A bug on a Lao Road

A Bug on a Lao Road…

I can remember the first day Cc and I rode our bikes on a Kunming road. Crossing the Kunming intersection was the third scariest day of my life. The second scariest day was when I helped dig out a 4Wdrive that was stuck in a muddy creek. Half-way through the dig I realised that there were crocodiles on the other side of the bank. I obviously lived to tell the story.

Without a doubt the scariest day of my life was my wedding day. It was much better than digging out the 4Wdrive, but on the whole it was scarier! It didn’t help that Cc was 30 mins late. I later found out that she and the bridal party were stuck behind a 10 foot gate. Anyway, the fourth scariest day of my life was the day I drove on a Lao road in Bug.

First I gotta think ‘right hand’ side of the road. Then I gotta think left hand drive steering wheel; and right hand side gear shift. And all this even before I brave the woes of Lao traffic and pot-holed roads.

ARDA has graciously loaned us the VW Bug to use as transport until we get ourselves settled. She is a1960s edition; carefully and splendidly created about the same time as I was. The bug is yellow and sounds like a small tank. As I was passed the keys, my mind flashed back to the time I was a passenger in Bug many years ago.

I was going to footy (aussie rules) with my mate Nick. He was driving. We were only 17. He drove so fast around the corner that the bug titled over on two wheels and somehow he managed to keep it from tipping over. It must have looked like something out of ‘Herbbie Rides’ again. He was turning into a right corner which meant that I was on the same side as the wheels in the air and looking down at the driver!

I snapped out of it and took the keys. I didn’t drive for two days but my buttocks was regularly in the car practising my right hand gear changes. Then one day I went down the street. The main road was jammed up with cars.You can’t avoid the main road between our place and ARDA.

You need to look out for motor bikes going down the wrong side of the road. They often do this…Then there are the cars. They don’t indicate much and are forever pushing their nose out from side streets. It all seems so confusing at the moment. The idea of ‘everyone’ merging at the same time and in the same direction is something I’ve gotta learn. The rule seems to be is the biggest vehicle wins. I’m a bit of a timid sort of a guy so I’ need to look big on the road, I think.

I’ve been driving for more than a week now and the altogether ‘merge’ thing is still the tough one. I’ve only gone down one ‘one way’ street the wrong way. I take the kids to school on my way to work. Shanae calls the Bug her ‘school bus’. I’m the bus Uncle and dad!! Yeah….I didn’t let Cc drive at first. I wanted to get the hang and then help her along.

A couple of days ago she had her first drive. She’s an amazing gal! She drove quite well. The gears crunched in second a bit, but it is a tough change. I think that’s the nature of Bug driving. My sis had a bug and her gears crunched a bit too! Long live the BUG. Please keep our driving and ‘everybody’ elses driving in prayer!!!

Oh…Cc’s just gone out in the bug for the first time by herself!

How do you tell a ripe Jackfruit?

What’s better guarded than the Queen Mother’s jewels and was a ‘passed over’ question on Singapore’s Brainiest Kids?

‘How do you tell a ripe Jackfruit without opening it?’

It is a secret that’s descended with Jackfruit Growers (JFG) worldwide. If you are a JFG descendent, you would know the secret. Alas, the Dierdens in England and Australia never gazed on a JF before they lived in Singapore, let alone grow one. Seth, however, has become a descendent of a JFG. My elevated status comes with our new home. I’m the proud ‘renter’ of two Jackfruit trees and two mango trees. Even though we rent, that still makes me a grower!

When the JF ripens they smell ‘strong’. They also grow large. Sometimes they grow up to 5-10 kg. But smell and size are not the secret factors to understand when JF ripens.

The telling factor of a ripe Jackfruit is this: it falls from the tree and onto the ground! It must be a God thing. The sound is quite loud when JF falls. It goes something like this, ‘boof’ (perhaps much like a small child falling to the ground).

We have a fence round our house so we don’t have to compete with others to pick up ripe JF. Last week our first JF fell to the ground. I heard the ‘boof’ and I ran to the tree. I yelled to Cc and the kids, ‘Jack has dropped his fruit…I’m going to get the uncle’. I was quite excited.

I went next door and got uncle Lian. We played charades (he speaks no English and I speak no Lao) but couldn’t do the Jackfruit falling out of the tree thing…(not very easy lah). He looked totally confused so I motioned to him to come over to my place!!! He came over and his eyes opened wide when he saw Jack’s fruit on the ground.

I gave him the chopper. He cut through the skin and there they were- big, orange pieces of fruit!! We realised later that your hands get real sticky and gooey when you rip out the fruit. All hail to the fruit sellers and uncles down stairs in the koppi shops who do the cutting for us…JF was sweat and had a steady texture. Like we say in Sing land, ‘shiok’.

So there ya have it…How do you know when Jack’s fruit is ripe? It falls to the ground. The secret is out. Tell the world.

Sunday 21st Jan

Yesterday Andrew spent the entire day helping us move into our new home. Andrew was very kind and took us to the Chinese markets to buy kitchen appliances. We managed to get the fridge, washing machine, stove with oven, micro and fans all in one shop. We even manged to barging in Chinese as the owner was Chinese Lao.

After a long day of moving stuff, Cecilia wanted to go back to the guest house for the night and make the ‘bodily’ move Sunday. So that’s what we did. The first thing we did when we got to our new place was have a short devotion on the front steps, almost under our ‘mango’ tree. I read from Psalm 67...

‘May all the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you…Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him’.

‘Let your face, shine on us and the world will know you live, all the heavens shout your praise, beautiful is our God, the universe will sing, Alleluia to you our King…’

I had plans to go to the evening fellowship at ARDA in the evening but in the end I decided against it. By late afternoon I had realised that the kids needed both Cc and me to encourage their emotions, hopes and dreams into our new home.

