December 31, 2003(Wednesday)

Carmen and I went with Che So and her family to a place named "Hatillo". We went there May 19, 2002 when we first arrived to Venezuela. We had a good lunch there and visited a handcraft shop. Afterward, we went back to my home for a while.
We went to Baptist Church for dinner. Then we hosted a game show and I guess that people like it. We went to Che So's house to see the firework. The New Year atmosphere in Venezuela is infinitely better than the one in Vancouver. We used to watch the Seattle TV for the count down in Vancouver. However, there is a lot of firework here, filled the whole Caracas space. The celebration is very good.

December 30, 2003(Tuesday)

We originally wanted to visit beach today again, but the weather was bad again. Therefore, we spent the morning discussing about our wedding. Then we went to church and some museum and garden in the afternoon.
We took the flight and returned to Caracas at night. We had dinner with Chi Kong, who drove me from the airport. And then we updated diary, checked email and photo homepage at Desca at night.

December 29, 2003(Monday)

We went to the "Playa de Agua" (Water beach) today. The weather was pretty bad. In the beginning there was cloud and cold so we can't have a sun-bath but only swim. However, after 1.5 hours of swimming, it started to rain. We had a good lunch, with fish steak, seafood soup and fish soup. It tasted pretty good but the weather is really cold and we were wet. The rain did not stop so we had to leave the beach. I felt sorry that Carmen can't get any dark skin.
We went to shopping center "Sambil" afterward from 4:30 - 6. This is a really nice mall. Carmen and I also took some picture for the wedding picture rehearsal.

December 28, 2003(Sunday)

I was the singspiration leader. We sang "Praise You Hallelujah" (ACM's "You are King"), "Who is like Jesus", "Praise Your Love" (ACM's "Prince of Peace"; Carmen and Chi Kong performed and I played piano), "Come Worship God" (ACM's "Come Revive me") and "The Power of Your Love". Carmen helped me a lot as the worship team. We had lunch at church; the Church council were discussing about the theme of next year and they asked Carmen and I to be in the meeting too. However, I do not enjoy the "endless meeting". Carmen and I listened to Paco's wife sharing instead.
Originally I thought that the flight to Margarita Island was 6:15pm. However, I made a mistake and it was 4:15. Therefore we rushed to the airport but the flight was delayed an hour. We took a 40mins flight to Margarita Island. Someone was supposed to drive us to the hotel but we did not see him; probably because he was not aware that the flight was delayed. We took a taxi there and we discussed about our wedding ceremony in the night.

December 27, 2003(Saturday)

Carmen went to shopping with Kit and Donna in the morning while I slept in and updated online diary and photo homepage. Then we went to the top of "Mount Avila" with Eric, Heidi, Heidison and Keiling. It was the first time that I took the train to the top of the mountain. We also ride the truck that drove on top of the rough mountain road. That was an adventure.
We went to Baptist Church for music practice. In the beginning Carmen was not very involved and I was unhappy about that. However, afterward, Carmen was more involved and really lightened up my burden. I wish that she can always help me. We went to have hot pot at Che So's restaurant. We were really full. I did not do some of my daily routine (exercise and practice music) so I felt that my body is a bit out of shaped. Chi Kong drove us and "swim car river" for a while. We were packing up for tomorrow's trip.

December 26, 2003(Friday)

I went to work in the morning but there is no work to be done and no one went to work. Therefore, I checked email, updated my online diary and uploaded photo. Carmen and I went to have lunch with Paco and his family. Afterward, Carmen and I went to do wedding accessory shopping with Donna and Kit from MB church. Originally when I told Carmen that there is cheap and good wedding stuff in Venezuela, she did not believe it and thought that the things are old style. However, I was very surprised to find out that Carmen even got her wedding gown here! And it is very cheap too. The gown that Carmen loves only cost Cdn $350! If we need to rent from Canada, it costs at least Cdn $600 and the one that Carmen likes is only available for purchase, which cost over Cdn $1200! She bought nice Italian shoes for Cdn $40 too. I really appreciate Donna, Kit and her husband Leo spared their time to help us for the wedding shopping. Carmen and I are surprised that she found something she likes and it is cheap.
We went to have dinner with MB youth fellowship committee. Semson's family, Fernando's family, Chu's family, Fernando's family, Michelle and her husband, Elisa and Chuen. They gave Carmen Christmas present and I treated them for dinner. I have shared with them about Carmen for a long time. These people cared me a lot. It is true that I spent a lot of time and effort in church serving and makes me very busy. However, I gained a lot of friendship and respect too! In moments like that, every effort worth it!

