Showing posts with label Conferences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conferences. Show all posts
2012 Bright Lights Conferences Update!
The conferences were such an encouragement to all. The biggest praise was all the little and big prayer requests that the Lord answered. Mr. Mally was really resourceful and creative when it came to assembling the chalk easel for the chalk talk. There were numerous hurdles that he faced and duct tape came to the rescue for most! But even duct tape could not help when we had an electrical problem and the black light refused to turn on during the chalk talk. We prayed fervently from the back as they tried frantically to fix the problem. Just when it seemed like nothing would work, the lights miraculously came on! We found out later that the problem was due to a wire becoming disconnected in the power transformer that the black light was plugged into. There was no reason why it should have worked, but it did!
Initially, we had problems with the book shipment for both KL and Singapore as there were additional regulations to comply with that we had not expected. We prayed for these important materials to be released and I was surprised when they were and we were able to go ahead with the book sales! It was definitely a time that strengthened my faith in the Lord!
I enjoyed so much working with the girls on my different teams! It's always so amazing and encouraging to meet girls of all ages and different nationalities who want to know the Lord better!
I'm so grateful for the Lord's hand in all the conferences! He is faithful!
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"Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." - Psalm 33:3-5
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The Inaugural FULFIL Conference
As I write this post some 4 months after the conference, I ponder on the memories that stand out. Surprisingly, it is not the months of preparation, not my fears and not the logistics or organization involved. As I look back, what is firmly etched in my mind is an overwhelming sense of what the Lord can do. That the Lord IS faithful when we rely on His strength to do hard things!
Our 2011 south east asia ATI conference needed a team to be in charge of the girls' track. Who would do it? We volunteered. With much prayer, we came up with the name: FULFIL. It stands for Finding Unending Love and Fellowship In the Lord.
3 days, 18 leaders, 80 girls. Here are some highlights...
So, what did the girls think about the conference? It was quite amusing to read response forms:)
"Lunch must be more. Rice is too dry. (1st day)"
But mostly encouraging!
Benita (11) "Lovely, Excellent, Awesome, Great, Outstanding, Super! I love everything that is performed. I wish it wouldn't end. At least there's still a chance next year!"
Rachel (12) "Very good job! 2 thumbs up:) Will be coming back next year I hope!"
Christina (11) "I want to keep going for FULFIL"
Sara (15) "This is my first time attending the conference and it was enlightening"
And what did they plan to apply?
Margan (9) "I want be obedient to my parents because Jesus first love me."
Felicia (15) "To remember that I'm not alone and I'm a princess of God."
Charis (10) "Do my devotions everyday and don't show partiality."
Yasha (11) "I've learn that we must not be hypocrites."
I'll leave you with a song that Carolyn and I collaborated on. As with the conference's theme, its about being a daughter of the king.
We seek to be happy, we seek to
be loved.
But can the answer
be found in this world?
When we look to God to fulfil our desires,
We'll find we're complete in
Him, He knows our needs.
For God is my Father, an almighty king.
Yes, I am His daughter – glorious
within.
Called out of darkness into
His light,
Through Him I find beauty, joy and praise
Surrounded by perfect love, fears disappear.
I'll trust God's grace and strength not
my own.
My life I will live bringing glory
to God,
I'll adorn myself with good
works, make Him my all.
A big thank you to all who were involved! Special thanks to Marie Peh for the pictures in this post!
In Quietness and Confidence
"For thus saith the Lord God, the holy one of Israel; In returning and rest ye shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not." - Isaiah 30:15
There are many promises in God's word that are so comforting. This is one of them. Sadly, in reading it in context, we find that it was one that the Israelites did not claim. They chose to trust in men instead of God.
I was reminded to trust in God's promises as we started the Strong in the Lord conference here in Pennsylvania. To rely on His strength that comes in quietness and confidence.
One conference down and three more to go! I love reading through response forms after the conference.
The girls write such interesting comments and it is encouraging to hear the ways the conference has impacted their lives. Anyhow, this one made my day...
How did you hear about this conference?
Answer: From my computer
He Is Faithful
Thank you so much for your prayers. We are finally back in Cedar Rapids after doing four Bright Lights conferences in the last two weeks. It is good to be back "home" :)
As always, I really enjoyed helping out at the conferences. Sharing my heart with the girls during small group, giving testimonies in the main sessions, playing the violin to accompany the singing, setting up the book table, enjoying good fellowship with the other leaders...I could go on and on!
It was also challenging at times. Through those times, I saw the Lord's faithfulness as I brought my requests to Him in prayer. Let me share with you two of such circumstances...
The day before the Nebraska Strong in the Lord conference started, I read this verse:
"Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long." - Proverbs 23:17
As I usually do, I copied the verse into my journal and also wrote some thoughts about it. Looking back I'm surprised that they even made sense since I usually write when I'm tired or in a hurry!
Excerpt from my journal:
The paradox of us being told to love the Lord but also to fear Him. How can we possibly do both? Because we love the Lord, we should fear doing things that we know will displease Him. If our fear of the Lord comes out of our love for Him, it will be a healthy fear that brings us closer and not farther from Him.
