A Day at Church

When my dad was here, he took pictures of many of the Sunday activities.  Thanks to him, I can put together this blog to give you a glimpse into what a normal Sunday is like here.

First of all, the following is the schedule for a typical Sunday:

First and third quarters of the year

9:30-11:00 -- Morning church service

11:00-12:15 -- Sunday School for youngest kids

11:30-12:30 -- Catechism for ages 6-12 (Older classes meet on Saturday afternoons.)

                   -- Some type of classes for the young people

                   -- Ladies' Bible Study twice a month

                   -- Men's Bible Study twice a month

                   -- During the weeks off from Bible study, there are sometimes other 

                     activities, such as Shepherding a Child's Heart videos and discussion.

12:30-2:00 -- Lunch

                 -- Library is open

                 -- Time for visiting

                 -- Practice for any upcoming events; for example, a group sang at Paul & 

                    Anthea's wedding in February, and right now a group is practicing an 

                    instrumental number for the church anniversary in September.

2:00-3:00 -- Second church service

Second and fourth quarters of the year

9:30-11:00 -- Morning church service

11:00-12:15 -- Sunday School for ages 1-12

11:30-12:30 -- Canons class for adults -- This consists of a 45-minute speech by my 

                      husband on one article of the Canons, followed by a question and answer

                      period.

                   -- Classes for the young people

12:30-2:00 -- Same as first and third quarters

2:00-3:00 -- Second church service

Here are pictures of some of these groups/activities:

Youngest Sunday School class

Youngest catechism class, minus our Emily

Older catechism class with Elder Chan --  Elder Chan does written work with these kids while my husband teaches the younger ones for half an hour; then a young adult leads the younger kids in singing while my husband teaches the older ones for half an hour.

One of the young people's classes

Another class for the youth

Men's Bible Study

Ladies' Bible Study (with my mom and Erin Braaksma from Georgetown PRC)

Lunch

Library

As you can see, Sundays are very busy days and much different than Sundays in the States. The reason for this is that some people take public transportation to church, and it takes some of them a long time to get there.  And even those who drive can have difficulty due to the traffic here.  So rather than spending hours each Sunday in getting to and from church, once we are at church we stay there! :-)  But it is a blessed time of fellowship with each other.  After a week of living and working among the world, Sunday is truly a wonderful day of rest and fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ.

National Day

Last Friday was Singapore's National Day--similar to the U.S. 4th of July.  On August 9, 1965, Singapore declared its independence from Malaysia.  National Day is celebrated with a big parade and fireworks each year.  About a month prior to National Day, Singapore flags can be seen flying on many of the housing buildings, as well as by landed property (private houses), along the streets, and in many other places.

In addition to the flags, there are signs hung up in various areas regarding each town's celebration of the holiday.  (Singapore has different areas in which to live, and these areas are called "towns.")  Each year there is a new National Day song, and these songs were played on the radio in the grocery store in the weeks leading up to National Day.  There is also a different theme for the celebration each year, with this year's theme being "Many Stories...One Singapore."

Ang Mo Kio and Sengkang are two "towns" of Singapore.

On National Day we got together with a couple families from church to watch the festivities in the comfort of one of their homes.  (The whole celebration was broadcast over the internet.)  As you can see in the following picture, most of our family was dressed in red. We thought this was pretty much a requirement of celebrating National Day here, especially because we had seen a sign for a local celebration that required us to wear red if we went. Not only was red NOT a requirement, but when we got back to our flat, there was quite a group of people waiting for the elevator--and one of them was a young man wearing a USA shirt.  We had to laugh at how we Americans were dressed up for Singapore, and the Singaporean was wearing a USA shirt!

The cupcakes are to celebrate another special birthday--Jael is 2!

We enjoyed our first National Day here.  It was interesting to see another country celebrate its Independence Day.

Sports Day

Today is Hari Raya, a Muslim holiday celebrating the end of their month of fasting (Ramadan).  Hari Raya is a national holiday in Singapore, so with everyone having off work, it was a great day for another church outing.  Usually everyone gets together at a park to play sports together (thus the name "Sports Day"), but this year we did some hiking along the Southern Ridges of Singapore instead.  We had beautiful weather--a little rain before and after the hike, but no sun meant a cooler walk, and the rain stopped during the hike, so it was perfect.