You see it was the first night Sarah was going to ‘sleeping alone’. At first it just seemed all very exciting. Sarah is now a ‘big girl’ and is moving into her own space. Shanae is also taking a step towards ‘little big girl’with a move into her own bed with ‘gorh gorh’.

We’ve been talking about Shanae having her own big bed since Perth. It dawned on me that our girls are making small moves into bigger life. It’s exciting for them and for us. But when it came down the move, they were both reluctant to step into something bigger.

As the sun retired behind the Mekong, Sarah wanted to retreat from ‘big girl’ status. She said, ‘If only I could wind time back dad, I’d choose to sleep with Seth again’. The reality of sleeping with Seth’s company wasn’t as bothersome as she made out sometimes. She had grown to enjoy Seth space. Seth had grown to enjoy Sarah space.

But their room wasn't just ‘a space’. The walls of their small room had provided a safe, simple space for common life- cupboard space; sleep space; wall space; hundreds of Bible devotions and “Little Ian Stories (stories I retell about my life as a child). They shared hundreds of prayers times and worship songs. Their room had been a refuge from the difficulties of school life and a space to ‘look into your heart’. Their beds had been slept on, cried on, jumped on and rolled on. And for Seth he’d rolled off his bed many times and slept on the floor.

So when Sarah said, ‘Dad I’m scared to sleep alone. Can I sleep with Seth?’ She was afraid that someone from outside would come in through her window. Her request told me that she had also been sharing her fears with Seth. Wow! I hadn’t realised how rich their block 20 #10-310 room had been to them.

We spent time talking about our fears. Sarah was surprised to discover that dad has lived with some sort of fear all his life. I explained that fear is a healthy emotion. Fearing things is part of being human. We spent some time reading about the disciples’ fears in the boat one stormy night. Their knuckles were white and stuck to the sides of the rocking wooden boat. In the end they got so worked up that they screamed at Jesus to ‘get up and save us’. So Jesus did just that. He saved them from their fear, many times.

We had a good chat about what we should do with our fears and how Jesus does not think we’re silly to ask him for help. We prayed and ask Jesus to give her peace as she slept.

It was a precious moment. We’ve not had to address fears much in Singapore- except at exam time for Sarah.

Sat, 20th
‘Dad, all we’re doing is shopping anyway…?’

We shifted into our new house yesterday. Yeah!! Within 5 days of arriving God has given us a place to live, explore, play and sleep; a school for the kids to further their education and find great friendships...

Andrew helped us for most of the day. We used the ARDA truck to cart our stuff. We packed up those carefully carried boxes and our own luggage and drove 10 mins to our new place. We'd arranged for some girls from ARDA's skill Center to help us clean the house. They came shortly after we arrived.

Nang opened the home and we packed our stuff inside the front door. We walked through the house and talked about bits and pieces. I realised that I'd taken the wrong contract. Nang was happy to come back in the evening.

We left our friends cleaning (great to have Christian community support) while we drove down to get some more stuff- washing machine, fridge, etc...Andrew and Karen have explored many places and narrowed them down to a few.

We picked up some electrical plugs and adaptors from one store easily enough. Then we drove into China town to get the bigger things. Andrew had one store in mind that gives the 'best price' up front. They don't want to haggle. Neither do we. We picked out, washing machine, fridge, microwave, fans, and oven with plate burners on top. The price was good.

We discovered that the boss was Lao Chinese and so we haggled a bit in our language, but she didn't budge much. It was 'fun' to see how Chinese was being used in Laos. The other night Cecilia was in a shop Lao less, trying to order food…then she said something to the girl in Chinese and she spoke with a Beijing accent!

I too discovered a Chinese Lao uncle in the stationary shop. He was reading a Chinese news paper in the corner. The counter staff were taking the money over to him and dropping it in a box next to him. I figured he was the retiring boss; the son must have been out of town somewhere!

I said hello in my best Chinese and his eyes lit up. We chit chatted for a while and said good bye. I thought maybe next time he'd invite me to speak at the next over seas Chinese Clan meeting or something!

Anyway, back to the shopping...we got the stuff and the shop guys promised to deliver it at 2pm. We left thanking God. We decided to grab a bite to eat before we went back. Shanae lost the plot completely and screamed and yelled all the way through lunch. Shanae seems to be struggling with the transition. We pray that settling down into our place would help her mood and tantrums.

Seth is always good with a clarifying the issues. 'Dad, we came to Laos to tell people about the J road, but we've not told anybody about this Road yet... all we've done is shop, go to school and find a house'. I said, 'that's a good point mate. But we're finding a house to invite people over for dinner and a play time. Then we can tell them about the J Road. We're going to school to learn and make friends. We can tell them how to find the road too!! 'Oh, ok, now I understand'.

Fri 19th

Today Cecilia set off with Choy Leng on an important and partly joyfull assignment- shopping in Thailand (Udon Thani)! Now most girls Cs's age, when they hear the phrase 'shopping in Thailand', they go...'ooh, so nice' because they are thinking new hand bags; shoes and dresses. My darling wife is not the ordinary garden variety Singapore gal. She goes 'ooh so nice' when there are things to buy for the kids, the house and her darling husband! She is just awesome. But that's another story.

The assignment took all day- 7.30am till 5pm. They came back with a truck load of soap, mops, plastics and other home goodies. I asked Choy Leng how the trip went. She said 'your wife is a good shopper'. I said, but you good too right? Her reply was that of defeated Singapore woman, 'Cecilia beats me'!!!

