“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
- 1 Timothy 6:17-18 -

Today, I learned that I am rich. I have a car, an ipod, a laptop, a cellphone, tons (and tons) of clothes, more than enough money for food, clean drinking water, etc. I am rich.

Yet, I am still seeking after the latest technology, latest styles, latest stuff. It seems that what I currently have is never good enough for me. It never occurred to me that whatever that is not good enough for me, is MORE than enough for the (approximately) 3 billion people who are living on less than $2.50 a day. I am very rich.

You are probably rich too.

Here’s something to ponder over: Ask yourself, “how can I bless others with what God has blessed me with?”

1) I moved into a new house with 4 other girls. We were blessed to have gotten a big house for a good price, as well as tons of cheap/free furniture! So here is a little bit of what our house looks like:

This is the room that I share with Mei Yee. What you are seeing now is my little study space (a little messy, as usual) and my piano.

This is our bed and contrasting-colored bed stuff

This is what our typical dinner would look like. Just thought I’d show it (random, I know)..

2) Robyn and I decided to bring a whole bunch of girls on a mini camping trip one weekend. It was.. Quite an adventure Most of the girls have never been camping before, so it was their first time out in the wild! (Tee hee) We made our own fire and s’mores; we built our own tents (kind of.. Okay, we had some help from Ryan and Lee); we went rafting!

All of us in front of our huge tent (it even had a “porch”!)

Beautiful fire

Robyn and I in the middle of Horsehead Lake!

“We conquered the rubber raft!!! Hoo-ha-ha!!”

3) One of the big school-related events that happened was the annual Family Weekend. Basically, a whole lot of kids and parents come to our school for the weekend, and we have would have a lot of activities planned out for them, one of which is the organizational fund raisers. Fortissimo, the music club, did a piano-smash up thing where people paid to beat up an old, can’t-be-saved piano. It was totally beaten to death The International Fall Festival was also one of the highlights of the weekend! Basically, what happens is that all the International students would get together and showcase their country’s ethnic food. This year, the “Malaysia team” made Mua Chi and Red Bean Soup (which we introduced as “Chewy Peanut Dessert” and “Hot Red Bean Dessert” ).

The dead piano.

Pretty girls from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong

Today, I stumbled across this website “where people share with the world their most hopeful, uplifting moments and allow others to draw strength from their experiences”. It’s like Twitter (or the Facebook status), except that most of the things that are written are meant to encourage the readers and Give [Them] Hope.

Here are some of my favorites:

“At the grocery store I work at, a young lady with a baby just got done scanning her cartfull or groceries, but both of her cards were denied and she had no cash. She quietly asked to have them put back, when the man behind her said ‘I’ll pay for them’ and smiled. They were total strangers. GMH”

“Today I was walking in town with my 4-year-old daughter and it began to rain. I didn’t have an umbrella so I used my coat to try to shelter her from the rain. At a stoplight, a young woman tossed her umbrella out her window at us, smiled, and drove away. GMH.”

“My friend’s younger sister was coming home by herself when a guy on the bus began hassling her. An elderly man on the other side of the bus stood up and demanded that the guy “leave his granddaughter alone”. The guy stopped, and got off at the next stop. The elderly man was a stranger. GMH.”

“My aunt was dying of breast/bone cancer, and was completely broke and in a ton of pain, yet when she found out her hospice nurse needed a new pair of sneakers, she gave her everything she could: a jar of change she’d been saving for 10 years. Her memory GMH.”

“I was sick and couldn’t sleep and was afraid that I was keeping my husband awake. I told him that I would sleep in the living room since he had to go to work in the morning. He picked up my blankets and pillows and joined me in the living room because he didn’t want me to sleep alone. His love GMH.”

Here’s mine:

“A couple of weeks ago, I observed a man and his wife from my church carry their crippled daughter to the bathroom. Their simple act of love for their daughter touched me to tears. They GMH.”

I’ve been back for about three weeks now.. So what have happened since?

