Thursday, August 6, 2009

Trust in God!

A story of how trust in God confirms you.

http://mysticmingshu.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E6A8036A218F8AB5!1179.entry?ccr=1203#comment

Friday, May 22, 2009

Joy!

Last weekend, i left Mantin with a joyous feeling, ready to go on my next stop.

I remember my first meeting with the youths there back in June 2008 was not a very happy meeting. Some of them refuse to talk to me, some were rude and some just were in their own world.

Last weekend, after almost a year with them, I left with a heavy heart as I have grown close to them and to me; I feel that at that point of saying goodbye, I was closer to them than any other time. A boy who always spoke sarcastically with me and rude to others, for the first time, I realised how much he has changed over the months, that we can even have a conversation on his future peacefully and how he listens when others talk. Those that refuse to talk to me at one point are now my email pals, my sms friends. Those who were used to be in their world are now teaching children class, attending ruhi circles.

From the time I spent in Mantin, I saw how powerful is the Junior Youth Empowerment Program and how much they can change a person’s heart and character; I am leaving Mantin with a blessed heart that I have made new friends who trusted me and thankful that I was given the chance to serve them.

Yours in Service,
Anonymous M

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Tutor??? Yes i am one!


"Are you one of the young, fresh tutors here?"

"Youths are arising to serve as tutors! How do they feel?"

"Scary? why yes!"



In respond to the call of the Universal House of Justice, I guess most of the youth in the whole of Malaysia have at least completed up to book5, and some even managed to finish until book7. Not only this, most of them also arise to serve as children's class teachers, animators and also tutors.

So, i guess this happen to most of the youth who are in the field of service, particularly serving as tutors in their respective areas.

So, this is my personal encounter la, which i wish to share with those who think they're still 'fresh+no experience+new' in tutoring. hehe.
Personally i think book5 is a very challenging book if you were to tutor it. Den i was really @.@ lor, still new + lack of experience. So starting i was worried, really, really worried. Got stressed up. Scared! Scared that i cant tutor well, scared that they dun understand. I think most of us feel the same right? don't u think so?

BUT...

Then i happen to read this quotation. it says that:

"Perhaps the reason why you have not accomplished so much in the field of teaching is the extent you looked upon your own weaknesses and inabilities to spread the message. Bahá'u'lláh and the Master have both urged us repeatedly to disregard our own handicaps and lay our whole reliance upon God. He will come to our help if we only arise and become an active channel for God's grace. Do you think it is the teachers who make converts and change human hearts? No, surely not. They are only pure souls who take the first step, and then let the spirit of Bahá'u'lláh move them and make use of them. If any one of them should even for a second consider his achievements as due to his own capacities, his work is ended and his fall starts. This is in fact the reason why so many competent souls have after wonderful services suddenly found themselves absolutely impotent and perhaps thrown aside by the Spirit of the Cause as useless souls. The criterion is the extent to which we are ready to have the will of God operate through us."

So then, only i realised that because previously i focused too much on my own weaknesses, thinking that i wont tutor well, i dunno how to ask questions, i cannot tutor, i dunno how to tutor and all... (notice the "I") but when i put my trust in God, and yea... I feel very, very happy tutoring. Very calm, like everything is guided, everything is arranged, and it's all in His hand. den, haha, i actually cant wait till the next time we will have book5 again! so, just a thought, next time when we're about to tutor, let's pray that, we will put our whole trust in Him, (of course before that have to do lesson plan lah) let Him moves us, and we just do what we gotta do. things will eventually fall into places and tadaaa! you'll be amazed and totally enjoy tutoring!

"They are only pure souls who take the first step, and then let the spirit of Bahá'u'lláh move them and make use of them."


Yours In Service,
Anonymous M

Friday, March 6, 2009

The Worst (And Most Common) Etiquette Mistakes

Something i found true and interesting especially in today's youths.

Party Poopers When you receive an invitation to a dinner or party--whether by Evite, voicemail, or casual email--RESPOND. Yeah, that’s what that little “RSVP” thing means. Everyone knows it, yet it’s amazing how many don’t respond. Even for weddings! Planning a party or event requires a lot of work, so do the host a simple favor and let them know if you're coming or not.

