Another week, and this week has been seeing the rains more often - the rainy seasons are in and you get the occasional waddling through muddy, murky waters that fills your slippers as you make your way around. It also means extended time for story telling after kids club since the kids hang around as they wait for the rain to clear up a little, before heading back home!

There is always something magical about story telling and a big book, which seems to gather all the kidsʼ attention at a time, who are ever so eager to know what happens when the next page comes.

We had a coloring competition for the kids too - “My Timor, My future” was the theme, to let them know of the possibilities of having tall skyscrapers, and city looking buildings, that they know exists not in their nation, that Teacher LS was explaining, they could just possibly be able to see it in their lifetimes if they believe and work hard towards developing this nation together.

So they colored to the city looking picture I drew a couple of weeks back, and it was amusing how all of them took much time and effort to do up the picture, since they rarely do, with regards to coloring on the worksheets they work on before the kids club lessons begin. Perhaps the word, “competition” made them serious about their coloring and I still havenʼt have a clue yet, as to how to pick the winners yet, since they all look so nice.

While I was working on the storyboards of Siko and Bobo one of the days, this young boy came up to me, as many of them has seen me draw and stood there and just wowed at what they saw and said how nice it looked. He browsed through the entire drawings I had and he asked if he could have a piece of paper and a pencil, and he picked the picture that he liked most, and decided to start tracing the picture out.

It took me by surprise, because no one has ever asked and done what he did, but what was more surprising, was the picture he chose to replicate! It definitely wasnʼt one that I would choose, I mean I thought I had much more interesting and better looking pictures around, but he chose the one that I thought was actually the “ugliest” and the one that I was probably the least confident about.

So he drew the picture of Siko growing fat, and found a marker later, to trace it out, to look just like the one I drew. It was encouraging to watch him draw, that at times, the best way to learn, is simply through modeling after something that is of your interest. I started drawing too, through modeling what I see from a picture/book, and tried to replicate it as best as I could!

It is always humbling to have someone replicate something that you drew, regardless if the person was just a kid, but the entire incident made me redefine again what beauty meant and that it is always different to the eyes of the beholder.The picture that I thought was ugly was pretty in his and it felt like a God moment - to realize and to look at things, through His lenses and not mine and the importance and roles of models/modeling.

I took a hand at trying out, how to cut your own hair too, ever since I heard Francs doing it, I have been toying with the idea and since it will be the only chance to try it here and should the experiment fail, Iʼm away from home, no one would know right! It turned out alright, and it was actually real fun doing it.

This is my favorite baby from church - called Judah, who is a friendly baby that lets you carry him and smiles at you every time you make him happy enough :) Naza is in the picture, because she always catches me with the kids that I keep going “so cute” and she will go, “take picture!”.

She has been attending church with us more often lately. Since most of the people here come from a Catholic background, we donʼt go on insisting that they have to attend the Protestant church but we focus on studying the bible together, that draws us together, in regards to the teachers that we disciple.

Often, the gradual transition and transformation happens, when they become convicted enough by God, they make the switch to attend the Protestant church more regularly. All these doesnʼt go on easy, because of the persecution, verbal accusations that they receive at times from their own family, friends or just the community that they live in.

Things to pray for:

- Pray for Naza as she embarks on this journey of faith, as she digs deeper into seeking more of Him. She is down with Guardia (a stomach parasite) right now and pray for healing to be upon her

- Pray for the entire team and the local teachers too, for good rest every night and good health and for us all, to be focused upon Him as we share our lives and journey together. I believe God is moving among the local teachers, each in His special ways individually, pray that they will draw closer to Him as He draws closer to them.

- 2 teams will be coming in December, one from COOS and another from Kum Yan
Methodist, pray that God will use them in a mighty and powerful manner, that the
message of “I am Special”, will be brought to the children, that the kids will know that they are His precious sons and daughters. Pray that the team themselves will experience God in a whole new ways and be touched by Him :)

- My mom and sis who are visiting - I am actually really apprehensive about my mom! Pray that God will grant them the grace that the trip will a great one, to be able to view the
work here as not as hardships, but a focus unto the beauty of what God is doing in the midst of the people and in this nation. Pray that both of them will experience God in a whole new manner and a touch from Him and to know of His love for them.

