The Faithful One...

Ever since I came to Abbotsford, I have been wanting a different new "toy" everyday. First it was a new laptop ($1000+), then I thought maybe I should get a desktop since I never had one and Dell had a super duper deal that Justin was trying to tempt me into buying ($450+ and of course, he purchased one himself. Oh that computer geek!). After I went to bed that night (as the Chinese would say), "tucked up my pillow and thought real hard about it", I decided I don't want one anymore.

I was getting some work done on my laptop the next day and thought... if only I have another computer monitor, then I'll have a double screen so I can watch Chinese series at the same time with that other monitor ($200+). Then somehow I got over that, but sooner after that thought went away, Justin (yes, once again, it's Justin...) tells me about this mp4 camcorder from eBay ($120+)!

Well, at least with each new item that I want, it gets less and less expensive! But yesterday... I wanted one of those black babies/wives that everyone seem to have these days.. a DSLR camera! According to Alexei, $1,000+ for the figure/body and another $1,300+++ for one of those pro-grade lenses!

Or! I can get a consumer DSLR and a kit lens for about $700+ and that will get me very decent photos...

Ooooooo!

Well, while I've been going through all these struggles of mine everyday, this whole time LP just wants a PS3 to play Metal Gear. I guess he's the faithful one...

This blog post is dedicated to Mr. Garvin Lee. STOP BUGGING ME TO POST, you blanket stealer! Unless maybe you can get me one of these toys for my birthday!

In God's Presence

Have you ever enjoyed someone else's company so much that just by being in the same room makes you smile and makes you happy? Whether it is your significant other or a brother/sister in Christ whom you long to spend time with, not necessarily doing anything special, but just by being together brightens up your day.

That is the way it should be when we're in the Lord's presence. Like King David, a man after God's own heart, our hearts should move to unspeakable joy when we're in the Lord's presence.

You have made known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
~ Psalm 16:11

Angry at God

Today's Devotion: We're not forbidden to be angry at God. But what do we do when we're angry at Him? Do we run to Him, pour out all our feelings, let Him restore us and receive His peace? Or do we ignore our anger and just let ourselves be angry at God?

Our First Guests

LP's internship supervising pastor is Pastor Dave (left) (all pastors in the world is called Pastor Dave!). Prof Kraemer (middle) is the Director of Vicarage at the seminary. Prof Kraemer came for a couple of days to meet with the three of us. Internship (Lutherans call it VICARAGE and LP's a VICAR) Orientation was back in June, but because we were too busy getting married, he came out here from Edmonton just for us.

We invited Pastor Dave and Prof Kraemer over for lunch today. It is our first time having guests over at our place and my first time cooking for people. Ooops, forgot to tell them that when I invited them over... but it turned out quite alright. Of course I didn't try out new dishes today, I made 4 dishes I had already tested out on LP and he approved. We'll have more guests coming in the next two weeks, I will lots of practice before I go back to Montreal to cook for my parents hehe!

Do Re Mi Fa So!

Today's devotion is based on 1 Chronicles chapters 5 to 8, but there's a section called "If time is short, focus on..." As you can imagine, instead of reading 4 chapters, I skipped to the "if time is short" section and focused on 6:1-49. If you flip to this passage, you can see that it is a super easy read as it is a genealogy of Israel's priesthood. The author of 1 Chronicles spent 31 verses naming people whom "David put in charge of the music in the house of the Lord". The devotion booklet reminds us that those who serve God's people by planning and providing music for our times of worship have a unique privilege and carry a special responsibility. They direct God's people to their Lord and help them to open up their hearts to Him in worship. Of course, God doesn't look at our excellent technical performance but rather, he looks at the performance of our hearts, the undivided worship of a heart made righteous by the blood of Christ.

The application for this passage is that we're encouraged to find a way to express our appreciation to our worship leaders and church musicians, to pray for them and that the congregation worships from righteous and thankful hearts.

I had the privilege of joining the Chinese choir during my "official" last six months at MCAC. I was telling Yeung C-moe how amazing it is that the choir members have been so devoted all these years. Even though I sometimes hear them complain about choir practices and the long hours they have to put into practices, kudos to them for all these years of service! It takes a lot of commitment and sacrifices to serve in the choir. They are at church 45 minutes before service starts to warm up their voices and to practice the day's song offering. After Service, they are to put in a good 2-3 hours of practice every week. No more lunch out, no more play-time on Sundays because by the time choir practices finishes, it'd be dark out (well, in the winter anyways). Many churches I have visited does not even have a choir during Sunday Services. I am proud of our church for such an amazing and devoted choir.

