Catholic News 23 December 2007

Carmel Sisters Humour

I just loved the cover of the mass booklet. Realised that during the quick slide show, many might miss it. Take a look at the wheel barrow! LOL

Inauguration Mass Of Carmel Of Christ The King

There were showers of blessings through out the whole morning as people made their way to celebrate the inaugural mass at the chapel of Carmel Of Christ The King. There was a long line of cars of eager Catholics, parked along the small slip road leading up to the Monastery. I have to say, we Catholics have very skilled drivers amongst us!

The congregation, despite the weather, were in high spirits as they waited patiently for mass to start. Young, old, families, single, all cheerful and all helping one another to available seats. Seats that were wet from the rain, some helpers took out rags and hankies to wipe for each other.

As the mass began, the rain started to pour a little harder and started to beat through openings in the tentage put up. Some used initiative "protection" against the rain. (See picture..lady with file on head)

It is quite something to celebrate Mass out in the gardens of the Carmalite Monastery. The air was perfumed with a mixture of the rain and flowers. The air was cool and the gentle sprays of the rain felt like little kisses on the skin.

Seated next to me was a family that touched me so much, I felt my heart glow. When it came time to exchange offerings of peace, the youngest girl, probably about 3, turned to look up to her father and her eyes filled with love called out "Peace be with you daddy" and she lifted her head to kiss her father gently on the lips. She followed the same with her mother, her sister and her brother.

After mass ended, the sisters through the windows of their private chapel, said a few words of thanks to all those who came for mass and for all who had helped in the whole process of the renovations. Our very own Joan Lee was one of the architects involved and our Mark Foo's father, Mr Paul Foo, headed the overall renovations!

We were all invited to stay for some refreshments (the mee siam was shiok!!!) and say a few words to the sisters.

All I can say, I left the premises with joy in my heart!

P.S. Sorry about the unsteady video footage...but at least got a little snippet la!

Carmel Sisters Mass on 9th December

A Mass and blessing of the Monastery will be held in the week following on 9 Dec at 10.00 am. It will be celebrated by the Archbishop Nicholas Chia in the Carmel Chapel located outside the cloistered area of the Monastery. This occasion is open to all so you may bring your family, relatives and friends.

After the Mass, the Sisters will return to their life of solitude and prayer behind the closed doors of the Monastery.

Carmalites Move

This morning saw a few privileged parishioners helping with the move. It was an awesome experience. The few sister that were there to help with the directions were friendly and so sweet.

One of the sisters explained their daily routines throughout the week, and as we sat there, we were in awe.

The sisters' home is set in a beautiful compound, where the main garden area (which is huge) is tended by one of the sister herself. Loads of pictures were taken so please do take a look. It is self explanatory.

We were in high spirits as we started our work, which lasted throughout the day. There were very slight showers of blessings, I think God knew we were doing His work, hence He cooled down the atmosphere for us!

We had a little fun poked at the guys. They were told that they needed to collect a 2 door refrigerator, so 5 strong men took off in the van to help bring it over. Here is the picture of the fridge that took 5 men to carry it.

Carmalite Sisters Moving Back In

HELP NEEDED!!!!

We have the main responsibility to help the Carmelite Sisters move back to their Bukit Teresa Home, expected to be ready mid-November 2007.

Help is need, please leave name, email and contact number and we will be in touch once the contractor can confirm the move dates!

Request for Prayers

Dear All


Pse offer up your prayers for the healing of Sr Agnes of the Carmel Sisters who went for an operation last week to remove a tumor in her ovary. The operation was successful but the tumor was malignant and in its third stage. She is discharging from the hospital today.


Since this year when the Carmel Sisters heard of our mission outreach, they have been with us in their prayers in every one of our activities.


Thank you.

Has anyone told you....

that you are truly loved?

PC Recycling Project is on the way...woo hooo!

taken from an internal email :

As you requested for your accounting records ....Thanks for helping me with the delivery & setting up of the PCs for the following two families on Fri nite.

1. *************** Blk *** Chai Chee Road #0*-****
2. *************** Blk ** Chai Chee Road #0*-***.

