We Were The Reason

As little children, we would dream of Christmas morn
And all the gifts and toys we knew we'd find
But we never realised a baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

CHORUS:
We were the reason that He gave his life
We were the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live


I've finally found the reason for living
It's in giving every part of my heart to Him
In all that I do, every word that I say
I'll be giving my all just for Him, for Him And ..

CHORUS


Just want to say Merry Christmas to everyone
May the truth meaning of Christmas always reside in our heart

Life goes on..

Having finished with Sampoerna, I got another new client, ExxonMobil oil company. This client is much easier to deal with, besides their system have been very structured and well documented. In addition to that, the key persons that are very cooperative and easy to deal with. I am hoping to finish this assignment quickly and have a long leave afterwards. :)

Unconsiously, we are approaching end of year 2005. It has been almost one year since I came back to Jakarta. I am so amazing, so many kindness and mercy that God have given to me. I still remember that I was so worried about finishing my post graduate study. What the life would be after graduation. I imagined so many obstacles and difficulties ahead, felt frustated have to faced such situation. But thank's God for the protection and care during this year. He always knows and gives us the best things to us, although at first our small brain unable to comprehend His greatness.

James 1:5 "If any of you lacks of wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

The past months

The past months have been a crazy month for our firm. People were busy with their clients, working out of town for weeks and struggling to accomplish never ending jobs. I was assigned to Sampoerna, one of the biggest cigarettes firm in Indonesia as soon as I finished the first phase of Petrochina's task. This assignment required the team to work in Surabaya. Having worked for this assignment was given me many experiences, especially for my interpersonnal skills in dealing with our big team as well as client's key persons.

I admitted this assignment was difficult to deal with. In the sense of, my team, SPA need to satisfy our audit financial team as well as to deal with such a typical conservative East Java client. During the assignment, I myself involved in a conflict with one of audit financial manager. Just can't imagine, such a senior manager can acted so childish, said negative sounding about me in front of the team during a discussion. Initially, I was very irritated and frustated with his behaviour. However, I decided to avoid the confrontation and talked directly to my director. He gave me a positive positive response and resolved the conflict for me. This lesson taught me to speak up to the correct authorised person if you feel you've done the right thing.

Furthermore the client itself also tough to deal with. I don't know maybe they saw us as young inexperience persons, so they seemed like to underestimate our capabilities. I acknowledge that in our firm most of the employees are young, but it does not mean that we don't have capacities to do our job. I think it only need to broaden our mind and walkout from such a narrow thought. Age somewhat is not an absolute measurement to determine a person's ability and skill. This have been reminded me to humble our heart and never underestimate someone, although maybe he/she is not better than you. But don't forget, God always use weak persons to accomplish His mission.

Another thing that made this client to deal with is a cross culture matter. Actually I have known this classical matter when I was finishing my study in Sydney. Although we are the same nationality, different society would have different customs and culture. There have been many different culture between Jakarta and Surabaya although the cities lies in the same Island. This may be seen as a trivial problem but it has caused many troubles during the assignment.

Finally, I have finished my task there and came back to Jakarta. Although went through difficult time while performing the task, I never regret was being assigned to this assignment. At least I got many lessons which can equip me if I face a similar situation. And I also want to thank's God who always strengthen me during my difficult time.

1 Peter 6-7 "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that you faith of worth greater than gold, which perishes eventhough refined by fire. May be proved genuine and may result praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed."

Shangrilla Hotel 

Chao Praya River 

Standing buddha. 

a Temple along the Chao Praya river 

At Suan Lum Night Bazaar 

Yenny and Me 

Bangkok City 

Connected Dinner Cruise 

Nuch, Me and Jessie  

After SPA Academy

Yenny and I were very exhausted, because we arrived at Sunday evening and the next monday morning we have to work. I still have one pending job and also already been assigned to new client, Petrochina. eeek, welcome back to the jungle. After all, I just want to thank's God for the so many opportunities that have given to me since I work for this company. I also just realised that lately I didn't put so much focus on my spiritual life. Just feel a bit empty and regret. I am really appreciated to Hanvy, my ex-flatmate and church mentor who have reminded me to put back my priority on GOD again.

