Finally, the House of God!
Safely in Redding! So much to thank God for...
1) SOOO many people sent us off! I really didn't expect it! I was really humbled. At the same time, I felt it was God's promise and a herald of the great things that are to come to Singapore. There were people from church, Crusade, medicine... so most denominations were represented, with church & para-church people, marketplace & clergy, disciples, friends/peers and mentors. I was overwhelmed by both the people and by God. Here's thanking all of you my friends! Thanks for the catch-ups & phone calls before I left! Thanks for coming down to see me off, especially those who were very busy, live in Bt Batok or very SICK (pastor felt very unwell but still came down!). Thanks for the gifts, the hugs, the smiles, the prayers! I was REALLY very touched!
2) My parents nearly couldn't get on the flight to Redding, because it was overbooked and the travel agent in Singapore somehow didn't confirm their seats! But thank God they got on.
3) The hand-carry in which I put my laptop fell off the cab (the boot wasn't closed properly) while it was moving, but thank God it still works fine! And thank God it fell off before we hit the freeway! So the driver could secure it.
Other miscellaneous thanksgiving: we saw a rainbow! Although it was very faint. The 10-hour tour in Japan was really great... got to see many things at Narita City. Immigration/customs went smoothly, none of our baggage was lost. We managed to shop on the first day and settle in well.
So I'm finally in Redding. On Sunday, we went to Bethel Church... finally in the House of God (Beth = house; El = God; Bethel = House of God). Enjoying every bit of it... the weather, the campus, the food, the church, the student binder, the topics we'll be studying, etc... especially the people! They rave about what God's done at a simple lounge conversation. People mugging the Bible & Christian books together in the student lounge. Lunch conversations are all about what God's been doing etc... it's really cool... I've been dreaming of such a culture for some time. They're so hungry for the move of God.
More about where I stay... I live in the dorm of a Christian university. It's really cool to be on a campus with banners flying around with the school motto "Focus on Christ". Of the people in the same hall, 50 or so are also Bethel students and 2 are studying in some seminary nearby. They've been really nice, offering rides, helping us with our luggage, etc. Last night I put clothes into the wash and forgot to get it when it was done. Another student helped me put it into the drier and paid for it. 3 meals are provided everyday... really good quality food and great variety with many healthy options. Nice cool weather, cute birds (look like swallows, but not sure), maple trees and willows... maple leaves just starting to fall, but mostly still green. Can't wait for them to turn red! The admin is really friendly and has 2 really cute daughters who keep tagging along with her (2 & 4 years old I think). And I like my room! Evan & I have our own sink, and we share our toilet with the adjoining room, so it's 4 people to a toilet, which is a really good arrangement compared to my hall in London where the toilet was down the corridor!
More about Bethel Church... it's on a hill. The road up the hill is called "Avenue of the Nations" and they've got flags of all the different nations. There's a prayer house outside the church and a little forest trail with national flags scattered along it for prayer / quiet time. One lady just approached us after the service asking us if she could "shoot some Holy Spirit" to us (ie pray for us) and as she prayed, I felt God telling me to "just rest" and not strive in expectation to receive from Him. After she prayed, she seemed to pick up that Evan & I were at peace and remarked so.
About registration for school... we've got a really nice name tag with a barcode (for us to scan in attendance... they record our absences and tardies and are very strict on it!)... they gave us a binder with all the notes inside, nice printed cover page with our names, dividers, etc... and also took profile pics of us. All in all, the admin & online school network are great... better than most institutions I've been to. The most impressive, however, was meeting up with our revival group pastor & helpers. (At BSSM, we have revival groups of 60-70 people and small groups of 3-5 people.) The revival group pastor & helpers prayed over us before we came and as they looked at our faces, they wrote on a card the prophetic words that came to their minds as they looked at our application picture. I got my card yesterday. The words were: joy, leaves, necklace, new song. So we'll see what happens this year!
That's all for now, before I bore people. Trying to keep updates short & frequent so people can follow easily. There's much else I wanna blog share with you, but this one's not short anymore! Pictures on facebook.
