missionspastor's Xanga

Exams, church merger & medicine

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:25:51 GMT

Dear Friends

It has been quite a while since I last wrote on my blog.It must have been the climb at Mt. Kinabalu that has taken out all my energy and stimina for which I am still recovering from it:-the knee injury. It is much better now.

Exams has once again hit the Hoon family. My younger daugther has started her 'O' Level exams. She was initally the concern of both my wife and I as she tends to get quite excited about the exams. So excited that she might not get enough sleep because of it. But praise God, she is nearly half way through and she seems to be holding up well. Of course the other worry is if she can get nto the school of her choice. For that we will have to pray hard. Just a thought about exams, I wonder when will the government do away with the exam thing and be like the IB program that provide them with class projects instead. However, I heard that it is more work this way, not less.

Church merger is another of those things that has been occupying our minds. Light of Christ City Church has been merged with Christ Church Woodlands to form Light of Christ Church Woodlands. So far so good even though we have some initially disagreements and adjustments between the two congregations. The good thing that came out of this is that we have more resources to do more work in the school and the community. Oh! we even got a newly renovated chapel and office. For a change, we need not use second hand stuff for church or office.

As for Medicine, my older daughter has started her course in the School of Medicine in NUS. She is enjoying her study and occasionally even shares with us about her study. She is staying later in the campus and has formed a good group of students that she studies together. Hopefully something else can develop in the study group.

Oh, finally, as the year comes to en end, we are hoping to drop over at the most populous nation on earth. Yes, we are planning to visit the mainland of China by the commercial tour. I think it will be fun. We hope to visit our friends who are posted there for work. It has been our dream to stand on top of the Great Wall of China and see the land that so many have been raving about in the past years. That's all for this blog. Cheerio!

Finally Mount Kinabalu

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:35:56 GMT

Dear friends at my blog

Well it finally came to past that we eventually managed to climb to the top of Mt. Kinabalu on Wed

4th July 2007. It came after nearly 6 months from the day after our failed attempt in early February 2007.

On that trip, one of our members had a very bad cramped thigh. He turned around and decided to

call it a day. With time not on our side and our determination diminishing, the rest of our team decided

to go back with him.

For our 2nd hike, only those who had done a fair share of the training were allowed to join the team.

Altogether we would have been training for almost 8 months since the beginning of the lst trip.

We have seen a few wild life including the clouded moniter lizard, the sun Skink, the squirrel, many

monkeys and birds. The fellowship with the fellow colleagues had been very sweet.

About the 2nd hike, I almost did not make it as I had a bad knee pain just on the first day of the trip.

The pain came suddenly on that Monday morning. It was an the old injury on my right knee. I

hobbled around wondering if I could make it to the summit. In fact I even entertained the thought

that I would remain in the Parks HQ to have a time of retreat while the other two team-mates go ahead

with their climb. But I was glad that I persisted and finally went with some intermediate goals in my

mind. My aim was to target first for Laying -Layang (4 km). If I could reach there, I would then

aim for Laban Rata ( the launch point for the summit). If I was still alright, then I would climb to the

summit. I believe this to be a good plan to encourage myself to press on. Inspite of the knee pain, I

pressed on against all odds and reached the summit on 4th July( Wednesday). What glorious day

when I saw the sunrise on this bright beautiful day.

So much about the climb. A few lessons remain: first, at 51, I am encouraged that I can still do arduous

climb. My mindset has been changed and I think I can do whatever I put my heart to do.The second

lesson is to have a plan. I was planning to do 6 difficult things in the next 10 years. I made the list on

my 50th birthday. I am glad that I can now put a check on the first of the 6 things. I have also planned

to have a few check points for the intermediate goals.

Finally, our team and I have decided to keep up with our physical fitness and who knows sometime

in 2008, we may attempt something else or we may start a movement for the motivated among our

colleagues.

Three cheers for the three musketeers! Glory to God!

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Good news! Church camps, bits and pieces

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:16:50 GMT

Dear Friends

Hi there. I have not been writing for a while. Actually I got good news to share. Just did not get to

write down. I remember that it was the night that I was coming back from a meeting (18th May). My

hand phone buzz and I saw that there was a message for me. It says 'S got into medicine'. Hurray!

My heart just filled with gratitude to God for the gracious gift He has given to my daughter. I

immediately stopped the car and gave thanks to God. Then I wrote some smses to my closer

friends to share the joy with them. Just the other day, again I felt a heart of gratitude to God for the

answer to my prayers. I remember that I have brought this up as one of the prayer items during

my silent retreat earlier in the year. Thanks be to God!