Our choir conductors, Yeung C-moe and Josephine, must spend countless hours choosing and preparing songs each week and the energy they put into each choir practice is worth appreciating. And of course, my Goh Goh pianist. Watching him sit at the piano on Sundays from 10:30am all the way through service (on the days he has to play for singspiration/worship) to 1:00pm and then again from 2:15pm to sometimes 5-6pm including small group practices. Sometimes the girls and guys takes turn resting and practice, he doesn't get to rest because he's often the only one at the piano. He must have a sore back every week!

Let us help encourage our worship leaders and choir members and remember them in our prayers.

There is Something to Give Thanks for Everyday!

Because I have more time on my hand these days, I have been reading Connie's blog often. She blogs about her cutie baby Samuel. At the top of her blog, there's a photo of her and Ah B with a speech bubble that says "There is something to give thanks everyday."


That is so true! Sometimes I get so caught up in thinking of the things that I don't have here in Abbotsford that I forget to give thanks for the things that I do have!

I give thanks for the beautiful condo God provided for us in Abbotsford. This place is fully furnished with more than we need. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two TV's (although not one single channel, so no Olympics for us, but we get to play Wii with it to entertain ourselves), a modern kitchen and all the cooking utensils we need, no air conditioning, but there's a fan so we don't have to suffer from the hot weather too much.



I give thanks for a place to worship on Sundays. We are blessed to have such a beautiful church, and a caring and friendly congregation.



I give thanks for my hubby for being so patient with me even though lately I have been cranky with so many things I am going through and have to adjust to.


I give thanks that during the past year, I am able to travel to so many places to see so many things, places and people. Thousand Islands, New York City, Washington DC, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Edmonton, Banff, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Abbotsford, Richmond, Vancouver...



I give thanks for GPS, and Goh Goh for finding me an inexpensive GPS the day before I left for Abbotsford, so we can easily drive to places in BC without getting lost.



I give thanks for internet, otherwise I would be even more bored! I give thanks for the different ways we can communicate with our family and friends back home in Montreal. I am able to email my parents who are still in Hong Kong and China. I can webcam with Gloria and Auntie Betty even when I'm cooking in the kitchen. They saw how I made those fry calamaris! I am able to see cutie Nathan and Goh Goh through the webcam as well.




I give thanks for all my friends who cares so much. Even though they are far away, they always check up on me to make sure that I am not too bored and that everything is okay here.






I give thanks for God allowing to be able to cook food that's actually edible! I was telling people I don't know how we'd survive in Abbotsford without good food from Montreal, especially how we're blessed with all the Aunties who always cook for us and invite us into their homes for dinner. Now it is our turn to invite others to our home and I pray that we can be a blessing to others.

(shrimp in wine, seafood pancake, steamed fish)

(phad thai)

Giving thanks for all these things reminds me of a song Caleb loves singing "Because a thankful heart is a happy heart. That's why I say thanks everyday!"

A Day in Vancouver

After not getting out much for the past week and a half, I finally saw some familiar faces yesterday! After lunch, we drove to Richmond and Vancouver. First, we went to Steveston Highway (Richmond) to the International Buddhist Temple. It is North America's 2nd largest Buddhist temple and we saw some pretty funny things!






Visiting this temple makes me very sad. Seeing people lighting incense, burning offerings to these statues, praying to these man-made "things," paying to get their names displayed in the temple and hoping these gods of theirs would bless them... I am bless to know Jesus and do not have to hope that Jesus would bless me. I know for a fact that He is blessing me. As I looked through the photos we took, they reminded me of the passage that LP preached on yesterday: Matthew 15:21-28. The passage is about this Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus crying and begging Him to help her daughter who is oppressed by a demon. She cries out after Him and even though she calls Him "Lord" and "Son of David," Jesus ignores her at first because He does not care about the "correct" names that she calls Him by. If we try to use the right words, actions, or worship to please God, we are manipulating Him. Jesus looks at our faith and our humbleness when we come before Him. Because the Canaanite woman has such great faith, even though the disciples want her to go away, even though Jesus calls her a dog! She does not care about these things but continues to look to Jesus because she has faith that only Jesus is able to help her daughter. At last, it is because of her great faith that Jesus heals her daughter.

