Homeschoolers' Outing

In the absence of a good Christian school, a number of families in CERC have begun homeschooling in the past few years.  Of these, several have graduated their youngest child.  Right now there are a few high-schoolers and fourteen children, including ours, in the 1-13 age range.  Most of the current homeschoolers got together last Friday at Gardens by the Bay, at a new children's play area there.  It has to be the most beautiful playground I have ever seen!

The kids spent time in both the "dry play" areas and the water play area.

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Here are a couple pictures to show the beautiful backdrop of the water play area:

Marina Bay Sands is the building with the ship across the top; 

next to it in the picture is one of the domes of Gardens by the Bay.

One of the garden domes, the Singapore Flyer, 

and the top of a building downtown

We ate supper together after the kids had played for a couple of hours.

Ham buns and sushi--a pretty good mix of cuisines, right? :-)

(along with a Japanese potato salad, egg tarts, chicken-filled pastries, and chicken)

 

The kids enjoying their meal

Group photo

Dinner devotions were based on Psalm 8:1-2, which were very fitting verses both in the beauty of the scenery around us, and in the beauty of the covenant children with us.  "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.  Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger."

Pulau Ubin

Our friends Laura and Kelly Kaptein just visited Singapore for a couple of weeks.  One of our outings with them included a trip to Pulau Ubin with some other members from church. Pulau Ubin is an island of Singapore which retains the feel of how Singapore used to be, 40+ years ago.  To compare, here is a picture of Singapore today:

And here is what Singapore used to be like, as seen on Pulau Ubin:

A short boat ride takes you to Pulau Ubin, where you can rent bikes or walk around the island.

Changi Point, where the boats leave Singapore

People renting bikes on the island

We walked for two or three hours.

Noelene and Emily 

At the home of the village chief

When rain started to pour down, we took shelter under a canopy along the way.  While we were there, some wild boars came up to us--first just one, and then she brought back a whole family! 

 

Some of us stood on the benches to "escape" from the boars, 

and hadn't come back down yet. :-)

From there we continued to Chek Jawa, on the tip of the island.

Low tide

We finished the day with dinner together on the island.

Singapore's popular chili crab

We caught a boat ride back to Singapore at sunset.

Some Recent Events

We live in an HDB flat--public housing run by the Housing & Development Board of the Singapore government.  Right now there are renovations going on in our building and the others around ours.  The main thing is the replacement of all the bathroom tiles--which is a big project, since the entire bathroom (including walls) is tile, and the buildings are made of cement.  While bathrooms are being redone, each flat is given a temporary shower, and residents have to use bathrooms set up below the buildings.  We were very glad that the owner of our flat opted out of these renovations. :-)

A shower and some other work materials, ready on the balcony

outside our flat for a flat down the hall from ours

Toilets downstairs for people to use

Old toilets and sinks sitting outside our flat

The work is extremely noisy, so that for a couple of days we were not able to have school. We did have a couple of classes outside by the condo of another family from church one morning.  Another day the kids and I met Dorcas and her kids (from church) at an indoor playground.

The two-year-olds

Another recent event here has been the worst drought in Singapore in over fifty years. One of our outings during the days we couldn't have school was to the Botanic Gardens, where streambeds were completely dry and lake levels were way down.

We were all excited to hear a thunderstorm during church two Sundays ago, and since then God has sent rain several times, for which we are all thankful!

A women's Bible study meets at our place on Wednesday mornings twice a month.  The last time we met was my husband's birthday, so the women brought a cake, and we all sang together.  A couple of women brought their homeschooled children, and a couple of extra youth were here, so we had a nice big group to sing Psalter #55 together.

This past weekend were were very happy to welcome our friend Josh Hoekstra from Hudsonville PRC to Singapore.  He stayed with us for four days before moving on to Malaysia for business.  I think we managed to cram quite a bit of sightseeing into those days, and he really enjoyed meeting the people of CERC and worshiping with them.

 Singaporeans laugh, but to us Americans it is great fun to see monkeys in the wild! :-)

(They can be very aggressive, but a couple of sticks in our hands held them back very well.)

There were at least eleven monkeys along the roadside as we headed to a reservoir.

 A Sunday evening gathering--"Behold, how good and how pleasant

it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Ps. 133:1)

One Holy, Catholic Church

Because Singapore is such a business hub and also a tourist destination, we have been able to meet many people from all over the world since we moved here.  Besides worshiping each Sunday with Singaporeans and Filipinos (who live here for work), we have had the opportunity to meet people from the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, and Nigeria.  Most find us on the internet, although a few are brought in by personal contacts.  Many pass through on their vacations, and we don't see them again.  Some come to church at CERC for as long as they are in Singapore.  The most recent has been a family from Germany.  The husband had been here for work before, and worshiped with us.  He just came back for four weeks of work, and brought his wife and two young children.  Although the children hardly spoke any English, they joined the youngest Sunday School class all the weeks that they were here, and we had a couple of opportunities to get together with them outside of church.

Other recent visitors were a couple from Texas, Jonathan and Mary, who moved to Singapore for two years of work the same day that we left Grand Rapids to move here. Jonathan's father is a retired Baptist minister in Texas, who was a missionary in Mexico when his children were growing up.  Jonathan told me that they met for church in people's houses in Mexico, which were one-room houses with dirt floors, and chickens and dogs running through the house during the middle of the service.  Besides that, often only one half of the couple in whose home they were meeting was a Christian, so the spouse might be in the room making himself a meal while the service was going on.  It is so interesting to hear about and see the different ways in which God gathers His Church throughout the world!

We also just met the family of a Baptist minister in England.  His son lives here for business, with his wife, who is from the Netherlands, and their two children.  Pastor Hartley and his wife were visiting them.

Last summer we had two women from the Netherlands visit us.  They were in Singapore for the weekend, on their way to a vacation in Malaysia.  They joined our women's Bible study, then stayed at church for lunch and the second service.  They were moved to tears at finding a church here in Singapore with which they were one in the faith.  It was such a joy to get to know them, even though on this earth we may never see each other again.

While preparing for a Bible study last week, I ran across Article 28 of the Belgic Confession:  "This holy church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed over the whole world; and yet is joined and united with heart and will, by the power of faith, in one and the same Spirit."  What a wonderful thing it has been to meet all these believers from all over the world, who are "joined and united" with us "in one and the same Spirit."  May God continue to gather His Church until the day when we can all be together in glory!