Greetings from Singapore!
The month of April sped by with a full month of teaching!… and it is still going on! We continued with our visiting teachers Ed Wharton and John Massie finishing up with nearly three weeks more of studies in Historical Christian Evidences, the Scheme of Redemption and a study of the Distinctive Nature of the Church. These studies were hosted for both adults and youth intern students. The youth (18-21 years old) are preparing for a short term mission trip to Tuao, Philippines come May 18th.
The Scheme of Redemption course taught by Ed, drew 64 students into a deep study of God’s eternal plan for the salvation of mankind and the Distinctive Nature of the Church study, also taught by Ed, hosted 27 different students. John’s study of historical Christian Evidences encouraged 42 different students to attend and learn. Both of these visiting teachers blessed those students who attended with a treasure of knowledge useful for equipping them in the work of the Gospel.
Ed Wharton’s Scheme of Redemption class John Massie… Taught Christian Evidences
After we sent John and Ed off to their next destinations (April 20 & 21 respectively), Ed to continue teaching at another Sunset branch school in Ethiopia, Africa, and John back to San Antonio where he lives and works in fulltime ministry, Charles Cook and I continued teaching for the youth intern participants. Charles is teaching the Gospel of John and Missionary Principles and I just finished teaching Evangelistic Methods for one week. These studies will conclude on the last day of this month.
Evangelistic Methods youth intern students & me! (left) Youth interns spending time together in prayer. (right)
As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, I will be leaving for a five day business trip of teaching and recruiting today, April 29th for a destination outside of Singapore. Please keep me in your prayers that the Lord will grant me safety as well as those who I will be sharing with. Lord willing, when I return I will give you a detailed update. Please understand this delay in reporting is all about the safety of many.
One last bit of exciting news to share is that we have cleared the first stage of a lengthy registration process!!! Notice I said first stage. There are still four more stages of qualifying processes that we must submit before Singaporean governing bodies can approve our registration. Please continue to keep this process in your daily prayers.
Family news and notes…
If it’s true that every time we speak, our minds go on parade—here’s the view from our place via some of the kiddos’ jabberings. I hope you find something in their processions that bring a smile or two to your face.
Hey, don’t interrupt me when I’m interrupting.—This could be Jaydon’s and Shayla’s daily motto at present. If there was a competitive talking event in the Olympics, we have a couple of gold medal contenders, especially when they are excited and have something to say before the other one can steal the thunder of their story and rain on their parades. (One of our upcoming memory verses will be, “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”—(James 1:19)
I’m hot face mad!—Jaydon uses this expression not only about himself, but also to describe his sister, when they are squabbling. Of course, Shayla doesn’t like her brother’s description. Sometimes with hands on her hips she tells Jaydon , “Hey, I’m not hot face mad. I’m just frustrated!” (The “slow to become angry” memory work should help here also.)
Don’t worry, Mom. If you run out of money, just run down to the money store and pick up some more.—Since we have a grocery store conveniently located downstairs, Jaydon and Shayla have often heard me say we’ll just run down to the store and pick up some more of whatever we just ran out of at the moment. One morning I mentioned that I didn’t have enough money to get a certain toy that Jaydon wanted. He was not easily discouraged. I guess he figured with so many stores around there was sure to be a store that had money so I could just run down and pick some up.
Can we doctor your hair? Shayla likes to play with my hair sometimes. I told her that people who worked on someone’s hair were called beauticians or hair stylists. She told me, “No that’s not what I am.” She wanted to be called a doctor because she was fixing my hair and I was one of her “patience” because that’s what was needed. Many times when she “doctors” my hair, Jaydon is her assistant and faithful slap-stick side-kick. He operates the water spray bottle and has a blast squirting Mom’s hair/Mom. I drew the line one day when he tried to squirt water inside my ear. He said he wanted to see if it would come out of my ear on the other side. I flashed back to a similar incident when he had a flashlight and was shining the light in one of my ears and wanting to see if it would illuminate out the other. I explained to him then that we were in trouble if that happened. This time when I explained that I had something between my ears, he just giggled.
