Diversity!
May 2008 (Just click on the pictures to enlarge).
Diversity! Many people think that this one word, diversity, sums up Singapore . There are four independent, separate groups living here. They have individual ethnic backgrounds, religions, food, and dress. In many ways this acceptance of other cultures is Singapore ’s greatest strength. We have Chinese, Indian, Malay and Western. The Western ex-patriots (ex-pats) are predominantly English speaking, coming from America , Canada , Australia and the UK . This category also includes citizens from many other countries. Signs and verbal instructions are usually given in Mandarin, Tamil, Malay and English. We have four television stations, one devoted to each language. At the hawkers, (local food stalls) the diversity is wonderful. Bob and I have really started to understand and appreciate the differences in cuisine, even beginning to distinguish between dishes from different regions of China . It’s not all just “Chinese”, just as New England clam chowder is not the same as TexMex. For dinner, we must decide if we want beehoon or horfun. When we order fishball soup, or Laksa, claypot or rotti prata, we know exactly what we’re getting. Carrot cake is for breakfast, and it’s not actually cake. We think nothing now of eating with chopsticks, something we never thought we could accomplish. When we went to Taiwan to visit our son Andy, we truly missed the diversity of food and tastes.
Singapore is proud of their diversity. A taxi driver once asked, “Where else can you see a Synagogue, a Mosque, a Church and a Temple side by side? No fighting, no threats, guns or bombs.” We enjoyed listening to this particular driver, a Sikh, tell about his Indian father, imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII. Both Singaporeans and Americans value freedom of religion. This is a right that we treasure and protect. Diversity can be a very good thing. There are many areas where people can agree to disagree. What is appropriate dress for school, work and play? What television shows are worth watching? Who do you support for president? How do you invest for your retirement? The list is endless. Even within Christian churches, there is no guarantee of unity. From…. What kind of music to include in the morning service?...to How does the Holy Spirit work in our lives?...to Should communion bread be bread or crackers? It would be arrogant and offensive, (not to mention sometimes silly) to think that everyone must always agree on every issue.
We don’t want to offend people. We realize that there are people who read this update who do not believe Christianity is the only way to God. They just want to learn about our lives in Singapore. Here in Asia, many diverse paths leading to God are evident. Gifts of food left at altars, burning paper money for spirits, prayer wheels and flags, beautiful temples with intricate, hand-carved statues. What happens when you truly start to know, understand and genuinely love people who do not believe that Jesus is God’s son? In an effort to not offend anyone, we were in danger of sending an update that said nothing at all. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father, except by me.” We are working at a school where almost half of the families represented are involved with Christian missionary ministries. Yes, they are meeting physical needs, tsunami/cyclone/earthquake relief, orphanages, job training, providing medical, educational and social benefits. But their main priority, the driving force, is to spread the gospel. ICS, by providing educational needs for missionary families, is part of that. In our letters, we always include “Because He said Go.” We go in order to tell. Probably one of the most quoted verses in the Bible is “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him, will not die but have eternal life.” We believe that is true, and that is why we are here.
April 2008 Precious Children!
What an experience, going to Kerala, India. We expected to be loved and be touched and to love in return the 135 children living at the Precious Children Orphanage. We were surprised and grateful to also get to know and love the 18 precious middle school students who went with us. The days were busy. After a full day of school, we all met at the airport at 6:30PM. Along with 8 adult chaperones, the team arrived in the middle of the night. Our one hour bus ride became three hours, when we encountered a local festival. There were floats and crowds dancing in the streets. We slept a little late on Good Friday morning, but the children were waiting. Our program provided activities throughout the day. We arrived with plans and materials, prepared to minister to the elementary children in the morning and the middle school and high school kids in the afternoon. That was the first change in plan. The children were entering school vacation and the orphanage selected various teams to come in and provide programs throughout the day, ALL DAY for ALL the CHILDREN!
We all learned to be flexible that week. Sports-Where Bob and another chaperone Darren, planned to assist Jason, our school Phys Ed teacher, they now found themselves in charge of several activities. We brought various equipment, soccer balls, basketballs, Frisbees, bad mitten rackets. First we learned that most of the kids did not know how to play any organized sports. Even throwing the ball around in a circle, from one child to another, could be a challenge. Also, every day the equipment all disappeared, squirreled away, hidden here and there by the children. Every morning, Bob went searching for enough balls to direct some games. Finally, we also had to adapt to some cultural rules. The older girls could not play in any games with older boys. They also could not utilize the playground in the front of the compound.