December 25, 2003(Thursday)

Today is a busy church event day. I went to MB Church at 2:00 and prepared for the Life game. I designed this game for the Chinese youth. However, there are only a few of them and there are several Spanish speaking people plus some old people. I was quite stressed out because of this, but it turned out ok given this people. However, the message from Semson is not as targeted to this topic as I would like.
I went to Baptist church afterward. There are more newcomers than we would expect. Therefore, Mrs. Cheng was stressed and asked Carmen to host the program with me because the MC cooperation with her yesterday was good. We had some game time and some singing time. Carmen and I sang "Praise your love" (ACM's "Prince of Peace") and "Jehovah of 10000 army" (Stream of Praises) She sang good but my piano skill was bad. The program turned out to be ok despite the last minutes thing.
Carmen and I went to Leo and Kit's house because they wanted to rent to us. They showed that to me in Oct 4, 03 already. Afterward, we went home and I had a good sharing time with Carmen for more than an hour.

December 24, 2003(Wednesday)

I went to work in the morning. It was extremely easy and nothing to do. I went to have coffee and breakfast with Carmen and read some comic too. Afterward we went home and discussed about the outreach at the night. We went back to Dr. Chu's house to have hot pot. Dr. Chu was late because he has to wait for the car mechanic to fix his van.
Carmen and I went to the Chinese place to do preparation at 7:30. We had the final music practice and check the PowerPoint. The program lasted from 10:15-12:10. Carmen and I was the game host. We played the "Watermelon Punch", hide paper under the chair, blow balloon and tongue twister. I do not think that I did a good job although people said that our cooperation was smooth. The non-believer audiences were really dead while the Christian audience was better. The funny part was to ask people to read out the tongue twister. I am thankful that Carmen was my partner because usually I am the MC lead and have to think ahead. However, I can count on her this time and let my brain relax a brief while on the stage. The music was pretty good. The Spanish songs are good and the Chinese songs are not bad either. The Chinese songs that we sing are: "Wonderful Hand" (ACM's "You are king"), "Ask me", "Stream of Praises" and "There is a God" (from Stream of Praises). The drama was meaningful and the MC (Che So and Paco) did a good job. However, there is not enough audience (about 300 chairs but only 220 audience, 100 of them are Christian) and the non-Christian audience were really dead.
I introduced a lot of church people to Carmen and say thanks to their care about me. After clean up, we went home at 1:00. We checked the photo and gave evaluation to the program. I slept at 3:20am.

December 23, 2003(Tuesday)

I went to Desca with Carmen, and I introduced a lot of my co-workers to her and gave chocolates ("bird ending sweet" that my parents got for me) to everyone. This is a good time socialize event. Afterward we went back to my house to organize the church events in the next few days. Carmen and I went to shopping with Mrs. Chu and YiSon for tomorrow's hotpot. And then Carmen and I went to Lee Hamilton for dinner. She and I went there May 31, 2002 during the last day of her last visit. This is a memorable place. We went back to Dr. Chu's house and play around with the kids at night.

December 22, 2003(Monday)

We played around with YiSon and Paul (YiSon's brother) for a while. I brought Carmen to my house to witness my living place. We went to have grocery shopping and then I cooked lunch for her. She enjoyed my food. I played piano and she sang songs. We went to church to practice for Dec 24's program. I can finally showed her what I did in Venezuela and how the church is transformed. We went back to Dr. Chu's house to play around with the kids (to show my father-hood).

