Well, we've travelled the world and back and like I said a week ago to everyone who could hear, I am happy to be back home! :) London was great fun, but there's nothing like home and Heart of God Church...
I know I owe people updates on what's happened over the last few weeks, so I think it's time to start blogging. :) (Yes, Aggie, I am referring to you hahaha) Forgive me for the lack of pictures, which I will try to get up soon,
but since I have a bit of time, let me ramble a bit about everything. :)
Let's start with last week -- which was totally awesome! Nick Vujicic came on Tuesday and Wednesday and everything completely blew our minds away! Firstly, Nick is like in himself a miracle - as Pastor How puts it, he's turned a life without limbs into a life without limits!
The 2 nights were fully packed with 1700 people on the first night and about 1550 on the second! We've never had so many people come in and out of our doors! But I'd just like to say Heart of God Church is just awesome! :) In fact, everyone was so awesome the people were raving about our ushers and how great the whole set-up was! :) This was despite an early morning prayer meeting everyday with the CHC people at our premises! You guys rock! :)
In fact, after Tuesday night, ushering 1,000 people early in the morning in and out of the hall was absolute chicken feet. To imagine, just a year ago we were stressing about combined service for 600 - 800 people. Haha! With our existing 3 services, we actually have the operational capacity for 3,000 people, no sweat! :) That's totally amazing! :) Way to go guys! :)
If you count the 3 service with Pastor Kong over the last 3 days, we've had a total of 10 services in 1 week! It also means that we've had over 10,000 people move in and out of our premises! Come to think about it, we've done more in one week than some people I know do in a year... life sure is productive in God... especially if you're from Heart of God Church :)
Okay, moving on... backwards... to London... haha... :) Time flew by so fast while we were there and it was quite amazing to see how the story of Heart of God Church once again touched hearts in Europe. Pastor How preached powerfully at a leaders' session where not a dry eye was found in a room full of Ang-Mos... Pastor shared about the Journey of a Dream and I found myself with my eyes welling up in tears too as I thought of how far God has brought us and all the scars we have that will cause the world to understand why we are radical for God... The main session was no different - the anointing was so strong, you could feel a difference in the atmosphere...
Europe is hungry... and out of this trip is birthed forth our very first HoGC London CG! *cheers* * claps* :) If anyone wants to go overseas to study, I recommend London! haha :) Of course, Singapore is still the best :)
I have got to get some pictures up here soon -- aside from the conference, we went around London and went to John Wesley's (the founder of the Methodist movement) house, the Tower of London, Hamleys (London's largest toy shop with 7 floors!!), among other things. We also discovered the joy of Primark where everything was ridiculously cheap haha :P. As for food, we had the trusty healthy cafe called EAT -- the pork, stuffing and apple hot wrap was delicious!
We realized 2 things about London's food (1) Londoners don't quite find sitting down a necessity and (2) Good Chinese is hard to find haha :) So, we were very happy to find the famous roast duck at the Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant at the Bayswater... otherwise you would have lost a couple of Singaporeans hahaha :)
On a different note, we also had a chance to watch "We Will Rock You" the musical LIVE at the Dominion Theater! The musical was great in general but being an Ops person, I couldn't help but notice the awesome effects (with 8 movable LED Screens) and the crystal clear sound and the whole aesthetic of it. I also couldn't help but think that one day we'll be able to incorporate such excellent world-class standards for the glory of God in His church. After all, that's where the best of the best is supposed to to be, the house of God... One day... soon... :)
On Sunday, we returned to the Dominion theater but this time at 10:30AM for the Hillsong London service. The glitz and the lights and the glamour strangely familiar, I couldn't help but think to the service in Singapore that had just finished (London is 8 hours behind so our 5PM service finished at 9AM London time) and wishing I was there back home soaking in the great atmosphere on the great service that just happened. Truly, nothing is like Heart of God Church, and I think once you've been away you really, really, REALLY feel what you miss...
Well, last but not least, before we headed home to sunny Singapore (London was freezing and temperatures went as low as -2, colder than most Autumns) we made one final fantastic stop... a couple of us had the privilege of watching an Arsenal vs. Tottenham Spurs game LIVE at the Emirates Stadium! :)
That night I officially became a soccer fan! haha :o) I even bought myself a shirt for Strike It! this coming weekend! :) I finally understood why people watched soccer! :) It was madness! The weather was freezing (and I had to sit on my hands to keep them warm) but everyone was screaming! And we were sitting right above the Tottenham fans, so when we were about to leave the guards even had to tell us to keep all our Arsenal stuff to make sure we don't get into a fight! Haha! :) Madness! But it was tons of fun! :) I soaked in the atmosphere and tuning out the swearing thought that it would be great to one day have a stadium of our own filled with 60,000 people as energetic and passionate praising God...
I was cheering for Arsenal and was considering to support them but I want to be clear that I do not consider my team because I can't believe they got so complacent and allowed the Spurs to catch up from a 4-2 lead!!! :(
So that's what's been happening over the last few weeks! It's been exciting and fun, tiring and stressful, but at the end of the day all worth it :) I just love being a part of Heart of God Church, I love God, I love my Pastors and I love my life. :)