I love Decembers

The highlight was celebrating New Year in Sabah. This was a short and meaningful trip. Our son was unwell just before we travelled. Thankfully he got well on the first day here. We got to catch up with family, friends and enjoy fresh and plentiful seafood here. On New Year Eve, we prayed over my parents then over my siblings - family by family. Then we took photos together and stayed up till the New Year in 2014.

The second highlight was the ministry trip to Chicago. The day we flew off is when my year-end leave started. And we arrived to a -8 C temp. We spent time with David, Malay and prayed with the team. The Christmas service and the entire afternoon programme was both amazing and encouraging. In fact we only got back at 11pm on Sunday. And on the way back to Singapore, we only got assigned seats at the gate just before takeoff.

The final highlight was the year-end time out. I slowed down. Our family hung out. We had Christmas eve dinner with Dinah's family. We celebrated Charmaine’s birthday. We caught up with Li Chuang, Sharon, Kallai and Esther. I caught up with Henry and Melvyn.

Ministry wise, our family volunteered at the FOCUS initiative. We ministered at KCC, Hope Church Chicago and Hope Church Kota Kinabalu. Year-end home life included spring cleaning, trip preparations, packing and unpacking, and jet-lag from the Lucerne trip.

Weather wise, early December saw a few warm and humid mornings. Mostly it was cloudy, cool and wet. I love Decembers.

November already

  November was incredible. The highlight was getting to know Mark Holmen and hearing the Faith at Home message. Dinah and I first met him at the airport. The next day we had dinner together. And the conference with Mark was very impactful. The day after we visited RiverLife church together where we met Pastor Lionel Goh, Elder Andrew Goh, key church and staff leaders.

  A second high point was accompanying Dinah to the Channel News Asia studio for her interview on a current affairs programme. Another first was joining the appreciation dinner for FOCUS volunteers. Other ministry highlights included mentoring, being part of a missions gathering and having consultations with a newer church.

   I was very thankful for the heart-to-heart conversations with several close friends. And for our family prayer times together. Plus there were also personal times of fasting and prayer too.

  The final week in Nov focused on travel. The overnight flight arrived early morn in Zurich. This was followed by the 1-hour train journey to Lucerne. Thankful for the early hotel check-in to shower. Next was 8-hours of meetings with afternoon jet-lag. Thankful for the early night. The next morn was cold at -5C with chilly winds. It was another day of meetings but team dinner was awesome. Friday was our final day followed by the evening train ride to Zurich. Then I hopped straight on to the late night flight home.

  Weather wise, the month started out warm. Then several cooler evenings arrived. The tail-end of Nov featured much cooler days with some rain even.