Ha…ha….that's my Cc!
Cc slept well knowing that Udon Thani was not far away....just across the fence.

Ethical dilemma and God protects our backs...

Tuesday 16th

It was an awesome day...because it became the day we had to face our first ethical dilemma. I can't say much more here. I'll send the story out in our soon to come our 'Stickyfinger Times'.

Wed, 17th

Our first miracle happened today. I rang Nang and she said her parents agreed to our conditions of 350 plus the one year in advance.

Thurs, 18th

The kids are in the second day at school. They had fun on wednesday. Sarah didn't get any homework, she was happy.

God's protection behind us

We ate breakfast- eggs and congee again- and set off for school. The road drains are currently under repair so we walked partly on the road and partly on the side of the road. I noticed Sarah stop a short way outside a gate and observe a mother dog. Her teats were hanging down. It looked as though she recently had pups. The mum looked like a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Sarah started walking up the street again, this time out on the road.

I turned around and kept walking then I heard Sarah screaming and a dog growling. One dog came out of the house and attempted to savage Sarah from behind but it stopped short. It stopped a few cm from the back of Sarah’s legs. It was snapping and snarling. At this stage Sarah screamed over passing trucks! I ran back a few paces and grabbed her then stood between her and the dog. The own of the house came out and stood in the open gate. I yelled at him to keep his gate closed. I could now see that he had 4 dogs. He motioned something to me but I didn't understand. He may have been asking as if Sarah was ok. I didn’t know. But that calmed me down. I motioned and asked him to 'please close the gate'.

I was recently reminded that we 'must not show anger because Lao people are easily offended with anger, particularly if it is directed at them'. The thought of Sarah being bitten, the fear of rabies already in our family conversations, was all a bit much for me. I got angry. I think this is appropriate anger.

What I do know is that God protects our backs. I believe an angel was there defending the dog off Sarah. Without the protection of God we will always get bitten. I'm not flippant about our need to stay alert. We learnt some physical and spiritual from this incident.

I was reminded that God has angels guarding our backs! We need not be overwhelmed with fear, we must keep walking on the streets. Our second lesson is alertness. We shouldn't stop at gates when there are dogs. Although Sarah didn't provoke the dog, and she was well outside the gate, a house with dogs is to be avoided completely if possible. The dog seemed to be 'protecting' its gate. Thirdly, if a dog attacks again, Sarah knows now to use her school bag as a shield against a dog attack and not to run blindly down the street screaming.

Thank God our backs are SAFE.

It’s been difficult to talk to Seth dogs. He has a fear of dogs with rabies. Every dog he sees now he asks if they have rabies. Do keep my little mate in prayer.

The first day...

mon 15th Jan

I woke up around 8am. The first thing Seth said was ‘Dad, I woke up at 7.10’. We rolled out of bed and down the steps before the eggs and ‘congee’ (an Americanism for Jiok’) were turned off. No coffee just the 3 in 1! Yuks...they had real stuff just 2 years ago. Don’t complain Ian….
Cc wanted to check out the school so we walked down. The main road drains were being relayed both sides. It was a mess. It was dusty and dangerous to navigate. Apparently the Japanese gov financed the job. They hired Chinese and Cambodian workers. I was told that 'Lao workers are too lazy to do such a job'. Sounds a little unfair to say that. I see many Laotian people work quite hard. I don’t know why people say that…perhaps I’ll learn more.
We found our way down and met Jackie the school principal. She is an amazing lady. She took us through the school and we briefly met our kid’s teachers. Seth's teacher is a Filipino lady who's here with her husband. Her son is Seth's age and his name is 'CJ'. He put his arm around Seth and said, 'come on Seth, I’ll show you around your new class' and off they went. Seth said 'ok'.
Sarah's teacher’s name is Miss Katherine. She's an Aussie from Melbourne. I'd say she'd be in her early 50s. I spoke to her on my last trip. She is here to teach but seems like she’s also on a personal journey. That’s my impression. She loves to teach but is looking for a job that gives her personal satisfaction. The money the school pays her is around 1k U.S. per month. She said this meets her needs in Laos.
Katherine explained that her class will be focusing on science this semester and told Sarah ‘it should be a lot of fun’. She said the right words- ‘fun’. Fun keeps Sarah going around. Some of the girls in the class kept smiling at Sarah...many of the kids looked like they were all from 'bi-cultural' marriages. Hee…best marriages on planet earth, when they working well. That’s my opinion but then I’ve only been married once!!! And that’s the plan!
Shanae was the last to see her class...She was bursting to see her teacher. She talked about her bag, her lunch box and school uniform...her teach is an Indian lady. We didn't have to say much to encourage Shanae. She just said 'ok..ok..'.and shook her head violently.
We went up to Jackie's room and Shanae lost it....she wanted this and that. Nothing seemed to please her. But each time she wanted something Jackie would stop the conversation and see if she could help us. At no time were the kids overlooked. Jackie interacted with all of us over the entire time in a personal and yet understanding way.
Jackie shared with us about her struggles to fit into Laos when she first arrived. Things got better over time as friendships grew in the community. Her husband is a Chinese Lao. He speaks Mandarin. They own several businesses around town. One of which is a printing shop! My ears pricked up, so does Ccs dad! By the sounds of what they print, they are about 30 years behind in technology.
We chatted a bit more and left feeling that God had gone before us in many ways. I could see how Cc could get on like a house on fire with Jackie. Cc's candid humor and 'mum knowledge' is infectious.
We rocked up to ARDA and meet some newbie teachers. We ate lunch at the local Lao restaurant- it was slightly up market cause they had guys on semi acoustic guitars playing and picking in the background. My thoughts were to invite myself to join their team and learn something from them. Mmm...maybe later.
We left the place and set off to bank our money draft. One of the ladies we ate with ran down to the car and handed me my 'video cam'. OOpps...i'd left it on the chair in the restaurant! My guardian angel was 'Lao'. He passed it on to her as we walked out the door. Thanks Lord for covering our mistakes and blunders.
By the time we arrived at the "Malaysian Public BAnk' Shanae was asleep in my arms. Cecilia filled out the forms and deposited the American Drafts. Apparently, it will take up to 45 days to get the money back into our new account. The draft physically travels to Bangkok and is then sent onto NY...cleared and then sent back to Bgk and Laos. What we should have done to open an account was TT the money from Sing to Laos. We were told that after….hee.
We came back to base and Karen took us house hunting. We looked at 4 houses. Two were scheduled, two were not. Most of the homes were subdivided blocks. The Lao people live at the back or front and rent the other part. Land is getting scarce in the city and pushing up prices and making rentals more competitive.
We knew from the outset that securing a house was to be our 'greatest' challenge. Some of our boxes were/are piled up in a corner of ARDA and across two rooms in our guest house. We’re getting very tired of living out of suitcases. I’m teaching next week. Karen our house hunter buddy is busy next week...so off we went full of hope and 'unrealistic' expectations that we'd find something. And we did!!!
All the places we saw were all fine and we could live in any of them. But the one we stumbled across stood out because it had space for the kids inside the front yard and space under shelter. It also had 4 large bedrooms. These were the major differences between the other homes.
The young lady who walked us through the home was Nang. It was her father’s home. She won an Austudy scholarship and spent two years in Melbourne studying communications. Nang returned to Laos and now works for the Ministry of Health. Her current project is assisting with the Avian Flu Research.
Her parents were asking 500 US dollars per month. This was beyond our budget. We looked through the home and felt it was over priced. I asked if they could come down. I explained we had a budget of 350 US. She asked me if we can move up to 400. I said I need to speak to my wife. We made arrangements to meet the next day.
Cecilia was very happy with the place. She had a good feel and could see the potential in the place. She could see Lao kids coming over playing out the back...a garden flourishing and everyone enjoying the space and the home.
We retired for the night, grateful and tired.

