We just want to take this time to wish family members, relatives and friends, in Singapore and overseas, "Merry Christmas!"
Thank you for being part of our lives in your unique and special way.
May God continue to watch over you and fulfill His wondrous plan in your life!
Have a blessed christmas everyone!
With much love,
Michael & Lean Choo
The following story is a powerful reminder of the importance of faith in our personal life and ministry.
A gentleman is observing a fisherman fishing on a particular lake one afternoon. This gentleman notices that whenever the fisherman catches a small fish he would keep the fish. But whenever he catches a large fish he would throw the fish back into the lake. This keeps happenning throughout the afternoon.
Unable to hold his curiousity any longer this gentleman approaches the fisherman and asks him a question, “Excuse me sir, I have been observing you fishing all afternoon. I noticed that you kept all the small fish and threw back all the big fish. May I know the reason for you doing so?”
“It’s actually very simple”, the fisherman replies. “You see, I only have a small frying pan at home.”
The story is hillarious but to the point. Isn't true that many times the size of our faith limits the kind of blessing and breakthrough we can receive from God?
The fisherman can just get a bigger frying pan instead of doing the unbelievable act of throwing back all the big fish. And similarly, instead of limiting what God can do by the size of our faith we should enlarge our faith so that we can receive all that God wants to give unto us.
This christmas harvest period, I pray that each one of us will enlarge our faith so that we can receive all that God wants to bless our outreach efforts with. After all, the Bible says that the harvest is plentiful.
In life, it is important to have some hopes and dreams. For one, hope and dream are an indicator whether faith is operating in our hearts and lives.
Without hope and dream life would only be a motion instead of a delightful anticipation of better things.
I do have some hopes and dreams for this christmas.
* I hope that each person in AG4 district will truly cherish the true meaning of christmas. May each person be awed by the reason behind the season in a fresh way this christmas.
* I hope that each person in AG4 district will approach christmas outreach with a winning mentality and a faith-filled attitude (not a defeated one) this christmas.
* I hope that each person in AG4 district will do christmas outreach with dependency on God and not on mere human strength alone this christmas. (one evidence of this dependency is praying and fasting)
* I hope that each care group in AG4 district will be blessed with at least one stable new brother/sister in Christ this christmas.
These are my hopes and dreams for christmas.
What is yours?
I just came back from Malaysia National Convention 2007 in Kuching. It was my first time stepping into East Malaysia and joining the convention. I thank God for some enrinching moments in the last few days.
Here are some of those moments:
* The churches in Malaysia have grown from strength to strength. They have now planted a seed community in every state in Malaysia. They have also recently made great progress in the international missions by planting churches in different parts of the world. The emphasis on missions was very strong throughout the convention.
* The wonderful interaction and fellowship time with the Malaysian pastors and co-ordinators through the different meal times. It was great to get to know Ps Dennis and Sister Hai Eng better in this MNC. I am touched by their great humility and servanthood attitude. It was great to be able to ask some specific questions to Ps Simon about his life and ministry experiences during some meal times as well.
* There were around 20 people from our Mandarin group attending the convention. In this convention I was able to get to know some of them better. It was good to be able to catch up a little bit with Jia Huey and Nigel, ex-my care group members when they were still in the Adults group some years ago. It's good to see them doing well in the Mandarin group.
* The opportunity to participate in the convention by teaching a workshop and sharing a testimony within Ps Jeff's teaching. It was a broadening experience for me. I am glad that they laughed at my jokes. :)
* Spending some quality time with Ps Jeff & Claudia. Ps Jeff didn't have to ask me to come along with him. He didn't have to make the various arrangements to enable me do something in the convention and that I would be taken care of while I was there. He didn't have to. But I am thankful to be part of a church and a family of churches that truly believe in the value of discipleship and covenant relationship. We don't just go to church but we do life together. Ps Jeff, if you are reading this, thanks very much for the constant love and impartation. What I have received I will pass on to others. :)
Back from MNC, it is time to rejoin my team to do our best for Jesus this Christmas!
"Jesus, please be with us once again, in an even greater way than last year. Without You we can do nothing. With You we can overcome and prevail through it all. Amen!"
I am at Changi Airport right now. I am waiting for my parents' flight to arrive from Melbourne. Earlier in the evening I joined the Love Africa meeting. Love Africa is a church level project anchored by AG4 district to gather like-minded people across the church, those who have the heart for the continent of Africa one way or another. Eugene Phang is the man behind this project.
It is great to see people from different groups in our church coming together to do something for people thousands of miles away from us. Indeed missions is done together. When each one of us does our part the combined effort can really go a distance.
Three weeks ago just before we went to Phuket we stopped by in Bangkok to meet Esther. I shared about Esther before. I met Esther in Nairobi, Kenya some time ago. In Bangkok, Esther fetched us from the airport and brought us to visit her company. She is the no 2 person in her company. She is doing business so that she will be able to support the work of missions in Kenya. This is the role that she believes God wants her to play in missions.
