fall's here but one can hardly agree when it's 45 degrees celsius here!

but today was an Eph3:20 day for me. 

Erin invited us to come with her and some friends: Gordon, Eliana, Olga, n 2 boys - Benny n Benton. Erin kindly came and pick us up at the dorm. 

went hiking around Brandy Creek and up to the waterfalls. had a little trouble climbing there but soon i got more used to it. it was cool up in the mountains. the view and the forest got me really glad. took alot of pictures. one of those were of hundreds of ladybugs. whole logs were full of them. Oliver told us that ladybugs are called "defender of the harvest." and farmers love them cos they eat aphids and other pests that destroy their crops. 

at the waterfall i had a wonderful time worshipping God. i felt God's presence sitting there on the rock. 

after getting back into our cars, the boys went down to the another waterfall to swim. we didnt go cos the climb down was taxing. i thought we wouldnt have another chance to swim. Olga suggested we go to the lake to eat our very late lunches after 3pm). 

after understanding where we were heading to Whiskeytown lake i was elated. 

last sat my dorm friends went to whiskeytown lake n i chose to stay back to do my book reports and spend time reflecting. i told God i wanted to go to the lake and around the mountains but not that sat.

God answered the very next sat! and over and beyond! we had great company. and food. and i escaped the heat. 

today's ben's birthday. we had a birthday celebration for him.  40 odd of us were at the BBQ area (yes... juz outside my room....) after singing "Happy Birthday", we gathered around him and started prophesying and praying for him. went on and so long and then after, rick asked if he could have the honour to wash his feet. wow. i was really blown away by these mostly 18 year olds and few older ones. they are incredible! and the gifts they operate in... wow such move of God... my heart was so filled up just seeing the love displayed and the honour given to this dear brother. 

kris Vallotton's messages were powerful. everyday here is like... so overwhelming. i'm receiving so much in the spirit... my mind cannot make sense of what's happening inside yet. but i know God's working... 

everything's good here. i really feel overwhelming blessed.

d food's here's so good too! i was concerned that i wud miss rice since i m such a rice person. but... the dining center has been giving me rice at least 4 days out of the 8 that i've been here! n today... they actually had our kind of rice! u noe wat i mean? the past few days were mexican grains. today's tasted like Thai Fragrant rice! i was elated! God's so good to me! n on top of that, there's this Filipino who has brought a packet of rice n rice cooker! n we r sharing. well, i'm cooking. so we'll have dat rice whenever i finally get down to cook. =)

1 down thing is that my room's right in front of the BBQ compound. besides the lounge, people gather there to worship and have our Holy Ghost parties where they get drunk on..... well the Holy Ghost! so the noise of drums and guit, loud singing, and people praying n laughing hysterically is to be expected. what i didnt expect was the smoke.... they lit a fire for the past 3 nights. i had to close my window n door, stuff wet towel in the gaps where smoke can come in. n joanne claimed our things smelled.  oh well.

things have settled down well. work is getting due and so i've been hitting my book hard =) it's weird cos i have to take sometime to shake off my university studying mindset. it's very different here.  there's no pressure but the KS thing just auto on n i have to shut it down. i took time to shake off the thesis writing mode n tell myself, "hey, i'm doing my assignments not to score here. it's for me to learn. i can do it in whatever format, and ways i like."

main thing dat i have been doing is juz thanking God. 2 sit at the feet of spiritual giants and learn from them, staying with young people who are so on fire.... i'm really overwhelming blessed. it's heaven here on earth!

...obedience to the Spirit is everything. few have ever been so willing to trust in the Lord to this degree, and few have ever seen true revival because of it. if the Lord does not show up at our meetings we always have a pretty good program anyway. if the Lord completely departed from many churches the would never realise it. but those who have tasted of His presence can never again be satisfied merely with program - they have the Lord. even though the hype, manipulation and programs have wearied the church to the degree that the hunger for the Lord Himself that is beginning to rise in her. the church at the end of this age will return to her first love. she will be so compelled to draw near to Him, that he will draw near to her - on a scale that will signify that even this great Welsh Revival was but a foretaste of the harvest that is the end of the age. - Rick Joyner, A World Aflame. 

in the natural realm, you get hungry when you dont eat.

in the supernatural realm, you get hungry for what you eat. 