what a send off!

Thanks so much to all who came to send us off!! Those who sent cards, letters and calls...We really felt loved. Thanks friends. The kids were really glad you came too. They said, 'why did so many people come to the airport?' You made a difference. I must admit inside I felt like not going...did you see me drop my passports and stuff as we walked passed the police? That was my nerves...I was going trying to get my camera out too...in the end I thought we just take a picture in our minds. I got you all doing the 'Kallang' wave on my video. If anybody has pics of the send off we'd love to have a copy!

Quick update!

No pictures yet. Will do so soon once we get a little more organised. At the moment we are still staying at the guest house, and sad to say that their breakfast menu has not improved much since 2 years ago. Sigh!! Well, at least they are consistent!!

We have found our "home". In fact, we went house hunting on Monday and this was the 4th house we saw. I fell for it at first sight. It has 4 big rooms, a huge lounge area, dinning area and a 'quirky" kitchen. Plenty of outdoor area for play and even a mango tree right outside the front of the house. Yummy!!! Each room has an ensuite with a huge bathtub. Sarah most probably think she has died and gone to heaven. She has always wanted her own bathroom and I think God has given it to her to cushion off her settling down period. But then I did have to burst the bubble a bit though. I told Sarah & Seth that since they now have their own bathroom, they also have the responsibility of cleaning it themselves if they want to enjoy this very special privilege. There's always a catch!!

There are 3 bedrooms in the house itself, and the 4th room is actually on the side of the house. Just perfect for guest who might want some privacy. Seth had even prayed for a fence and a gate for the house and guess what?? It's well fenced up and has not 1 but 2 gates. We even have a security guard living in the front house. He has been paid by the owner to look after the other house just at the front of our property (same owner) which is also up for rent. This place is only about a 15 minutes walk from the kid's school and ARDA (where we are teaching). HE always provides just what we need at the right time and once again HE has shown His faithfulness. The rental is also exactly what we had prayed about and although the owner had asked for US$500, we were able to negoiate it down to US$350. Praise God. Indeed it is His favour once again. The owners seems like very nice and accomodating people and we look forward to building a relationship with them in the near future.

Of cos' little Shanae has charmed her way into the heart of the owner's wife already. Kids are all in school (as of wednesday). VERDICT???? They all love it very much. Sarah is preparing for a school camp in a few weeks time and is really excited about it. Her 1st camp. And to think that when she left Aust and S'pore, she felt rather sad that she will be missing out on all the camps kids her age normally get to attend. God is good??? YES! All the time!!!! We can see the negativeness in her towards this place slowly melting away. She already has a handful of friends in her class she gets along well with. Seth is still his "cool" take it easy self. Think he has found 1 or 2 boys he is happy with and still checking out the type of ball games the boys play over here. Shanae is adjusting really well in school. Went to pick her up yesterday and she was quite reluctant to leave. Can't believe that my baby is at school now. But it is so lovely to see her interacting with other children her age, and just enjoying herself so much. We have already seen less tantrums in just the last 2 days since she started school. Keep praying people with us and for us. Our concern is the health of the family. It is extremely dusty here and Sarah's eyes are reacting quite a bit to it. Please pray for her.

Well got to go for lunch now. Will update again soon.

Grass pitches who needs em... We got LOVE

(unfriendly powerpiffed gals...) (with me mate...we both foreign talent )



friendly powerpiffed girls...