Will tomorrow have ice cream in it?—This was one of Jaydon’s last questions as I tucked him into bed for a second time one night. (His way of trying to get a commitment or promise about tomorrow—he’s always trying to plan out or get “our ducks in a row” so he knows what to expect or he can say, “you said we were going to do this….” I’ve been caught in my words too many times so I’ve been trying to qualify my comments so I don’t have to back track or change plans because of something I said when he appeared to be asking a casual question. One of my favorite lines of reply now–“We’ll just take it as it comes.” I need to include “Only God knows for sure, we’ll just take it as it comes.”
Will there be ice cream in heaven?—A follow up to the previous question. As you may suspect, ice cream has a big roll, I mean role in our family. We’ve always been big ice cream eaters. Especially in the heat, having a cool treat is almost…heavenly. There are so many unique flavors of ice cream here. A quick glance in the freezer section of the grocery store downstairs reveals flavors such as sweet corn ice cream, red bean ice cream, durian ice cream (Durian is a peculiar fruit that has a very strong, nose-attacking odor and is an acquired taste for many.), and many other flavors that I have no idea whether a fruit or vegetable is the source for their names since the flavors on the containers are new to us. The kiddos haven’t met an ice cream they haven’t liked so far, but then again, we haven’t been too adventurous. They had vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream for my birthday and added chocolate syrup, rainbow sprinkles, and whip cream on top—since we were celebrating.
Remember when I was three years old and sooooo young.—Shayla made this statement so matter-of-a-fact-like and seriously to me that I had to resist laughing on the outside, but on the inside I was chuckling. As a four year old, she believes she is pretty close to being grown up.
When you’re 88, Mom can leave you at home and not have to take you to the grocery store.—Jaydon told Shayla this one night at the dinner table. Sometimes one or the other of them doesn’t want to come to the store with me when Tom is at work and we can’t tag team. I’ve explained to them that they have to be old enough before I would ever consider leaving them home alone. Jaydon figured 88 was old enough.
“Her children shall rise up and call her”…Big mama. Take two—“Her children shall rise up and call her” Loving Marshmallow…. Hopefully being called blessed by my lil’ charges will come later in life.
That’s all for this time. May the parades you view be pleasant, but more importantly may they point you towards God. Know that we love you and that God loves you more. He loves you the most!
Celebrating Mommy’s birthday!!!
Jaydon & Shayla with their banana smiles (top left)…Shayla sharing a “corny” grin… (top right) Reading time with Daddy! (bottom left) Jaydon with his “fishy” tortilla… (Bottom right)
Closing Remarks…
It is amazing to us that already, 11 months are behind us in our commitment to this ministry training school. Once again we ask you to continue praying for God’s blessing of success in this registration process as this is the key element required before we can bring international students here to study with us on a fulltime basis. We have received inquiries from many potential students from several different Asian countries. I remind you to check out our ministry blog on a regular basis to keep informed of the latest and on the future plans we are developing… www.focusonasia.wordpress.com
We always remember you in our prayers thanking God for your commitment and sacrifices to us in this ministry and asking that God increase our faith together with you. Together with you, we are serving toward preparing workers for working the harvest fields of Asia and beyond! Grace and peace to you in abundance as you faithfully walk and serve the Lord.
Our love to you… Tom, Nancy, Jaydon & Shayla
Overseeing church:
12th Street church of Christ
P.O. Box 1476
Seagraves, TX 79359
Contact person:
Kenny Smith
Cell Phone: (432) 209-1735
Home Phone: (806) 546-2336
Our Singapore Information
Tom & Nancy Goracke
BLK 60 Teban Garden Road
#17 – 462
Singapore, 600060
Tom’s mobile phone:
(65) 83683213
Nancy’s mobile phone:
(65) 83683214
Home Phone: (65) 64981864
Email: HUUtwoservants2002@yahoo.com
