Chapter 15

OK. It doesn't really make sense. I mean, the slogan?

Anyway, Christin is my mentor, my teacher, someone that I look up for during my confusion time with my camera. I don't mind getting harsh comments from her, because I could really learn alot from her.

Just a couple days ago, I receive a message from one of the staffs that works for National Chi Alpha. She saw some of the pictures that I've taken during the conference in Missouri, and guess what? She likes it, and she would like to use it for promotional purposes.

The feeling was awesome, and excited. Knowing that somebody recognizes and appreciate your efforts. Many people around me know that I am harsh on myself, and I always look for perfection. I would get annoyed by a small mistake. Everyone likes my pictures and I have receive so much compliments lately. God. That feels good, in a way. hahahaha.

I'm taking Spanish class now. It is not easy but of course I would try my best and start doing homework everyday! It is fun to learn new languages, I might want to learn French someday though. 'Cos I wanna be awesome!

Buenas tardes. Me llamo Emmanuel. Soy de Malaysia. Yo soy un estudiante excelente de la universidad del Oklahoma. Muchas gracias. Te amo. Hasta pronto!

For a moment, I thought summer would be dead boring. But thank God, You have given me so many awesome things to do this summer! woohoo!

Chapter 14

I'm so encouraged these days. Being complimented on some of my works. I mean, pictures. I always strive for excellence, a perfectionist you might say. Those latest pictures of All Nations Conference that I uploaded in Facebook, took me 5 hours to edit and carefully selected through 780 pictures that I took.

I'm so encouraged these days. Being complimented by a friend who is majoring in Film/Video, who tells me about some great shots that I've made. I compared some of our pictures, and there is this common ground/ characteristics about our pictures. I'm getting there! For someone who does not have a proper lesson, it can be considered as "not bad."


I'm so encouraged these days. While I was reading a newsletter from Digital Photography School, it says, "Sun shining through trees makes for fabulous bokeh. Place your subject in an area where the sun isn’t hitting them, open up your aperture and zoom in."

This is the photo sample. (Courtesy of DPS)


By looking at it, I realized that there is this particular shot that I took looks similar.


I always think about what good would it be, for me to be so interested in photography/film. I am not going into any of these professions. Just recently, I found out why am I gifted with such a skill. I dare not to say "talent" because it's really just a "skill."


People always thought that I'm majoring in photography, or asked questions like "are you a photographer or something?"


er.. No. I'm not. That's just my hobby?


Anyway, I would be serving in my church and work as the tech guy. Kinda. To work things out and maybe up to the point of editing video. That would not be a problem for me. Everything makes sense now. God places me to serve Him in ways that I could not imagine.


That's why I always say, it just doesn't make sense for something to happen. God is in control. It's just like playing The Sims. You're the only one who knows what will happen next to your Sims.


- I'm so blessed. Wow

Chapter 13

Where should I start?

I have no idea. There's just too many things to write about. I can't just summarize the whole thing. Or maybe I should stop talking and go straight to the point. But I can't help it, I like to talk.

Anyway, I got my driving learning permit on the day before I headed to Missouri for All Nations Conference. All I have to do now is to schedule a driving test and I'm done!

Sometimes things just happened and you don't understand why. But now when I look back at all those things, it really did happen for some reasons. We always say that God has a plan for your life, and everything is in God's hand. I used to doubt it, and I was confused. Now I can see the big picture, and everything does make sense after all, and all the small pieces of puzzles are starting to fit together.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11

I always believe that God has been taking care of me and being faithful at all times. He takes control of my future. Let's take my current situation as an example: I will be getting a car soon, and obviously I need somebody to be there for opinions/advice.

My housemate, Mathew, does not really have many friends. We would just hang out and sit around the living room all the times. Once in awhile, his friend (Arthur) would come by and hang out with us. Arthur is working part-time in a car workshop, and he knows about cars, has been fixing cars for years. And Arthur lives just one block away from our apartment. Arthur is just one of the few friends that hang out with Mat. Amazingly, both Mat and Arthur is not taking any classes this summer, but they are still staying in town for the whole summer.

You can say that it is just a coincident, for Mat and Arthur being here, and Arthur who works in a workshop being Mat's friend. But there's just too many coincidences, don't you think so? And yes, Arthur has agreed to help me out in searching for the best car deals in town.

I was in Springfield for the past few days. All Nations Conference totally changed my life. There's just this weird thing (in a good way) about Christianity. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. I never understand why do they use the term "brothers and sisters" until I went for this conference. 165 students of 30 nations, from different universities across the States. Even though most of us met each other for the first time, we have so much to talk to, as if it feels like you know this person and have not talk to them in years. It makes me realize that we are not as different as we thought we would be, but in fact, we are all so similar (even though all of us were born in different places).


Springfield is a beautiful place. I think it is a place full of talents, with all the theaters and shows which are located along the street of Branson. Not forgetting the Silver Dollar City, and shopping. I'm a shopaholic, a rational shopaholic. I would only buy a tee which is less than $10.



Like I said, I do not know where to start. Maybe I would just talked about 2 things, out of that X number of awesome things.

