Living a life of purpose

Rick Warren sharing on TED:

Welcome Weeleng!

Weeleng's visit to Ecuador

Weeleng arrived in Quito safely yesterday morning. It was a 42 hr flight altogether and he only slept 6-7 hr on the plane. There were quite a number of us at the airport to fetch him (photo, left). All of us were delighted to be able to see him. After bringing him back to our house, we went to help out with the children in Remar while Weeleng rested in our house. He knocked out and slept until evening before we waked him up to go for our P&W practice. He visited our new church place for the first time and liked it very much. Being gifted in repairing things and a great handy man, he ‘restored’ a music stand and a microphone stand in our church. We ate dinner with the core team after the P&W practice and everyone was encouraged with his presence. At night, he passed us encouragements cards and gifts from our ex-unit and ex-district. We really appreciate the words of encouragement from the brothers and sisters in Singapore. During the service on Sunday, our people wrote a very cool rap to appreciate Weeleng coming to visit us. It was very entertaining to see the sisters dancing and rapping. We will put up more photos of him in action during his 3 weeks’ stay here in Ecuador.

¡Feliz Día del Padre!

Last Sunday, we celebrated Father’s Day in church. ST preached about men (and women alike actually), being X-men for God. We also remembered God as our best heavenly Father. Happy Father’s Day, Daddy-in-heaven!

Emily shared a touching testimony of how her mother (a single-mum) was both a father and a mother to her and always chose to bring her children to church every Sunday when she was young, regardless of whether she had the travel money.. and how God always blessed them such that though they weren’t very well-off, they never lacked food. What a mom!

I shared about how my dad always spent lots of time with me, conversing, chatting and telling me stories and teaching me life values through his stories… how through spending such quality time with me, he impacted me a lot and imparted alot of good life values to me, such as treasuring myself, studying and working hard and waiting for the right man to come along.. and because of that, ST is my first and only boyfriend and husband!

Research has shown that the father’s voice has more authority than the mother, to even the extent of affecting how well they learn languages. So speak more to your children, even to the child in the womb! And for girls, Dads, you are your daughter’s first boyfriend! According to studies, somehow daughters end up with boyfriends that are similar to their father! And sadly, that happens often… with abused daughters ending up with spouses who abuse them too… vicious cycle.
I encourage all fathers and fathers-to-be to never underestimate the power you can have on your children, and do spend quality time enjoying, teaching and playing with your kids! Be the godly dad that only you can be for your child!

We played 3 games that day. First up, the Dress-the-Baby game. A pair of fathers had to compete to dress the baby literally single-handedly.. Check out the pics to see their baby-handling skills! thank God they weren’t real babies… One of the dads was ‘disqualified’ though he was fast because we thought his ‘baby’ would be dead by the end of the competition.. hahaha… :p Very competitive!

Second was the feed-the-dad game. In this game, all the guys in church joined in to be fed by their ‘children’. Some of our kids’ dads were not around and some families have more than 1 child so definitely more children than ‘fathers’. Oh and did I mention that the kids were blindfolded? It was a funny sight. Some ‘dads’ ended up with food all over their clothes. hehee..

Third and last game was a “How-well-do-you-know-your-child” Quiz. Dads were asked 8 questions about their children, such as “What’s their favourite ice-cream flavor?”, “Where’s their favourite place?”, “What’s the name of their best friend in school?”, “What’s their greatest fear” and “What do your children like most about you?” Mums and others all had their far share of laughter because of the answers and expressions on the faces of both dads and kids….

It was a truly enjoyable time filled with laughs for everyone in the family (of God)…

Luis and Pablo reading the cards their children made for them.

Eager Lenin and JohnA. ready to start the race

Cheerleader Carol waving the dolls’ clothes and cheering the dads!

Dolls waiting to be dressed up!

Pablo and Luis… ouch! *see baby’s head under chair*

Another evidence of pooor baby handling.. :p

Winner of dress-the-baby contest! Pablo!