December 21, 2003(Sunday)

I went to Church in the morning and then went home to rest. I also went to Parque del Este to run. Afterward, I went to Desca to check email because I will not be online tomorrow (so that I can be with Carmen). I am totally addicted to internet and email. I found that if I don't check email for more than three days, I will die. I also smiled from the bottom of my heart because I know Carmen is coming. Yes!
I went to airport with Semson at 9:50. Her flight was supposed to arrive at 10:04. However, it was delayed until 10:40 and I got to meet her finally at 11. The waiting time is not that bad, but still I miss Carmen. It felt so good to see her finally. We went to Dr. Chu house to stay over during Carmen's stay in Venezuela.

December 20, 2003(Saturday)

I studied again so that when Carmen is here, I do not have to spend a lot of time studying. I also went to Parque del Este to run. At night, I went to church to practice music for Dec 24. I tried to be picky so that we will have a good performance. Afterward, I went to have dinner with Che So, Paco and Chi Kong at Che So's restaurant. We also discussed briefly about the Dec 24 program. Paco and Che So will be the MC and I really asked them to do a professional good job. Let see what God let us do. I called Carmen at night and we both felt excited because we will see each other tomorrow. She will be a Santa Claus because she has a full case of gift for me (and for people here).

December 19, 2003(Friday)

I went to McDonald in the morning to do the PIX firewall configuration. The configuration is simple and I got it finished really quick. There is nothing else that I can do even though I want to stay there for a longer time. Therefore, I went home for lunch.
I went to work and had my MBA accounting C521 quiz#1. I did a big mistake in the middle of it. There is a "submit" button and "save" button. I meant to save my answer in the middle of it but I pressed the submit instead. So I just got 75% of my quiz completed! I was really nervous and freak out. I tried to call the professor and bomb him with several emails. He was not there and I can feel myself shivering. Luckily I printed out the exam so I did 15% more. However, the last 10% is from a pull-down menu and I am stuck with that. I tried to calm down, finish what I can and email the professor with what I have. Finally, after eternality (which is only 30 mins), the professor emailed me. I emailed him back and forth about the problem and he agreed to either mark the test out of 90% or give me the full 10% that I can't answer. I preferred to take the 10% to show my real strength but at least the option that I had is not bad.
I went home and studied (so that I can stay ahead of the game!). I also called Hansel because he will go to HK tomorrow.

December 18, 2003(Thursday)

Omar asked me whether I know Microsoft SQL. I just happened to write the email saying what exam I passed and he saw that I passed several Microsoft exams. Therefore, he asked me to go to RCTV to fix their problem. I have no idea what is SQL and the reason I passed the MCSE exam is because of luck (plus brain dump). I told Omar that I know absolutely nothing about it. However, we may call the Microsoft technical center and the other junior engineer that will go there can't really speak English. So he told me that it is a good time to learn SQL and I would be the translator (again).
I was not happy when he told me to go because of this out-of-the-blue nature plus I may need to work on the McDonald Firewall (and I have MBA midterm tomorrow). I am really bad at hiding my feeling so I am sure that my face is not that great at that time. I reflected afterward that I have low EQ. No matter I like it or not, I have to accept the task. So why shouldn't I accept it happily? Even though this may not reflect my true feeling in my heart, this would definitely helps for my promotion. However what I am doing now is exactly the opposite. If I am the boss, I would not promote myself.
I was in RCTV 11-7:30. It turns out that the Microsoft technical engineer that will assist to solve our case is from South America (Brazil?) and he speaks Spanish. Therefore, I have nothing to do except browsing the internet, studying MBA and checking webpage.
I went home to cook dinner afterward. Semson phoned about the Dec 24 outreach. We are not as prepared as we hope. I will try my best to make sure that my part (game, music) are ok and the MC (Paco and Che So) will be good too.

