mission at charis

tree top walk

2007-11-02T04:40:00.000-07:00

That's us after the treetop walk:) tired, accomplished and happy. (probably smelly too)

That's us halfway through the entire journey..

That's the before picture, when we decided to go to Prata house to eat prata. lols. gaining calories even before we lose them

gathering

2007-10-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

hello peeps!

in case you didn't receive the mail and happen to pop by this desolute blog, jia min and me(sarah) were thinking of having a gathering next saturday, 27th of october. I've attached Jia Min's email here.

Jia Min here. Miss you guys really much. Me and Sarah were thinking of meeting up once again since its been a long time since we last saw each other. We were thinking of meeting up on a Saturday since weekdays everyone might be in sch or at work. And instead of just meet up for a dinner, we were thinking of other ways we could meet up.

We felt we cant decide on these alone so its open up for voting. Heres what we had come up with:

Cycling/night cycling
K box
Just plain dinner
A day at Sentosa beach or any other beaches
kite flying (Sarah suggested)
Others (You name it, we discuss it)

Do let me know your choice of activity and if Sat is fine. If no 6 is your choice, do let me noe what activity you have in mind so that everyone can hear abt it. Afterall, its a gp gathering.

Anything else, jus feel free to contact either Sarah or me.
Do reply asap. Thanks guys. See ya all soon!
JM

reunion number 2

2007-06-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

Don't they seem to be saying, today we had reunion, Why you never come?!

Girls, don't you think they are abit.. *ahem* you get the point. hehe.

We had our second reunion! I missed out Cheryl cause she was sitting beside me. And anyway, it wouldn't be fair to capture her when she's stoning. lols. details, i'll gladly leave it to the rest to share like how we collaborated to leave daniel stranded for being late and how much bread we ate again (guess where we went?) that's all.

reunion on 20th

2007-06-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Message from daniel: hey, we're gonna meet on the 20th of June at 5.45pm at City hall mrt. do tag if you're able to make it k.. =)

message from daniel

2007-06-06T09:54:00.000-07:00

"hey, we're gonna meet up for reunion dinner. These are the two dates, tag on the blog to see if you're free on either of these 2 dates. They are the 19th and 20th of june. We're likely to do something outdoors *smile smile* The meeting will take place in the afternoon till about evening. any inquiries can tag on the board. if you're unhappy about anything, just contact daniel. "

from daniel

Message to Team Crusade!!

2007-05-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

hey peeps!

Daniel wanted me to convey this message to you guys. There's a Primary 6 camp that Uncle Richard wants to plan but can only be carried out if we participate. So basically, the camp is from 22nd to 24th June, Friday evening to Sunday morning(so that we can go to church). Then, We have to facilitate Saturday's programme, and the rest will be done by uncle richard. Then, we will have to meet as a team to plan. Daniel says to TAG on the board your response. And if you see this message, spread it around k! Think we have to give him a reply asap. yup yup. that's all folks. cheerios!

van's reflection

2007-04-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

wow. its amazing how time flies and now i'm caught up with schoolwork again (:
i miss the times back @ charis where all we look forward to is to spend time with the children again on the next day. (:
my time at charis was really enriching as my compassion for children grew from a negative to an AD. haha. i had a good time learning with them and learning how to get along with them. (: living with the team under one roof was fun and exciting as we got to understand more about one another and grow to accept one another's habits and lifestyle. (: it was an enriching trip for me and i had a great time @ charis. (: indeed God had a beautiful plan ahead of me that i was not aware of when i signed up for this trip!

Visit to Charis Student Centre

2007-04-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

hey team crusade!

its Constance here! do you remember me? i hope u do.. or else mummy will come after you.. haha.. juz kidding:D

anyway, i wanna as you guys if you happen to be free on wed, i know its highly unlikely coz all of us have classes. however, if you happen to be free, do you want to go back to visit charis with yours truly, starting 25 april 07?

do reply to tell me by 23 april night, so that i can arrange with richard and tell him the no of people going and to meet you on the 25th afternoon at like 12.30-1pm. hopefully we can have lunch there.. i miss the good food!!!

keep in touch!

God Bless
Constance

Just reflecting.....

2007-04-14T08:04:00.001-07:00

I Found God Today

I found God today in the eyes of a child
He looked up at me and gave me a smile
He gave me such comfort for which I had longed
Through the eyes of a child I realized I belonged.

I found God today in the warmth of a friend
Who has given me strength for which I can depend
When life had me down and I felt so depressed
I realized through my friend just how much I was blessed

I found God today when I searched for so long
And I've come to realize he'd been there all along
In family and friends, and those each day I see
Each day I find God, and now I've found him in me.