A7 SPA Academy.

On 25 September, Although I still have one pending job, I departed to Bangkok with Yenny. The flight took about three hours. We were picked up by hotel limousine..wow..Yenny and I were really amazed hehe, because it was our first time to ride such a luxury car. During the journey from airport to hotel we observed the city. It looks quite similar with Jakarta except for its advertisement boards full with curly characters (read: Thai words) hehe.

After 45 minutes, finally we arrived at Shangrila hotel. We have been told that there would be an opening speech and dinner from the Academy commitee. It was really a great opportunity that we can attend this event. Besides we would gained many knowledge relating to the course that we attended, we also have a chance to meet other PwC members from various Asian countries. At least we can listen sharing from other members to gain more understanding about current technology and work development compared with our Jakarta office.

During the training week, we never have chance to explore Bangkok city. We just stayed at the hotel. Overall for the hotel service I would say Great, no wonder because the fee is also really great too (it is a five star hotel). Especially for the food, all of them are very very tasty, gain more weigh during staying here.. :P Further during the training, we also had a phototaking session and cruise session.

Finally the training finished on friday, we extend one day for exploring Bangkok before flying back to Jakarta. We started from have a boat tour along chao praya river. There were a lot of temples that we can see along the rivers. No wonder Thailand is a buddhist country. Then we visited Grand Palace, it was really great and very gold. After walking around 3-4 hours we came back to the hotel to take a rest for while, then we continued to go to a traditional market, I forgot the name. Unfortunately the weather was not so coorperative, so we waited for about one hour at the station. When we arrived at the traditional market we were a bit disappointed because it was far from what we imagined. Then we decided to go to Suan Lum Night Bazaar, this market was quite nice and entertaining. Then The next day we flight back to Jakarta.

Overall the trip to Bangkok was quite entertain to release our stress a bit. Thank's for our Thai friends, Kanta and Nuch for their hospitality while we were in Bangkok and have recommended us some nice places to go in Bangkok.

September after fieldwork.

Since August our firm has entered the busy season for year 2005. Everyone has been scheduled to perform audit works for specified clients. Last August as I have written that I was assigned to Oil mining company and Semen Gresik afterwards. Then finally I came back to Jakarta. I felt a bit release when I came back to Jakarta. Home sweet home. However, the situation is not as beautiful as I thought. Sometimes the workload in Jakarta is more intense when perform audit work at out of town. It is due to occasionally we need to take care more than one client, while if we work outside Jakarta is more focus on a specific client. Hence, while I was still completing the documentation for Caltex and Semen Gresik, I have been assigned to another client, Adira Finance. Quite often we are forced to do multitasking.

I have only one and half week to accomplish the work for this new client. Other than that I was assigned to help my collegues to perform a parttime audit work at another client, Hero. All of the work need to be accomplish before departing to Bangkok for training. Hmmm, I was told by my collegue, Yenny, that both of us were assigned to attend A7 SPA academy in Bangkok. While waiting for departure approval, we worked hard trying to accomplish all the task in time. Unfortunately, until the last day before we departed I still have one pending job, due to the client gave me uncompleted data so I cannot verify the process flow.

Where have I been??

Having absense for more than one month in writing this blog. The first three weeks in August I got a quite big assignment and had to visit client's site at Rumbai, Pekan Baru. When I was there the original plan was changed, I had to visit oil mining site at Dumai and Duri alone. Fortunately the person in charge at the sites were quite helpful so I can accomplish my task quite well. After three weeks in Rumbai, I hit back to Jakarta on 19th August. When I arrived at Jakarta, I was informed that I got another assignment that required me to travel to Gresik, East Java for about two weeks. That was quite shocking, because it was quite sudden. But like it or not I departed to Gresik on 21th August which was on Birthday. :( I just came back to Jakarta last week hmm finally. It is true when people said home sweet home.

