CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER - A TRIBUTE

Christopher Plummer, Sound of Music star and oldest actor to win an Oscar, dies aged 91

Christopher Plummer, an outstanding Hollywood actor, will be remembered for his portrayal as General Chang in the Star Trek movie, The Undiscovered Country. 

He played the role of a nasty warmonger, an evil genius who tries to sabotage plans, by people of goodwill, to make peace between the Federation and the Klingons. Plummer's performance, a far cry from his role as a gentlemanly widow in The Sound of Music, eclipsed the rest of the cast in the Star Trek movie. 

The make-up artists did a great job on him: the battle-scarred face, the patch on his left eye, and his bald look accentuated his smoldering grunts and the evil intent of his smiles and gestures. And they also made him spew several Shakespearan lines to complicate and dignify the thuggish Chang character. Plummer's brilliance will be missed.    

AN UPDATE

 Dear Praying Friends, 

22/01/2021 

Blessings n greetings from Bolivia! 

Thank you for your prayer support in these trying times. Praise the Lord for all of you! Serving in Bolivia is like a never-ending David and Goliath battle.  

A few days ago during my weekly meeting with the clergy through zoom, we received reports of an increasing number of COVID-19 related deaths and infections. Except for one congregation, the rest have gone back to digital services. 

Pray for the church's zoom driven discipleship programs to thrive and grow during the week. Together with the senior clergy, we are working towards a national leadership training program in March...pray for the Lord to equip His Church to face the challenge of making disciples from the COVID-19 harvest. Pray for anointing, confidence, and for humility to learn. 

Pray for a revival that will move many to Christ and pray for the church to reap and disciple this harvest! 

The present government has more or less chosen the economy n politics over the need for strong social measures to stem COVID-19's rising tide e.g rigid quarantine 

The doctors and frontline medical staff lobby for the latter because health services have broken down again before the avalanche of cases in the hospitals. 

Meanwhile campaigning for the regional elections on March 7th, to elect governors and mayors, continues unabated without much interest in social distancing. Some candidates have died and infections continue to mount. Lord have mercy on us! 

One silver lining is the cancelation in February of the annual "Carnaval" - 3 days of debauchery, drunkenness, waste, and deaths from fights and road accidents. Sadly, only the COVID-19 threat, has the muscle to overcome the big financial interests (liquor companies) that prop up Carnaval. 

Pray for the Anglican church to GROW and find its voice and testimony in the midst of a growing national tragedy. We have perhaps yet to see the worse of COVID-19. 

Pray for Michelle n I to not lose our bearings and to find the quality time to build up each other in Christ. We work from home these days and spend most of our time in this self-imposed confinement. 

Thank you once again for your support and intercessions.  PTL!

GOD'S MERCIFUL JUDGEMENT!

GOD'S MERCIFUL JUDGEMENT!

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God Hebrews 10:26-27

...our God is a consuming fire - Hebrews 12:28-29

Judgment offends our charitable instincts and doesn't sound optimistic enough to the contemporary ear. 

But it's almost impossible to read the biblical narrative and not bump into judgment: its precedents and its results. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews talks about the fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire.  

Most of us want an immediate word of consolation in the midst of our losses and misery; judgment elicits guilt and not the sort of consolation we yearn for.  And how does one sweeten the fearful expectation of judgment?    

Jesus prophetically denounced the Pharisees and then spared no bones in invoking judgment over Israel, cities, and the nations. And it's especially difficult to ignore judgment if one adds the woes in Revelations, the last book of the bible.   

His judgments although retributive, are by n large restorative and merciful when set within the universal intent of scripture. And his Son's death on the cross sort of sums up the retributive-restorative-merciful matrix. He submitted his Son to the inevitability of His judgment not to condemn but to lovingly satisfy the thirst for justice and reveal His new creation.   

Hence we testify to His merciful judgments with broken hearts, pleading for salvation.  

Some feel uncomfortable talking about judgment cuz it makes them vulnerable to accusations of self-righteousness. And of course, they're right.   

