June 2009 Goracke Newsletter

Singapore International Bible Institute

Greetings from Singapore! Where did the month of June go? It is hard to believe that already half of 2009 is history too. I can tell you that June has good news to report here at SIBI Singapore. So without delay, let me give the details.
I want to start with some very good news. With all of our paperwork submitted to the Singapore government to acquire registration for SIBI Singapore, the PP church leadership has taken the bold step of agreeing to the need of arranging housing necessary for “full time students” to live and study with us. The leadership has implemented plans to remodel a section of the PP building to meet the needs of approximately 8 students to live and study at the PP facilities! Even though we still wait for the approved registration, this housing issue was going to be the next big hurdle due to the high cost of housing in Singapore. But now, with the nearing registration, we can begin with a full time student body without the economic hindrance of a huge investment! Please keep praying for that registration approval!
The first week of June we had Glen Gray, a Sunset School of Preaching alumnus with us (presently known as Sunset International Bible Institute). He taught a seminar series for SIBI Singapore for three days about the Holy Spirit. Glen was invited by the Pasir Panjang church (PP) to be their keynote speaker for the PP family church camp which was held in Malaysia. The PP theme for the year comes from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 which states, “Two are better than one…” The camp focus as related to this theme was about “God in the Marketplace.” I was also invited to give a lesson to the teenage youth camp attendees… approximately 75 of them. My lesson title was, “God is so Holy and Awesome.” We were blessed to share this camp time with approximately 255 Christians!

PP camp in Malaysia with visitors from Malaysia, India, the Philippines, Myanmar (Burma) and China

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glen Gray teaching about 25 pre-camp SIBI seminar students about the Holy Spirit

Prior to camp and after the camp session I was (and still am) busy with my responsibilities of communication with international students who are planning to attend our July and August summer session which I wrote about last month. A lot of effort goes into arranging the details of hosting an international student. We gather information from our multiple applicants to ensure a positive, productive time of study for all who will attend. We presently have about 20 possible students working on visas who want to attend our summer session. At this writing, 3 have arrived and have begun the first scheduled course of studies along with 22 PP members as well as a few other area Christians!

 

Tom teaching about 75 teenagers at the Malaysia camp (right)

 

 

 

This first course of study, Church History, is being taught by Stuart Jones the director of Senior Adventure In Missions (Senior AIM) in Lubbock, Texas. Senior AIM is a “department” of the Sunset International Bible Institute which focuses on teaching and training older generation Christians for ministry. Stuart also serves as one of the elders of the Sunset church. I‟ll give a full report of our July session in our next newsletter.  The photo to the left is of Stuart Jones and his lovely wife Cecilia.

During June we also had the blessing of meeting the new regional dean of all the Asian Sunset branch schools, Ron Downey. Ron traveled to some of our schools in Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, India and here in Singapore to personally familiarize himself with the administrators of already operating schools as well as investigating potential locations for future schools. Ron was also able to attend a SIBI Singapore board meeting with us to come to a deeper understanding of how the Singapore school operates. He also was invited to preach for the PP church during his stay here.

Above are some of the SIBI board members during our summer planning session…Listed from left to right… Charles Cook, Ron Downey, Winston Chong, Tom Goracke, Lee Hock Kuek & Dorothy Tay.

The greatest highlight of June is without a doubt the 11th wedding anniversary to my bride, Nancy! As a family, we went out and took some of our own family photographs and celebrated with a nice family dinner. I‟ll share a few of the pictures in the remainder of this newsletter.

Family News for June

The month of June had some sizzling days for us, not only in temperatures, but also in activities. The first “hot” event was the PP church‟s family camp. When I mention going to camp, images of roughing it, sitting around a campfire, grabbing a sleeping bag and sleeping out under the stars or sleeping in a tent or rustic cabin may come to some of your minds. However, going to „church‟ camp on this side of the world may invoke different images. Camping here is more about getting away or retreating to a new location to revitalize and focus, but does not necessarily include a roughing it or rustic environment. We retreated to a five-star hotel in Malaysia and were treated to fabulous spreads of food physically, as well as spiritually. Jaydon and Shayla would probably report one of the hottest things about camp was being able to go swimming every afternoon in the hotel‟s wonderful swimming pool.

Besides PP‟s camp, other events that made our June sizzle were: library runs (kiddos read close to 50 books one week), shaking and making homemade ice cream with Auntie Alice, spending a day at Sentosa Island (a tourist‟s hot spot) with Grandpa C and Grandma T compliments of Auntie Molly, and celebrating our “one year over a decade” wedding anniversary.

In June we also started a summer schedule as far as our homeschooling was concerned. Instead of including the “3 R‟s”, we just made sure we got at least one R in every day—reading. Although, in one sense we still got 3 R‟s in everyday–once our reading was completed each day, then Jaydon took some R&R from our regular school schedule!

We took our family pictures at the Chinese Garden

That‟s our June news condensed in a nut shell. I‟ll wrap up our family news section with a few thoughts/comments from us nuts…
“When you‟re living on the 17th floor, don‟t get a frog for a pet. If he jumps out the window, it won‟t be good.”—Jaydon
“Mom, I have to tell you something. While I was sleeping somebody came and wet my bed!”—Shayla
“Don‟t whisper your secrets to a crocodile. They have big mouths.”—Jaydon told Dad this at the breakfast table. (I think he was paraphrasing an idea we read from the book, The Long and Short of It.)
“If you‟re going to be rude…at least be polite about it.”— This is Shayla‟s thinking. Shayla asked me if it would be alright for her to do something a bit rude as long as she said „please‟ when she did it. Hmmm… I remember jokingly making a statement to Jaydon once when he wanted to exclude Mom from an activity. I told him he needed to say please if he was going to be rude. Hmmmm…be careful what you say. You never know when your little ones will use your lines or logic on you.
“People who are always putting their two cents worth in, will be known for having no sense pretty soon.”—Mom

“Love you three.”—Dad

As always, know that we love you and that God loves you more. He loves you the most!

In closing we want to share one last report of good news! The Lord has blessed us with our complete budget needs for our second year! Thank you to all of you who have so generously contributed to this ministry and to our family needs in every way. We give thanks to God always for you.                             

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