The other thing I would like to share is about our church camp. Actually there were two camps that

I participated in. One was in Desaru. It was the camp for one of our churches. I was to be the

retreat speaker. I shared on the contemplation lifestyle. Thanks be to God for a very encouraging

response. One of the small groups even planned to have a retreat on their own! I am seriously

thinking about how I can be of service to the body of Christ in this aspect.

Our own church camp came next. We had it in one of the very few local camp sites in Singapore. It

was held in Chua Chu Kang. A splendid place for the youth and some not so youthful ones like us

to gather. Even though only 32 of us actually came to the camp, we did have a great time. We have

Benny Ong to be our speaker and he delivered the goods. At the end of the camp and when the

altar call was given, four or five of the pre-believers went forward. Two were clear salvation.

Others were re-commitments.

Well, yesterday was also the day we bade farewell to our brother Pastor J and his wife G. They

have been with with the church for the past 5 years. As they leave us, there is in some ways that

a part of our number have been taken away from us. Yet, it is the will of the Father for them to go.

We do what we can to ease the pain, but nonetheless there was the pain. They move on to bless

an extended body of Christ.

Lastly a little story about changing of pastor. As the old pastor were shaking her hands with the

parishioners for the last time, many members said niceties to him. As the standard answer, this

pastor said "It's alright. I am sure that they will send a better pastor to you after I am gone." The

parishioner immediately shot back,"That's what they said the last time." Hope you enjoy the story.

After this week I will have some more thing to write. Cheerio.

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Short trip to Indo-China

Fri, 04 May 2007 14:07:05 GMT

Dear friends

It has been a very good trip to visit our language centre in Indo China in the last four days. Initially I thought the trip may not happen because of the amount of work back home and the response of those who are suppose to come have been lukewarm. Finally, one of our committee members decided to come and one of our teachers from our School, decided to come and see together with his colleagues.

I am glad the trip went well with the team from the School who have the intention to recce the school and to return in June to do a painting job. I finally got the agreement of the manager to fetch us and the team to do the recce trip at the school about an hour from the centre. He even agreed to release one of his staff to assist us in finding an interpretator to assist the school team when they go in June

As for me, I find it a joy to catch up with the various team members of the centre and hopefully be a source of encouragement to them. We even thought about having a retreat for the leaders in the near future and hopefully it will come into fruition sometime in October.

Finally it is really good to have a break from the regular work and have sometime to just talk to people in the field. Oh I got some work done during the trip as well and bought some tipbits for the children at home. It was a good trip! Oh I also got an interesting book from the airport about one of the Vietnam war victims (the very famous napalm bomb victim that came out in the Time magazine in 1972). So much for the trip.

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Visit to U.S.A.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:26:07 GMT

Dear blog friends

How are you? I am really glad to be able to have a chance to visit the U.S.A. in the last week. After travelling for 27 hours,We had an experience to visit this mighty land that has been such a influence to the whole world. We were there to participate in a conference on missions.

Here are some of my reflections on the trip:

(i) America is a great country. Everything is so ...great. The meals are great. The place is great. The people are great. The program of the conference is great! Wow! we really enjoy the whole trip expeciay the weather.

(ii) Missions conference: It was suppose to be a conference for the Episcopal church. This is especially helpful taking into consideration that the church is undergoing such a tremendous pressure to succumb to the pressure to conform. The folks at the conference enjoyed the devotion by our bishop and I believe some of the workshops conducted by our leaders.

(iii) Meaningful conversations: I had such opportunties to have meaningful conversations with a number of the American christians. I really enjoyed finding more about the church there. The biggest Anglican church is about 3500 members. The smallest is about 30 members. We hear so much about the trouble in the Anglican church, now is the time for us to walk alongside with them..

(iv) Our purpose: we were there to promote South East Asia to recruit American to come over to help us. May be there might be some responses. We hope to continue the fellowship with the believers there. As as matter of fact, I will be writing to some and start corresponding with them.

On the whole, it was as good time for me because of what had happened the tne last few months. It is refreshing for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed ths trip. Hopefully they can pay a return trip in Octber 2008 and then the relationship will be seared with them.

We left on 15th and then on 16th April, the fatal shooting took place. What a tremendous pain it is for the church n U.S.A.What an aweful esperience for the church there.

As for me now, I will have to concentrate on the building up of the church here.. Until then...cheers.

What if one day things did not turn out the way we want

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:48:52 GMT

Dear Friends.