December 17, 2003(Wednesday)

I had an early lunch. Then I went to McDonald to configure their PIX firewall. In the same time, I need to have a net meeting with MBA marketing class. They are all located in USA so they can dial the free 1-866 number. Therefore I am not able to participate in the conference all and they arrange the net meeting for me. However it was relatively quiet and I have no idea what they are discussing on the phone. Moreover, they planned to get back to it late at night. Including the time zone effect, it will be about 11pm in Venezuela and that is too late especially consider that I don't have internet at home. I don't like team work even though my marks would definitely be higher because they can proofread my English and my workload is lighter.
Instead of going to prayer meeting at night, I went home because I am quite tired. (I already had 8 hours of sleep at night plus one hour of afternoon nap. Probably because I used too much brain in the afternoon configuring the PIX. However, that shouldn't be. Probably I just like to sleep). I went home and cooked dinner. Afterward, I studied and prepared for the Dec 25 MB church life game.

December 16, 2003(Tuesday)

I went to Fondo Comun in the morning. Then after lunch, I need to go to McDonalds to have a meeting with their IT manager because they need to have a firewall installed. The office is quite North American style and the IT manager speaks really good (American accent) English, because he studied English in high school and went to US for college. They have free coke in their cafeteria but nothing else.
I went back to Desca to catch up with some email and then went home for dinner and studying. I called parents, Hansel at night because I have not talked to them for a long time. I talked to Carmen too.

December 15, 2003(Monday)

Morning is quiet and I can do my daily morning routine. However, I was told that I need to go to Fondo Comun immediately in the afternoon. Oh well, I have not really work on the company stuff for a while. So it is a good time. Also, there is not much to be done. I went to church directly and practiced music for the Dec 24 program. Basically we will use the same people (without Mimia) for the Acarigua trip in June 8 and the almost the same songs too because we do not have much time to practice.

December 14, 2003(Sunday)

At 3-4am, there may be a serious car accident and there are several fire fighters car there. It was noisy and I can't sleep. Then I went to Baptist Church to lead song. "The Whole World Sing" (ACM's "Come revive me"), "Emmanuel" (ACM), "Thank you song", "Thanks to God". Probably I had too much to do lately plus I did not have enough sleep, my temper is not good when Mrs. Wong talked to me. I regretted and apologized to her.
I went to MB church to lead the same set of songs that I led this morning. Sunday School was canceled because the attendant was low. This is the end of the year and people are busy with working. I hosted the fellowship afterward. Originally we wanted to dry-run the Dec 25 life game. However, people were not ready so we prepared for the Dec 25 Life game instead.

December 13, 2003(Saturday)

Saturday is my relax and study day. However, unlike last weekend, this is not the "study hell" weekend. I only studied briefly and went to Parque del Este for a run. I went to Baptist Church to practice music and then went to MB church for music practice again. However, there were only three people came. We ended practice early and they treated me (again) to eat Japanese food. This is my first time to eat Japanese food in Venezuela. The price for a meal is about Cdn $4.5 and the taste is ok.

December 12, 2003(Friday)

I love Christmas, because the office is quiet. Probably people are in the holiday mood already. Therefore, I am not doing anything constructive lately. I was supposed to go to McDonald for a work installation but they fixed that themselves. I still went to the McDonald near my office for French fries and also Chocolate ice-cream cone. I went home a bit early. I had dinner with Paco and talked about the church stuff. At night, I also phoned Carmen and talked for 30mins.

December 11, 2003(Thursday)

I asked people to help me return the MBA textbook from postal office to USA yesterday and he told me that there is some problem. Only an "agent" can do it and it may cost a lot of money. I need to ask around in Desca to see anyone else can give me suggestion. Otherwise, today is a quiet day. I went home early, cooked dinner and studied MBA.

December 10, 2003(Wednesday)

Work is relatively quiet but MBA studying is busy. I need to prepare the summary of a marketing case by the end of the night. I was quite stressed lately because the textbook arrived late and this first assignment is due such earlier. I am glad that I finally get over it. I am more relieved now.
I received the card from the postal office saying that the first set of MBA textbook (through normal mail) finally arrived. I was told that this is a pain to get the packet from the postal office because they require this and that plus the line up is long. Che So even suggested that since I do not speak Spanish, I shouldn't even get the package. I talked to a person in work and he suggested me to get the delivery person of Desca to pick it up for me. Since that person has nothing to do anyway and his main job is to run here or there. I felt so good that I can ask him to do it. I told him that I don't want the package (because I have already get the MBA textbook) so please return to the sender (for refund). I hope that it works out.
Since I finished the marketing assignment, I went to prayer meeting. They were talking about some church issues which is quite boring to me. I played around with Mei Yan, the 2.3 yrs old girl of "teacher Mui" for an hour while listening to the adult's boring discussion. I talked to Mimia for an hour afterward about Carmen's trip to Venezuela and my situation in church.

