Farewell Fr Henri! We love you and we'll miss you!!!

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows and one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Today is also the day that Fr Henri leaves for France after having spent almost 50 years in Asia, of which 32 years in Indonesia.

With a sorrowful and grateful heart, we wish him goodbye. He is a true missionary. Getting to know Fr Henri and his works was like getting to know Jesus We thank God for Fr Henri. He has touched many of us, just by being a disciple of Jesus We entrust Fr Henri's health to our Lord Jesus We ask that if it is His will, Fr Henri will be able to come back here to visit us We ask that if it is His will, we can visit Fr Henri in his retirement home in south west of France, about 500km from Paris

Thank you Fr Henri. We and many others will miss you. In His time, we will meet again.
With love and prayers,

Your OLPS Mission Outreach Family
P.S. Please recite the rosary today for our Mother to intercede for us.

November 2008 - Rempang Update by Alex

All:
I went to Rempang and Shalom resort today with Alvin, Pheck Choo and 10 other people who were part of the group invited by Andrew Kang to stay in Shalom. We had a great trip! The highlight was relaxing and exchanging ideas in Shalom. We also visited Rempang. I got lots of insights from the group who includes farming experts and importer/distributor of crops in Singapore. One thing we all had in common was the desire to do mission work.
Here are my notes from the trip:
Rempang:
- Fish farm is going well. The first harvest was consumed by the kids and asrama members. The 2nd group is almost ready for harvesting. Lots of catfish! They are working to be self sufficient with creating the starters. They plan to start selling the catfish in the future. It takes about 4 weeks to reach the stage where they can sell them in the market. The potential is promising.
- They are planning to raise chickens in the area behind the pond. They received donation of chicks from Surabaya but unfortunately they all died because the infrastructure was not ready. The chicken huts are almost complete. It is unclear how they plan to get the chicks. Andrew offered assistance with the chicks. I will discuss this with William. The agriculture experts pointed out that the droppings would be excellent source of fertilizers for the plantation. I relayed the tips to Gerardus on how to utilize them.
- Boys dorm almost complete. Need to install doors and finish the wing adjacent to the existing dorm. They expect to move in by the end of the month.
- There is a training plot for farming by the teachers' quarters! This is a government sponsored project. We were impressed by the set up! It looks like a real farm, neatly arranged and separated. This project only got started in the past month but the progress is really impressive. Different crops are being planted: chili, long beans, melons, even durian! It is very obvious the project is led by someone who knows farming. The government put a banner in front of the plot indicating this was a government (dept iof agriculture) nitiative to assist the local community to be more self sufficient. The farmers under Fr Yance' CU scheme are being trained there. The goal is to scale up the farm and utilize the Agrilindo land. I was in disbelief how much progress they made in so short time.
- I learned from Gerardus that the CU was going well. There 30 farmers split in several groups. They got the first harvest done and were successful in selling the crops. The demand for the crops was strong which was encouraging. If this is indeed true, the farmers will be motivated to take on the Agrilindo land. They did mostly corn.
- Another surprise: the government is building 3 classrooms. The structure is about 50% done. The plan is to move the classrooms from the wooden structure to these. The budget as indicated in the project board is Rp.3,850,000 or over $50k. It is clearly stated that the owner is St Ignacius school. I found it to be uncommon for the government to finance the construction of a private (and Catholic) school but let's praise the Lord!
- Myo is leaving in January. They are expecting a French married couple to replace her.
- The Agrilindo land is not exactly adjacent to the Asrama. It is about 200 meters and through challenging terrains. I am not sure we are better off taking this plot or the original plot by the front entrance (by the road). The plot behind the asrama will be tough to clear. I told Gerardus and the Agrilindo team that we needed to think about this. I would like to discuss with William and Fr Yance.
Shalom:
- Not much progress on the boarding home. They have funding to sponsor the kids but have not hired any teachers.
- The agriculture expert decided not to stay.
- They have planted 12k tapioca plants in 2 hectares. The first group will be harvested soon. They plan to use for self consumption and chicken feeds.
- The chicken farming is going well. The group would be having ayam kampung goreng for dinner! I think they can help Asrama with the chicken farming.
- They have cleared another 1 hectare by slash and burn. Andrew was asking the experts for what to plant. The suggestions were: seedless guava, sweet corn, sweet potato and tomatoe.
Andrew and I discussed the potential synergy in crop selection, purchasing seeds and selling the crops. He is also interested in the CU model. We agreed to continue the discussion and possibly meet with Fr Yance.
I still need to contact Fr Yance about the MOU. I will keep you posted.
I had to return back tonight but wished could stay with everyone else in Shalom.
Thanks to Pheck Choo for the trip.
Regards,
Alex