Indeed, there are many ways we can do missions. When the heart is willing many things can be a possibility. After all it is always about extraordinary people being used by an extraordinary God.
Tonight (technically last night) I am blessed by the sight of many young adults wanting to take part in the work of missions. I am also blessed by Esther's life, a Thai young adult who is obedient to the call of God in her life to play her part in missions for Africa.
Below are some of the photos I took in Esther's company:
Around three weeks ago some of us were in Phuket attending a conference. We had a good time catching up with some old friends and making some new friends as well. In this conference, we heard many powerful testimonies. I thank God that as a movement we are indeed progressing in fulfilling the Great Commission. Missions work is now in being done in places I previously thought as incredibly difficult.
We also had some time doing some sightseeing. The places we visited were quite interesting. Phuket is a popular tourism place in Thailand.
Just recently, I managed to download the photos of this trip from my humble but useful Samsung phone. We also received some photos from another fellow goer.
Here are some of the photos:
Recently, I discovered that my stamina had been dropping. I would fall asleep easily when I was in bus or train. I would feel like sleeping earlier than usual as well. I believe that a lack of exercise was a contributing factor to this happenning.
In the last few months I hardly had a chance to exercise. I tried to play tennis regularly on Saturday mornings but my schedule on Saturdays had changed quite a lot this year. There were different things that were happenning on Saturdays including district/sub-district activities, weddings, travelling, Tertiary Service and Indonesian Service. Somehow, it is quite seldom now for me to have a Saturday where I don't have to do something major (to me).
Havings said that, at the end of the day, I cannot use that as an excuse. It is up to me to make time to do things that are important.
I realised that the busier you are the more stamina you need to sustain you. As such exercise is not an option but a must.
Today, I picked up my shoes and went to a nearby gym. I ran on a treadmill for around 20 mins plus. The gym only allowed people to run 20 mins each time due to the limited number of treadmills. I ran for around 2.5km in 20 mins. I am not sure if that is an average or below than average performance. But that's not very important. The most important thing is that I did it.
I did sense the difference even only after one run. I felt stronger physically, meaning fitter in my stamina. I felt that I could think and focus more clearly as well. I hope that I can really sustain this momentum for exercise.
As we are a tripartite being (spirit, soul & body) each part of our being interrelates with one another. If one part is down the other two parts will be affected as well. As such it is important for us to care for each part of our being so that we can remain a fully productive individual.
May God help me in this endeavour of taking care of my body!
Here are some photos of 13 courtesy of Raymond.
Once again, I want to really thank Sam, Jingqi, Amy, Wynnie and those who are involved in the 13 production to make it into a reality. I want to thank those who invited their friends and family members to join the event. Thus far I know of two friends who came to 13 and recently came to know God.
Indeed, people really matter to God. This is the reason behind 13 and other Young Adults events we did this year. As we do our part God will surely do His part.
Lean Choo and I spent almost the entire of last week in Bangkok and Phuket. We attended a conference in Phuket. We were blessed much by the fellowship, teachings, testimonies and etc. We came back to Singapore on Saturday night.
We are now about to leave to Port Dickson for the staff retreat.
I will write more once I come back from Port Dickson on Wednesday.
This is the final part, part 4.
As mentioned in part 3, we spent quite a lot time with my siblings and their family members. My brother (Anthony), his wife (CE), and their son (Noah) are settling down in Melbourne. My sister (Melia), her husband (Daniel) and their son (Titus) are in Melbourne for one year.
It was really good to spend time and catch up with them again. In Melbourne, we stayed with Daniel and Melia. Anthony and CE just stayed nearby. As such it was easy for them to spend time with one another.
We arrived on Friday. On Friday night we had a family dinner in a family restaurant called Sofia. The serving for their food is incredibly huge. Six of us couldn't finish the food serving for 2. After dinner, we went to Anthony & CE's house for further time of fellowship.
It was also really good to see how Titus and Noah had grown. Titus (1 1/2 years old) are now able to talk. He kept saying words like "car" and "bye bye". Noah (1 year old) was beginning to learn to walk. Some of their photos are below. (Titus on the left and Noah on the right)
The next day, Saturday, was a big day. It was Noah's 1st Birthday Celebration. Wow, we went to Melbourne at the right time. It was a very good party. The food was great. The games were fun. The fellowship was good. There were around 40-50 people in the party. Anthony & CE and some others really put in a lot of efforts to make the party into a success.
On Sunday night, we went to eat in a Vietnamese restaurant before we headed to the South Bank, a nice spot along the Yarra River. We watched the fire work that happened once per hour. It was pretty impressive though it could be scarry for kids as well. Titus was visibly scared by the fire.