JIa min's reflections=)

2007-04-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

hey there!

Heres my reflection:

Much to say but know not what to say.
Simply to say...THANK YOU LORD FOR THE EXPERIENCE!!!
My 1st mission trip and I learnt the importance of walking with the Lord and experiencing His love thru my wonderful, funky, crazy team! Haha! Thank the Lord for them that a family was born, a bond that'll last forever. *sob* Not ony so, the children has taught me about being loved and to keep the Fruit of the Spirit within each of us. I pray that they had fun just as all of us did! Miss them!

JM

fine (italian): well, almost, the end

2007-04-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Day 12 of our mission trip ended on a rather tired, but contented note. We had a sharing session, where each of us had a chance to sit in the middle to hear what others had to say of us. I won't go into too much detail, but i'll leave the memorable quotes here. [Disclaimer: quotes maybe paraphrased]

Constance to Jacob

"Even though you look like the puppets that you hold, you're the one controlling the puppets. Why not let yourself be God's puppet? Will you let Him control you?"

Rebecca to Jia Min
"The quietest people are a raging ocean. There's a strange storm behind the calm sea"

Jacob (as a comment to himself): I'm really like paparazzi

Cheryl to Henry

"He's like an invisible pillar of strength, while Jacob is like a physical pillar of strength"

Daniel to Henry

" Thank you for the jacuzzi session, learnt alot from him while sitting there"

Constance to Cheryl

"The reason why our food tastes so good is because it's God inspired. Mummy sits at the freezer every morning doing her QT before making breakfast every morning. Thank God for mummy-our food I/C!"

We can find hope in messiness - Rebecca

Jessica and Constance to Daniel
" God created each of us in such a way that we need rest. Our body is the temple of the holy spirit, so we have to take care of it..."

At one point in time, silence filled the air, as we all watched Simon sleeping, hugging the cushion. Henry and Daniel creep beside him and Jacob takes a shot. Then Simon wakes up suddenly and says " As I was saying..."

Rebecca to Daniel

" We are on a circle of our own." and then Daniel had a classic expression of shock and disbelief.

Finally, our all time favourite reminder to Ron " The Ham and the Cheese..."

I think this marks almost the end of all the entries, unless the others blog. The mission trip has ended, but it may well be a new beginning of discovery of life with God, maybe for the children, maybe for some of us as well. There are still others that havent found this gift that God has intended for them, that still feel the need for love and attention... so, continue to pray for them

Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer move God. - E.M. Bounds

Like what Simon has said, Great is thy faithfulness. Amen to that. =)

our full strength!

2007-04-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

That's almost our full picture.. our full mission trip team (minus ron) Srini came to support us on Monday, 02/04/07. I'll leave it for him to tell us what he felt after that day that he came down. hee. But from the looks of it, i think he did enjoy himself. I saw the little guys clinging to him. =)

Anyway, to everyone in the picture up there, send me your reflections of the trip asap can? then i can finish the newsletter.. thanksies! [ you can post it on the blog, or send via email or sms]

Day 4: patience!

2007-04-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Ya - herh!

2007-04-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

Think I'm gonna sit this one out? No way! (Reminds me of Jacob's NO!!!) Well... Pratically it is the 3rd day after mission and that emotions did run high a little for me. Now that in the comfort of my home, I felt that something seems to be amiss... The daily routine that drills so hard on me extracting every bit of my dim-wit brain juice seems to lose grip on me. Funny as it seems... Somehow I miss the comfy of having 4 guys sleeping in a living room and on my throne! (The Changi SAFRA sofa actually...)

Miss our wonderful Ronnie Keating (My special name for our special staff) who has a special speech and tone of his own and is always reminding, running and lifting us up in various spot in mission.
And the wonderful blend of Mr Jacob!!! Ms Jessica!!! Our very own dynamic duo of Chris Student Care... So filled with fun.. humour.. and ideas to the brim. Never a dull moment indeed.

On the control sit... We have Ronnie Keating (Ron Tan is the name though.. anyway...)! Daniel Liu ("Da niu.. Xiao niu on the other side" guy). Never a moment missed under the control of these people who is always keeping watch on the program and sechdule of the bus. Now that we could be on-time for bus.. train.. and even "tao bao" dinner, many thanks to these peeps.

Kudous to the background crew... MUMMY CHERYL! The greatest (not actually.. but... nvm!)! Always there to prepare and kick start our morning with yummy food! On top of that, our food minister and budget minister had done us proud by providing full pledge quality food that doesn't cause us to have stomachach... Praise the Lord!!

