I am so excited! :) Just last Friday, we held our first Kids' Group meeting! :))

 I attend a Mandarin congregation in my church, you see, not because I can't speak English, but because of the familiarity of the persons in this close-knit community. Quite a few of the people in this Mandarin congregation are Singaporeans/Malaysians migrants who speak English perfectly well, and the camaraderie that we share is just welcoming. Of course, the congregation is also made up of primary Mandarin speakers from Taiwan and China too. The kids (children and teenagers) in this congregation are few - only 20 or so including me. Most of these kids are hardly able to speak Mandarin, being second-generation migrants. This was superb news, because my bro and I fit right in with our less than perfect Mandarin skills. :))

 The church has a thriving youth program running every Sunday, kinda like the Youth Group back home. But due to the culture differences and for reasons I still don't really grasp, most of us don't go regularly to the Youth programme. The Mandarin congregation does have a little youth club thing, but the attendees are Mandarin speakers, which makes it a little hard to communicate for us English speakers. :P This little club is doing well in reaching out to the Mandarin speakers though, and the effort and work put in is truly magnificent. :)

 But I thought, where are the cell groups - for us kids (youth and children)? There are home groups, where adults discuss the bible in each others' homes (in English, amongst the English speakers), and kids tag along. During these home groups, all the kids would join in the discussion - except that we wouldn't understand what was being discussed most of the time! :P

 I thought back to my time in JAEL Youth, and I couldn't help feeling a sense of gratitude for having experienced such a privelege. The discussions about God and life, the laughter and basically the companionship that we shared as a cell group, were simple, but I felt, powerful. I thought about my two wonderful leaders - Charlotte and Ben, about their advice, their teachings, and it made me realise how important this kind of mentorship is in a young person's life. To be able to look up to an older teenager, and have life decisions modelled out for cell members to follow, was something I felt was absolutely necessary - and oh-so absent - in this current congregation of kids. My time with various youth leaders did shape my early teen years powerfully. When you adore someone, you tend to imitate them in terms of decision-making and thinking. So I asked myself, why can't those kids in church have what I had? Can I be a sister-figure to them, just as my extraordinary youth leaders Charlotte, Joyce, Germaine... were to me?

 So to cut the story short, I prayed and prayed. Mom suggested this to our home group leader, who approved. We went out and bought our materials. I did the meeting plan and the curriculum plan - and we finally had our first meeting (with the help of my lovely, lovely friend Kylee <3) last Friday, concurrently held with the adults in another room! We're currently working on a series of 'The Fruit of the Spirit' - we covered Love last week. And I'm unimaginably excited! God has given me so many ideas for the meetings and I feel so happy. I'm doing God's work - at long last!! :)) The next meeting's on 1st June (once every two weeks) and we're covering Joy. I can't wait! :)))

I still can't believe that I actually completed my English Monologue, and completed it well.

I remember shaking so hard at the teacher's mention of the performance. I found the idea of standing before 15 kids and 1 scary teacher, in a daggy costume, imitating an outback accent, was ridiculously terrifying. The fear that I experienced was probably comparable to a visit to the dentist's office, which is and always has been, my number one fear, as people close to me will know.

 Okay, before I start rambling I'd better tell you guys about the task. Our English teacher had assigned us an Australian play to study, and from that play we were to pick a marginalised (minority) character, pick a scene, and basically give that 'under-spoken' character a voice. After a script was established, we had to get up in front of the class and act out in character, the thoughts and feelings of the person, accompanied by costumes and props. Our teacher would then grade us based on firstly the quality of our Monologue script, and secondly, the legitimacy of our performance.

 I picked a character called 'Mum', who, as obvious as the name suggests, is a mother. A middle-old aged Aboriginal mother, to be very exact. I got cracking on my script. A few days later came the performance itself. I was dressed in one of my mom's oversized blouses and some black leggings, toting with me a real-live, 3/4 as-tall-as-me broom. I remember watching all the others in front of me get up and present. Thinking back on it, I don't even remember praying. Oops. But weirdly, as I sat there, prepping my lines, watching the other kids do their show, I felt a strange sense of calm. I could feel God with me, and I was convinced, at that point, that I was not alone. Well, needless to say, everything went smoothly. I tripped over my lines twice, but I was fine otherwise. I came out of the room feeling immensely relieved, and immeasurably thankful. Thanks, God, for helping me with it. :) 


'For when we are weak, He is strong.'