What a Wonderful World: July 2014

This sojourn brought up into contact with friends of all stripes. We had an opportunity to renew ties and meet new friends. There is neither East nor West in Christ. There was much catching up and sharing of what God was doing in our lives. We started off from Toronto, Canada on 16 June 2014 on our trip eastwards towards Quebec and New Brunswick. Our first stop was Montreal where we met up with Sis Joanna Tan whom we knew from our days at Calvary (Jurong) BP. She had taught the three of us Heng children at Children's Fellowship (CF) and Junior Fellowhip (JF) more than 35 years ago in the 1970s.

Dinner with Joanna Tan (of Calvary Jurong BP Church days)
in Montreal, Canada
16 June 2014

Our eastward drive ended in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on Friday 20 June where we were in time for dinner and the weekly Friday night Prayer Meeting held at the home of Uncle George and Auntie Lydia Tong. Uncle George was mum's Sunday School mate from Life BP Church days in the 1950s! The Tongs are now in their golden years leading a small but growing Mandarin congregation of students and new immigrants from mainland China as part of the ministry of Rivercross Church.

Kor shares a story at the weekly Friday night
prayer meeting for Chinese nationals
held at the home of Bro George and Lydia Tong
in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
20 June 2014

Christy, Geoff and John help entertain a new Mandarin-speaking friend

John learns how to make a quick-and-yummy lasagna
from Grand uncle George and grand auntie Lydia

John and Geoff meet Senior Pastor Rob Nylen
of Rivercross Church on Sunday 22 June 2014

Reunion of Sunday School mates: Mum, Dad and Uncle George
outside the completed gymnasium of Rivercross Church at
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

Pot Blessing at home of Mr Bing Feng where
students from mainland China gather for
Youth group and fellowship

A balloon affords so much fun, especially in
the company of a new friend

We headed south to the United States of America via Maine to New York to see the Niagara Falls. It was a veritable United Nations as tourists from all over the world have come to see the mighty waterfalls. There in front of the American Falls, Dad stopped to chat with an American couple who were Reagan and Patti Norris from Oklahoma.

Newly-made friends from Oklahoma: Reagan and Patti Norris

Whilst in the USA, we decided that we needed some Chinese food! So we stopped by Chinese take-aways and ate there.

Christy chats with the daughter of the proprietor
of the Chinese take-away in a small New York town
26 June 2014

Our plans were laid by God as we made unscheduled stops and we met up with the most unexpected friends from the past. Kor and Pat had hosted Brother John Lopez and his elder children Joshua, Caleb and Breanna when they went to Chiangmai, Thailand a few years ago as they went for missions in Cambodia. Dad and Mum had also shown hospitality to Joshua who had flown to Singapore before. So on the 26 June, 2014, we were the guests of John Lopez and his family in Tallmadge, Ohio enroute to Warsaw and Winona Lake, Indiana. Grand auntie Grace Lopez housed us all for the night. But before that, we went to see the Lopez farmstead.

The house that John Lopez and his family is building from scratch...nine years and counting, Deerfield, Ohio

The patriarchs of the Lopez and Heng households embrace
after a word of prayer in the unfinished house that Bro John is building

This is the Philip Heng clan and part of the Lopez clan:
Back row (left to right): Dad, Moriah, Josiah, Joshua, Arunie Vandenhautte, Bethany, me, John
Second row: Kor, Mum, Charissa, Grace, John, Brenda holding Micah, Pat
Front row: Geoff, Isaac, John-Levi, Christy
(Not in picture: Caleb in Michigan and Breanna in Papua New Guinea)

Breakfast at Auntie Grace's home before we set off.
Christy got to see the horses being fed too...but no one had
a camera to capture it...
26 June 2014

With Steve of World Missionary Press in New Paris, Indiana,
the place we order our gospel booklets from
27 June 2014

Then after a night's rest, we were on the road to Goshen, Indiana to meet up with Richard and Ruth Heldenbrand whom we knew from our days in Warsaw, Indiana in 1983 to 1985 when Dad went for his sabbatical. Dad and Mr Heldenbrand were classmates at Grace Seminary whilst their sons Sam and Dan were our schoolmates and classmates at Lakeland Christian Academy.