Today we have had an interesting outing with the youths of Christchurch Woodland to the Kranji countryside farms. Guess what, we were supposed to be at Kranji MRT station at 8.30 am. But due to you know what, impunctuality, we finally got all present at 9 am. It was still all right because the first bus that was suppose to take us to the farm was suppose to come at 9 am. However when the bus arrived, we realised that there was a problem, There were too many of us and the bus could only take 19. There were 10 of us and there were at least 16 or 17 other passengers. What do we do then? We decided to be christian gentlemen and ladies. We gave up the seats to the rest of the passengers. One of our group members suggested that we take the public transport no. 925. It was settled. We went for the SMRT bus stop and waited. One of us (me) had to go to the loo. Just as I left for the loo, the bus turned up. Of course we missed the bus. We waited for the next bus which turned at 9.40 am. One of the team members thought that we should wait for the next Kranji Express that was suppose to bring to the farm directly. The SMRT bus only took us to the place near the farm and we had to walk. So much about the wrong moves.

We decided to take the SMRT bus anyway. But as it turned out, it did not go all the way to the farm because it is Saturday. It only go to the farm on Sunday. Instead we were fetched to Kranji factories area and then to Choa CHu Kang MRT station.We decided to take the train back to Kranji MRT station to wait for the Kranji Express to bring to the farm. We finally made it to the farm at about 11.10 am. Whew! The rest , as they said , is history.

What do we learn from this episode? Well , I must thank God for the youth for their patience. None of them did grumble or complain a bit. May be it is because it is Saturday and they are not hard press for time. Still it is quite a bit to be tested again and again on the transport problem.

Next we learn to talk and fellowship with one another during the delays. We also learn about what to do when we do not get the thing we are expecting. We need to be patient and wait for the next opportunity. Likewise when we do not get any other things in life, like promotion, like exam results, or ballot for the school of our choice. What do we do when we have disappontment in life? The best thing to do is to give thanks to God for whatever thing that do. Well we have only one life. We need to learn not to be too serious but to rejoice in God for everything. It is His teaching to us from his word. (Phil 4:4) Enjoy life!

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Chinese New Year, jokes and Evangelism

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:54:13 GMT

Dear folks

Chinese New Year has just gone by. We have, I am sure, had a great time eating, collecting angpows and of course visiting. I was glad to visit the home of our CCW member and get to know a little better some of the CCWers. As a matter of fact, I even have a game of scribble with the youths at the Ang's residence. Of course some of the adults did come and help up with one of the youth who was desperately in need of help. One of the youths asked me if I have such fun in my previous church. I told him that back in SJSM, we are very very busy! In fact we do not remember having a game of scribble in my time there. Some time we can be too busy even to build relationships.

Chinese New Year is also a time of visitation. I visited with my immediate brothers and sisters in Juring area. It is quite good to be able to catch all of them in one location. I noticed how much all of them have aged (myself included). My oldest brother is nearly 70 years old. He recently had a bypassed operation and I felt for him. However the Chinese New Year's chatting with the TV in full blast was not best time for the presentation of the gospel. But how I wish I had done so. Looks like I make another visit to share with him about Jesus. I hate to receive the phone call to say that my brother is gone forever and I have not even share with him the gospel. That sets me thinking about all my relatives and for that matter all our relatives who are yet to know Jesus. I went out and bought myself a stack of Gospel Bridge (a alternative to the 4 Spiritual Laws).

For jokes, well I heard this from a friend. A woman had been rushing to the pharmacy to get some medicine for her baby she left at home. In her hurry, she locked the car door with the key inside. As she returned to the car she realised her mistakes and prayed for God to help her as she was really in a hurry. After that prayer, she looked up and saw a shabbily dressed man walking by. She asked him for help. He took out a wire and within seconds opened the door for her. She was stunted. She asked him what was his profession. He shared that he has none because he has just done time in prison. And what was he in for? Car theft was his quick reply. The woman raised her hands and thank God because when she prayed for help, God answered her prayer and sent the expert.... be careful what we pray.

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Mt. Kinabalu Hike

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:26:43 GMT

Yes We have finally returned!

Our attempt to climb the highest mountain in SE Asia have failed. We have planned to go all the way to the summit within the three days and two nights. However, several mistakes were made and we did not make it to the top.

Instead we were booked at the Mersilau Lodge to stay for the first night. The next we naturally went to the beginning of the Mersilau Trail to start. As the matter of fact, another tour group warned us against going that way but being new in this kind of things, we decided to give it a go.

I must say that we really did not give the mountain the respect that is due. We were trying to climb to the summit via the Mersilau Trail. Well according to the tour books, this is a better and more scenic route. It was scenic alright until the rain came. Some of the climb were really steep and slippery when wet.

