I created this with the fridge magnets that was left unused with the selection of words that I had left - It is SLʼs, and yes! I myself am very amused by these fridge magnets that I think I would love to get them too, when I am back. SL herself is quite a wordsmith, so I thought I made an attempt on poetry, on the people I spend so much time with, and the very reason that brought me here to spend time with them - Children and what I thought of them :) (probably inspired by my own childhood, because I love to play house, fall down ever so often and have this purple/yellow solution applied on the scabs off my elbows and knees, ask the strangest questions of whys and whens and if I could company my sis every time she goes out!)

These very special beings is as to what Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God”. (Luke 18:16). I thought I should spend this update focusing on them and how special they are, and as if it wasnʼt enough, I was reading “The Shack” and one of the side quotes was italicized - “The soul is being healed by being with children”.

Children here at times take a different concept as to what I am often used to, contrary to what I thought how they should be protected, treated and loved. At times, because of the sheer number of children that the parents have, who are often too busy or overwhelmed by life in itself, tend to leave their children on their own. This will include that the children themselves will have to take note when are the days for kids club, or the teachers (ourselves) will have to go reminding the kids to go for their showers and then head to the library for kids club. Yes, this will mean that the kids shower and dress themselves with the aid of probably their older siblings at most.

Back at home, I tend to hear the many stories of how our parents goes on nagging if we have done our homework, showered, eaten, how was school, what did we do or eat the entire day, and it suddenly dawned on me that that nagging itself is love and how we tend to complain about how our parents should be giving us a break eh? Bless our parents who does such a great job :)

With so much time spent watching and being with children, it is hard to not fall deeper in love with them and how they have the beauty of going past and through your defenses, without you even realizing it and soon enough, you canʼt help but love them more than enough, regardless of how naughty they are, how they often end up smacking or beating each other, but still love them ever the same and I was strucked by this particular thought one day - “can you ever imagine how much more our Father in Heaven loves us all?”

A kid whom I deemed as “the bully” has somewhat won my heart, called Akoli and he is on the naughtier side. I havenʼt yet found anyone who has refuted my theory, that the naughtier kids are often the smarter kids around, that the teachers will have to discover the one thing they are good at if they may not be that academically inclined, iʼm sure they are gifted at some other areas!

It is magical when small moments like these happen, without you realizing, how he came up to me while we were walking to the library and how he placed his hands unto mine, and loves to ask “what is my name” in English and what is it that I am holding, whoʼs is it, that reveals the heart and the nature of kids, that we are all created, to be good and pure.

The older kids did what the younger kids did last week - making their promises of helping one another on the pledge card, love the drawings and colors :)

I have been massively drawing this week, perhaps trying to get the pictures of what Timor will be like in 2020, before the public holidays sets in next week!




I hope the drawings help the kids to gather ideas and perspectives that they will dream, or in that sense to think about what they will like to have for themselves in the future. I donʼt think I have drawn any architecture/rooms on a basis like that but I suppose, to every thing that has their first time, it was enjoyable, I have always wanted to draw my own made- belief city landscape in which I finally did!



With children, there must be games, so here is a game we came up together to get the kids to learn how to help one another, similar to the pass the chair game, but they are stepping on egg trays and to make it a little harder for these little ones, just place 2-3 kids on a tray! It was so funny and fun to watch them play.

Apart from these little joys that keeps me, I have big obvious joys that are displayed wide across the skies, as though God is telling and speaking to me in His ways and through His creation of colors, timing and light (sounds like photography?), the entire sky was purple as I walked towards home from the library, I stood staring at the skies that was one of those special moments, and gone the next moment I was home, it was dark. It was one of those moment if you missed it, or was too caught up with something, you probably wonʼt get to see it and the typical me, was secretly excited and grinning from ear to ear - happy of course!

There will be 2 public holidays in the coming week - The All Souls and All Saints Day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we will likely have a day of rest on Tuesday and have a clean up, fellowship/bible study/worship/room dedication and a barbecue dinner on Wednesday, as we take over the 4 rooms at the back of the library, and extend our facilities and Saturday will be soccer day, where the kids will be involved in some friendlies around.

Do pray for:

- The rooms that serves as a form of extension, for cleansing and for wisdom as to what to do with the rooms and how to decorate/furnish the rooms

- No injuries or fights, as the kids go on their soccer day on Saturday and for good weather

- Students/Teachers/Kids: It is the same request week in and out, haha and it still is. Pray as you get led then, Iʼm sure God is doing something in the lives of all of them.

- Me: I have just recovered from a bout of stomachaches that leaves me in a mix of a bad/ weak stomach and the want to puke, took time off to rest but pray for full recovery (it has been 2 days) and I hope it will all be cleared up and good!

- The teamʼs health: Pray that we will all be kept in a clear and good bout of health, NO STOMACHACHES (urgh), as the team have a “different week” with the clean ups and barbecue, begins preparation/planning for December (we have 2 teams, my mom and sis and Shih Yang!) and that me and another one team mate will be making a border run in mid/end November - good and great health will be welcomed!