Nickel & Dimin’ How annoying is it when you go to dinner with four or more people, the check finally arrives, and one of your meal companions begins to divvy up the check down to the last penny? Sure, we get that Sally had a shrimp salad, and Janet had two iced teas, while Beth only had water, and you ordered a slice of peach pie (a la mode, which is extra). The point is, if you go out to dinner with a group, be prepared to split the bill more or less evenly. If there's an outstanding cost differential, fine, estimate it and be done with it. The person who spends twenty minutes dividing the bill to the dime comes off as a cheapskate –- and kills the festive mood.

The Line-Up Lines are a fact of life. At the post office, the supermarket, just about everywhere these days. For starters, moaners who huff and gripe about standing in a line of three people for all of five minutes are tops on our list. Get over yourself -- if you don’t have a few minutes to wait to buy that loaf of bread, then pick it up another time. Another thing: Don’t show your impatience by creeping up so close to the person in front of you that they can feel your breath. Crowding those around you will not get you to the front any faster, so give them some space. Finally, cutting in line or trying to ignore the fact that there IS a line –- stop it! Everyone’s time is valuable.

The ME Show It’s great to hear all the crazy, wacky, wonderful things happening in the lives of others. Jobs, engagements, breakups, boyfriends, puppies, pregnancies, vacations — very good stuff, all of it. But once you’ve listened to a friend, family member, or colleague spout about their own fabulous life for an hour (or two), it’s normal to expect them to ask, “So, what’s going on with you?” Those who blab on about themselves while you listen intently, then don’t ask a thing about you in return are just plain rude.

Baby Biz Changing a poopy baby diaper around others is nasty -- and we're moms. Changing the other kind of baby diaper in public is one thing, but still should only be done when absolutely necessary!

Mobile Madness As much as we love the modern age, there are days when we long to go to a coffee shop, movie theatre, bookstore, or post office and not hear some teen queen dishing to her friend about last night's hot date with Todd or eavesdrop (unwillingly) on a screaming family feud. Mobile phones are essential, but please, people, pleeeeeeease, use a little restraint on the when's, what's, and where's. We're happy that Todd is "totally built" but we're going to have to start walking around town and slapping people with "TMI" tickets (yes, too much information).
Smokes Everyone has a right to smoke in public, but be conscious of whose face your smoke is blowing into. Are there kids nearby? And we just might kick the butt of the next person we see throwing their burning butt on the ground without putting it out. Really, find an ashtray or trashcan where you can extinguish and dispose of it properly -- that thing is garbage, not decoration for our streets and sidewalks.

The Pee & Flee Public bathrooms get used by everyone -- yup, they're public! So, making a mess of the toilet seat, and then prancing out without bothering to wipe it up -- not cool. Leaving a mess for the next visitor is completely unacceptable (and disgustingly unsanitary, of course). Take 10 seconds to rip off a piece of toilet paper, toilet seat cover, or a paper towel, and do your due diligence!

Stealing...a parking spot, that is. Yeah, you know who you are. If someone has their blinker on and is patiently waiting for a spot, it's theirs. And if you've already passed a spot up, it's gone. Treat others as you expect to be treated, and the parking goddesses will smile down upon you... eventually.

Belly Baring Men, women -- anyone who's passed puberty, everyone who isn't lounging poolside or oceanside -- resist the urge to bare those bellies. They may be beautiful, Buddha-like, jolly, but sometimes they can be flabby, hairy, and not ripe for public consumption. If you're jogging, fellas, t-shirts or tanks won't hurt your workout, so throw one on. Gals, midriff fashions are never really on our "Do" list, and that goes double if your age doesn't contain the word "teen." There are plenty of ways for all of us to flaunt what we got without sharing our tum-tums with the world.

Spitting This gets especially yucky when it's one of those enormous globs that looks like it could be alive. Some people (males, in particular) think it's kind of a cool-guy thing to do. We're here to tell ya that no one wants to see you hock a big gooey one out of your car, onto the sidewalk, or anywhere else for that matter. Try a tissue.

Honking Problem People who honk too often, too unnecessarily, or just to express their emotions are on our list of Most Etiquette Challenged. If you're trying to warn someone about a collision or problem, fine, otherwise it's not that serious. Give it a rest!

Taken from: http://food.yahoo.com/blog/foxyfestivities/15390/the-worst-and-most-common-etiquette-mistakes

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Yin Chun Hui or CNY Celebration in Butterworth...