For the rest of the 6.2 km of the Mersilau Trail, it was all pantings and struggles until one of our members had a severe cramp on both his thighs. We in fact have to ask the guide to radio the staff quarter to get one of the staff to come and meet us mid point to carry him back to the staff quarter. In the end, all of us went to the staff quarter and rested a night there because we were already too late to continue the rest of the journey to Laban Rata because it was getting late (about 5 pm). We decided to call it a day as the next day's booking at Laben Rata was fully booked.

What are the lessons learnt? Well, we should find out a bit more about the Mersilau Trail and not attempt it if we are not ready. Well we needed more training and be more prepared for the climb the next time.

Another lesson learnt is about teamwork. While we were really interested in gettingto the top, we felt that the fact that the team waited for the last walker and even decided to turn back has helped us learnt a lot about team work.

One more lesson. Even though were did not get to the top, a few of us vowed to do it again. This means more training and may be more months of healthy lifestyle for all.

20th Wedding Anniversary

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:39:23 GMT

Wow! Time flies. Another 2 weeks have passed me by since I last blog.

Thinking about today, my 20th Wedding Anniversary, it is quite a feat to come to this date. For some a wedding anniversary is nothing since it is just another day. For others it is very important and a vital mile stone. For us it is in between. Or at least this is how I see it. However I took off in lieu to cherish this day with my wife.

I would like to say that it was the most memorial day since we have made it to the 20th anniversary. However, it turned out that we have a lesson or two to learn on that day. The day did not turn out as we expected but in the end we still have lunch together as a couple, and dinner with our girls at our favourite coffee shop at Clementi Ave 1.

Reflecting over the 20 years, it must be said that it is not an stroll in the park. We have to work and fight for our time with each other and our love for one another. But it is worth all the while. My wife has been very gracious and reasonable to put up with my behaviour and habits in the last 20 years. I think every person should be married in order for them to learn to love those who are different from them in a very real close up way. Thanks be to God for my wife.

The other thing that has happened is our preparation for the change to Woodlands. I guess change is always not easy. It is easier to remain the same. But this is not what we are called. My Kinabaru partner tells me this. He tries to learn something new every six months. Some examples of his learning curve are: camera, birds watching, and now climbing mountain. I think I should learn to do something new every year.

It is nice to be able to write this blog in my new free computer from Singtel. It is Lenovo computer with the 19 inches LCD screen. Apart from the new computer we also painted the house in quite strong colours. You are welcome to see if you drop by.

That's all for this 20th Wedding anniversary blog. Hopefully the next one will be about Mount Kinabaru with pictures.

Vincent

My Christmas blog

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 13:57:15 GMT

Dear Friends

Wow! It has been quite an enjoyable year end and Christmas services.

This year we have a theme of Love based on the story of Hoshea and her preacher husband. A very well presented show.

We had the music emsamble and the 60 strong choir and that was good too.

After all the services, we managed to come together for the family tradition of opening the christmas presents which was nice. This year we managed to buy Mr Bean bear for three of the four members of the family. ALl ldone in secret.

After that we had a family christmas dinner at Chong Chin Nam. A little bit crowded and tense. However the hightlight of the evening was the trip to Courts to buy my niece a camera that is a bit more costly than our own.The camera was delivered to her immediatey. A sacrifice that was well ..received.

Well the remaining of my Christmas leave were used to the paint of our flat. Quite a feat considering the fact that we are all a little old and Sarah, our older daughter was out of town. We survived the painting and in fact quite satisfied with our product.

Well, in a few hours it will be New Years day. What are we expecting for the new year? Of course My older daughter is looking forward to joining the Serve Program..a two months missions/ministry training for the youth in the church. It is a paid program and the students will get to go for missions trip as part of the program. In this way we will be sowing seeds of fulltime ministry into the lives of the young . My younger one is doing her "O" level next year.

As for myself, I am still thinking about what to anticipate in the new posting in Woodlands. That will be left to the Lord's good hand. I will finish my course in Spiritual Mentoring in August where we graduate. I already have one invitation to lead in a retreat in one of the June camps.

I am looking forward to climb the Mt. Kinabaru(1st February 07), with excitment and hope. Excitment because it is my first time and hope because I am still not sure if we will make it. I suppose that is life needing to take a step at a time and by faith. That is all for this. Adios...

One joke...3 soldiers were sent into enemies territory. One is Australia.Another an American . The third a Chinese. They were all asked to look for something before re-gathering. The American to look for ammunition. The Australian for food. The Chinese 'supplies'. Two hours later they all came back. The American produced the ammunition. The Australian the food. But the Chinese is nowhere to be found. And just as the other two were getting anxious, out jump the chinese and he yelled "Surprise!" and did nothing to collect anything except the surprise. ( a case of wrongly pronounced word).

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