- Pray for good rest too during the nights, for deep, restful, undisturbed rest for us all too :) As the Lord leads, thanks for the prayers and keep them coming,
Loves, Joy Joy

:) sums up what I am feeling for the week, I discover that as I write this entry as I end the week, sitting on my bed and thinking about the week that has past me, it is somewhat comforting, upon thinking about the things to share or talk about and the many things to give thanks for.

Siko and Bobo is still in the making, I have been drawing a lot more this week and the next, because of the longer storyline and also to prepare for the coming activities in November, that will take a different twist from the usual kids club program, perhaps with more drama, art lessons (yes, Iʼve actually come up with 4 art lessons to get kids to draw, for those who are keen) and some other coloring and drawing competitions.

There will be a couple of public holidays like a Youth Day and an Independence Day (if my memory doesnʼt fail me), and we were thinking about getting kids to perhaps think about their ambitions or what they will like to be when they grow up, what Timor will be like in 2020, so Iʼve been trying to draw some pictures so the kids can visualize and perhaps kickstart their thought process. Creative thinking or coming out with ideas of their own, isnʼt quite a norm here and so hopefully, this will get the kids to start dreaming!

Funny how I was discussing this idea of ambitions with LS and was kind of asking if it is a problem here that the kids donʼt know what they will like to become, and when she said yes, I marveled at the knowledge that I had, which was one of the reasons I felt strongly led to come here and be among the children! Thinking back, the last time I came, I didnʼt have that much of the interaction with the kids, but the general sensing that I had that was strong enough to became a conviction of mine. Putting it into words is marring the beauty of it - but you get it, and I sat there and smiled, that it was a “it can only be God” moment(:

I havenʼt or have never drawn so much before on a basis like that, like it is almost daily, like it is some form of practice, it is menial, time consuming and a lot of hard work but all is good and I have nothing to complain about as I watch the kids themselves work on the things that I have drawn, keeps the joy of creating all these drawings going - I really do enjoy seeing the colors off these kids art work, yes Iʼve been leading the bigger classes too, passing out instructions, guiding them around.

It turns from this (on the left) to the one on the right! The kids worked in pairs to work on this worksheet on sharing, so each person takes a character and learn how to color together and their work got pinned up around the class, look at their joy and fascination of their own work?















This is like a pledge card about helping one another, that as I did examples, these younger kids decided what they will like to do, to help one another and design up their cards.

Sigh, I was quite in awe and marveled by these little kids, by what they managed to draw, color and write, having examples gave them handles on how to draw the faces and clothes on :) So pretty and cute right?! (Ok, I have a bias towards toddlers art, it is always so precious and hilarious!)

God has His moments of answering my cries - of wanting to see and play with very young puppies and the neighbors dog gave birth to a litter of 6 a few weeks back, and I got to play with it on one of the nights as they wandered towards SL and Dawn, thanks to them constantly talking about Blackie (our current dog) and her past days as a puppy, I got my share hee hee. The little joys of the week included a Friday team breakfast at the beach at Crystalrade, because my language teacher had to invigilate at the schools for the national exams, Iʼve got 2 weeks of break from language learning and the team thought we should eat together for breakfast, since I didnʼt have lessons.

Ok, I added this to show you how mangoes are eaten here and the many ways of using a pen knife - I am serious, this is how the Timorese eat their mangoes everywhere they are! I saw a lady using a penknife slicing mangoes at some government office too, intrigued by the little things of life that passes me by. This is Naza by the way, another one of the student teacher, amazing in her own ways!

On a personal note, Iʼll just share a testimony of things that are happening back at home that was spurned on by a dream. (Yes, I have been dreaming a lot more here, somehow and it has been an answered prayer. I havenʼt dreamt for a large part of my life since I asked for it to be closed, since when I was a child, I was getting way too much nightmares but a few months back, felt God leading me to pursue dreams again).

It was about me and my cousin being at a huge mall, saw her life flash me by, of how she went to school and then went on to work and how she was still looking for something, till she went into a store, got dressed as a teacher and I suppose, found her joy in being a teacher, as she came out rejoicing and all happy. It was really quite out of the blue since

we havenʼt been in contact for a while as we both became YOWAs but I thought I will just share the dreams with her and it became a reconnecting point.

While sharing how it has touched and moved her that God still cares and loves her and made her realize how she miss the good old times we spent together and realize my point of doing my stint over at Timor, she revealed that she has been attending church more regularly and being in church more often made her realize why we should be doing missions! It was really quite a wowing moment because I never expected the huge reaction and much less, that God was already moving in her that has gotten her to be more regular at church lately, which was something I have been praying since I was 14?

So to say - 10 years or however long the number of years it is, to see a breakthrough or see Him move, He is faithful to His calls, words and promises that He has spoken over you and it is another thrust forward for me that when He says when you believe in Him, you
and your entire household gets saved, I am seeing the glimpse of it and am still pursuing it and that He knows the desire of your heart.