1) SOOO many people sent us off! I really didn't expect it! I was really humbled. At the same time, I felt it was God's promise and a herald of the great things that are to come to Singapore. There were people from church, Crusade, medicine... so most denominations were represented, with church & para-church people, marketplace & clergy, disciples, friends/peers and mentors. I was overwhelmed by both the people and by God. Here's thanking all of you my friends! Thanks for the catch-ups & phone calls before I left! Thanks for coming down to see me off, especially those who were very busy, live in Bt Batok or very SICK (pastor felt very unwell but still came down!). Thanks for the gifts, the hugs, the smiles, the prayers! I was REALLY very touched!
2) My parents nearly couldn't get on the flight to Redding, because it was overbooked and the travel agent in Singapore somehow didn't confirm their seats! But thank God they got on.
3) The hand-carry in which I put my laptop fell off the cab (the boot wasn't closed properly) while it was moving, but thank God it still works fine! And thank God it fell off before we hit the freeway! So the driver could secure it.
Other miscellaneous thanksgiving: we saw a rainbow! Although it was very faint. The 10-hour tour in Japan was really great... got to see many things at Narita City. Immigration/customs went smoothly, none of our baggage was lost. We managed to shop on the first day and settle in well.
So I'm finally in Redding. On Sunday, we went to Bethel Church... finally in the House of God (Beth = house; El = God; Bethel = House of God). Enjoying every bit of it... the weather, the campus, the food, the church, the student binder, the topics we'll be studying, etc... especially the people! They rave about what God's done at a simple lounge conversation. People mugging the Bible & Christian books together in the student lounge. Lunch conversations are all about what God's been doing etc... it's really cool... I've been dreaming of such a culture for some time. They're so hungry for the move of God.
More about where I stay... I live in the dorm of a Christian university. It's really cool to be on a campus with banners flying around with the school motto "Focus on Christ". Of the people in the same hall, 50 or so are also Bethel students and 2 are studying in some seminary nearby. They've been really nice, offering rides, helping us with our luggage, etc. Last night I put clothes into the wash and forgot to get it when it was done. Another student helped me put it into the drier and paid for it. 3 meals are provided everyday... really good quality food and great variety with many healthy options. Nice cool weather, cute birds (look like swallows, but not sure), maple trees and willows... maple leaves just starting to fall, but mostly still green. Can't wait for them to turn red! The admin is really friendly and has 2 really cute daughters who keep tagging along with her (2 & 4 years old I think). And I like my room! Evan & I have our own sink, and we share our toilet with the adjoining room, so it's 4 people to a toilet, which is a really good arrangement compared to my hall in London where the toilet was down the corridor!
More about Bethel Church... it's on a hill. The road up the hill is called "Avenue of the Nations" and they've got flags of all the different nations. There's a prayer house outside the church and a little forest trail with national flags scattered along it for prayer / quiet time. One lady just approached us after the service asking us if she could "shoot some Holy Spirit" to us (ie pray for us) and as she prayed, I felt God telling me to "just rest" and not strive in expectation to receive from Him. After she prayed, she seemed to pick up that Evan & I were at peace and remarked so.
About registration for school... we've got a really nice name tag with a barcode (for us to scan in attendance... they record our absences and tardies and are very strict on it!)... they gave us a binder with all the notes inside, nice printed cover page with our names, dividers, etc... and also took profile pics of us. All in all, the admin & online school network are great... better than most institutions I've been to. The most impressive, however, was meeting up with our revival group pastor & helpers. (At BSSM, we have revival groups of 60-70 people and small groups of 3-5 people.) The revival group pastor & helpers prayed over us before we came and as they looked at our faces, they wrote on a card the prophetic words that came to their minds as they looked at our application picture. I got my card yesterday. The words were: joy, leaves, necklace, new song. So we'll see what happens this year!
That's all for now, before I bore people. Trying to keep updates short & frequent so people can follow easily. There's much else I wanna blog share with you, but this one's not short anymore! Pictures on facebook.
posted by herzfeuer at 5:05 AM
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