Interests – Page 32

Category: Interests

Panoramic views at Fremantle and the King’s Park

10 November 2010 blogpastor Leave a comment

Genteel Fremantle

Fremantle is not another city of Western Australia, as I had thought. It’s part of larger Perth. It’s only 20 minutes away by freeway. Anne Brinkman, a Penang lady married to a Caucasian, kindly offered to bring us around. She was a former tourist guide. So how blessed can you get. The buildings were old colonial. Well conserved, they had a genteel, timeless aura about them. The pace of life in Fremantle seemed even slower than in Perth city. There’s even a Notre Dame University there, some kind of twinning program perhaps with the one in USA. We lunched at Kaili brothers Fish and Chips and shared a tasty seafood platter.

Margaret Court a pastor?

Later in the afternoon, we went up north and were introduced to pastors Alan and Angie Wells, from Victory Life Centre. The unique thing about this church is that it is helmed by former tennis woman professional Margaret Court. She dominated women’s tennis in the 1970’s and 80’s, winning a total of 62 Grand Slam titles. Frightening. Now she’s the senior pastor of the thriving Australian megachurch.

Walking in the King’s Park

Nature and space and weather is what makes Perth so refreshing a place to Singaporeans. The King’s Park is huge but I only saw the touristy part of it. Nancy brought us there and we walked around the grounds and over the treetop walk and went back to the outskirts of the city for a fantastically authentic Hainanese chicken rice. Later, we had a great time of fellowship at a cafe in a huge shopping mall.

Road-trip to Busselton and Margaret River

1 November 2010 blogpastor 2 Comments

Over a decade late

They gave us lots of love and air time. Of course, my wife and I were grateful to them. Their invitation to us had expired a decade ago, but what was there to lose in asking. After all the promotion flights were already booked. So my heart leaped when we saw Michael and Soo Kin at the Perth airport.

The weekend came and went so fast I thought I was still in Singapore. Sorrento Beach, Soo Kin’s surprise birthday dinner, worship at Faith Community Church, and Rod’s birthday barbecue. It went past like a cool Perth breeze.

Road trip to Busselton

Michael and Soo Kin brought us on a road trip to the great south west region of Western Australia. This is as big as Johor, as Western Australia is so huge you could put in the UK, Germany, and Japan in it, and still have leftover space for Philippines. But most of it is desert or bush land and rich minerals underneath.

Smitten by blue

Never saw so much blues in my life. The Indian ocean, the Swan river, the Mandurah esplanade, the clear blue skies: they reach out and hold your senses hostage whenever you look their way. Smitten with scenery and freshness you cannot buy or bottle, nor have to pay for, we surrendered to the Naturaliste Cape, the Mandurah foreshore, the Busselton jetty, Yallingup beach and the small towns of Busselton and Margaret River. People were polite and friendly and were not competing or rushing to be first to the queue or carpark lot. How many public campaigns did they have to reach this level of courtesy and civility? It must have come from knowing they have plenty of resources and time.

Whale surprise

The Lord surprised us when He answered my prayer to be able to see whales migrating along the coast. Though they were but water spray from the nozzle and black specks in the vast distant blue ocean, it thrilled us, and filled our hearts with praise. The Lord is generous in His kindness towards us, giving us not only what we need, but also what we wish for.

Polished arrows

We had devotions in the morning, not because I was a pastor, but because we wanted to. Sweet times of reading scriptures, sharing and praying together before we went out for the day. We talked a lot about our lives, about missions and church, about life in Australia, our families. Michael and Soo Kin are like polished arrows that the Lord had polished over the years of walking by faith, and they have such a passion for the poor, needy and powerless in Cambodia and Philippines. They have pioneered and networked with key indigenous leaders in these countries and are doing significant work in those countries. Michael often repeated his mantra, ”It’s all by prayer, it’s all by prayer.” When we begin praying, things start opening up and opportunities come our way to join God in His work.

Staying in Perth with Penny

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Blessed with a severe beauty

Western Australia is vast and flat, blue and cool. It is greatly blessed by God with a natural beauty. A rather severe kind: the dryness, the short trees, easily broken branches, insipid green leaves, wiry shrubs and bushes and sand, lots of sand. These form the dull backdrop for a hundred resilient flowers of varied hues, shapes and colours now in full spring bloom. Coming from tiny, high-rise and compact Singapore, this holiday in Perth was so refreshing. The cool temperatures of morn and evening; the warm sunshine, clear blue skies and cool breezes that hug you each time you leave the house, just makes you wish Singapore had this kind of feel.

Penny from Christmas Island

A widow’s home was my comfort for a week. Yes, it did remind me of biblical narratives of widows helping the man of God and getting a God-surprise in return. I told her so, and wondered how alound how God would bless her, and we had a laugh.

This hospitable and wonderful widow was Penny Lim Ah Yoot, originally a resident from Christmas Island. At last, I have talked to someone from the island Singapore gave away. But she was as stupefied as I as to how this mineral- and crab-rich island in the midst of the Indian ocean changed hands with Australia for a song. Residents there could apply for citizenship and that was how Penny ended up in Perth.

Hungry for God

Penny was hungry for the things for God. First thing I noticed was the mammoth large print edition of Dake’s Bible which she ordered from America. She also signed up for a satellite religious channel with a one-time payment of A$400+. I got to see some wonderful and weird preachers on television and wished we had this kind of “entertainment” available in Singapore too.

We enjoyed the talks over her whipped up meals. You see, she owned a restaurant before. She studied in Singapore and attended the same church that my wife and I had attended for a while. Bukit Timah Evangelical Free Church(now Woodlands EFC) was where I attended Sunday School and played table tennis. She even remembered Pastor Twie Khim and Poh Choo. Small world, as Poh Choo was my neighbour.

Well cared for and fussed over

She fussed over our comfort and made sure we were okay, all this, while she had this chronic cough. We shared the word and sacrament with her. A pastor in a healing rally prayed for her. It got worse until one night she coughed blood despite being on medication, and an ambulance came. Assured that others would care for her, we left the next day for a three nights excursion into the great south west and returned to hear her say, “I have not coughed blood for 24 hours already.” She claimed her healing with a few praying friends one night, and had been counting the hours since she had stopped coughing blood. She called us a few days ago, and when I asked about it she said, “Stopped counting. A week already.”