Newsletter #1

My first newsletter.. a summary of what you would have read in my blog so far.. (I think!). If you want to receive my future newsletters through e-mail, please let me know!
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Dear friends,

This is my first newsletter and I have heaps to tell you! It has been 4 months since my information session and commissioning in KL, arriving in Perth, studying at Bible College and getting into the swing of the OCF WA traineeship. It sure has been both exciting and exhausting!

Partnership with home church

It was great to have Pastor Andrew Tan, the senior pastor of my church (KL Wesley Methodist Church) to commission me for my stint here in Perth. It really is a comfort to know that my church is partnering me in my journey here and that I am not alone! The missions committee has also generously contributed a lump sum of money. Praise God for a supportive church back home!

Prayer during my commissioning

Settling down in Perth

Coming back to Australia hasn’t been TOO hard! Perth is a lovely city and the people here are friendly. Plus I’ve got my own car to move around, what more can you ask for?

More news (and pictures!) of my kind landlords and housemates, Jonathan and Soong Leng in a later issue!

Bible College – Baptist Theological College

I love every minute of Bible College! The college’s motto is “Think, Do, Become” – Think what you’ve never thought, Do what you’ve never done, Become who you’ve never been. Pretty stimulating don’t you think?

There is a good mix of “theory” (e.g. lectures and assignments) and “practical” stuff to learn (my “Preaching for Dummies” class is absolutely fantastic!) to integrate our heads, hearts and hands. Every Wednesday, we have a time devoted to accountability groups, practical ministry, community worship and lunch (which we take turns cooking in groups). I’m due to give a sermon at class next week, so though I’m having the jitter bugs, I’m also really looking forward to it!

A prayer point would be – that I make good friends at College! I’m slowly getting to know the students and building relationships with them, so that’s still in progress! Really appreciate the encouragement and constructive criticism that I can receive from both lecturers and students. After all, all candy-floss and no meat make one still hungry!

WA Winter Camp 2007

My first assignment with OCF was to attend the 5D4N Winter Camp, organised by the 3 OCF centres. It was a ball of a time, with a good turnout, heaps of fun as well as godly teaching. Talent night has always been hilarious, and this year was no exception. Just shows how Uni students are wired by God – creatively crazy! The theme was “God’s Will” with the theme verse being Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."

Much to my delight, I had a surprise task awaiting me – to help out in the special group for the non-Christian campers (a fantastic FOUR of them – all girls)! The group was led by an OCFer, while I was more an assistant to her. I was really excited to see how some of the girls began with zero knowledge of Christianity and ended up hearing the gospel about Jesus’ rescue mission for humanity. Thank God for the opportunity to be able to share the gospel with them!

Ministry with OCF – OCF Murdoch

I’ve been assigned to work specifically with one OCF centre out of the three – OCF Murdoch. For the first 2 months, I spent most of my time getting to know the students and easing in to the way things are done around here. Specifically, I attended their committee meetings, prayer meetings, Bible study leaders meetings, Friday night meetings… Phew! Perhaps one too many meetings!

Now that they’re more comfortable with me (and vice versa!), I have also started discipling 2 girls, meeting them once a week/fortnight to go through the OCF WA discipleship materials. I really love this part of the job, meeting up one-on-one with people and just sharing life with one another, whilst building them up towards Christ-like maturity! I reckon that’s how the Kingdom of God is built – one individual at a time!

I also meet up regularly with my mentors which I’ll tell you more about in my next newsletters!

Returnees and Graduates’ Workshop

I finally conducted my first workshop (*Gasp*)! Well, I wasn’t alone as I had a lot of help from Lisa, our other trainee and David Graieg, an ex-OCFer. It was a cosy nine of us altogether, so it made it easier on my nerves since it was a small group. Between the three of us, we shared on topics such as preparing to go home/graduate, our own experience as a returnee/graduate, the Australian work culture, and the taboo topic of money, money, money! We ended the session by getting the students to write a letter to God about their spiritual goals for the next 5 years, seal it, address it to themselves, and we will arrange for it to be sent to their homes when they least expect to receive them!

So what else have I been up to?

Hmm… what other exciting thing have I been up to? Oh I just celebrated my birthday not too long ago! J Thank God for 25 years of life on this earth! Had a meaningful and restful time reflecting and praying and planning by the little pond in Piney Lakes Reserve nearby. Just hit me that it all seems rather surreal that I’m actually here in Perth doing this traineeship! Was reflecting on my journey since my first conviction in December 2005 and just utterly amazed at how God had made it possible leading up to this!

Tough lessons learnt

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), it has not been all a bed of roses so far. I can see the hand of God truly working and teaching me some difficult lessons of humility, trust and dependence: from learning to let go of financial worries, to struggling with autonomy, to eating some nasty-tasting humble pie. But in all, God is to be glorified.

Praise and Thanksgiving points:

1. Thank God for His financial provision so far! I cannot stress how much this has stretched my trust and faith in Him.
2. Thank God for Lisa who has been of tremendous help assisting me into the swing of things and getting my expectations right.
3. Thank God for a time of solitude during my birthday!
4. Praise God for the work that He is doing in me through my successes as well as failures.

Prayer points:

1. For Lisa as she finishes her stint end of this year! Please pray as she thinks and plans for her future journey from here.
2. For continual guidance in the areas God wants me to work on. May my ideas and desires be submitted unto His authority.
3. For continual sustenance for the remaining 4 weeks of my Bible College semester. 5 assignments down, 5 more to go. Ah!
4. That I will continue to find time to spend with God amidst the busyness of studies and work!