School and Home

Hi Everybody,

As God would have it, immediately after I sat down to write that letter exuberating about being so free with nothing to do, I have been swamped.

Have been busy and on the go. First there was Paul's submission for a coming competition - of course we hope that there is a possibility of his work to gain some exposure in his time here. Except that as we tried to print the photos out in the computer lab - the colours came out very differently from the colours at home. So I bue pai seh and went to Technical Support and had help to reconfigure our PC image for Mac. Wah - print four pieces practically took the whole day!

Then came the museum visits and changing the car battery (before it decides to die in the middle of the road!) and answering a series of important emails and preparing to go back.

*

Regards being away from home, it really dawned on us three weeks ago - one Saturday when Paul was studying late - as usual ... I had a nightmare about family and woke up in a sweat. Scolded him that the light was still on - 12:30am and nagged him to go to bed. All his fault - it was so bright and that's why I had that horrible nightmare! So reluctantly, he switched off the lights and got ready for bed, and within five minutes, my phone rang. Groggily I jumped out of bed to answer the call - it was a wrong number from Singapore. Now I really couldn't sleep and decided to call home.

"Janet, something has happened. We are all at the restaurant celebrating Ngou Tzek's birthday today - and Dzee Gou just fainted. She may be choking on something - we can't revive her." Thoughts just raced through the mind - praying ... numb.

I think that is the type of thing we fear most when we travel - that something bad may be happening at home when we are so far away. Praying and worrying - fearing that you may need to change your ticket home because of sad matters ... both of us so helpless because we are miles away.

Called back half an hour later and heard that Aunty managed to get a doctor from nearby in time. And Dzee Gou has been sent to the hospital - suspected stroke. She is now recovering in hospital.

We are very thankful to God that our family is spared this. Especially when Dzee Gou's grand-daughter has just left for Canada to study. In a big extended family, where some are old, it is a concern to the ones travelling as well as to the one at home. Thank you Lord.

*

Paul has 'handed in' his first assignment - a presentation for a piece of artwork to his classmates at the NSW Art Gallery - he said he 'preached' it in a didactic style and thinks it was quite well received. Thanks to the BGST course on public speaking that church sent him for in 2003 - Seng Chuan's training has really come in handy and we are very grateful. Paul pressures himself quite a bit - partly it's his make-up, and partly we sometimes do feel our age. All things considered, we are doing well.

Gotta go ... thanks for enduring my ramblings ... again.
See you soon.


Blessings,
Janet Tanchio

Noah's Ark...

interesting article of the Noah's Ark from wikipedia.org

Is Noah Ark a myth (a legend) or a historical event recorded and written by Moses?

What are your views on this? Feel free to comment.

Some other interesting websites on this subject:

WorldNetDaily: New photo resparks 'Noah's Ark mania'

The Search for the Ark

NoahArkSearch.com (Ararat Anomaly or Noah's Ark?)

Ararat Anomaly

Has Anyone Discovered Noah's Ark?

Training in Mission (TIM) 2007

Any youths who is single and between the ages of 20-30 years old and is from any of our member churches within the Presbyterian Church in Singapore and who is interested in exploring the mission field for 10 months in South Africa and India, please contact Wilson Tan for more information. Or, visit the TIM webpage.

Tel: 63385837
Email: wilson@presbysing.org.sg

Application is now open for TIM in Feb - Dec 2007.

CWM: Myanmar's Presbyterians expand evangelism goals

The Presbyterian Church of Myanmar is planning to share the Christian message beyond the Chin tribe that makes up the majority of its membership.

At their 50th anniversary celebration on 4 and 5 February they resolved to evangelise in the whole of Myanmar, said visiting CWM executive secretary for mission programme Rev Dr Jooseop Keum. "It's possible this will be dangerous. But they want to dare to witness to the good news in their society."

The church's golden anniversary was marked with plays about culture and Christianity, singing, dancing, exhibits of historical materials and seminars on the challenges of mission. The theme "stand on your feet" reflected the church's desire to be self-reliant after facing serious financial crisis in recent years.

Fellow members of the CWM family of churches agreed to support the education work of the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar at a roundtable meeting before the celebrations.

The Presbyterian Church in Singapore and the Gereja Presbyterian Malaysia agreed to support a church planting project in Yangon and a hostel for students in Mandalay. The United Reformed Church is continuing its support for the church's nurses' training and will provide an English teacher at its theological college in Tahan.

The Presbyterian Church of Myanmar's overall focus in mission programmes with CWM is on rural development and leadership formation.

