Isaiah 41:10

Today was great :D Chor Seng (a Buddhist) suddenly wanted to come with me to church. Why? Because he prayed to Jesus during his hospitalisation and Jesus healed him! :D So he wanted to come church and thank Jesus personally. :)

We met and had a lil' prayer and an evangelism session. Haha. After that, Sam joined us! And we went for lunch @ the super good food hawker centre outside church :D And then headed to mac for a chat :)

Me & Sam :)

They didn't come for service though. Maybe next time :D

Ps Daniel was preaching about being a disciple. One of the ingredients of discipleship is sacrifice. However, I’ve sacrificed so much over my past 15 years in church ministry and all already and it had all amounted to nothing. “Nothing” in a sense that the church is still this stagnant, no church growth, no bigger change, etc…So I had problem sacrificing and surrendering now. And I’ve also got relationship issues with my bunkmates. I was basically worried about which ministry to give my 100% and my NS life.

I brought all this before God and He dropped this verse in my heart Isaiah 41:10. At first, I thought that that was a random verse that my brain churned up to make me feel that God was speaking to me. But then, that verse came to me again as I knelt there. So I decided to go back to my seat and check out that verse.

When I turned to Isaiah 41, I didn’t immediately read verse 10 for fear that I will be scammed by my brain who churned up that random verse. So I read from verse 1. When it came to verse 10 it read “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” This broke me. I didn’t even have the faith to believe that God will speak to me like this! Let alone having the faith to pick up another ministry and believe that it’ll amount to something.

So thank God for His assuring words!

Bye Abigail!!

Sending Abigail off on Saturday amazingly wasn't all that an emotional event. Hahaha!

Surprisingly, a rather tender-hearted Abigail didn't give in to her tear ducts yesterday at the departure hall in Changi Airport! HAHA!

She said she'll cry on the plane...LOLS! Anyway, we'll miss you Abigail :(

And today (Sunday) is the first time I've seen our two commandos in Youth Alive botak!! :D

Commando Daniel & Infantry Sergeant Jonavan :) haha.

Infantry Sergeant Jonavan & Commando Yourong :)

Yup, that's my weekend :D

1st day of ASLC in Charlie Coy!

The highlight of our friday book in is our 5km run. We had to complete 5km in 30minutes. Failing in the army would mean redoing until you pass or fail the whole course...haha...

Guess what timing I clocked for my 5km? :D

I clocked my 5km distance in 25 minutes! :D Whoo hoo! A great start to my ASLC course :D Haha. I didn't expect myself to fail either...But after not running for quite some time, running this 5km left me with badly aching calves and feet now..haha. But o well, I did it! :D

Next run is 6km -_-" The final run for 1 of the requirements for the CSB (Combat Skill Badge) is 10km in 65minutes! 3 words: DUA LAO SAI. I pray I can make it man...haha.

Met all my bunkmates. They're all very light-hearted and funny people thank God. Half my section are malays. But they're not those with attitude problems la I foresee. :D In fact it's the malays that make training more fun with their jokes and funny antics..haha.

I pray it'll stay that way :D Haha

Our OC also went through our course schedule. Whoa. I'll use the 3 words again: DUA LAO SAI. HAHA! We'll be having claymore live firing next week! Anyway here's a few training programmes I remembered:

> 50m++? swim in LONG FOUR!! Long four = Green long sleeve shirt + Green long pants + BOOTS!
> River crossing with one rope
> GRANDSLAM 2!!! -.-"
> Exercise CRESCENDO!! 3 weeks in Thailand! -_-" Navigation for 3 days? or 4? & Platoon Deliberate & Quick attack drills will also be executed there -.-"
> 32km road march with 3 or 4 stations in between...First station is RIVER CROSSING! 2nd station is weapon stripping & assembly (SAR21, SAW, M203, GPMG?)...can't remember the last station. Haha.

Yup. Go for your green beret & CSB badge Jonavan!! :D

Rebekah's birthday :D & Abigail's farewell :(

Jonavan "What do you want to do before' you leave? :D"
Abigail "I wana play a strategy game! :D

So there we were at Settler's cafe at Clarke Quay. This is the 2nd last day before Abigail leaves for Korea for 4 months! And so happened that today is also just a day after Rebekah's birthday :D

So our first strategy game which kept us occupied was this railway game...Forgot the game's name -_-" haha. Play until duno the game name...Win liao. Haha!