Hospitality by the Heldenbrands
27 June 2014

Poring through old photographs and showing Geoffrey
the way things were in the 1980s

Grand aunt Ruth answers Christy's queries

Kor's graduation day from LCA in 1984

Mrs Heldenbrand shared her trove of photographs from our time at 29 years ago as well as some photos of our later trip to Lyons France in 1991. The children had a good time looking at the photographs.

Since it was such a last-minute decision to swing by Warsaw and Winona Lake, we used technology as best we could to trace our friends. A google search turned up Ms Esther Moeller's contact details and we managed to visit her at her cozy home along Wooster Road, a stone's throw from Merrywood Trailer Park.

Ms Moeller waxing lyrical about the latest inventions in missions
27 June 2014

The Good News Caboose - a mobile venue for Children's Club meetings

Ms Moeller encouraged us by sharing what God was doing with outreach to children, the Amish, through Ken Anderson films, and even missions through aviation!

Ms Moeller shows us a lovely
faberge egg done by her 90-year-old friend

One for the album at Ms Moeller's place

Down by the lakeside was the venue of our next reunion. The class of 1988 had four people: Felicia Mikesell (Harvey), Karina and Charissa Heng and Carmen Conley. The class of 1985 represented by Nathaniel. We had a lovely lunch at the Boat House restaurant. The entire waterfront housing area has been revitalised and is now quite upmarket.

Lunch at Boat House Restaurant
28 June 2014

Carmen and Felicia take a selfie

Looking for our old summer house on the island next to Winona Lake.
The house, along with all the other old houses have been long torn down.

MasterWorks Festival performance of the
Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah at the
Rodeheaver Auditorium where we used to play second violin
with Felicia for the Spring and Autumn Concerts
in the Warsaw Community Orchestra

The gift of music has the ability to reach into one's soul. Music calms the savage breast. MasterWorks Festival holds free concerts open to the general public. We walked into Rodeheaver Auditorium on the first summer Saturday afternoon and had a chance to hear Sandra Wright Shen as she delved into the lives of godly composers. She performed classical pieces on the grand piano after a preamble. MasterWorks Festival was started in New York in 1997 and moved to Winona Lake, Indiana in 2002. It was started by the Christian Performing Artists' Fellowship (CPAF). These men and women wanted to be salt and light in the performing arts arena. God had a divine appointment for us as we bumped into someone from our past whom we had a word of prayer with.

Mrs Anderson, Nancy Anderson's mum had persuaded mum to let us join the Warsaw Community Orchestra since we played the violin. So each wednesday evening, we would join the undergraduates and anyone from the community or who lived in the vicinity who could play an instrument. Mum and dad would do their round of grocery shopping at Owens and Krogers (with their clipped savings coupons!!) before fetching us home from orchestra practice.

At either a Spring or Autumn Concert at the Rodeheaver Auditorium

Charissa, Felicia Mikesell, Cheryl Myers and Karina

The outside of the building looks the same but the inside has been carpeted and refurbished

A selfie with a sculpture of a violin (what else?!)

Dan's final resting place at Pleasantview Church

The site of the old Lakeland Christian Academy still exists! Felicia drove us to the tiny campus where we had a chance to reminisce. The buildings are in the same location although much worse for the wear. We had spent two years at this tiny Christian school from September 1983 to June 1985. There were about 90 students and a handful of staff members. It was at this Christian school we grew in our faith because the teachers walked the talk from Mr Carl Haner, the school administrator to Mrs Thomason, our 8th grade form teacher to Mr Fritz Wester, the 9th grade teacher and Mr and Mrs Smith who taught us Math and English respectively. Coach Linda Horton who taught the upperclassmen typing and who coached girls' volleyball, basketball and softball was someone I greatly respected too. To this day, I even remember the "shakinah" or "glory of the Lord which filled the tabernacle of the Old Testament because Mr Wester had shared with us at morning devotions about it.

