12.12.08
Location: Wu Han
Next stop: Beijing
Second day here in Wu Han, so I haven't seen much yet.
Qiandao Hu was an absolute delight.
There are literally a thousand islands on the lake that is abt the size of Singapore.
A few of those islands are open to tourists and each of those islands has sth entertaining.
One is called Ostrich Island,
and we rode on an ostrich there!
They have keepers on the islands and they take care of the animals that have been put onto the islands for tourism purposes.
Then there's a Snake Island where they rear snakes (shivers...) and we took photos with the boa constrictor i think.
eew. it was so heavy and scaly.
oh and we fed deers too.
they were really cute eh!
but the most thrilling experience was probably hand feeding peacocks and taking photos with a tame one.
i bet not many ppl get to hug a peacock eh!
it's been brought up to be used to human handling so it just sat on its perch and let us pat it and hug it(:
that's the gist of what happened at Qiandao Hu.
really exciting for us and the view is breathtaking.
the water is so clear too.
i have also, in the past wk, officially coined the word "Shruti".
SHRUTI:
(n)someone who exists non-existently; to be ignored
e.g. "Throughout the entire lecture, no one was listening to the professor's words of wisdom. By the end of it, he had become a shruti."
the more i use it, the more it grows on me.
it just sounds like a proper word.
joyce and jamie has started using it too.
although, quite annoyingly, they tend to use it on me.
dad has been busy preparing for his lectures at each of our stop.
ytd he was at Zhe Jiang University,
and this morning he was giving a talk at HUST
(Huazhong University of Sci&Tech).
i hope he doesn't become a shruti like in my example,
but i doubt he will.
i went to one of his lectures once,
at the open day of UC,
and it was really quite entertaining and fascinating.
i was impressed.
jamie's diahorrea is still as bad.
joyce's condition is improving slowly.
i'm basically well and alive.
i think the hotel we checked into last night is haunted,
well i don't know.
once a pastor or sth came to church,
and he was talking abt the gifts of the spirit.
and on the spot he began to identify certain gifts that ppl had.
he pointed straight at mum and said she had the gift of hospitality.
anyway, he said i have the gift of discerning and intercession.
apparently it means i can sense the presence of evil spirits but also that of the holy spirit.
it also means i can pray for intensive amt of hrs for a single event or person, interceding on his or her behalf.
i don't know eh.
sounds a bit farfetched to me, the praying thing i mean.
the longest i ever prayed is probably 20mins.
but the discerning thing.
well.
maybe.
but i do sense things,
whether it's real sensing or just my psycho-self, i don't know.
so anyway,
i didn't like that hotel.
it's too old and too stale.
joyce didn't like it either.
coz the toilet was too far from the rooms.
haha.
it was tucked down right at the other end of the apartment.
in any case,
ghost or no ghost,
mum and dad decided we can't stay in such a place.
(no hot water!!)
so we moved out this morning and we're now staying comfortably at a friend's hse where there's internet (yayy!!)
and i don't sense any spirits here XD
ok i gtg now.
pls pray for my continued spiritual growth,
that i will not neglect my spiritual life here where God's presence is so meek amongst the ppl.
tranquility ; 12/12/2008 02:11:00 pm.