#1 God is a funny person.

I used to think that God is a powerful, and authoritative God. I always refer to Him as a father, a fierce father. But when you get closer to Him, you will find more about His personality. He is a funny person, and He does have emotions! Just like us.

So there's this session where I felt so bored, and I'm so not interested with everything. I just tell God that, "this is bored, I need you to touch my heart, 'cos I can't even feel your presence."

I'm that kind of people who always expect something to happen during a service, that I would weep so hard, for His presence is too strong for me to handle.

Guess what? Next day I wept so hard for a session. I felt that God is trying to tell me, "so you want to cry? Here you go..."

That's so funny. HAHAHA

Why do I cry? I felt that there's really a God who listens and know about everything of your life. Every single details of your life. I felt His presence. As you know, I don't like to study Engineering. How God changed my life during these 5 months makes me want to change my major and just to serve Him, concentrate on missions and helping people. But I don't know what should I do, should I stay with whatever that I'm studying, or choose other major? So when the speaker of the night said, "There's some of you guys come to the States to study this major, but something happened and you feel like you don't want to study this anymore..."

That's another coincident?

For me, it's a "no."

#2 God is with you all the time

So there is this morning where I read the Bible and my faith was being tested. Everyone knows that God and Allah is different. Somehow Satan gives me the thought that Muslim and Christians serve the same God.

Book of Genesis (First book of the Bible) tells us that Abraham has 2 sons. Ishmael and Isaac. Jesus Christ is the lineage of Isaac; Muhammad is the lineage of Ishmael (according to Islam). Sarah (Abraham's wife) chase away Ishmael because he mocked God. Ishmael was sent to the Arabic dessert. Abraham was sad, but God tells him that he will make Ishmael a great nation.

I was confused. It's impossible for Ishmael to have a great nation, which means that Islam is in God's plan and we all serve the same God?

I was looking for answers but no one could help me. So I decided to go for the elective workshop and just leave my questions alone. There is a total of 5 workshops and we get to choose whichever that we wanted to. I believe that God will lead me to whatever workshop that He wants. So, there is this particular speaker who was supposed to talk about "The Baptism of Holy Spirit", which I am not interested to go, changed his topic to "The Word" in last minute.

God knows what I'm facing that morning, and obviously the session is for me! Because I was confused in The Word (Bible)! And thank God I found the answers! The Bible also said that,

"He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." -Genesis 16:12

It makes sense though. And later on it says that they will turn away from God. Do you know how accurate is the Bible in prophecies? The Bible is written way before Jesus Christ was born. As in few thousand years ago, and it predicted that the descendants of Ishmael will be very wild. Islam is one of the newest religion, and the Bible tells us in the first book that "he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." Look at the time line of the Bible and Islam. It does not make sense. How can you write about something that is going to happen in the future?

The Old Testament has 330 prophecies about the Messiah (Jesus Christ). There is a total of 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament where no prophets in that time received any dreams/revelation from God. In the first chapter of the New Testament, the birth of Jesus Christ fulfilled all the 330 prophecies. It's not 98% or 99% but 100% of all prophecies being fulfilled. Isn't that amazing? There's not a single religion book/scripture prophesies as accurate as the Bible. In 1948, archeologists found the "Dead Sea Scroll" which contains the Book of Isaiah, and all the 150 Psalms of the Bible, in Hebrew. Then they compared the writings of the scroll with the Bible, and every single words are exactly the same. Which proves that the Bible is not just some people who writes it in the modern time. Book of Isaiah is believed to be written in 8th Century BC, and we are talking about 1948. That reminds me of a Bible verse again:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." - Matthew 24:35

Many people think that the Bible is just another book. It is a living book, of living hope. You can read it for so many times and every time God will reveal new things through His Words. Truly there is no one like God who loves us so much and cares about our daily lives.

2 of the most important day of your life:
the day you were born;
the day you find out the purpose of your birth.

-I believe to see, walk by faith and not by sight.

Chapter 12

" i find no problem in adapting to new places/people/food/culture. i guess it's just in my blood that i'm a nomad. a modern-day nomad. and i'm lovin' it. " - Emmanuel Lo

Please don't get me wrong. I love my country, my friends, my family, and all the good food that you can get in Malaysia. But being here in the States, I just have to love everything, not for the sake of staying here for at least 3 more years, nor for the sake of survival, I love being here because I found everything to be so cool, and it's one hell of a great experience. I'm talking about life experience. And IF, a big IF, I were given a chance, or it's God's will to put me in the States, I would really love to stay. I can say that I never ever love a new place, until I found Oklahoma. Hong Kong is good for shopping, China is good for awesome food, but it's not even close, comparing to Oklahoma. I am officially an Oklahoman, well, at least for the next 5 years, because I'm carrying a state ID that writes Oklahoma.

You learn a lot when you are out here all alone. That's the best thing. Sometimes I am afraid, but for most of the time, I would really like to try new things. Trial and error, find the best solution. How much do you like Mexican food? I like fajitas, that's all I can say. Been to Pepe Delgados, Chipotle, Alfredos, On The Border, Ted's, and more to come. Honestly, I have no idea what's burrito, enchiladas, tortillas, fajitas, quesadillas until I came here.