Beginning the day with singing and an exhortation

Starting the hike

One of the views from the trail 

Even the bathrooms had a great view! :-) -- the cablecars to Sentosa Island

All those high-rises!!

Along the way we crossed over the Henderson Waves, a pedestrian bridge that provided a lot of fun for the group.

Daring people to run up the side of the bridge

They both made it!

 After hiking on a while longer, we ate lunch together.

No wild monkeys in sight today, but sometime I'll have to post pictures of a different hike we took with wild monkeys right next to our trail! 

At the end of the hike

Lunchtime!

Family Seminar

Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church has a committee called the Family Support Ministry (FSM).  One of the ongoing projects of FSM right now is the showing of videos on Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, followed by discussions on the videos.  The Family Support Ministry also sponsors an annual family seminar.  This year's seminar was held this past Saturday, July 27.  The topic chosen was "Growing Together in Faith as Husbands and Wives."  There was a speech, followed by discussion groups and then a question and answer session.  During all these things there were activities for the children. The evening concluded with dinner together.  Here are some pictures of the event:

A very nice introduction to the topic by Samuel Wee, 

a member of the Family Support Ministry

The speech

Preparing for a discussion group

The older kids' activity room

The younger kids with Daisy Lim

 

Dinner

May God bless the marriages of His people and give good spiritual growth to husbands and wives!

Lau Pa Sat

While my parents were here, a family from church took us to Lau Pa Sat for dinner one evening. Lau Pa Sat is located in the business district of Singapore.  There is a huge hawker center (outdoor food court) there, serving food all day.  But at 7:00 p.m. the food choices and eating area become much larger.  A stretch of road is closed to cars and very quickly set up with a few more food/drink stalls and many, many tables for people to eat at.  We were there before 7:00 and could see all the action as the street was transformed. By the time we left, the street was packed with people eating dinner.

Our family with my parents before dinner

 

The area surrounding Lau Pa Sat

Before 7:00 p.m.--Just another Singapore road

After 7:00 p.m.--A policeman has now blocked the street, and preparations are underway to turn it into a busy eating area!

 

One of the most popular foods served there was satay.  There were a number of places selling satay, and people trying to get us to buy from their stall!  Satay is pork, beef, chicken, or mutton served on sticks with a peanut sauce to go with it, and often served with rice inside banana leaves.

Grilling satay--looks like a very hot job!

Here's another food we tried.  Any guesses as to what it is?

Barbequed stingray!! 

(covered with chili sauce, which is used in great abundance in Singapore!)

We had a good evening at Lau Pa Sat.  It was an enjoyable new cultural experience for us.

A Fishing Village in Malaysia

My parents (Rev. & Nancy Key) are here for a visit for three and a half weeks.  We've been having a very busy but wonderful time.  The first Monday they were here (July 1), a family from church took us into Malaysia for the day.  Our first stop was the fishing village of Kukup.

Street in Kukup

The fishermen and their families live in homes built over the edge of the sea.  When we were there, the tide was out, and only mud and trash was left behind.

Chicken coops alongside one of the houses

Although the outside area was very dirty, the doors to most homes were open, and we could see that the insides were spotlessly clean.  The other striking thing about the homes was that all of them had idols inside--idols of the Chinese religions.  There were also a couple of small temples just in the neighborhood that we were in.

 

A structure for burning incense, right outside one of the temples

What follows are three pictures of a new house going up along the sea in Kukup.

 

I took this picture just for all you builders back in the States!

Closer-up view--big tree branches holding things in place

How safe does that stairway look?

The people who live in these homes use bikes and motorcycles to get around.  You can see in the following picture the sidewalks we were walking on.  A few times we had to stand off to the side to let motorcycles past.

Bikes and motorcycles parked in front of the largest home we saw

Finally, here are some more random pictures of the neighborhood and of the fishing area: