Year-end reflections (Part 3!)

Haha...part 3 and we're only half-way through completing this set of reflections over our past- year gigs...thanks aaron (his name is Aaron really but he calls himself a very gaelic Aargafella - LOTR-esque delusions, perhaps? ;P) for getting the ball rolling.

I think the Boys Brigade gig on the 4th December in Johor Baru was very enjoyable, for one. It was truly fantastic, being given an opportunity to share God's love with the kids. Junyan, for instance, wrapped up our gig there with a quick, yet powerful, message on David's reliance on God's strength in his battle with Goliath. And at the last, he called on the youth to place their trust in Christ and receive a blessing. As I told Junyan later, there was a fair bit of sniffling in the audience too...testament, perhaps, to the touching of their hearts by the Spirit.

Thanks also to Michael Moorthy (Asia President of BB) for the warm, warm reception that we got upon arrival. And for reminding us that national tensions aside, we're all a family in Christ. Hehe.

Thanks to Uma too for helping to organise this gig - the kids were welcoming, and a real blessing to our hearts as well.

And finally, thanks be to the Lord for bringing us there, and for reminding us of the opportunities that abound everywhere for us to be His hands and His feet (and His voice). Glory be to God! - Sim


11 December. The Sunday following our BB gig in JB, we headed across the causeway again—this time to sing at Tina’s home church, Hebron Presbyterian at Skudai (an off-shoot of Holy Light Presbyterian Church). We ran into some delays at the Malaysian customs and for awhile we thought we wouldn’t be able to make it in time to the service. We prayed hard and thank God it got sorted out after awhile and we rushed over to Hebron in two cars, guided by Tina and her brother in another car.

We were given a warm welcome by the church members, including their Chairman Elder Dr. Leong Yim Fong and Tina’s mom, Deacon Irene Oh. The congregation was somewhere over 100 people; with a good mix of the younger folk and the older ones. After a wonderful time of worshipping together, we got on stage and sang 10 songs. Tina did a great job translating our various spiels into Mandarin in between the songs! From where I was onstage, I could see many people singing along to the carols; they were clearly enjoying the early start to the festive season.

We’d been told that the youth were headed to Batu Pahat for their annual retreat immediately after the service. Jam blessed them with a few words of encouragement and we closed our performance with “Now Unto Him”. Then came Elder Dr. Leong’s thoughtful message (complete with Powerpoint presentation) on Proverbs 24:1-22, about how true wisdom and knowledge is found in the Word of God.

After the service we stayed to chat with some of the congregation. One of them, a lady called Mary, came up to thank us for our performance. She shared with us that she has been blessed with the gift of new song, and that while she works at her household chores she prays and spontaneous songs of praise overflow audibly from her lips. She is the living embodiment of the exhortations found in many parts of the Psalms! God Himself puts these words of praise into the mouths of His children, that He may be glorified and that His church may be encouraged and built up. It put a big smile on my face to hear Mary’s sharing and I was thankful to have met her and the other members of the church.

After lunch with our gracious hosts we headed back home. We were very happy with our first overseas road-trip. Praise God for the experience. Thanks are due to Tina for organizing us, and to Elder Dr. Michael Tay, Caleb and everyone at Hebron for the lovely time that we had. I’m looking forward to another trip this year! Malacca, anybody? - Aargafella