December 9, 2003(Tuesday)

I got some time to talk to my boss Omar to make sure that everything is doing well. I also spent some time working on the MBA stuff. The time zone really causes problem. I am actively on internet during the day time, but the other 4 teammates are busy in the morning so they will only check it at night. Most of the decision therefore will be made during the night time without my involvement. I don't like this but there is nothing else I can do. I am two, three or even four hours ahead of my teammates, plus I don't have internet access at night.
There is an evaluation meeting for the Dec 1, 4 meeting. I skipped it because I want to spend some time studying MBA.

December 8, 2003(Monday)

I went back to work after lunch finding out that there is no one there. They all went to the Christmas luncheon. Since I don't have the key to the office, I went home instead. And then Omar (my boss) asked me to go (I wonder whether this is a compulsory event or not) so I went there. The event started at 2 and I was there at 4 because of all the delay. I am glad that I arrived there late because I always want to avoid this social event. They all speak in Spanish so I was sitting in the corner not knowing what is going on. I wish that time would flies. I am a socialize person sometimes (e.g. with church friends) and not socialize the other time (e.g. with work or with relative sometimes). I have split personality.
We had gift exchange and it was pretty good. People gave me a shirt; I had a gift that I asked Church people to buy for me (a nice toy car) but it was left in Desca, plus the person is not there. So I will give that to him whenever I see him later.
The party is more or less finished at 5:30 and I went back to Desca. Then I had dinner with "Ball Son" and "Chall Ha"; they will get married next month and I gave them a lot of suggestion. Basically, before "Chuen" and Elisa's wedding in August this year, they have never experienced (I can't believe it!) a wedding ceremony in the MB church. Even though the ceremony that I suggested is slightly simplified from the one I had in Canada, it was already complicated and "full" for them.
I went back to church at 9pm for the Dec 24 outreach meeting. This will be the really big meeting; hopefully we can get about 300 new comers to come to this event (and about 100 Christian from two churches). I am responsible for music and I want to make it a high standard. Carmen and I will help out in the game section too; we will use our "gift of tongue" to make the atmosphere to be lively.
I studied for about one hour afterward. There is quite a number of works and I really need to study hard.

December 7, 2003(Sunday)

After Baptist Church, I went home to study again. There was a baptismal ceremony in MB Church and they wanted me to go. However, I need to focus on my studying (people can't blame that I am not devoted to church because I have spent a lot of time in the past week for the church-related stuff) so I turned down. I went for the extra-Sunday jogging too. I did not study as much today because the "urge" and the "guilt" of the textbook-late-arrival are basically used up. Currently I am trying to stay ahead of the game after 14+ hours of studying since I received the textbook in Friday.

December 6, 2003(Saturday)

Today is another day of studying! Whenever I am awake, I tried to study as much as possible. Basically I am more or less catch up to where I should be and I am satisfied with that.
I went to Parque del Este for my weekly jogging then I went to Dr. Chu's house for dinner and told the MB Youth about the Dec 25 Life Game program. Afterward, we went to McDonald to "drink thing" (ate chocolate Sundae). I always went to drink thing with friends in Vancouver but I rarely do it here. We had some fun sharing time.

