Emerald City's firework display

New Year Eve in Sydney

Christmas service at WS

with Youth Fellowship lunch afterwards

Thank God i could manage to wake up at 6.30 am this morning even though i got home pretty late last night after the midnight nativity eucharist. Took 7.50 am train from Central Station and arrived at WS church by 8.25 am.

The choir sang four songs in two services, 8.45 am Canto and 10.30 Mandarin. There were quite a few new faces in the choir for this Christmas presentation. A lot of things have been happening in the past six months - resignation of choir leader (a role which is separated from conductor), pianist and several members due to physical disabilities for some and other commitments around church for other.

On Christmas day, we sang 1. The Word Became Flesh - 2. Canticle of Joy - 3. Christmas Prayer - 4. Merry Christmas to you.

We truly thank God for He has provided us with a new pianist. Sam is a young man who plays piano very well. He has just finished his year-12 HSC and been willing to commit his spare time for the choir to prepare this year's Christmas presentation.

New members with willingness to serve the Lord have been diligently prayed and carefully selected by Aunt L-W. More rehearsal sessions were required but it worthed doing for it has been a privilege given by God to train and prepare some of these people for better ministries in choir. During this period, I witnessed how God has worked amazingly and answered prayers in ways we never thought about. Wow..

There was lunch at church after the 10.30 service organised by the Mandarin's Youth Fellowship. I thank God when i saw quite a number of Mandarin-speaking Christian youths gathering together. Mandarin-speaking youths at WS have been rare for quite some time. The fellowship was very good, everyone had a good laugh and this was the chance to know each other better.

Jesus' birthday

Midnight Eucharist of the Nativity - Dec 24 11.30pm

There was an 11.30 pm (yes, pm!) eucharist at St James celebrating the first hour of the birth of our Lord Jesus. Arrived at the 23.oo hour and the church has already been 80% full. The church was fully packed (including the balcony) by the time it started.

The service was divine. The music was very inspiring and the surrounding was just like a normal 11am Sunday choral eucharist but with more people attending. A brief moment of darkness filled the room as the light went off (on purpose) for several minutes. Soft glow from candles swept away the darkness of the room with a sense of hope and calmness.

The light was gradually restored as the service began with a hymn "O Come All Ye Faithful". More hymns were sung during the night and WILLS Missa Eliensis (1959) was chosen as the setting for the eucharist. Apart from the Greek Kyrie, the rest was sung in English text.

The service finish around 1.15am and i walked to town hall for buses.

more reunion

Dinner at Kelly's - Bondi Junction

There were thirteen people present at the gathering. Apart from Ivon, Lisa, Toto and me, the rest were Toto's friends. Aboy, Ruko and Han were supposed to be there too - but last minute cancellation was unavoided.

There were 8 of Medan's origin and the rest were from other parts of Indo. It was good to meet new friends while "reunion"-ing with old friends.

Five of Medan's origin:
[upper row]: danko, Toto;
[lower row]: Liz, Ivon, Vero-("dah")-nika(h)


Guys in action with Ivon as the artistic photographer


Group photo of those who attended the dinner

Farewell moment - calling it a day

a walk to beach

Bondi Beach - Sydney

Liz and Ivon took some time wandering the sandy beach of Bondi in the afternoon. The scenery was magnificent. The sea breeze calmed one's mind. We dropped by at Hurricane later to meet Ivon's primary school's friend - Feli - before heading to Bondi Junction for one last dinner of Ivon's visit in Sydney.


danko and Ivon - Bondi beach


Liz - Ivon - Feli

Reunion of Medan-lang

M-3 Junior High and M-2 Senior High reunion

Thumbs up for the reunion. Really enjoy it. 10 people made it to the reunion which took place at Fujiya restaurant - cnr Gouldburn n' George st, Sydney.

The food was alright but the gathering was fantastic.

a walk to town

The Rocks - Sydney

We - Ivon, her two nephews and me - started the day with lunch at Centrepoint followed by a scenic walk from David Jones (Hyde Park) passing through Elizabeth Street, Martin Place and George Street all the way to Circular Quay on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.

Made a stop at MCA and had a bite at the newly-reopened-after-closed-for-renovation "Pancakes on the Rocks". We recalled lots of memories we had during high school times.

Ivon's arrival

meeting a good ol' friend from melbourne

She arrived today at 14.27 pm - about an hour delay from the scheduled arrival time - with flight DJ841 from Melbourne to Sydney. I have not seen her for five years and she has not changed much. It is good, i believe, to meet up and have reunion with friends from junior high and senior high once in a while.

I have known her for so long. She is a very dedicated and faithful servant in God's ministry. She plays piano very well too. We were classmates for six years until we graduated from senior high and followed different paths of life. Three years in junior high and three in senior high have been a very memorable time that i treasure closely to my heart.

We had a brief chat before she was picked up from the airport by her cousin. I thank God that she still involves herself in God's ministry at a church as she continues her study in Melbourne.

She is thinking of a reunion tomorrow with several friends who has been living in Sydney. Really looking forward to it.

Confirmed: April 07

My Graduation Ceremony
I am starting missing uni now.

Witnessing God's grace

Status: Awarded Graduand

My heart overflows with utmost thanksgiving to God for He has graciously allowed me to graduate from the university. Lyric of a song "My Tribute" by Andrea Crouch makes my eyes teary as i ponder at God's blessing upon me.

How can I say thanks
for the things You have done for me?
Things so undeserved
yet You give to prove Your love for me
The voices of a million angels
could not express my gratitude
All that I am and ever hope to be
I owe it all to [You] ...

I thank God for all the strength and grace given to me so that i can finish my tertiary study satisfactorily. The last semester was the toughest compared to the earlier few years of my university life. It was tough in the sense of huge loads of assessments varying from assignments, projects, lab works, lab reports, seminars, lab practical exams to final examination papers at the end of the semester.

Well, i met couple of new friends from Chemical Engineering background as we were in the same electives. They are very very nice people. I value the days we spent together studying, discussing and preparing seminars. This opportunity enabled me to learn more about other people's personalities and way-of-thinking which i might not encounter before.

Christmas 2006

It's K-Rudd and J-Gill

Newly elected Labour Party leader and deputy leader

Well, politics was not really my cup of tea until recent exposure to news coverage in leadership campaign of political party has caught my attention.

The battle was between current Federal Opposition leader (of ALP - Australian Labour Party) - Kim Beazley with appointed shadow minister for foreign affair and trade (another Labour MP) - Kevin Rudd. Rudd was elected leader by a margin of 49 votes to 39 over Beazley.

Rudd has his fellow Labor MP Julia Gillard as deputy leader. This result ended Beazley's long-held dream to lead the country as Prime Minister.

Kevin Rudd - father of three, one-time diplomat, unapologetic Christian, son of a dairy worker, intellectual, Mandarin speaker, former chief administrator of Queensland, husband of an entrepreneur - was appraised by Beazley (in his final press conference as labour leader) as a very able and intelligent man with very wide base of knowledge and absolute determination to do the right thing for the Australian people who will take labour party to victory at the next election.

Rudd and Gillard are suggesting a fresh style of leadership and a new policy agenda to create a more effective delivery of services like health and education.

Source: smh.com.au - news.com.au - wiki on Kevin Rudd - kevinrudd.com