20/05 Sunday: Gotong Royong Bees

14/05 Monday: Riding the Airwaves
by Adventist World Radio

"He was punished and persecuted by his people for saying he was a follower of Jesus. On one of the occasions in which he was put in jail, he happened to hear an AWR broadcast in the Afar language." Read more.

16/05 Midweek: A Singaporean Sabbath testimony
Read it at http://dialogue.adventist.org/articles/07_3_wong_e.htm

Tell us about your experience as a Seventh-day Adventist attending a public university.
My student experience at the National University of Singapore was a challenging one. Because I was the only Adventist in the medical school, I was bombarded by many questions regarding my faith by Christians of other denominations, for they considered Adventism a cult. I had to really search the Scriptures to come up with adequate answers and to share my convictions.

Did you encounter any problems at the university?
One major problem I faced was Sabbath observance. We had classes, tutorials, and exams on Saturday almost every week, and I had to request rescheduling. Occasionally things worked out, but many times I had to skip classes and tutorials and fail the exams.

Read more. SDA

19/05 Sabbath: "In One Accord"
key lesson from the sermon by Bro. Anandan, Balestier Rd. SDA Church

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Then...(the disciples) returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. (see Acts 1:11-14)

With one accord in prayer and supplication the people gathered in the upper room. There were differences between them: they had their unique personalities, unique way of doing things and unique ways of dealing with things. There were women in the room as well as men. They have been told to wait in Jerusalem for "the Promise of the Father", but for how long? Yet with one accord they talked to the Lord and petitioned Him for their needs, humbling themselves before Him in making their requests. SDA

Visitors from Balestier Rd. SDA church

20/05 Sunday: Gotong Royong Bees

The quarterly churchground maintenance work began at around 0830hrs, with about 15-20 persons involved or preparing to be involved in various chores like felling trees, clearing drains, inspecting roof(s), cleaning air-conditioner filters, tidying pews and other church furniture, cooking lunch, mopping tiled floors, cutting grass (work done by an outside contractor), chopping up felled trees, burning beehives, scooping leaves from the koi pond, stripping yellowing leaves from palms, sweeping dust and pushing dirt, and doing practically everything that Singaporeans do not have to do at their Seventh-day Adventist churches.

Ropes were fastened Pathfinder-style to any tree we intended to fell. Chainsaws and parangs were employed. At Pastor Money's command, men, women and teenagers played tug-of-war with the tree in a bid to ensure that its demise would not sever overhead power lines. Felled trees were chopped up as much as possible into manageable pieces, which were then dragged across the scorching hot lawn to the jungle behind the pastor's office.

At approx. 1045hrs, the stripping of palm leaves at the koi pond area stirred some bees. They promptly began attacking flesh, and our good friend Thomas Tham got stung approx. 20 times. Hui helped to swipe the insects off Tham's back, and soon found himself a target. Mrs Tan, Timon, Victor and the pastor did helicopter rotor blades with a variety of cloths in a bid to swing them off; some were stung, but injuries were not serious. As the bees went zigzag across the SDAJB landscape, people went for cover inside the sanctuary (main church hall), Youth Centre, elevated cabin and their vehicles. Tham himself hurried into Hui's car; he was later taken to Hospital Sultanah Aminah, where Hui's wife, Yip Fong, is a doctor. She administered injections to 4 persons later that morning; Tham is now warded and may have to stay overnight under medical observation. He still has a smile on his face.

As the charade ended, work resumed. Mrs Ng emerged from the Youth Centre inner room and commenced cooking. Food is one of God's most tangible blessings, so we thank her efforts. Ingredients were supplied by Mrs Tan. Amazing, amazing, amazing, how vegetarian food can taste soooo good! And there wasn't any fake chicken, imitation crabmeat or whatever. Hui came back from the Hospital and packed some of the food for Tham.

Lunch ended at 1300hrs...hands went back to work. There were trunks, branches and twigs to be burned up (together with a dead rambutan tree that used to produce very sweet fruit). Pastor Money suggested we go visit Tham after the cleanup.

This is Gotong Royong in SDAJB! SDA