Dollar Store Swap ~ Wrapped

Dollar Store Swap ~ Wrapped, originally uploaded by The Felt Mouse.

Wow! I like this photo!!! So pretty!!!

Hello Kitty Cafe Taipei Taiwan Interior

Hello Kitty Cafe Taipei Taiwan Interior, originally uploaded by supercamel.

Oh man!!! Found this while we were browsing for interior designs for our shop!!!! : ) i wanna go!!!

Jewel

Updates to My First China Expedition

It was an amazing trip, escaped from Typhoon and an earthquake. Realised how much home is
the best. Still had some fun with ong though! Haha! These are some of the food we had!

26th June: Dinner @ Quanzhou

This was at the restaurant one of the factories brought us to, great food! ! Quanzhou


27th June: Lunch @ Xiamen

Forgot the name of this place, but its right beside our Xiamen hotel, we ate here before we left for the airport to travel to Yiwu, and its delicious! The mango ice was so huge, we couldnt finish it! Think that Jerome would love to finish it, but too bad he was not around!





My steak looks good right!!


Ong's cutlet rice! She couldnt even finish half! It was really a lot of food!


After lunch, we went ahead to walk around and saw this lady haha! carrying her baby so funny, China style!
28th June: Yiwu in a Taxi!

Thought its really amusing why they need to enclose themselves in a plastic cover??



The huge Futian Market




30th June: Dinner @ Yiwu

We have had several days of breakfast @ Yiwu that was sub-standard, so every other day at Yiwu we ate KFC, until we got really sick and tired of it, we are cup noodles. This town does not seem to have any night supper places, well not that we know of. Until one of the folks there brought us to this Szechuan Mala place! Whoo.. now thinking of it, i am getting hungry.. This diced chicken was hot as in really nice! We already told the kitchen to not use the original "spicy" method, to lessen it a lot for us.. But still we had to drink lots of water.. SPICY!!!

Like a bowl of chili soup, this is fish inside.. Not that fantastic, too many bones!
The nice folks Eric & Rachel! Who brought us here and ate with us despite them not taking spicy food.. burnt their stomaches that day!

2nd July: At Guangzhou Airport

One of the worst carrying experiences ever.. Took a bus here to the Railway station to get to Hong Kong... The bus stopped us a distance away, normally a five mins walk to the station, but becos of our really heavy luggage, we really had lots of trouble.. Sigh..

Thought this was really broken english for an international airport.. haha!

Finally we reached the train station and could get some dinner. This place is really nice! A fast food chinese place! Its called some Kung Fu thingy, but really good food so far as compared to when we were at Yiwu! My fav soup and cabbages were all here!!!


Finally.... on the train to Hong Kong, you cannot imagine how happy we were to leave the sub-urbans and enter into a city.. We really were so looking forward to this!!!

The thoughts of things

Just ended my conversation with Mr Ong and Sean & Nicole. I think that I have the talent. But i am not a talent plus. Looked around and thought that I have been only occasionally flapping my wings. And I have not placed my due diligence in working hard to train my wings to fly, to survive a longer period. I have assumed that my talents in singing, in character, in marketing, in human relations, in my physical self, in my spirituality is already much better than most people, so i, like the hare; took a rest. And got overtaken.

But well the good thing about this race, is that it has not ended yet. Becos of whatever gifts God has given me, I can still use it now, wake up my wings, my desires, my hard work and start flapping my wings. And once I get the hang of things, i can soar like an eagle, gliding in the air.

Its getting scarier by the minute, when finances overwhelm you. It brings me to the point of worrying, that every spare moment after my laughter dies down, i will be worried. I will put my trust in the Lord. Father, help me not to be worried.

Please bless Jerome, for he really has the heart of gold. He helps without expectations, never once seen him really count whatever he has given out.. Friends, Family, Me, Church..

That Lord, you will help him to seek his passion.

Amen.

Love,
Jewel

Updates to our travel!

On our 1st night, we ate a really cheap meal! RMB20 for 6 small dumplings like those i Din Tai Fung, Dan zai Mian, Fruits Dessert, Soya Bean Milk, and Tou Sa Bao!!! Haha! And its nice!

How to walk on the inside out with Pastor Sally

1. Discover your spiritual purpose in everyday circumstances.

Philippians 1:12-13 Advancing God's kingdom eventhough we are in the dire circumstances.

2. Develop your own Personal Conviction.

1 Peter 1: 6-7 We all have tough times. We need to develop a personal conviction. When the word of God convicts us, it must stay irregardless of the situation we are in. Tough times makes us stronger.

All of us have different tolerance levels.

1 Peter

Romans 2:5. God is developing something in me, when we are going through tough times. There is a reason.

3. Ditch the past and Walk in Victory

Do not let the past haunt you. Do not say its me, thats the way i am, thats the way i talk.


4. Decide to say No. 1 cor 6:12

E.g Buffet, we always say we are full, but when we see more food, we always cannot say no.

We do not say No to God.

Philippans 4:12-135

5. Determined to be dependent on Jesus for everything.

Determination and dependence is 2 different things. Determined to be dependent on Jesus for everything.