Do keep praying for:

- The teamʼs health - LS has been bothered by this persistent cough, is getting better but pray for complete recovery. Dawn has just been plagued by this tummy ache lately that hurts and leaves her without much appetite. It is getting better, but again, pray for complete recovery and good and clean bill of health for all of us please!

- SL: Heads to Jakarta for a conference and she will be sharing on Timor, pray that it will be a good and refreshing time at the conference as she goes on her break after that

- Students/Teachers/Kids: It is the same request week in and out, haha and it still is. Pray as you get led then, Iʼm sure God is doing something in the lives of all of them.

- Cocoon will be renting 3 more rooms, just behind the location of where the library is, as an extension of facilities. Pray for God to reveal just how the rooms will be used (one will be used as a lounge area for the teachers to chill out) and how it will be done up or to whatever is upon His heart, to grant us revelation and wisdom.

- Me: For continued flow of creativity, grace and love in all things that I do and as to however you feel led! Haha!

Time to sleep, it is getting late, till then! (ps: a shot of me of those who wonders how I look on Skype from Timor. It is hard to get on, both parties need to have the right timing of availability, and then I will need to have electricity running on my side and a connection good enough to sustain a video call? Video calls at best only last for 7 minutes - Funny eh?)

Loves and misses, Joy Joy

Dawn: “We have to stop eating like this! Ever since you came in, we seem to be eating so
much more!” I laughed at the reply, because each time I eat and Iʼm full, I think about
being the first “missionary” who heads abroad, and comes back putting on more weight, which SL thinks it is a great idea, so people wonʼt think of Timor as such a hard place to live. My pants still fits fine and I suppose the heat of the weather that makes me sweat buckets even things out, thankfully! Perhaps it is Jesusʼs intentions to bless not just me but the many people around and to be living from abundance.

How true it is, that from the time that I came in, it happens to coincide with dinner invites from visiting teams or when Pastor Dong hits town and as of this weekend, just yesterday, there was a wedding and another neighborʼs 1-year old baptism party to attend to. Thanks to our stomach constraints, we attended only the baptism party since we decided the wedding people wouldnʼt discover our absence because of the sheer amount of people present. Weddings and baptism are some of the things that are done big and celebrated here and I have the chance of being a part of (I feel like Iʼm on some cultural exchange program?!)

Over in Timor, girls at the age of 12 are likely able to cook for a family of a size of 10-12 at any time, so this table of food was prepared by a handful of ladies and it was such a
spread, I still canʼt imagine how it was all done in the kitchen they had, but they did.

This is the baby that was baptized and the next big party he has apart from his birthdays, will be his first communion which takes place around the age of 13-14. My memory fails to remember what was the third event that Timorese usually celebrate, apart from their baptism and their first communion - Interesting eh?

See everyone all dressed up in the picture? This is the definition of dressed up here in which I think coming from Singapore, it is a normal sight but it is a rare sight over here and I spotted something that caught my eye - perhaps my love for sneakers has never left. See this kidʼs Air Max (i think), super spiffy since people here usually are dressed in passed down outfits or second hand outfits available at the stores around. Nike never looked so good.

If I thought that was going to be all for the week, we had a barbecue dinner to celebrate
Francs 24th birthday which completely felt like a SG stayover birthday chalet with tons of
sausages, crabsticks, yam and 3 large pizzas. Pizzas here are of excellent standards, I
promise you and if you ever have a chance to head down here to try :p Food, food, food
and eat and eat and eat, apart from cleaning up and getting of the groceries was the hard
work.

Frans is the guy in the centre with the sternest look in which I took another shot with another camera and made sure they all smiled. Birthday celebrations is not a big affair here, partly due to cakes and restaurants being costly that most canʼt afford to have, in which at times all they have, if they are lucky, is an hard boiled egg. So please give thanks for your yearly birthday celebrations even if it is just a meal or cake, that you never know how much you have.




Another thanksgiving item (christmas came early), will be the smooth process of registration of Cocoon as an NGO. (See the lady on the right, that is Pastor Acy, the Pastor of the church that we head to every week, she is wearing a Telunas shirt! Iʼm wearing it now as I type this update (LOL), havenʼt had a chance to ask her if she has been there yet).

As said in the previous update, of how tedious and laborious processes and administration takes place here, it is a big step forward after the signing of this very document, as you can see on the faces of Frans and Naza :)

We give thanks for Blackie too! Cute eh? She is our little cheer leader that greets us home every day whenever we return, doing her many silly and doggy antics, sleeping on chairs. She is very well loved among us here and I loved her enough to take her a shower yesterday, my second time here. It is what the team dub as the “baptism of fire” here, not much difficulty though.

Iʼm working on another set of storyboards now, on Siko, the monkey and Bobo, the caterpillar, it is a story of transformation and the story of Cocoon and another week of creating more kids club materials. Teaching of the bigger kids went well :)





The longest conversation I had of Tetun apart from my tutor, Zeze, and the class I did, was with a 5 year old that was at the baptism party, so here goes language learning/application and my next mission will be is to at least learn how to say grace before a meal. I love the little surprises that occurs as and whenever and my little sms conversation I had with Louisa is another story (yah, go ask her) haha!



