Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Singapore

Our family began a five city tour of our churches in SE Asia on June 30. We left Johannesburg and flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We then flew to Singapore. I knew very little about Singapore before arriving. What a fascinating place. It is a city and country. It is run by a government that is very hard to imagine working anywhere else in the world. There is a lot of control...for example, the homes are leased to 99 years to people. They are almost all the same. They are all high rise apartments with a very similar layout. The cars aresimilarly ownedby the government and leased for ten years. The laws are very strict (they still cane people and the death penalty is used for drug trafficking, kidnapping, etc.) and therefore it is extremely safe. What is really surprising for me is to see how happy people are with the government. Singaporeans really seem to love it. They are very happy with how taken care of they are.

I taught a lesson for all of the youth leaders on Friday night. We got to see the church building as well. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to have John Louis' mother cook for us. She makes a very traditional and famous dish called rendang. It is one of my most enjoyed dishes.
Saturday night we had dinner with the Singapore church staff. I taught a lesson about relationships. On Sunday, they had a teen led worship service and I preached the sermon. It was very inspiring to be with the church. After Sunday worship, we were taken to the Banana Leaf restaurant for lunch. John Louis told us it was one of his favourites. It really was amazing. We had fish head curry. That was certainly a first for me.
After lunch we met up with some of the other staff for an exotic fruit outing. We drank coconut milk from young coconuts, ate mangosteen, jack fruit, dragon fruit, and durian. Durian is certainly an experience. The brothers here believe it was the forbidden fruit from Genesis 2. It certainly is A forbidden fruit. It smells SO strong that it is banned from public places and public transportation. You can smell it half a block away. The texture is like custard. It is one of the most bizarre tasting things I have ever eaten.


I was not a huge fan of durian but it was not too bad. Part of my problem was that I had just eaten WAY too much fish head curry.

I have to say that the highlight of the time in Singapore for me was our time with John and Karen Louis. They are great friends, very insightful, and tremendously encouraging. I think we feel a special kinship with them because of our work with families. They are kindred souls. We are passionate about a lot of the same things.

What a fun-filled, jam-packed few days.

Off to Bali for a few day holiday and then with the church in Jakarta over the weekend.



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