Saying Goodbye

One of the hardest task as a youth leader is sending the youths off for their studies. And I'll tell you this, I may have done this many times over the years, but it never gets easier. Over these 2 days, we sent off Edwin on Sunday, and Matthew just now.

We started this 'tradition' of sending our members off during the time of AD John. He said that we should say goodbye to them, and bless them on their journey and so we did. I remember sending Thomson off the first time. He had to take the 6am plus flight so we all dragged ourselves out of bed and surprised him at the airport. He was touched (at least I hope he was!).

In the most recent departure, Edwin was interviewed by Eryn to say some parting words, you can catch that video in FB. He said he had mixed feelings about leaving, and I can safely say we also have mixed feelings whenever we say goodbyes. I hate to see them leave, but I know that youth ministry is like that, we can't keep them for long. And all of us who've ever left home for further studies (and am still away from home), you will know that feeling.

It is a fact that while many leave for studies, not many come back. I think in every batch of youth that leave for studies, the percentage of them coming back to KK to work and settle down is pretty low. Of course this could be due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, I'm not on a guilt trip here. Even lower is that they will come back to serve in the youth ministry. I am however, very blessed to have Vanessa serve now in the ministry together, and I look forward for more to come back and serve in the ministry.

So while you may be away from home, don't forget that you are still thought of fondly by us here in KK.

Alpha Week 1 : Who Is Jesus

Today we started our Youth Alpha by hearing a video by Jamie Haith speaking about Who Is Jesus. The past two times we ran youth alpha we did live talk but this round, it was very interesting to hear this Englishman speak clearly and precisely about Who Is Jesus. The material may be the same but he is definitely more hip and modern than previous videos we have seen. I think many of us could understand the text. 

And today we had 2 newcomers brought by Sylvia. They were her classmates and one of these boys has a brother who used to join our youth many years ago. It was certainly very interesting to meet up with William and Nicholas after all these years. They are still as tight as before and it was really good to see them working and living their lives. We had a long chat about old times and what we are doing now and it was really good to see them. 

Sylvia mentioned that her friends didn't understand what the video was about, or probably didn't even pay attention. I told her it is all right. They may not understand it now, but the seed has been planted. It is God who waters that seed. Looking at William and Nicholas, I believe that totally. 

Hello

Hello hello hello! What a long time it has been since we updated this.. but we are grateful that some of you still pop in here and even urge us to update! Shows that you still read our news! Oh yeah! I was just scrolling through our links and out of the 9 friends that blog, only 3 are still active. The rest are slumbering peacefully! But, while we haven't updated, we have been busy. But let's not look back, let us tell you what we will be doing the next few months!

First up is Alpha. We are starting Student Alpha and our launch party, if we could call it that, will be next week. Our Chinese Youth started Alpha this evening and I think they had a blast! Next week will be our turn! We will be serving dinner at 6.30pm then we will have some games and singing and then we'll be watching a video. Do come and join us. Alpha will go on for 7 weeks and in between that we will have the Holy Spirit Weekend, we will have more details as we go along. 

Besides Alpha, we are also excited about the Diocesan English Youth Camp which will be held this year in... drum roll please.... CHRIST CHURCH LIKAS! Yup, you heard me right (if you don't already know by now) it is on home territory! Whooooooooooooooooooooooo... So block these dates, 6-9 June 2011! Tell your parents quick before they make travel arrangements! You gotta come! We will have so much fun, I'm telling ya!

There will be exciting times ahead and I can't wait to update more! So come back, check our blog out as we update you on the progress ok? C ya!