School of Missions 2009

15 February - 5 July 2009
Wellington, New Zealand

The School IS happening!

We are expecting 10 participants - praise God for calling each one of them, and for the "yes" that each one of them gave in response.

They are coming from Poland, UK, Canada, Korea, Singapore, Nigeria and New Zealand.

Pray for them, and pray for us as we gear up for the School, an exciting season of grace.

More news will be posted on this blog in the days ahead!

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Ju and I attended such a School in 2003, also run by ICPE in New Zealand. It was indeed a life-changing experience for us.

After 5 years, we are still running the race, impelled by the love of Christ for us and for the world. We are but mere earthen vessels, broken and weak, utterly fallible (as infallibly proven time and time again!) and yet undeniably we hold this treasure within us, this power, this faith in a loving Saviour Jesus Christ, this grace that sustains us, not of our making, but a gift from our dear Father above.

And we still very much believe in the value of coming away for a solid period of time, to make space for God to work in a deeper, wider way in our hearts - to heal hidden wounds, to straighten out inward and wayward paths, to set free what wants to come alive, to awaken or re-awaken dreams and visions and potential, to dare us to step out into the deep, to fan the flame of "yes" we feel deep inside ourselves, to inflame our hearts with His passion for us and to give us the grace to respond to His call to be His witnesses, in whatever vocation or lifestyle He may make clear to each of us.

The harvest is huge! We can't be everywhere but we want to be where He is calling us to be. Through the school, it became clearer to each of us where the Lord is calling us to be. And for that, we are forever thankful.

Hence our promoting such a school of discipleship. Write to either of us if you are interested to find out more. We'll be glad to share our experience with you! Did I not say that the school is also a lotta fun? :-D

Ju is at juliana68@gmail.com
Chris is at christinachua@gmail.com

Christ Bell

Someone sent this to us. It's beautiful, both in its truths and the way these truths are set out.


THE BELL
I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's child (John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15)
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).. I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)

I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph. 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you know
Who you are?


Keep this bell ringing...pass it on
'The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
The LORD turn His face toward you
And give you peace...
Numbers 6:24-26

©LongBraid Designs Original

Worship Nights At St Gerard's, Wellington

A poster gallery of the worship nights that have been happening on Mount Victoria. \o/

Your name is higher than the heavens
Greater than the nations
Jesus
(The Greatness of You, Don Moen)

We've been told that the heart is just too far gone to save
But grace tells us another story
Where grace sends hopelessness away
Oh grace tells us another story.
(Grace tells another story, MercyMe)

This is who I am
This is who I am
So take me and make me something so much more
This is who I am
This is who I am
So change me and make me someone better than before
(This is who I am, Third Day)

All over the world Your song will resound
All over the world Your praises ring out...

we're living to see Your name and renown
All over the world!

Young and old, near and far
There's a place for every heart
To join in Your song!
(All over the world, Matt Redman & Martin Smith)

Poster artwork by Ju!

My first month in the Philippines!

May has been chockful of activities!

Breakthrough!

Life in the Spirit Seminar

27-30 May 2008

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20 youth gathered in our mission centre for 3 and a half days experienced the power and love of God breaking through into their hearts and lives as they opened their hearts to receive the Holy Spirit.

Praising and worshipping God on the final day of the seminar, proclaiming:

"How awesome is the Lord Most high!"

That's me giving the first teaching on God's love. The pictures were used to illustrate the various attributes of God's love for us and I also shared how the little sparrow was instrumental in teaching me about my worth in God's eyes!

My cell group posing with pictures that spoke to them personally about God's love for them.

An intimate moment of adoration during the seminar. It was during the Sacrament of Reconciliation which ministered deeply to so many of the youth who experienced coming home to God that day. It was very touching to hear them share about their journey home to God.

Over the days we could see God's liberating truth and love breaking through as the youth opened up like flowers under God's tender love and grace.

Many shared how they were touched by the unconditional love and acceptance by God their heavenly Father during this time.

It was "God be with you!" as we bade farewell to the youth last Friday who packed themselves into a jeepny. There will be a follow up with them in a couple of weeks. Till then we pray that they continue to be open to God's grace at work in their lives.

For me, it was a journey of trusting more in God and of letting go and truly letting Him be God.

****************

In the middle of May, we hosted 6 children from Montalban at our home for 2 days. During this time, we spoke to them about their identity and value in God and encouraged them to dare dream dreams. We also translated the values taught to them into practical tips on how they can take care of their own bodies and personal hygiene.

I had 3 of them (Riza, Michael and Anna Louisa) helping me in the liturgy ministry. Together we beautified the altar with the message "Come as you are" received during their time of worship with us on their first morning here.

Their presence in our home filled my heart with joy. During the time they were with us, I felt a lightness in spirit and knew that God was blessing me through the children. Thank you Father God!

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Every Saturday we drove down to Montalban and spent the morning and afternoon with the children. The theme of May's teachings was on the Holy Spirit.

Therese having a great time teaching about the fruit of the Spirit :-)

Teaching them the actions for the song, "Every Move I Make" and linking it to Acts 17:28 where St Paul says, "In Him[the Holy Spirit], we live and move and have our being."

Did you realise that there's a "van" in "EVANgelisation"? Well, that truly was the case on one Saturday morning when it began to rain in the middle of our session in Ate Bing's garden!

All 12 kids were packed into our van which truly became a vehicle for evangelisation. HAHAHA!

Celine continued her teaching from the front passenger's seat while Therese stood by the side of the van and shared her testimony of how God's power helped her through a tough time in her life. God truly has a sense of humour! ;-)

My session was about Pentecost. We re-enacted the day of Pentecost to give the children a visual teaching of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and how the power of the Spirit changed and can change the hearts and lives of people.

We ended the session with praying for each of the children and for their personal intention which they had scribbled down onto their journals.

Some of the new people that God is sending into my life here in the Philippines!


For a fruitful month lived in the Spirit, thanks be to God!

Come Holy Spirit! More of you in my life!

My first week in the Philippines

It's been a week since I arrived in the Philippines. Felt like a long time ago since I was in Singapore! I guess it's the effect of settling into a new environment, climate et al!




Last Saturday I joined the children's ministry for the first time. We serve the children in Montalban which is a resettlement township for the people whose homes were destroyed by a landslide in the dumpsite area where they were living.

I was surprised to see our prayer meeting location in the morning - a little garden in the front porch of a very kind lady's house! We were glad for the shade in the hot weather. Thank God for small mercies.








We taught the children about the Holy Spirit in preparation for Pentecost this coming Sunday. I prepared an activity sheet for them about who the Holy Spirit is and the symbols of the Holy Spirit.

btw, I learnt that "symbolo" means "symbols" in Tagalog. Having to learn Tagalog now, I'm grateful for words that are similar to their English counterparts! Again, thank God for small mercies.

Therese, Celine and I also performed a skit to demonstrate the point that only the Holy Spirit can change people's hearts. I was stretched to overcome my reticence in acting. We had to improvise a lot and I had fun (eventually). *grin*

For the session with the younger children, Therese prepared a colouring activity sheet. See the beaming faces after having completed the activity!

Here are some shots of Montalban which presented to me a very new and different landscape:



.





Earlier in the week, we were in Tagaytay. I must confess sheepishly that it was fascinating for me to see pineapples and soursop other than in fruit shops or supermarkets!



Ready for a pictographic nature's excursion? Here goes:

Pineapple patch

Soursop


Papaya tree

That's all for now! Thank God for the week past. \o/

ICPE reunion at Colin & Suzan's wedding