Elephant Conservation

Last weekend was hubby's cell group retreat. I went along and 11 of us (and a baby) headed to Selesa Hillhomes at Bukit Tinggi. My favourite endeavour whilst on the retreat was visiting the Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre in Pahang.

We arrived at about 1:45 pm, just in time to see the elephants having a good shower followed by meal time. We brought along fresh sugarcane that we collected at Mr Ooi's (hubby's colleague) plantation in Bentong.

I was pleased to see the elephants in healthy condition, a few of them looked pretty well-fed. I saw 1 baby elephant that had been rehabilitated after being rescued from poachers. He was missing a tail. Another elephant had lost part of his front leg but was still able to walk around slowly, limping. Although I felt sorry for these elephants, I'm glad the conservationists did a wonderful job in rehabilitating them.

It is heartwrenching to know that our precious wildlife animals are going extinct because humans are irresponsibly taking away their habitat without relocating these animals. Elephants are being killed for their body parts and simply because humans feel threatened by them. Elephants have been forced to raid plantations because they are starving from habitat loss.

Currently, there are only 40,000 wild elephants in Asia and 1,200 in Peninsula Malaysia. These animals face extinction unless we take more serious measures to safeguard them.

More details can be found at www.wildlife.gov.my

In Complete Honesty...

I have discovered many things about Christianity after being a Christian for 27 years and working in church for 5 years. Here's what I found... in complete honesty.

Christians are not above the rest. We're the same as everyone else. Not smarter, richer or more talented. Christians can be hypocrites too. Christians face temptations and fall into sin like everyone else. Christians hurt one another.

Sometimes we pretend that everything is nice and rosy but they are not. We go through difficulties, pains and all kinds of sufferings. We cry when people or circumstances break our hearts. People fail us and sometimes we want to run to a place where no one will judge us anymore.

So why am I still a Christian? The answer is Jesus. In the midst of all the problems I have faced, Jesus has been there for me. He sends people to encourage me, he changes circumstances miraculously for me. He has never failed me. He has loved me unconditionally. He picks me up when I fall. He has blessed me beyond measure.

The reason for anyone to become a Christian should not be on how beautiful the church building looks, or how eloquent the pastor speaks, or how good Christians treat us, or how important it makes us feel serving in the church..... because when one of them fails, everything crumbles. The reason for our faith should be Jesus. Only Jesus can forgive us of our sins.

Although Christians are to be perfect like Jesus, they cannot ever replace Jesus... no Christian is perfect. Christians are human too. But Jesus is God and He is perfect in every way.

Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38

More Animal Photos!

Found these beautiful pictures on the internet. Cute animal pictures always makes my heart smile :) Reminds me that God is incredibly creative and humourous. Hope you enjoy them too!

The harp seal pup. Unfortunately, thousands of them are killed by commercial fishing nets and hunters each year.

Human beings must learn to get along like these two.

Polar bears. We must work together in dealing with climate change, pollution, industrial activities and poaching to prevent these beautiful creatures from going extinct.

Smiling bull terriers. How sweet :) I think bull terriers are widely misunderstood. Many think they are vicious dogs, but having one at home now made me realise they can be really sweet if you love them lots.

Queen Ant

I recently discovered a queen ant living in my anthurium plant! The smaller ants are feeding from it. I don't know how long they've been there... but it must've been since I bought the plant from Ikea months ago. The ants have not seemed migrate to any other part of the house so I have not done anything to them.... yet.

Update: I did some research and discovered that this plant requires insects to climb the spadix and bring the pollen from male flowers to receptive female flowers to pollinate the plant. The authurium spadix also provides a rich food source for the ants. Plants which attract ants are known as myrmecophytes.

Wow..what an interesting discovery from my own garden!

A Black Kitten

The interesting things in life are the surprises that come our way. On the way to lunch last Sunday, Julia suddenly screamed while I was about to make a u-turn. She startled everyone in the car and it took us a few seconds to realise what was happening. Right in the middle of a busy road was a tiny black kitten... and cars were still zooming past! All of us screamed in unison. The kitten would be squashed in no time if we didn't do something. So I stopped, Oli and Julia quickly got out of the car and grabbed the kitten from the middle of the road.

We continued our journey to the restaurant, now with an extra passenger - a black kitten, meowing its heart out. We were all 'dog' people, and didn't know what to do with it. At first we thought it was injured, but after awhile we realised it had no bruises and could walk properly. We tried feeding it water and some meat at the coffee shop, but it didn't seem to know how to eat that way.

As it was a Sunday, all the vets were closed. The sun was already setting so I simply left the kitten at a safe place in church. I went home feeling a little guilty for just leaving the kitten there and prayed that it will survive the night. My friends assured me that cats have 9 lives anyway and strays should be pretty tough.

To my relief, the kitten was still around today, and it seemed to have already explored the area and found a nice cosy corner to sleep in. I bought pet milk and a bottle to feed it. With Tracey's expert advice and experience on cats, we finally got it to drink some milk.

I realised that God really does take care of animals, and we have to do our part too. We cannot turn a blind eye to a living being in need when we have everything it takes to help.

Oli has named it Dewie because its our first Dew Crew animal. Haha. Do contact me if you want to adopt it.

Animal Photographs

Want some professional photos of your pet? Here are some animal photographs from Olivia Oon, a very good friend of mine and a professional photographer too. Oli has an extensive portfolio when it comes to photo shoots - weddings, product shoots, portraiture, corporate events and lots more!