The names of the children are those you met that night & whom you gave your mobile number to. Again, you & I saw how much they appreciated this. Thanks again - this project HELPS families.

God Bless

of course I've blocked the names and addresses la, for obvious reasons

Winning Team

Dear all,

I want to share good news to all of you. Our Children in Rempang won the competition, recently. They will represent Rempang for the competition in Batam......

Well, they surely make us very proud.

God bless....
William

PC Recyle Project

Dear PC Recycle Team, Brothers and Sisters

The Canossaville Children's Home has requested assistance set up at their premises, the 20 PCs they will collect from Singapore Polytechnic.
Details of the work to be done will come later but I would like to know the availability of volunteers from among us. It will likely be on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon since we all have our own personal schedule to attend to.

If there are among us who are available on a weekday, arrangements can also be made.

If you wish to find out more about the Home, here is the link,

http://www.catholic.org.sg/canossaville/home.htm

Let me know soon. I think the teens will be excited and waiting to get working on the PCs!

Edmund

Rempang Construction update June 2007

Letter from Father Yance June 2007

OLPS PC Recycling Project Announcement

If you have a used PC of at least Pentium 3 (purchased no earlier than 2003)and would like a Friend of SVDP benefit from it, please let us know via email or SMS and we will arrange for you to send it to the PC Recycling Team@OLPS

Que Pasa Event

OLPS Kid's Carinval

Dear all,

I was there yesterday at the Kid's Carnival and I can tell you that the FiNs that I met there were all having a ball of a time. The children (some were teens) were all lugging with them the prizes that they won - bow & arrow sets, hula hoops, toy, mini game sets and lots of bags of munchies. But more importantly, they were all there having fun as a family together.

The 3 tickets per child / accompanying adult made it a luxury for them to enjoy themselves there. This is something they don't usually have the priviledge of having. I would like to echo what Yvonne said to you guys in ther email message .... thank you for initiating this, spending time selling tickets and thinking of Bethany & SSVP.

God Bless you all & Thank you once again!
Stan

OLPS Kid's Carnival Thank You Note

On behalf of the kids at Bethany we want to say a great big Thank You to all parishioners who have contributed so generously thus allowing us to participate and enjoy ourselves at the Kids Carnival.

A great big thank you also to those who initiated this idea.

May God shower His blessings on you all abundantly.

Much much love
Yvonne Yeo

Kid's Carnival Ticket Selling Fast!

OLPS Kid's Carnival is coming soon! Just four days away! Yipee!

How cool is Fr Greg!

Forgotten Children of Providence

They study at St. Ignatius Lolyola Elementary School and 60% of them live at the St. Theresia Dormitory run by the Catholic Diocese of Pangkal Pinang responsible for the Riau Islands. They are children from low income families living in the surrounding remote islands, wanting a basic education, in the hope of a better life. Without the school and dormitory, these children will not have access to primary education because of distance and the lack of finance, as their families are predominantly farmers and casual workers who cannot afford to send them to the government schools in Batam.

With limited resources, the Catholic Diocese can only provide one class for each grade from Grade 1 to Grade 6 (ages 6 to 12). There are 124 students attending the school, 74 of which stay at the dormitory.

The living conditions at the dormitory are modest. Water is from an open well and a manual water pump. Electricity is from a diesel generator which operates for a limited period at night. Cooking is with firewood collected from around the location. Food is simply rice with tapioca leaves supplemented by the occasional chicken.

The existing Girls Dormitory was built for 20 but they now have 29 living in it. The Boys Dormitory built for 34 has 45 currently. 30 more are expected in June. A double-decker bed is shared by 4 children. They sleep on mattresses without sheets or pillow cases. They also share towels and in so doing, share the skin diseases that plagued them due to poor hygiene, nutrition and their environment.

We are raising funds to improve the children’s living conditions. Priority is the building of a new dormitory, bedding and sanitation. Their scabies, head lice, malnutrition, infestation of tape and round worms, and other skin conditions were treated by a team of medical professionals in April this year, and it needs continued attention with medication.

