May
closed with many events. I had subjected myself to some strict discipline to
complete my entire dissertation draft and I did it! And it was a whole month
ahead of schedule. I figure that if I discipline myself to write a thousand
words a day, I can complete it by June. On my off days I can write three or
four times that effort. So, by the final week of May, I completed and sent the
entire draft of more than 80, 000 words in more than 300 pages of it! Praise
the Lord…
I
thought that the schedule was nicely in place for me to fully enjoy the 4D3N
stay in the jungle with Wesley Methodist Taiping in three different OA
villages. But it was a (spiritually) stressful time. A few days before the
scheduled trip, my sister told me she discovered a cyst in her ovary. Being a
medical specialist that has to confront serious medical conditions every day at
work, she admitted that it was pretty worrying. That made me worried too. We
are very close to each other. When I was praying over this matter I had
received a confidence from the Lord that it is not a serious matter but I have
little faith and most of the time, worry overtook me. Perhaps, I figure, it was
just a “spiritual attack.” After all, I encountered many along the course of my
dissertation – at the research phase and the writing phase. I was constantly
plagued with various thoughts of condemnation and fear for no apparent reason
which affected my concentration on my research. It intensified when I built up
momentum to complete the work. I was relieved when the entire draft was
completed. Then the news came. It will only be on Friday for my sister to know
the status of the cyst but I was away on Friday morning for the trip to the OA
villages and there’s no network connection in the jungle. Adding to that was
another unexpected incident when the air-con belt of my car snapped on the way
to Ipoh, just
before entering the tunnel. In a way I was glad it occurred on the journey to
Simpang Pulai and not from Simpang Pulai. At least there were passengers and
other cars accompanying to assist me. But it was at the expanse of the group
and I felt real bad about it. About 5 hours were “wasted” to attend to the
break-down as traffic was at a crawl between Ipoh exit and Simpang Pulai exit. Two reasons
caused this – an overturned truck along the stretch from Simpang Pulai-Gopeng
and the holiday-makers creating a long queue at the Simpang Pulai toll to go to
Cameron Highlands. The car had to be towed to Ipoh for repairs.
Nevertheless,
I praise God for the eventful happenings. It all turned out well…despite the
earlier hiccup, Friday evening ended with a good time of bbq/fellowship.
Saturday morning was a challenging climb to the second village. I had some
“help” along the journey in the form of a bike-ride half way along the
strenuous journey. Sunday morning was bright and sunny. When we returned to
Gopeng and I finally got network, I received the news from my sister that the
cyst was a minor issue. However, she was advised to remove it through a minor
surgery. There was really nothing serious at all. Praise the Lord! And a big
thank you to all my prayer and ministry partners. It was a relief. I finally
saw my car in Gopeng, but not all was repaired. Some wheel bearing issue caused
it unsafe to drive along the winding road up Cameron Highlands
and I had to trouble my OA friends to provide additional transportation for the
team. I sent the car for repairs earlier today and I understand why the
mechanic in Ipoh
was reluctant to repair that faulty bearing. It was massive work of removing
and re-assembling. A whole 4 hours of work! But the repairs in Ipoh
were sufficient to allow me to drive back to Penang
– at a speed of 55-60km/hr!
For
those of you who contributed towards the grocery store in Pawong, I’m happy to
report that the store is doing well. Business is so good, the stock is usually
sold within 2 or 3 days. Although they can roll on their own, they are seeking
expansion now. Will greatly appreciate if anyone would like to invest in this
ministry to expand the grocery store. Suria, the store-keeper is very happy
serving there. She gets to meet villagers from nearby villages and the
opportunity to build friendship and eventually to evangelize. Investment can be
in RM500 or RM1000. Please consider, thanks.
Next
month is another trip to the OA villages, then a break in August. There are 2
SAM diploma modules scheduled for August, one week in Penang and another in Ipoh. I’ll be teaching
the second class in Ipoh.
This is followed by the Anglican annual synod in Kajang. There are trips
planned in both September and October. I’m not sure yet whether I can graduate
in November this year or next. I’ve done the complete dissertation and now it’s
all up to the readers and examiners to propose modifications to the write-up.
Well,
this is my update for the month. Once again, thank you for your partnership in
ministry.
5June2012
