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Sometimes in life, you just feel like giving up because you did horribly.

At this moment, I honestly feel like giving up.....

Singapore

Most people might ask, what’s so great about Singapore? The currency and the cost of living is really high. But yet, Singapore is so successful. They manage to attract many tourists each year, which includes me  

Instead of spamming my blog with words, I would like to share with everyone the pictures that I took during this trip. Hope you will like it.

First destination- Holiday Inn, the hotel that I stayed for 4days 3nights

Second destination- Orchard Road, Somerset ( Mainly ION Orchard )

Third destination- Marina Bay

Fourth destination- Sentosa Island, Universal Studio.

Fifth- Grand Opening for H&M. I was so lucky! Finally, Singapore has H&M. The queue was super long.

Silence…

I wrote this essay during my first trial exam and I would like to share it with everyone. Hopefully you will gain from it.

“Silence is consent.” Does this statement show that as long as we remain silent, we are complacent to the current status quo and every single detail that happens in our lives? Sometimes in life, we often dwell on the big picture and neglect the smaller details that might be really important and significant as well. This is an essay that unravels the true mystery of silence. Silence that can be transformed into abundant knowledge, knowledge that flows with honey and milk, knowledge that enlightens our lives.

Imagine there are two individuals, one with the fire to voice out his opinion ; on the other hand, another individual with the habit to remain quiet and silent. Which individual will stand out? The answer is simple; the loud individual will stand out. This is exactly the same as the illustration of the big picture and small details. Sometimes, we tend to ignore the silent group because they are not as outstanding as the other. Until recently I came to realise that the key to success is to remain silent and listen. You can give all the opinion in the world, but if you fail to remain silent and listen, you will fail to succeed in life as well.

There was this wonderful experience that happened in my life. I had a friend who loved to listen to me all the time. He barely spoke unless I requested to hear his opinion. Whenever we had our conversation, he would just listen to me and remain silent. One day when I was really sad and moaning about the challenges that I faced after I went through a bad experience, he told me, “There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. There is no such thing as a negative experience, only opportunities to grow, learn and advance along the road of self mastery. From struggle comes strength, even pain can be a wonderful teacher. Never give up in life, persistence will bring you through all the obstacles you face in life.” I was amazed by the way he reacted. I always thought that he was not smart solely because he didn’t like to speak, but he proved me wrong.

Another brilliant example would be the art of yoga. It teaches us to calm down our heart, mind and soul. Sometimes I wonder, why do we need to remain silent and calm our heart? The reason is really simple. Through inner peace, we will be able to calm our heart, mind and soul. We will be able to listen to our surroundings, reflect on everything that has happened in our lives and meditate upon ourselves. Silence is the key to help us to reflect, meditate and focus on our lives.The art of yoga is really quiet yet powerful. It is able to transform a person’s mentality, from frustration to inner peace through the silent meditation.

In this era of globalisation, everything is loud, noisy and fast. Students in this generation are busy with many different types of activities and distractions. Students undergo stress and depression rates are drastically increasing. This is because we failed to slow down our steps, remain silent and really look at our lives. We may have all the possessions in the world, but we may be unhappy. At the end of the day, it is meaningless. It is very important to just take 15 minutes of our time everyday to really understand and reflect upon our lives. Be slow to speak but fast to listen. Push away all the distractions and remain silent. You will then understand that true wisdom comes from silence, true happiness comes from inner peace.

By: Jocelyn Ho Khai Enn

Look at your surroundings, and appreciate everything in your life!

D’NA Camp

This is a post dedicated to everyone that had participated and involved in D’NA I wrote an article about the camp and it was published in my church’s magazine. Hence, I would like to share with you this special article, I hope you will like it as well.

To all D'NA-ians, we shall meet each other soon.

“A place to seek God, mould our hearts, and find everlasting friendships.” This is what I use to describe D’NA camp. This is the beginning of a new journey.

D’NA stands for D’ nous Academy. It is a camp organized by Scripture Union in collaboration with Fellowship of Evangelical Students. The main mission of this camp is to forge a new generation of young thinkers through the training and discipline of the Heart, Mind and Spirit. The Heart aims to instill the passion and compassion of Christ in engaging the world. The Mind aspires to nurture ongoing biblical and critical thinking. Lastly , the Spirit is to inculcate deeper spirituality through the exercise of spiritual disciplines. This is not like any other ordinary camp, but this is a camp to experience God, to feel God, and to draw closer to God.

On 9^th December 2010, I arrived with a bundle of nerves at the Seminary Theology Malaysia, Seremban for my ten days long D’NA camp. Thousands of questions immediately popped out from my mind... “What am I going to gain from this camp?” “Am I going to be lonely since I am only familiar with one person here?” None other youths from our church have ever experienced D’NA camp. Ian and I were the first two participants. Therefore, I anticipated this camp with mixed feelings - being excited but yet fear, as I did not know what lie ahead of me for the upcoming few days.

During my stay, I realize D’NA camp is not merely a fun camp with games, but a camp that was filled with daily lessons and classes. One of the most significant lesson that I learned was from one of the Old Testament’s prophetic books. Prophetic books are books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and much more. Back then, I seldom go through these books, therefore as Dr.Leong Tien Fock taught us about prophetic books, I was truly amazed and overwhelmed. I learnt that prophetic books are books that express God’s feelings, mostly through poetry. Dr.Leong said: “To fully understand God, we must know how God feels and how God thinks.” Thus, prophetic books give us the opportunity to understand God more. Prophetic books foreshadow what is to come in the future and all prophecies that God promised were either fulfilled in the Old Testament itself or the New Testament.

Apart from that, we were also given the privilege to learn and understand different worldviews such as Buddhism. The main purpose is to allow us to know what our non-Christian friends are thinking. As most of us come from Christian family background, we are not given the chance to know other religions. Whereas through D’NA, I now understand what Buddhism is all about. It is a complex religion that exists in many forms. They believe that people have no soul, everything changes, your physical body is what that animates you and your goal is to reach enlightenment. For me, I feel that it is good for us to know another religion, not to compare but to understand our non-Christian friends more.

Another truly heart changing experience was the community service. It’s a D’NA tradition for each camper to participate and be involved in the community service. We were divided into six groups and each respective group visited a different home. I was lucky to have a chance to visit Vinashini Home, a voluntary organization funded by donation from the community. It was established on 1^st August 2002 to ensure the needs of the mentally and physically handicapped in our society are fulfilled. This is a place where they can learn to lead a normal life. Individuals who are handicapped are provided with lodging, clothing and food in the home. Through this five day long visit, I was astonished by how mentally and physically handicapped people live their life. As I stood a chance to make friends with them, I gradually realized what they really need is the society to ACCEPT THEM and to treat them the way we treat other normal people but not to pity them and possess different views on them.

Last but not least, the most essential part of the camp that left a huge mark on my heart would be friends that I made. Friends from different state exchanging values and experiences on how god lives in their lives; their laughter & their joy; their spirit & their passion towards god - these are the key fundamentals from D’NA camp that will remain forever etched in my mind. Personally, I also learnt to be more independent, grown more mature spiritually and mentally. Finally, I felt the strong bond between god and I as I can always feel his presence and I know when I need him, he will always be there for me. He is not only our heavenly father, he is also our brother and our friend. Faith would be the key word I use to describe the relationship between god and I. I know for a fact I can always lean on him no matter what happens; he will forever and ever be there for me.

Indeed D’NA camp is a place to seek god, mould our hearts and find everlasting friendships. I would never regret spending ten days of holiday in this camp as it is a life-changing experience for me.

I Miss ALL OF YOU!! See you soon?