We are also extending an invitation to anyone interested in experiencing mission work. Briefly, we are a group of Catholics from different churches inSingapore, who have come together to form a ‘Mission Outreach’.

Although itwas started by a priest in OLPS church, it is not limited to parishioners from that church or to Christians only. There is a core group and a larger secondary group made up of couples and singles especially young adults, as well as families, who come on mission together because they want to expose their kids to outreach and values of the faith such as compassion, service with special focus on the concept of a living faith, hence the Mission's emphasis on being "God's Love in Action". We are all created for that.

OLPS Kid's Carnival Project

On behalf of all SSVP Members and or FiNs (Friends-in-Need), THANK YOU for all your time spent and the energy that you all expanded over the past weekends to push the sale of these tickets for us.

We have not informed our FiNs yet of this Carnival that they will be invited to but I can assure all of you that the children and their parents will have a great time and will be grateful to you guys for this opportunity to enjoy, makan and spend time as a family at OLPS this coming National Day.

ALL tickets will be given to our FiNs & their children. Should I have any excess - these will go to FiNs who are old & parishioners or Catholics or just our older FiNs - in that order.

Again, we are all grateful for this event and we Praise the Lord also for the generosity of our parishioners in making this happen.

God Bless
Stanley Lim President,
SSVP Conference of OLPS

Fund Raising for Batam

We are organising several fund raising projects for St Ignatius Home - Batam for the following purposes :

1) Building of new dormitories (shortfall)

2) Buying of new beds (current ones are lice invested)

3) Landfill (site is next to a river, which floods and damages the buildings)

For those who have not been following up on St Ignatius Home, after two trips to wash, disinfect and paint the dormitories, they are now an improvement over the previously dingy and dilapidated state. However, the overcrowding has put the building of a new dormitory a priority, a challenge we have taken up for the Asrama.

Same goes for the beds and mattresses, we have de-loused and sunned the mattresses, painted the beds, but most of them are badly broken down and the mattresses badly soiled. The skin infections some of the children have are so bad, one of the doctors who went on the "Medical Trip" commented "it's the worst I've seen so far".

Landfill, is self explanatory.

We are fortunate that we have generous organisations who have donated their wares and space for this event, namely,

We have 200 JOOT straw bags, generously donated by JOOT to sell. And Que Pasa has generously allowed us to use their premises on the 18th of August between 6pm to 9pm to sell these bags!

We will be sending out an email blast soon...so stay tuned. But since you already know the date and time, please do come down and support this good cause or just come down and fill up with "spirits". Either way, we'll be glad you came, and we'd bet you'll be too....*wink*

Please click on the above link to get a sneak preview of the bags available for sale on that day. All proceeds from the sale will go to the building of the dormitories, land fill and new bedding. If you are unable to attend this event but would like to buy a bag or make a love offering, please email us.

Cheerio

Gerry

P.S. Que Pasa is located at No 7 Emerald Hill

Update : Tickets for SVDP & Bethany children for Kids Carnival on Aug 9 -

To date we manage to purchase 105 booklets for the of SVDP and Bethany. We are in the midst of making a decision as to how to allocate these booklets. Thank you to all of you for assistance and we will keep you updated on this shortly.

Tickets for SVDP & Bethany children for Kids Carnival on Aug 9 -

Dear Brothers and Sisters

You may already know that OLPS is organizing its 2nd Kids Carnival on Aug 9 on the Church grounds.

The kids and youths had a great time last year, especially at the games stalls, and so did some of the adults.

As the Church will be selling the tickets to the Carnival next week, we are also reaching out to you to give your support to this event. Not just in the invitation to come with your family but also to think about making a love offering to pool our resources to purchase tickets for the kids under the care of St Vincent de Paul and Bethany at OLPS. The tickets to be sold are $10 per booklet but if 10 of us give $2 each, at least two children can come to the Carnival, have a good time and meet friends on that day. And if we extend this outreach to the rest of the Parish, we can begin to count how many children can benefit from this little act of kindness.