Keep praying for:
- Li Shan: Her persistent cough is still hanging around, do pray for complete healing

- Dawn: Her back

- SL: Heads to Jakarta for a conference and she will be sharing on Timor, pray that it will
be a good and refreshing time at the conference as she goes on her break after that

- Students/Teachers/Kids: God is moving around in various ways that I donʼt think anyone
can define or put a box to it, and as of today, Alloe (one of the teachers) shared a
testimony of how God used him to speak to some of his friends in school who was asking
about what is a Christian and what do they believe in.

The teachers have started their university terms and as they juggle their roles of being a
teacher and student, pray that God will grant them wisdom and strength especially when
they are in school - they tend to get asked a lot of questions about their faith, if they know they are Protestants and for Him to cover over them.

- Me: For continued flow of creativity, grace and love in all things that I do, learn/cook/
draw/talk. Health has been great so far and I am not taking it for granted haha! Keep the
prayers coming in whichever ways God leads you.
Time to sleep!

Loves,
Joy Joy

The title is the favourite question of everyone on the team that usually pops up either at the dinner table or when we end a day and is returning home to have our dinner, we will actually have to remind each other which day of the week it is. Time in Dili tends to take on a different twist, whereby at times, the day or week may seem like a long one, but the moment you think about it, time seems to fly you by and you wonder how and what did you do for the entire week that just went by?

Tomorrow marks a start to another week and also marks a significant day for Cocoon! They are going to sign the papers tomorrow that will mark 2/3 of the registration process of Cocoon as an NGO. You cannot comprehend enough of the way things work over here than back at home, since you are so used to the systematic, quick and hassle-free ways of processing that I had a brief taste of Timor work style as I did my medical checkup as part of my visa application.

It often gets laborious because of the possibilities of making a few more trips over certain small details you may overlook - that includes a requirement to be dressed appropriately,file colors that you use to submit your documents, lack of some photocopies of documents that you do not have and get turned away for a million reasons! I have heard horror stories from the experienced ones and so far, the submissions has been really successful apart from a nurse who jabbed me at the same spot another doctor from another clinic took blood test from me the previous day, that led to quite a squirt appearing on her outfit and my arm, messy but I survived and was still quite alarmed that she would pick the same EXACT needle spot, where I have quite a large surface area on my arm. (the same day, we heard of Steve Jobʼs passing)

Aze and Migi made their debut appearance this week and it was well-received by the kids, as LS read lines of the story out and the kids could guess which picture corresponded with the story line!











So Aze and Migi goes on further with more coloring worksheets made for the kids and with the months of the year drawn out. Drawing/Illustrating has become quite a regular thing over here and I will be working on the Cocoon story next up, a story of a cocoon who turns into a butterfly and a monkey, (where monkeys here share a significant meaning among the team and it has a story on itʼs on) :)

Apart from developing worksheets, a Tetun student, Iʼve been tasked to handle the bigger kids in the kids club, so I get a larger platform to put my language into use and a chef on Mondays and Thursdays for dinners.(Yeap, what an all rounded experience eh?) I became a part-time mommy too, as I carried Vanessa during bible study lesson, so Alloe could better concentrate while Vanessa slept on me. (*winks at Charissa and the shirt! :D )

So during bible study with the boys (student teachers), now in their uni year, are having it hard with the influx of philosophies around, being questioned if their religion is still real or valid in that sense and SL was sharing on how we should set our focus about the wisdom on the Lord kind of message. Suddenly at that moment, I realized just how similar or least the things that we young people go through as we are being bombarded by the many information around (philosophies/science/new religion/news/information) and again, reminded me of the importance of knowing and being rooted in the word. Hard to explain it into words but one of the many light bulb moments that makes me realize again why certain things has to be done and seen in a certain manner.

The weather has been getting really hot lately (Timorʼs heat is quite something really) and I have adopted new habits of having cold showers to feel nice and taking naps from time to time during the siesta timing after lunch to keep the energy levels up and I had a lovely surprise today! - I met Uncle Kim Chye today as he brought mangoes down from Liquica and I managed to give him a big hug, so good to see him, since Iʼve came here :) (Liquica is some drive away from Dili)

Things to pray for:
- Cocoon successful application as an NGO as it goes through the signing and the overall
procedures to be smooth
- For me to be coherent and have sufficient language to handle the bigger kids and the
giving out of instructions
- For Dawnʼs back, she suffers from a slip disc and from time to time, it seems to get a little painful for her
- Keep praying for the kids/youths and student teachers! God moves in different ways
among them and for my favourite boy - Atito, he turned up for kids class last Thursday
dressed smartly with a collar shirt and berms looking really dashing, is making efforts to
sing the songs being taught (which really isnʼt there when I first saw him) and he said
something nice to a girl beside, since the kids were supposed to give affirming words to
one another, sigh - so proud of him loh.
- If God could make it to have more clouds around, so the sun wouldnʼt be too glaring :D
Thatʼs it for now - time for bed and Iʼm getting sleepy, good nights and

Loves,
Joy Joy

Ok, bad title but it is something, my brain isnʼt working much right now! This week has been a relatively different one from usual because I was invited by SL to head up to Siera (some place 40 minutes away Eastwards of Dili) and it is up on some hilly terrains, along with the church youths, they were having a retreat. I was a little apprehensive at first honestly, because what people do during retreats is that they hang out and language will be key to communication but I went in the end because of a persuasive SL and LS both felt it will be a great experience for me.

