I'm back!!!

A little break from “Mission to Manila”

12 Sept - Term 4 started.
Miss Lim “officially” back at work after 6-7mths.

Unlike Term1 where I helped out at Nursery/Pre-Nursery classes where though I didn’t “own” a class or get to teach but I was able to be around children.

This time in Term4 it was sooo different, didn’t expect actually - I’m assigned to do “admin”. Sad to say is going to be for the ENTIRE term!
Partly also cause currently there are more than enough staff thus I’m not required to help out in classes.

In general, Miss Lim’s job for now is to help with the accreditation under SPARK.

For the first two weeks, I sorted/read/typed/prepared many SOP.
Now ask me anything! Procedures for HFMD? Trigger point for H1N1? What to do during fire drill? What need to be done before purchasing resources? You name it, I can tell you about it! Haha!

And for this week, I’m working on Induction Programme.
What’s next for another 7weeks?

With just 3WEEKS, I can hereby officially declare - admin jobs really not my cup of tea! Haha!

Few “challenging” moments:
(1) Being classified as the “Task Force” by the Principal who don’t want us (for now, only me) to be disturbed so she assigned us a room at Level 2 to work in. No one to talk to, no one walking pass for me to count, no children for me to peek etc.

The good thing is that quite “peaceful” and a lot is own time own target.


(2) To keep awake, ESPECIALLY after lunch! I will be in deep trouble if I didnt have enough sleep the night before! Haha! Have to all kinds of things to keep awake - walk, stand, drink and go toilet etc. Haha!
As music room is also at Level 2 so wherever I hear children's voices at the corridor, I will come out immediately to say hi.

Don’t remember doing all that to keep awake during teaching days… no matter how little sleep I had.

(3) Away from the children most of the time.
Thank God for moments like arrival/dismissal. Haha!

But for now, Miss Lim can only watch from afar~~

(4) To face the computer for hours.
Backache… Neck ache… Tired eyes…
Oh no!!! A sign I’m getting old too!?!

(5) Very rigid routine. *yawn yawn*

It was a nightmare especially during the first two weeks but now entering into 3rd week, I’m coping much better already BUT still … … … I want to teach!!! Haha!

One of my colleagues was joking with me, “Will you enjoy and like admin job so much that next year you will choose to opt out to teach?“

Hmmm… … …

SOT Mission to Manila - #3B

continued..
Back on the van, Pst Nilo drove us to a Taekwondo club where his two daughters were. That was also our first time meeting his two precious daughters. We spent a while there before Pst drove them home then picked up the wife (Pastora Ella) and sent her to school.

Pst Nilo is not just a great Talay (Father) to his church members, he is also an awesome father and husband - he serves a lot a lot in ministry BUT he never neglect his family. He loves them a lot. Every EARLY morning, 4am+ plus, he will drive his elder daughter to her school which is a distance away.

Up next - Pastora Venie’s house


We were informed beforehand we will have a bible study session with the people Pastora Venie who will conduct biblestudy with every week. So we prepared accordingly but when we reached there, seriously speaking… we were shocked by the people and the crowd.


So on the spot, really ON THE SPOT, we changed the songs for praise and worship led by me and the Word by Teammate ML. We were very honored to have Pst Nilo to help us translate our English to Tagalog during Word and ministry time.

At the end, we opened up a time of prayers specially for the people who are sick. At first, probably due to language barrier, Pst Nilo helped us to encourage the people to take the step of faith to response.

It was so incredible - there were moments when the 5 of us gathered to pray for the individuals.
3 translations took place! Eg. Teammate SM prayed in Chinese, I translated to English and Pst Nilo translated to Tagalog!

After which we were rewarded with delicious authentic HOME-COOKED food. It was so amazing - the day before we were just talking among ourselves that we wish to have some authentic food before we head back Manila.

It was a great time of fellowship with Pst Nilo and Pastora Venie.
Cant imagine I had one of my “breakthroughs” there - I took a bite of BANANA!!!!!!! For Pst Nilo’s sake! Haha!


Just when we were already SUPER-DUPER full, all with bloated stomach… we were treated with freshly-picked coconut! And mind you, it was not those small coconut you see in Singapore… it was heavy and HUGE, I mean really heavy and HUGE!


We said a big THANK YOU THANK YOU to Pastora Venie and family before we left.

Just within 10minutes, what you can on board the van. Haha!

For this, I need to give myself a pat on the shoulder actually. Haha! Cause for all the rides (long or short) that we had, I have never once fall asleep. Not tired? Of course not I am! Actually throughout I didn't really talked to Pst Nilo much while he drove but just felt at least one of us should keep awake to “accompany” him.


For this - we really salute Pst Nilo!!!!! Definitely more tired than us, he drove us right from the beginning of the day! Throughout all the rides, he had never once rub his eyes or even yawn!


Actually at the beginning of our arrival, Pst Nilo kept telling us “Why you all only stay so little days? Should stay longer then we can bring you all around.”