However, to make this happen, we need to spread the word around and to set up a collection point for the love offering to come in. The most appropriate time will be during the Mass times in the coming two Sundays of 22 and 29 July. We can call this Project “Buy a Carnival ticket for SVDP & Bethany”

If you are able to help set up the collection point for the love offering either by preparing the posters or just being there to receive the offerings, pse let us know by return email or SMS to 98635329 and we will contact you.

If you want to purchase the Carnival Tickets for yourself and family or make a love offering to the Project, you may also let us know by return email or SMS to 98635329 and we will let you know where to collect your tickets or make the offering.

In the meantime, do pass the word around about the Project so that many more who are blessed can come forward to be a blessing to others and be God’s Love in Action!

Mission Outreach@OLPS

NASA and the BIBLE

(got it off an email..ldon't know if it is true...but an interesting read)

Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore, and a consultant in the space programmes, relates the following incident:

One of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland. They were checking out the positions of the sun, moon and planets out inspace where they would be 100, and 1000 years from now. We have to know this as we do not want a satellite to collide with any of these in its orbits.

We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite and where the planets will be so the whole project will not bog down. Computer measurements and data were run back and forth over thecenturies when suddenly it came to a halt, displaying a red signal, which meant that either there was something wrong with the information fed into it or with the results as compared to the standards.

They called in the service department to check it out, and the technicians asked what was wrong. The scientists had discovered that somewhere in space in elapsed time a day was missing. Nobody seemed able to come up with a solution to the problem. Finally one of the team, a Christian, said: "You know, when I was still in Sunday School, they spoke about the sunstanding still......."

While his colleagues didn't believe him, they did not have an answer either, so they said: "Show us." He got a Bible and opened it at the book of Joshua where they found apretty ridiculous statement for any one with 'common sense'. There they read about the Lord saying to Joshua: "Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not be a man of them stands beforethee." (Joshua 10:8).

Joshua was concerned because the enemy had surrounded him, and if darkness fell, they would overpower him.So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That's right - "And the sun stood still and the moon stayed, until thepeople had avenged themselves upon their enemies. So the sun stood stillin the midst of heaven and hastened not to go down about a whole day."(Joshua 10:13). The astronauts and scientists said: "There is the missing day!"

They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it, but it was not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua's day was 23 hours and 20 minutes - not a whole day. They read the Bible again and there itwas: "about (approximately) a day." These little words in the Bible were important, but they were still in trouble, because another 40 minuteswere still unaccounted for, and this could mean trouble 1000 years from now.

Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied manytimes over in orbits. As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere inthe Bible which said the sun went backwards. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but once again they opened the Book and read thesewords in 2 Kings.

Hezekiah, on his deathbed, was visited by the prophet, Isaiah, who toldhim he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for some sign as proof. Isaiahsaid: "Shall the sun go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?" And Hezekiah answered: "It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees; nay, but let the shadow return backwards ten degrees." And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz." (2Kings 20:9--11). Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes!

Twenty-three hours and twenty minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in 2 Kings accounted for the missing day in the universe!

ChiangMai Silent Retreat 21st to 25th September

Please let us know if you are interested to go for this retreat. We are in the process of booking for this trip. For more information, please go to the link under EVENTS.

Best regards,
Gerry

Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel

Dear All

The Sisters of Carmel in Singapore has invited the Mission Outreach Team@OLPS to join them in their celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel on Sunday 15 July 2007 (instead of 16 July) in St Teresa Church. There will only be 2 Masses for this celebration and they are at 2.30 pm (Mandarin) and 6.00 pm (English). Do come if you can make it.


Fyi, Sr Francisca will be discharged from the hospital today and she sends her thanks to all for our prayers for her and also God’s blessings in abundance on us all. Do continue to pray for her as she will continue her Chemotherapy until mid-August.

Carol & Edmund

Update on PC Recycling Project

We are very fortunate to have ready volunteers for this project and a few people have donated some PCs. Unfortunately we are in the midst of finding a suitable "work" area where we can store and repair these PCs. Please stay tuned.

