Autumn days

Sometimes I make simple things too complicated, even writing a blog post, which is why I haven't been sharing much. I often try to blog only when I can craft a detailed post about my life lately but because life has been so full and busy, I never get to it because I want to wait till I have a proper time to do it. Anyway, I have slowly learned that this "ideal" is not going to happen so it's better for me to just share some snapshots from these autumn days before winter comes again (it is actually already coming since we just adjusted our clock one hour back for the winter time).

It has been another weekend of serving with the cocm gospel team outside of Milton Keynes so I get a day of rest today (Monday). Here are some autumn goodies we made at the centre.

homemade apple cider

The most beautiful season

Yes, autumn/fall is my favourite season. I just love the colours, the leaves, the cool temperature, the food associated with it (apples, pumpkin...), excuses to go somewhere indoor and have a cup of coffee kind of days, and scarfs.

Even though it is the most beautiful season of the year, it is also the busiest for me. Lots of studying need to be done and I have been traveling a bit during the weekends with the COCM gospel team to hold evangelistic nights for new Chinese students in the UK. Church and fellowship here in Bristol have been a big part of my life this season, in addition to learning how to live better (cooking, exercising, trying to work on discipline etc). 

Here are some photos from here and there that I took within the last two months.

Wishing you a happy October while it is still here!

Evening light

A few window shots of the gorgeous sunlight from my room at COCM when I was volunteering there last month.

Christmas break recap

This Christmas break was a busy time for me because I not only had to be working on my essay that is 60% of my grade for the module I took this past semester, I also had a few mini trips planned. The first trip was a 3-day trip to Manchester city with 8 other Malaysian friends.
In Manchester, we visited the City Art gallery,

the Christmas market outside of Arndale Mall,
the Old Trafford Stadium, home of Manchester United football team,

   and a nice breakfast place called Koffee Pot on our last day there.

After a few days of staying home and working hard on the assignment, it's time to go spend Christmas in Darlington.

On the train to Darlington.

Good food, warmth of a home, and good company. It was a relaxing and restful time, just what I needed. On Christmas morning, we went to church and sang carols to celebrate the birth of our Saviour who came to earth to give us life eternal. Christmas dinner was a spread of goodies including lamb shank stew, mashed sweet potato and carrots, roast chicken, and our homemade mille crepes for dessert. After dinner we exchanged gifts and had fun seeing what each other got.

After Darlington was York before I headed to a 5-day year end camp for Chinese students in Europe.

The camp was a wonderful time of sharing, listening to others' life stories, witnessing God's amazing power in changing lives, getting to know new friends, re-learning spiritual truths and habits, learning how to be a servant, experiencing God's love, and being revived/prepared to start 2013 with joy and purpose.

"Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

1 Corinthians 1:7-9 

Have a great 2013 everyone!