So away from the city life for a bit and the night was spent largely in the dark and candles because of the power outages. This place is a school set up by a Brazilian missionary, called Branca who has an amazing story of her work here. I think the exploratory team last year wanted to meet this particular missionary but somehow, didnʼt work out.

She has been on this land for 10 or more so years and have seen Timor through the separation with Indonesia in 1999 and then in 2006 again between
the East and West Timor. While many chose to evade in Timor, stood this lady who ministered to the locals as a refuge place, feeding them and providing them with shelter too. (ET exploratory team - remember what we talked about, that one woman who does ministry under some tree and perhaps some medical assistance to the locals and kids?!) It is really quite amazing meeting this woman! She is pretty famous over here in Timor but a relative unknown back at home but sheʼs a really nice and warm woman and when I heard her story, I canʼt help but realize how much she
really loves Timor and the people here, Godʼs love flowing in you, makes you do things out of this world!

Ok she led a prayer meeting and it was so amazing, how the youths sang their hearts out and in parts and how they all just broke out in one voice praying to God for Him to come and boy did He come! After worship, everyone was on their knees praying and pouring out their love and adoration for Him, that tangible presence of God, with one guitar and many
hungry hearts that were just yearning for Him. I stood there in awe and in marvel of what was happening and a privilege to just be a part of the experience of His faithfulness and love:)

Just when I thought that will have been pretty much it, the night was split up into a sharing night among the boys and the girls. In the dark, with a candle in the centre, the girls sat in a circle and started sharing about our struggles. I sat there listening, picking up whatever I can with key words like - Hirus, which literally means angry/anger that was frequently raised during the sharing. Then, I was invited by Pastor Acy (the pastor of the church) to pray and minister to the girls along with her, SL and another Kakak (sister) but sheʼs of aunty age lah.

It was pretty nerve wrecking trying to pray for a local here with my limited Bahasa/Tetun vocabulary but at that moment, there really wasnʼt much thinking to be done, I prayed in English in my main parts and just saying this 3 magical words - Maromak Hadomi Ita (God loves you) and Aman O Diak (Father You are Good). Aman O diak was a worship song I picked up after the weeks because of itʼs frequent
appearance in worship - that was all I had and that was all that was enough, God came and ministered to her as we stood and hugged. Praise God for being a God who never fails to surprise me and who truly knows our hearts, that crosses across any language or barriers! I do hope Iʼll be able to pray in Bahasa and Tetun in the days to come, that was something added to my to do list :)

This is how cooking is done with chopped firewood and 3 blocks of concrete as you can see on the foreground when you have no LPG gas, and this dome shaped looking thing is an oven! I havenʼt yet have a chance to try this mode of baking (behind the place where I stay now sits a bakery :D) but I know, the
pizza/bread will turn out really well speaking of which God has used this thing to speak to me in which I shall share if you do remember to ask me when I get back, it is just too much to type.

This is not a photostocked picture, as much as it looks really nice, it is my bible sitting on the floor in front of my mat, as I decided to experience what it is like reading in front of a candle and to journal a little and wonder was that how Paul felt when he was writing his many letters that eventually made up half of your new testament? Funny, but that was the exact thought that got into my head as I knelt down (it is the only way so you can see the words of the bible), quite an experience! Yeap, city kid slept on the floor too which I remembered telling God - “Please no bugs/rats running around me”, which God has answered.




On the road back down to Dili, I took this shot (yes, just for Darius and all of you la!), see how close it is to the edge downhill? :D If you arenʼt height conscious and can withstand the dusty roads (because most of the cars donʼt have their air-con working), your windows are down, you get a beautiful scenery if you drive uphills :) I love it, yeap, rugged terrains and 4x4s or pickups (hilux), and Godʼs creation underneath, splendid! (still waiting for my chance to drive around terrains like that, whereʼs my license?!)

PS: Sorry, photographs are all taken by a w810i, forgive the quality, Iʼm getting lazy, whipping out the DSLR.

This week has been mainly celebrating the childrenʼs birthday, that takes place usually at the end of the month! We did it twice this week, one during Thursday and another one today, in the afternoon because there is just that many kids :D I led the games of “catch the tail” which was fun watching them run around and so we sang happy birthday to the September babies and they get prayed for as part of the blessings :) Everyone gets to have eggs and milk too!




