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Designer: NAT
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On Saturday, Pastor Tan preached a very touching message. I thank God for I was able to hear the sermon being preached. The thing that touched me the most was the story of the star thrower. For those of you who haven’t heard of it before, here it is:

As the story goes...there was once a wise man who was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead, was reaching down to the shore, picking up starfish and very gently throwing them into the ocean.
When asked why he was throwing Starfish into the ocean, the young man answered "The sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don't throw them in they'll die". The wise man replied "But don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach with Starfish all along it, and that you can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely, then bent down, picked up another Starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. "It made a difference for that one", he said.

I believe that we all have been gifted the ability to make a difference, it’s all up to us whether to do it or not. If we are aware of this gift, do you not realize you have the power to shape the future?

It’s all about one and you only need one to make a difference. That one person who sets up a company, that one company can make a difference in society. That one person who preached to us on Saturday has made the church realize how much one person can make a difference in society and in other people’s lives. If one person can do so much, how much more can 23000 people do to make a difference in society? If one person can do so much, how much more can everyone in the cell group contribute to make a difference? Let’s all begin to make a difference in our workplace, in our schools and in any other places we go to. Let’s all be star throwers for God!

And definitely not to forget...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

nataliA

W115 had their cell group outting at settlers. We played a fun board game called I'm the boss, it was a bit confusing because we had more players than required, but nevertheless it was fun. After about an hour or so on that board game, we chose something even more exciting, a board game called Saboteur. Before that we celebrated Nat's birthday, she came out of the toilet, walked half way down the stone tiles... the lights went out.... and she stood there... wandering whats going on? haha. David had to persuade her to enter. Natalia came in and we told her we were playing a special kind of Uno Stacko, in the dark? With light in the middle? haha. We all sang happy birthday and distributed the yummy chocolate cake from awfullychocolate. We hope you had a great day and we wish you all the best in your studies! After the celebration we continued with the board game. Yet again we had more players than required, so it was decided, the boys against the girls. In the end we came to a conclusion that the saboteurs had a higher chance of winning. We figured out it was time to go, I had great fun and I am sure those who are there did to!

Labels: Activities., SVC Sermon

Posted by Ben at 8:33 PM

Day 2

This is the "actual" day where the fun begins =D

Location: Shanghai

Local Tour Guide: Xiao2 Li3

Attached are some clips of my first tourist attraction visit for the day:







Introducing Xiao Li and Xiao Yao:



The Story goes...

Shanghai is a place whereby the people, especially businessmen, are hardcore believers of Fengshui. Almost every high rise structure has a FengShui orientated "roofing"/exterior to "generate" the desired positive/negative effects on one's own structure or environment.

There are buildings with sword like tops to "damage" it's surrounding competitors and boost it's own benefits at the same time. One will notice that usually there are not much other tall structures near this kind of buildings and that those next nearest tall structures would have reflective slanted surface tops target towards the "sword" top building in bid to reflect it's sha1 ji4 - damaging aura. There are some alternatives to counter this though... there is also a building with a lian2 hua1 top to counter this sword top building. The lotus flower is believed to be a sign of serenity as derived from the lotus petal that the chinese goddess(Guan1 Ying1) sit/stand on. Another interesting thing to note is that the sword top building has a silver lighting at night while the lotus top has a golden lighting...what fierce FengShui competition!!















If I'am did get the right picture, the one on the top is the sword top building(too bad I was caught up listening to the tour guide and watching the tower that i forgot to get a close-up shot of it.) The one on the botoom is the "reflective" towers designed to reflect the sword aura.

This is the Golden Lotus Flower top building, totally opposite from the sword top building, it supposedly boost the performance of surrounding buildings.

About the Pearl Tower...

This is the tower that you guys and gurls have seen in the previous video. The tower with 3 large purple and 9 same purple balls. This too has a story behind it's construction.

In the world map, Shanghai is shaped like that of a taichi symbol. From what I heard, Pudong developed first as it had a (forgot what was it, it was a natural object that existed without man's creation) that resembled one of the dots in the taichi symbol. Puxi developed much later, only when the Pearl Tower was constructed.

It is believed that Puxi developed as the taichi dot was completed with the Pearl Tower signifying the dot. When the Pearl Tower was completed, the rate of development of Puxi far surpassed that of Pudong. The people in Shanghai also believe that with the completion of the taichi symbol, Shanghai will now prosper by leaps and bounds.

Next On, Cheng Huang Miao...

Here's a clip to show you people how it's like there ;) kinda retarded though =X



Had you people thought it was some kinda temple?!?! LoLs... It's juz a tourist shopping attraction I guess. Had a cheesecake at the starbucks cafe and shopped around. Nothing spectacular here, juz cool ancient shophouses feel.