Beccy Beard
(news article taken from CWM website,
picture courtesy of Rt. Rev. Phua Chee Seng)

Synod 32nd Session AGM 2006

AGM2006_025
Originally uploaded by synodym132.

We survive another Synod AGM!!! Hurray!!! For those of you interested in seeing some pics of your pastors in "action", do check out these photos at flickr.

PCS Family and Food Carnival 18 Mar 2006

PCSCarnival2006068-1, originally uploaded by synodym132.

The day started rather early at 9am, with some crowd coming in from all over little Singapore. Some stalls were still in the process of setting up. The organisers were busy naking sure everything is in place. I must say that this Carnival was pretty fun! More fun than the recent ACJC Fun-O-Rama in Feb. Firstly, the food here was way more decent. Second, the games stalls were more suitable for visitors of all ages! OK, maybe i am getting a little old. But i really enjoy the archery and the dunking station very much. The prices here were way cheaper than other fun fairs that i've been too. seriously, i think most people priced their stuff too cheaply. in the end, many people still had many coupons left over and there was not much left things to be bought. Small problem, considering our fun-fairs are once every 5 years!

See you in 2011!

A reflection on the Synod Youth Leaders' Adventure Camp...

The Synod Youth Leaders' Adventure Camp was held from the 20th – 21st January 2006 at Jubilee Presbyterian Church. This was a milestone event organized by the Synod Youth Council as it sought to bring together members from different Presbyterian Churches from all over Singapore for a youth leadership camp for the first time ever.

Glory Presbyterian Church’s Youth Fellowship sent out a total of 18 youths and 7 coaches to attend the camp, and our dominating presence was represented by our sheer number as compared to the other churches. Nevertheless, we had a great time of bonding and interaction as we got to know the other church youths better.

The camp focused a lot of leadership, and especially the concept of leadership in a church environment. This was covered in a series of talks, and was particularly useful to the people who attended as they were preparing themselves for service as leaders in the youth ministry for the coming year of 2006.

The talks were complemented by a night of challenging brainstorming games as well as the highlight of the camp- an adventure obstacle course as Sentosa. We were put through a series of obstacles that required us to work as a team. From balancing a plank in unison as a team, to supporting each other physically as we crossed obstacles via think steel cables, we worked together as a church and successfully completed all the obstacles. The final obstacle was a challenge to scale a 5-metre wall, and to get every single person up on the wall. As a camp we worked together relentlessly and after one grueling hour, we completed the task!

There were many valuable take-aways from this particular camp, especially in aspects of team-bonding and leadership. The TLs, ATLs, coaches and ministry heads were definitely well-equipped with the knowledge and zest for service in the Lord’s ministry in the year ahead!

Terence Yeo
(Glory Presbyterian Church)

Are you aware of God’s presence?

I came across this poem during my quiet time. My soul is awaken by the gentle breathe of God. Here He is, all this while, in my life and all around me. Hope to share this joy with you 

I was awakened by a tiny gleam of light
it slipped through my curtain, onto my face.
It drew me to my feet and on to the window
Drawing back the curtains
dawn stepped softly into my room.
I knew it was God.

In the middle of my loneliness
the phone rang.
A voice I knew so well, said
‘Hello, I love you.’
Love stirred in my soul
I knew that it was God.

Rain fell gently on the thirsty ground.
Slowly, carefully, steadily it came
to an earth parched with waiting.
Through those holy raindrops
I walked, unafraid – without an umbrella.
I knew that it was God…

It was only a Silver Maple
But in the morning’s sunlight
it was filled with heaven.
I stood in a trance
as one touched by angel wings.
I knew that it was God.

By Macrina Wiederkehr, taken from Joyce Huggett, “God’s Springtime” pg. 22-23

Pr. Lai Kein

Priorities Mixed Up?

As Christian, we must understand that if our priorities are mixed up, then our values are confused.

Matt 6:33 spelled it clearly: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Many individuals have problems in their lives because their priority is not the kingdom of God, nor is it the righteousness of God. The Bible teaches that we must seek first the kingdom of God. Where there is a kingdom, there is a king. The king is supreme in his kingdom. The king is first in His kingdom. The king is number One in his kingdom, nobody comes before the king. In the Kingdom of God, God is the king. God is supreme first and the number One in His Kingdom. Therefore, we must put God first in our lives. We have to make Him the priority.

Let me ask you a question: “Is God first in your life?” I am not asking if God is a resident in your life, but I am asking is God the President of your life! I am not asking if God has a piece in your life or if God has a place in your life or if God has a part in your life. I am asking is God the priority in your life. If not, then ‘what is your priority?’ How can I make God the priority in my life?