(Seth unknowingly holding testimonial boy up straight)

On Sat the 6th of Jan Chris Yong and Daniel (one of our 'soccer dads') organised a 'testimonial’ soccer match for yours truly. You know, like for one of those 'famous retiring soccer' guys. I think they did it for Madonna (bet you didn’t know she played) they will do it for Mr Hairstyle himself Beckham (did you know Man U signed him @ 8 years old?

Anyway…that’s the trivia part.
I think the word got out from Sri lanka that I had a huge kick out from the goal line. It is true (ha, ha). But it was just a remnant from my 'Aussie Rule footy kick' days. Yes, yes, when Singapore Police wore shorts...and there were no 711s on Sentosa!

My soccer career began when I came to Singapore in 2001. Geylang United wouldn’t pay me enough money so I never signed on. Since then I’ve had the ‘privilege’ in Singapore to played on a couple of ‘grass’ pitches and on the void deck with Seth and a few Malay boys. So the mystery of my ‘talent’ will remain in Sri lanka and the corridors of gossip.

As will the day I taught 12 Singaporeans how to play cricket in 5 mins before we walked out into the middle of a cricket pitch only to get whacked around by 9 Sri lankan lady teachers! Anyway…

Mr Christ Yong was as busy as a 'Man U' water boy on a hot day as he tried to secure a grass pitch. Unfortunately the grass pitch fell threw. We settled for a street soccer pitch at Chris' condo. It was in good shape and half the size- that made me a little happier cause the full pitch running would be demanding on my 'bigger and better' shape, err...but then I was intending only to be goalie!!!

archie books, scrabble and soccer

See Ainsley's big right foot...

Uncle Daniel helped us get the game going and brought down some drinks.Sue-Anne and Vicky's powerpiffed cheer team came armed with ARchie Comics, rattlers, good humor and scrabble. My Sarah (Pastor Vincent's Sarah was also there) got into the ARchie and was particular loud and happy when Vicky and Shin-Yee came.
Seth was a bit sullen that day. He'd just come back from Cricket country. Vikram was the only other who knew how to play the game. ...but in the end we couldn't find a tennis ball to hit around...sigh.
Dan the man (one of the 12), was later found happily playing scrabble with the soccer groupies on the sidelines. Shao Wei was also on the sidelines snapping madly with his ‘tele' lens while trying to avoid misdirected balls (with his tele lens he can capture unwanted nose hair and teeth scrap). Aunty Juliet, Chris' mum, was her ever helpful self serving drinks.
The games were 10 mins long with the winner staying on. We had lots of fun. There was some real talent; some pretended talent (me) and some signs of 'historical' talent long ago (Adrian has great legs).
In true Christian game spirit, nobody got sent off with a red card. Sheng Wei had the marks of a big sliding tackle on his legs but it was 'all part of God's plan'. I missed a spectacular header against Shannon the goal keeper...you 'SHOULD OF SEEN IT’ it would have been the talk of the match had I pulled it off...shucks!!

Penalties

One game came down to a kick off between myself and Pastor Josh. I later heard that Jimmy saw Pastor Joshua eyeing the left corner...it was a 'dummy' look and PJ poked it into the opposite corner. He did it twice.

I managed to get one through Maverick the Man but the second one I skied it over the goal. Being a 'good' sport pastor josh let my team play back to back games...errr. Like we weren't fit enough for that so we got whacked 5 luv from some impressive English play.

The powerpiff girls came on later in the afternoon and Noella should have got sister of the match. At one point Sue Anne was the goalie and wanted the 'shady' side. I muscled in with my 'testimonial' power and she played on the sunny side. I used the excuse that SEth would be the goalie the other end- in fact we shared the posts!

'At the end of the day' ( i just hate this phrase, can't believe i'm using it- don't ever use this!!!), who needs grass pitches!. And as for the school just down from our Church, they can go for funny runs around their 'hallowed be thy Name" fields for all I care. From hence forth they shall never be allowed to waste so much of Chris' time. We had loads of fun simply because we came together to play the 'beautiful game'.

And the game didn’t end there….

Later that night, waiting in Singapore Poly were tables of delicious food carefully laid out to be ‘devoured’. Uncle Dan and others generously treated all the soccer players to a luscious meal. Five youthful and hungry tables (50 people) munched their way through King size plates of pork chops, bbq chicken, prawns and a little bit of salad.

With a little help from my magic wand, I was hoping to turn the muchers into prayers and troopers for the next Laos expedition. The spell didn’t work but I did get a chance to share with them some things about Laos and our coming trip.

To my surprise they gave me a trophy!!! Not because now they have a friend in Laos, but because I have the biggest kick out in the youth ministry (with perhaps the exception of Maverick). Back in the church I showed it to Pastor Rennis. He laughed said he could see it as ‘a trophy for kicking youth back into fellowship with God…well done’. Wow…that’s neat!

By the end of the soccer day and night Seth and Sarah were stir crazy…affected by the day’s sun, the Archie books, red cordial and our nomadic lifestyle...I couldn’t control them. We pushed an undisclosed number of youth and kids into the Church van and drove slowly back to Dover Road club rooms. I carefully hung my boots up and went to bed a satisfied, contented youth pastor.

Thank you for the great day Chris, Daniel and all who took part in small or bigger ways. It is locked into our memory banks and photo albums.

Bigger

The next day…Sunday 7th of Jan.

Cecilia and I were told briefly about a fare well for our family after service on Sunday. In our hearts this was the long awaited ‘cya later mates’.

Several times during my hols in Perth I tried to write something out for this occasion.