And we shy away from the language of judgment because we perhaps don't want, to somehow, misrepresent God and "blame" Him for natural disasters and evil in the world. It's easier to blame impersonal natural forces and bad people. This line of reasoning leaves God either out of the natural process, or it makes Him out to be servile to nature and human folly. Many are content to declare a mystery here and move on. Not so fast. Maybe we shouldn't move on. Like Job, let's get to grips with the Holy mystery of God, shed tears, wrestle with our doubts, and go to the Cross, cling to His promises, and - Let God be God.   

Christ's cruel death on the cross, hovers, like an eagle, over horrific natural disasters, evil, and sicknesses in human history; His suffering and tears mingle with ours and vice-versa. Christ bore our judgment; and transforms our victimization and helplessness not only in His death; but also in the hope of His resurrection. And it's in His resurrection and pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem where God's judgment will find its significance not as the final chapter of our story, but as a necessary stepping stone to the greater glory of our heavenly redemption in the New Jerusalem! 

So, let the biblical testimony bend the contemporary ear to listen to the eternal hope of judgment!         

BOLIVIAN CV-19 UPDATE 3

"...Israelites...cried out...God heard their groaning" - Ex 2:23-24

A CRY FOR MERCY...

We pray for Mercy - somewhere in the genetic depths of lost humanity we know God is Merciful.

Lord have mercy on us! Christ have Mercy! Lord have Mercy!

Bolivia gets a mention towards the end in this surprisingly ideologically-free report from THE GUARDIAN, below, on the impact of the pandemic amongst the poor in Latin America.

The Anglican Church in Bolivia helps to serve the needy in our midst. The Lord uses the little we have to reach out to the masses. I try and keep in touch with the clergy and lay leaders through Facebook and Watsaap as they try and minister to the community around them.

Please pray for church leaders and their families. This has been a stressful time for siblings n marital relationships. Pray for families to turn to the Lord in prayer and for peace to prevail in their homes as the stress of the confinement takes its toll.

Pray for the Lord's mercy to take charge of impossible situations in families where buried resentments and unforgiveness surface in these times of uncertainty and impotence. Christians and their leaders on all levels are not exempt from bust-ups in the present crisis.

Pray for the Lord to provide the necessary wisdom, faith, healing, meekness, and finances to meet the present and future challenges in the life of the Church. Prayer for a new generation of hands-on leaders to serve the Lord in a fallen world of selfishness.

Pray for the government to find a way through the competing needs of safety from the pandemic and for people to earn a living. This article below from THE GUARDIAN deals with this issue, from the perspective of the poor.

There doesn't appear to be a centralized "one size fits all solution" from the top but a more community-based approach with direct help and coordination from the municipality and the central government appears to be the way forward. To some extent, this is already happening in the midst of a situation without any precedent, in Bolivia.

Pray for the Bolivian governing authorities to find resources and to persevere and to not buckle under the strain of this growing pandemic.

And pray for us to not fear the darkness of CV-19 but to plead In Christ, from a place of brokenness, in a heartfelt cry for His Mercy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/21/latin-america-coronavirus-lockdowns-low-income

BOLIVIAN CV – 19 UPDATE 2

“SOUND THE TRUMPET” 15th of April 

…first angel blew his trumpet, there followed hail and fire…Rev 8:7

Pray for us as we pray for all of you…we’re in this together – the Lord is blowing His trumpet and rallying His Bride around a fresh revelation of His Glory in the midst of great upheaval and suffering.

In South America, the presidents of Bolivia and Paraguay have publicly in their speeches pleaded for their people to trust the Lord and to pray to Him. In Ecuador over 7000 have the virus and more than 700 have died.

President Añez of Bolivia announced yesterday the decision to extend the national quarantine till the 30th of April. A new minister of health took over last week from the previous minister - he resigned for personal reasons.

In Bolivia, we’ve registered 354 CV-19 cases and 28 deaths. Santa Cruz, the region where I serve, has the highest infection and mortality rate. Relative to other countries our casualty rate doesn’t seem high; but the government rightly fears a catastrophe of massive proportions that would rip apart a frail national health system, if the disease spreads exponentially.

Hence the decision to err on the side of caution, apply the sledgehammer of a national curfew with very limited movement to only buy groceries and to do basic banking.

Various communal self-help initiatives have surfaced spontaneously led by the police and the municipality to feed the needy. Our congregations have tried to help out as well in this pandemic. One of them put together a plan to reach out to the elderly and to the more vulnerable in their communities.

