Over the weekend, we became volunteer ushers for a MAJOR church event...
It was 潘秀琼 concert!!!
Earlier in the morning she was at my church sharing the love of Christ with the Chinese congregation. But I bet many people were there to hear her sing too ;)
Sayang she only chose to sing 2 worship songs. ONLY TWO!!! But it was such AWESOME singing with such beautiful voice. We were so blessed!
Every one in the Chinese congregation was literally mesmerized by her incredible voice. AWESOME VOICE! The whole church was FROZEN solid during the performance...fully savouring every single note...
Except may be some kids...hmmm...
The concerts were held in the afternoon & evening. But I managed to attend the afternoon session only. Too tired to go for the evening session.
Of the many testimonies she shared, one of the most touching sharing had to do with 邓丽君!!! Once they see each other almost daily. And yet, 潘秀琼 missed the chance to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with 邓丽君, much to her regret now. In remembrance, she sang in tears: 月亮代表我的心... very very touching...
Folks, salvation of our souls is THE most important thing in life. NOTHING is MORE important than that. NOTHING!!!
Personally, I received this message into my spirit during the morning worship: 为主而活!
Day 3 - We visited our beloved pastors only. This is also the first time we visited our Senior Pastor.
Day 4 - After church we have lunch at Chin's brother's house. They specially brought/bought back a "Sarikei-BBQ-Pig" yesterday all the way from Sarikei.
(Picture taken by Chin's brother.) Was told the pig was prepared in a very traditional way as seen above.
(Picture taken by Chin's brother.) It was delicious!
Praise God for the rain this morning. Holiday + Rain + Morning = AWESOME TIME FOR SLEEPING! I was so refreshed that I even managed to prepare breakfast for my family. Hallelujah!
Was supposed to do some family portrait shooting this morning...but was delayed cuz of rain. It wasn't until afternoon that we managed to arrive at Chin's house. Was pleasantly surprised that Pastor Cheng & his family were there too.
So it was my pleasure to take this family portrait for my beloved pastor.
Talking about taking family portraits...it isn't exactly as easy as one might think. First and foremost, u must learn how to CONTROL the subjects. Some can be quite difficult to cooperate...
Then u gotta learn how to POSE ur subjects. Most people are not born with "posing talent".
Beside the "people issues", u must consider the SETTING too - backdrop, prop, weather, lighting, angle, exposure...etc etc. For instance this overexposed photo was taken in light rain thus making the background a bit distracting. But of course some people might like it.
Next, nowadays, one must have some post-processing tools. DIGITAL EDITING becomes almost compulsory for most situations. It could be just a simple cropping or color adjustment...OR it could be something "more than meets the eyes" as above... ;) Can u spot it?
Once u have all that basic stuff done right, u should be able to get some decent photos. Don't be afraid to experiment and have fun.
U will have photos that u will enjoy and cherish for a long time to come.
Though mankind do not yet posses the technology to do time travel, but at least we are able to capture a moment in time in a 2-dimensional way that we could all appreciate and share with loved ones. Memories encapsulated in a digital file that is both timeless and priceless. Cool, eh?
So folks, take ur time, be patient and take full opportunities of this festive season to take AS MANY shots as u can. All the hard work & sweats are WORTH it!!! So learn to enjoy every moment.
After the photo session, we decided to visit Frank & Belinda. It was so refreshing (and healthy) to be served with tea instead of soda. Glad to see the kids enjoying the tea too.
And we have group photo of course.
Next stop, Johnny & Edel's house.
We learned that Johnny & Bebhinn were a bit sick (must be too much soda).
So we helped ourselves to the food & everything...
Until Johnny quickly woke up and did the smartest thing by fulfilling what the kids were there for in the first place ;) Just KIDDING!
Next stop - refilling station. Since this IS CNY, that means the WHOLE city is SHUT down. So the choice for outside food usually boils down to either fast-food or non-chinese food.
My choice was this delicious lamb nasi bryani. Surprisingly good!
Last family group photo for the day - at my house. It is always great that we could come together to fellowship and share the things of God.
Praise the LORD for this wonderful day. And as usual, it is especially true during such joyous season and time that our hearts go out to those friends & relatives of ours who have yet to come to know the Lord Jesus. It is our prayer that all our family members will be saved... that one day we will all be able to enjoy fellowship in the Kingdom of God for all eternity.
As such I would like to share this video on salvation of our souls:
From the road, it is obvious the action was quite intense last night. When dad was around, he was really into this sort of thing. Somehow I never get to "inherit" this fondness for firecrackers. Funny, huh?
Ping & Evelyn went to Blessed Church early morning with mom. So myself & the kids only get to join them much later at Evelyn's house. It has been a looooong time since I last woke up at 9am!
As planned, right after church, mom, David & Philip were driving back to Sibu. It would have been a 5 to 6 hrs drive. But their car got into some mechanical problem shortly after. In the end the trip was cancelled. Praise the LORD for keeping the car safe all the way back to Kuching.
While mom & the gang were heading to Sibu, we were enjoying a fantastic lunch at Chin's mom's house. Chin's mom is a Super Woman. She is truly a Proverb 31 woman - she can cook, she is a business lady, she takes care of home, she takes care of grandkids, and she LOVES Jesus. But I enjoy her cooking most ;P
One thing I enjoy very much during CNY is taking family photos. I remember it was almost like a tradition back in the days in Sibu whereby every CNY I would take family portraits for many relatives & my dad's friends. I sure miss them and I hope some of them miss me too ;)
For the kids, the "tradition" they enjoy most is getting LOTS & LOTS of AngPow of course.
Well, today we didn't have time to take much family portraits yet... Hopefully tomorrow we will have the time.
Anna invited us for dinner tonight. And since mom & David didn't make it to Sibu, Anna invited them too. It has been a long time since all of us are together.
After dinner, I showed them the latest photos of cousin Teresa (from Facebook) in NYC. We almost wanted to call uncle Pete...