Do pray for:
- Successful application as Cocoon as an NGO (will pray the entire time till the application is through)
- Health check sometime soon, it will be smooth (last week was just the submission of documents!)
- Aze and Migi makes their debut tomorrow (they have been turned into worksheets too), pray for continual flow of wisdom and creativity for the creation of storyboards, ideas and games for the children
- Good health! (It has been good for a
change towards the end of the week, the best for quite a while and it feels great :) )

That will be it! Thanks for the prayer coverings, it makes a difference over here as God continues to move!

Loves, Joy Joy

This week has been a week of some more of creating materials and being with the kids. The Lion and Mouse story was still ongoing and we did the craft of a mouse finger puppet (seen here in Joyʼs hands). I have become a regular in starting off the welcome song section for the smaller kids and I was invited to read the story of the Lion and Mouse in English. Taught the smaller ones how to
sing the “I have 2 hands” song which was really quite funny with my limited Tetun. It is quite amusing watching how the kids program is done here with loads of songs, games, stories and repetitions.

I have also finished the drawings to the story of Aze and Migi, and finally - I have got the storyboards done in a sitting. Tedious in a sense that I havenʼt been drawing for a long time and doing it 4 hours in a shot was intense but very fun. The fat boy is Migi and the teachers decided to make him fat because of the culture of how fat kids often end up being laughed at and called names like - Panliero. It is a word used for everything under the sun, teachers pet, fat, loser but the word was meant to be used for guys who tend to be more feminine. So the story tells of how Aze, needed help (he fell from the Mikrolet) and how a rich man and a first in class classmate, refused to help him but an unexpected friend, Migi, helped him in the end.

The storyboards have been developed into worksheets for the kids, that will get them to color and to do handwriting exercises here like - friends, happy and sad. Haha, I completely do feel like a teacherʼs assistant here in which my teacher sister has giggled at me that I seem to be one sent on an “work” attachment from the big boss up there to where I am now.

Staff trainings are on Saturday mornings and I was helping out in teaching these teachers how to create a blog and the objective of the lesson was to help them realize that content on the internet is created by men and it can actually be factual or fictitious in that sense. See, coming here has made me realize (with explanations from SL)that the education system that we have, has built in us certain skills that we have taken very much for granted. How did we learn how to decipher how relevant the piece of information we are reading and I had this thought - I think our humanities subjects teaches us very well in that! So take heed all you students, weʼre learning good skills in school!

Highlights of this week will have to be our Bible Study we had with the student teachers - Francs, Alloe (as seen in the picture on the left) and Acasi. SL felt led to cook lunch for them and we had our bible study as usual. What soon became very obvious as the lesson ended and it was prayer time, was the presence of God that came and the spirit fell on SL as she
started praying for the Francs, how she sensed the Fatherʼs love for him and we managed to pray for one another. I joined in the prayers for the boys too as I sense their tender hearts yearning for the more of Him, that they will receive, experience and know the Fatherʼs love for them as they discover more of God, they will discover their identities in Him. I got prayed for too, Acasi prayed (among some of the things I can pick up with my small bits of Tetun) was that Iʼll pick it up soon, was a very heart warming time.

Team devotion prayer time on Saturday night was something too as we shared with one another what the Lord was doing in our midst and recognizing how He is moving (Ateto was really quiet during this week and super, duper well behaved, it is very hard to believe!) and just spent our time praying and worshipping, was again realizing who God is and who we are and allowing Him to have His way among us.

Things to pray for:

- Continue to uphold the teachers and students in prayer, God is moving and working in the midst of them, that they will know and experience Him more.

- Successful application of Cocoon as an NGO (the application processes here with the government tends to be very tedious), pray that the team will see through it and for a successful application result.

- I should be heading off for the medical checkup real soon, sometime this week for the application of the work visa (yeap, Iʼm on my 4th week here already!), please pray that the medical checkup will be smooth (I have heard horror stories of the drawing of blood, they tried on SL for like 10x la!) and that the application will be successful!

- I love prayers and do keep me in prayers very much especially for my health here, it is acting up here a lot (second bout of fever/sore throat in 3 weeks) and it takes a lot more effort to recover and to start on the rhythm of things again and having a clean bill of health, daily will help a lot. I have recovered from the fever from last night (thank you for praying :D), but yet to feel at my bes

- And the usual of in all things, for His love, favor and grace to flow, as I work with the kids or work on materials or help out in the training or teaching of the teachers.

Loves, Joy Joy

This is painful - I was supposedly almost done when my laptop died and my autosave function wasnʼt turned on. So here goes the second time round!

This week has been filled with squirts of surprises, pleasant ones of course! Meeting with the various ground workers working in Timor has always been an amazing experience for me, hearing how God has called, kept them and is moving in their lives, always brings such joy.