Me, Rebekah, Abigail, Meryl & Jeremy :) I'm holding my train colour! YELLOW :D Muahaha...It's abigail's, meryl's and my favourite colour :D haha!

After that game..we played another not-so-intellectual dice game. It's based almost entirely on luck. Haha. Anyway, halfway through the game we brought out Rebekah's strawberry ice-cream cake! :D

Rebekah & Abigail :D

So yeah, had a great time gaming today :D The only irritating part of Settler's is, NSFs are not considered students and thus are not given the student rate!! C'mon! We're students in the SAF! HAHA! Next time I shall bring my poly ez-link card and get my student rate back man! HAHAHA!

Yup, happy birthday Rebekah & take care Abigail! :D

CNY Holidays!! :) :D

The past 4 days have been awesome! :) I wish ang pao collection can be a full time job man. Haha! The total amount I collected in the last 4 days amounted to be slightly less than my one month pay :D So for those who know my rank pay, you know more or less how much I need to tithe :D So remind me to tithe the correct amount! :D HAHAHA!

My Sunday was spent entirely visiting relatives and that day was the biggest haul of ang paos... :D HAHA!

Monday was spent visiting my dad's good friends. He just went there to talk and catch up...While we were busy chewing up their new year cookies, chatting with their kids and playing hp games after we've received our crimson envelope :D

Tuesday is the longest day for me...but Tuesday was awesome! Why? Because Jeremy (Teo) opened his house for visitation to the standard few of us...ME, Meryl, Abigail and Anna :)

I tell you, his mum/maid can really cook man. We had a massive feast over there...with the main course being claypot chicken rice and a bowl of super nice vegetable & chicken soup. 2 side dishes included the kong ba pao and some sweet potato, yam and nian gao all layered together and deep fried to crispy, bite sized pieces :) Dessert was a filipino dessert...cold macaroni with mayo and fruits. And of course, topping all that up is all the new year cookies :D

I had 2 servings of the main course :D :D HAHA! And after those 2 servings, I could barely stomach the dessert. LOLS! So I ate it as we played bridge. Haha.

And the pics we took with Jeremy's family are still in his Iphone........he couldn't bluetooth it out of his Iphone...This is one of the negative aspects of Iphone. They have a bluetooth function but don't have a bluetooth application to send files using it...What's up with Steve Jobs man? Haha. Anyway, he emailed the picture to me... :D


Abigail, Meryl, Jeremy, Me & Jeremy's parents :D And we should've taken the pic when Anna was around la...haha.

After that I dropped by Daryl's place :D The first married couple I wished at his place was CaiJie & Cheryl! HAHA! It is only like 2 months since they're married and they're obliged to give ang paos liao! :D :D Haha!

CJ & Cheryl however, didn't feel any obligation at all. Haha..CJ just shook my hands and told me "Sorry we don't give ang paos to our peers." hahaha. I'd do the same next time :D

Daryl had to book in by 7.30pm. So I booked in with him. Haha! Of course not, his parents dropped me off at my place while they continued their emo journey to Pasir Ris interchange. Haha.

Here's a pic of me & Daryl in his smart four :D

Daryl & I at his house corridor :)

I thought the day was over upon reaching home...But, my parents were going to Sherry's/Johan's/Ashley's grandfather's wake. So I decided to go with them :) At the wake I had an awesome 30min convo with Johan :) Haha.

Wednesday was spent with my SISPEC bunkmates Sebastian, Glenn & Jian Xiong playing badminton! :D My condo recently changed 2 tennis courts into badminton courts. So I brought us there to play badminton.

However, upon reaching my condo badminton court, we realised that they didn't cover up the open air tennis court. So it was too windy to play! -_-" Quoting sebestian "Condo management is usually very stupid" I can't agree more.

So we ended up going to Tampines Sports Hall to have a game :D Although I wasn't in my best form, I still had a great time :D

My SISPEC buddy Sebastian & me :) He's happy being with me :D But I'm not. HAHAHA! Jkjk :D

Seated in order of badminton skill, with the lousiest on the left, Jian Xiong, Sebastian & ME! :D HAHAHAHA! Just kiddiN' guys :D

Jian Xiong, Sebastian & Glenn :D btw, w/o me Sebastian's smile has faded. I'm his source of joy :D hahaha!