if you dont feel hungry for God, for prayer, for revival, for the lost, 

feed on the Word, sermons, books on those. 

it is abnormal for a Christian not to have an appetite for the impossible. it has been written into our spiritual DNA to hunger for the impossibilities around us to bow at the name of Jesus.

the lack of miracles isnt because it is not in God's will for us. the problem exists between our ears. - Bill Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth

nocturnal no more?! culture shock n more...

i was a nocturnal person, a night owl so to say. but here... i'm finally in the right time zone! while in spore i sleep ard 3am, i hit the sack early here. n i get up at 5-7am here. i used to get plenty done b4 i go to bed, now i get plenty done b4 i go to sch! well, some say i'll slowly turn back to being a night person. i dont know. one step at a time is what i live by here. or... one plunge at a time.

i feel like i've moved from a place where the power of the Holy Spirit trickled, to a deep deep ocean where i've plunged right into. 

while i've settled in with the room, weather, food, schedule, i havent with the socialising.i had some sort of a culture shock. it's interesting. i've been to lots of countries, n places but coming n staying in one beyond the "mission trip" has gotten me into some kind of stress. and i found myself less sociable than normal. i didnt want to hang out and talk to people. there are SO poeple. and SO friendly too. (here the dining rooms have big round tables like the ones we get at wedding dinners). the 1st 2 days got me not wanting to talk to pp. but today's international students' briefing helped me identified what's going on with me. 

and also, the homework on readings was getting to me.realised i had huge weird expectations on myself. n after so many years out of sch n coming into it with all these young people got me anxious abt my homework!

thank God He showed me the stress building up that is spilling onto my roommate n keeping me from enjoying people - something i had mostly enjoyed. during worship i handed to God my stress. and i had such a wonderful sense of freedom n release. the worship, the teaching sessions etc are so anointed. 

what i really like about here is the expectation of God. for Him to move and He sure does! 1st day of sch has seen some incredible healing amongst the students already! and alot of specific direct, timely word from God. 

a new blog look

hi all, 

as promised... a new look to evan-essence's blog! many requested bigger fonts etc so yeah... here it is, simple, blogspot's template. so i said good-bye to my tatter teddy template for this nice pink one.  (i used to have a hot pink with anime..rememeber? LOL) 

today is the 1st day of school. it is.... 6.53am now... i did my quiet time, bathed and ready to go for breakfast. 

i have lots to tell ya... soon lah... i'm trying to settle down... n spend more time with God. it's really amazing here. people really love God. they love talking abt God. He pops up in every conversation. my classmates n hallmtes' idea of a wild time (or how they spend their time, being quiet or rowdy) is... worship. i mean real serious, gr8 worship. we had one at the common room last night after the hall mandatory meeting. it was really awesome. one could really sense God 's presence so strong in the room as we sang, "delight in me... delight in me...."

i cant tell u how glad i m to be in the company of so many pp (n young ones too! like 18 years old) who are so sensitive to the Spirit. in spore i find a handful... here, it's a huge roomful. we can sense the change in atmosphere and we looked up in a slight "wow" look at one another. 

i go around in church (on sun) n sch, n cafeteria having not even a muted sense of excitement. it just feels like "everyday norm" to me. i mean... like any other day. i wondered at it. i think my "revival group" leader hit the nail on the head when he said to me, "welcome home." 

it's like finally, radical is norm. and God showing up is always hungered, expected, sought for, celebrated, honoured. 

i cant wait to see what God has in store for me. 

a quick one b4 i go wash up.

today was an answered prayer. i have found meeting up with people for closures extremely tiring. i didnt expect that but i really was pretty beat for the past weeks. n i prayed for good rest etc. today i woke up refreshed and ready. i realised i shall restrict my sleep instead of giving over to sleep until i 'shuang' cos then i'd oversleep and get a headache. had time to relax, read bible, read book, tick off some tasks on my to-do, then went for a haircut b4 going down to church for worship pract.

abi n vince surprised me with a pink NANO!!!! with engraved personalised message. so nice. was a relief vince remembered that pink is my fav colour! cos abi had nearly gotten me green!

then i had dinner with joanna or so i tot. turned out she successfully organised a surprise farewell gathering for me! James, Terence, Edlyn n Edwin, HQ, Queen, joanna n Jon.
m juz so touched.

thank You God for showing me such love through people!