I met Naomi and Priscilla, whom I met the last time I was here and we had a barbecue dinner out at the beach. They minister to the PRC Chinese community here and they live just a road down from where I am now, donʼt we live in a very small world? They are such fun loving and warm people to hang out with! The barbecued dinner
was amazing since we neednʼt have to do any cooking and just dig into the glorious food which has such amazing squids, fishes and 3 layered pork :)


Half of Saturday was spent at the beach (which I visited last year too), with the youths of the Church of Nazarene that SL, LS and me attends, every Sunday. You see, where young people are, there is always bound to be games and we played this ridiculous looking relay game, where each team member had to grab an item that at the end of the day, you have a team member decked out in a helmet, sunglasses, jacket, a bag and running on the hot beach with a pair of flip flops!

I have been getting busier with the kids too, after being invited to lead the kids into singing the “I am Ready” song which is sung before the beginning of every lesson and is very much a part of the Cocoon culture here. It is actually to the tune of 3 tigers/三只老虎!

This is Caroll and Joy (我是大 Joy), and they are my favorites:) Joy is special because she only speaks Bahasa Indonesia and the classes are conducted in Tetun, so I usually hang around her to make sure she is comfortable, helping them with their coloring or writing exercises. She hasnʼt spoken anything to me yet and I am still waiting and wondering what her first words to me will be! Caroll is special to me since he is always in such amusement and childlike wonder whenever he colors and looks at you. Cute right?!

This is Ateto! He was specially assigned to me last week because of how special he is - He tends to go into his own world and it can get a little disruptive during lessons and I will be there to quieten him down.

He was quite a handful last week but this week, he is much better and has now won my heart, as we took a walk to the library as we held hands together, and he showed me the coins he had in his hands, as I watched him climbed unto higher platforms and then jump off to flat ground again, makes him adorable :)

Apart from that, I have been busy making friends with Mr Dictionary. I am still trying to grapple and learn Tetun, heh and it reminds me a lot of the days I was trying to learn Chinese, and I practically have to search for every word of a Friday weekly article to do my written assignments.

I was trying to translate a Tetun story that was written by SL/LS and draw storyboards for the stories to go unto big books, to be taught during the kids club.

So this is what I have been
busy and will be busy with for the upcoming weeks - Illustrating the characters of Aze, a rich man and Migi, the hero which has yet to be drawn. It has been real fun creating these characters and bringing them unto life as I discuss with SL/LS how they should
look like.

I actually havenʼt drawn at all since my failure of an entrance test to a media and arts program at NTU, 4 years back. I remembered as I drew my first stroke on a paper 2 days back, I remembered the failure but the thought of the kids (think of Carrol and Atetoʼs faces) made me finish what I wanted to depict and I am just glad it was well received by LS/SL who thought it looked really nice.

Just the start of the week, I was thinking how I could contribute and help in this Cocoon project and I was looking at some childrenʼs book and was actually just entertaining a random thought of - “wouldnʼt it be nice, if I could create/draw the pictures to a storybook?” and towards the end of the week, LS approached me if I would like to draw the pictures to a story they wrote, which is quite similar to the Samaritan woman but contextualized towards the local setting of things here.

As I spend my quiet moments with God, I realized how much He actually bothered about my random thoughts. It was not the first time but with it happening again always comes as a reminder of how much He knows me and my thoughts, that if it matters to me, it matters to Him.

I was looking at a word that was released to me 2 years back, from this lady (who doesnʼt know me at all), who saw me in a very colorful and creative environment and how God thinks I am a very creative person, how much joy I bring to Him and how proud of me He is.

I have come to realize how much I do enjoy creating, colors and just like the word she gave, “You are a creator, how much you like to go into new things, enjoy beautifying things and bringing hope to others/drawing beauty into the areas of my life”, I completely agree with the word and I think the greatest joy and fun is having the privilege of walking through what was just a world of words, into having it become a living reality and I am currently living in it and what I previously couldnʼt comprehend in full, now I am experiencing the context and fullness of things.

Someone often tells me how I should enjoy my time in Timor, and I am glad to say now, I am really living the time of my life, kids, colors, drawing, creating, blocks of quiet time to journal and read. It has only been coming 3 weeks here and I have seen a promise come to life! I am actually waiting for more to reveal and unveil to me, just wondering what else lies ahead of me :)

Just another note of how God knows me and wants me to know myself even more, He is faithful and has been ever so faithful and good to me here. Iʼve been having good reads here - The Genesee Diary by Henri J.M Nouwen. I do have this current interest in people spending some time of their lives in monastery and they journey on to realize the beauty and the art of solitude, quietness and a prayerful life and their insights into the word. Perhaps it is a reflection of what I am desiring and am seeking and working on in my life right now.