Ministry opportunities in this period of uncertainty have opened up opportunities on the internet for small groups, personal counseling, and teaching clips. The confinement has either brought families together or divided couples and caused grief in families.

SO, IS CV-19 GOD’S JUDGEMENT? – The contours of biblical judgment, with fear and trembling, suggest a “Yes” and reflects our failed and incomplete accountability to a moral God in control of humanity, nature, and the historical processes.  

The gamut of His judgment includes eternal punishment, restoration, redemption, retribution, cause-effect, vindication, separation, discipline through plagues, natural disasters, and endless human folly and pride.

God, faithful to His righteous love, not only shatters human pride in judgment, but he also identifies deeply with those who suffer, through Christ’s Death on the Cross. An exclusive emphasis on the latter at the expense of the former sounds palatable, to the world and to liberal Christianity, partly because God comes across as a benign, long-suffering and therapeutic relative who nurses us back to health.

The biblical revelation, however, also speaks of propitiation on the Cross that permits salvation by Christ, the conviction of sin, a call to repentance and the thrust to disciple the nations.

May the Lord grant us grace to speak and sing boldly to the sound of His trumpet

Noticias recientes, deportes, farándula y mucho más. EL DEBER informa, educa y entretiene.

SOUL-LIKE BOLIVIAN MOMENT

A sense of hope colors her face 

with a well-proportioned smile, 

the almost perfect design of her 

cheeks and teeth hide a beauty 

yet to be seen;

Her innocent eyes, a hint of pain 

from life, invite us to dance with the
soul-like Bolivian moment of her 

hair blown by the wind.

A BOLIVIAN CV-19 UPDATE 1 

Bolivia locks herself down in a life n death struggle with, CV-19, an unseen enemy!

We’re allowed to shop at the supermarket for our daily needs but we can only do it once a week. The police and the military patrol the streets. My barrio looks abandoned … there’s nothing for the dogs to bark at; cars have disappeared from the streets, and all shops and banks remain closed. It’s different in the poorer districts at the periphery of the major cities of Bolivia - markets here are open and people mingle with little understanding of social distancing. Slowly but surely people are adhering to the rules.

President Añez declared a 3-week quarantine that will hopefully be lifted on the 15th of April. In terms of church-life, congregations meet through Zoom for bible studies, Sunday services, and other meetings. It’s a novel experience for many – sadly not everyone has a smartphone. The President has chosen the health of her people over the nation's economic well-being. Mortgage payments have been deferred. Financial handouts together with social benefits have also been announced.

I shudder at the economic impact of CV-19 on the Bolivian economy and on church finances. We´ll not only have to tighten our belts after this crisis but we’ll also have to think through how to function, as a church. The Lord’s putting us through this crisis to radically change the way we think about ministry and outreach.

Missionaries left an expensive and complicated ecclesiastical machinery for the national leadership to manage, and early missionaries with more resources got away with a strong paternal approach but it’s a different scene these days. This is not a criticism but a historical observation from mission fields around the globe. The emerging national leadership needs support and encouragement to fulfill their calling, and there is a still place for older more experienced missionaries to mentor and coach those willing to listen. Pray for us – CV19 has brought to surface issues that require focused attention and the gumption to make tough decisions.

On a personal level, Michelle and I stay in our home, listen to music, cook n clean, play with our dogs, read, watch TV for the latest updates and stay abreast of what's happening - in the nation and in the world.

The present crisis has been an overwhelming and heartbreaking experience – the poorer sectors of society clamor for food, the savings of the middle class will disappear and the elite will hunker down. 

We’re a bunch of “Tower of Babel” builders who’ve reaped what we’ve sown.

Oh! for the mercy of God - times like this when the Kyrie Eleison resonates powerfully in all our hearts:

Lord have Mercy
Christ have Mercy
Lord have Mercy

People look to us for easy answers on their terms, but the gospel provides a Way or better said HIS WAY– a journey on the Lord’s terms.

Our celebration of Holy Week takes on greater significance, - beginning this Palm Sunday!

THE PROPHET'S MORSEL

THE PROPHET'S MORSEL

Prophets nibble at
magic moments - their
eyes open to hidden
wonders under the
spell of mouthful
delights.
 
