TWO NIGHTS IN BEIJING

AFTER Ulaanbaatar, Julienne and I spent two nights with our friends in Beijing.
Here's what we learned:

• When you arrive in China, you must register yourself at a police station (unless you stay at a hotel, which will do that for you). At the police station, I chatted with a Chinese American who had a 'warning' because he registered himself only after nine days in the country.
• The city is ready for the Olympics: very clean, I hadn't noticed anyone spitting, and people were very friendly to foreigners. Talk to any taxi driver about the coming Games - and you could the people's expectant spirit.
• Silk Street - a popular shopping place for tourists - wasn't our thing. Julienne was actually terrified by the overly friendly sales people.
  
• But the Great Wall was magnificient. If you go, you must not miss the cable car up and tobbagon ride down. (It felt dangerous!)
• The Forbidden City was over-crowded with tourists, but Julienne and I enjoyed the dressing up in costumes. I was some famous empress and she was Mulan.
• Visited a local market and bought four bags of nuts home. We were impressed that it was very organized and clean (compared to our Jurong East wet market). Shame on us.
• Had a $1 wash at a hair salon. It's hard not to laugh when things are so cheap.
• Sales people asked the most personal questions. Two Starbucks gals found out where I was from, whom I traveled with, why I went to Mongolia, and how old my daughter was all within seven minutes.
• When people are tired, they just sat down anywhere, we noticed. I saw a man stooping down in the middle of a bridge, and another sitting on a highway - out of the blue.

YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO EAT (Mk 6:37)

THE MONGOL workers are hungry.

They’re hungry for reality in their walk with God. They’re hungry for transformation in their country and personal growth.

So hungry that from four mornings of training, my schedule was stretched to five-and-a-half full days of teaching, counseling and speaking.

And from writing and design skills, I also gave the devotions – on Jesus feeding the multitudes – and team building workshops to the 26 Campus Crusade workers.

I also spoke to journalism students – twice – on how they could be gatekeepers of change in their country. After my talk, a group cornered me and I ended up giving them a message on boy-girl relationship.

BECAUSE they were hungry, they absorbed everything I taught. One staff with the Teachers’ Ministry (which has 600 disciples) typed out my devotions everyday and emailed them to those who couldn’t come.

On the second day, the leaders asked, “When can you return to train us again?” (I have a date for April 2009.)

EVERY NIGHT Julienne – my faithful prayer partner, encourager and helper - and I went to bed bone tired. But God taught us afresh that when we give our five loaves and two fish to Jesus, our baskets would never be empty.

Indeed our hearts were always full.

Our joy was complete.

Highlights in Mongolia

• The SKY: think sparkling blue swimming pool in the air.
  Mongolian SPRING: sunshine, showers, sandstorm, and snow – all within one week!
• SURVIVING Ulaanbaatar’s traffic: some cars have right-wheel drive and others left wheel drive! Go figure.
• SHARING and praying with Boggii’s (staff worker) mum, a Buddhist, who served us home-made cheese, and dumplings boiled in milk tea.
• STAYING in a hotel that made us feel like being in a Bourne Identity movie. But the toilet worked, the bread was great, and the room was warm (it was May but the temperature was still below 10 degrees C). We also got to play with the owner’s handsome black-and-white mongrel, which we called ‘our dog’.
• SALADS – lots of it (surprise)! And we enjoyed the food (surprise!). PS: I only had two close encounters of the mutton kind.
  STANDING on Ulaanbaatar’s highest point and holding an eagle (I saw a photo of that 15 years ago and always wanted a go at it). The 11 kg beauty belonged to a Kazakh nomad with a black berry in his pocket.
• Mongolia was my favorite James Herriot’s STORIES come true. When a one-week-old lamb fell asleep in my arms, I looked up to heaven and prayed,“Thank you Jesus. My life feels more complete.”
• SUPPORT: Your prayers and gifts made a difference to the team of laborers I trained. These people are committed to bringing the gospel of hope to their country, where 99% of the 2 million people do not know Jesus.

Thank you.

TAKING A BREAK

IT IS THE rainy season, not the best time to go to the beach.
But we did it anyway.
Took two days off to Bintan to enjoy the sand and sun (well, some of it).
Had we gone snorkling, which we didn't as the sea was too choppy, it would have been perfect.
There's nothing like 'crossing to the other side'.
Away from the hustle and bustle of Singapore city life, somehow everything looked different.
Simpler.
Easier.
Less complicated.
It was calming to sit for hours on the beach (it rained some but we survived), read, take long walks, pray, with no schedule to follow, no deadlines to meet.
I particularly enjoyed watching a couple of guys fishing when the rain finally stopped.
We were all strangers on the shore but each time their lines came back with fishes, we all rejoiced.
We even discussed how each type of fish should be cooked.
It's been a long time since I woke up that early to catch the sunrise.
And played ping pong at night.
I didn't come back exactly totally rejuvenated--the lady who massaged my shoulders on the beach said I was too tensed, "Must relax more, madam," she said (good advice).
But I came back grateful.
For the chance to slow down.
Change pace.
And breathe in life--slowly.

SHEEP TALK

I'M READING a book on biblical leadership by Timothy Laniak.

Entitled While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks, the book is a gem for people in ministry.

Basically the author talks about what shepherds should be, drawn from observations while living in Israel.

The first thing that strikes me is the work of the shepherd is never done!

Besides making sure his flock is well--free of disease, danger and mischief--one of his most challenging roles is to feed the sheep. All the time.

I mean these creatures eat - and drink - all day long.

The very young ones need soft and new grass. The older ones something more mature and solid.
And the shepherd needs to find safe clean water for his sheep.

