saturday was hectic XD accompanying J for her flute exam, voting (which was unexpectedly fun - i can't believe i'm admitting to it, but yes - and much less intimidating than i had imagined. i guess i have an overactive imagination, lol)

and of course, there was rice! <3 before i start i guess i COULD qualify the fact that in some ways i think as an event it overdoes the hype and has become quite... superficial and shallow. BUT, what it stands for is amazing and i guess all of us who are more critical have to keep in mind that God has His plans and He can work through anything =]

lil was so excited that we got to epping station HALF AN HOUR before the official meeting time. and lil is... hmm... usually late. or right on time XP we arrived BEFORE romni, who has the irrational fear of being late (which is why she always gets to school at 7 in the morning, instead of risking getting to school possibly at 8:50 if the bus comes late, but even then lessons only start at 9... XD)
and so, while we were waiting for people to slowly gather, i had a very interesting conversation (or lack of) with cabbage.
cabbage: hey elaine! did you...
me: lol hi cabbage, what?
cabbage: actually, don't worry...
me: uh. ok. anyway, in case you were wondering, yes i invited pansy... and diana to rice, and yes they will both be there.
cabbage: *gapes at me, speechless* how did you know??!!
me: telepathy
cabbage: yeah, you're telepathetic
me: T_T
train-ing is so fun ^^ if only public transport was more convenient, then i'd take the train a lot more, cause it's just... so fun. hahahahahaha XDsaturday really was a beautiful day XD winter is definitely coming to an end and spring is just around the corner. and sometimes i wish time would stop in this moment, where everything is near perfect and HSC will never come into being. hahahaand yes, so we walked to the entertainment centre (and met diana/pansy/pris on the way. you guys were so hard to find, bleah XP)there is something quite breathlessly enchanting about the city as the sun sets. it seems to take on an altogether different character, existing on an altogether different plane from its normal hustle and bustle and its usual flurry and mess. and it reminds me that God has created everything to be beautiful, we just need to learn to appreciate it from a... certain perspectiveno photos for inside the entertainment centre, but there's some pretty awesome photos here (thank God for facebook? HAHA)
this being my first and last RICE Rally (seriously, i am so over having first and lasts :( why do there ever have to be lasts) it made a really deep impression on me, and it cannot be coincidential that this year they invited the founder of RICE as speaker for the event, and that founder being a ruse alumni XP ruse pride! <3
steve is awesome - have had the privilege of speaking to him on quite a few occasions and he really is such a charismatic character and so passionate yet so humble and seeking God in everything he does :)

speaker initiation challenge was hilarious...ly mean. XP getting him to catwalk dressed as elvis presley would be expected, but infiltrating his house and digging up the song he wrote to propose to his wife naomi, and literally forcing him to sing it (by dragging naomi up on stage - i mean, how could steve say no?) to everyone (totally unprepared, AND when he fails at improvising HAHAHA) is just downright evil. but the song was so sweet... XD

the talk was immensely piercing. yes, it was evangelistic, and although you could say i'd heard it all before, it just put everything in a new light. how often do i judge things by their symptoms? how often do i blindly ignore the true sickness within each and every one of us? how often do i hide it, do i refuse to acknowledge it? and how often do i forget that everything which seems so important really is secondary, and it is where i stand with God that should be my primary concern. for while everyone's primary concern with the paraplegic was that he couldn't stand, when Jesus saw the paraplegic his primary concern was where the paraplegic was standing with God. and i'd never, ever thought about it that way, so yeah.

one of the lighter moments was when steve, talking about how Jesus has the authority to forgive sins, shared a story about his son reuben (who i've seen before. SO CUTE)
so, one day steve got a bit too angry with reuben (cannot imagine) and he shouted a bit too loud at him.
so, afterwards, reuben (who's... 2 and a half, i think?) went up to steve, tugged his shirt and said, "dada, say sorry to reuben for being angry"
steve: ok reuben, dada is sorry, and promises to never shout so loud at you again.
reuben: ok, reuben forgives dada!
steve: thanks reuben! so why did you forgive dada?
reuben: cause reuben is jesus!
LOL. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA XP so cute!

i guess the highlight was just how... God really was there, and He was working, and there was salvation - His amazing salvation from His boundless grace and love. after steve prayed for the non-christians who were willing to accept God, he invited those who prayed the prayer with him to go outside where there were counsellors waiting to talk to the new believers... and people just started streaming out, to the extent that steve had to get youth group leaders who were sitting inside the hall to go out, impromptu, because they had ran out of people to talk to the new believers. it was... wow.
after the event we were all just so high XD and the city really is quite charming at night as well XP while waiting for people outside, we were just like, o.O where are all the year 8s?!
and lil called alice, and she learnt that all the year 8s had gone out together as a group (to talk to the counsellors) because all of them had recommitted/accepted Christ as Lord. and in that split second, it really was this indescribable feeling of overflowing joy, where nothing mattered except God ^^

and pris recommitted to God as well - spending the train ride back talking to her, i was just filled with thankfulness for her enthusiasm and thirst to know more :)

and so, 21st august will remain in my memory for a long time, where once again my faith is reaffirmed that God is alive and that He loves all of us ^^

in other news, it's mission week (ie, dear god week) next week! right on the back of church service and RICE rally, i know that God has awesome plans for salvation at ruse. it's kind of disconcerting that there are only 5 more weeks of high school left, but like lil said, this is the time to act. there are so many people who we may never see again, and now we can't use the excuse that oh, it's ok, there's heaps of time to slowly spread the gospel to people, we must build strong relationships with them first... because time. is. running. out. but if we're trusting in God, being courageous and putting Him first in our lives, then i have faith that something amazing will happen :)
p.s. yay we finally got jerseys last week! it is a bit too white, but it's still a jersey, nonetheless ^^ mum says i look ugly in it, but meh XP