Cantonese boo-hoos...

Before I blog about anything... a few pictures...

The is the beautifully written, precious card, a very dear brother, Edmond wrote me - into which he had slipped a love-gift. I read it with Ee Ling last Saturday, and almost cried, humbled and touched. To quote the last part of his message, "This little gift is hardly enough for a couple of books, but may God multiply it in whatever way He pleases, that your life will continue to be used by Him exponentially. May the grace of God be with you always. Your brother, Edmond."

*Cries* Amen, brother. Thanks for your love and encouragement to me all the time.

To be so dependant on God is such a beautiful thing, of which I am not ashamed. He never fails! I pray that I too would be able to help my brothers and sisters in need, someday... or whenever God provides me to do so.

Above: My table while I was studying for my exams this week... I'm not a very tidy person when I'm hard at work, I must say.

The evening I was really sick. Was studying while waiting for Ben to come and bring me to the doctor's.

Something that kinda amused me this week...

... As you guys know, I will be going for a mission trip to Sandakan, Sabah, this August... with some of the students at the seminary. And I've been told that it's a place where everybody speaks Cantonese and Hakka.

It is not that I have a problem with that. After all, my dad is Cantonese... and my mum, Hakka. Plus, I've lived in KL for 18 years of my life. All KL people can speak in Cantonese. I ought be pretty comfortable getting around (although my Hakka is not good at all)!

In fact, I'd be even more comfortable getting around in Sandakan, than when I'm here in Penang - where almost everyone speaks Hokkien. For the past 3 years of staying in this then-foreign place I now call 'home', I've been speaking alot of Mandarin and Malay to the locals. Especially to those I used to meet in the General Hospital. I've even met a Chinese lady, who only understood Hokkien and Malay - so I ended up clerking her in Malay:P Hehe. How weird that was! Even I, was pretty embarrassed to be Chinese myself.

Thanks to Ben and his mum, I now know alot more Hokkien words than I did when I first arrived, and I've been trying to string them into sentences...

I said trying...

Anyway, on Thursday this week, I had a brief meeting with the rest of my missions team. Our team leader, who is from Sandakan himself, told us about the Cantonese and Hakka thingy. I secretly felt relieved. Hehe. But not for long...

He then revealed to us that his church, where we will be helping out with the children and youth ministry, is a Cantonese-speaking Baptist Church. *My eyes grew bigger* While there will be an English-service, in which I will have to do a sharing, we will have to prepare to minister in Cantonese, especially those who know how to speak Cantonese.

*Gulp*

"What?" I gasped.

How am I to share a testimony in Cantonese?!?!?!? @_@ (Yeah, we all have to be prepared for just anything.

How do you say 'Eating disorders' in Cantonese? Or explain it?

In case you are wondering, I do speak Cantonese... but I have to admit, it's not very accurate sometimes (Ben often laughs at my articulation and pronunciations - and my sister, Zoey, used to tell me that I sound like 'Dai look mui' when I speak - to give you a picture of how 'good' my Cantonese is). Sharing and preaching? Unimaginable. I am more familiar with Mandarin. And I have absolutely never thought that I would have to minister in Cantonese one day. I guess this would be a good opportunity to learn.

God help me!

When my dear boyfriend heard about this (he's Cantonese btw) - he tried to translate my testimony into Cantonese. While I giggled and laughed at how unfamiliar it sounded in a different language (I've shared my testimony in English and Malay, but never Cantonese), I was truly impressed! The words he used were simple - but he strung them together in a way that did not water down the effect of the testimony.

In fact, hearing my own testimony in Cantonese touched me so much.

It also made me regret that I have never considered learning how to share about the Lord in Cantonese before this.

Therefore, I've decided to ask Ben to help me with the translations...

What a step it is going to be out of my comfort zone. But I'm truly excited to experiment with an entirely new way of telling others about the Lord and His lovingkindness.