After visiting the temple, I wanted to go to this Malaysian restaurant for some afternoon tea. As we approached the restaurant by the waters, I spotted that "CLOSED" sign! So disappointed!


That didn't stop me from having afternoon tea! We drove to Richmond Center to have dim sum while we waited for Steph and Emilie. Since I came to Abbotsford, this is the first time we ate out!



After some dim sum, we met up with Steph and Emilie for some bubble tea. Steph and I have been longterm "we gotta gain weight" buddies! Steph was the first one I made tacos with. Those "we gotta gain weight" days were so much fun. We'd indulge ourselves with all the fatty foods we can inhale in one night, but we'd still be as thin as a pair of chopsticks when we stood next to each other! It was great hanging out with her again. Hope to see them again very soon, either in Vancouver/Abbotsford, or we will drive down to Seattle to pay them a visit and have another "we gotta gain weight" night! And I got my first birthday present this year. Thanks Steph!



We did have a lot planned yesterday. Since we rented a car, we had to make the most out of it! Right after bubble tea in Richmond, we drove to Vancouver and had dinner at Karen and Calvin's. Phan, Jeff and Jadon's cousins were there too. Oh! And Nolan is such a cutie! Okay... I find all babies cute, but I don't want kids of my own! We had this discussion last night and Phan agrees. Hehe!

Karen lent me some cookbooks and she even passed along this (super old) cookbook that Chan c-moe got as a wedding gift which was passed to Karen when she married off to another city! We had a little "ceremony" and took a photo to send to C-moe haha! I really enjoyed the time with them. I even asked Karen if she will follow us back to Edmonton next year! They recently moved from Edmonton to Vancouver, so it just seems like wherever we go these days, Calvin and Karen are always close by! We should be seeing them again in two weeks. This time, they will come visit us in Abbotsford, can't wait!


Karen taught me a very simple and yummy dish. I tried it out for lunch today... Enoki mushrooms wrapped in beef with black pepper sauce!


After hanging out at the Wans, we went to get some groceries at T&T (again!). I will go to T&T for food every opportunity I get! Actually, another reason why I wanted to go was to get a $15 off coupon for The Greater Vancouver Lantern Festival (in Richmond). I've never been to a Lantern Festival. I've always wanted to go either in Montreal or Toronto, just never had a chance to. But to be honest, I was so disappointed last night. The displays were too "Chinese" and old fashion! We speed-walked through the whole festival in 15 minutes. I probably would not have gone even if it was for free, we ended up paying $10 per person with the coupon and $5 for parking. Well, here's my favourite display... the Totem Poles.


Disappointment aside, I had fun yesterday and it was great catching up with some old friends from Montreal. I guess what they say is true. This world is small, indeed. Even though I am now away from home and people who I used to be close with have moved away from Montreal, we will all meet again one day. Even if not in Edmonton, BC or Seattle, we will definitely meet again when we see our Heavenly Father. I guess this comforts me a little as I am still trying not to miss my family and friends too much. Sometimes I just can't help it as it can get lonely here in Abbotsford.

The complete photoalbum: A Day in Vancouver

Busy or Bored?

I finally sorted out all the photos from our trip to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand. It took so long because we took lots of photos with 4 different cameras, so I had to put everything in order and delete the unnecessary ones.

Some of the photos are also on Facebook, but not all of them... can't put everything on Facebook!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Home)
Port Dickson, Malaysia (Water Chalet)
Hong Kong
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok Canal Tour, Thailand
The Ancient City Tour, Thailand
Bangkok Aquarium, Thailand

Ever since our wedding, our schedule has been tight. We left right away to Asia, visited some relatives, hung out with some friends whenever we could squeeze them in our schedule and our families had 4 banquets to celebrate our wedding. Even when we came back to Montreal, we had a busy schedule.


We made it just in time for Lam and Hoi-Ying's wedding, we spent some time with cutie Nathan then LP left right away (came back on Friday, he left on Monday) to Abbotsford. I stayed another week and a half to settle things for my business and deal with the mess I made from our wedding. We were in such a hurry to leave for Asia that everything was just dumped in the basement after the wedding.