Please pray for Elizabeth's soul

Fr Greg's mother Elizabeth, was called home to the Lord just over a week ago.

There will be a memorial mass this Thursday 12th July at 6:00 pm at OLPS for her. You are all invited to this memorial service. Please do try and make it.

Eternal rest grant upon Elizabeth, O Lord And let perpetual light shine upon her May she rest in peace.

God Bless, Carol

Please pray for Sr Francisca

Dear All

If you recall, Sr Francisca, one of 2 regular contacts between our Mission Outreach Team and the Carmel Sisters, recently went through an operation to remove cancer cells in her lymph nodes and is now undergoing chemotherapy.

She was warded last week due to high fever and low white blood cell count. The doctors are still trying to determine the cause and with 2 more cycles of chemo until mid August, I would like to ask for your prayers for her.

Despite her condition, she has informed me that all of us are always in her heart and prayer. She and Sr Angeline continues to pray for our mission outreach work and have invited us to be united in pray with them through the Angelus Prayer – 6 am, 12 noon and 6 pm.

Edmund

Ps: let me know if you have misplaced your copy of the Angelus.

Who says Religion Can't be funny 2

Who says Religion can't have a sense of humour?

St Ignatius - Batam Update

The landfill works is part of the plan which is one of the most important works that we must do in our school and dormitory. The reason why it is important is because our location is quite low, during the rainy season all the water comes onto the site and the river behind our site can not with hold that much of water and it causes flooding. The flood can reach up to the entire kitchen area and water closets.

So, our objectives are :
1. Increase the land elevation at the back
2. Widen the river and dig another channel
3. Eliminate the curve of the river by digging up a straight channel so the water can run smoothly to the sea.

In addition, the excavators to be brought in from Batam across the Batam Bridge , incurs a toll which adds to the cost of the works.

The alternative to lowering the cost is to do it manually, which the first mission outreach team from OLPS in June 2005 has shown it can be done when they dug out the stream to clear the choke. If we can find enough men and women to take this on, the Parishioners of Tembesi and local community are ever ready to work alongside with us, like they did in our trip last year.

I agree that will really put us outside our comfort zone but it allows us to answer the Church’s constant reminder to put our faith into action and to really show God’s Love in Action!

Edmund

Asrama - Tanjung Pinang Update

1. Placed order for new beds
2. Purchased (second hand) mattresses for the boys
3. Purchase (second hand) sofa set to set up a general office for official work (instead of using the bedrooms of the French Volunteers as is currently the case) and to meet the parents and visitors to the Asrama
4. New refrigerator for the kitchen to replace the existing one that is out of order

Nicholas de Francqueville’s replacement, Olivier Dubois has arrived and will be going through his orientation. Olivier’s stay at the Asrama will be a one year arrangement and he will be working with Laurent Dricot during this time.

Nicholas will be returning to France at the end of August, after 2 years at the Asrama.

Carol & Edmund
for Mission Outreach@OLPS

PC Recyling Outreach

We are in the process of working out the mechanics of this. So far, about 7 volunteers have stepped up to help in repairing the PCs which we are soon to ask our parishioners who have spare or unused PCs lying around (even some offices who are upgrading may want to donate their PCs...hint hint)

So if you guys want to help, please let us know. More hands make light work!

Revelations unravelled?

Letter to the Hebrews and the Book of Revelation By Fr Ambrose VazAre we living in the last days? Will we experience the rise of the Antichrist, the mark of the Beast, and The Great Tribulation in our lifetime? What are we to make of these “end-time” predictions?12 Mondays (7.45 pm - 9.45 pm) July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, August 6, 13, 20, 27, September 3, 10, 17.Contribution: $30

All courses will be held at CAEC, Singapore Pastoral Institute,2 Highland Road #02-02, Singapore 549102Tel: 68583011 Email: spi@catholic.org.sgCheck our website www.catholicspi.org

Always wanted to find out more about Revelations, can never understand the book. So maybe this is a good opportunity. Love Fr Ambrose Vaz's talks. He is a Professor of Sacred Scripture (S.S.L-Biblicum, Rome). He has been a priest for 23 years, serving in a number of Parishes in the Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore. Fr Ambrose Vaz is currently lecturing at the Major seminary. I've attended two of his other courses and it has given me a passion to find out more about the Bibile.