The flowers and supporting crew... Sarah (Rah-men), Lau Jia Min (Stop calling my full name!) and Vanessa (AKA Thousand Face). Their silent anticipation and patient towards the team did brought much success... How can a garden be beautified? By the greeneries of course!!! These humble people provide the essential factor to paint the whole picture! :)

Up next! The master minds! Our 100% entertainment (Yu le baifen bai) host.. Becca AKA Xiao Zhu and Constance AKA Xiao Gui.
The soul and backbone of the team that started racking their brains even b4 the mission... Many praise and thanks to this 2 people who gave in so much effort and time to have a wonderful flow for the team.

The major lead of his own.. presenting~~~ (Drum roll) HENRY!!!! Thank God for this gentleman (And I do mean GENTLE :D ) that gave up his time to solve many technical problem back in 125's computer lab. Our logistic head and also one of the major supporting lead in the team... No wonder things are done without seeing anyone move.. Funny~

Last but no the least.. First actually... The cornerstone and why this trip started... GOD!
I think He really did provide us with many things.. like blessing us with un-finishable funds for food.. materials... and also tons and tons of fun and moulding opportunities. And He see us through every single and slightest details like waking early in the morning to travelling safe on the bus and train. And His faithfulness and presence with us to overcome any smallest dreadness. Great is THY faithfulness!

Yeap! The much anticipated mission ended with a high note of sharing session... Many thanks to other wonderful people who had in one way or another contributed to this trip... I must say that I did really enjoyed myself and that you guys had really gave me a wonderful last mission trip of my lifetime. Thanks for making it a memorable one and I do hope you guys will prosper in one way or another.

Many apologies to any conflict arise cause of me.. or.. my in-ability to do certain matters (Which seems like quite alot of things.. whahah)
Finally... Many "YAK-HERH" to you guys and best wishes for you all!

Hope too see you guys step up for more GEN12ii project and involvement in CCC activities... May our Lord God Almighty lift His face and smile upon you all... God bless you all!

Ps. You guys are Angels to me... Charis!!! (Grace)

Special Programme

2007-04-09T03:26:00.001-07:00

Special Programme part 2

2007-04-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Besides dressing up ourselves, we dressed up the room as well. It was decorated with many many balloons. And if you look closely, we see a cup on constance and rebecca's heads. strange isn't it?

As part of the programme, we had a short play too..

Simon was our in-studio reporter

Sarah as our live reporter

Ron as our Doctor with the itch

Cheryl as our cured person

Jessica, Vanessa, Henry as our 'diseased' crowd

Daniel, Jia Min, Jacob as our 'cured' crowd

The story goes: The world has been hit by a strange disease. H5N10, it's everywhere.. not one is spared. The disease is deadly.. itchy. There is panic and more itchiness. The day after the disease breaks out, we have a mysterious letter from a mysterious person named Xiao xiao ren, who claims that as long as you believe in his death, you'll be cured. Shortly after the letter is broadcasted on BNN news, reports of people no longer itching surface! the end.

sometimes, we forget that sin is a disease. It is deadly and everyone has it. Only by believing that Jesus died and rose again from the dead, can we be 'cured from the disease.

Moving on, we played games! it was funny as we watched them(the p6s) pass the message using charades. We even had live music provided by simon and jacob.We also had the P6s play the blanket game, which involved them having to guess the identity of the other person hidden behind the door. For the P5s, they played pass the electric current.

Despite all the fun, we hope that the underlying message was passed on to them..

Day 3: Peace! [125]

2007-04-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

We prob slept way past 12.30 the day before.. as you can see from the clock

day 3: Peace [blk122]

2007-04-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

Day One: Love!

2007-04-08T01:31:00.001-07:00

Day 2: Joy!

2007-04-08T01:27:00.000-07:00

Special Programme!!!

2007-04-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

Today is the day! ahhh. We were worried about the crowd control, but it turned out pretty alright in the end. Praise God!! Costume party time! Try not to laugh too hard=P

I'll post more later... sorry guys!

Preparation for Wednesday, 4 April

2007-04-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

It was a tiring night.. as you can see by the mess on the table, work was in process for our big day on wednesday. trust me, you wouldn't want to see the floor. The night started by rehearsing for our special programme, our 2 MCs went a little crazy and started laughing at themselves. I have a video! but i haven't found out how to upload that yet.