1) I have been roaming around KL a lot with my dear old friends (old as in “we’ve been friends for a long time”) and enjoying GOOD FOOD that I do not get in America. *Burp*

2) I attended half of the Basic Life Seminar in my second week back. It’s basically a video seminar that teaches about how to live a biblically abundant life. Although I have attended this seminar before, I still learned a lot from the speaker

3) Joel came down to KL and we (including my family) went to Bangkok to visit my Aunty and to do a bit of holiday-ing. Over there, we had more GOOD FOOD and was also exposed to a whole variety of cheap clothes! So basically, we ate and shopped our hearts out during the whole trip Other than that, I was also exposed to the traditional Thai massage, as well as the oil massage for the first time. My lower back was significantly hurt by the tradiational Thai massage, so I know that I’m never going to do that again (don’t worry, it’s okay now, thanks to my mother’s “reversal” massage). However, the oil massage was really nice! A word of caution: They do the massage on your back AND front (I found out a little too late). We also met up with Amy/Attawan Wonapotimuke, my cute Thai friend with the long name Anyway, she was very helpful in helping us to translate and bargain. Thank you, Amy!

I currently do not have any pictures of our trip, but my mom wrote a pretty extensive blog post about it, so you can read more about what we did over here.

4) I visited most of Joel’s relatives last week!

That’s pretty much the highlights of what happened since I came back to Malaysia.

I think it’s quite obvious that I’ve not been blogging much.. But this is about to change! I told myself that I need to commit to blogging more so that people away from where I am will know what’s going on in my life. So please be patient with me!

I can’t wait to go home!

My God is so Big
So Strong and so Mighty
There’s Nothing my God cannot do
For YOU!

Think about it!

The mountains are His
The rivers are His
The stars are His handiwork too!

If God made the mountains, rivers and stars, kept them in place and is in control of all other created beings, he should be able to take care of my (and your) hectic Finals month schedule right?

It’s been awhile since Chinese New Year

Anyway, these are some things that happened since then:

1) School’s been keeping me busy. My classes are not terribly difficult this semester, but they do require a lot of work. They’re interesting though! For instance, in one of my classes, I was required to be “crippled”/be in a wheelchair for half a day. That was SO interesting! I bet you’ve never thought about how people who can’t walk go pee in the bathroom. THINK about it! I couldn’t figure it out! That project really gave me a new sense of respect and admiration for people who are physically impaired in the legs!

2) God has blessed me with many, many jobs this semester! I got an office job, a job accompanying the choir, a piano teaching job, a house cleaning job, a job teaching music theory.. I don’t have to ask my mom to help pay for my car insurance this time!

3) I and a few of my friends (actually, one of them is my cousin) decided to move off campus for next semester. We found a potential house that we are going to look at this Friday. I’m so excited!

4) Spring Break was amazing! This is the first Spring Break I got to spend somewhere of my choice. In the previous years, I was stuck with choir tour, which isn’t a bad thing.. But it is nice to actually make my own Spring Break plans for once Anyway, I went to Mt. Magazine (which is not very far away from Mt. Newspaper. Haha Kingsley) for a day trip. I also went to Wichita, Kansas for a short mission trip. I learned how to install insulation in a house while I was there Whenever I was on campus, I got to eat amazing Malaysian food (I’m not going to lie – we have the Best Malaysian cooks on our campus)! And my Spring Break ended with a day trip to Dustin’s house. We planned on going canoeing, but it snowed. On the 28th of March, when the trees and flowers were blooming >< So we played Taboo and Charades instead

5) God is moving on the University of the Ozarks campus!!!

6) I bought my tickets back to Malaysia! Joel and I are set to arrive back in Malaysia on the 1st of June! Can’t wait!

This year, the Ozarks Malaysians celebrated Chinese New Year at Dr. Niece’s house. This is a first in Ozarks history!

We had a group of 50+ people (Malaysians and friends) meet at the house for a potluck dinner, and Boy was it a feast! We had all kinds of foods (curry, fried rice, fried noodles, meats of different kinds, etc.), and all kinds of dessert (sago, agar-agar, konyaku jelly, pao!). We even had Yee Sang!

