April
Fool joke came early yesterday when the guest of honor forgot to turn up at an
auspicious occasion in church!!! Well, it was the church’s silver anniversary
and the VVIP forgot…
Well,
March was pretty busy with SAM’s inaugural class in Tapah the day after STM’s
BM TEE class in Kampar. Though tiring, it was encouraging to see OA church
leaders possessing a hunger for God’s Word. There were 51 students from Tapah
region n 7 from Gopeng area. What moved me further was a pregnant mother
calculating that she can attend the class before delivery but her baby came
early. She asked her pastor if she can still attend while in confinement! Even
if I have to “work” myself to the grave, I think such hunger for God’s Word can
resurrect me back to a full life to continue serving the OA church.
There
was a semi-guided unscheduled class held in the middle of the month to cater to
TEE students who needed this core subject in NT Survey to graduate later this
year. Cramping our schedules, we were able to allocate 3 days n classes
stretched till night time. It was really intensive with a 9 to 9, 12 hour class
(of course with breaks in between!) But I was so blessed by the creativity of
the OA students. I threw them a challenge to present the NT books and its theme
to their target audience n some came up with extremely creative n practical
ways – complete with charts, drawings, n (sand) play.
Then,
when the school break began, we were at Bukit Gambang Resort City in Kuantan
for the DWM Clergy Retreat. The schedule was so packed we didn’t even hv time
to touch the water in the swimming pool we walked passed so often between our
rooms n the meeting room. The only relaxing time we had was dinner beside a
glass-enclosed cage of two white lions – but they did nothing more than
sleeping! Then we were ushered to watch two live shows – fire show n acrobatic
comedy. Ok, I shall not comment on these “shows.”
Returning
from Kuantan, I quickly have to get ready for another appointment – a speaking
engagement at the Lenten Retreat organized by the Ladies’ Fellowship of a
church in PJ at a hotel near the church. It was a small group of about 20
participants but I hv so much fun with them. They are such wonderful people n I
found myself so richly blessed. It was a Fri-Sat retreat, so I returned campus
by Sat evening n got ready to travel to Cheras the next morning for my church
anniversary do…and the unexpected occurred when the VVIP didn’t turn up.
However, the event proceeded well n everyone was blessed by the programs that were
planned.
This
weekend is a roadshow to Johor while Easter is around the corner. April is
pretty packed too with a brief trip back Penang for mommy-related matters. Then
there’s another unscheduled intensive one-week class for students who intending
to graduate this year with a missing core subject. But I am excited for our
mission trip to Makassar. Kindly uphold us in your prayers. I’m leading a small
team (5 inc. myself) to Makassar for both urban and rural ministry. This will
be in May for a week, immediately after our first semester breaks.
Once
again, thank you for your partnership in ministry.