Boys Dorm Rebuilding Update

We were introduced to a Christian group doing mission outreach in Batamand a few of us met them last week to find out more out their outreachwork.

In the course of our conversation, we brought up our intendedtrip to Rempang and we were informed that they currently have a team ofconstruction workers in Galang who is looking for work ... and yes, forthose who remember, Galang is just 10 minutes from the Asrama.

I put them in touch with William Candra and he confirmed just now thatthe workers are available to work on the dormitory rebuilding.Praise the Lord, and as we now do not need to send manpower to assist, afew of us will still be taking a day trip to Rempang this coming weekendto see the progress of the dormitory and the work of the Christianmission team.

Pse continue to pray for the rebuilding of the dormitory.

Thank you.

PC Recycling Project

To-date we have recycled a total of 44 sets of PCs of various configuration not less than a Pentium 3 and 7 monitors on a stand alone basis to students looked after by the Society of St Vincent de Paul in OLPS, Church of St Stephen, Holy Trinity Church, the Catholic boys boarding home Asrama Santa Tarsisius in Tanjung Pinang and religious from various orders in the Diocese.

With the lower demand and supply, and our busy work schedules, we are stepping down our efforts and will continue to do the PC recycling adhoc on demand and availability basis.

Thank you for signing up and being part of this project.God bless.Edmund

MISSION PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION IN CONJUNCTION WITH WORLD MISSION SUNDAY 2008

This year ACMA is organizing a photography competition - “What Mission in our Catholic Church means to You?” - which is open to all members of the Catholic Church of Singapore, including those from religious communities.

We hope this competition will encourage more Catholics to be involved in missionary activities of the Church. The photograph(s) should be of any missionary activity that they have been involved in or that they have encountered – whether in Singapore or abroad.

There will be two categories, a Youth and an Open category. The competition starts from June 1 to July 31, 2008, 5pm. There will be attractive cash prizes and one year's subscription of World Mission Magazine awarded to the first three winners of both categories.

For more details email to: acmasg@singnet.com.sg or call 64749184 (Mon-Fri, 1-5pm). Download the Registration Rules and Form here.

Unfortunate News About Asrama

Dear All,

(Translated in English:)

On June 2 at 3 am, the boys dorm caught on fire. One of the boys hadwoken up at 2:30 am and read a book using an oil lamp. He fell asleep and the book must have fallen on the lamp which subsequently could have knocked it off against the mattress. The mattress and the book caught on fire. He and other boys woke up.

The people who live in the community helped to put the fire out. The dorm where the boys sleep (sleeping room) has been damaged heavily. We are going to need to tear it down because the foundation is not strong and the elevation is too low causing it to be flooded frequently.

Today, Chandra and I are going to estimate the cost to rebuild the dorm.See attached for pictures that I took yesterday.

Thank you. Please pray for us.

Shalom,
Fr. Yance

Teaser Photos of Rempang May 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters

35 of us from various Parishes and religious denominations, made it to Rempang this trip together with 14 from the Singapore Catholic Medical Guild on the first day and 12 Medical students from the Duke-NUS Medical School on the 3rd day who provided medical care and health education, respectively, to the children and the local community in Rempang.

The members in our team comprised the young and the eldest at 67.

The parents of the children and local community showed up in numbers to work alongside with us digging drainage, land filling and river clearing among other works.

We all experienced the same warm hospitality and kindness from the community and children accorded to us in previous visits.

Many of us went with the primary objective of helping Rempang but realized at the end of the trip that the friendship we built and the love we experienced during our 4 days there were more important.

Meanwhile, Happy Pentecost and remember it’s back to the Angelus Prayer from now.
Edmund