Melbourne April '08

My short trip to Melbourne (4 days) was just about the best thing that could happen to me over the since the year started. It was just what I needed: time away; many hours to do nothing; great food; too many coffees for your own good... pretty much perfect.

Ok I'm sure many people know I love Australia, especially Sydney. But when you can't get Sydney, Melbourne comes a close 2nd!


Here's some highlights from my trip:

Matthew & Sue Lynn's wedding
Ok this wedding was the reason for our (Chris & I) need to make the trip down to Melbourne in the first place. Sue Lynn is our longtime friend from ACJC (she was in SB1, me in SB2, Chris in SB3).

Ok about this point, I could actually start gushing and raving about the wedding like how silly girls do, but I'm gonna spare you people that horror. Haha...

But seriously now, it was a fantastic wedding. THE BEST. The quaint little chapel on a hill; the fantastic weather; the simple worship team made our of just a guitar, a piano and 2 voices; the 2 fantastic pastors who did the ceremony and the exhortation: and of course... the bride and groom themselves.

The ceremony was similar to what we have in Singapore, in our Anglican church. But the pastor conducting the ceremony (Ps Timothy Goh, their pastor over there) just put so much heart into the whole ceremony, bringing out the rich meanings and symbolisms of each step in the marriage service. Fantastic...and the speaker who did the exhortations was awesome too. (he's from Singapore, so Connect... you'll get to hear him! haha)

Oh oh.. and the wedding dinner!... it was at this restaurant by the lake, which was beautiful. And Matt & Sue chose the place because their first date was at a restaurant ACROSS the lake on the other side! Haha... how cool.

Ok I'm done talking about the wedding. If you wanna know more ask me when you see me.

Kax
Kax was our "host" for the trip, and I think we hung out with her every day we were there, except when we were at the wedding.

It was good to see her again and I think I spoke to her more than I ever did in Singapore... (maybe... haha). Hanging out with her was good fun. And we spent most of our time eating, and eating... Haha!... Hanging out at cafes, yum cha, meat & wine co. Shiokness...

Take care Kax! Thanks so much for the company and the chats. I hope you managed to get your "money's worth" of dirt. Heh...

Planetshakers
Oh yeah, and we (the people) went to Planetshakers for church as well. This was my 2nd time to the church for service and I was blessed by the service. It was an awesome time. The songs were unfamiliar and quite hard to catch at times, but God's presence was there and there was a real sense of worship in the place.

The Word of God was brought by Christine Caine from Hillsong. What a woman of God, with an even more powerful testimony! I was pretty impacted by her message as well. She preached on "Stop Acting Like a Christian, BE One!". Good stuff. We were saying she really reminds us of Auntie Carol at times.

If anyone wants to borrow her book, you can let me know. I bought a copy. Haha. (ihavetoomanybooks)

Ok I'm done with Melbourne for now. If I've got anything else to post I'll add it later... meanwhile standby for pics...