i'm back from shanghai! and it was a fruitful trip for the community there, i believe, as well as for me.

so we arrived in shanghai and met up with our chinese partners who'd be serving with us in the community. then we had training for the first few days so that we can apply what we learnt to the community people we'll be serving.

then the remaining days were service in the community. the entire team was split into 25 groups which went out seperately to serve the elderly, children, families, raised health and environmental awareness and we also had a magic show for the community.

we could see that the communities were very blessed by our activities, service and love. and from my short interaction with them, i could also see how hungry the people are. hungry not in terms of physical hunger, at least not in that part of china, but hungry emotionally. and hunger can be very dangerous... it's the robber of hope... and without hope, there's no life.

just an observation abt chinese in general all around the world: we're not exactly a very affirming lot of people. we tend to compare and criticise. though some times comments passed may be true, we fail to praise those who've got it right or done it excellently.

i think my biggest take away was when i was interacting with my chinese team mates. you could really see the power of praise on them. no, they're not my experiments, but i was shocked because praise is something most singaporeans take for granted or sometimes even refuse to accept because they hear it so much.

and through my interaction with my chinese team mates, i also saw their heart for the nation.. they are compassionate. and i repent of how i sterotyped them. and after my interaction with them, do i also feel a compassion for the people of china.

i have to confess that i went for this trip with quite an unwilling heart. i wasn't even sure why i signed up for it. i was unwilling because i didn't have a heart for the chinese people. but when i left, i feel so bad for not feeling the way God probably feel for His people. He loves them.

now i'm all fired up to go back next yr to serve the 3rd yr commitment for this qqs project and meet my chinese team mates again, to work together with them to restore hope for the people.

a phrase that i hold close to my heart and has been on my mind before i left for the trip was "where there is hope, there is life." yes i know i got it the wrong way round. but i feel that this way round makes more sense than the other way around.

before i went for this trip, i also did question... what's the point of going to shanghai... and what's the point of going at all since the interaction and service is only for a week.

now, i got my answer to the first part of the question... as for the second part, i was answered by a friend on the trip. she shared with me from jeremiah 29, which records how God always asked the isrealites to prosper the land that their in, though at that time they were in captivity.

it talks abt leaving a permanent mark in a place where we are in temporarily. and i think that really speaks abt how we should be growing deep. we shouldn't grow deep only in a place where we know we'd be there permanently but also grow deep wherever we're placed. and we have the ability to do that. it becomes, really, a matter of choice.

and i could see how our temporary presence in china, leaving a permanent mark on the people. maybe not as significantly to the people we serviced but more on our chinese team mates. i could see how touched they were to see people from other parts of the world sharing the same heart as them, desiring to serve their people and willing to work with them and learn with them.

this lesson for me also translate much into real life. sometimes, maybe in our career, we feel that it is just a transitional phase to somewhere else. and because we intend the place we're in to be temporary, we work with that attitude... with that attitude, we won't strive, we won't do our best and we won't bother to build relationships.

sometimes i feel that where i am right at work is just temporary. i might go somewhere else, i might not. hence, i've been feeling sian for the longest time. i feel that there's nothing to strive for, no one to build into and that this is just a place for me to chalk up experience. how selfish can i get.

i guess the reason why people don't sow deeply on temporal ground is because they don't wanna go through the pain of letting it go and go through the mental debate that all we've done is probably going to be wasted. but hey, when we entrust the work to the Lord, we know that it is not in vain... the world doesn't rest on our shoulders anyway. we're just called by God to be where God wants us to be at that time and fulfil His purpose while taking delight in His pleasure with our work. if we can think like that, nothing is really temporary. i guess that's what the bible mean by developing fruit that will last.

looking at temporality and permanence, really, the only thing permanent is eternity. our life is just temporary. does that mean that we don't sow at all? how sad would that be? we'd all be missing the point... and at the end, there's nothing to enjoy.

well, all in all, this trip has changed my heart. changed my heart towards a people God loves and changed my attitude towards situations that seem temporary.

God is really good. and he also answered one of my prayers... to build lasting relationships with the chinese team mates. so far.. i think keeping in touch has been going well with a few of my chinese friends since i came back...

it's like God reminding me again: go deep. look far. ask big.

ok, i don't write really well... and i'm feeling very tired... so i hope you get my point.. haha.

{ Friday, July 27 }