SAYONARA

Yesterday Taka and Eri, and their two-year-old, Komoki, came to say good bye.
"The past three years had been wonderful for us," says Taka.
He is headed for Tokyo to join the HR department of Japan Campus Crusade.
Among the many blessing the couple received in Singapore - "good friends at the local church we attended", "professors who taught us", "building convictions from God's Word" - is of course their made-in-Singapore son.
"We told Komoki many times we're leaving," says Eri. "And today he said goodbye to his friends at the nursery."
"But we're not sure if he understands."

By now, most of the foreign students have gone home.
Some, like Steve Cole, wrote to say they are still readjusting to life back home.
Others like Sharon Hwang are raising support before getting into full ministry gear.
Check out their latest happenings in the blogs below and pray for them.

Sayonara.

more requests for Myanmar

Here's a new update from the Sets:

"We thank God for answering our prayers in opening doors.

"Our relief team is now faced with many requests from various contacts to come to their villages. It’s going to be difficult to have to turn down some of them as they have limited supplies and manpower. . . .

"Besides supplying basic needs such as rice, beans and salt, we are hoping to supply the villagers with two-man boats and fishing nets for them to start catching crabs (crab season now). In the days to come, we also hope to help build some of the houses as well. Most villages in that area have been destroyed, and some have been totally wiped-out.

"Please also remember to pray for another team of eleven Burmese going in this Monday 23rd June. They are from the Myanmar Judson Baptist Church in Singapore. They too are hoping to get their medicines in with them."

UPDATES FROM MYANMAR

TOE SET (EAST faculty) and his wife Mag returned to Myanmar for more relief ministry.

Here's some news from their latest email:

"After praying and fasting, our team members decided to reach out to villages further in another region that have not yet received much help.

"These are villages that can only be reached by boat. The plan was to leave this week, bringing in medical and food supplies sufficient to reach several villages in the area.

"In preparation for this, we flew out four of our team members to Singapore to bring back medical supplies to Yangon. We arranged for them to leave in pairs on two separate days, carrying a total of 400 kg of medicines.

"Thank you for praying!
After two days of running around town from one government department to another our team finally got the approval for the release of ALL our medicines. Please continue to pray for future relief efforts. . . . "

Toe & Mag

I WILL BLESS YOUR GOING OUT AND COMING IN

RIGHT after our commencement ceremony, various ones left immediately for ministry overseas.
Tunji (Nigeria) and Siew Kim (Singapore) went to Cambodia to serve with a church.
Barnabas Jung (Korea) and his family joined a church-planting ministry in Mongolia.
Also in Mongolia was Ying Kheng (Singapore) to conduct communications and team building workshops for Mongolia Campus Crusade workers.
Anita (Singapore) led a team to the Philippines to reach out to a poverty stricken community.
Toe Set (Myanmar) returned home to help with relief ministry.
Siew Hong (Singapore) also went on relief mission, with a team to China.
This is really what EAST is about, isn't it?
All those studies, class work, exams are meant to build up to this:
giving our students values, convictions and practical skills that will be of use to God's work on earth.
Equipping people to better reach and touch people.
Developing Christlike leaders for the Great Commission.

CLOSING COMMENCEMENT SPEECH BY LIM CHIN LENG, receipient of the President's Award for Leadership 2008

EAST IS LIKE a big family for us.
Although we come from different countries and cultures, EAST is where our friendship with one another has been forged, our passion for missions has been kindled, and our love for God has been renewed.
As we look back, I am sure that many of us will remember the times we studied together in the classrooms, did our projects in the library, prayed together in chapel, ate together at Cambridge market, raided the biscuit tins in Agape Room, visited one another in our homes, and served together in the community.
We will definitely remember how we played together and won this year’s trophy for the Inter-seminary Sports Day. . . .
There is a Chinese saying饮水思源 that means as we drink the water, we should remember its source.
As we graduate, it is only right to remember and appreciate the different groups of people who made it possible for us to complete our program. 4 ‘F’s (or F4):
First, the Faculty and Administrative staff at EAST. Thank you for teaching us and modeling for us what it means to be Christ-like leaders. . . .
Second, our Family: Wife, Children, Parents, Grandparents, Brothers, Sisters, Nieces, Nephews, Aunts, and Uncles etc. . . . You even cooked wonderful meals and made sure we are well nourished, sometimes ‘overly’ nourished. J Thank you and we love you!
Third, our Friends, Alumni, Ministry Partners, Church, Pastors and Leaders. . . . May the Lord remember your generosity and bless you much more in return.
Finally, our heavenly Father, who is the reason we are all here. . . . .

Lim Chin Leng

THE ONLY WRONG WAY TO PRAY

"The wrong way to pray?"
"It's only when we don't pray."
With that, Pat Flynn (right with Gab Su) summarized his exhortation; and we started our worldwide day of prayer.
It was good to set aside a day to intercede for the lost and suffering around us.
And it was great to have Didymus (our alumnus) visit us with Peter Kashun, the head of LTC (a church planting and equipping ministry in India).
They reminded us of the tremendous challenges facing workers in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and the countries around them.
Places that are faraway from, and sometimes forgotten by, us.
We prayed for displaced people, people under persecution, people who are blind to the gospel for centuries.
We opened the newspapers and prayed for those living in poor and war torn countries.
We shared our hearts with one another and prayed for unsaved family members.
"A day of prayer certainly puts things in perspective for me," commented one student towards the end.
"Exams are coming but they're not the most important things in life."
"What's important is to always remember there's a world out there that needs to be won for Christ."

SWEET VICTORY

No wonder they say victory is 'sweet'.
It sure tastes good.

Last Friday, at our inter-seminary sports meet, we tied with TTC and won the overall championship.
Lim N, if you're reading this, you'll be happy to know we got the Golden Boots this year round!

It was great to see everyone turning up.
The wives, babies, faculty, students and admin team.
Everyone did his or her level best to play, cheer, and connect with one another, . . . .

Besides soccer, we had captain ball, tennis (Mrs Jeong came to help us), volley-ball, dodge-ball (our girls won the gold despite playing it for the first time), and a principals-challenge of Jenga (we were all so proud when Chiao Ek won).

Enjoy the photos. Rejoice with us.
Praise God.