A Visit to Song Mei Ling's Grave area...



Here's a writing of a stone tablet found in the grave area, read if you want, skip it if your Chinese is bad =P



An introduction to Fengshui and fortune telling...



Opps...no recording by right....eh but Xiao Li added on that by left don't let them catch you doing so =X

In the late afternoon...

We headed on to SuZhou and the local tour guide we have for this province is Xiao Sun1.

Ahhh...before I forget, the people in Shanghai like to be addressed by a Xiao in front of their family name. So the tour guide names I have given so far are not their real names, it's juz a Xiao in front of their family names =D

The residence of the magistrate of SuZhou...

This tree can only be planted in official's residences as it resembles the claw of a dragon, thus signifying the "right/left hand men" of the Dragon(Emperor).

Here's a clip of introduction by Xiao Sun:

Okie dokie... now for the Did you know section!

Did you know that on each and every door in official's houses there are 5 bats?
They symbolise Wu2 Fu2 Ling1 Men1.

To be continued...

Labels: Experience Sharing

Posted by TLY at 6:29 PM

Prologue...

Got equiped with a brand new camcorder to make sure I get memorable footages of my holiday trip this time round. I've experienced wonderful moments during my previous trip to China and I wouldn't want to have them kept in my memory only. I want to share it with the people I know of or those who would come to know me ;)




Day 1

0700hrs - Wakey wakey

0800hrs - Arrival at the airport

Met my ORD-ed campmate at the airport. We are heading off to the same destination, in the same airline, at the same time...but diffent gate and flight no. LoL (Ok, I'll keep this short...nothing spectacular for now)

1130hrs - Take Off

1500hrs(Approx.) - Arrival at Hong Kong(HK) airport, for transition to Shanghai

1730hrs - Take Off

2000hrs - Arrival at Shanghai

2030hrs - Check-in at the hotel (End of Day 1)

LoL....yea that's day 1...ahh well, slept tight for Day 2

Debrief:

Tour Guide following us for the rest of our time in China is Xiao2 Yao2.

There is a total of 33 people in my tour group. 12 Indo-Chinese, remaining are Singaporeans.

Xiao Yao will be our primary tour guide for our visit in China. There will also be local tour guides for every province we visit.

To be Continued...

Labels: Experience Sharing

Posted by TLY at 5:38 PM

[H][A][P][P][Y] [B][I][R][T][H][D][A][Y]

[W][4][5][8]

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Labels: BIG events

Posted by Ruth. Ai Lin . at 2:14 PM

Labels: FYI

Posted by W115 at 1:03 PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!! (:

Cell group meeting last night was held at a new location and a very special one too (: It was held at our birthday boy’s house of course. (: Short yet enjoyable cell group meeting. Encouraged by Gabriel and his enjection of the week at how he was touched by God’s faithfulness and knowing that God can bring you through your circumstance even though you might feel that you didn’t deserve it. Message shared by Kenneth showed us the fulfillment we can get from being a servant, that one should serve without having the mentality of being rewarded but with the mentality that you’re honored to be serving God. But yet all in all knowing that in heaven, God will still reward us and in heaven all we’ve done will be worth its while. (:

So having a little change in schedule, we had our games after the message and hey it was fun.! (: (tackling nathelie was not easy by the way :D) popped matthew his birthday cake by surprise (: there was a cute candle that sings “happy birthday” but it didn’t work properly. x) and matthew’s best friend, ben gave matthew a shirt as a birthday present. Linying prepared a humongous sumptuous dinner for us which we ended up playing “zhong ji mi ma” to finish up the food (:

What a birthday celebration (:

Once again HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!
We hope you’ve enjoyed your day and may God continue to guide and watch over you in everything you do. And of course, may God grant you your wish on improving your Chinese. Maybe He might give you some special powers to understand Chinese better. Food for thought. :p

So we’ve had our first October baby……
Next up.
Oct 21: Natalia
Oct 27: Enke

Labels: FYI

Posted by -nat- at 12:51 PM

On the eve of Mid-autumn Festival, the cell group met up at East Coast Park for a time of fellowship. Accompanied by plenty of food and the cooling sea breeze, all of us had fun playing games. The highlight of the night has to be the final game where both teams are given lanterns to light and string together. It was far from easy with the breeze blowing relentlessly. But in the end, team Zui Kuey emerged victorious, thrashing team Light with a score of 5 - 0! Round of applause for them and according to the team members, the oil within 'anointed' them for the victory. Yet victory didn't matter as all would agree that the time was well spent. Look forward to the next outing!

Labels: Activities.

Posted by Guan Boon David at 1:47 AM