Mini Alpha

In 2012, I started Alpha Course in church for our members in English Congregation.  The course was started because I wanted to help one of the member to come back to God.  Initially it was meant for a small group of people in my house.  Then I decided to do with the members in the English congregation at the same time.  So I merge everyone together to go through the Alpha course.

It went off quite well where we met regularly on a weekly basis.  Then towards the end momentum started to slow down.  But eventually we managed to finish it off after probably a year.

In 2014, I caught up with my ex-colleagues in SIA, 2 ladies in fact.  Both of them are full time homemaker.  It was a good gathering and we chatted a lot.  As I was passionate over Christianity, I shared about the alpha course that we have completed some time back and to my surprise they were not resistance to the topic.  The problem that they mentioned about how to know more about Christianity is that their free time is only time when their children is in school which is the time when people are working.  Both families are not Christian family and it's q challenge for them to go to church especially when weekend is the time they will be busy with their children and other activities.

I proposed to have a mini alpha course with them when their children are in school and they immediately agreed.  This was very surprising to me.  I went to check with Pastor Cynthia on the possibility of this Mini Alpha course to be held in church together with her and she was agreeable.  Thus this course was setup and manage to have our first gathering something in Mar 2014.

It was a great experience with many sharing and I'm glad that both of them have learnt quite a lot in the course.  Though we didn't manage to finish the course due to our busy schedule, both of them have accepted Christ.

As we didn't finish the course together, their foundation was weak and both of them have not been attending church.  I hope that we could eventually follow up with each other and encourage each other in the faith community.

This Mini Alpha was unexpected.  It's through the grace of God that we had this course and both of them have accepted Christ in their life.  I will keep praying for them to stay in Christ and eventually go to church and their family members receiving salvations.  Amen!

Parent supports in New Life

The children had an amazing 2 years in New Life and so do we.  Ser En & Rong En has 3 other good friends in New Life, namely Benedict, Zane & Isaac.  We had 3 other good friends too, the mother of the 3 children name Li Lian, Charm & Vanessa.

In New Life, we first got to know Li Lian.  One thing we love about New Life is that every morning there's an assembly where children will be singing praises to God before they start school.  Parent's will be watching from afar.  That's how we get to know Li Lian as it's our morning ritual to stand at behind the assembly area to watch our kids.  Slowly we exchanged glances and started talking to each other.  Then we'll have breakfast together once a while.

Li Lian is a Catholic and she has great passion serving God.  I enjoyed talking to her regarding biblical stuff, her husband is Michael who came to know God through her.  We have also observed Charm as she is exceptionally tall and quiet.  As she stays near the school, we may meet her occasionally when we go to provisional shop near by.  As we exchanged conversation, we realised that she is a filipino married to Singapore.  She is a Christian while her hubby Andy is not.  Andy worked for Air Force.  He had many experiences in his life that he felt sorrowful over and is indulged to drinking and smoking so as to numb himself from past memories.  We believed that God has been doing things in his life to lead him towards God.  There was a period when he was sick and due to the sickness, he felt that the taste of liquor was bitter and stopped drinking for a moment.  Then recently, he was posted to Brunei, a place where there was not much activities to do except to find ways to drink and smoke, but God gave him a roommate who is a Christian and leading him to study bible daily.  I'm waiting for the day he becomes a Christian.  And finally, we came to know Vanessa when we were having breakfast at the hawker center.  Vanessa is an active Christian serving in her church as committee member.  We shared a lot during various breakfast on serving in the church.  Her husband Jimmy is a businessman who is also passionate evangelising for God whenever there's opportunity.  He is also passionate is helping Andy to know God better.

With these people around me during this 2 years, it was an amazing journey as we shared many of our experiences on God's story.  We encourage each other and lifted up each other.  Our usual routine in the morning is sending children to school and then have breakfast together.  Other days, we may be celebrating children's birthday together, going out in Singapore for various events and event having holiday together in Bintan resort.  Awesome time together.

PCF to New Life

When approaching the end of the year during their nursery in PCF, we were considering if we should send our children to New Life Presbyterian Kindergarten.  The school fee at PCF & New Life are quite similar.  It's just a little costly because there's a component of the school (for computer enrichment) that cannot use baby bonus.  The other issue is that New Life is far from our house and I'll need to drive them to school every morning as compared to PCF that is walking distance away.  The thing that attract us to New Life is that it's Christian foundation.  We were having a hard time making the decision.  When we tried applying for New Life, there was no vacancy and the principal told us to pray about it and put us on waiting list.  In PCF, we were concerned about the principle who doesn't seems to be active in managing the center.  We left a message for her to call us back to address our concern on who will be teaching them in K1.

As we were struggling between PCF & New Life, we decided to wait for the answer from God as we are unsure what will be the best decision for us.  Personally I would love to stay put in PCF but I'm attracted to a Kindergarten with Christian foundation.  Thus we agreed among ourselves that whoever call us first, we'll send the children to that school.

We waited and waited with no news and getting nervous as days goes by.  Then one fine day, the principal of New Life called up telling us that the school decided to create a new space and open another class, thus our children got a placement in New Life.

The next day, the principal in PCF called us saying that she was busy with the preparation of the school's graduation, that's why she was unable to call till then.  Unfortunately it was too late and our decision has been made.  It is subtle but it's clear to me that God is telling me that all timing is under his control.

Lives in PCF

Lives in PCF was simple and I couldn't recall of any event that I can highlight about miracles from God.  Nevertheless, it was a fun time going through it.  All I can say is that regardless of the type of education that we send our children to, God is ultimately in control of their destiny when we let him.

Our children are blessed with the fun and laughters of going to PCF making friends and enjoying school as well as playing in the playground after school.  They may not have learnt as much as those who are in other expensive nursery, but I would say that they had an enjoyable childhood there.

Ai Wei & Ai Min left the school after a few months because they moved to Jurong.

Overall 2013 was a honeymoon period for us with our children.  There are so much fun.  Even Ser En's first stay in hospital due to Rota Virus was fun when it coincide with Joyce birthday.

Our 2 little bumble bees in the graduation performance.  One was too stunned to move and the other was flying all around.  What a contrast in characters:

During this year, we have lots of activities as well as exploring different things for our children.  Though it was fun, one thing I found that I couldn't recall much for that year if not of the photo album.

Blogging Restart

I'm back again after going away for a long time.  What brings me back today is starts with fact that I'm supposed to post something for everyday for this week in the whatsapp chat for SOOGI Prayer Warrier.  As I am new to this chat group and I don't really know the people in the chat group except Pamela who is the founder for SOOGI, I was thinking to share postings about my past testimony on the miracles from God that happen in my life.  This leads me to remember about this blog and I realised that there are so many things that I've left out blogging all these years.

I shall start in the post to list out the agenda subsequent posts coming along:

1.  Lives in PCF (2013)
2.  PCF to New Life (end 2013)
3.  Parent supports in New Life (2014)
4.  Mini Alpha (2014)
5.  2014 Christmas Celebration (mid 2014 - end 2014)
6.  A tough year in 2015 (2015)
7.  Searching for new Church location (Q2 2015)
8.  The next phase with Caleb Chia Kay En (Q3 2015)
9.  I AM message (Q4 2015)
10.  Journey to Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School (Q4 2015)
11.  Christmas Celebration (Q4 2015)
12.  Fellowship, Prayer & Count Down to (Q4 2015)