Bea and Derek Chong

Monday, 31 August 2015

Women's Tea 29th Aug 2015

A picture that I really love of myself...

An honour to be leading this group of women from a small dream into reality. It was a real privilege to have 40 women gather for a casual afternoon tea at Party Play, listening to the proclamation of God, the testimonies of God's transforming work in lives of Serena, Debbie and Yvonne - in particular their identity and the sharing of lives in the groups around the table.

It was a joy to hear the excitement of women sharing lives, what the afternoon meant to them, the new encounter with God and the courage in the decisions made around the table sharings.

I saw the importance of the simple opportunity to talk about issues which are not often shared to just anyone but when an avenue is created for such sharings, everyone took their chance to talk about real issues in life. No cover ups, no competition, no sugar coats - just plain truth of each one's struggles, desires, expectations and dreams.

Thank you God for yet another chance of experiencing your love surrounding us. When Love sees you, I can truly be Free to be Me!!

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

St Louis Taiping Catholic Church 13th to 16th August 2015

A privilege to be invited to speak to the youth of Taiping Catholic Church on their Parish Formation Weekend.

A spontaneous thought came that we could include our adopted daughters to help minister together with us as they will be able to relate to the youths much better than us. So the journey began....

On Friday, Derek spoke on Handling Psychological Problems which helped many to connect with his story and led to a good time of sharing with some of the parishioners during the Counselling session.

That evening, Derek had a chance to share during the homily, his dream came true:)

He shared on the difference between a servant and a friend, relating to the theme of the day - From Religiousity to Spirituality.

Saturday morning, workshops with the youths begin. Derek shared on the various leadership styles and encouraged the youth to see how Jesus leads and how we are called to lead.

Yvonne, who drove 3 hours from KL to join us, shared her testimony on being a leader.

I shared on Our Baptismal Consecration, encouraging everyone to name their calling of being prophet, priest and king. Very encouraged by the response of the youths.

Esther, who flew with us from KK, shared her testimony of her call as prophet, priest and king.

Nice dinner at the first club in Taiping.

Had a chance to snap a photo with some great people we met... Good to have seen Jude, recovering from pneumonia, still sharing God's word with power; Fr Francis Yeo, a missionary priest of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle and Mary, Mother of the Church. Such beautiful homilies and sharing of his life. Fr Peter from Malacca-Johore Diocese - pleasure to have met him. Of course, not forgetting Pierre whom we got to know, who is discerning his call and Brian from Kenya, a seminarian who came with Fr Francis.

Derek shared on Forgiveness with Suh, sharing her testimony. She joined us for 2 days, driving back and forth to Penang.

The last session was on healing prayer. As the hall was getting very hot, we decided to split the group and let them choose to be with their friends. As we led them into honouring each other in the group, the clouds came in and we had a cool room with warm hearts, sharing their honour to each other. It was amazing to see how their faces changed when they hear good things from their friends.