Together we are strong. 

You are you.. 

SPA group in action 

Travelling.

I am assigned to go to oil mining site, Caltex in Riau for three weeks. The audit work at Caltex might be a very intensive one, consider Caltex is one subsidiary of a company that listed at US stock exchange. Hence, the audit approach need to follow Sarbane Oxley act. This act is arised in the light of Enron's case in 2002. Besides financial audit, the company also need to perform test of control surrounding the financial system. Hopefully during this time I can have time to visit my parent at my hometown.

According my schedule, after caltex I will be sent to Gresik for one week. To perform another IS audit work there. Hence, the total period I will be away from Jakarta is around one month. I think the work will be very tiring, hope I will be strengthen to accomplish my tasks.

One day outing.

Last saturday my department had one day outing. This just like a gathering and have some activities together. The commitee had arranged the place and activities for the day. We started at 10 am at viva bowling, mal kelapa gading. That was my first time to play bowling. It was really enjoyable, although at the first time my ball didn't hit anything hehe.. Then we had lunch together at a brazillian buffet restaurant. Before the lunch, we took studio pictures. It was really fun hehehe, it can be seen from some of the pictures loaded above. :)

After the lunch, we continue the activities to Gokart. This was a car racing. We had a competition to find out who is the real racing champion. The racing was really pump up our adrenalin. Suprisingly I was in the third place, I just can drive for three months hehe. Lastly we had massage session, to have a relax time. It was really a tiring and entertaining time can have time together with other colleagues. I think we are getting more and more solid. I am happy to be part of this department.

Oprah Show.

As my routine every Saturday morning, I usually watch Oprah Winfrey show. These last three weeks the shows were so encoraging. In one of the show, Oprah have given away hundreds of car to her audiences on the show. I think all of us can imagine, how the people on the show so happy and histeric. After some weeks Oprah follow up the people who have received those cars one by one. The result is so amazing, some people from the show, has reacted unpredictably. One of the audience, sold the car and gave away the money to the charity. Another one gave away the car to an old lady who really need a new car to replace her old car and etc.. I really touch by the reactions. Those people are awesome, can deliver the real message of giving.

I felt so ashame, do I also receive so much from God? even salvation from the dead. But most of the time I really forget to share the goodness of the God. All I think is for myself, and so overwhelm with earthly things, even nor thanks giving with what I have so far. Yeah, at least I be reminded again..

John 13:12-14 "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command".

Need emotion controller.

Last Thursday, as an usual working day, I wake up early in the morning and ready to go to office at 5.30 am. As my habit I always turn on my car radio while I am driving. And the quiet time topic on that day was forgiveness. The presenter began by reading the following bible verse.

Reading taken from Matthew 5:38-48 (NIV)

An Eye for an Eye

38 "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone want to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."

Love for Enemies

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect."

Then the presenter share an experience that wrote by someone. The writer wrote that "it is a challenge to follow God's word to forgive other people when driving a car at a crowded road. When other drivers disobey the traffic sign and take my pathway, I always feel uneasy and irritated. That remind me to my failure to forgive other people who have done something bad to me."

When listen to it, I realised that was another warning and reminder for me too. As I mentioned before in my previous writing some time ago, that the road in Jakarta is really crowded and messy especially if there are a lot of public transport (bus, minibus/mikrolet). The public transport drivers often stop at the middle of the road as they like, so it makes the road clog. The experience that the presenter told is also the part of my every day life or sometime even worse. As I myself, if other people take my pathway, I easilly get mad and sometimes said something bad. Really want to get revenge on that person.

And thankfully I heard the session and be reminded before I've gone to far with my uncontrolled emotion which sometimes may cause a fatal situation on road. I hope I can learn to be more patient and merciful, to forgive other people who have done wrong to me. This experience makes me believe God is guiding me to His way through every event in my everyday life.

Luke 11:4 "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins againts us".

God will make a way.

