre, and this is the place where Calvinism started. Currently, it is one of the most secular places in the world, but God is really doing something new in this country. Please pray for this great nation! + Pray that Pst. Benny's first crusade in November in Cairo, Egypt will go through. Egypt is really the gateway into the Arab world, so this is important!
More on the crusade from Benny Hinn Ministries:http://www.bennyhinn.org/articles/articledesc.cfm/id/302
This is the Mozart Orchestra, where they're all dressed like Mozart & play only Mozart. I was wondering if it's a bit of a tourist thing, but they are really professional musicians, and I guess it helps to keep the musical history alive. It would be a pity if the people came to Vienna expecting, and not seeing anything. So it works both ways. The music was great to hear live, and the Mozart tunes stayed in my brain for about a week.
Mozart at Wien Staatsoper
We went for a Mozart concert a the Wien Staatsoper, or Vienna State Opera. Vienna is the city of (classical) music as you know, so this is really a priviledge. Thanks Papa & Mummy for paying for this! Hopefully I can bring you here next time on my account. I will really try.
Righteous Gentiles
This is a memorial to Hungarian Christian people who helped save Jews by hiding them in their houses during the Holocaust. The Jews call them "righteous gentiles (non-Jews)", and they are remembered here. The scary thing is that anti-Semitism is alive and well in many parts of the world, and crazy people still deny the Holocaust and want to destroy Israel. In tough times, I still want to stand with the Jews because a long time ago, a Jew died for me. Besides, it's not a Christian thing; it's a human thing. I would do it for anybody, nomatter what they believe in, because everyone deserves the right to live. Sounds altruistic, so better not chicken out last minute ah, Zhenghao. Lord help me.
Weeping Willow
At the backyard of the synagogue are a mass grave for thousands of Hungarian Jews and this steel willow tree, a memorial to those who died under Hitler. At this point in time, I wondered what made people hate the Jews so much? I think a large part has got to do with bad experiences and unfair prejudices which when full blown, became uncontrollable. Is there a group of people you don't particularly like? You'd better let it go man, cos it's such a dangerous thing. Racism stinks and it comes out from the nowhere but hell. Don't even tolerate it in small amounts man.
Budapest Synagogue!
Gareth and Zitao with their kippahs (skullcaps) in Budapest Synaagogue, the second largest in the world after New York. The Jewish community was and still is quite sizable in Hungary, but they were decreased by something like 80% when Hitler killed them in WWII. 
>>Budapest; Cheap Eats!
We had a heavy lunch that day, as Budapest is nearly Singapore prices. This country was in the formerly Communist Eastern Europe, so prices are a lot cheaper. The service was the best we had in Europe, which typifies Hungarian experiences. We all loved Budapest a lot, mainly due to the people who are down-to-earth, humble and hardworking. There's a certain honesty about them that is really beautiful, I feel. But right now, the country is really booming economically and opening up. Let's hope this good nature stays...We all know things are not going to stay the same for long, so do come visit soon!
St. Peter's Basilica
Inside St. Peter's Church, named after St. Peter, or Peter in the Bible. Apparently, he is buried around here. Though there were a lot of people, there was a certain stillness about the place. We all just came out quiet and quite mellowed. God is in here.
Ceiling Wonder
Throughout the Vatican, the Popes' instructions to artists seemed to be "I don't want any blank space on the ceilings (and walls too)". As a result, we could never quite stop gazing up.
Statue of Hercules. What astounded me was the open-mindedness of the past popes that collected all this art. They were actually pretty liberal in collecting all kinds of art known to the civilised world at that time, everything from pagan Greek and Etruscan art to stuff from Egypt. I'm a Christian, but would I buy a buddha statue and put it in my house for the art of it? Probably not, but this is kinda like what they did. The popes had this thing called the "humanist traditions" of truth, goodness and beauty that they advocated, and made an effort not to white-wash the cultures of the people and lands that subsequently became Christian. In those times, the papacy had an almost monopolistic hold on the art of the times, perhaps directly or indirectly because of the above reasons. How advanced. That was real marketplace before the term came up. Let's follow suit and take the marketplace for the Lord!
Sunday, 23 September 2007
>>Vatican City
This is the entrance to the Vatican Museums, looking pretty much like an airport with the strict security and all. And for good reason too. The vast museums make up the biggest museum complex in the world, and contain many priceless treasures. The Vatican City is the smallest country on the planet with the Pope as its king. It is completely within Rome, has its own postal service, and is the seat of Roman Catholicism.
The Trevi Fountain, what I think is Rome's most fun and successful public space. Hoards of people splashing around and playing, and the workmanship for the fountain was great too! The whole thing was carved in huge chunks of marble and travertine, and the water is directed from natural springs, completed in 1762.
The Cross Carried
There is a cross in the Colisseum now, because the pagan emperors used to kill Christians here for fun by getting them mauled to death by lions in front of a big crowd. The legend is that Paul was martyred here too-but it's a legend only. So if you're a Christian here, the question is: will you die for Jesus in the same way if needed? The answer must surely be "yes", but we all need God's strength to make that decision. When the day comes, I want to be able to say "yes", so Lord help me and us.>>Rome
I'm here at the Colisseum in Rome, with a nice tan to suit the place. Italy was hot hot hot, and dry too! This crumbling ancient stadium was massive and awe-inspiring. Fun fact: it was named after a statue of Emperor Nero which was nearby. The statue was called Colossus because of its huge size, hence the name "Colisseum".
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