The art teacher, Sharon, brought all kinds of supplies for every age level. Her biggest adjustment was trying to fit too many kids into one area. There just weren’t enough desks to go around. Her middle school helpers would take half of the group outside to play, while the other half quickly learned how to make the day’s craft project. The day before we left, Sharon spent some time with the head of the girl’s dorm and taught her how to use all of the craft materials that we left behind. The children should have crafts to do for quite some time. As the Bible teacher, my lessons went pretty much according to plan. It is true that I had a translator for everything I said. But the children enjoyed acting out some of the stories. And they all loved the packets that I made before coming. I had 6-8 worksheets for each day’s lesson, some just coloring, others more difficult like picture searches and crossword puzzles. We also provided a short chapel each morning and afternoon. Bob and I both played guitars. Bob did an awesome job. His guitar playing is so much better than mine. He actually stood up on the stage and played while the middle school students stood on the floor doing motions and leading the songs. When it rained, we had to adjust all of our plans, but everything worked out.
So that is the program that we planned and pretty much carried out. That was what was expected of us. What was unexpected was the outpouring of love and compassion from our middle school students. We had some “free time”: before 9:30AM, an hour for lunch, after 4:30. We were encouraged to spend some of that time with the children, play with them, visit their rooms, help serve meals, perhaps lead evening devotions with a verse or short thought. Our kids didn’t offer “some” of their time, they gave it all. They were hugged, sat on, crowded, led here and there, sung to, talked to, and smothered by those precious children. Here is one example. The Orphanage, affiliated with Prison Fellowship, is a Christian organization. The children have devotions every morning at 5:30AM, followed by chores, breakfast and school. In the evening, they have devotions again at 6:30PM. It was not even considered that our students would be able or willing to get up for 5:30AM. We didn’t even mention it. THEY requested it. The one or two kids that “signed up” for devotions were not the only ones that came. They almost all came, all the time. Our kids genuinely came to love those kids.
On the last day (actually, even before that) there were lots of tears. The orphanage said they had never had a team that spent so much time with the kids. They had never been loved so much by a visiting team. The staff members and director were amazed. So were we. It was an experience we’ll never forget. Thank you for praying for us as we went. Thank you for your support that enabled us to go. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Behind every face, every smile is a precious story, a precious child. I’m so thankful for God’s great love, for them and for us.
Joyfully, Bob and Barb
Because He said GO...
March 2008 Happy Chinese New Year from Singapore !
This update is going to be just a little of this and a little of that. First we’d like to tell you about an upcoming mission trip to India . We will be helping lead a group of middle school students from ICS to Kerala , India . We will be gone during our spring break, March 21-30. The team of 17 students and 8 adults will be staying at the Precious Children Orphanage which is affiliated with Prison Fellowship. All of the children in the orphanage have at least one parent in prison. During the day, we will provide a program consisting of Bible study, crafts and games. Our team has already done several activities together getting to know each other better. This has included bowling, sand sculpture at the beach and bike riding on a nearby island. Bob is on the “games team” along with our school PE teacher. This means Bob has very little planning to do since the PE teacher has everything all ready. (little work) Barb is on the “Bible lesson” team. This means Barb is preparing 7 lessons and teaching the middle school students how to present the lessons to kids with limited English. (lots of work) This may have caused some good hearted whining and gloating over our assigned duties. Seriously, we are both very excited about this opportunity, both to reach these precious children in India and also because of the tremendous impact this will have on our own students.
Next we’d just like to tell you a little about Chinese New Year. Because Singapore is such a diverse country, we get to experience a little of many different cultures. We also get many school holidays because this country celebrates them all. We are especially thankful to Rebecca and YuGin, as they graciously guide and instruct us about the culture. YuGin is Singaporean and Rebecca is Malay. They are both also Chinese. They invited us to come to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. This is a huge celebration, similar to our Christmas and New Year. Reunion dinner is very important. All kinds of special dishes are eaten. Rebecca’s family lives near the China Sea , so we also enjoyed going to the beach. The reunion dinner included one dish we have previously avoided. However, it was prepared especially for us, with a delicious gravy and mushrooms. Just as we started to partake, we decided to take a picture. Bob was doing ok until YuGin observed that Bob had already eaten one digit! Actually, with the sauce it was quite tasty, although you do have to spit out the bones.
Living in Singapore can be wonderful. My fifth grade class just took a February field trip to the ocean. We spent all day building sand sculptures and swimming. Back in Maine , we hear they are having a record snow fall. My parent chaperones here were from Korea , Japan , Holland , Indonesia and the US . We love eating at the “hawkers” for $2 a meal, chicken feet not withstanding. Our church is awesome, especially the wonderful people that attend our cell group (Bible study). We have been able to see our youngest son, both here and in Thailand . Bob has made huge changes in the IT department, with more improvements occurring, new projectors, new servers and new programs.