Brief Summary
Guests are greeted with the warmest welcome by the management of the resource center.
The get-together started off with a devotional themed “Power of Words”, emceed by Vincent Lai.
Videos from advertisements (specifically by Yasmin Ahmad) with themes based on family, unity and harmony are shown throughout the entire session. At the end of each video, a guest from the group was asked to give a speech or two on their views after watching the video.
In between the videos being shown to the group, the JYs took the stage by performing various performances with singing and musical instruments involved. Teaching was done too with the use of Anna’s Presentation.
The birthday of Auntie Siew Hong’s daughter, Melissa was being celebrated also.
The guests were being treated to a feast at the end of the event. Yeong Chien’s infamous cheese cake was present as one of the delicacy served that night, specifically to celebrate Melissa’s birthday.
A singing session was performed by the youths as a grand finale while the guests feasted and said good bye.

As Reported by,
Jervin Khoo

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Thank you!

To me, saying Thank you occasionally is hard enough, what more saying it on a daily basis.

I have never thought that one day, i will meet someone who practice a high level of courtesy and i give him my respect.

Near an eating place near Wisma Genting, there is this old couple selling Vegetarian Mix Rice.

The first time i ate at their place was during my first few weeks of work.

That first meeting left a mark in me.

When i was done choosing my food, the uncle humbly said "here is a tissue to wipe your hands"
And he passed me a tissue while he look at my food to see how much was it.
When i paid the uncle with the exact change, he said to me" how kind of you to take the time to give me the exact change"

At that time, before my turn while waiting in line, there was a Japanese guy in front of me, and he did not know what note is RM 5 and what this Japanese man did was he took a waddle of notes from his pocket and hand it all to the uncle. The uncle was honest and he took RM 5 and return the rest and then show the Japanese man what he took. This small action show me that there are still honesty out there in small places and there is still much hope in this world.

After that week, i make it a point to eat at the place once every week. Everytime i will sit near the uncle's stall.

I notice that he and his wife, they are both very courteus, and they treat each customer so humbly that to each and everyone, they always say Thank you, give a tissue to wipe their hands and even thank people for giving the exact change. Everytime i eat their food, i feel like i am at home. Maybe its because of how they always smile friendly at people and seeing them at their age being so courteos encourage me to practice the same as well and not to lose my temper easily.

After 8 months observing them, they are still the same. They always practice the same thing and never one day have i seen them lose their temper like some hawkers.

I wonder will this continue on in my generation?

I wonder....


Signing off,
Su Mei

Friday, January 9, 2009

Opportunities around me!!