After hitting shuttlecocks at Tampines Sports Hall, I was hitting notes on my guitar at Tampines Avenue 5. Haha. I took my effects back from Kirk because I wanted to jam @ home :D And I did for a good 5 hours for the past 2 days :D Whoo hoo! Shiok man...The note accuracy of my licks are still there, but the speed has decreased a bit. Hais...I wish I'm in MDC man..haha! I'd have more than maintain my guitar skills, it'd have improved :D Haha.

Ok, stop wishing for what's already confirmed...like trying to wish ASLC away...HAHA!

Yup, thank God for this timely break from the army :)

My BSLC Reflections :D

Before I crystallise and pen my thoughts, let me identify a few abbreviations that the non-NS people won't know. :D

BSLC: Basic Section Leader's Course. SISPEC's (School of Infantry Specialists; Training school for future Sergeants) basic training phase.
PWO: Platoon Warrant Officer. A staff sergeant that's in charge of his platoon
LSC: Leader Section Commander. Trainee that's in charge of his section
LPS: Leader Platoon Sergeant. Trainee that's in charge of his platoon
LSM: Leader Sergeant Major. Trainee that's in charge of his company

BSLC was good for me :D It wasn't all that tough. I think the physically toughest event was my graduation 28km road march WITH STORE ITEMS. In BMT, our 24km road march was store-item-LESS. Haha. So this one was really bad. It left my shoulders aching very badly for 2 whole days. Haha.

Anyway, the main thing I learnt during BSLC is selflessness. Throughout this whole course, all of us (including myself) were really selfish I must say. Here are a few instances that I can still recall:

1) LSC Paul telling me "Jonavan, help me get 2 people from our section to resup the 2 jerry cans over there..."

I went back and asked "Who wants to refill their bottle?" Straight away everyone said "ME!" and raised their bottles to me to fill.
The next question I asked "Ok, I need another person to come with me to fill because we need to resup 2 jerry cans."
Straight away, all the hands went down and the section was silent with selfishness.

I volunteered because I wanted to fill my own bottle :D 1 more volunteer? Took 10mins before Mao accompanied me. While we were refilling the bottles Mao was telling me "Don't you find our section so ****ing selfish? I really miss my BMT section mates man."

I agreed but not without examining myself first. I too became selfish-er.

2) Area cleaning.

PWO "Your fans are ****ing dusty! Go clean it up before the next stand by area!!"

Once again, everyone got busy doing the easiest aspects of area cleaning: sweeping (I did that :D :P), cleaning the bed frame, arranging bed, etc...The fans? Someone had to shift the table and stand on it to clean the ceiling fans. And there were 6 fans.

That someone was Mr. Nice Joseph & Jian Xiong on 2 separate occasions :D He shifted the table and wiped all the fans in the bunk. He later was complaining that no one else did anything. But, what to do? When everyone's concerned only for themselves, that's what happens lor...suck thumb. Haha.

3) Clear rubbish.

LPS "Get one guy from each section to clear the rubbish!"
LSC Kenneth (my section LSC) "Anyone wants to clear the rubbish?"
**SILENCE**
"Ok la, Jonavan go clear the rubbish :D"

I complained and ranted a bit, but still went to clear it. Haha.

There's many more instances but I think these few are the most etched in my brain. Haha.

For me, I think the selfish-kings (8 of 'em) in my bunk are way selfish-er than me cos they always volunteer me and a few others (5 of us) to do stuff while they do the bare minimum or sometimes, nothing at all. Some of them will help only if it benefits them...Like for myself when I resupped the jerry cans :D

A few of us like Mao & Joseph are actually pretty helpful in nature. But even Mao & Joseph got sick of being helpful. Why? Because by being helpful, they became the ones being taken advantaged of. So why be helpful?

In a section of selfish fishmongers, the generous and helpful get abused. So they withdraw that nice side of them and this results in a really big problem with everyone pointing fingers at each other to do things.

That applies for me too. I'm always willing to help. But I withdrew that side of me since BMT. Why? Because I want to help appreciative people that will reciprocate and really appreciate you for helping instead of just saying a temporal "Thanks alot man!" You can thank me for all I care, but I want to see you doing your part as well.

But I think I still am in the wrong because if being Christ-like means being helpful relentlessly then I have failed to meet that mark. I've also helped with a complaining and selfish attitude, complaining about others not helping after I've helped.

If I had helped willingly and lovingly, I wouldn't expect anything in return. However, I actually did expect something in return, thus I was upset with those that didn't help. So is that true Christ-like generosity? I guess not.

I shall work on this area of my character and I really hope I can see a change in my next 3 months of my trainee life.