Thank you for the wonderful package from Hope Baptist Church filled with Valentines. Pray for my mother who is recovering from an infection that got into the bone of her foot. And finally, inadequate education for their children is one of the top 3 reasons that missionaries leave the field. We were reminded of this recently, as several missionary moms stated that if we were not here, they would not be here. Thank you for supporting us and this ministry.
Thank you for your prayers and support. Joyfully, Bob andBarb
Because He said GO...
December 2007
Christmas in Singapore -The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful
So much is happening here on the other side of the world. The month of December just flew by. This is a little late. In the past, many of you have received my Christmas cards in January or even February, so this is nothing new. With so much to tell, we’ll just share a few things about celebrating Christmas in Asia .
The GOOD-Working at a Christian school has been wonderful. We have the freedom to really talk about the true meaning of Christmas. The ICS Christmas concert, Cosmic Christmas, was incredible. The entire school was involved. We rented a hall and packed the place out. The costumes and the quality of performances were excellent. More important was the very clear presentation of the gospel. The fifth graders were responsible for demonstrating the conflict between God’s faithful angels and the fallen angels who followed Lucifer. My own class, 5B, was assigned the part of the dark angels. I must say they enjoyed themselves, especially the swords and the macabre make-up. Another wonderful part about Christmas at ICS is that many of the staff members really reach out to each other during the holidays. We were invited to several homes and truly made to feel welcome. Christmas Eve was spent with a family that included us with their tradition of each person opening one gift. We enjoyed watching the three children fly their remote control helicopters, although there were a lot of crash landings. Christmas Day was spent with several families, including our pastor’s. We thoroughly enjoyed turkey, ham, crescent rolls and pecan pie. At our Singaporean cell group party we enjoyed Chinese dumplings, rice noodle soup, green-tea cake and lotus paste desert. We have made some wonderful friendships here, both at school and church. We are very thankful for this, especially at Christmas time.
The BAD-Being away from home at Christmas can be sad. Bob seemed to take this in stride. I was good “most of the time”. At first, I managed by avoiding any thoughts of Christmas, but there were dear friends here that nudged me into the season. I got lots of hugs and encouragement, for which we are both very thankful. It was wonderful to get Christmas greetings from friends back home. We even received real maple syrup and a Farmer’s Almanac, garlic croutons and a calendar showing Westies surfboarding. Finally, we were able to watch Josh and Abby open their gifts and see Oma on the web cam.
The BEAUTIFUL-Singapore is multi-cultural. We have four official languages. Many religions are practiced and it is not unusual to see a Jewish synagogue, Muslim mosque, Hindu temple and Christian church all right next to each other. Respect and acceptance are practiced and encouraged. This year, we didn’t want to miss out on the Christmas lights down on Orchard Road . That is an area of the city that is predominantly western, with big stores and malls. We went and saw all of the trees, beautifully lit up with stars and decorations. On every block, there was a live presentation or concert. At the first mall, we saw Indian dancing and singing. Although the language was Tamil, it didn’t take long to recognize the Christmas story….. Shepherds, wise men, Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. As we walked down the long street, the music and presentations were varied, from high church classical concertos, to modern, to Chinese ballads to Indian Bollywood. The message was always the same, Jesus, Gods’ son, born in Bethlehem . I’m not sure how, in America , freedom of religion has become absence of religion. In Singapore , the Christian message was evident, clear and pure.
So Merry Christmas, from Singapore , with the GOOD, the BAD and the BEAUTIFUL.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Joyfully, Bob and Barb
Because He said GO...
November 2007
Ministries ICS Helps Support
Greetings from Singapore! We wanted to tell you a little bit about International Community School. We are a Christian School offering an English speaking, American based education. The school has been growing steadily. This year we started with 360 students and after Christmas break we will have 412. At an international school, the student body is transient. We have some students that will only be here for a year or less. It is common to have students that leave in the middle of a quarter, sometimes with very little warning. Although I knew this would happen, I must say that emotionally I am not ready to lose several of my students in December. Sung hoon and Tae Gu are Korean students. They came to ICS to learn how to speak English. Sung hoon has been here for 2 years and Tae Gu for 5 months. A third student, Joy, may also be leaving. Her parents work with World Vision. They were here working on Tsunami relief. That project is ending in December. They will apply for current openings with World Vision and they are now considering work in Anglola.