On Monday, we went to have a good yum cha. Both Lean Choo and I agreed that the yum cha in Australia was generally better than what we had in Singapore. For one, I found the food to be less oily. But Daniel and Melia told us that there were good yum cha places in Singapore as well. (we just did not know it. :)) We did some other things after the yum cha before heading to the airport. 
We had a very good family time in Melbourne. We enjoyed spending time with them. We appreciate them taking care of us really well. Daniel and Anthony actually took leave just to spend time with us. We also enjoyed playing with Titus and Noah. We believe that Titus and Noah enjoyed playing with us too. :)
I saw how each one of us had grown as a person. No, none of us is perfect. But it is clear to me that increased maturity help family members to get along with one another better. Differences in personality, opinion and etc will always be there. But maturity helps us to appreciate those differences instead of using it to attack one another. :)
Titus and Noah are the newest addition to our family. Their presence brings much joy and laughter. They add a new dimension to our family life. Often, they are the stars of the family. Without them realising they are actually unifying the older family members around them.
Very quickly, our recent trip to Australia came to an end. We thank God that it was a very fruitful trip. The three objectives that we had for the trip was more than met except on the annual retreat part which was a little bit short. But it was well compensated with the great time we had with our both spiritual and natural families.
We came back to Singapore feeling thankful and grateful for all that God had allowed us to experience in our recent trip to Australia. Australia will always have a special place in our hearts for many reasons. We hope to be back there again in a not too distant future.
We flew from Gold Coast to Melbourne. Daniel (my brother in law), Melia (my sister) and Titus (my nephew) picked us up in the airport. In Melbourne, we spent a lot of time with them as well as with Anthony (my brother), CE (my sister in law) and Noah (my second nephew). I will share more about our time with them in part 4.
In Melbourne, we also spent some time with some brothers and sisters in Hope Melbourne (Waverley & City Centres). I accepted Christ into my life on 29 July 1994 in a care group meeting of Hope Melbourne, Waverley Centre. I left Melbourne to Singapore in June 1998.
We visited Waverley Centre Sunday service. It was great to be able to come back for a visit after 9 years. I have many wonderful memories of my time with the Waverley centre. It was a place where I knew God and grew spiritually. It was a place where I learnt what it meant to really serve God fully. It was a place where I captured God's vision for the world. It was a place where I witnessed great life examples, transformation of lives, the visitations of God, etc.
Back to the visit. The video clip we brought was shown in the service. After service, we spent some time with some brothers and sisters who would be going back to Singapore in the near future. It is nice to get to know them. We hope to be able to know them better, perhaps when they are back in Singapore for holiday. Below are some pictures we took with them.
From Waverley Centre we went to another part of Melbourne to meet some brothers and sisters from the City Centre. It brought back some memories to me as well. One, my younger brother, Anthony accepted Christ in the City Centre. Two, I met Ferry again. Ferry and I met and in the Waverley Centre. However, he later on went to join the City Centre. Three, I used to join City Centre's services occassionally in the past to do skits for their Indonesian Services.
Back to the visit. We went to someone's house and had a great time of fellowship and sharing with Ferry and company. The group was a very joyful group. We laughed a lot during our time together. We showed them the video clip there as well. Below is a picture we took with them.
The next day was Monday. We were leaving Melbourne on Monday evening. On Monday morning, Ferry came a long way from where he lived to the place where we stayed in Melbourne to spend some time together. We had a breakfast and some quality time together in a nearby Milkbar. Ferry's photo is below. Ferry is actually Jorry's elder brother. (Jorry is a key leader in our Indonesian group in Singapore). Can you the resemblace? :)
Both Lean Choo and I really enjoyed getting to know some brothers and sisters in the both centres in Melbourne. I had a good time catching up with some old friends as well. I am really thankful for the big family that God has given me. Wherever I go, in many parts of the world, I can meet people who love God and desire to fulfil His vision for the world. This is indeed is a privilege and joy that God has given me. Thank you, Jesus!
This is part 2.
We moved from Brisbane to Gold Coast on Sunday night. We spent the next few days in Gold Coast doing our annual retreat.
Effectively, we only had four days for this retreat. We spent some time playing, planning and praying.
We actually stayed in the same apartment as we did in 2004 when we went to Australia to attend my brother's wedding. What a loyal customer. :)
This was my second trip to Gold Coast. I think it was Lean Choo's third trip. This time I decided to visit one of the worlds as I thought it would be quite strange to go to Gold Coast twice without visiting any of the world at all. :)
Some of our Gold Coast photos are below. Enjoy! :)
The apartment from a distance
The living room with a model from Singapore
This model loves kitchen
The view from the balcony
The Famous Surfers Paradise
I was posing
The Movie World
The Police Academy Stunt Show
Do you like Shrek?
Shrek 4D show was quite cool
That wasn't me
I look thin here
Lean Choo loves flowers
Who poses more convincingly?
A rare couple photo
The painting was large
I am thin in comparison to...
I guess I really like to pose
