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