Up and down,
jaws move like ships
on tossy waves; while
food-filled cheeks
sway to gestated thoughts
in palates chock full of
revelation.

And inside? - the prophet's
incisors slice the hidden
enchantment from holy
flesh, nibbling at
glory and to then be
consumed by sacred
reflections.

He serves himself, as
sacred morsel, for others
to nibble at.

¡NO EXCUSES!

Azkargorta replied in no uncertain terms - "No Excuses" 

I had asked him to share a helpful insight I could take away from our encounter. He didn't flinch - the words "No Excuses" slid from his lips easily. He cited an example: he fined players who turned up late for training sessions, never accepting the argument that coming late was part of our Latino culture.

 We are more than our carnal self-imposed limits. 

The bible talks about the excuses we use to justify our lack of commitment and trust in the One we serve...Moses said he couldn't speak well; I'd probably have said something similar if I had to take on Pharoah - this dude crushed people for a living! 

Gideon told the angel he didn't come from an important family when given the charge to unite the Israelites and lead them into battle against the Midianites.

 And some folk told Jesús they couldn't follow Him cuz they had pressing family matters. 

Stepping out in faith can be kinda scary; fear-driven excuses lead us nowhere. Trust the Lord...He'll take care of us...

   

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deut 31:8

    

  CONVERSATION WITH AZKARGOTA 

I  bumped into the legendary Xavier Azkargota a few months ago at BISA, the bank near my home at Equipetrol Norte, Santa Cruz! 

Azkargota coached the Bolivian soccer team that qualified for the World Cup in 1994. I had just arrived in Bolivia as a young missionary and the thrill of sharing in the nation's celebration at qualifying for the World Cup was exhilarating!

We exchanged pleasantries, talked about the similarities of our roles as coaches - a diocesan bishop coaching the clergy; and him as coach of a soccer team. 

The Lord brings interesting people into our paths

BISHOP RENNIS VISITS BOLIVIA

- Making History- 

Several years ago Bp Rennis Ponniah (Diocesan Bishop of Singapore) his wife Amir and their son Abraham visited Bolivia. We enjoyed having them and here is +Rennis giving a talk to the leaders of Cristo Luz Del Mundo. +Rennis and I share a common racial heritage, in that we're both Tamils.

I translated his message into Spanish.

It's likely we were making history: two Tamils ministering in South America - one speaking in English and the other translating in Spanish!



+ Rennis lived up to his calling as an effective bible expositor at a special weekday night meeting. The Lord's people were blessed by his powerful message on the " Risen Christ's Presence On Road to Emmaus".   

We grew up in the parish of Christ Church and also attended the same mission school in Singapore.

ELIJAH n HIS ANCIENT DESK TOP

SPOT - OUR BELOVED DOG 

BROWNIE - OUR BELOVED DOG

ELIJAH AND MICHELLE 

BLAST FROM THE PAST - the early years of 2000 -

ELIJAH 

THE FAMILY 

   

THE EARLY YEARS

THE EARLY YEARS! - STUDYING THE LANGUAGE

This is a photo of Michelle, Elijah and I in Cochabamba in 1993. We studied Spanish, linguistics and cross-cultural communication in the Language Insitute run by the Maryknoll Fathers. It's a Roman Catholic institute, open to anyone wishing to learn Spanish and the main native languages of Bolivia highlands, Quechua and Aymara. Michelle and I took turns to attend classes at the institute. If she went in the morning, I would look after Elijah; and vice versa.

I miss the innocence of the early days

UNCLE EDWIN'S WEDDING


This is a photo of my uncle Edwin's marriage to my aunt Emily. My uncle, a warrant officer, was a shipwright in the Royal Malaysian Navy. She was a nurse, a matron in the government hospital. They were very much in love.

Uncle Edwin passed away several years ago. They have 2 sons, Christopher and Michael; and a daughter, Angeline.

I am on my uncle Edwin's left. He helped me arrange my tie before we went to the church for the church service.

On aunty Emily's left is my sister Rebecca. My father and mother are behind the newly weds.

My uncle Edwin was my mother's younger brother. He and aunty Emily were married in Johore Bahru, Malaysia.