Gerry

PC Recycling Project

As we are already in an I.T age, and most households already have a home pc, however, there are families out there who are not able to afford a pc, and their kids need to be pc savy in this day and age.

Calling the Tech Savvy
Give an hour of your time at your convenience
to refurbish used PCs at OLPS for St Vincent de Paul.

If you are available, pse contact us at olpsmission@yahoo.com.sg
Or call [Carol 96732467] http://olpsmission.blogspot.com

So the idea is to :
Recycle used personal computers, through refurbishing and upgrading with parts from other used computers, for installation in the homes of the families under the care of the OLPS SVDP.

Steps to be taken
Invite Parishioners of OLPS to donate personal computers and modems to access the Internet that they no longer have use for because they are upgrading or have too many in their households. These equipment should be in working condition or at least can be reused as working parts of a recycled PC.

Those PCs of Pentium III and above can be refurbished and recycled in their entirety while those below Pentium III will have their parts (hard disk drives, floppy drive, sound cards, RAMs, etc) recycled.

The PCs will need to be housed at OLPS Parish or some place convenient and Project members, comprising PC enthusiasts, will roster their time to refurbish and recycle these PCs.

Thereafter, arrangements can be made with SVDP for these PCs to be delivered.

Periodically, any PC or parts that cannot be recycled will be sold to the junkyard.

Mission Outreach@OLPS

Personal Retreat - Chiang Mai September 12 t0 19

What I need is for you to let me know if you are keen on a Personal Retreat in Chiang Mai in September. Looking at Sep 12 to 19. Why those dates?

Coz Tiger Airways has a $1 promotion to Chiang Mai at that time. Please let us know.

The retreat centre is http://www.carefor.org/7fountains/7fountains_en.html.

Looking at 3 days silent retreat, and 2 days of R&R (where we can talk and talk.....)

June Kelong trip - any interest?

We can go for luxury $130 somewhere in Batam (see pdf file attached) or $45 in Malaysia, 2 days 1 night (basic). Either 16/17 June or 23/24 June. Please let us know

Background On Health Problems in Rempang

Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes that bite from dusk to dawn. Symptoms can develop as early as six days or as late as several months after exposure. Early symptoms are usually "flu-like", characterized by fever, chills, muscle aches, and headache. Cycles of chills, fever, and sweating that recur every 1, 2, or 3 days are typical. There can sometimes be vomiting, diarrhea, coughing and yellowing (jaundice) of the skin and whites of the eyes. For more information go to, http://www.medicinenet.com/malaria/article.htm

Scabies refers to an infestation by the small eight-legged itch mites (in contrast to insects, which have six legs). They are just 1/3 millimeter long and burrow into the skin to produce intense itching which tends to be worse at night. The mites which cause scabies are not visible with the naked eye but can be seen with a magnifying glass or microscope. These mites are very fastidious. They can only live off of a host body for 24 to 36 hours under most conditions. Transmission of the mites involves close person-to-person contact of the skin-to-skin variety. It is hard, if not impossible, to catch scabies by shaking hands, hanging your coat next to someone who has it, or even sharing bedclothes that had mites in them the night before.
Scabies produces small bumps and blisters in the webs between the fingers, on the wrists and the backs of the elbows, in the groin and on the knees, and on the buttocks - not every bump is a bug.