The world system is do it, just do it, everything can be done. God's grace is sufficient for us.

Apart from God, we can do nothing. That is how much God wants us to know that we are dependent on Him.

Young people always think that they have a lot of time, so they procrastinate. What we need to finish, we finish it today.

God is watching us.

Amen.

First Day in Xiamen, China

This is our very first day in Xiamen, does not feel like China at all, perhaps all the China places that I had been to was the scenic and tourist places, this feels really backward and not interesting. Being the photo person like me, i didnt take more than 5 photos today. Amazing.

Well, its 8pm and we are back in the hotel room, nothing much to do as we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and we need to re-org.

Went to try the foodcourt today and it tasted really bad.. Though it looked good.



In the end we had to resort to eating Mcdonalds.. Haha!




The traffic is quite scary, nearly got banged by a bus on our extreme right and it was right at my face.. when the brakes screeched to a stop.. phew..



Got "cut queues" by so many Chinese people that I decided no more nice lady here. Funny end to our first day, should go see this "Gulangyu" place that everyone is telling us about. Perhaps on the 27th when we have nothing much to do..

And a testimonial, one of the manufacturers told us that there will be typhoon and storms in Xiamen and Quanzhou where we are heading, and he told us to be careful! So we got Pastor Sally to pray for us, and when we were in the cab, the cabby driver told us that it was good, the storm made a turn and headed towards Shenzhen instead of here. God is good.. May He bless the rest of the journey! Amen!

Love,
Jewel in China, Xiamen Hua Xia Hotel!

Sunday with Pastor Irene

Romans 8:19

When are you coming up to your destiny. Creation is moaning. When are we ever going to wake up and realise that we are an Eagle and not a chicken.

When are we going to wake up and realise that we are the son of God.

Let the glory and spirit come out. Lord let me not be jealous of other people's talent, let me appreciate the difference in the talent.

We are capable of so many things. God has given us so much but we under utilize. The computer can do so much but we

Christians: Just go to church. We take it as a religion. Come to the point that we are Sons of God, we are capable of more than that. God wants us to come up to that level.

When its something new, we are intimidated. God has given us the ability, but we need to learn the functions. We need to read our manual, the more we study, the more we practice, We exercise the faith, we become strengthened. We become skilled in the things of God.

The computer has to be plugged to a power source. We have to be plugged in to the Power of God. We must be connected. JohnL Vines and the Branches. Apart from Lord, we can do nothing. We must be connected to the Lord. There are always requirements, it does not mean we wake up and everything is ok. We must pray, we must read the word of God. We must be connected in our spirit. It is fundamental.

We need to be able to run at our optimum level, we need to frequently clean ourselves up. We must always recharge, we need to filled. When we run slow, everything is slow. We need to watch what we download into our computers, We need to watch what movie we watch, what we read, what we see, whom we follow, who we mix around with.

We need to share our thoughts, we need to run important and good softwares.

We need our senses exercised to discern both good and evil, we need to practice.

Hebrews 5:14. solid Food...

1 John 3:8 We need to grow up, take our rightful place. That we may destroy the works of the devil. We will set captives free.

Acts 10:38

The next time, someone tells you that they are sick. Try first.

By reason of youth, by practice. We will be able to do it.

Let God come out of us.

God's beauty and God's splendor to come out of us.

Christianity.. and me

Christianity, what does it mean? Does it mean a generation of english speaking, charity giving, dressing well, jumping, worshiping, and activity after activity. Lord, I need to know what have you placed in me. What have I been doing?

An evening with Pastor Andrew

It was a really rough day for me, trying to come up with the quotation and trying to stay positive that we will seal the deal! : )

So really felt very relieved to have cell today, and it was with the Vibrants @ their Revive Camp! Pastor Andrew from Cornerstone Church's Youth ministry came to share today! It was really an amazing night.

I enjoyed his preaching a lot today, "There is a time for everything". Ecc 3! There are things that we can choose and there are things that we cannot. God chose us, and He knew us from the moment we were a substance in our mother's womb. I am more amazed that someone so real, someone from our generation has placed his heart and soul into learning GOd's work and being a full time Pastor!

The time He shared about Job's story, that he knelt before God and said, Blessed be Your Name, you give and take away, naked I come, naked I go. It really touched my heart, God allowed trials and temptations in our lives, because He already knew that we will pass the test. He already know that we will be able to overcome.

God placed a calling in His heart to learn Indonesian songs.. and years later he is going to be preaching in Indonesia and leading worship in their language. He pursued his dream and cut an album with his youths with Integrity!

From 40 strong youths to 400 strong youths.. Only a heart after God can do it.

When we prayed, i felt God's presence strongly so much that I could not stop crying, its been such a long time before I felt the Holy Spirit so strongly. Pastor Andrew said he felt that I had lots of dreams when I am young, that I have a good spirit and that God gave me many gifts..

I cried because, when I was younger I always felt that someday.. I will be a Somebody. What kind of somebody, I do not know..

And I left my life in God's hands from tonight forth.. That he will take over and take control. I will not let the successes and the failures of this world control what God wants me to do.