GOING TO BOLIVIA 20

GOING TO BOLIVIA 20  

EPILOGUE - ADIOS!

This series entitled "GOING TO BOLIVIA" comes to an end with this post.

I began to share my story of the circumstances from 1991 of my call to serve in Bolivia in June 2007 and have only now in 2016 brought that part of my story to a close in the previous post, "Going to Bolivia 19".

Perhaps I should start on a new series of posts which relate my experiences from 1993 onwards? We shall see.

THE END AND A NEW BEGINNING

The post "GOING TO BOLIVIA 19" ended on our safe arrival in 1993 January in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It signaled the end of my ministry in Asia and the beginning of a leap into the unknown in South America. It has taken me nearly 9 years to put together a series of events which covered a three year period from 1991 to 1993.

I am tempted to redo these posts with a fresh perspective, in the form of a book. Much has happened since 1993 which has given me a deeper understanding of our journey.

Michelle and I didn't plan for a long-term missionary service in Bolivia.  Ironically we've been in Bolivia now for more than 20 years! During this period the Lord's done some awesome stuff. We've seen him transform families and individuals. He's raised a fledgling national leadership to replace missionaries and it has also been a joy to witness the growth of the church.

On a personal level, it would be disingenuous for me to say its been easy for us in Bolivia. No. Our families have paid a price. For instance, we were not there for our parents when they needed us and not being there during their funerals was difficult. The distance between Singapore and Bolivia made it impossible for us to hop on a plane and return to Singapore. The Lord has been faithful and good to our loved ones in the midst of our trials and disappointments.

TIME TO LEAVE?

Yes, there have been moments when the time to leave Bolivia and return to Singapore had finally arrived. And 2007 appeared to be the right moment to move on. A local clergy, whom I had worked with and trained, took my place, as Pastor of the church. It seemed right to return to Singapore, for good. Michelle and I planned to return to Singapore for a 2 year period in 2007 with the aim of providing support for our son, Elijah's endeavor to fulfill his National Service obligations.

We hosted someone who encouraged us to consider returning to Bolivia after our stint in Singapore. John Sutton, the then Secretary General of SAMS UK, visited us in Santa Cruz a few months before my departure. He told us of the dire need for experienced missionaries to help guide the new pastors and the national leadership. He made a convincing case.

We prayed about the matter and Michelle, my wife, and I felt the Lord's peace to return to Bolivia, after our stint in Singapore. She has a heart for the Bolivian people and John's appeal for us to help raise a mature national leadership made sense. And so we returned in November 2009.

May the Lord grant us the grace to humble ourselves and to seek His glory in all our decisions.

¡He is faithful and trustworthy!

GOING TO BOLIVIA 19

GOING TO BOLIVIA 19

FLYING TO BOLIVIA!

After the exploratory trip to Bolivia in 1991, we had to wait for a year and a half before all the details of the mission to serve in Bolivia were confirmed. Michelle and I began to prepare for the trip and made plans for the task of living in a foreign country.

I had to get the relevant travel documents: innoculations against yellow fever as well as a good conduct certificate from the Singapore Police. The plan was for us to leave Singapore in November 1992, spend a month with my sister, Rebecca and her husband Jim in the US. We would then subsequently leave for Cochabamba, a city in the Bolivian valley, where Michelle and I were due to start language and inculturation classes from January 1993 for 6 months.     

PROBLEM WITH THE VISA 

My application for a visa for the family was a test on my nerves and patience. I had already sent our visa applications to the Bolivian embassy in Japan in the beginning of 1992. We were told by the staff in Japan that it would take some time for the application to be processed. And so we waited. I felt uncomfortable after not receiving any news from the Bolivian embassy concerning my visa application. And so I rang the embassy in Japan. My discomfort was justified. They had lost the applications for our visas! There was no time to redo the applications and send them to Japan. Also I had lost confidence in the embassy staff. There was no guarantee that they would issue us a visa before our projected departure for the US and Bolivia.   

