the•truth•shall•set•you•free

ok, enuff ramblings abt the china trip already. anyway, its almost close to a mth since we left for the land of cheap gd deals, and the initial enthusiasm is starting to simmer down, memories are beginning to fade, pple (me included) are beginning to settle back into their small little lives back in s'pore..

anyhow, a couple of anecdotes on how of the Lord demonstrated He was in control thru'out [fr the proposal to the quotations to the phonecalls to china to the agent to the students to the edusave forms to the cost to the air tix to the hiccups to the briefings to the trip to the fun to the smiles to the projs to the..] the trip.. (loosely translated as things you dinno abt the trip)

testimonial (1):
one of our students cldnt make it for the trip due to some personal probs (which i do sincerely hope will be resolved very soon). prior to dat, i had already sent the finalized namelist to the tour agent. thus, i sent another email informing the agent how we had dropped a student, and dat he had to remove a name from the list. however, as it turned out, as murphy's law suggests, wateva can go wrong will go wrong - the tour agent did not check dat email, and submitted the entire list (with the name of the student who's not going). nobody wld have found dat out (which wld result in us paying the full trip fees for a phantom tripper), except for the fact dat another tripper fell out of the trip, and i juz decided to re-check the entire list once again, after deleting the 2nd name, and found, to my utter aghast and gratitude, dat the first name was not even removed at all. i dinno why i wanted to check the namelist again, considering i did not do so the first time round. and if the 2nd person did not fall out, i wldnt have checked the namelist again, and as i mentioned, dat would have been disastrous (read: waste money). so i was really thankful at dat pt in time, knowing for sure the Lord was blessing as i was praying since i started preparing for the trip.

testimonial (2):
2 or 3 or 4 days prior to the departure date, one of my family members did not feel well, and was in a rather bad state, i wld say. i was really worried. i had to keep getting the person to promise to take care of herself while i was away, if not i really wld not be able to go with a peace of mind. i rallied my bro and relatives and friends to take care of and pray for her. during the trip, i called back to ensure dat everything was fine. now dat im back for a while, things seem to be getting betta, and her condition has improved alot. i really thank God for watching over her while i was away, and dat all my worries were unfounded, for everything is in the Lord's hands, and not mine. He fights all my battles, not me.

testimonial (3, 4, 5, ..., n, where n tends to infinity):
[insert thanksgiving itemsss]

there were many other happening things we did in china, including racing thru' the hutongs in rickshaws, visiting the beijing central conservatory of music, leaving a trail of angry but/and happy shopkeepers at happening shopping places like hong qiao/xiu shui/wang fu jin, sneaking to macs in the middle of the night even tho there was a curfew on humans belonging to the sub-category of students, etc etc.. to find out more, pls call 1800 - ask - around or sms 'ask' to 'around'.

of coz, i muz also acknowledge my 3 happening grps dat have made the nightly de-briefing sessions fun and enjoyable.
[overheard fr a fellow tripper] it was indeed a great pleasure and honour to be (part of) this group.

(front, l-r) raziff (ever-so-late and totally hilarious at times), kelvin (our resident photog with many a funny idea for poses), nicholas (covering.. ahem.. my face, an act-tough ah-beng who's really very nice at heart), vionna (quiet but ever-present), jan rick (daredevil when it comes to stunts, on the hair, dat is)

(back, l-r) lenard (super duper funny, totally unlike in sch), lilian (she doesnt eat fruits or something.. i cant remember), daphne (she has many, and i mean many, siblings), kaiping (prudent and thrifty - shopkeepers find it real hard to earn her money), huiling (tai tai in the making - with the handbag wherever she goes and those birks), daniel (top-shopper-cum-roommate), joanne (the mei-nv whom the uncle refuses to sell things to), jen an (too skinny, too skinny)

and of coz, with such gd students comes a sweet and happy ending..

thank you, Lord.

thank you, Guyz.