Help me to enjoy my ASLC God! I really need your favour and strength! :)

My Posting! :)

The smilely face in the title is just to make my post archive look good...so ignore it. Haha! Yesterday was the worse day of my entire life. We were all nervously sitting down in our training shed as my platoon commander slowly called us out one by one to sit in groups. Each group represented one vocation.

One by one, all my friends were called to different groups and soon enough I knew my posting... ASLC!!! WHAT THE HECK?!!?! ASLC by the way stands for Advanced Section Leaders Course which is the Infantry vocation.

My posting spoilt my whole holiday mood. I was really very sad and sian diao. All the things I hated in BSLC will be amplified and lengthened in ASLC...Activities such as FIELD CAMP, Navigation, road marches, river crossing, etc...all came to my mind upon hearing my posting.

Their field camp has Exercise Nutcracker where you have to dig a FIRE TRENCH with the depth at chest level!! And navigation in THAILAND!!! Plus road marching with RIVER CROSSING!! All these shitty training are all part of ASLC. -_-"

So there I was at the training shed trying to smile and shake my other friends' hands who got into Artillery, Signals and PDF (People Defence Force). So many people got into Artillery & PDF!! But why am I not part of that group?!!

O well, it's all planned right? It's planned in the system way above the SAF's system, it's planned in the heavenlies. Whatever God brings me to, He will see me through.

Anyway, I'll miss my BSLC bunkmates. And I forgot to mention, they all put together a little farewell for me......

At 12am, they turned on the lights and screamed and TAU-PORKED me...They also splashed a cup of cold water at me... -_-" And once again, someone hid in my cupboard and one under my bed to grab my legs the moment I stepped down.... -.-" Haha! Thank God the Enciks didn't hear the commotion and turn out the whole company. If not, dua lao sai...haha.

Hais, BSLC passed so fast man...and to find out that i'm moving on to ASLC...I think time won't pass so fast this time...Haha.

There are 2 options available for me:
1) OOC. Get Out-Of-Course and become storeman or admin personnel.
2) Suck thumb and get on with it!

I'll take the 2nd option. Haha. I pray that I will be able to tank the 3 months of shit, get along well with my new bunkmates and that I will buck up and be more of myself and to stop thinking that doing my best in the SAF is useless.

My only hope now is to get back into TEKONG!! Sergeants rule in Tekong unlike in unit and Tekong is super near my house. Haha. So yup, jia you Jonavan! :) You've got a whole lot of friends and family that believe you can do it! :D

Abigail's 21st SURPRISE Birthday cum send off :)

Abigail was telling us how sad she was that she can't celebrate her 21st birthday over here because she'd be flying off to Korea for 4 months on 20th February for an exchange program.

So, Anna had a brilliant idea, celebrate it for her before she leaves! :D

So off she went gathering her committee members...

Amanda, Me, Anna, Joshua, Abigail, Janice, Meryl & Jeremy: The committee :D

The plan was simple. Anna, myself & Joel would take Abigail out while the rest would go to her place to decorate it up nicely :D Then we'd take her back and SURPRISE HER! :)

So we took her to play her favourite game: L4D2! HAHA!

Amanda was the deco head, I am the decoy team & songwriter, Anna is the Overall-in-charge, Janice is the admin + decor, Meryl & Jeremy were the game ICs :D

Yup, check out the farewell song that I wrote and we all sang during the party :D
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=302135878120&ref=mf

There were like 40++ people there? Ranging from her JC friends, SMU friends & Church friends :D Yup...pictures! :)


All of us from church :)


Anna, Jeremy, Me, Joel & Ken Wee :D

Me, Gabriel, Abigail, Meryl, Jeremy & Joella :D

Yup, it was a really cool party man :D And I've gotta go book in liao! Last week in BSLC! :D See you guys! :)

Grandslam!

Finally! This ultimate test is over! :) :D Firstly I want to thank God that, IT DIDN'T RAIN!! :D Whoo hoo! God is good! :D

Honestly, grandslam was really, really slack man. I expected much worse. And my 2 most feared events - Shellscrape and Navigation - wasn't all too bad. Anyway, here are a few reasons why it was so slack:

1) Digging of shellscrape. We were all SUPPOSED to dig our shellscrapes in SBO = LBV + Helmet + Rifle all stuck to your body while you hack recklessly at the ground beneath you.

