Dear all,
i can't think of a fancy way to start, so ill just write what comes to my mind. It is 430m in Jackson, New Jersey. I touched down in New York after a gruelling 20+ hour flight, slept over in airport for 8 hours, and took a coach for 3 hrs before reaching this place. I just woke up, obviously still trying to adjust to the new timezone. I saw ice (or snow?) mountains for the first time while transiting on Alaska. I underpacked my luggage, not knowing it is still spring over here for another 2 weeks/ The chilling winds is a big challenge to adjust to, with temperatures of 10 degrees. I didnt insist on staying together with my singaporean friends in this hostel, so the supervisor placed me alone in an apartment with 3 Brazilians. I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I could connect with them v well, and because they are supervisors, I can get to use the internet and transport out (i am the only one who went out to eat and buy necessities without having to pay). On another hand, Brazilians are, for lack of a better word, liberal. Can i say they are very open about their sexuality? I really have to guard my heart and not be influenced by what they indulge in.

I think I will be more fearful had not God spoke to me while doing devotion at the airport about 1 John 2:15-17

¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

God told me to guard asking my sinful desires, the lust of my eyes and pride. I told God I will be serious with him in this next 3 months. God is serious with you when you are serious with Him. I am excited!

God is real to me now in the sense that most of my prayers are coming true. I told God i wanted to see how i survive without a structure or the comforts of home and friends, and what choices I make. It is REALLY all about choices now. I can choose to post this, or do something else with this laptop, and no one knows or can do anything about it. I can choose to just go with the crowd and make some popular decisions. I can choose to go easy with myself and justify it.

How else can i end this but by saying i miss you guys. There were some moments when i wish i am back home. But hey im here and i must make the best out of it, be it in building intimacy with God or understanding other cultures. Ill appreciate if you guys can pray for me especially in the above aspect of temptations.

You are in my thoughts as much as I am in yours.

Love,
Chit