Mother's Day corner

We celebrated Mother's Day in church last Sunday. My brilliant wife set up a beautiful Mother's Day corner for people to take photo in church. She arranged the flowers and decorated the wall with the word "Mama" with rose petals. Below are a few photos at the Mother's Day corner:

Angie posing for a photo

Arthur wishing Elena a happy Mother's Day! 

Group photo at Mother's Day corner

Training for IPPT 2013

It is the time of the year when I train for my army IPPT (Individual Physical Proficiency Test) again. I am visiting Singapore in July this year so I have started my training already. I take my IPPT every time I visit Singapore.

Today, I did interval training of 6 X 500 metres in Carolina Park. The timing of each 500 metre is 2 min 5 sec. And the rest time is 2 min 5 sec too. I did all 6 within the timing and my target is to run under 10min for my 2.4km in IPPT this year.

Last year, I ran 10 min 11 sec for my 2.4km and got $400 for the IPPT gold. Hopefully this year I can get full points for each station and improve my timing for 2.4km even more.

Elena's birthday

We celebrated Elena's 51th birthday at Uncle Ho's on 13th April. We had Thai and Vietnam food, and a great time of fellowship. We thank God for Elena and Arthur who supported us when we most needed help in Ecuador. They are good and faithful servants of God. We truly appreciate them being in our lives. :)

Arthur and Elena with the imperial rolls

Celebration of International Woman's Day

Thanks to Angie's initiative, we celebrated International Woman's Day for the first time in church on 8th March. The purpose of the celebration was to encourage the women in church to trust and follow Jesus more. Angie and Brianna first presented a meaningful song called "woman of faith" and they sang it so beautifully!

Then the brothers in church took turn to share their appreciation to the women in their lives. Alejo started the ball rolling and the rest of the brothers just continued sharing. They talked about the women in their lives and how they exhibit the character of Christ.

At the end, the women cut the cake and got the flowers in the church for themelves . They were encouraged by the song presentation and the sharing of testimonies too. 

It was a great time of mutual encouragement and we pray that the sisters in church continue to grow in Christlikeness in their daily lives. 

Inspirational School Song

I had taught in the Chinese High School, Kranji Seconday School and Singapore Sports School before. This is the first school anthem that I’ve ever come across that strikes me as truly inspiring. Very fitting… since it’s a school that’s set up with a definite purpose to excel in the areas it’s called to excel in. It really has that modern inspirational feel. I can also identify the lyrics with my walk with God too.

I could not find the anthem on YouTube but found it on the Singapore Sports School website: http://sss.ntrix.sg/infolinks.aspx?id=1 You have to click on the link and stroll down to the school anthem and profile to listen to it.

Singapore Sports School Anthem

We will rise to the challenge
The Sports School as one
With pride and with passion
In the journey we run
Every step leads us closer to our goal
And a voice keeps telling us to stay strong
To keep on walking cause it won’t be too long
Till we can soar
Beyond our fears
We’ve been living for this moment
We’ve been dreaming all these years
It’s gonna be worth the struggle
It’s gonna be worth the fight
We can hear the crowds roar
Upon our wings we soar

Tang Poetry

Suddenly thought of another poem when I was studying Chinese literature in secondary school. The poems of Du Fu (杜甫, AD 712-770) were most expressional of the outlook of social unrest and the feeling of the people in that period.

A Portrait of Du Fu

Du Fu was in Changan when An Lushan’s army took the capital. He wrote “春望, Chun Wang, Looking Around in Spring”:

A seal script carving of the poem

国破山河在，          Guo po shan he zai,
城春草木深。           Cheng chun cao mu shen.
感时花溅泪，           Gan shi hua jian lei,
恨别鸟惊心。           Hen bie niao jing xin.
 烽火连三月，           Feng huo lian san yue,
家书抵万金。           Jia shu di wan jin.
白头搔更短，           Bai tou sao geng duan,
 浑欲不胜簪。           Hun yu bu sheng zan.

(Translation of the poem to English)

Mountain and rivers still remain even though the state fell,
Spring is in the city while grass and bushes are tall.
Seeing so much misery flowers are shedding tears,
Hearing so many parting words birds are startled.
Flames of battle have been raging till March,
A family letter is worth of ten thousand tales of gold.
I find my white-hair shorter when scratching it,
There is no way to fasten the hairpin on my head.

Korean food for Valentine's Day Dinner

Peiru and I celebrated Karina's birthday over lunch on Valentine's Day and went to a Korean restarant for dinner. We ate our favourite spicy beef soup, Yukgaejang and the typical Korean rice, Bibimbap in the Korean restaurant called "Muskus" near our house. :) Below are a few photos:

 Peiru happy with her Korean food

 Spicy beef soup "Yukgaejang"

Yummy Bibimbap!