Us taking a break from helping out at a funfair organised for the kids in a village called Vemasse, in Baucau, East Timor.
Monday, September 06, 2004
Memo
Dear Sis. Angeline Ng,
Hey there. Ok, I know you don't know me, maybe you've seen me around (or maybe not), and to be completely honest, I don't really know you either, though I've definitely seen you around. But I wanna thank you for the profound impact you've made in my life.
What's that you did you ask? Well, here's a hint. You did it in 1981. Now, that's just strange. A guy born in 1982 thanking you for something you did in 1981 which had such a great impact on his life 23 years later? Isn't that a little... extreme? Unheard of? Well, that's because it IS, in a world of men and mortals. However, in God's great scheme of things, it falls in pretty neatly, somewhere between the creation of the first man and Adam calling a cow, a cow. Because God's ways are not our ways. And His thoughts? We'd be unicellular amoebae trying to form an idea compared to Him and His wisdom. In fact, Paul puts in so succintly in 1 Corinthians 2:9 - "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."
Still scratching your head? Let's take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? In 1981, VFC (then CCC) sent a church planting team to start a work in the little town of Kota Tinggi in Johor Bahru, West Malaysia. You were part of that team. As a result of your efforts in evangelisation, many came to know the Lord, and a church was established. One of the earliest members of that church was a lady named Pearl. She gave her heart to the Lord, and subsequently, so did her 4 children, who grew up knowing the Lord and learning to serve Him.
So what has that got to do with anything? I'm getting to that in just about 5 lines. As the Lord would have it, Sis. Pearl and her husband decided to send her children to Singapore to study. When they came, they joined and were assimilated into VFC Singapore, region 6 (now F11). And here's how it all falls into place (FINALLY!): If you hadn't been obedient to the call of God and took a step of faith to go to Kota Tinggi, if VFC had not been a missions-sending church, if God had not led you and your team to one Sis. Pearl, she might never have found the Lord and neither would her children. And if they didn't come to know the Lord, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know her daughter, Esther Tan, and today, we wouldn't have been brought together as part of God's great, divine plan.
Before this realisation hit me, I'd always thought of missions as something that affected other people in other countries. True, I believe in missions but I'd never thought it's effects what come back full circle and hit me. But I'm glad it did. Thank you, for being a part of God's plan in bringing Esther and I together. If not for your faithfulness, I'd never even get the chance to meet, let alone fall in love with, such a wonderful girl.
Indeed, if I may say so, missions also played a more direct part in bringing us together. Esther and I went out to East Timor last year as part of a Fever100 team. It was there that I saw firsthand her heart for God and her heart for people, and was I completely impressed by the way she was always so willing to serve God and serve others, even when it cost her something.
So now, I can really say that I believe in missions, more than ever. In missions, you never know whose lives you'll touch, be they out in the missions field immediately, or back home in Singapore, 23 years down the road.
Yours most gratefully,
Elvin Foong
Dear Sis. Angeline Ng,
Hey there. Ok, I know you don't know me, maybe you've seen me around (or maybe not), and to be completely honest, I don't really know you either, though I've definitely seen you around. But I wanna thank you for the profound impact you've made in my life.
What's that you did you ask? Well, here's a hint. You did it in 1981. Now, that's just strange. A guy born in 1982 thanking you for something you did in 1981 which had such a great impact on his life 23 years later? Isn't that a little... extreme? Unheard of? Well, that's because it IS, in a world of men and mortals. However, in God's great scheme of things, it falls in pretty neatly, somewhere between the creation of the first man and Adam calling a cow, a cow. Because God's ways are not our ways. And His thoughts? We'd be unicellular amoebae trying to form an idea compared to Him and His wisdom. In fact, Paul puts in so succintly in 1 Corinthians 2:9 - "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."
Still scratching your head? Let's take a little trip down memory lane, shall we? In 1981, VFC (then CCC) sent a church planting team to start a work in the little town of Kota Tinggi in Johor Bahru, West Malaysia. You were part of that team. As a result of your efforts in evangelisation, many came to know the Lord, and a church was established. One of the earliest members of that church was a lady named Pearl. She gave her heart to the Lord, and subsequently, so did her 4 children, who grew up knowing the Lord and learning to serve Him.
So what has that got to do with anything? I'm getting to that in just about 5 lines. As the Lord would have it, Sis. Pearl and her husband decided to send her children to Singapore to study. When they came, they joined and were assimilated into VFC Singapore, region 6 (now F11). And here's how it all falls into place (FINALLY!): If you hadn't been obedient to the call of God and took a step of faith to go to Kota Tinggi, if VFC had not been a missions-sending church, if God had not led you and your team to one Sis. Pearl, she might never have found the Lord and neither would her children. And if they didn't come to know the Lord, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know her daughter, Esther Tan, and today, we wouldn't have been brought together as part of God's great, divine plan.
Before this realisation hit me, I'd always thought of missions as something that affected other people in other countries. True, I believe in missions but I'd never thought it's effects what come back full circle and hit me. But I'm glad it did. Thank you, for being a part of God's plan in bringing Esther and I together. If not for your faithfulness, I'd never even get the chance to meet, let alone fall in love with, such a wonderful girl.
Indeed, if I may say so, missions also played a more direct part in bringing us together. Esther and I went out to East Timor last year as part of a Fever100 team. It was there that I saw firsthand her heart for God and her heart for people, and was I completely impressed by the way she was always so willing to serve God and serve others, even when it cost her something.
So now, I can really say that I believe in missions, more than ever. In missions, you never know whose lives you'll touch, be they out in the missions field immediately, or back home in Singapore, 23 years down the road.
Yours most gratefully,
Elvin Foong
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