Just when I was about to give up on our partnership, God sent us signs to continue. God works in miraculous ways, ways that are much higher than what we can conceive.

Pastor Rachel prayed for me, for our generation to rise up to our roles. For our cell, for my dreams. I prayed silently for salvation of Jerome & my family! God will do something greater in my life.

Jerome shared with me that we need people like Pastor Andrew, visionaries. We need help in the church, i shared with him, its time we rose up to the occasion. Its time our generation sowed into the lives of the people around us.

He said, these things can only be learnt in Bible School! So yes! Maybe perhaps, we should attend short courses together! Lord, may what you put in Jerome's heart come to pass, that he may go and bless others.

Pastor Rachel prayed for Jerome to grow and be strong in the word of God, it will come!

Thank you Lord, i cast all my cares upon you, I know that You will carry me through.

Amen.

Sunday Sermon with Pastor Sally

1. God calls
2. Be Faithful - You need to be faithful.

Faithfulness is a character of God.

We are not like Christ yet, because we find it difficult to love people who are not faithful. Its tough.

We need to be faithful, slowly from occasionally, frequently, to consistently.

The resistance of Change

Dear Lord,

How difficult is it for change Lord? How easy it is to dwell in the negatives of life? How easy for the devil to creep in with the perceptions and the notions? How easy is it to fall into bad habits?

I pray this day that Lord, I will remain Happy, not judgmental, and Lord no matter what the devil throws at me, I will still shine for you.

That the revelation of the shining light amongst the darkness, will the brightest and the most obvious target. Lord, let us as brothers and sisters in Christ stand together against the enemies. And not let the devil have any chance against us.

Amen.

The Eerie feeling of fear

Fear and trials and testings always come after I share something, a testimony, some thoughts of anything positive. Just after always, when i share about not worrying and trusting God for the supplies and everything, it will come and haunt me.

God teach me how to stand firm in spite of everything else. The emotions and the fear of money is so strong. I wish I had the capacity to earn my own money and not have to depend on Jerome.

It sucks his energy and mine.

It makes me feel indebted and whatever.

Lord, help me to be able to at least able to sustain myself.

Amen.

Jewel

Sunday Service with Pastor Rachel

The Lord gives life.

Genesis 17:3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him

Romans 4:17

17As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations."[a] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.


Do not give up! Begin to call forth the things that were not, as though they were. As God calls the dead into living.

God sees the positive aspect of all our lives.

"I need you" - Tell God that.

Think about my life, call forth those negative things that are in your life, for them to come to pass.

If God has called you to lead worship, see that you are leading worship.

Do not be disappointed.



Testimony:

1. A World Within
2. My Dad
3. China Trip



For the humility of self and the fear of people's comments. God forgives and you can try again. Amen.

Why is it that the devil tries to take away what you think? That when you did your best. When you put in effort, but the results are not what it is.

The fear of reality

When the reality steps in, and you realise that there is no one whom you can trust except the Lord, that is the toughest thing one can ever expect..

Jewel

Amazing Love, it covers me

Jonah.

He was angry. He disagreed. He wants to die - selfish. Silent Treatment. He refuse to change.

1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

Let's not just go through the actions, the Lord looks at the heart. The devil attacks your soul to attack your heart.

God will send Holy Spirit to speak to us when we are facing obstacles. When we cover each other in Love, the Holy Spirit will come and convict him.

The stones in our lives cannot be removed yet, they are still going to be there and will not go away. Until we surrender it all to God.

As long as we prefer to stay where we are, we will not be able to move on.

Do it daily! Let it go!

Made of Honor

It was a last minute decision to go watch the movie! But I have been wanting to watch this movie ever since i saw the trailer whilst watching P.S. I Love You! And i did not regret it! A beautiful story, with a beautiful ending! Funny, and touching.. A thumbs up, makes me feel that marriage is so sweet and loving!

A verse that reached out to me...

James 1:26

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

this is something that we all need to remember!

How to triumph over temptations?

"Open the floodgates of Heaven, Let it rain"

How do u trust God totally? What is that we must do right before can open the floodgates of Heaven?

--------

Only when you are not alive, then you will not be tempted. Everyone of us go through temptation.

Who is the source of all temptations?

The moment someone tells you not to touch, you will be tempted to touch. Examine our lives.

The person tempting us is ourselves. How do you tempt yourself?

James 1:13

"When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

Trials and temptations are two different things.

Temptation is the one tat will continuously sabotage you to to accomplish what God wants to do in your lives.

Temptation comes from within. Trials comes from external pressure.

How you respond to your "trials" situation determine how u are going to grow in the Lord.

When we face temptation we usually want to find a way of temptations. But sometimes we do not want to find a way out, because it might look good, feel good.

The devil wants to come and steal, kill and destroy.

Falling prey to temptation involves a series of steps:

When you look, you assess and see is fine.. But only when you start desiring.

Temptation is internal pressure.

We must stop doing the blaming game.

If you do not identify with it, you cannot deal with it.

1. Do not go near temptation
2. Flee from it

Who is the source of triumph; God

What kind of Candy am I???

Snickers

Nutty and gooey - you always satisfy.

What Kind of Candy Are You?