Thanks for all the prayers, keep them coming. Do pray for:
- Successful application of Cocoon as an NGO
- The Bible Study/Discipleship groups SL/LS has been leading, has been having breakthroughs, keep praying that the students/student teachers will experience Him and His love and be transformed by Him
- I will be leading to teach a song tomorrow during the kids club, pray it will be good and fun and in all that I do, be filled with His love and grace :)

Loves, Joy Joy

It has been a week and I figured a weekly update might do a better job of what takes place on a typical week. Hereʼs the neighborhood that I live in - Bairro Pitte. (Bai-ro Pit-teh) and that is Li Shan in the picture. Yes, it is kampong lifestyle with loads of dust, slippers, walking and chicken, pigs and dogs strolling around. We wear a cap around if you donʼt intend to get a tanned mark of your spectacles on your face, for vanityʼs sake.

This week has been observation week for me, of what takes place on a typical week at Cocoon as a teacher (Iʼm more of a teacher aide right now lah). Getting from home to our workplace is a short walk away, about the distance of walking from Little India MRT to church:) We donʼt really get around out of the area quite often unless there are some errands to be made and we will take a short taxi ride out, each at about USD$1-1.50 per ride, which runs by distance and not by the meter.

Thanks to the weather and lifestyle here, I usually am awake by 7.45am and by 8, I am sitting on a chair, chilling out with Li Shan (who is my house mate) and eating our cereal breakfast and a hot drink together. This new habit that I have cultivated, really took a couple of days to sink in, but once you got it, it actually isnʼt such a bad idea to start of your day, unhurriedly.

The day begins at 9, apart from staff devotion on Monday mornings, staff training on Saturday mornings and church on Sunday mornings, I will have my 1.5 hours of private Tetun lessons with Zeze every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Lunch will be at nearby Warungs with every of the Cocoon teachers, at 11.30am and by 12.15am, everyone goes off for their time of Siesta. Unknown to us Singaporeans, it is the entire nationʼs culture here, that from 12-2pm, it is an official time of rest. Everyone heads back to their homes and literally, head home to rest,shower or take a nap and life begins at 2pm again. SL, LS and me usually ends up heading home, feeding Blackie with our lunch leftovers and eating some oranges and chilling around before heading back to the library again.

Classes starts at 3pm but the kids usually are in the library before that. Kids club falls on every Monday and Thursday. Tuesdays are when the kids just comes in to play some educational games on the computer. The pre-teens takes up the Wednesdays and Friday afternoons.

Kids club was fun being around, as the library will take a theme/ story for the entire month and for this month, it is the story of the lion and the mouse. A big book gets read in Tetun to all the kids seated on the floor and activities will be carried out thereafter. We made lion masks on Monday and I lent a hand in helping them cut out the lion masks, putting on the rubber bands and poking the eyes of the lion.
I love the games they have to teach the children on the numbers and words of the week. It is called hop scotch and the teachers will call out the words on the floor for the kids to identify where to hop next - explains why you see sheep, 10, 19, written on the floor, old school huh? :)


The 5-6.30pm slots will be taken up by the adults and it is done at a nearby primary school. For many who do not realize what lovely classrooms we have back at home, the chairs might fall away! That is Francs teaching the Module 1 lessons. They are a bunch of young adults that SL and LS has groomed, from being their students, to graduating to now, becoming on board as paid staff, teaching English to the community. Wednesday night was awesome as we had our Singaporean team devotion, where SL shared her thoughts and we worshipped. I havenʼt touched the guitar since I reached till that night where we sat together and just sang “This is My Desire” and “Jesus Lover of My Soul”. Somehow, in a foreign place and when I start singing something in a familiar language and something that has Jesus in it, always brings a refreshing take. LS went on to sing for me some worship songs in Bahasa Indonesia and Tetun that led on to us singing Kit Chanʼs “Home” in a foreign land, that had such a nice feel to it. We had our team prayer nights on Saturday. It is quite cool seeing how these Cocoon leads this entire project with such a holistic and wholesome feel to things.

Adjusting here hasnʼt been at all that bad apart from feeling sickly on Thursday as I took a day off to rest, but the first few nights were rough, not because I was thinking of home, but because of how the time before sleep is spent in your room, and since it is relatively quieter and darker on this side of earth, you actually make a choice of what to focus your thoughts on. I have started developing my favorite habit of digging into the word and journaling and that easily takes up at least 2 hours of my time before I head to bed. Journaling used to be out of a need to clear my thoughts but over here, it has been more than a need but a want and an enjoyment of writing.

Dinners are home cooked daily, which alternates between SL and LS. I added my touch on Friday and that is fried chye-sim (vegetables are extra fresh here, they whither by the end of the day) and black sauce-sesame oil with diced chicken and rice, so you get to see my face. It has made the mark and I brought a taste of Chwee-Chian down to Dili (with all the years of feeding on my momʼs cooked food).



Signing off with a picture taken with Pastor Dong and Susantha! Pastor Dong touched down yesterday and is doing his typical runs and called to meet us out for coffee. I thought I took a picture to commemorate just how one year ago, I was merely contemplating doing some missions here and now, here I am :)

Keep the prayers coming, for sustained good health and His love and joy to keep flowing, as I meet the kids/youths, learn the language and spend my own time being with Him. Maromak forbenza ita hotu hotu. (God Bless You All)! Loves, Joyce.