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