I know this entry is a little delayed, but I guess it’s better than posting it in February or something. Work’s been delaying a lot of things. Well, in this case it’s truly better late than never!
What a fantastic year it has been. Seems life is going on an upward trend every year (ever since HELP anyway). Being away from home in a totally different country has been a life building experience. Initially I thought I wouldn’t change much, but I sure did. Living with other people relying on other as well as helping others.. It’s just different not relying on ourselves but leaving everything to God. Yea, I would say my faith has increased since I got to Australia. Still, there’s much to learn and grow.
I’m so glad God patched me into OCF. The friends I made in there made all the difference. I many ways, the friends I made in Taylor’s College helped alot (yep, that’ll be Dee Jun and Lydia) who helped buffered the initial shocks for the first few weeks. Life there’s been good and I’ve done things I never dreamed of doing before this.. going for the Hillsong’s Conference, stepping into PlanetShakers, snowboarding, camping in the Australian outback and just enjoying the western life. Apart from what I have, it’s also hard to believe of what I don’t have like BB which I’ve been with for 10 years. The greatest blessings I’ve got are the friends I made, like Jonathan Ray who’s been a great leader to us and a great “random hang-out” kaki, Ivie who’s been a God send whenever I need someone to rip on and borrow car from, also a big thanks to Hwei Sing who’s been the best of the best CG leader (even if you don’t think so) and friend to me when I’m down or bored. There’s so many other people I thank God for meeting: Andrew, Chris, Daniel, Bryan, Charlene, Charmaine, Steve, Elaine, Jimmy, Jared, Richard, Ruo, Aun Ling, Jeremy Ye, Jeremy Ng, Jane, Carmen, Hwei Ming, David, Melissa, Robin, Ben Mok, Ben Yumis, Annette, Grace Sim, Connie, Lucien, Ps Ken, Yit Juan and so many more people I just can’t remember at the moment – THANK YOU. You’re all part of who I am today.
Now I’m all set for an even better Year 2008. OCF.. especially OCF Berwick, my casual kitchen hand work (which equals to a possible car and other luxury items), new house, new subjects.. new EVERYTHING. Man, I can’t wait to take it on!
I also need to share about something which happened towards the end of the year.
I really wanted to go home.. back to Malaysia. I’ve been home sick the few months before Christmas. Thinking of BB, friends and family.. was all starting to get to me. The weeks after exam didn’t make it any easier either with my uni friends all flying home. Although I had fun with the “OCF remnants”, I was so wanting to taste life back in Malaysia again. The thing is I needed to get my internship confirmed. The Big 4 firms I applied to ignored my applications despite applying more than a month in advance.
It was a really big coincidence that I was at Jeremy Ng’s place to tell him about my situation. He offered to get his mom to help me find a place in ING. Within the week a few emails between me, Jem and his mom and ING bounced around. Still, nothing seemed solid. I went for the OCF Australia AGM around the first three days of December. I was asked to stay for the convention as well, which would’ve spanned another 4-5 days.. but the reason I decided only to go for the AGM was cause I KNOW I WILL BE GOING HOME CAUSE MY GOD WILL COME THROUGH FOR ME ( <- That desperate, you see). If that week came and gone without an offer I would’ve finally decided to stay back in Australia to work, not seeing home for two years in total. Two days after I got back from the AGM, Jem called me:
“Hey Voon, bad news.”
Crap. Not looking forward to the rest of the conversation. Trying to be cool.
“Aha? What’s up?”
“It’s about your internship”
“Mm hmm. So how?”
Heart beating like CNY fire crackers.
“Oh, basically you got it. Haha!”
RELIEF AND SO DARN HAPPY. Praising God!
It was a real rush. I was due home within a week and only two days after that phone call I was back on Malaysian soil.. didn’t even know I was flying back till the day itself. God is great. He truly made the way for me. But I really thank Jem and his mom for going through all the trouble for me. You da man! (next entry I’ll share about a big surprise about Jem).
Another thing which happened was my exam results. Initially, I failed one subject – mostly due to the fact I didn’t get any sleep the night before the paper due to anxiety (I know I would’ve easily passed this paper!). But somehow I wasn’t worried, cause for a month or two before results were released, even before the exams I was fasting for a good result. So although a little taken back, I knew God will come through for me somehow. I sent an email to my unit coordinator based in another campus, cause apparently my original one resigned (which is a shame cause he knows I do well in class). Then my coordinator got back to me telling that I can apply for a NP or Near Pass which is as good as a Pass with full credit points. PRAISE GOD! How awesome is He man?! I can only apply when I graduate though, but it’s okay as long I don’t have to pay another AUD$2800++ cause I messed up.
2008 be another year of God’s faithfulness and doing his works. I don’t know yet what’s in store for me, but I know it’ll be good. I commit 2008 into Your mighty hands.
