ESL Update

Classes at the International Baptist Church (IBC) are in full swing now. I (Betsy) am co-teaching with the same teacher I assisted last year. We alternate teaching the English lesson and the Bible lesson.

It was my honor to teach the Bible lesson last week. We went through the creation account in the first two chapters of Genesis. In my preparation, I read some of Daniel Kikawa's book, Perpetuated in Righteousness. He gives ample evidence that most people groups, very early in their histories, believed in the one true God. They had different names for Him, but the earliest legends include accounts that parallel Genesis quite close. It was wonderful to illustrate to my students that God is not just "my God" or only a foreign god among many gods here in Asia. He is the one true Creator of all the universe. He has truly written "eternity on their hearts" as Don Richardson discovered in Indonesia.

We thank and praise our God for these souls that He has called to IBC. Please be praying for open hearts, the moving of the Spirit, and wisdom for all of us who are teaching.

At School

Thank you for all your prayers for Spiritual Life Week. I haven't heard any final reports, but am looking forward to seeing the work that God will do in our school. Please continue to pray that this week will cause a lasting impact in many lives!

Here are a couple of pictures of me in my classroom.

OK, so the last one wasn't me, I figured you only needed one picture of me!

Bishan Park 2

On the 15th of September our cell group from church got together at one of the parks for a time of food, fellowship, and fun. We had a lot of fun introducing them to disc golf.
Aaron likes throwing discs too!

We also enjoyed the swings and the sand.


It was fun to be able to get together in a relaxing atmosphere. Betsy brought her guitar and we sang some worship songs there in the park. Then we shared a potluck lunch and played some games led by the 10 and 12 year old sons of our leader. It was a very refreshing afternoon!

"County Fair"

Last week a strange thing occurred near our home. Food, game, clothes, and assorted shops all appeared in small stalls lining the street. We're still not exactly sure what they were for (we think it was for the Lantern Festival though), but they were here for a full week. On Thursday evening we went down to explore and have dinner. It reminded us a lot of being at the fair, though the treats that they had to offer weren't the things we were used to seeing! (Bee Hoon, Tapioca Cakes, Roti John)

We were out a little bit late for Aaron, but he enjoyed it.

Especially the chocolate covered bananas!

Spiritual Life Week

This week at school is our Spiritual Life Week (SLW). We have two speakers that have come to talk to the students. I have not heard any reports regarding the elementary and middle school groups, but have enjoyed the two high school messages so far. Craig (the HS speaker) has challenged the students (and staff too!) to look at the condition of our hearts. It is important that God has possession of our hearts and our desires.

Today he talked about our need to look to others. Craig used the example of Onesiphorus from 2 Timothy 1:16-18 and the way he was a support for Paul. He challenged us to be more aware of the needs of others and not to focus on our own selfishness. At the end of his message he gave a call to those students that had not yet asked Christ as their Saviour. From my seat I could see at least four students who raised their hands to accept Him. I'm fairly confident there were others as well. After Craig finished praying with them he led the whole room in a rousing cheer to give an example of the rejoicing that happened in heaven as these kids called out to him for the first time.

There are still three more days, and I know that God still has much work planned. Pray that we will be opened to the words he has for us. Pray that we put these words into action and that the changes would be lasting.

On Wednesday Craig will be talking about Satan's tactics; Thursday he will talk about relationships; and Friday he will focus on our need to give God our best.

After the chapel sessions we break into small groups for discussion. I have a group 9th and 10th grade boys. In that group four of them were able to give me a time and place that they accepted Christ as Saviour. One listed a variety of different religious backgrounds: Shamanistic, Judaism, atheism, etc. Another said his parents were Christians but that he doesn't believe in God. Please pray for these boys that they will all come to a better knowledge of Christ and be able to truly live a life that glorifies him.

Pray that God will continue to work in our lives. And pray for the new members of our Christian family!

Thanks for your continued love and support.

Spades Tournament

Last Friday evening we had a large group of friends over to share dinner and to play some cards. We feel so blessed to have this wonderful big place to have friends over.

Our Friendly Neighborhood Hawker

With Betsy feeling better we have been able to get out and enjoy the local cuisine in our neighborhood a bit more. It makes for a nice quick meal, and also fairly inexpensive (cheaper than cooking American foods at least). Here are a few pictures from our outing today.The locals seemed a little surprised that we could use the chopsticks and didn't need silverware. Aaron likes eating with chopsticks too!




This hawker center is only about a three minute walk from our building (with Aaron walking not being carried).

Some video clips

We have uploaded some new video clips at Google Videos, enjoy them!

Aaron slamming doors dial-up
Aaron slamming doors high-speed
Aaron in balls dial-up
Aaron in balls high-speed
Aaron at zoo dial-up
Aaron at zoo high-speed

Family Day at the Zoo

To celebrate September the first, we took Aaron to the zoo. He really liked looking at all the animals. His favorite creatures were birds. The monkeys were fun too.

Our first zoo encounter was with some monkeys. It took some time to get Aaron to look in the right place. But when he did.....

He is a big helper!

Look Daddy, I see a bear!


The rhinos were enjoying a morning graze.


The lions enjoyed a morning nap!

Look at this Roo!!! Right off the trail.

The highlight of the day was definitely the "Splash" show. Aaron was fascinated with the sea lions! They also had penguins, pelicans, and manatees.

Bullet Bananas

There are moments in life that make me (Betsy) sit back and burst into hysterical laughter. I had one of those times today. However, I must go back a couple of days give you the proper history of this unique event.

A few days ago I took Aaron grocery shopping. There are some great local fruit stands near our house. Their fruit is always so very tasty. I bought several items including bananas. I always hang the fruit on the stroller to make the journey home a bit smoother. When we got home, I took Aaron out of the stroller, forgetting all about the heavy bags of fruit still swinging on the back. Plop, the stroller bucked right onto its heels with fruit nicely squished underneath.

I warned Danny about the possibility of quickly disintegrating, bruised bananas as I hung them on the handle of the cupboard door above the sink. We have been eating the back bananas first as they were at the point of impact.

However, apparently none of the bananas escaped the mauling. Early this evening, I was at the sink working on dinner leftovers. Suddenly, bang!! bang-bang!! Bananas escaped their peals and came crashing down on my head! I jumped and Danny assumed that shots were being fired from the grassy knoll. So now we have 4 extremely bruised bananas resting comfortably in our freezer. There they await their fate of being turned into something yummy: banana bread, banana pancakes, or maybe just brown banana-cicles.