2010 IS A BLESSED YEAR 2011 WILL BE EVEN MORE BLESSED

2010 has been a year of blessings, and we look forward to seeing how the Lord will be bless our leadership and ministry in 2011.

In 2010 we were thankful to be blessed in our health, our job, and in our family matters.

God has again delivered His promises to His children (the orphans or the fatherless / motherless children) with all their needs being met without fail throughout the whole year.  Indeed there are times when we are not sure how and when the help will be come, but God always provides.  The words “exceedingly” and “abundantly” describe just how the Lord has provided for the needs of His children.  His timing and His answer to our prayers are never short from perfection.  Praise The Lord.

We enjoy the afternoons at the orphanage when the elementary school children return from school.  Often they are excited to come and find us and show us their perfect scores on their tests.  Praise the Lord.  It has been our aim to educate the children as high as possible in order to break the lingering chain of poverty in this West Timor area.

By April 2011, 5 of the girls will be finishing high school.   We encourage the children to aim high, and three of the girls are wanting to become nurses,  so we must look for a good nursing school for them.  Peggy and I are always trying our best to support their goals and give them advice on how to reach those goals.  Indeed the best to do something that you are passionate about, instead of something that you feel forced to do and does not utilize your abilities.

Gerson, who was orphaned when he was 4, is doing well in his studies at Medical School.  He is now already in his 5^th semester.  His circumstances do not make it easy to be in Medical School, but God has provided a way for it to happen, Praise the Lord.  Even though Gerson is busy studying, he still does his daily chores at the orphanage, which is to sweep and mop the floors every morning before heading off to university.  On top of that, he also keeps involved with the orphanage children as they work together in the gardens.  Indeed we are trying our best to practice our togetherness among all of the orphanage’s members.

More proof that 2010 is a blessed year is our daughter Christine’s schooling.  Just before I left for my flying duty to Los Angeles (I am in LA now), Christine who is studying in university in Singapore, shared her most recent school report with me.  It was so great and happy to see so many HDs (High Distinction) on her school report.  Indeed nothing is impossible if The Lord is involved with our activities.  Praise The Lord for the blessing on her studies.  On celebrating her good report, Christine is wanting to just spend time with her mom at the orphanage. Praise The Lord she has made the flight safely to Kupang and now she is helping Peggy to do preparation for a simple New Year’s Eve celebration at Roslin orphanage.  She could have been spending her new year’s eve in Singapore with all the grand celebrations (great fire works and so many other grand things), but she has chosen to be at the orphanage with her mom and the 73 orphanage’s siblings ha ha ha.

2010 has been a blessed year because we are made to be able to do more for the children. As the children are getting older, we must separate them accordingly.  Because of this, we are forced to delay the kindergarten building for a year now. This is because we must build the girl’s dorm first which is now already 80% done, although we are not going to put the permanent roof on it yet. The reason is that the building it extends to will have the same roof as the girl’s dorm.  We are going to build a hall on the first floor, which will function as an indoor gathering place where we can practice musical instrument training for the children, a choir room, and a place for them to perform their school presentations. On the second floor there will be the study room for the girls as well as some other areas for them enhance to their studies.  Praise The Lord that we are going to start the kindergarten building as early as February or maybe earlier. Indeed it has been delayed for a year.

Besides the girl’s dorm matter, we are also still trying to save more financially. Praise The Lord we are able to have some 45 % for it now.  I will upload the updated picture of the girl’s dorm when I am returning from my next trip.

the planned kindergarten building

Why do we want to build the kindergarten?   The reason is because there isn’t any kindergarten in our area. There was one but it was closed as the school was closed because the building was no longer safe.  The building had no proper roof or toilet, and there isn’t a teacher anymore for it.

This kindergarten building will function as a multipurpose building.  With this building we will be able to better serve to the community.  We hope to use it to provide schooling for the children with free tuition.  For this matter we need teachers: whether it is volunteers like university students or real teachers to teach the school children their academic subjects.  We also need volunteers to teach vocational skills, handy crafts, and farming techniques, animal breeding, fish farming and so many others.

We can also use the building for the dentist or GP to give their free services to the community too. As for the building design we are open to any ideas or improvements. If any of you have a better idea, please let us know . Any help on building this kindergarten is welcome and well appreciated.