It the morn, it was time to go! Guess what's Ron trying to dress up as? haha. And just look at Daniel. And all the girls wondered. hmmm... And those two girls in the picture below are our two special programme I/Cs + MCs! [ Rebecca and Constance]

Day 9, Tuesday 3 April

2007-04-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

The fruit of the spirit of the day: Gentleness

The main activity of the day was a skit written by Jia min..

God works in many many ways indeed.. this was the day we were taught how to be gentle, how to give a gentle answer. After the end of the day, we looked defeated, and tired.

But, it was a good lesson.

Here are some happy photos we took with the children at blk 122

In case you're wondering, why daniel is standing in the middle looking blur, it's cause we( constance, van, henry, ron, sarah and the p6s) joined forces to trick him. He couldn't guess who's the leader in the game follow the leader. How did we do it? We passed the leader position around. ahahaha

Monday, 2 April

2007-04-07T04:50:00.000-07:00

The fruit of the spirit of the day was faithfulness

I can remember that day being a peacefully crazy day. Why? Scroll down the pictures below and you'll see why.

As you can see, we sort of went crazy while practising(or waiting to practise) for the special programme..

And it wasn't just jacob...

That day, we showed the story of how the walls of jericho came tumbling down. How God was faithful to keep his promises to the israelites. I believe God was, is and will be faithful to us and to the children too..

mug shots on the first day

2007-04-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

This should have been done at the beginning of the blog, but anyway, since now i'm armed with hundreds of photos (thanks Jacob!) i shall present to you each and every one of us in the team.
Ron Simon

Daniel

Jia Min

Constance

Rebecca

Henry

Jessica

Jacob
Cheryl

Vanessa

Sarah

Day 7, Sunday

2007-04-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

In the afternoon, we went to Faith Community Baptist Church for Sunday Service. it was Mega size! Thank God for the good weather and that we were able to get to Expo.

afterwhich, we went to Tampines Mall to get gifts for our angels and our beloved supporters.

Sunday night was back to preparation. Something wacky happened at night... a particular someone dressed in black disguise came down from the rooms suddenly to place gifts on our barnabas board! what a sight!

overall, we thank God for the little things in life and gifts too:)

Day 3, 4, 5 and 6

2007-03-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

This is us! waaa.. courtesy of vanessa. yay! yakher~

Day 3…
Fruit of the spirit of the day: Peace
The whole team and the kids from the respective blks had fun watching veggie tales.. After the movie, echoes of “I can be your friend, la la la…” At night, when we gathered for the discussion of Thursday’s programme, Jacob taught us some new songs.. oh man, it was hilarious.

Jessica and the P1 kids.. haha. aren't they cute?

Who’s the king of the jungle *woo woo*
Who’s the king of the sea * widdle waddle*
Who’s the king of the universe and who’s the king of me
His name is J-e-s-u-s; YES!
He’s the king of me, he’s the king of the universe, jungle and the sea
Waddle waddle waddle.. hohoho
Day 4
Fruit of the spirit of the day: Patience and Self-control
Jessice led today’s devotion on hope. Coincidentally, the verse of the day was Romans 8:24-25
“… But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Aww..they are listening

Come to think of it, Thursday really tested out patience, especially for those taking blk 122. It wasn’t the best of days to carry out activities with the kids with them shouting like they were talking.. Jessica shared though “it’s for us to bring out their best side”

Day 5

Darrel and Ron!

Cookie making day!!! We were afraid. We were very afraid. And it was chaotic. Even though cookie dough didn’t fly all over the place, some kids were, enough to make things see like the conditions of our chalet room (which we will not show you… haha) But it was also heart warming looking at some of the kids making cards to show their appreciation to their friends and parents. Some of them even verbally expressed anxiousness to finish their jig saw puzzle piece as well.
To end off the week, we went to tampines mall! ahhh.. our first "exposure" to the outside world.. woooo

Saturday.. finally it's rest day. yay! we're gonna exercise! byes~

2007-03-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Day 3 photos!

walking there... haha

I'll upload more later.. yup yup. There's limited connection=(

Day 2

2007-03-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Worship this morning was led by Jia min.. we had a lovely time praising God together=)
Today’s devotion was led by Rebecca, where we learnt about the prodigal son.. She gave us 2 different perspectives from the prodigal son as well as the brother in the parable.

For Blk 125: We were more settled down today… Jacob came over to help us in the morning, which made a lot of difference=D We had lots of fun playing the mysterious watermelon game again.. *swoosh* Time was tight, so hopefully we’ll have better time management tomorrow. Oh oh.. and we, took lots of photos!

For Blk 122:

Cookie monster is cute!