‘Dear Heartbeaters, love you lots. Signed, The DierdenTribe...Naaaaaaaaaaaaaa'

'Dearest Heartbeat, ‘Never before, in the theater of War has so many, given so much, to so few….naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'

It was no good….I couldn’t write it out. So much stuff to come out of our hearts….

I went down to Jumbo at 5.30 and penned some thoughts. I ended up arguing why I should go to Laos and not stay in Singapore…That wasn’t what I wanted to say to them!

In the end I bit my lip, rocked up to pre-service prayer and just started praying with Joshua, Yang, Vic, Wei Liang and Renita…I began to feel over-whelmed. Renita prayed and reminded me that love created in God’s family endures time and space.

During the prayer time I had a word for P. Joshua, “complete”. I shared this with him and then went up to get ready my ‘video’. I had anticipated some leaders would ‘saboh’ me…Shucks! In the end the youth were their usual kind-hearted selves. So in the end it was me who saboh H.Yang, Johnson, Dan, and June.

Pris and Andrea passed us cards of encouragement and thanks…we’ve always found the youth encouraging and willing to express their thankfulness in different ways. By the end of the farewell we were just overwhelmed to see how grateful our SJSM youth were. I realised that the word ‘complete’ wasn’t for Pastor Joshua. It was for our family. By God’s grace we completed something He called us to do on earth!

Deep Joy

Service and Farewell

The worship time was awesome! Sue Anne and the team put together songs that built into P.Josh’s message and into our leaving…It was a memorable time of worship for me- reminiscent of my first time worshiping in Hbeat with Daniel Lin as worship leader.

The second last song left me on my knees…but not for long. I had to stand because the next song challenged me to take faith in Jesus to the nations. We can’t stay on our knees for long. We must get up and walk out of the building with that worship for the next person.

Vicky did a fantastic job with announcements. She made it look easy. The ushers were very friendly and warm. The AVA; PA guys were slick as!

Every single one of your testimonies, including...the fun games, the sincere words, the letters, the video, the cards, the songs and the dances…all have been registered deep in our hearts.

Let’s take Jesus to the nations. Some of you will go. Some of you will stay, send, encourage and provide. But all of us must give to those who’ve not heard.

This Psalm was prayed over our lives before we went back to Oz.

‘May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine upon us,
that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.

May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.
may the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.

Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him. (ps. 67)’

Cecilia and I have learnt (we know Ailing says a Big Amen here too) that with all the tough times, dips, failures and challenges one must face up to when doing youth ministry; the rewards more than compensate the sacrifice on our part.

Leadership

Reflecting with one of the Core Team this week, for many months, and perhaps years, we didn’t connect at a very deep level. But then when stuff was stripped away, and we risked being real to each other, there was trust and friendship. More than that, we became Disciples of Christ, brothers and sisters sharing the same Father through Jesus Christ.

I believe happened also in the wider leadership of Heartbeat and SJSM. At a certain point in our time in SJSM, commitment levels broke through and we could teach each other; trust each other; rely on each other. With many SJSM leaders, we could go deep and experience the ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ relationship that Christ promised to all who followed Him.

Great is our REWARD

Heartbeat...Great is our REWARD
Great has been our reward over these past 5.75 years.
We can say with the Psalmist (115:1)

‘Not us, Oh God, not us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness’

Heartbeat, you have rewarded us when you said, ‘please forgive me’ and then you tried to live differently- like the time you stopped giving attitude and showed us grace and kindness; sent us ‘smses’; emails and shook our hand a little longer.

You rewarded us when you stopped declining our invitation to share a God story…when you said ‘yes’ and got up full of confidence in God and spoke about your struggles and successes to your peers and testified that God was ‘in it all’!

You rewarded us when you brought your friends to Heartbeat service or an outing and spoke about your faith to your friends and family members… To prayer with you for your family members and friends has been our reward. To see you run in with the fantastic news that ‘they’ve accepted Christ’...was our reward. Our hearts rejoiced when we saw you rejoicing with thousands of heavenly angels.

You rewarded us when you spent big with your Ang Bao money and savings on tithing and God stuff. To see you take great care and energy to speak, dance and sing about your faith in other countries, this has been our reward.

Our reward has been a chance to talk about study, relationships, school, family and careers…We were rewarded when we could strip back the pressures and expectations of life and go heart to heart, that was our reward.

Seeing and hearing a bit of God’s big dream for your relationship with Him has been our reward. To see your face when you discover how all of your life is weaved into all of His life and plans…the chance to affirm God’s love is ‘4’ YOU and affirm the ‘impossible’ things He wants to do through your life, wherever He calls you, this has been our reward.

To teach His word Sunday after Sunday has been our reward. The ‘fact’ that you remembered the ‘good’ ones and forgot the ‘bad’ ones…has been my reward. Pastor Dan told me ‘youth are good to preach to because they are gracious with the ‘bad’ ones and respond to the ‘good’ ones’. It is true. To hear you worship and to see you pray Sunday after Sunday, even after tough and testing times at school and home, this has been our reward.

Our reward has been the chance to talk to you about family relationships, friendships and BGR. To talk and think about these vital topics Biblically has brought us great reward. It also gave Cecilia and I a chance to ponder over our teen years and discover where we could have made better choices in our relationships.

To walk with some of you through broken relationships; wrong decisions; the passing of loved ones, the illness or suicide of your best friend…these experiences are our rewards because we’ve seen many of you discover God’s greater love, God’s holding love. But through these dark, and at times, signless paths, some of your discovered a more pure love for each other and a deeper appreciation for life and its fragility.

Sometimes your relationships have been flourishing with God and each other…and other times they’ve been a big mess. There were days when your family was collapsing around you and you became the Rock for them- the one who carried on the hope for the weaker ones…To see that has been our reward.