No, Oli didn't ask to be featured here (she probably doesn't like me advertising her... haha) but I wanted her to put her animals photographs on my blog. Animals make great photo and video subjects, they are just so natural, unpretentious and beautiful :)

Frantic Work Schedule

As expected, things have been pretty hectic at work once again... its the end of the year. Am spending 6 consecutive nights at DC this week - we're producing our very first music CD so this week's packed with rehearsals for it. At the same time we're having 3 nights of prayer that began yesterday. I've also got a video shoot for the anniversary video tonight and rehearsals for the weekend service tomorrow night. The CD recording will take place on Sunday afternoon right after Sunday service. Yes, exciting stuff... but pretty tiring too.

I won't be spending much time with hubby this week, and we won't be eating any meals together until Saturday I guess. When I get home around midnight, he will be off to sleep so we can't really have a good chat either. I will miss him this week.

Some recent pics from work:-

Jim mixing the audio for the CD. With him are Alvin and Julia, our faithful sound crew.

I'm amazed that the worship team managed to compose and arrange the songs in such a short span of time! Great job :)

The pictures below were taken during our video shoots in October and November 2009.

I really enjoy working with the media team... a fun lot :) This was taken at Juara Cerdik when we did a shoot with Cynthia, the principal of the school.

Really appreciate the volunteers at our shoots - Audrey, Choon Ean and Grace :)

Our latest toy, the Rode Blimp and dead wombat. I felt really sad when I read the words 'Dead Wombat' on the box. I thought this company were killing wombats for their fur. My fears were unfounded when during one of our shoots, Alvin mentioned that it was just synthetic fur. Just to double check, I searched through the internet and he was right. Synthetic fur. Silly me :)

Hope, the 2 legged Maltese

I found yet another inspiring story on the internet of a Maltese called Hope. Hope was born without her two front legs and as a puppy, she moved around by hopping about (see video below).

As hopping about would eventually damage her spine and bones, an orthotist called David Turnbill created a device with makeshift shoulder joints using wheels from a model airplane for Hope.

It took some practising, and after awhile Hope had mastered the art of wheeling herself around!

Story taken from Daily Mail

Its so heartwarming to hear of people who would care enough to help a tiny puppy like Hope. Many people would have given up on her and possibly have her put down.

I'm reminded that in each person lies the potential to make a lasting change in another person or animal's life. We shouldn't give up so easily but always try to bring a glimmer of hope for one who needs it.

Proverbs 12:10
A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.

Nyac the Sea Otter

Whilst surfing the internet for this weekend's sermon pictures I came across a really cute picture of 2 otters holding hands!

Then a video too...

The otter's name is Nyac. Unfortunately, she passed away on 28 September 2008. Here's her story taken from Vancouver Aquarium:-

"Nyac was originally rescued from the infamous 1989 Exxon Valdex oil spill off the coast of Alaska. She was six months old at the time, too young to fend for yourself. As a result, she was rehabilitated at Vancouver Aquarium and has spent the majority of her 20-year-old life under the care of the Aquarium staff. She has entertained and educated countless visitors...

Nyac is one of the longest surviving otters in captivity. Her health started to deteriorate in July and she finally succumbed to leukemia recently. "Her life has been an amazing journey for all of us to share," said Clint Wright, senior vice-president of aquarium operations and planning."

Animals never cease to amaze me. They bring smiles to people when no one can. They can melt hearts that have been frozen in time. Maybe God created them for this reason :)

This is it - Michael Jackson

I watched 'This is it' with some friends last night and I was pretty blown away. Many thoughts went through my mind as I watched the footage of Michael Jackson's rehearsals and I left with a myriad of mixed feelings.

This is what I saw...

Michael Jackson was a star in every sense. He was amazingly talented (understatement). He composed his songs, performed them and choreographed the dance steps. He knew what he wanted and he never settled for anything less.

His team respected (or even worshipped) him and their attention was constantly on him. Michael didn't have to shout or repeat himself too many times. Once was usually enough.

I kept thinking about how nobody expected Michael to pass away so suddenly. They had enormous plans.....suddenly halted by the death of the superstar. It must have been devastating for everyone.

I wondered what Michael would do differently if he knew he was leaving so early. And what would he say now... if he had the chance?

Nobody knows when our time will be up - only God knows. The best thing to do is always be ready.

Cell Group Retreat

My cell group finally managed to go for a retreat again after 3 years. It was a short 3 day 2 night trip to Cameron Highlands and we stayed at Equatorial. We were pretty pleased with the place, quite spacious, clean and very quiet considering it was the weekend.

There are lots of strawberry farms in Cameron Highlands and we went to the one nearest our hotel. Its a great time to do strawberry picking as its not school holidays and there are lots of strawberries left on the plants... but we didn't pick any because we took the free tour. Haha.

Cameron Highlands is an ideal place to have a steamboat meal. We went to the one next to our hotel again.. and it was yummy :)

We also dropped by the Butterfly Farm and we ended up more interested in their collection of insects. Below is the leaf insect which really fascinated me. It really looks like a leaf!!!

Having our lunch at Brinchang. Lots of Chinese restaurants around and we picked randomly. The food was pretty good.

A unique plant at the Butterfly farm... such nicely rolled petals!

Lots of pretty plants and butterflies... good opportunity for photographs :)

At the Boh tea plantation past Tanah Rata. I wanted to go to another one but it wasn't on the map. Found out later its called Sungai Palas Tea Plantation.