December 5, 2003(Friday)

Today Ricky and Ellen will leave Venezuela for good. Originally I planned to take the morning off to go to the airport. However, Che So told me that there is no seat in the car so I did not go. Mimia told me this morning that she is going too and can drive me. I turned down because I have already farewell last night.
Finally I got the textbook. There is so many difficult! I called DHL this morning (luckily that someone in the Caracas office speaks English!) and they told me that I have to pay the duty fee of US$44! Also, they will have to wait until Monday before delivering to my office. Since I am "someone with culture" and I am in the office, I tried to lower my voice, but actually I wanted to yell at them! Luckily that I can pay the duty fee in Bs! That works out to about US$26 because of the difference between the official exchange rate and black market exchange rate. This is one of the very few times that the exchange rate works for me (the other time is to buy air ticket. I also save 40% when purchase with local currency)
I went to the bank to take money and took taxi to the DHL building. Most of the time I took metro to the nearest station and then take taxi if that is beyond walking distance. This time I am too stressed out because of the whole textbook thing. I would go crazy if I have to take metro again. I only waste extra Cdn $1.5 for the whole trip.
I spent too much on my textbooks! Financially, I have to pay US $500 more for an extra set plus DHL. Emotionally, I wrote several very mean emails to the bookstore to complain. My life almost fallen apart (just because the textbook arrived one week after the course start!) because I really hate to fall behind in class. (I plan to have a "weekend of hell" for catching up and stay ahead of the game) Spiritually, I cursed so many things in the last few days because of the textbook: the Venezuelan postal system, the bookstore, DHL. This anger is obvious in my diary too. Having this kind of temptation/trial would not upgrade my endurance. My patience is used up so I get mad very easily lately; anything would spark an explosion. Especially an ant crawling on my body would cause me thinking of the wicked way to torture it.
It is almost all over. I need to write several more angry-customer-email to the bookstore asking for the refund period. I am afraid that the first set of textbook arrives several weeks later. In that sense, I hope that I can refund it when I go to the campus next August. I wrote in the email that, I am a MBA student and taking marketing course. "Don't ignore customer" (I will write "customer is always right" next time if they keep on ignoring me)
My urge of studying caused me to study from 10pm - 2:10 am!

December 4, 2003(Thursday)

Work is ok today. I did some configuration for the Desca VPN project and communicate with the Cisco TAC engineer back and forth about this case.
I went to church at night for the revival meeting. At first Chi Kong told me that he has to come late so I thought that we would not have pianist. I seriously thought of playing piano myself and ask someone else to lead. Luckily he came just before the meeting. I led several songs: "Inside Jesus" (ACM), "Action faith hope love" (ACM), "Mas Que Palabras", "Come Revive me" (ACM's "Come revive me"), "Please send me" (ACM's "Come revive me") and "Shout to the Lord"(ACM's "Come revive me").
The meeting is pretty good. Pastora Leung, Elder Chan and Pastor Ng shared about what their previous occupation and how they currently serve God. Moreover, this is the final day that Ricky Lam will be in Venezuela so he had some sharing (with tears) too. I guess that this won't be the last time that I see all these people. Even though we are all from HK and currently a Canadian citizen, we ended up meeting each other in Venezuela. So I am sure that as long as we remain in the Lord, we will see each other some day and somewhere.
I talked to Carmen in the phone and shared with her about a lot of thing. Wonderfully, the long distance telephone works! I had to watch to clock to make sure that the critical time (usually it hangs up automatically after talking for 30s ) before I really know that I can talk to her.

December 3, 2003(Wednesday)

Another easy day today. I checked the Desca VPN configuration and I am grateful that I got the help from the TAC engineer. Also, there is confusion about whether there will be a prayer meeting tonight. Finally, it is determined that there will be no prayer meeting and I went to Che So's house for dinner instead.
I read the marketing book and "the Sound of Music" at night.

December 2, 2003(Tuesday)

I was told that I may have to go to a work trip for a week later for job. Well, after the Dallas experience (which I did not go), I did not hold great faith about this trip, but I must arrange my time nevertheless. Hope that it will be ok. As long as it does not collide with Carmen's visit in Venezuela and the church function, it would be fine.
I went home for dinner and then I studied Marketing for some times. This is the old book (1979) that my co-worker lends me. Before my textbook arrive, this is better than nothing.