‘Not us, Oh God, not us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness’ (Ps 115:1)

We thank God for you and for the meaningful life He has given us serving Him and you in this bustling Asian Metropolis. Our leaving prayer for you was ‘God please bring the people with the right gifting, grace and leadership ability to take Hbeat further and deeper to know you and make you known’.

God has shown His love and faithfulness again. Pastor Joshua, Diana and the Core Team, together with the wider leadership in Heartbeat and SJSM, are God’s appointed servants over you for the next season of your lives. We can see that the gifting is right, the wisdom and love are abundant and fresh.

Enthused
Dierdentribe
Jan ‘07

Great is our REWARD

Forgot to mention that the previous blog "Short Reflection" was written by yours truly Cecilia. Hee!

Short reflection!

Finally able to sit down to pen down some thoughts. Nothing too deep and mind blowing , would hurt my brain too much at this point in time, but still it is worth writing it down. Been busy just living life here in WA and observing alot about the way people are living their lives here, how much things have changed, the level of morality here and how we seem to be bombarded with things, things and more things here.

The recent economic boom here in WA has seen the increase in job opportunity, wage rise and also a ridiculous inflation in the property market. It quite scary watching all this as you can almost certainly smell diaster in the air when the bubble burst and the dust settles. Many people here seems not to think twice about spending above and beyond their capabilities.

And walking into the many shops and seeing all the "things" on sale. It is extremely tempting to just spend and buy everything that is shoved into your face. A lot of self control is definitely needed to not covert. This is not only so in the shops , but also when we visit others in their home.

As I thought more about this, I feel that when we settle in Laos and set up our home, we really need to consciously not have so many "luxury" in our house. Only what is basic and needed so that we don't stumble others. The Lord also spoke to me about where my heart was. Being back in this lovely country again, it is always hard not to think about how wonderful it would be to return here to live again. But His words were loud and clear, " Anyone who begins to plow a field but keeps looking back is of no use in the kingdom of God". (Luke 9:62) So I guess that is that then. Hee! No looking back just what is ahead! Very exciting indeed!

Swooping Kookaburras...shrimps on the barbie and Sarah's first toastie marshmallow

6 lamb chops, 10 sausages...and 7 shrimp on the Barrrrrrrrrrrrrrbie...on the 9th day of Dec my true love said to me....'

Last week we headed off to the bush for short bush walk with the youth from our church...it was very neat. The flies were friendly, the BBQ was hot and the Kookaburra was swooping very low...

This is Sarah's first barbie marshmallow...Oh, the Kookaburra kept swooping onto our food! He actually snatched a sausage out of piece of bread. Not once, not twice but three time!! At one time i was trying to swot him like a fly!!! The Kooka song won't ever be the same for me...'Kooka sits on the old gum tree...merry merry king of the bush is he...' That's simply not true. Sometimes they swoop like starving vultures and snatch sausages...get that into a sweet song!!

Shame and Name....

Shamed of my brother Wayne...he's not choking! Supposed to be chewing actually...

Passing secrets onto the NEXT GENERATION Ps.78:3-4

My mum, sisters and sisters- in-laws organised a big day bake up (my two other sisters aren't in this pic.) There is Juleane on the left and Jude my sister-in-law, married to my brother Wayne, in the middle. The girls wanted to learn from mum just how does she make the 'best fruit mince pie, short bread and fruit cake in Australia land? Hence the need for a baking lesson with all the secrets revealed, documented and tasted. It tookem most of the day and they had a big lunch in the middle. There was lots of talking and laughing. They had a blast. Call it discipling at its best taste! I think there's more Nanna Bakes planned for next year...around EAster.

This year as you gather with your traditions and Christmas flavors, do remember to ‘tell the next generation the pariseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders He has done…’ Ps 78:3-4 And this includes the wonderful flavors and tastes of life, unique to every ethnic group on the map!!!

Some things we've been eating lately...I caught the fish. No, they're not sword fish! But they are relatives of the 'Marlin' family, which is a huge fish. But these are called 'gardie'. Nice white meat, sweat and soft. My favorite way is to batter with flour and French Onion Soup mix, then lightly pan fry it with some Virgin Olive Oil. It's done when it is a nice light brown...I ate these so can't show you the yummy product...

1st week back in Perth!

It's been 7 days since I've been back in Perth and so far I have been down with a chesty cough, running nose, survived a very wonderful and enjoyable family retreat and also a whack on my face. Let's talk about the family retreat first. There was 23 of us in all, ranging from 74 to 6 mths old. The kids far outnumbered the adults. There was lots of food, fun and more fun with swimming, beach, bowling, playground, bbq, video games, etc. All the adults are completely exhausted now and the kids are so wind up that it will most probably take another 3 days for them to settle down to a normal routine again.

Now how did I get that whack in the face?? Very interesting! Ian and I were playing with the kids at the playground. We were having a race to see who could complete the obstacle course first, which included swinging on the flying fox, climbing up the steps and sliding down. this was where moi had a miscalculation. There was this pole across the slide for the kids to hang on to before they slide down. Well, I saw it, grabbed it and in my hurry to slide down, forgot to lower my head. So with full force I swung both arms to push myself down the slide and instead of a smooth ride down, my face went smacked into the pole. My glasses smacked onto my nose. I did not know what hit me but did finish my race though. It was only about 10 minutes later that I realised the damage done. I had a huge bump on my nose and boy did it hurt. Well, it did not look as bad as it felt. I said to Ian that at least I did not have to go for plastic surgery to get a nose ridge now. The bump made my nose looked higher than it normally is. Hee! Must always look at the funny side of things.