- Cocoon as they journey on as an NGO (yes thanksgiving to God for a smooth and fast process of registering), that we will be open to any new ways of doing things/ programmes (eg. Soccer league for the kids?) that is upon Godʼs heart. Pray for His wisdom and revelation to be poured forth.
Alrightys, that shall be it for now! Thank you for praying, keep it coming! Loves,
Joy Joy

This week flew by really quickly! Monday was a public holiday over at Timor (yes, they do have a lot more PHs during the month of November!), and so, LS, Dawn and I decided to head down to a cafe that is set up by 2 Brazilian missionaries, to train women who were abused, so they will still be able to have a vocation. We spent the remaining time just talking about the programs, planning for the coming December, where there will be 2 teams coming both from COOS and from Kum Yan Methodist, which to me felt weird, planning from the receiving end, the overview of the programs, which is going to be focused on purity, valuing oneself for the girls and to make right decisions for the boys.

Before the build up to the weekends which, was a staff retreat for the teachers, Siko was in the making, and making preparations for a short sharing on worship.

The retreat was focused on the topic of purity and the gender roles of men and women, which in this culture, the women often end up being less valued than the way they should be.

It was a nightʼs stay at Beachside Hotel (which was started up by an Australian couple, great, clean place and bunks at USD$20/head) if you intend to come to Dili, and it is by the seaside, with a nice cafe by the beach ;)

Perhaps it has been some time since I saw nice rooms, even this simple room feels like such a luxury, that one of the teachers said, “one day, my dream is to have a room like this”, and it made me wonder how we Singaporeans do not think much of the rooms we have!

I really love this ice breaking game that we did, which was to write our names on a piece of paper, and then have it stuck on our backs, and we go around, writing affirming words on one otherʼs back. I received words like “courageous, youʼre a good girl, good heart, God loves you and those caps word spells, “MUST SPEAK TETUN”, haha. I tend to speak English with these teachers! It is the students that I end up speaking most of my Tetun to, and my Tetun teacher.

The retreat was amazing, just by the way how God moved and worked among us, as we shared from our pasts, our date/relationship stories, to our confessions, that there was this openness to share with one another, that the bonds we had with one another, was not merely constrained to a cordial work or friends relationship, but one that geared towards a family oriented relationship - one that valued, cared and loved one another enough, to journey with one another. I felt that there was a shift in the way, how both genders viewed one another, how we could value one another and treat one another better, and hopefully, be close enough to one another, to form accountability partners, to help look out for one another.

This was the view I had, as I waited for my Bakso, sitting with my legs dangling off from a wall, singing on the guitar to the greatest Lover on earth, made me feel very blessed, happy and thankful, of just being able to do my favorite thing at the moment as the sun was setting - what a beautiful and rare sight! (how many sunsets do I get to sing to Him?!)

Sometimes, we are just too busy to realize the simplest things in life that can bring us so much joy, like a bowl of Bakso! It is the best I had, since I have been here. It has an added egg and fried tofu on it, LS gladly allowed me to have a tofu in there regardless how much it cost (USD$0.25), so I was a happy kid!

For a complete experience of eating Bakso, it has to be bought from a dude who sells it on a bike, (yes, his entire stall is attached on a motorbike, and it is piping hot).As you wait for your turn (the bowls are reused, just donʼt think about how the washing goes about), find a spot, squat and eat it- just like how it is done here, soupy food is always comfort and happy food.

Li Shan led worship on Sunday, during service and I played the guitar (bye chord sheets!), and it was just great worshipping with the voices of the congregation to a guitar, realizing that our voices indeed is the greatest instrument that God has given to us all.

I wished I had Uncle Tony around to borrow a pick from (I would always find him, heʼs came from a special pick wallet!), I completely forgot about it and since I rarely used it here, because no one uses it here and the guitar couldnʼt be plugged in or mic-ed up - sure in the midst of worshipping, the fingers felt fine until I was resting and wondering why does my right fingers hurt so much - it actually bled and I never realized it the entire time. I suppose I finally understood now, how the harpists feels and the thought of it all that it was gross and extreme?

