Soaring up, down under

Picture this: 25,000 people from 69 countries all around the world, united in praising and worshipping Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour: all in one stadium ... wow, wow, wow.

That about sums up my soaring experience at this year's Hillsong Conference at Sydney's Acer Arena: 5 nights and 4 days of soaking/being in God's/Jesus' presence and learning from some of the most anointed preachers in the world; responding to several of God's calls for me personally and getting to know some of the locals.

Sign me up for the next one! Haha ... and it is done ...

Some highlights of the conference and my trip to Sydney.

DAY 1: Friday 4th July

We departed from KLIA (thanks to aunties Susan and Grace for kindly fetching us) at about 8pm to Singapore via SIA. Changi Airport is an impressive airport, but somehow I still prefer the marble (is it?) floors of KLIA to the carpeted ones of Changi. We had wait for a couple of hours ... and then we were off: Sydney here we come. I enjoy night flights as it enables people to sleep easier. As usual, I was excited about catching up on movies, etc and was even looking forward to the food. :) I managed to watch 21 and most of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

DAY 2: Saturday 5th July

We arrived at about 9am the next morning at Sydney Airport and surprisingly it did not take us long to clear customs. My uncle Charles met me at the airport and it was then off to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Yummy ... I am serious when I say this: I think these are the best doughnuts (that I have had) in the world.

Well shortly after that we went to have tim sum :)

This was followed (the rest of the day) by going shopping for food as uncle Yuichi had graciously agreed to cook dinner (ginger and capsicum pork Japanese style, etc) while uncle Charles baked some shortbread. (The last time I visited them, I put on weight like nobody's business ... haha. Thank God for my uncles).

DAY 3: Sunday 6th July

Morning dawned and I was supposed to meet up with the rest of the gang (Yoke Kheng, Soon Seng, Jean and Anne) for worship at Hillsong Hills Campus. Along the way my uncles took me to Ikea for breakfast (walau right? Makan ... makan) (see above for picture).

Finally the bus came to pick us up in front of Max Brenner Cafe and we were on our way to Hillsong. The church is a large one, very 'professional' looking outside and inside it was a mini stadium. Reuben Morgan led worship that day with the team and we had Pastor Judah Smith (see later) to speak to us. What a service. Praise Jesus.

Later, we went back to Paramatta and went around Sydney, meeting up with Mun Yee and shopping at Paddy's Market where I finally bought a hat (g'day mate), a platypus and an echidna. :)

(the Australian girl was a friend of the person who took our picture) :)

Soon we had to go our separate ways as YK and I were to head to Pennant Hills to meet our wonderful hosts: Peter and Beth Kirkgarde (I hope this is correct). They are some of the warmest hosts I ever have had the pleasure of staying with and I really thank Jesus my Lord for them. They arranged accommodation for us, fed us (yum), fetched us to and from the station to get to and back from Olympic Park and were just great examples of Jesus.

We got them some small gifts: for Beth a batik scarf and a pair of origami earrings (from Charmaine) and a sarong for Peter. Jesus bless them.

I shall stop here for the moment. Have to rush off to class at UM. Tomorrow's update: the start of a (in the words of Ps Bryan Houston) 'fantastic' conference, beginning with the evening rally.

Jesus bless you.