hi everyone..
thank you to alll thoose of you who volunteered and came down for the fundraising carwash at st joseph's bt on sunday! :D it was an amazing faith experience, as well as bonding and fellowship experience.
waking up bright and early on a RAINY sunday morning was indeed challenging. especially for those of us who came down to help out at the 7.30am mass. and it was really quite worrying that the dark clouds loomed so near and the rain didn't seem like it was going to stop. but hungry and sleepy as most of us were, we still made an effort to show up and were prepared to help out for the cause in whichever way that we could.. rain or no rain.
we prayed that God would take the dark clouds and the rain away, not just once, not just twice.. but all of three times. the first led by joel.. the second in the opening prayer led by sam and then also by praying the rosary together. all of us were hoping and even expecting that somehow or other.. the dark clouds and the rain would go away, the rain would stop and the sun would come out.
nope. God had other plans.
the rain didn't stop throughout the whole period that we were there at St Joseph's BT that morning. BUT.. the generosity and kindness of the parishioners of St Joseph's still shone through.
nobody in their right minds really sees any sense in getting their cars washed while it's raining. but despite the rain.. there were still people who allowed us to wash their cars, or donated money towards our cause. and amidst all the hustle and bustle, new friends were made as the volunteers from the different faculties mingled and worked on soaping, rinsing/washing or drying the cars together as a team. despite originally having set teams and areas in order to organise the whole fundraising effort, everybody just sort of came together to help each other out. regardless of which team they were supposed to be on, or which area they had originally been assigned to.
I remember, after the 7.30am mass.. i was standing at the side of the 'shed' where we'd placed all our stuff. and there was a female parishioner who was seeking shelter.. and she said jokingly.. 'aiyoh.. you all never pray for no rain arh?' and i replied..'ohh we did. three times this morning already'.
God is truly good. He didn't answer our prayers in the way that we all thought he would.. but he didn't leave us in the lurch either. despite the rain.. we managed to raise quite a decent sum of money. truly amazing considering that it was raining (even pouring at sme parts of the morning) throughout the whole time that we were there.. and that we had only been there through 3 masses.
and after all the washing, returning and reclaiming of pails and cleaning up. we all took a big group photo and our own faculty photos.. and then proceeded on to a hearty lunch together at Seven Mile Hawker Centre. :) just the fellowship needed to end off the day's work and to fill our stomach's after all that work.
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so let's continue trusting and keeping our faith in God. even (and especially) in the face of adversity.
for He is faithful God.
"our God is an awesome God,
He reigns from Heaven on high,
with wisdom, power and love,
our God is an awesome God!"*can't wait to see you all at retreat! :D
love,
-cher