Building B and Building C

The basketball court and soccer field

With dad and mum at LCA in winter 1984. Those nice warm blue winter coats were a birthday present from dad and mum. Most of our clothing for those two years were from the donated items at Grace College, the Salvation Army thrift stores or garage sales. It was nice to have a store-bought item of clothing once in a while!

With Coach Linda Horton outside building A
just before basketball season started in 1984

Building A - I had stepped out one freezing morning,
slipped on the frozen doormat, fell and ripped
my pants!

Outside Building C where we used to have
our English lessons with Mrs Smith and
Algebra and Geometry lessons with Mr Eric Smith

We drove around the new LCA campus nearby

Charissa shares simplythestory with Clarissa,
Felicia's middle daughter and Felicia at the Harvey home

I had a craving for Arby's roast beef burger!
It is smaller than I remember it!

The sign we used to see from highway 30 which meant we were very near home!

The adults were not the only ones who had people to meet up with. Nathaniel's family took a drive to Valparaiso, Indiana to visit Ms Michelle Fredericks who was John and Geoff's first-grade teacher at International Christian School in Chiangmai, Thailand. She is residing in Portage, Indiana.

Nathaniel also had a chance to meet up with his high school classmate Rodney Brehany who hails from South Africa. He is now a chiropractor practising in Warsaw.

Rodney Brehany and his wife Dawn and their two daughters
with Nathaniel's family

The Brehany children with the Heng children

Bibles and Books is a bookstore now run by Pete and Beth Gross!

Pete and Beth Gross who served the Lord for a spell in Mexico, now own Bibles and Books and they hold a hispanic Sunday Service at their premises. This is where we found ourselves that Sunday morning 29 June. It felt a little like Sesame Street because that was the only place where we had heard Spanish spoken in our childhood years! As we sang choruses, I had not realised that El Salvador literally means "the Saviour"! It was a joy to see the grown-up children of Pete and Beth serve alongside them on instruments, Will on the drums and Nathan on the bass guitar. The congregation was made up of young people and young families. You could sense the warmth of Christian fellowship as the Americans reached out unabashedly in the love of Christ to their Spanish-speaking counterparts.

Will, Pete and Nathan lead in worship singing

Will translates the sermon from Spanish for Pete

Kor and Pat and family with Pete and Beth Gross

Kor, Pete, Beth and the Singies

Sunday afternoon was also spent with Felicia. It was by God's design that she was in Warsaw for a short spell this summer! The Harveys have just relocated to San Antonio, Texas this past year! So it was our pleasure to catch up some more over excellent chocolate and peanut butter ice cream!

Ice cream goes down well with good friends

The Warsaw library was where I had borrowed The Hobbit!
(it was because I thought the title sounded cute!)

Charissa and Felicia ham it up with a police officer

Warsaw was hosting a summer Walk-and-Wander sculpture exhibition by Seward Johnson so right outside the little ice cream shop was a sculpture of a police officer issuing a parking ticket which we decided to have a little fun with.

Taking full advantage of the sunset at 9pm, we went for miniature golf at the Fun Centre at Paige's Crossing! A mother and her two daughters were waiting at the carpark and blessed us with three tickets for miniature golf free-of-charge! She said she had gotten it on a group-on. We did 18 holes till nightfall at 9.30pm!

So Charissa shows her mettle on the course

Flea is in excellent form

And the winner is...

The next morning Monday 30 June, we met up with Kip Cone, who is now a pastor at Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church. He was the president of the student council at LCA when he was a senior. His family had served for a while in Germany but are now back in the USA.