Line of kids and their ‘dads’ playing the feeding game!

Axcell feeding Lenin

One of the twins, Emily, feeding ST blindfolded.

Ivana feeding a happy John Estrella.

Poor John A. with food drips all over.. haha. His feeder? Name starts with D….

Mateo and Luis, winners of the feed-the-dad game

Deep-in-thought Dads…

Kids thinking and Dads writing.. any telepathy at work here? :)

Happy 30th! :) Part 2

Happy 30th Birthday to Timothy Ho Shen Teng Part 2!

Celebrated with our coreteam on Tuesday. It was a fun time and the team really put in all their effort to make it special for ST.

Luis and family arrived first and had a fun game of Monopoly with ST while we waited for the rest and for the herbal chicken.. hehe.. Then Emily arrived with a HUGE arrangement of flowers for ST, in his favourite color scheme – orange! hehe.. For those who do not know yet, ST actually really likes flowers.

We had a sumptuous meal, comprised of fried dumplings, spring rolls, spinach and beef and sauteed prawns from Laoban, and a seaweed soup and steamed herbal chicken (one of ST’s favourite dishes in SG) from me. Thank God it came out great! And thank the A1 Emperor Herbal Chicken packet too.. hahaha.. It was really delicious and all of us ate to our hearts’ content. All of them loved the herbal chicken and Mateo, who is usually a picky eater, ate the spicy beef from Laoban and really liked it (even tho he was drinking coke all the time.. haha)! Amazing!

After that came the games…. ST had to flip and match pictures of himself and he was given a face-drawing for each wrong guess.. haha. A pity Luis and Carol didn’t get a chance to draw on him. :p After that he was asked to do a few challenges or answer some questions such as sing a love song for me, what was the most striking about Jesus to him, what embarrassing moments has he had in Ecuador, what presents did he give me in the past that were significant etc.

And after that he was served his favourite (again) rum and raisin banansplit ice-cream and also yummy tiramisu cake. And he got a free knock on his chin, and a free cream nose therapy as Luis smashed his head into the cake. hehehe.. and for revenge, Emily sprayed cream on his head.. i had a very creamy husband after that. :p
The team also shared a powerpoint slide of ST’s moments in Ecuador and encouraged him as a new leader in church, in a new country. The caring team also asked him if he was adjusting well and how he was coping with the new culture. “A good son of God”, “admirable spirit of deciding to really following and obey the Great Commission” and “a very friendly and approachable pastor and friend” were among some of the affirmations. Great husband I have! And thank God for the supportive core-team!

May the Lord bless him with the desires of his heart this year – wisdom, love and resilience! and may God help us to blossom in Ecuador, to serve Him with more spirit-led power and may the church continue to grow stronger in quantity and quality!

Birthday flowers! In his favourite color scheme – orange!

Monopoly before dinner

The spread of food, thanks to Laoban!

St unwrapping his herbal chicken

“Oooh, what a surprise!”

Emily’s approval to the herbal chicken

“yummy, too good for words” – Luis

Picante pero muy rico – Mateo

Match the pairs game!

Awww…

Coreteam swaying to ST’s love song for PR

ST’s 30th cake and sincere prayer

Nose cream and a knock on the chin.. :p

Revenge of the ‘Evil’ Emily…

Watching a ppt of appreciation!

Hugs for the creamy pastor.

A kiss for the creamy husband, under pressure from coreteam again.. haha

A yummy choc combo – shirt tie and ‘leather’ shoes and cellphone!

Happy 30th! :) Part 1

Happy 30th Birthday to Timothy Ho Shen Teng!

The first birthday present he received and I was a lucky beneficiary of, was a one-night stay in Hotel Quito. It was a relaxing time as we had a mini vacation there, enjoying the facilities and the good view and the wonderful pianist!