And when they have grazed enough in one place, he moves them to another for the same thing, the same routine.

Grass. Water. Grass. All year long.

Shepherding is back-breaking work.

There is nothing glamorous or easy or painless about the job.

And the sheep doesn't say, "Thank you."

And sheep business doesn't pay either--not enough for that kind of labor.

You got to love the job--and the sheep, the author adds.

I asked myself many questions as I read the book:

Do I love my sheep?

Do I have passion for what I do?

Am I shepherding or am I just organizing or lording over the flock?

Am I feeding my sheep all the time?

And with the right food, making sure God's Word is simple, palatable, and delicious enough for them?

TOKYO DELIGHTS

DURING THE LAST week of December, we went to Tokyo to speak at a Japan Campus Crusade retreat for more than 100 workers.

We received many blessings. Here are 10 of them, not in any order:

1. Just being in Japan is a blessing. The cleanliness, the trains that never failed to arrive on time, people in colorful scarves, boots, and mittens.

2. It was minus 3 degrees C the morning we left. But we loved the change from Singapore's heat and humidity!

3. Getting to know the Japanese workers. Their sincerity and warmth surprised me. (Confirmed. Japanese people are not all cold and reserved.)

4. Meeting Keiko Kawagami again. We met five years ago on a mission trip to Tokyo. She visited us later in Singapore and accepted the Lord. She served us a Japanese tea ceremony before we left; it was completely charming.

5. Going to Harajuku one afternoon. We felt we had landed in Manga-land.

6. Dawn, Julienne's friend who came with us. She enjoyed our worship and talks (she's a Roman Catholic), she said. That makes me very grateful.

7. Almost every restaurant and cafe we went to, there was always very nice jazz music playing. That's a treat to us.

8. The sushi and sashimi in Japan are fresh and surprisingly affordable. Our hosts took us to a place where sushi is half the price of what we get here in Singapore. Shocking, isn't it?

9. Staying with Patrick and Estella Low, Singaporeans missionaries, and their three kids. I learned from them how to extend hospitality, enjoy udon in five different ways.

10. Celebrating our daughter's 21st birthday on our final night with the Lows and Dawn. What can I say? It was an evening of good company, great Japanese food, and tons of gratitude. God is good.

MEETING GEORGE AGAIN

IN JULY, we went for Campus Mission 2007 in Busan, Korea. What a wonderful conference it was.
There were 16,000 of us from more than 123 countries.
I (YK) spoke at one of the workshops to more than 1,000 women, and had many opportunities to counsel students one on one.

I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

But the highlight of CM 2007, for me, was meeting George Verwer again.

Between 1976-1978, I served on board the MV Logos (OM ministry), which brought educational and Christian books to Africa and India.

George, then the director of OM, came to the ship regularly to speak to us.
Once he announced in a public meeting, "If anyone read/listened to 100 books/taped messages within the year, come to me and ask for any book or collection of books in our exhibition and I’ll give it to you."

That--the reward--got me really excited (I was all of 21 years old).

Before the year was up, I had completed 100 books and tapes. Stott, Packer, Tozer, Elliott, you name it, I covered them all.
I even selected my ‘reward’: a multi-volume Bible Encyclopedia (yes I was young AND greedy).

One fine day, we were told George was coming to the ship to speak to us.

The night before he arrived, I stood before a mirror for two hours practicing my claim-the-reward speech.

But halfway through my rehearsal, the Lord spoke to me, "What reward are you claiming?" He asked.
"Haven’t you been blessed already?"

As usual, God was right.
That one year of getting into the lives of those men and women had blessed me richly. My life, habits, convictions, my understanding of God, they were not the same anymore.

No, I didn’t claim my reward that day. I didn’t even tell George I did it (so shy lah).
But after CM 2007, some 30 years later, I finally wrote to him (and that’s because Julienne, who’s endlessly delighted with my story, pushed me to do it).
Yes, and I finally told him his fruit has remained.

Praise God for choosing others to bear fruit in our life.

Praise Him for choosing us to, in turn, bear fruit in other people’s life.

Seven tips to visiting the sick

Lately I've been visiting someone in hospital.

And I learned many things.

One of which is what to do and what not to do when visiting the sick.

1. Do visit them.

It's a great ministry.

Both to the visited and the visitor.

For me, it keeps me humble.

2. But don't rush in and out.

When we rush, people won't feel the ministry, no matter what we bring them or what we say.

I still remember a superior who came for my dad's wake seven years ago.

He looked and sounded appropriately sorry for me, but stole glances at his watch like 20 times throughout the ten long minutes he stayed.

He needn't have come, I remember thinking.

3. Be cheerful.

Don't giggle and tell jokes but don't pull a long face either.

The gal I'm visiting is all of 16 years old.

It's already very sad for her to be lying down all day for the past three weeks, and be subject to all sorts of tests every day.

She doesn't need to comfort her visitors by being extra cheerful.

4. Bring something to brighten up the day.

Flowers, huge cards, soft toys, anything.

This gal's aunt brought all her barbie dolls and decorated the room with them.

Even the visitors sqealed with delight.

5. If the patient is up to it, do something with him or her together.

I brought my MP3 player and we worshipped the Lord together to 'Heart of Worship'.

It was a quiet, joyful time together.

6. Don't talk about yourself for more than five minutes.

One visitor went straight into her own journey of sicknesses and healing the moment she arrived.

She meant well but the teenager switched off.

Clearly she had heard one 'comforting' story too many.

7. Make yourself useful.

Sometimes it means running errands for the family.

I brought my daughter to make cards with the teenager while I took her mum, who's the patient's constant caregiver, for a drive out and fresh air.