Firstly, we can give God the first thought of everyday – Ps 5:3 “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” & Ps 63:1 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Secondly, we can give God the first consideration in every decision.

Col 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

2 Cor 8:5 “And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.”

Let us sets our priority right. Let us inquiry of the Lord first – “where shall I go” & “What shall I do Lord”! Amen.

Unpaid Ad: Presbyterian Family and Food Carnival

Want to get “dunked” for a good cause? Come visit the dunking station at the Presbyterian Family and Food Carnival on March 18. Come prepared with your coupons and extra clothes!!
( OR.... get your youth leaders or pastors to come with their extra clothes!! Don't miss this ONCE-IN-A-LIFE-TIME OPPORTUNITY! )

Jas

Did Mary become Mrs Jesus?

In the book "DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown, he quotes from the Gnostic Gospel -- Gospel of Philip: "And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth." Mrs Jesus herself is then supposed to be the legendary Holy Gail, the royal bloodline of Jesus. And the misguided theory was "Jesus and Mary Magdalene were secretly married and had a child!" Honestly, this makes for juicy scandal material but lacks any grounds to take it too seriously. In fact, Dan Brown's dubious 'sources': The Nag Hammadi texts (Which contain the Gnostic Gospels) an unreliable source: Written neither by apostles, nor by the companions of the apostles, the Gnostic Gospels were written under a pseudonym --that is, the author used the names of the apostles just to gain credibility. Hence, we have the Gospel of Thomas, or Gospel of Philip, etc, but they were not actually written by these apostles. (article from "Beneath that smile", pg 8)

For more information of DVC --check this website http://www.davincicode.org.sg/

Great flash video too! =)

School has finally started at SCA

Hi Everybody,

School has finally started.

Courses in SCA (Sydney College of the Arts) seem to be based very much on the students' independent development, and that can be quite formidable. As a skill based training, the requirement is 90% of attendence as prerequisite for assessment. (No marks for guessing the grade if the work is not assessed.)

But it is like teaching a person to blow glass and expect them to infuse their work with meaning. In the intro lecture, different supervisors showed slides of past years' work. One of the most imaginative and sophisticated works we saw was done by a Korean artist who made a thousand ceramic bowls and laid it out on the gallery floor to form . . . an aerial view of a fingerprint. The interplay between the microcosmic view and the big picture was simply awesome.

Brings one to a position of worship. A fresh realisation of what a meticulous God who made us. What has white ceramic bowls got to do with worship? That's the brilliance of a beautiful idea I think.

Photomedia and painting seems to be the most popular studios - and I was wrong in that about 10% of the freshmen population are Asian. The challenge ahead is for Paul to pick up the skills, and to produce work that is both thoughtful and thought provoking. No mean feat for logical left brainers like mua. May God be gracious and merciful

---

We have been staying at this lodge for a week now. The neighbour to our right smokes (we hope cigarettes) and holds long dialogues at night. Upstairs, someone (or some people) likes rock music - there's a dull thud, thud, thud of the drums and the bass guitar - a background of sounds that permeate the days and sometimes the nights as well. Oh well, we can conclude that HDB is not privacy-deprived as we used to think.

The cost of everything around (except car and petrol) means that it is DIY for most things. Experiencing the satisfaction of throwing star anise into the pot (after about a week of oregano - for some reason, curries just evade my thinking). Driving 25km to reach a chicken factory (no kidding) and a beef wholesaler seems totally sane now - the sanity occupies a space just adjacent to the unspoken prayer for a bigger fridge - at least a bigger frozen compartment . . . All we need to be totally happy now is finding a vegetable farm willing to sell us a sprig of parsley (grin).

Seriously what is insane is paying $9 for twenty minutes parking. I was in the heart of Sydney getting information about my conversion course - literally ran with the information - because another ten minutes and I would be paying $18 for a hour's parking in a disused train tunnel that has been converted into a very, very expensive carpark. To think that we complain about paying for parking in the CBD!

In Sydney it takes two to drive - one to commandeer the vehicle ("Turn right after the third traffic light") and the other to drive. I wish I could say that we are quite democratic about it and have equal chance to drive, but until now ... (no marks for guessing who is the spatially challenged one who gets relegated to driving.) We are quite thankful to get an inexpensive 1993 3L 6V Mitsubitshi - it is no looker - likely was a langa car - but structurally sound and the engine is great - smooth and silent. Thankfully we are neither of us speed demons - the last owner gave it up to get a sports car. But after six years of driving a van, it's a treat to be able to pick up like the rest, and not be left chasing ... a trail of dust? Well, the car does 6km to the dollar, and that means a trip to school is about 40 - 50 cents - sures beats a $2.80 bus trip followed by $2.80 rail per person.