We had pasta for lunch, watched a DVD in the room and after that went for sushi dinner. Both are ST’s favourite cusine – Italian and Jap Sushi. Had a mini adventure in Noe, the Jap restaurant as we tried to film the flaming flabee sushi again and had the waiter pour the burning sake 4-5 times for the sake of the photo. Turned out that it made the sushi full of sake taste! :p Good excuse to get them to pour more sake. haha. We also ate yasai tempura, not very spectacular but one of the rare chances to eat authentic japanese shitake mushroom! And we tried the fried ice-cream for the first time. Quite nice but it’s filling even as a dessert because of the rice-cereal husk! :p

After that we went back to the hotel, snapped pictures, went to the restaurant for tea and did some reading while listening to the pianist. He’s pretty good! We started the trend of clapping for him.. haha.. and after that, he began to play more and better songs! The power of encouragement. He improvised (we believe) on some english pop songs, which was great because there were quite a number of americans in the restaurant at that time.

The next morning, we enjoyed ourselves in the sauna, turco and gym. We were in the swimming pool for 3-4 minutes but I started itching and realized I’m allergic to the water.. probably too much chlorine. But the sauna and turco were refreshing and gym is ST’s favourite too. So we enjoyed ourselves.

Pictures :

View to the left!

Our room’s view to the right

swimming pooool.. with water I was allergic to.

ST tucking into his pasta – penne en 4 quesos

Me and my spaghetti pomodoro

Flambee sushi, flaming sake… sluRpz~

Our anguila especial and kana-sake sushi.

Yasai tempura with shitake mushrooms!

Arty designed fried ice-cream, husk is made of rice cereal!

Look at the yummy vanilla ice-cream adentro!

Sleepy ST after the good meal…

The talented pianist who played improvised english pop!

Hotel Quito, with a casino. :)

Nice elegant lobby of Hotel Quito at night

The red carpet welcome…(that ST hopes our church will have soon..) :)

Short break in Ibarra

As we posted on Twitter, we went for a short 2-day recharge in the quiet town of Ibarra about 2 hours north of Quito last week. It’s a small, tranquil town and we basically rested, ate, read books, prayed and also played our newly bought Ecuador edition of Monopoly.. haha.. The beautiful scenery and quiet time to seek some spiritual, emotional and physical rest after the hectic month of May was well-needed and reminded us once again of how beautiful a country Ecuador is.

We also visited another even smaller town, San Antonio (10 mins from Ibarra), a place that’s famous for woodcraft, upon the suggestion of an Ibarrian we met in the hotel. It’s nice and there are quite some interesting stuff there!

Thank God for the rest and tranquility!

Traditional Baking at Cayambe where we passed by b4 reaching Ibarra.

Crispy, hot-from-the-oven bizcochos! Famous in Cayambe :P~

The interesting driveway cum walkway to our small hostal. Betty in car. :)

A cosy reception at our hostal El Callejon that’s newly built!

Cute keychains from our hostal!

A Columbian/Mexican restaurant at a square in a small park that reminded us of Chijmes. :)

Check out glittering Marilyn Monroe.. nice decor at another hostal where we ate dinner. :)

My handsome hubby relaxing by the pool!

Woodcarver at work!

The Luis Potosi Gallery at San Antonio

The showroom with many pieces of wood-art!

Art piece – Crying Jesus…

Ecuador 2 – Argentina 0

Ecuador national team played really well in the World Cup Qualifier match against Argentina today. Messi, one of the world’s best players played for Argentina but Ecuador played better as a team. Ecuador won 2-0 in the end. The people on the streets were celebrating and many cars on the streets hornt many times as a sign of victory. The stadium is very near our house but we chose to stay home to watch the live telecast of the match with some brothers as it is more comfortable. We were screaming and shouting during the game. It was really an exciting game!

Below is the video of the goals:

¡Feliz Día de los Niños!

1st of June is Children’s Day here in Ecuador and kids get to have fun in school and not study the whole day. We had a very fun and enjoyable time celebrating Children’s Day with our kids in church last Sunday, 7th June, one week late but nonetheless, a great time! Just look at the pics below!