December 1, 2003(Monday)

I was going through some rough time lately: MBA textbooks lost, water pump switch broken, laptop keyboard screwed, elevator slow, etc. It may seem like a laugh but all these really add up. I am pissed off and am negative emotionally. I felt that I am like Job (it may, again seems like a laugh to you, but I am serious about it) because all these negative things happen at the same time is not a co-incident. I wonder whether there is any spiritual battle happening behind the scene. (I meant to type all these yesterday; however, I am tired of "cut and paste" the "h" and "g" every time since the laptop keyboard failed)
I wrote several really negative ranting to Carmen to express my anger and uncomfortable. I thank God that she is really patient and nice to me. Being in Venezuela gave me a strong psychological need that I need someone to share and walk the life with me. Carmen's Christmas visit is not "some" of the thing that I am looking for, but "the" only thing that I am looking for now.
Life seems to be turning around today. The house's water pump's switch is replaced; the laptop keyboard is also fixed. The office elevator now only stops in the odd-number floors. Moreover, I have accepted the fact that I need to re-order the MBA textbooks and use DHL to send to me. (However, I sent them several really angry and mean message and try to push them to extend the refund deadline because I am afraid that the "lost" textbook arrive several weeks later and I would have two sets. I am one of the angry customers; they felt sorry for me but they still want me to pay for the whole thing again).
I went to Fondo Comun in the afternoon because the PIX Firewall demo is finished and we need to swap the cable to the old firewall. In theory, this is an easy task and I don't see why they want me to go. However, a computer engineer's life is never meant to be easy. I am glad that there is no obstacle and everything went well.
I went to church at 6:30 and had little food. We had an evangelical meeting and I am the (default) song leader. I led "Wonderful Hand" (ACM's "You are King"), "Seeking" (ACM), "God you are in charge" (ACM), "Seeking" (Stream of Praise [SOP]'s #5), "There is a God" (SOP's #1). The MB church danced the "Beautiful life" (ACM's "Elijah") and IBCC sang the "Life is for what". I have longed to serve with the music talent in both churches; with this team of people, the singspiration is pretty good. This is the best one that I have seen (exclude the Willingdon Church and Fraserlands, but include Canaan, FCGC). I am proud of these people, yet I am quite sad to know that this will be the second last time (this Thursday will be the last time) because I may not be here for a long time.
The speaker is Pastor Harding Ng from Toronto Chinese Community Church. He was a speaker for the VCAC's join-fellowship youth retreat in 1995. He claimed that my face was familiar to him. His preaching was pretty good and has a style of Canadian Chinese interesting preaching. However, he used too many English (the typical Chinese here can barely say the 26 alphabet) and the sermon is a bit long (1.2 hrs). I am ok with that because I share the same background as he is but I am afraid that other people may not know what is going on. He said that our church's standard is good: the worship team (I am the team leader) is good, there is PowerPoint (I made the PowerPoint).... I am proud. Of course, when people told me that the singspiration is good (is my every-other-week singspiration bad?), I gave thanks and glory to God. (At least, I said this and tried to believe it in my heart too).
Another person in this Short Term Ministry Team is Elder Chan Kai Tong. He is one of those people that I really want to be. He is in his 70s and used to have his own business. He is rich and sold some real estate to AFC. (He said that people would treat it more valuable if he sells instead of donate). After his retirement, his wife and he went to different places to build Christian training center. Of course, he donates lots of money to these places too. However, his wife said that she will pray for me to study theology and become a pastor after tonight's outreach. I told her that I am studying MBA and my dream job is to be a professor. I would rather be a tent-maker and serve part-time instead.
The coolest thing of the night is that, I found out Elder Chan knows my grandfather! He was also from the Chinese Christian Church in HK (the one that I was in HK) and he knows people from the "Holy Light Church" (my HK church). When I mentioned my grandfather's name, he immediately says that my grandfather really like to take photo. He also knows the family of Ng and the family of Yeung too! He mentioned several other people from the "Holy Light Church" which is between the generation of my grandfather and my dad. He also told me about the spring/summer/autumn/winter camp in the 1950s. This is a small world. I got to tell my dad about this.