During Form 4, I told myself, I have to be active in everything (Studies, School Prefect, PBSM, Green House, PingPong Club, XueJi-Student Reporter,Chinese society, and the most important of all-the Baha'i community). That was my resolution. My mum invited neighbouring friends and relatives to start Ruhi books, Children's Class and Junior Youths Gathering. I was so spiritually uplifted seeing the response. I assisted in children's class, because I can translate English to Chinese for some of the children, and I know where to get the materials in my house. I really love to teach children since then, although there are some obstacles here and there... At school, I tried to mention about the faith in class... -For Moral project, I put pictures of my children's class in the folio, explained the purpose, activities.... like charity work... Then my friends and Moral teacher asked about it, so I explained.... -Since form 1, when teacher ask how many Christians/Buddhist/Islam students are there in the class, I am always not raising up my hands, so the teacher written me as 'lain-lain'... Then, the teacher will ask, so I say I am a Baha'i. Until form 4, those who were in the same class as me before know my answer already, so they will tell the teacher for me -- "She is a Baha'i..." Then those new classmates will ask... -Sejarah Form 4 got a lot of Islamic Histories, about Prophet Muhammad and all... some of my Muslim friends asked about the history of Baha'i faith, about Baha'u'llah,.... I have not study Ruhi Book 4 that time, so did not tell them much... Really worried and scared to teach them the faith... But luckily they are quite open... -One day, after Moral and Islam exams, one of my Malay friend suddenly ask me on the staircase:" Violet! Baha'i ada Kitab apa??" I was stunned for a second or two..."Huh? Apa?" "Tadi Islam paper ada tanya, aku lupa lah..." he said. "Kitab-i-Aqdas kot... Mengapa ada tanya punya? Ada belajar tentang Baha'i ke?" I asked spontaneously. "Ada belajar, tapi lupa lah... Aku letak Kitab Baha'i... haha... tak apa lah..." he replied.Since then, I realized that the Baha'i faith is mentioned in their Islamic class. They know the existence of the faith. -At the beginning of Form 5, I invited some friends to study Ruhi Book 1. Three responded, and came for the preview at my house. We started studying Bk 1 at one of my friend's house, tutored by my father, every Sunday. At first, everything went well. After a few classes, one of my friend (strong Christian) said that her parents don't let her study the book anymore... Then, another friend (owner of the house), said that we should study at my house. So i said ok. But on that sunday, she did not turn up. I called her house number, her father picked up the phone and said that she is sleeping. When I ask further, her father scolded me... "Anything about religion please don't teach her!"I stunned. I nearly cried...(Actually, my heart cried) The problem is with her father. I was so so down. I was so scared to mention about the faith since then. The other girl also lost interest because of the other two... We did not continue... Excuse: SPM~ However, I still continue helping in the children's class every Saturday... -During one of the Moral classes, my teacher suddenly asked me to go to the front (white board) and teach something about the faith. "Huh? What should I say?" I thought...I walked forward, removed the Marker Pen's cover, and started writing....What did I wrote??I wrote from left to right of the board the Names of all the Prophets....(Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, The Bab, and Baha'u'llah). I explained that there is only one God, and these are the prophets He sent to humanity... Our purpose is world unity... and so on which I can't remember exactly... That was during Moral class when all Muslims weren't there...However, I remembered that I regretted not saying more... I was still scared, phobia from the 'Bk 1 case'..... haiz... I learnt that we are the 'postman'. We send letters containing the Truth to people. Whether the person open the letter or not, it is between him/her and God. We tried our very best. What we can do is to continue be a 'good postman'. Protect the letter and send them to the hands of those long-waiting souls...


Greetings,
Violet.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

TEACHING!!!

A sudden opportunity presented us with a chance of teaching.

This morning during breakfast just before i was leaving to go back to KL, a call was received. A sos was needed.
In Muar, by a sudden chance while out teaching yesterday, the Baha'is there met a Vietnamese.
And today out of a sudden, the Vietnamese they met organised a meeting and asked the Baha'is to share with them the Faith. A group of 200 people. Waiting for us all at the venue be listen about the Faith. Can you imagine that??

The excitement is not inmeasurable. With that sos call. The trip back to KL was postpone. Plans were immediately made for 2 cars to go down to Muar to support the Bahai's there.

With the help and cooperation of everyone, we are leaving for Muar in about 30 minutes.

Dear all, pray for the success of this teaching opportunity given to us.

In an excited state of mind,
Su Mei

Welcome! Selamat Datang! 欢迎!

Dear fellow friends,

Many have arise to serve following the call from the Universal House of Justice to us, the youths, and many have also pledge their services during the youth conference. However, how many have shared their stories to inspire the others to arise and serve??

I hope with this blog, many stories of victory or failures can be shared among us, the youths.
And these stories in turn will inspire us to strive harder and further in creating a better future and a better world. Stories that might help you to start contributing are stories like how was the Ruhi classes you are in (your feeling, your inspiration etc), how is the children class, or stories on how or why an activity failed are some stories that can help motivate and inspire us, the youths in our own path of service and failure stories can help us avoid the same mistake or even be careful when we are in the same situation.

Not only stories related to teaching are welcome, stories that are related to our health, inspiring, motivating and also articles related to activities such as games, arts and craft that can be shared are also most welcome.

Let us help each other to move this world by first sharing the knowledge we posses whereby we can put it into action. Your kind contribution is much appreciated.

If you would like to share a story or an activity or a craft or share anything at all, kindly just forward them to
sumeiiemus@gmail.com and it will be posted on your behalf.
Inquires can also be directed to the same email address. If you would like to share in Mandarin or even Bahasa Malaysia, it is most welcome.

"Undoubtedly, it is within your power to contribute significantly to shaping the societies of the coming century; youth can move the world."

(The Universal House of Justice, 1984 Jan 03, International Youth Year)



Hope to hear from you soon.


Su Mei