I suppose, there is always something to give thanks for :)

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus for you”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Praying without ceasing?
- Cocoon has completed the process of being registered as an NGO, godspeed and with much favor, thank you Jesus!

- We all to be well rested and in good health, as we prepare for the teams and people who are coming in two weeks time! Since God never does anything without a purpose, pray for His will to be done and for the kids (and to any divine meetup/appointment/person) to experience and know of His love and for the teams to experience Him in the ways they have not encountered Him yet. (yeap, His heavenly will on earth, as it is in heaven!)

Thank you and with much love,
Joy Joy

This week has been a little different, since we had 2 public holidays during the week, All Souls and All Saints Day and we decided to do things differently, by taking time off to clear out the 4 rooms we have at the back of the library. It was incredibly filthy and filled with cockroaches running around, which I was spared from, as I had language lessons.

We had lunch altogether and then proceeded to weed out the area with the student teachers, so we could enlarge the drains to prepare for the incoming wet and rainy season. It was quite some back breaking work to realize Iʼm not getting any younger but still nonetheless fun and to realize how hardy those weeds were!

A sink fell on Monday, apparently for no reason and thankfully, we didnʼt have any casualties even though there was a kid inside, moments to give praises and thanks to Jesus for!

Apart from that, we celebrated the birthdays of those born in the month of October, that saw one of the younger students, Bobo praying for Francs, which was quite a sight to behold :)

We played the blanket game too with the kids, which was really fun where the teachers themselves, ended up playing and screaming at each otherʼs name, which really has been building up the bonds and relationships among one another, eating, working and sharing faith together, good stuff!

With things being a little different most of the week, I thought I tried something different from a typical day of cooking, and tried to have some creativity with food too and it turned out somewhat Mediterranean, perhaps with the ingredients used, of long beans, tomatoes and fish and onions, it was gone quick too.

One thing that I have learnt over here, is often to throw away the “old” ways of doing things and to embrace the “new”, to forget about chord sheets when Iʼm worshipping and the recipes when Iʼm cooking, and to learn the art of redoing things either by the work of a vague memory and by refining it by doing it till you get it right, which has been fun in all ways, to realize how I have been limiting myself, not wanting to try new calibrations that at times, forbids me from realizing some pleasant and nice surprises, like this fishy dish:)


The weekend was spent, holding football friendlies with the youths of the Nazarene Church, because of the sheer number of kids who turned up, which was like most of the kids in town, we needed 2 sessions :) There is something about boys and soccer and it is a worldwide phenomenon! They came all decked out in their gears, jerseys and boots.

Just when I thought the “song tiao” was the coolest and funnest transport, come to Dili, and try this pick up that transported about 40+ kids off to the nearby Dili Institute of Technology! Of course the pickup here doesnʼt have as much pick up as the song tiaos, but it was crazy!

Sundayʼs match turned up wet and soggy and all it took was perhaps 30 minutes to an hours of rain to turn the pitch into some mud land! It floods here easily once the rain pours and decides not to stop and this was the result of a couple of hours of rain (the importance of drainage systems!)Yeah, where is the pitch? It is to the left of the tree where there is an entire mass of water and because of the lightning, we had to halt the game and head into shelter, which most of the time was spent feeding them water and with Tiger Biscuits (It is energy biscuits for a reason!)

In all, it is one of those “same same, but different”, another week but one of those week that seems similar, but yet so different (I wonder if that made sense), Iʼll end off with a shot with my beloved, special boy that I always end up smiling at secretly, when I am observing him, I manage to take a self- shot with him - Atito!

Keep the prayers coming :)

-Weʼre thinking or not to proceed on, to take this soccer friendlies up to another notch, where the word of God is infused into the friendlies. We are not too sure about it, so pray for wisdom how this may come about.
-Students/Teachers/Kids: Pray as you are led, Iʼm sure God is doing something in the lives of all of them.

Loves,
Joy Joy