Oh and of course, thanks Joshua and Ruby for the yummy dinner before I left Montreal!

Once I came to Abbotsford, everything changed all of a sudden. No more running around meeting people or trying to get everything, no more hectic schedules. Everything slowed down. But maybe slowed down too much. If you know me well, I'm not the type to just sit around and do nothing, I have to do something. I am itching to do something productive and not just sit here all day sorting out my photo. HA! I guess I should really figure out what to do with my business. It's difficult to do any business when I'm always traveling around.

Alright, so let me go and try to do something productive now (not that buying groceries, cleaning and cooking aren't productive)... but as you can see, blogging everyday means "I'm bored."

Freshly Fried...

We just had some fried calamari for lunch... YUMMM! And yes, I made it from scratch!

Life in Abbotsford, BC

Yes, an update a lot of you have been bugging me about... Lots to update, so let's just start from the beginning of this whole Abbotsford thing (I'll update about our Asia "Wedding Tour" another day). This is what I came "home" to after getting off the plane at the smallest airport I've ever been to in my life (airport with only 1 gate)...

THIS HUGE MESS!


Yes... LP managed to mess up this place within just one week of being here. Now the "after" pics... after I spent some time cleaning it up and redecorating the place...

Couldn't stand the green color of the couch, so had to cover them up with something... doesn't look too nice, but better than what's underneath those sheets.






And... here's the rest of the condo.

Entrance...

Guest bathroom...

Laundry room / storage...
LP's study (書房)

Pretty big balcony...

Master bedroom... by the way, we NEVER make our bed (and everyone knows that!)... but I did it just this once, for the purpose of these photos.




Walk-in closet from the master bedroom to the bathroom...

Bathroom #2...


We are very blessed that the church LP interns at is able to afford such a beautiful condo for us. It is very close to everything like the bank, supermarket, the mall, fast foods, car rentals... everything is within walking distance.

Oh and this is what the previous intern pastor left us in the fridge... what a gift!

It's been exactly a week since I got here. I think I became such a 師奶 "si lie" over night, literally.

All I have been doing is pretty much grocery shopping, cleaning, tidying and cooking three meals a day... Yup, three meals a day and lots of food! At this rate, I think LP will gain weight pretty quickly.
















Calvin and Karen are right... wherever we go, as long as there's Lee Kam Kee, we will have good food! This is what I brought from Montreal...


I'm glad I brought those with me because a Chinese supermarket is a 30-minute drive from where we are, it's not even in Abbotsford anymore, we've to go past Langley to Surrey for a T&T Supermarket. And I can't live without yummy Chinese food. Fastfoods and take-outs are just not my thing. I'm proud to say that we haven't had one single meal out so far! But I should stop depending on Lee Kam Kee and pre-marinated food and really learn how to cook from scratch.

Even though it's 30 minutes away, we still made a trip there and we stocked up gooood! Our super long bill came out to $368.53 + another $100 from another place. We went shopping after lunch, but both of us got really hungry just being in T&T (it's not surprising for me, but it's rare for LP to get hungry just looking at food). We just couldn't resist! Our excuse for buying so much was because we decided not to buy a car, we needed to rent a car to go that distance, so might as well go all out.



Some of you asked me how was church on Sunday. Well I dunno... we had to leave right away after service to buy some more things for the house and had to return our rented car. And I didn't really bother going to church early to meet the people. So I can't really say. Though the people who sat around me were very friendly. And at the beginning of every month, they recognize those whose birthday was that month, so I had to go up on stage... with this other guy who was turning NINETY-EIGHT! But I was pretty much all by myself in front of the whole congregation. There was suppose to be more people, but the rest of them were out-of-town for vacation. As much as I miss MCAC, I do look forward to worshiping at that church on Sundays.

Here's what LP's office looks like...




So far, it is a pretty boring town because there's really nowhere I can go and no one I know to hang out with... all the people are so far away in Vancouver! Though we do plan on visiting Vancouver sometime soon. Well, Joe Choi is right... Abbotsford "is pretty much a white middle-upper class Bible-belt town." Many Christian organization headquarters are here, including Campus for Christ. So next time Joe comes here for a conference or Gloria and Lydia come here for training, I will have someone to hang out with!