We are pleased to realise that we have visited two of the four surrounding churches. No Mr Yap, we did not start with the Roman Catholic one. But we attended high church in the morning - complete with pipe organ and unrecognisable hymns. You would have liked it. And in the evening, our worship was 'fueled' by drums, a bass guitar, keyboard and two MCs. Never heard the songs before, but their lyrics were quite theologically sound and musically satisfying ... felt right at home. The bassist is a "four week old" grandad (we saw the photos of baby). Anyhow, we have had a good diet of new songs since we came to Aussieland. PP was so disappointed that both churches had no choir - Bethel can be quite pleased that a small singing team is better than no choir at all.

Mr Yap - you asked why was I "writing for Paul". I suppose those who have exciting, challenging lives - live it. And those who don't - write about it. I ask him how was his day, and while he used to always want to talk to me and complain that I was not listening - now I'm all ears, and he's too tired to talk. Well, that's how I find myself writing long, long letters, and ... somehow this one sounds like ... Seinfield ??? ...

---

Anyway, we're both enjoying the scenery .... and scaring (myself) reading Michael Critchon (free from Annandale community centre), and getting on the MSN, and watching Paul prepare for his coursework and enjoying the idea that I presently have nothing more important to do than writing nonsense that you guys will trash ... no confidences to keep, no problems to solve ... just watching Paul busy with school work ... and ... enjoying God ... and ... soooooo very anxious to change visa and get a job.

I'll stop talking nonsense by then ... promise.

Janet Tanchio
Eccle 3 : 1-14
Malachi 4 : 2

Lenten Sermon Series

For those are are in preparation for Lent and is also a huge fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

The folks at Goettinger Predigten im Internet have a have listed a 2006 Lenten Sermon Series celebrating the 100th anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's birth. Texts for the sermons are supported by background writings from Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison. You'll find the column for the English language sermons on the right-hand side of the page.

Taken from textweek blog

New Books for the Synod Youth Resources Library

1. Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church (Paperback) - Wesley Black, et. al.

2. The Youth Worker's Guide to Creative Bible Study (Paperback) - Karen Dockrey

3. The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry (Paperback) - Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster

4. Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Youth, Family, and Culture) (Paperback) - Chap Clark

5. Partnering With Parents in Youth Ministry (Paperback) - Jim Burns and Mike DeVries

These books and more are available for borrowing. Just pop by the Synod Office and look for Wilson Tan. For the full list of books available and their current loan status, check out our Synod Youth booklist.

If you find these books useful, you can easily buy them from SKS Books Warehouse @ 315 Outram Road #09-03 (Main) & #10-05 (Youths), Tan Boon Liat Building, Singapore 169074. Tel: 622793700 Fax:62214595
Email: sksbooks@pacific.net.sg
Website: SKS

Opening Hours: Mon - Fri / 9:00am - 7:00pm
Sat / 9:00am - 6:00pm

Greetings from the Land of Aussies! (Pastor Paul and Janet Tanchio)

Hi Everybody,

We are shifting from the Hills district into the inner west suburb of Annandale in the city today.
It'll be five minutes away from campus, and orientation starts tomorrow.

We are thankful that God has eased us into Sydney in stages.
While at the Hills district, we have been staying with Singaporeans - pastors,
fellowshipping with Asian people - S'poreans, M'sians, Philipinos who have lived here a good part of their lives. Learning our way around.

We will be moving into 32/106 Johnston Street, Johnston Lodge.
It's a one room studio - quite clean and secure -
bed and things like fridge and micro-wave are provided for, oven and laundry is shared facilities,
but we may not be able to get broadband in the building.
Since dail-up may not be a viable option, we may be living there temporarily for 13 weeks.
Sydney seems to be having a shortage of rental apartments,
so we'll see what the situation is like in three months time.

PP quite ready to settle in to study -
(but) he's still looking for his package of reference books that we had to leave behind.
Seems quite lost without his books.
It was 37kg, so we'll have to find some way of bringing it here soon.

At Annandale, we will be surrounded by a Catholic church diagonally across the road,
a Uniting church in front of the lodge we are staying,
a Presbyterian church to our right,
and a 'Christians in the Media' Anglican church to our left.
Any idea which church we should visit first? (Grin)
And we'll will be visiting this Asian church we have been worshiping at once a month
(or maybe bi-monthly - still not used to long journeys).

We look forward to settling in - and will update you when we have opportunity.

Shalom,
Janet Tanchio