There is something trouble my mind lately. The more I think about it, the more frustated I am. Hmmm, then one evening when I drove to home, I turned on my VCD player and heard this song, it gave me a bit relief. This reminded me that I am not alone while in a troublesome situation.

Song by Doen Moen

God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness
He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His word will still remain
He will do something new today

The right time.

The promotion announcement was published just couple days ago. I was included in the list of the promotion. I just want to thanks God for His reward and kindness for me.

I remembered my feeling when the first time I was accepted in this company. Although I didn't express it at that time, I actually felt somewhere between happy and a bit disappointed. On the one hand I was happy because I can have an opportunity to work at a big four company as I dreamed on. On the other hand, I was offered a lower position and salary as I expected. The disappoinment was because I felt my previous proffesional experiences and efforts in pursuing my postgraduate study were not appreciated. In fact, at the same time my previous employer also offered me a job with much higher salary. After contemplate for sometimes, I finally decided to take the offer. Because I think I would have more opportunity to develop my skills in this company rather than in my previous company.

I admit that in the first two or three months I was a bit struggling with the work. It was because the assignment was quite new for me, but thank's God for my helpful collegues so I could adapt the work culture there quickly. And now I can see the essence behind the experiences that I just went through. Essentially if at that time the company offer me a position as expect maybe I wouldn't be able to perform well. I think it was God plan to give me time to learn before I am ready to take bigger responsibility. Then I got promoted when I am ready to take that responsibility. Thanks God.

Prayer

Teach us oh Lord to understand your plan

Maybe now we are disappointed and frustated

Because we don't get what we wanted

Because our plan go far from what we expected

Please give us strength and courage Lord,

So we are able to stand firm in our faith

Until your glory is revealed.

Outing continue on.

Has been one week since our team came back from outing. However, the spirit of the outing is still continue hehe.. Last night we have a sudden plan, out of the blue we organised to watch a movie together. It was ten of us. We watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The movie was great, I love it, quite funny and spectacular. For whom haven't watch the movie, this is a good movie to watch. Quite entertain. :)

Outing at Bunaken, Manado - North Sulawesi.

Just come back from outing. Really had a good time during the outing. We had a lot of fun and delicious food hehe. Food at Manado is really really good. I think I gain weight after the four outing days. :P

We departed from Jakarta to Manado on last thursday. I like Manado environment at the first time I arrived. I don't know why, I felt very peaceful. As soon as we arrived at Ritzy hotel, we went out directly to find a restaurant to fill our hungry stomach. The food is really very tasty. Can't forget how it feel haha. After late lunch we go swimming at the hotel's swimming pool. Although the pool is small, the view is really good, because the location of the pool is facing the seashore, so we could see sunset and couple of islands.

The next day we were having snorkling. It was my first time to experience snorkling. Initially it was a bit difficult because haven't really familiar with the snorkling gears. However, after sometimes I really enjoyed the view at the bottom of the seabed. Then at the afternoon, we went to Bukit Kasih (Love Hill). Surrounding this hill there are five different prayer houses for five different authorised religions that live in our country. The local government built these buildings for a purpose, to remind people about tolerance among different religious people.

On the third day we went to Bunaken island and had diving. It was also my first experience to dive. Even we didn't have diving license we were allowed to dive. The view at the seabed was really awesome. The view is better than snorkling, because we can see the sea objects clearly. This was reminded me with the greatness of God, really really perfect in everything. And the last and best thing is at the last night our team came together in one room played card. We had a lot of laugh and fun. That moment made me realised that the relationship within our team is very close. There is no boundary between us although the level of our positions are different, which is good. Then on Sunday we directly hit back to Jakarta. Hmmm and the holiday was ended. Can't forget every moment during the outing.

SPA team. 

Pijama Party. 

Bukit Kasih. (Love Hill) 

SPA - IA teams at bukit Kasih 

Manado from above 

Dolphins (read: can hardly see) 

The snorkling experts. :P 

Life under the water 

Caught in action - snorkling 

Boat tour.. 

Beautiful view.. 

Sightseeing... 

Exciting to depart for holiday