The kids got to watch a movie during the service and after service, Emily and Katty dressed up as clowns to lead the kids (and adults) in games. The children also had their faces painted and each got a turn to hit the piñata which is something filled with goodies (sweets and toys) that they can collect after smashing it. Even the adolescent Daniel and the well-liked Timothy had to get their turn hitting the pinata (Many of us were in yellow T-shirt to support Ecuador in the match against Peru on that day too). It was really funny as they were blindfolded and made to turn many rounds before searching for their target. And of course, there were lots of distractions and misguided instructions… hahaha… The children also received lots of presents and we had a very yummy cake served at the end too!

Thank God and Kudos to all the Sunday school teachers who put in alot of hard work and made the event so successful!

Dolling up!

Clowning up!

Presenting…. Pintuca y Pintica (can’t rem their names..)! haha!

Kids laughing their hearts out as the clowns came out!

Drew balancing a ball, she won!

Our very own clown, Pintuca (Emily)!

getting ready for 3-legged race

1 legged skipping carrying a cup of water!

Jumping sacks!

Winners of the relay!

Spongebob waiting to be smashed….

Theo getting his aim at the piñata with some help!

Sabrina helping 1-yr-old Sarah with her piñata!

Direct hit! Great shot Axcell!

The not-so-niño Daniel getting his turn at the piñata

Timothy’s turn!

Timothy’s piñata painted with specs to look like him… haha!

Fernanda getting a face paint!

Monster Mateo…..Beware!

Growwwl… Panther Theo!

Our kids with painted faces :)

Lining up for presents!

Such a pretty doll!!

The colorful family of Emily

Boys playing soccer before watching the match

All of us!

Holy spirit convicts!

This afternoon, we went to search for a cheap and good vacuum cleaner for the new chuch place. One of the brothers, Lenin, drove us to central of Quito to buy as he said there is a place which is cheaper for electronic goods.

I was greatly encouraged when I saw yesterday’s bulletin in his car. There were a lot of written notes in his bulletin and he said that it was a good service yesterday. I remember that I was very tired yesterday and was practically reading off my sermon script, so I was very skeptical about his comment and asked him in a joking manner, “What was good?” He said that he learnt to ask God more in his planning about his future and showed me some of the written notes which God has spoken to him. He even told me that we need more space in the bulletins so that the people in church can copy more notes. This was amazing for me because I thought I preached very badly yesterday. It must be God who convicted his heart. God’s grace is sufficient. Thank God for Peiru’s Spanish translation too. I think she minimized the impact of my low energy sermon.

I will be resting more after this new church place project. Need to recuperate to give more high energy sermons. Pray that the Holy Spirit continues to convict the hearts of the people through His Word.

CG on a GC to GC and GC builds a GC!

The code above stands for Caregroup on a Great Commitment to the Great Commandment and Great Commission builds a Great Church! wooohooohoo~

We had fun in our caregroup on Friday. We started a little late coz the people were preparing for the games and presents for the children (coz we celebrated Children’s Day on Sunday this morning!). We started with the Un-entangle game, we were all playing so don’t have many photos on that, and we shared about how important it is that we as a church are united and interconnected to each other.

After that we had simple praise and worship (one of my newly translated english to spanish worship song didn’t turn out quite right, but praise God still!). And this was followed by a fun discussion of What a committed person is like, and how we can grow in commitment to God and loving God. God, help us to build a great and strong church as we commit to loving you, loving others and sharing your love!

Check out the drawings and presentations!
Oh yes, the kids had fun too, in their children’s CG led by Carolina!

Entangled!

Un-entangle us!

Group 1 discussing and searching the Bible…

Group 2 discussing and drawing their answers out

Luis looking very formal as he presents

Katty bowing aft her presentation but looks like dancing!

the HopeKids CG!

Having fun discussing and ‘debating’.. hehe

Showing numbers and acting cute! :D