The children who attend here represent, through their parents, many ministries. Singapore is a modern city with a great deal of religious freedom. It is also easy to travel to other countries. This is why it is a home base for many ministries working throughout Asia. ICS accepts a wide variety of students, from K4 to 12th grade. We keep our tuition lower than other international schools. Because of this we do attract non-Christian students. Our student body is about 60% Christian. If the parents are involved in a Christian ministry, they can receive up to 60% off their tuition. The school board and our staff are supportive of this policy, although it certainly does have a drastic effect on our budgets (both for ICS and for individual faculty members). Here are some of the ministries represented at ICS.
The Navigators, Korean Seamen’s Mission, Sports Partners, International Mission Board, HCJB Global, Pioneer, Asia Baptist Theological Seminary, World Venture, Barnabas International, Asia-Pacific Strategic Partners, BTJ Gospel Mission, FEBC International, Global Mission Society, Habitat for Humanity, Youth with a Mission, Far East Broadcasting International, Marketplace Bible Institute, FEBA Ministry, Church Resource Ministries, Young Life, Meekness and Truth Ministries, Singapore Bible College, Campus Crusade for Christ, abwe, OC,
And we also have parents that work fulltime with local churches. Some of these are: New Creation Church, Immanuel, International Baptist, Full Gospel Korean, Bethany Church, Grace Baptist Church, Zion Church, Hankook Mission Church, Church of the Nazarene and Diocese of Singapore.
There is actually more than this, but I think you get the picture. The family with Pioneer also go to our church so we have gotten to know them personally. Our home church, Hope Baptist, supports 4 missionaries with Pioneer so we sought this family out just to talk about shared friendships. They also have twin daughters, one named Abigail Grace. When I’m really missing my own granddaughter, Abby (Grace), I know where I can go to get a hug that is just about the right size!
Much of being with ICS is just like working at any school. I teach multiplication and the three branches of government. I scramble to keep up with the curriculum. Bob works with computers and servers, very similar to what he did “back home”. (Except it is a much bigger workload and increasing by the day) At the same time, this IS God’s work. Because of ICS, other missionaries can serve here, knowing that the needs of their children are being met. In addition to that, God is working in the hearts of our students. I can pray with my students. When an issue comes up where someone’s feelings get hurt, I can talk about the worthiness of each child in God’s eyes. Bible principles can be practiced and taught. Tae Gu is leaving ICS after only 5 months. He does not come from a Christian home, but he has seen what genuine Christian love looks like, both from students and staff. He has recently made a decision to believe in Jesus. His parents are aware of this. They are happy with his progress in his ability to speak English. They believe that will have a great impact on his life back in Korea. I am trusting that his spiritual choices will also have a long-lasting impact.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Joyfully, Bob and Barb
Because He said GO...
October 2007
Food in Singapore-
Nothing makes us think “We’re not in Kansas anymore” more than the many different kinds of food that are available. As we stroll through the multitude of hawkers, we can choose from Clay Pot, Pigs Organ Soup, Chicken feet, Fish head soup, Cutle or Dori Fish, prawn and pig knuckles. When we do order our meal, would we like that with rice, porridge, noodles or HorFun? If we decide to have Chinese, does that mean Hokkien or Cantonese or one of the many other varieties offered. Perhaps we’re in the mood for Indian with delicious nan or rotti bread. Or Thai, Indonesian, Malay, the list goes on. After something specific is ordered, you will often find fish and egg mixed in and sometimes other things that we can’t identify. While waiting for our meal, a drink vendor will come to take our orders. Would we like lime juice (delicious and cheap) or perhaps white coffee (chilled coffee with about an inch of condensed milk on the bottom which you stir) or perhaps some bubble tea or grass jelly drink. The drinks often come with fat straws so that you can suck up a multitude of things with your drink, such as red beans or barley chunks or jellied fruit. There are also all kinds of sweets for desert, most of them like nothing we would find at home. Moon cakes are made from lotus paste. There are iced deserts with cane syrup and red beans. Of course, there’s always ice cream. How about some delicious yam, sweet potato or durian ice cream?
Everywhere throughout Asia there are street vendors who sell food. These vendors are known as hawkers. In Singapore, the government has provided designated areas for the hawkers, so many vendors are gathered in one area, instead of out along the street. The food is delicious, especially if you are adventurous. Usually a complete meal is about $3. If you want, you can order from several hawkers and then sit down at any of the tables. They will find you and bring your order.
We have been fortunate in two ways. First, we both love to try new things. Except for the meal that came with those little toothpick-sized, hard crunchy whole fish, (anchovies) we have enjoyed everything. Second, we have made friends with YuGin and Rebecca. They are Singaporean and they love introducing us to new places to eat. The hawkers are everywhere and they are cheap. If you go to a nice restaurant, the meals will be much more expensive. If you want “American” or western, the price will be high.
