Prof. & Lori Gritters

Prof. and Lori Gritters were able to spend almost a month in Singapore.  The main purpose of their visit was the church camp; however, they were able to do many other things with the members of CERC also.  Prof. preached a number of times and gave at least five speeches, in addition to the five at church camp.

Sunday worship

Family seminar--Prof. led it, and we did a lot of group work.

The girl with Jessica is Aubrey Kamps--

Titus & Charlynn Kamps' family from Faith PRC are visiting us right now.

Lori also gave one speech for the women of the congregation.  We had a women's conference one night, similar to the women's retreats that Byron Center PRC has hosted in the past.  Lori gave a speech on "Fellowship with God," as she did five years ago in Byron Center.

Opening devotions and singing

Lori speaking

Discussion groups afterwards

Then there were many fun outings and get-togethers.

Singapore Zoo

Get-together with a Bible study group one evening

Jason and Elijah getting spun in circles by Prof. during a trip to Sentosa

One Wednesday Lori joined a women's Bible study at my house, and after lunch together some of us went to Chinatown.

The first stop was a Muslim mosque--my first experience in one of these.  

We observed the men's prayers for a few minutes.

After the mosque and Hindu temple, we stopped to check out a Chinese medicine shop.

The middle two are dried seahorses and lizards.  

The shop employees told us the lizards are good for your lungs!

Monks leading people in chanting at the Buddhist temple

Chinatown wet market

Desserts with Serene, Lori, Jemima, Wan Teng, and Bee Hua

Chinese desserts

And there were a few other interesting cultural experiences.

Checking out the wet market by our place

Is that really a spine in the frog porridge?!!

Watching a woman cut durian at the fruit stand by our place

The Gritters left Singapore Tuesday morning.  We are thankful for the time they could spend with us and all the work they did among our church while they were here.  We pray God's rich blessings upon them as they return home.

Church Camp (2)

Food is a big part of Singaporean culture, and this church camp was no exception to that. Most of our meals were eaten in the hotel's Bamboe Cafe.

There were also two special meals in a different restaurant in the hotel.  These were fancier Chinese dinners, like the ones many couples have at their weddings here.  The food (and tea) is brought out one course at a time for up to ten courses!

 

One of the first courses we had one evening

Sweet and sour chicken

There were also activities planned throughout the week, as well as some free time (a favorite of the kids!).

An outing into Batam included lunch at a seafood restaurant.

Human foosball

Penalty shoot-out

Free time in the hotel pool

Joel, Elijah, and Jotham

After the workshop on the last evening (talked about in my last post), gifts were given to all who were involved in some way in this year's camp.

The camp committee--group that planned and ran this year's camp

Leaders and assistant leaders of discussion groups

Prof. Gritters with Elder Leong

Prof. & Lori Gritters with their gifts

Thanks to the camp committee for a wonderful camp and to Prof. Gritters for his edifying speeches.   "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:  and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (II Tim. 4:6-8).

Church Camp (1)

This year's annual church camp was held from June 16-19 in Batam, an island of Indonesia--the first time in 20 years that the camp has been in Indonesia instead of Malaysia.  We gathered at the ferry terminal in Singapore and took the ferry about 45 minutes to Batam.

On the ferry

On the bus from the ferry terminal to the hotel

The other two buses of church people in front of the ferry terminal

Here are a few sights of Indonesia:

View from the rooftop of our hotel

I think Jason (our 3-year-old) commented on this 

sign every time he was in the bathroom. :-)

No 4th floor--a Chinese superstition, because the 

Chinese word for "four" sounds like the word for "die."  

A small sample of the breakfast foods available

The theme of this year's camp was "Are You Ready to Meet Christ?"  The speaker was Prof. Gritters.  He chose as the camp text II Timothy 4:6-8 and had us work on memorizing that throughout the week.  The basis of his speeches was the final phrase of that text: "all...that love his appearing."  He gave five excellent speeches, which can be heard here: https://sites.google.com/site/cercaudiobackup/home/church-camp/2015.

Discussion groups followed four of the five speeches, and during those times there were also classes and crafts for the children.

Daisy teaching the older kids

Matthias with the older kids during another session

Ah Moi and Dorcas with the young ones

On the last night of the camp there was a workshop led by my husband.  He gave a concluding speech for the camp, using Revelation 22 and the prayer of God's people, "Come, Lord Jesus." After his speech he had us get into our discussion groups and write out II Timothy 4:6-8, then choose among ourselves one highlight of all of Prof. Gritters' speeches and present that to another group.

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand..."

Our group coming up with the highlights of the speeches for us

Another group's list

One more group's list

I will end this post with the annual group photo, and write more next time about some of the other activities, Lord willing.