In most cases of scabies in otherwise healthy adults, there are no more than 10 or 15 live mites even if there are hundreds of bumps and pimples. Itching is the most common symptom of scabies and is insidious and relentless. For the first weeks, the itch is subtle. It then gradually becomes more intense until, after a month or two, sleep becomes almost impossible.
The "nocturnal" nature of this itch, emphasized to every doctor and nurse in training, can be misleading. All itching is worse at night, at least in part because there is not much going on to distract people from thinking about it. For more information pse refer to, http://www.medicinenet.com/scabies/article.htm

Note From Our Parish Priest

Wonderful, Edmund. Send my regards and thanks to all the zealous "missionaries". May God bless you all and your families.
Fr Greg

Medical Outreach

Dear Rev Fathers, Brothers and Sisters at OLPS, in the Partners in the Gospel and at Asrama Tarsisius in Tanjung Pinang

I wish to let you know that we arrived back at OLPS at around 7.30 pm this evening from our trip to Rempang safely and with a sense of accomplishment.

25 of us went and were given medical support from 15 doctors, dentist, nurses, religious and lay people from the Catholic Medical Guild in Singapore and from the St Elizabeth Hospital in Batam. The Parish of Tembesi, Maria Bunda Pembantu Abadi (Our Lady of Perpetual Help), who has been given the responsibility of the Asrama Santa Theresia in Rempang, extended a very warm welcome to us after Mass on Sunday.

The medical support which enabled us to treat the children at the Asrama and at the Santa Ignatius School, was timely as the skin diseases (mainly scabies) had already begun to spread to many of the children since our last visit in Nov last year, when the problem was first identified. The dental treatment given by the medical team will also arrest the spread of cavities in the children for the time being.

During our stay, our Team served as the hands and feet of the Sisters from the Jesus Mary Joseph Order who arrived in February to manage the Asrama, helping them with the housekeeping, such as clearing the rubbish and choked toilets (a humbling experience), cutting grass, leveling the grounds, all to ensure safety for the children when they run around the Asrama.

There is more work to be done from here on as there are 70 children living in 2 dormitories built for 50 and 30 more children are expected to join in the second half of this year. But our priority now is to pray for the healing and health of the children currently there.

On behalf of the Team I would like to thank you for all your prayers which have made the trip possible.

May God be Praised!


Carol
On behalf of the Rempang Mission Outreach Team 2007

New Beds For The Boys at Tanjung Pinang Within Sight

The dormitory in an army camp looks better than the onesthe boys sleep in at the moment.

There are some very thougtful benefactors who are looking into sponsoring the beds for the boys. Please pray for this to go smoothly as Jesus will make sure it succeeds.

Water Filtration System for Rempang

Our Technical Team has been hard at work trying to get the Water Filtration System Project a foot.

They are diligently working with Temasek Poly to make this a reality. The approval process for Temasek Poly to get the stuff together may take awhile, in the meantime, information of Rempang has been put together for them to peruse.

Once the approval is obtained, TP will require our assistance to facilitate a group of the 20 students to make a trip to Rempang and build the system.

Let's pray that this will materalize cause Rempang is badly in need of the Water Filtration System!

A great big THANK YOU to the Technical Team and Temasek Poly for the work you guys are putting in!

Lenten Prayer & Reflection Sessions

Dear brothers and sisters of MOT

For the season of Lent, we would like to hold a prayer and reflection session every Saturday at 8pm commencing this Saturday 3 March, following the prayer format in the Lenten reflection booklet provided by our Parish.

Please mark your calendars, 3 March, 10 March, 17 March, 24 March and 31 March 2007. We are also looking at the possibility of doing a weekend retreat at Galang (Batam) for the weekend of 31 March to 1 April 2007. Details to be advised.

As our Faith formation is personal yet interpersonal, we need each other to grow together in our faith journey. So please do try and make it.

Jesus Loves You.

Carol & Edmund Lee
on behalf of OLPS Mission Outreach

Sisters Home Is Ready!

The sister's home is ready, blessed and handed over to the Tembesis parish over the weekend. William Chandra, represented our community, OLPS on this joyous occassion. The Bishop of Pangkalpinang sent his no 2 to officiate the occasion. You'll be pleased to know that there are 2 sisters from the Jesus Mary Joseph Order to manage the boarding home, Santa Theresia already in Rempang!

Our brothers and sisters in Rempang appreciate our support and has invited us to go back.