At the end of the makan (eating) session, President Niece provided us with noise-makers, thingys that sound like firecrackers when you shake them, and other party gadgets. And as you can see in the following video, after we were given those “toys,” we started acting as if it were our grandfather’s house. We were really loud, as usual la And crazy too. But it’s okay, because the President joint in with the craziness. Hehe Ah.. Good times

Anyway, Happy Chinese New Year la Remember to save me an Ang Pao ar!

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
-Luke 10:38-42-

I’ve learned last year that being busy can be satisfying, as one will have the opportunity to accomplish more; however, being too busy can be really trying on one’s spirit. I have always been a Martha, and last year, I learned that really I don’t want to be her. With God’s grace, my eyes were truly opened to the pointlessness of worry and the consequences of stress.

Really.. Why do we worry?? It doesn’t take the problem away. It doesn’t make you feel any better about the situation. All it does is make you want to curl up in a ball and cry your eyes out, which, like I said earlier, does not help! So yea.. I’ve always known this. But this really only truly dawned upon me (made me go “OHHHHHHHH..”) late last year, right before my final exams. Oh yea, because of that, I did not stress out during my finals. Let me repeat: Anna Yong did not stress out during her finals week! Well, if I did, it was a teeny tiny bit la

Back to the main point, this year, I want to become a Mary. So this is my new year’s resolution: I long to know God more through more in-depth bible studies; I desire to have a deeper personal and intimate relationship with Him. And God-willing, I really do want to rid my life of stress and worry. I realize that this is humanly impossible, BUT all things are possible through Christ, right?

These are my heart’s desires..

I’m praying for change

It all started on Christmas Eve.. That night, I was asked to accompany the Christmas Eve service (on the piano) at First Presbyterian Church. It was a beautiful service that ended with everyone standing in a circle by candlelight, singing “Silent Night”

Also, at the end of the service, God gave me a rather unexpected Christmas present: A Big Fat Check! You see, I’ve been quite broke for the last two and a half months, and I was really worried about how I was going to pay for groceries and stuff during Christmas break because I can’t work at school at that time! But all is good now. Phew!

After the service, Joel, Susan, Angust and I headed over to Spring’s (my host mom) house for Christmas Eve dinner. It was fantastic! We had good food, good entertainment (Wii Bowling, Tennis and Boxing – they never fail to entertain), and good laughs. One of Spring’s sisters brought some really interesting and festive Sodas for us to try.. By festive, I meant Soda flavors that go with the traditional American Christmas meals: Turkey and Gravy (Yes! Turkey and Gravy SODA!), Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes (This was the most disgusting one of all), Fruit  Cake, and Cranberry Sauce (This was actually quite yummy!). So yup, we all had our taste of those sodas. They were interesting alright They tasted and smelled exactly like whatever they claimed to taste like, except they had a tinge of sweetness and good soda gas in them. Ick!

Then Midnight came, and.. Happy Birthday Me! I got to open my presents

The next day, Joel and I were invited to have Christmas lunch at the Walkers’ house. We had steak and shrimp for lunch! Their family tradition is to have non-traditional meals on Christmas day. Tee Hee

On Christmas night, the four Malaysians went over to the Do’s residence and spent Christmas dinner with four Vietnamese. After dinner, we played Uno, watched a movie, and.. Ate my birthday cake!

Yes, I just turned a year old

This cake was personally “handmade” by Phuong Do, the most amazing Vietnamese cook that I know! Waaa.. This is the second personalized birthday cake I had in a row. *Grins*

Christmas doesn’t end here! On the 26th, Dr. Lindstrom invited Joel and I over to his house to have Christmas dinner with his family – Swedish style. Waaaaaa.. *Mouth waters* It was Good! And after that, we played more of the Wii But this time, we played Wii Music!

So that’s about it for my Christmas 2008 experience. I still got teary-eyed and emotional when I read about all the happenings at home.. I really miss everyone! But nevertheless, I had an AMAZING Christmas/Birthday experience this year. I want to thank everyone who made Christmas yet another memorable time for me, and that includes the people who called, wished me on Facebook, gave me wonderful and meaningful gifts, gave me big tight hugs, etc. I especially want to thank Joel Chan, my amazing boyfriend, who took the trouble to make sure Christmas 2008 was a special one for me