On one hand, he was afraid that we be tired and on the other hand, he felt so bad that we only “work” during our stay @ Batangas that he almost wanted to cut short or take away 1-2 sessions we supposed to have with his people. We got to assure him many times that we are ok and asked him to go ahead and slot more sessions for us.

But still that on that day, he still managed to slot in a time and brought us to Taal Volcano - an active volcano, one of the tourists’ attractions.

Then it was another long drive back home!

Of course.. 5mins after we boarded the van, all “fainted” but this time I was not alone to accompany Pst Nilo. Teammate JL was awake too!

Pst Nilo drove us back to our apartment for a rest which we felt he needed more than us.

All of us took a nap! Trust me… we were all TIRED, very TIRED!
Jumped up from the nap by a sms from Pst Nilo… can you imagine, the most-tired man was awake before all of us. Haha! He asked us what time we wanted our dinner etc.

A while later, he came with his elder daughter (who wanted to join as she wanted to fellowship with us) to fetch us for dinner @ Jollibee. We thought - that night was our “last dinner” with Pst Nilo so we wanted to bless him but in the end, he blessed us again!

It was a long but very QUALITY fellowship where Pst Nilo really shared his heart out. His heart is really for his people.

Halfway through the sharing, Teammate SM felt prompted to bless Pst Nilo with his watch. Pst Nilo rejected several times, he shared that the reason he shared with us about him still wearing the broken watch (for “image”) was not cause he wanted us to bless him.

The most amazing part - Teammate SM then shared with him that while he was packing his luggage, he felt God telling him to bring two watches. Then he thought to himself “Why? Why bring two watches when Im going for mission, not holiday trip?”. But Teammate SM still obeyed God and came with his two watches. That night Teammate SM knew why.

After much persuading from Teammate SM and us, Pst Nilo finally accepted the watch with great joy and excitement. Best - it was actually the design he wanted when he went to the watch shop. God answered his prayer! He was soooooooooooooooo happy!

Back at our apartment, we prepared for the next day’s main church service. Teammate ML and I did our preparation with Teammate YG and Teammate SM as we will be their translators.

Day ended.

I really thank God for His strength. Actually after the nap, I was down with terrible headache so thought will “struggle” during fellowship especially need to focus to listen to what Pst Nilo said - thank God I pulled through.
Back at the room, I took a short short rest and popped in Taiwan panadol and back to preparation - thank God I still managed to have clarity of mind and pulled through the night.

SOT Mission to Manila - #3A

Sat 16 July

Our packed day started very early!

First up - Prayer walk
We were blessed! This prayer walk only happens once every 3mths.
Inter-faith event. All are welcome.
One purpose: to pray for the 8pillars of Tanauan!


We were impressed by the grandness and the groups of people. Apparently there were different groups of people started and came from north, south, east and west. It was "Wow! Wow!" when everyone met at the junction.

All gathered at a common area and started singing songs and different ones went up to pray. At the end of the day, we may not understand what they sang/prayed but we could felt their unity, God's presence and power.

Next up - 3 Children Outreaches

#1 @ a little "hut"
Teammate ML and Teammate YG conducted games and songs. They had so much fun and laughters.


Very last minute, Teammate SM, Teammate JL and I were sent by Pst Nilo to another hut to share the gospel to a group of parents who were waiting for their children. We were in state of shock but we took up the challenge. Teammate SM preached and I helped with translation. Thank God for His favor, grace and help! We believed a seed planted in the hearts of the parents.


We then joined at the children’s side where Teammate JL did the lesson and I did the closing. Felt prompted to give the children a hug before we leave.


A little heart-breaking actually, cause when we asked for “a hug” - unlike the children in Singapore (at least in my contact), the children looked lost and we got to take the first move. I hope reason cause because they were shy and not they seldom receive hug. We gave them gifts then bid goodbye.

#2 @ a centre-alike
I did game and lesson while Teammate ML led songs. My lesson was different from Teammate JL at the first session but still on the same line of “Jesus loves you”.


Felt very encouraged to see the responses of the children, especially when they raised their hands when I asked “Who wants Jesus to come into your heart?”


Teammate ML rounded up the session with a quiz where we awarded all the children with gifts. We gave the children a hug too before we left. The children here were more "familiar" to hugs.


After which, Pst Nilo brought us to meet the governors/officers of Tanauan who thank us for coming to bless the people of Tanauan. We didn't expect this and were overwhelmed!


#3 @ a house-alike
The session with the youngest group of children.


The moment we reached, a few children actually started crying but thank God it was only for a short while before they came and joined in the activities.


Teammate SM and Teammate YG led the children in a time of fun. We let down our hair and played along with the children too.


Teammate ML led them in songs while I did the lesson. As the children were very young in age so I shorten and simplified the lesson.


At the end, we prayed for the children for God’s peace and joy. As there were parents around, we also prayed for them. It was a fruitful and blessed time at the last session of Children Outreach.


Throughout the 3 Children Outreaches, we have interpreters who helped us to translate to Tagalog. Really thank God for them if not we probably wont be able to get the message across to the children. It was so amazingly - it seem like we did so many things already: Prayer Walk + 3 outreaches but then it was not even noon!

to be continued...