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