I immediately rang up the Rev Simon Thomas, the national director of the Bolivian Church and explained to him my predicament. He told me he would help us get a visa in Bolivia. We were a month away from our planned trip and we had no visas. I toyed with the idea of getting a visa on my arrival from the immigration authorities at the Bolivian airport. Bishop Moses Tay vetoed the idea because of the possibility of getting stranded. In the midst of this mini crisis. Simon faxed me a document which gave me permission to enter Bolivia. It did not look like a visa, but Bishop Moses was satisfied.  

BOLIVIA HERE WE COME!

So we left Spore toward the end of November 1992 and embarked on a journey which would forever change our lives. We spent a month with my sister, and her husband in Fullerton, Southern California. The flight was insanely long and we needed a week to recover from the jet lag. I had a chance to do some readings on mission at Biola University and visited a few anglican churches. In the beginning of January 1993, we packed our bags in anticipation of our trip to Bolivia. At the LA airport we said goodbye to our generous hosts, Rebecca and Jim, and boarded the flight to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. 

The plane landed safely in the afternoon of 5th January 1993. I remember the anxious look on my wife's face as she peered at the Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, through the window of the American Airline plane. Elijah was only 3 years old and he looked excited as the plane came to a stop. Compared to the airports in Changi and LA, the facilities at Viru Viru was rudimentary. We had no problems with immigration and picked up our bags from the belt. 

We were met at the airport by Rev Simon Thomas and his 5 year old daughter Megan. She gave us a big hug and welcomed us with a big smile. We were very tired but happy! It was great to finally meet up with Simon. He took us to his house where we stayed for 5 days.after which we flew to Cochabamba to do our language and inculturation studies.          
It was unbelievable! We had finally made it to Bolivia. It was a relatively long wait. The process to serve in Bolivia began in mid 1991 and here we were in January 1993.  
                

YOUNG BOY

This photo was taken in May 1966. I was 9 years old, and studying in  primary 3 at Anglo Chinese School in Coleman Street. My family and I were living in Lorong Lalat, Jalan Besar

REMEMBERING MY 
PARENTS

Joy of Reading!

My father, JWD Samuel and my mother, Ruby Samuel occupy a special place in my heart. 

They've both passed on to glory but they gave us, their 4 children, Rachel, Reuben, Rebecca and Raphael, the joy of reading. 

My father was a voracious reader and so was my mother. Dad used to concentrate and read under the bright lamp in his room. Mum read in the hall. The arrival of TV changed their reading habits but they still maintained their love for the written word.   

 My parents introduced us to different worlds by inculcating in us a love for reading. Dad gave us the newspapers every morning and reading the daily news helped me to discover politics and sports. He also subscribed to magazines which dealt with socio-political issues, both international and and regional. Mum in buying comics, mostly DC, for us once month at a 2nd hand book shop helped us discover fantasy and adventure. She also, more importantly, bought and gave me my first bible when I was 15 years old.

The photo was probably taken in the 1960's

GOING TO BOLIVIA 18


¡IMPASSE IN SINGAPORE!

Michelle and Elijah were a welcome sight after not seeing them for more than 2 weeks. 

Michelle listened to my stories concerning the trip and my descriptions of the place with great interest. I remember commenting on the similarity between Bolivia and parts of Malaysia as I tried to help her picture Bolivia. She had never been to that part of the world and was anxious to know about the conditions and the medical facilities available. 

By God's grace we go to know an  Australian missionary couple in Singapore, Patrick and Wendy Marman, who had served in Bolivia. The Marmans were teaching at the Discipleship Training Centre and gave us some valuable tips and information concering life in Bolivia.  

NEED FOR CLARITY

Bishop Moses and I had left South America with a sense of ambiguity in 1991. There was an expectation on the part of the Bolivian church for me to serve at a congregation in La Paz, a city in the highlands of Bolivia. I was however convinced that I was called to serve in Santa Cruz, a bustling city in the lowlands. The other hurdle was to agree to a condition of the Bolivian church to serve 2 terms of 6 years in Bolivia. I could not see a commitment beyond 2 years. 3 appeared to be bearable but a 6 year commitment was not within our radar screen. We had to pray and seek assurance of the Lord's leading in moving forward. Bishop Moses although keen on us to commit ourselves for 6 years, spoke to me about the importance of having peace in our hearts as steps of faith are taken.   