May God be Praised!
Carol

Naomi Gan's Testimonial

As usual, our family battled about where to go for our annual vacation. We are confronted with the usual questions – should it be the east or west, a cold or warm destination, theme parks or mountain retreats, the hustle and bustle of the city or a slow and quiet getaway to the countryside. We finally settled on New Zealand.

As the vacation days drew closer, I became more unsettled. It just did not seemed right. I have been telling Gabe that we should either go to a holy site or to a third world country so that our kids get to see the other side of life. Gabe, being the well traveled one, as usual, kept telling me that they are not ready and that the living conditions in India, Cambodia or Vietnam, destinations which I suggested, may be too harsh for us. Basic necessities like water and food would be a challenge in some of these areas.

I prayed that God would direct the way in our choice of a vacation destination. Lo and behold, within a week, I read in the Holy Family bulletin that there is a retreat in Thailand. I called up the organizer and found out that the retreat would not be appropriate for Joshua as he would be too young to participate in the spiritual reflections meant for adults. Just within weeks, there was a road show held at OLPS to recruit youth for a mission in Thailand. This time, only Justin qualifies as he is a youth and the rest of us were either too young or old to join them. I cannot deny that I was disappointed.

As if by divine intervention, Carol sent us an email informing us of the Rempang trip. When I called her, she said yes, the whole family could come along and that there were other families signing up for the mission as well. Immediately I signed up and paid in full before anyone could change their minds after I managed to convince them. I must say it was no easy task and the sense of skepticism was certainly in the air.

Having read through the testimonials of my husband and children, I am indeed thankful to God for giving us this opportunity to be part of this mission. Since our return from the trip, I don’t hear the kids complaining about food too much like they used to. I was amazed that all three of them wanted to go for more of such missions. Joshua wanted to sign up for the next mission immediately – the one at Tanjong Pinang but we were not able to take leave.

After all that is said and done, my thoughts are that every OLPS parishioner should go for a mission at least once. We took away from Rempang more than we put in. I found joy as a family doing God’s work… each in our little ways. The masonry work was back wrecking as we had to carry bricks in the hot sun and I am sure the digging of trenches for drainage was even worse for the guys. My kids and I have never cemented bricks or painted walls and ceilings. Certainly we will all remember the great time we had and of course, our strained and overworked muscles.

The people in Rempang reminded me that it does not take much to be a happy person. Both adults and children alike lived in simplicity yet there is always laughter and sharing of what little they had.

I was quite appalled to see the leaking roof in the children’s dormitories, the damped and sometimes almost hollow mattresses on which the kids slept, the broken doors which barely serve its purpose, the small portion of food each kid received at meal time and the unhygienic conditions there – all thriving on the one water pump which OLPS installed during the last mission trip.

I know the money the parishioners of OLPS donated to this cause has been put to good use. What little we have done has helped improve the lives of those at Rempang. We are certainly blessed. Let us continue to be a blessing to others.


Naomi Gan
OLPS Mission Outreach 2006 - Rempang

Habitat For Humanity Singapore

Would anybody be interested?

Please register on line with Habitat for Humanity and let them know you are from OLPS Mission Outreach Team.

Last September, Habitat for Humanity Singapore initiated Operation Homeworks to help improve the living conditions of the elderly. The event brought much joy to the elderly as their homes were now cleaner and safer. Some also had beds and cupboards replaced. As we welcome the new year, Habitat is again looking for volunteers to help clean up the homes of another group of elderly.

Project details: Date : 3 Feb 2007 Time : 9am - 6pm Venue : Blk 61 and 62 Geylang Bahru

Volunteers are required to attend a training session prior to the actual event.

For more information about the project, log on to:

http://www.habitat.org.sg/volunteer/homeworks/homeworks.htm

To participate in this project, you can register at: http://www.habitat.org.sg/volunteer/homeworks/ophw.htm

If you are joining as a group of friends and want to be work together as a team, please give yourself a 'team name' so that we can group you together.

Registration closes on the 12 Jan 2007.

If you have other expertise like photography or videography skills, kindly state it in your registration.

Blessings, Habitat for Humanity Singapore

A Letter from The Bishop Of Pangkal Pinang