Transform and Encounter

Another hectic round of seminars has just passed and I found myself having air to breathe again. Time to update what I've been doing so far since last week. Well last Thursday was a particularly enlightening time at St. George's CG time. We didn't have the regular sessions at the church center and we have instead the Transform tour on the various community works that the church is engaging in ranging from assylum seekers, alcoholics, drug addicts to homeless people. I picked the Crypt tour, which is basically the church's community center which is located just beside the main church building. Although it's an ancient structure that dated back to the the late 19th century, it has since been renovated as recent as last year to a top-class facility which really feels like a 5-star hotel..lol. If I'm homeless and staying for the night, I would definitely think twice about leaving!

The second half of the tour involves a choice of going either to a rehab hostel or a wet hostel. I opted to go to the wet hostel since its an interesting concept I've not heard of. The wet hostel basically takes in alcoholics like the rehab hostel but the difference is that the residents in the wet hostel are still allowed to drink alcohol. Most of them do not have the intention as of yet to quit. On the surface, it may look quite queer and difficult to justify too the existence of a wet hostel but in looking deeper, one would find a different side of the story. I would say this is really something which could be said to be what it takes to really love and care for the lost without expecting anything in return. Most of these alcoholics are unwanted in the streets and to leave them there would be dangerous for their lives since if anything untoward happened to them, nobody would know. Although they may continue with their habits indoors, the very least is that they are safe and have a place to stay. One of the most remarkable stories came from one of the staff workers overseeing the compound and apparently he's a former resident of the hostel 4 years ago and he literally transformed himself over time in his own timing and accord for the better and he was thankful in the sense that if the wet hostel had not taken him in, he would have died on the streets. And look how much God had transformed the situation into, as of now, he's looking to hep the others who are in the same situation as him. It's nice to experience another side of Leeds, the part of it that's filled with poverty and brokeness - the side that most of the public do not take notice. Mhmmm..I'm thinking I may spend some time volunteering to help out at some of these places after all these studying stuffs are done.

During the weekend, it was another getaway retreat but this time its with the Leeds Chinese Christian Church (LCCC) for their encounter weekend. It's a good time to get together with fellow Malaysians and other fellow Chinese Christians peeps. Although the sermon sessions are much more intensive compared to the ones at CU weekend away, I still had the opportunity to squeeze in a little time to have fellowship with the LCCC members, many of whom I had known from the Friday CG sessions. The venue of the retreat is not that far actually, about 10 minutes from the Leeds City Center at Lineham farm. It's one of those countryside areas that is near to the airport which I had spotted when I first landed. At the end of the retreat, it was nice to have one of the church members dropping me off right at the doorstep of my accomodation. Since I'm back early, I had the time to rest up before going for the evening service. Well, that basically sums up my previous week!