We usually eat one meal out a day, either at the hawkers or at school. (The school cafeteria offers 4 choices per day. These include Ginger Beef, Katsudon, Prawn Noodle Soup, Beef Rendang, Chicken Rice, Char Siew Rice, Lasagna and Pizza.) To prepare food at home, it is often more expensive, especially if you shop at specialty stores that offer “western” food. A small jar of fluff is $5.50. A pint of Ben & Jerry’s is $12. On the other hand, fruits and vegetables are quite reasonable, especially if you go to the “wet market”, street vendors. It’s true that you need to wash these more carefully or you might find some snails or worms in your salad!
Some of the foods are very spicy and make my eyes water, (ok, I’m downright bawling my eyes out) but they don’t seem to bother Bob.When we eat Indian, we can still (after our trip to India with Vishal and Ember) eat using only one hand, tearing off a small piece of bread and scooping up the meal. Here in Singapore, we’ve already learned how to eat with chopsticks. We have found if we don’t think about it too much, we’re fine. If we start thinking about what we’re doing, our fingers stop working.
So have we tempted anyone to come for a visit?
These are pictures of the ICS staff. Here you see the teachers of the elementary, middle and high schools. As you can see, we understand that there is a time to be serious, educating, winning and mentoring these precious children of God. As the same time, there's also lots of time for fun. There are some great people here and we've enjoyed getting to know them. You can click on any picture to enlarge the view.
Because He said GO...
September 2007
I’ve been thinking about what to include in this latest update. First of all, Singapore was not damaged by the recent earthquakes. Actually, the location in Indonesia that was really hard hit is not very far from us (around 40 miles I think) The night of the first quake, some parts of Singapore reported feeling the tremors, and some people even evacuated their buildings because of it. But there was no destruction. Bob and I did not realize anything had occurred. The following morning, Bob was in his office and his chair was rocking slightly. He realized it was an earthquake. I was in a staff meeting at the time. The meeting was interrupted because everyone was laughing and talking. “Did you feel that?” In all honesty, I didn’t even notice it. So we are both fine. Singapore was not really affected. Thank you for your concern.
We continue to be very busy. The computers and various problems and emergencies have kept Bob working long days. It’s been hard for him to be responsible for everything with limited access to outside support. Several serious problems that have been on-going have recently been resolved, after a lot of prayer and hard work. He’s feeling more encouraged. School has been wonderful for me, as well as demanding and challenging. We’re already half way through the first quarter. It is such a blessing to openly pray for my kids and challenge them spiritually. Last week was Spiritual Life Week. We had special speakers come in. Normally we have chapel once a week. The other days we have Bible class along with all our other subjects. During Spiritual Life Week, we have chapel every day and we also have the speakers come and visit our classes. Many asked Jesus into their hearts, including Tae Gu in my class. Many other students have committed to a deeper, more genuine walk with Christ. It was an exciting and rewarding time
Schools and kids around the world are the same and yet different. This week, the two 5th grade classes were at the playground just before the end of school. As I blew the whistle for kids to line up, one of my students, Sung-hoon, jumped off the swing when it was still going too fast. He fell and his arm hurt. I took him to the nurse’s office. Sung-hoon’s family is Korean. The father lives in Korea and the mother stays in Singapore with the children so that they can get an English education. This is quite common. Many of the mother’s don’t speak English very well and the children translate. It was determined that Sung-hoon’s arm was broken and we called his mother. She requested that we send him to a hospital in a taxi with his 7th grade sister. She would meet them there. It seemed so strange to me to send them off without an adult, especially with Sung-hoon in so much pain. I jumped into the taxi and went with them. The family was surprised and grateful for my “extraordinary” act of compassion. Can you imagine a similar scenario in the US? One other detail, in order to brace up the wrist for transport, the nurse borrowed the sister’s homework journal and wrapped it cupped around the wrist. It actually worked quite well and the journal was returned after the cast was put on J
There are so many interesting things to share about Singapore and life here. At the same time, it’s impossible to tell everything. I am going to start writing about once a week but I’ll center on just one topic. Possible subjects: Food, school, church, what we do for fun, ministry, people, what we miss, living in Singapore. Let me know what you’d like to hear about. Life is very good. We’re so thankful that God has chosen us to be here. Please continue to pray. Thanks for the encouragement.
Finally, I'd like to always include at least one "not in Kansas anymore". For now, you'll be interested to know that whenever you buy a toaster in Singapore you also get a plastic lid that snaps tightly over the top. We've learned that it's actually a "Geko guard" so that you don't end up with toasted geko along with your morning toast!