Got to go now. Kids just come home from fishing trip with Ian. Will put some photos next blog.

Kensingtom Primary School

and it says 'around the world'...wow! I felt God affirming Kensi kids 'go around the world'!!

A day in the life of our school FETE Oct 06

My sis Pauline with her son Riley outside Mr Mar's room

the motto is 'play the game'. Very aussie...not like 'the best is yet to be'...oops, you just play the game.

kensington school in 1926...only a school, no houses to be seen!!!

the aussie sausage lightly bbq with medium done onions topped with tomato sauce on a long bun...eat from end to end.

the bundles of people and the big slide...all fitting in nicely

there i am! And there is millan...the guy who punched me in the guts that 'one fine day'.

my younger sis Pauline with her daughter Ashley (12yrs). On the other side of Pauli is her best buddy Lisa and her daughter Kimberly. My sis was married at 19 and Lisa was married at 17. Don't they all look just like models!!!

a packet of twistees if you can pickout my sister...email me

the lunch time shed....we'd have 20mins to gobble down the sardine sandwiches before we hit the monkey bars for 4o!

A day at My Primary School FETE

Outside Mrs Delica's classroom with my sister Pauline and her son Riley.

A day at My Primary School FETE

I was one of the first wandering around at my primary school (Kensington Primary) grounds on its 80th year Bday bash! Good ‘kiasuism’ I'd say…They called it a ‘Birthday FETE’.

Fête is a French word meaning festival or holiday, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events. It is widely used in England in the context of "a village fête". Fêtes are usually outdoor shows with a variety of activities, and are organised by an ad-hoc committee of volunteers. There weren’t too many adhoc volunteers on this FETE.

It seemed as though my entire school was occupied by something to eat, do or see! The grounds and atmosphere were a cross between a carnival, a National DAy Parade and a puasa-mulum
(? How to spell)

The pickles and the jams were in abundance and nicely tucked under one roof; the fairy floss was spinning over time; the ice-cream tap was hot…there were medics walking around slopping on sunscreen on the fairer complexion people. Hotdogs with onions was the lunch of the day.

The sport ovals were full of fun. There was a space simulator, a bouncy castle and a HUGE SLIDE>>>>that would have made Tom Cruse think the aliens have slid down to earth. To my surprise, Sarah enjoyed the junior Ferris wheel the most.

There were spunky dance performances happening in the amphitheatre for the young and koppi C with real Aussie carrot cake for those on the quality side of 40. I heard that the committee for this fete had been working on this project for the entire year. It had the ogranisation and precision that would make Singapore’s NDP committee proud! <BR>

While this was all good stuff, my favorite space was the picture room. The class room was decked out with pictures of students dating back to 1926! For anyone not in the know, my year was 1970-76. (You know, there was saturday's dose of Molly Meldrum on Count Down and bands like, 'Duran Duran', 'Bay City Rollers' {they had awesome socks} KIZZ and MeatLoaf '. They were all hard at it. Sting was leading the Police andI never did find out who "Roxanne" was ?). Anyway, what matters is that I found all the Dierden family in various poses and my classmates. My eyes also ran over the guys I had biffs with and there was a quick glance over some old heart throbs- shucks.

I was hovering around this room for ages. I was hoping I'd see familiar faces. But then I realised that I probably didn’t look the same as I did in 70 and neither did they- sigh. So I started to do some mental ‘make overs’. I ignored the big bellies and double chins. Then I’d ignored the balding, the hair colour and the kids. I found that the nose and the eyes were most helpful to identify people. But as the nose is the only part of your body which keeps growing all your life, I just honed in on the eyes.

I did manage to spot a few more friends by doing my mental make over. But sadly, I didn’t meet anybody from my class! My hope was to meet at least one. Unless my new technique was failing me badly, I suppose I’m the only nostalgic one still living around Kensington.

By 4pm the sun was sinking and I could feel the sting of sunburn coming out on my arms. Sarah was also tired. She told me its ok, she just needed more sugar. We decided to call it a day and walk home. I promised her we’d go home and play marbles like I did in the old days. I walked my ‘usual’ route. It was a thrill to walk hand in hand with Sarah and laugh about what I did and didn’t do. We passed Rod Walker’s home and the Dickerson brother’s place.

I remembered the spot where I had my first fight with Milan. His younger brother Nick threw a stone at my younger brother Wayne. The pride kicked in and we put down our bags and put up our doogs.

We threw wild punches from a distance so we’d look tough but wouldn't hurt each other. It was like a good Honkie movie. But then Milan let one fly into my guts and the abs folded (My six pack developed much later). I dropped to my knees and he jumped with joy at the thought of the victory. It was the talk of my class the next day…sigh. I told the story to Sarah. She told me off for fighting!

All in all Father and daughter had a super day. Sarah was particularly happy with her new teddy bear (Caroline) that she had brought for 50c at the fete. Although I didn’t see any of my class mates, I still had a blast from the past.

I consoled myself that I still have some time to track down one or two buddies before I leave Oz again. I think I’ll start with ‘GG’ (Greg Galvin) and then see if I can find ‘Drum’ (Ian Drummond-Hay)

Thank-you Lord for friends, past, present and future…

Why GOD Gave Us FriendsGOD knew that everyone needsCompanionship and cheer,He knew that people need someoneWhose thoughts are always near.He knew they need someone kindTo lend a helping hand.Someone to gladly take the timeTo care and understand.GOD knew that we all need someoneTo share each happy day,To be a source of courageWhen troubles come our way.Someone to be true to us,&nbsp; Whether near or far apart.Someone whose love we'll alwaysHold and treasure in our hearts.That's Why GOD Gave Us Friends! (Anon)


Ian