However, there were no commanders around to enforce that :D So all of us simply dug our shellscrapes in Long Four. HAHAHA! Whenever our enciks would come near our harbour area, the front man would shout HORNET!! And we'd all don our SBO. LOLS!!

In BMT, we dug with SBO all the way cos we have like 5 sergeants (1 platoon sgt + 4 sec comd) and 2 2nd lieutenants (2 Platoon Commanders) in my platoon that are walking around, babysitting us. Without the extra load on your body, digging is WAY EASIER!

In an hour, my shellscrape depth was achieved! :D Whoo hoo! The power of clean fatigue man!

2) Exercise Wanderer (navigation). We got badly lost in Lower Mandai in our Exercise Gypsy, so I scared we once again will get lost in the Tekong Jungle.

But guess what? Navigation in Tekong is SO MUCH EASIER! There were so many tracks, training sheds and casualty collection points with MGR given to confirm ground with. So yeah man! :D

However, the night navigation wasn't all too good. We couldn't find one checkpoint. 5 details combined and combed the area and still couldn't find it. You know why? The description given to us was "200m south of training shed" when the actual checkpoint found by only ONE detail was actually "350m++ south-WEST of training shed"

So we wasted 3 hours trying to find checkpoint LION. In the end, we were given another checkpoint and after finding it and reaching our rest area, it was already 2.30am! Haha. O well, at least we met our objective :)

3) No rifle stunting. In SISPEC, we're training to be commanders, so they don't babysit us and find trouble with us over such stuffs :D But we'll still get scolding if we throw it too far from us. Haha.

4) Groundsheet in shellscrape. We slept in our shellscrapes...but not without our groundsheets covering it! :D :D :D

Anyway, here's the HIGHLIGHT of this field camp that I will NEVER FORGET! :D

WILD BOAR!!! Next to my shellscrape was my friend's Tan Sean's shellscrape with his field pack there. He told me he'd be sleeping with 3 other friends at another side. So off he went. It was nightfall - totally dark.

A few minutes later, I heard someone rummaging through his field pack with all the plastic bag sounds and zips opening. So I thought he came back to take his stuff. But when I shone my torchlight over, I SAW A BIG, FAT WILD BOAR!! I immediately shouted "WILD BOAR!!" and everyone nearby joined in the commotion as we watched the wild boar take field rations from my friend's fieldpack. HAHAHA!

It was like some science excursion where everyone gathered round to see how the animal kingdom operates. HAHA!

Thankfully, the wild boar wasn't agitated by 20++ torchlights shining on it. He simply took the rations to a clearing nearby and started eating. If the wild boar had been agitated, I wonder if I'd still be able to type this post man. HAHAHA!

Yup, Thank God that he kept all of us safe through this field camp :D

Pre-Enlistees

I thought of giving Daryl, Daniel & Yourong a little gift from the SAF before they enlisted. I was wondering what is available in camp that can't be bought outside...And then, an *IDEA* came :D

I brought out combat rations to give them and attached to it was a nice card. :D That made my "Happy NS!" card and gift to my few recruit friends :D Haha!

Here are my last pictures with them and their beautiful hair :D Haha!

Commando Daniel & SCT Jonavan :)

If you're wondering why Daniel had a new birthmark right smack on the left side of his face, it's camo cream. Haha! His cell group decided to hasten his army experience...LOLS!

SCT Jonavan & REC Daryl :) haha.

Yup, all I can say is persevere, make friends, enjoy youselves and make the most out of this army experience :D Will keep you all in prayer :)

Last Dinner with Daryl @ Vines :)

It was my last free saturday before Daryl would enlist. I wanted to go kite flying with Jon Wee & gang @ Marina Barrage, but Daryl didn't want to...So we went shopping instead! :) Haha :D

O ya, and while shopping, we bumped into Hadley at Paragon :D She's attending Heart of God church in Paya Lebar now. And she was telling me how the atmosphere there is so much different and so much more vibrant and most of the members there are 1st generation Christians.

Well, glad that she still is part of the kingdom :) I'll continue to do my part in Bethel :D

Anyway, my conversations with Daryl were all about NS. All his anxious questions and all...Sounds like me before I enlisted too. :D haha!

Anyway, we joined the kite-flying gang @ Vines Steakhouse :D


Clockwise from top left: Jon Wee, Xiao Hua, Anne, Zi Hui, Yining, Eunice, Joel, Yourong, Daryl & Myself :D


Us again :D

All the best Daryl :D Enjoy these 2 years of mandatory service to the country :D