Origins of Islam

I missed last Sunday School lesson b/c I was at the Chinese Service as well. The scope is as follows:

Recent events between the Middle East and U.S. has brought the religion of Islam into the public eye and has generated much interest....
1. The hostage crisis in Iran in the late 70's
2. The war w/ Iraq in the early 90's
3. The attack on the World Twin Towers and Pentagon in 2001
4. The U.S. war against international terrorism in response
5. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past 50 years

Interesting Facts:
1. Estimated that there were 1.6 Billion Muslims in 1998 (1/4 of the world's pop)
2. 120 million live in the Arab world (India, Pakistan, Banlgadesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Sudan, just to name a few)
3. It is the world' s fastest growing religion.
4. Between 1935 and 1983 it has grown 235%.

The growth can be attributed to higher birth rates, militant and evangelistic fervor, wealth, among others...

Early history of Islam
The life of Muhammad...
-Born in 570 into the leading tribe of Quraysh of the town of Mecca
-Father died b4 his birth, and mother died when he was six years old, raised by relatives
-name means "highly praised" and many have taken the name since
-As a youth, travelled w/ tranding caravans, exposed to many teachings including Judasim & Christianity
-In year 595, married a widow, named Khadija, 15 years his senior
-In year 610, claims to receive the first revelations of the Qur'an from the angel Gabriel
-In year 612, began teaching in a religiously volatile atmosphere
-In year 615, encouraged 80 Muslims to emigrate to Abyssinia(Ethopia) for safety
-In year 625, The battle of Uhud, outside Medina
-In year 627, The Battle of the Trench
-In year 628, The treaty of Hudaybiyyah (peace between Medina & Mecca)
-In year 630, Meccans violate the treaty
-In year 632, Muhammad dies; Abu Bakr elected as his Khalifah(representative)

Of course, there are more notes and facts...it's six pages...so if u want to know more, I encourage you to attend Pastor Nelson' s Sunday school class. I also have a copy of his handouts too...Courtesy of Pastor Nelson.

The Last weekend in March

Can't believe it's already the end of March...It only feels like the middle of March. Time just flies...the weekends go by way too fast. It only seemed like I just came from a housewarming party in NY on Friday but it's already Sunday afternoon now. Yes, thanks Geoff for the housewarming potluck party. It was lots of fun and lots of food. I'm glad you all enjoyed the yummy cookies and mini-sponge cakes. Great time of fellowship as well. Thanks for organizing this.

Saturday, I must say was also great. Went to a friend's potluck in my hometown B-Town. It was nice and a short distance drive. Great time of fellowship, getting to know one another and just having some fun. Thanks to Daniel for teaching us all these "card" games...it brought out the "child" w/in us so to speak. It's fun to see us all acting like kids again=) Thanks Leevin, for organizing and hosting. A couple of us had some fun playing the piano and we were able to play a song together...teamwork...Thanks Si.

Sunday, I learned about "The religion of Islam". It's a very interesting topic. It's hard to reach out to others w/o understanding what they believe and why. There's more about this topic above.

Sigh......Tomorrow is monday AGAIN! Need those weekends back now.

Another Weekend Over=(

Ahhhhhhhh....It's another weekend over already. The weekend really goes by way too fast. Went to a church meeting yesterday morning, then TO in the afternoon then a nice dinner in Sauga. I got what I wanted in TO...a MEC Shoulder Bag. It comes in handy when I'm on the go and I can't fit everything into my "tiny" purse or at least that's what my friends call it. Dinner was great. Had ALL-U-CAN eat hotpot in Sauga w/ my Fellowship and friends to celebrate one of our member's (Marc's) Birthday. Although, it may look like I ate a lot, I think I probably ate the same as everyone else just b/c I spent 40% of my time chatting to our adjoining table. Let's just say, it's not possible to fit 14 people all at one table. The food was ok, the dessert, well, let's just say, I'm allergic to it(sensitive). No worries, my dessert did not go to waste, Birthday Boy got extra ToFu...Onto the next part...

BBTea...yum...all of us went BBTea afterwards to Tea 168 in Sauga, majority of 'em have been there at one point in time. After being rejected coming back from the washroom...hahaha...just kidding...I sat at the other end of the table w/ friends that I didn't sit w/ at dinner. I enjoyed my conversations at my end of the table. It was good to talk about our spiritual walk w/ God and struggles that we are encountering. With these wonderful conversations, came my Strawberry Ice Crush which was delicious, although Mango was better. I also got to try my friend's Almond Black Tea which was also good, even though opinions differ from person to person. Probably because I like the smell and taste of almonds=) Brings back memories of childhood for me.

Sunday was great. I enjoyed the sermon and the worship team today. I went to both services today, as two of us from Fellowship were speaking in the Cantonese service today. It was great to see a couple friends who came back after Sunday School in the back to support us. Great to see you guys! I was definitely surprised=0 Lunch was at our "usual" place and yes we all carpooled from the Church. Too tired to drive today. Let's just say, in the past 12 hours, I managed to run a red light and run a stop sign. Those are not good signs=( So thanks for driving everyone! Although I made all those ooooops...the car is still in one piece and so am I.

Sigh...Monday here I come...I hate mondays=(

Ladies SLUMBER PARTY

That's right...Us girls had a slumber party...no guys allowed=) Lots of bonding and movies. We watched "Crash" and "Ten things I hate about You"... Both were good movies. Although, "Crash" was a more realistic story, I didn't like it as much as the other one. Perhaps, it seemed too real. Alana, graciously brought some booze to make margaritas..along w/ tequila on the side. I was still walking even with two margaritas and one shot of tequila straight up=) Good drinks, good snacks, great movies and great company...I think there are pics somewhere too from last nite...I think? We also made popcorn, the second time I made it, I set the smoke detector off. No, I did not set the apartment on FIRE! I just put too many kernels at once into the popcorn popper...apprarently...I don't recall that much. Anywayz, once we cleared the smoke, and the popper cooled down, I finished making the popcorn w/ butter and cheddar. We all stayed past 3am and got up at 9am or a couple of us did and the rest slept til 10. Thanks to Jen for hosting the party, it was great. Breakfast was delicious, Alana made maple pancakes, I made Scottish scrambled eggs, and Steph helped w/ the fruits. Oh, what a yummy breakfast, w/ all 4 food groups. It was a great party, we have to do it again some time.

Busy Weekend

Wow, It's been a busy weekend...I realized how "crappy" the body feels after eating out the whole weekend literally. I finally caught up on sleep today...I don't think I've ever seen two movies in theatres in one weekend. I saw "Ultraviolet" on saturday, not that great...and I saw "8 Below" on Sunday w/ friends. I must say, I am not good when it comes to scary scenes...I tend to jump or get startled easily even in theatres. Yes, my friends sitting next to me are most likely laughing...but yes, I get scared easily. It was a great time to just relax and fellowship w/ friends and meet new people as well. Although I didn't get to chat w/ everyone at dinner on Sunday, perhaps next time I will have the opportunity. I must say, thxs for organizing a funfilled weekend everyone. I was most surprised on Sunday! Not knowing any details except what movie to watch was interesting. Time was tight and time flew by very quickly. I enjoyed every moment of the weekend...Still trying to remember everything that happened. I survived the drive on the 401 Series...Big accomplishment 4 me=)