4th Miri BB Has a New Blog

As part of the church wide effort to create a blogsite for GMC with links all its ministries, I have created a new blog for 4th Miri Company. Please click on the title of this post to visit the blog. In future, all BB activities will be posted on the new blog.

Happy Birthday Min Waye

Min Waye celebrates her 7th birthday on 7th Feb. She was just a tiny tot when we came to Miri more than 5 years ago. She is now in Standard 1 at Chung Hua Krokop. She is also the class monitor! From the pix you can see how fast she has grown. Happy Birthday to you, Min Waye.

6th birthday.

5th birthday.

4th birthday.
3rd birthday
2nd birthday.

More Photos - Siew Yew's Family

Here are the group/family photos taken on the last day of their trip.

This photo has everyone in it - 25 of us!

Eldest sister & family.

2nd sister & family.3rd sister & family
Father and younger brother & family.

Another younger brother & son.

Siew Yew's father and the grandchildren.

The 4 sisters with their father.

Finally, a short video clip capturing some of the memorable moments.

Chinese New Year in Miri

Siew Yew's family members arrived safely in Miri on the 2nd day of CNY. This has been a long anticipated visit ... in fact we have waited for 5 years for this!! Finally, capitalising on the zero fare promotion from MAS, 20 of them came to Miri to celebrate CNY.

We were worried of the weather because it had been raining for weeks. Most of our program were outdoor, including visiting the famed Niah Cave and Lambir Hills National Park. Going to these places during monsoon season was not really a good idea. We took a wait-and-see attitude .... if the weather was not good then we would scrap the plan. Amazingly we were blessed with fine weather and were able to cover all the planned activities! Praise the Lord for answered prayer!

The gathering was such a blessing. Imagine 25 persons, young and old, squeezing under one roof! There were so much of catching up to do. Some of the children (well .... teenagers to be exact) managed to learn how to cycle during the short stay at our place. Cycling is not something one would pick up in KL, given the safety and security consideration.

After 3 days of fellowship and fun, they left for KL on Friday, leaving behind fond memories.

Group photo at Lambir Hills National Park. Some family members were not in the picture because they decided to trek further to another waterfall. Look how happy Siew Yew was.

Splashing time at the waterfall.
Taman Awam. Notice the sunshine in the picture? It was still raining when we arrived. The sky cleared up and the kids (including some over-aged ones) managed to play at the pool.

Meal time. Praise the Lord for our maid who did most of the cooking.

At Canada Hill.

The Ladies visiting the Grand Old Lady of Miri.

We were pleasantly surprised that the Petroleum Museum was open.

BBQ dinner at our place.

Sharing from Pastor Law after the BBQ dinner.

Min Jed, Min Waye and their cousin, Kit Hoe at the beach.

Taking a boat ride to cross the river to Niah Cave.

Group photo at Niah Cave .... (technically this is Deer Cave, just outside of Niah Cave).

Blessed New Year

Wish everyone a Blessed Chinese New Year!

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year. As in previous years, we decided to stay in Miri to celebrate the new year. After the church service in the morning, we went visiting friends. The first stop was our small group leader's home, Simon and Sally at Piasau Garden. Tien and family went with us. Pastor also showed up later. We also visited Jimmy & Amy, Peter & Margaret, and later in the afternoon Tien and Bee Gin.

We were the 1st visitors to Simon & Sally's place. The keropok was gone in minutes!

Pastor Law and family came later.
Jimmy & Amy's cosy home was our second stop. The hosts treated us with mee shua.The kids enjoying themselves.

Simon & Sally together with Herbert & Mui Foon dropped by our place for a visit.

Later in the evening we had Tien's family and Lucy & kids at our place. We were keeping to the Chinese tradition, visiting one another during this joyous occasion. My girls were happily counting their "ang-pow" money, reminding us when we were their age.

Siew Yew's family members will arrive tomorrow for a 3 days visit. 20 of them in total, and many of them will be visiting Sarawak for the very first time. We have lined up some interesting program for them .... but have to pray that it won't be a wet vacation!

4th Miri BB 2008 Year End Party

We had our year end party last Saturday, then we were off for a holiday break until 10th January 2009. The party was jointly organised with 4th Miri GB. Here are some of the photos taken:-

Lt. Roseline receiving her certificate from our Chaplain, Rev. Pastor Law.

Sim shaking hand with Rev. Law, after receiving his badges.
Yong Shiuan getting his Gold Award. He and Ming Yih (who was away for the youth camp) were the 1st two recipients of this award from 4th Miri. Well done!!
Playing games.

Thank you Siew Yew ... you are always there to support.

The party begins!

This is a short video showing the 2008 activities:-

Cambodia Mission Trip (Part II)

Last Sunday I shared my testimony during the church service, both the morning and evening sessions. The key point was we as Christians should make mission work as part of our Christian life. There are some members of our church who do just that: going for mission after mission. Praise the Lord for giving them that vision and a humble heart to serve in this manner.

Cambodia opens its door to the world. Along with progress and development came certain negative influences. Christian organisations around the world are working very hard to bring the Gospel to this land. An important strategy would be to help the local Christians to be on their own footing and be self sufficient. To this end both short term and long term mission works are an essential part to realise this vision. I am glad to know that there are already a number of brothers and sisters who have already signed up for the 2009's trip. Amongst them are two of my young colleagues in my department.

It took me 4 years before I signed up for mission work. The Disciple (I) course and the 40DOP campaign helped me to realise the importance of doing mission work. We as children of God need to offer ourselves as vessels for Him to use to bring the Gospel to others. The love of Christ and the grace of God is not for us to keep to ourselves, but to share with others.

I used these two videos during my sharing:-

(1) Cambodia Mission 2008


(2) Cambodia Children


Most of the photos used in the videos are taken by Dr Edward Tiong.

Glory to God.