One for the album

The children are fascinated with the whipped cream in their hot chocolate

Charissa shares Simpythestory with Kip

It was a blustery summer morning for a big breakfast

Varsity Basketball Boys 1984

Back row from left: Coach Tyger Propp, Larry Harvey (whom Felicia married!),
Trent Biller, Pete Gross, Sam Heldenbrand and Jeffrey Mathisen.
Front row: Phil Doron, Kip Cone, Nathaniel Heng and Phil Yoder

We left Winona Lake, Warsaw and headed northward to Grand Rapids, Michigan for yet another reunion. This time we met up with Esther and Anna Rapa who were in Singapore in the 1990s and in Chiangmai in the early 2000s for the Grand Rapids Extension Programme. Esther now works at World Mission which prepares the audio Bible for distribution worldwide. It is dubbed "the Treasure" and is loaded in many languages. Nathaniel and Attila, the techie on the premises had a lot to talk about. We caught up with Esther and Anna, who is now a criminal lawyer, over a simple lunch.

A simple lunch prepared for us by Esther Rapa
30 June 2014

At World Mission where the audio Bible (the Treasure)
is being prepared and distributed worldwide.

Esther showing us around

Charissa sharing Simplythestory with Anna

Then we went to Ionia, Michigan where we met Caleb Lopez, the second son of John Lopez. He kindly allowed us to stay at his rented place. We visited him at SMAT - School of Missionary Aviation Technology where he is currently studying to be an aviation technician preparing himself for a ministry overseas.

Chitchatting and winding down before bedtime. Yes, it's about
9pm in the evening!

The boys slept in the living room

This model of an airplane does not fly.

The work areas where the aspiring technicians and pilots learn about all aspects of airplanes

The trainee and the tourists

We were invited to dinner by a couple from Caleb's church, Rick and Kim Poole who own a house from the American Civil War days! They are turning it into a Bed and Breakfast.

Our gracious hosts, Rick and Kim Poole
1 July 2014

Rick prepared burgers on the grill and we had pizza burgers!
Check out the spinning jenny behind Nathaniel!

As the USS Silversides submarine was berthed nearby in Muskegon, Michigan, we decided to go and visit on 1 July 2014. We were redirected by road works to the shoreline of the beautiful Lake Michigan. Nathaniel pulled kerbside to take a quick photograph of the whitecapped waves and people who were para-sailboarding when....the van gets well and truly STUCK!

The sight Kor wanted to capture on film..

The van's rear right wheel sinks into the "sugar sand" collected at kerbside!

A kind passer-by tries to help us heave-ho but to no avail

Even the police stop to help us after attending to another emergency

Mum catches forty winks in the meantime

This kind lady, Ruth Olson stops to give advice whilst walking her grandson to sailing class and stops to chat on her way back. Almost eighty, Ruth Olson doesn't look her age. Mum and I have to go to the restroom and we head to the public restrooms when Ruth kindly invites us to use the ones in her home nearby. The house used to be a school house! Dad met Mr Tom Olson and later led him to receive Christ as his personal Saviour! Our meeting had been indeed divinely orchestrated from the detours to get to the USS Silversides to the sand-trapped van! God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.

Mrs Olson and mum outside the Olson's lake front home

A new friend and brother-in-Christ, Tom Olson

So for this trip eastward through Canada and then westward through the United States of America, we met old friends and made new ones, many from the household of faith. Such a blessing to have had Christian fellowship over a meal or just a conversation.

So I want to end with the lyrics from Michael W. Smith's hit from 1983, "Friends".

Friends

Packing up the dreams God planted

In the fertile soil of you

I can't believe the hopes He's granted

Means a chapter of your life is through

But we'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

That a lifetime's not too long

To live as friends

And with the faith and love God's given

Springing from the hope we know

We will pray the joy you live in

Is the strength that now you show

We'll keep you close as always

It won't even seem you've gone

'Cause our hearts in big and small ways

Will keep the love that keeps us strong

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

That a lifetime's not too long

To live as friends

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord's the Lord of them

And a friend will not say never

'Cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

That a lifetime's not too long

To live as friends

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father's hands we know

That a lifetime's not too long

To live as friends

No a lifetime's not too long

To live as friends

What a Wonderful World

Monday, 21 July 2014

Out of the mouth of babes

Monday, 7 July 2014

A friend loveth at all times

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