Day 1

2007-03-26T02:52:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day ever as a team seeing the students at Charis student care! I’m blogging from the helf of the team that went to Blk 125.. Overall, it was truly a eye opener, as we saw the first group- the P3s! Honestly, we were caught unexpected as the P3s had limitless amounts of energy and excitement. But as the day passed, our first encounter with the students proved to be a source of experience because when we met the p5 and p6s, it was much much more managable..

We've had our ups and downs today, but we all still learnt something today=)
Pray for us, that we will learn to trust God more each day.

cheerios!

please pray for us...

2007-03-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

It's abit small, but it's just for the time being.. thanks to vanessa for the hard work! Isn't it lovely? Feel free though to request a copy of this prayer chart from any member of the team, but do hurry, we're setting off on Sunday, 25 March 07. And a big thank you in advance for praying for us!

15th March 2007

2007-03-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

Today's worship was led by Vanessa and Simon=) and our devotion, led by Henry, focused on PATIENCE. I guess this is one aspect that all of us lack one way or another.
Then, as part of today's meeting agenda, we discussed the special programme for easter and palm sunday, as well as our schedule for the week.

Prayer Requests
Pray for those still struggling with the funds, especially for Cheryl.
Pray for good health cause our mission will be Survivor style. (we need to last for 12 days)
Pray for Henry’s mum for her operation that she will be safe and get well soon.
Pray for Charis and all that they are healthy and be open to learning about Jesus.
Pray for everything that we have planned for

Food
Lodging
Time
Money
Programme (daily and special)
Materials
Bonding
Not forgetting Jacob and Daniel and their teams, that they will be able to reach out to the people there

4th March, Sunday

2007-03-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

In our third meeting together, which we cosily spent in a room at Daniel's church, we finally started on our activity planning.

Before that, devotion was done by Rebecca, and she touched on Ruth, we read an interesting background of Ruth and her decision to follow God and leave her hometown to go to a foreign place.
Went through the book of Ruth where a few verses were taken fr each chapt to highlight the pts in Ruth's life:
chapt 1:8-13, 16-17
chapt 2:8-9, 14-16
chapt 3:7-14
chapt 4:1-10
In the last chapt on how Boaz redeemed Ruth as a kinsman-redeemer, it shows about God's love for us. He became our kinsman-redeemer, redeeming us thru the blood of Jesus Christ for all our sins be it who we are, an Isrealite or gentile, we are all sinners. God still redeemed us despite who we are.

Moving onto our discussion, we basically came up with a framework for the two weeks that we're gonna spend at Charis Student care. We intend to use the fruit of the spirit as our theme for each day spent there, 9 in all. To add on, we have two days allocated for special progamme.

We recieved sad news and that Srini won't be joining us for this mission trip due to family issues. Let's continue to pray for him and his walk with the Lord.

3rd Feb, Saturday

2007-03-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

This is our second meeting, and Vanessa kindly hosted all of us=)

Daniel gave us a whole new understanding about working as an individual and as a group.
He mentioned that we as a group have to work together, understand each other strengths and weaknesses so that we can support each other.
He used the analagy of our hands that when we clapped, it takes both hands to do so. Thus the clapping represent the unity in us as a team that we have to work together.

The qns to ask ourselves: What does God want out of Me?

It was also in this meeting that we did a personality test to find out more about each other's strengths and weaknesses.

We played games conducted by Constance. Very interesting game and we had lots of fun trying to sabotage each other. Basically the game was to see if we actually trust our friends. We did many versions of it and it was really fun. Thanks Constance!

Prayer requests brought up:
- prayed for those having exams
- for Srini that his family ll be more open abt his faith and that he can join us soon
accommodations, funds and newsletter

And finally, to round it all up, we had lunch!

our very first entry!

2007-03-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Many of us have been eternally blessed with the joy of the salvation Lord Jesus brings. But many in our own community have yet to even hear of the gospel our Lord has commissioned us to preach.

Charis Care Centre provides before-and-after school care to primary school children, taking care of daily needs such as food and academic learning. Due to the shortage of manpower, many lack the individual attention and guidiance that is much needed. Many more have not heard of who Jesus is and have never experienced the love that the Lord gives.

Children give some of the most wonderful praise to our Lord, but many of these children do not know of his existence.

This blog is started off primarily to document, our mission trip, the preparation and more importantly, as a journal of God's grace towards us as a team. One day, we'll look back and see God's goodness, his mercies and all the answered prayers as well as how much we've grown together spiritually. =)

Though we may not know what the future holds, God knows, and in Him we trust.