There did not appear to be a way through this impasse until my wife Michelle shared with me her insight concering our future. She suggested we commit ourselves to a term of 3 years with a promise of doing another term of 3 years if the Lord were to lead us in this direction. We sent a letter to Bishops and Moses and  Winstanley with our proposal. After a few months of deliberation the Bolivian standing committee accepted our proposal. We received a letter from the Peruvian - Bolivian church in my mail box, stating their acceptance.  We were overjoyed!    

CHURCH I WAS PASTORING 

The question of finding a pastor to replace me in All Saints english congregation needed to be looked into. Till then, I was their longest serving pastor and was concerned for them to have a pastor beforeI left for South America.  This was the prerogative of Bp Moses Tay and he appointed Rev Henry Seow from Holy Trinity english congregation to replace me. Henry was fellow seminarian at St Peter's Hall where we trained for ministry. I was happy with the Bishop's appointment because of the fit between Henry and the congregation. Henry however felt he was not ready to move and wanted more time to work with the congregation at Holy Trinity.  Wthin a month of his appoinment he resigned and felt called to lead a new work in a non anglican setting. This difficult situation however was resolved when Rev Rennis Ponniah was appointed the Pastor a few months later. Rennis was a very active layman in the congregation and his presence had a calming influence on the congregation.        

GOING TO BOLIVIA 17

1991 EXPLORATORY TRIP TO PERU & BOLIVIA - Part 6

Bishop Moses, Cynthia and I bade farewell to our new friends in Santa Cruz. 

We returned to La Paz and shared our impressions and thoughts of Santa Cruz with Greg Blaxland and his wife Judy. Greg was  disappointed at our decision to explore ministry opportunities in Santa Cruz instead of La Paz; he was planning to leave the work in La Paz, Bolivia in early 1992 and was hoping that I would take his place as Pastor of the congregation. This is an important issue in the mission field. Almost all responsible missionaries pray and hope for a replacement who can carry on the work.  And Greg was keen on leaving the church in the hands of a pastor from a diocese, before his departure. 

We were glad that our trip to Bolivia was coming to an end. The weather, the altitude sickness, the hectic schedule together with long energy sapping flights had taken its toll, on all of us, especially Cynthia. Bp Moses, the most seasoned traveller among us, always looked alert and fresh. I was beginning to miss Michelle and my 2 year old son, Elijah.

We left Bolivia and Peru on a happy note after having met up with our Bolivian brethren and missionaries from SAMS. Till this trip I had vague ideas about South America and most of my knowledge concerning the continent came from books and movies. 

We left Bolivia for Peru, on the 23rd Octobre to meet up with Bishop Alan Winstanley in Lima, the capital of Peru. The Anglican Church in Bolivia was under the purview of the diocese of Peru. He gave us a quizzical look on hearing of our interest in Santa Cruz and did not appear to be thrilled about the possibility of my wanting to serve in Santa Cruz. He was also godly enough to not react negatively but to be open to the Lord's guidance. 

He explained the necesity for a long term commitment in the field because of the need to inculturate oneself and to also have a good grasp of the language. He was therefore adamant about missionaries doing at least a 2 year term of 6 years! At that point I could only see us serving a term of 2 to 3 years. It was quite apparent that we had reached an impasse. We all decided to pray through the questions concerning future: would the Bolivian church acquiese to our request and invite me to begin ministry in Santa Cruz instead of La Paz? Would they allow me to serve for a period of 2 to 3 years? I remember Bishop Alan saying something to the effect that the Bolivian Church's standing committee would have to discuss our proposals. 

The idea for the Diocese of Singapore to invest in Santa Cruz instead of La Paz was unexpected on the part of the Bolivian/Peruvian leadership. Clearly, from a human standpoint, the urgent need for missionaries was not in Santa Cruz but in La Paz. We had to discover God's will in this maze and to not force issues.  We decided to pray for clarity in this cloudy situation, and avoid hasty decisions. I was also struggling with my weakness in languages: learning to minister in a new language (Spanish) was going to be a huge challenge.

And so our 2 week trip to Bolivia and Peru had come to an end. It was a tiring but rewarding experience.  The fatigue from the past 2 weeks had taken its toll and we spent the major part of our journey catching up on lost sleep. I was personally looking forward to seeing my family as the plane landed in Changi Airport.