I have to remind myself constantly that this would be the last few years in my life that I could actually have fun, because it would be a real life out there when I start to work in the very near future. Well, I can see that I'm already having fun, and not missing the best part of university life so far! It's awesome, and you have to thank God for that!

And I just got myself a new camera lens. A treat from all the hard work at the back of kitchen, washing dishes for that 1 whole month, and carrying trash to that awful back alley. Dang it.


Will be going to Missouri in 1 week time. Can't wait for it! Hopefully after that could go to Texas. But for sure I will be in Dallas for the weekend before classes start. And there it goes for LA, after my Summer classes finish in early August. That sounds just so amazing. And maybe a trip to beach, or water park.

Been very lazy these days. Just sit around, and watch lots of movies, and hit the gym 3 times per week. And I put on weight, 70kg, which is good. Like real goood.

-currently watching Dexter season 2. it's just so bloody awesome pawsome

Chapter 11

It's Summer!

and I'm done with my finals!

Bad news: No more internship for me this summer, due to the complexity of documentation for international student, my professor advised me to try again next semester. So, the case is as such, I got the job/internship to work in a lab where I will be given a small project to start on, and I will present it by the end of the semester, but the process of legalizing my working hours is a pain in the ass. Well, from the bright side, I will have more time to have fun!

Good news: I did my best for my finals. It should be not a problem to get what I wanted, but sometimes things don't happen the way you want it to be though. We shall see. Hopefully it will be fine. And what I find it funny is the way my housemate put me in, "You're an Asian, you just can't get a B."

LoL

I have not been to Walmart for a long time. I am running out of food, not knowing what to cook everyday. Basically, I just get some free food from the place that I used to work, or take some snacks to fill my stomach. You know what? I found this in my cabinet on Thursday.


It might not seem a lot to you, but that would be enough for me, at least for the next couple of days. I was so surprised when I opened up my cabinet and found these. That is so amazing. For a moment I asked myself, "Is this my cabinet? 'Cos I am pretty sure that I did not get these things from Walmart."

That is so silly.

Apparently it's from my housemate who has moved out the day before. He's not coming back anymore. He got a job, and is getting married this Summer. Thank God for him, and thank God for the food. As always, people would think that, "God will not put food in your cabinet. Do you think it will appear just like a magic?"

"No. It will not be. But God will put somebody to place food in your cabinet. That's how He works."

So, there will be a slightly change of plan for the Summer. My initial plan was:

• 8am-10am, Spanish class
• 11am - 5pm, lab work
• 6pm, sit back and relax

It will be just Mat and I. No more big family. Just a "couple" like what he said. We own the whole fridge, the whole house, and our own bathroom. Both of us would be looking for a job and hopefully we will get to have fun before that.

-it's summer, but i can't feel the heat!

Chapter 10

I am currently blogging in the clubhouse.

State of withdrawal.


Like a drug addict, at a rehab center without his drug/alcohol.


I am without my laptop.


It has been 4 days.


So I could focus on my studies.


And spend more time with God.


Listen to Him, and feel His love.


I got 95% for my English paper.


So far I have lost 6% in my American Government, 7% in Thermodynamics.


God, all I ask for is just a 4.0, that is not too much for You right?


LOL!


I've been praying for a new Bible.


I have told no one about it.


And I got a new Bible, with the version that I've always wanted, and my full name imprinted in the front cover. For free.


Pray to God, He listens, and He gives.


That's is awesome.


This is what I call, the real love of God.


Thank You Jesus!

I know that I am addicted to Internet, especially Facebook, and Im glad that I've taken such action to help myself in my studies!

Chapter 9

I am so cool. Because I said so. One way to get you out of stress for awhile is to camwhore, and edit your pictures. I would like to learn Adobe Photoshop, as in master in that program. It costs $699. Yes, it is not a typo, not $69.90. All I know is just Paint, and that is how I edit all my pictures using a very limited resource. Using Paint is really a pain.


I am really proud that I have done well in my essay. My professor really likes it and would like to keep a copy of my paper, as she said that "it is one of the best that I have read in a long time." Maybe I should change my major, to journalism.

It is 3am now. I can't sleep. I have been reading/studying for the past 6 hours. I should be sleeping now.

I have a bad feeling for my Thermodynamics. I need to score 70% in the finals to get an A. Khaivenn needs to score just 50% to get an A. I like to compete with him. Because I can't compete with anyone else. There is not many Malaysians around.

I don't want to get a GPA of 3.75 or 3.5. If it is possible, I want to get a 4.0, and $500 rebate for my apartment rent.

I need to study like a mad cow. like a typical Malaysian.

I need to stop using my laptop. So, I will be giving my laptop to Jackie for the next 2 weeks. Finals end at 14th May, and I shall go to eat some Malaysian food in Oklahoma City.

Char Keow Tiao $8 only. Roti Canai $4.

it will be just Mat and I living in this same apartment for the whole Summer.