What was so neat was that during my Strong in the Lord small group, one of the girls in my group asked me that question: how can we fear the Lord and also love Him? A few days later in my Radiant Purity small group, another girl asked me that same question again in the course of our discussions!
Another circumstance through which I saw the Lord's faithfulness was during my Radiant Purity small group. Our discussions on the first night of the conference went really well and I expected the next day to be the same. However, the next day brought some unexpected challenges. My team doubled in size and one of the new girls had some special needs. As a result, my small group was distracted throughout our time together despite my best efforts. To make it worse, in the middle of our discussion, one of the girls said: "So, how many of you want to date....and how many of you want to court?" She then proceeded to get my whole group to vote based on a show of hands. I was discouraged to see that about half of the group raised their hands to indicate that they would choose to date. Well, as I ended my last small group with the girls on this note, I wondered if the girls had benefited from anything in my small group . It certainly didn't seem so to me! Later on, as I read through their response forms, I couldn't stop smiling as the majority of them said that they enjoyed the small groups the best and many indicated specific commitments in the area of purity that they were going to make!
Sometimes, even after we spend time in prayer and do our very best preparation, things will not turn out the way we planned. In such situations, we have to remember that God's definition of success is different from ours. His ways are higher than our ways! Through it all, HE IS FAITHFUL!
Morning by morning, I wake up to find
The power and comfort of God's hand in mine
Season by season I watch Him amazed,
In awe of the mystery of His perfect ways
All I have need of His hand will provide
He's always been faithful to me.
3 Favourite Quotes About Radiant Purity
The discussion times at the conference went really well but I wish I could have spent more time getting to know the girls! Well, I did the next best thing - wrote individual notes to the girls with quotes on purity on the front. So glad that I remembered to get some pictures of them!
What are some of YOUR favourite quotes or verses about purity?
In a little girl's eyes...
My favourite memory from the OshKosh Wisconsin Strong in the Lord conference:
"This is my brother when he is angry"
Thanking God for the opportunity we have to teach sweet little girls!
Go to Emily Schuurmans' blog for more pictures...
ATII Regional Homeschool Conference, Melaka 2008
Next up was the ATI conference, which was held in Melaka and was 11-13 September. The girls who came participated very well, considering the fact that the age gap was ranging from 6-year-olds to 13- or 14-year-olds! During large group, although the younger ones did get a little antsy (it had been a long day) they all still managed to pay attention and take part in the activities. Some of the girls were quiet at first, but since it was over three days, they warmed up some. :) Here are a few pictures:
DAY ONE
Large group! The girls, especially the younger ones really enjoyed the singing, which I believe is what we're doing in the picture. :)
This year there were a whole lot of new crafts, specially planned by Carolyn and Cassandra Lo! Here is my group (12 little girls!) making a little memory verse booklet.
DAY TWO - field day! We rode buses out to the forest, where the ALERT Cadet was, for the whole afternoon. Led by Major Farr, we had a "paralympics" theme, where each team could compete in discus, javelin, Olympic torch relay, shot put and long jump. The girls always enjoy field day cuz it's like going on an excursion. :)
On the bus ride, which was filled with laughter and singing
The final heats! haha.. I think they're doing the javelin throw, which is really a foam noodle
Besides using our muscles (?) we had to use our brains. Using simple materials such as a styrofoam cup, plastic spoon, ice-cream sticks, tape and a mousetrap, we had to make a catapault to fling an eraser as far as possible. Most of the catapaults basically looked like this. And I think the record distance was about 12 feet!:)
This was another project we had to use our brains for. We had to build a boat out of, again, basic items, like a CD, a cup, straws, tape and a plastic bag. The boat which could contain the most pennies without capsizing won. It turned out that the youngest group held the record of 285 pennies!
The teams walking back to the bus at the end of the afternoon... it was a pretty long walk but the girls were good sports about it. :) My group in particular liked to run...
Aileen (from my group): Can we run noww?? Pleeeaase?
Me: Okay, you can run.
Girls: *feet pounding the road*
Me: Okay, STOP!
Charity: Stop so fast?? I wanna runnn!
Me: No, you see, coz we caught up with the other people alreadyyy.. if you want to run, we have to walk slowly, and then once they are further away, we can run. Okay?
Aileen: Oh! OKAY! Charity, we have to walk slow slow!
DAY THREE
Here's the girls performing at the Parent Presentation! They did several memory verses (with actions!), and a few songs too. Parent Presentations always are a little confusing, but by God's grace everything went smoothly!
Some final pictures before at the end of the day... This was the last day and so a lot of pictures were being taken.
All the leaders from the ATI conference 2008! We really thank God because everything went well, the girls were mostly cooperative, and we had enough strength for each day! Without Him, we wouldn't have made it, that I'm sure!:)
This video is of the girls singing a song entitled God's Word Abides Forever during the Parent Presentation. The song was composed by Grace, just the night before the conference began! The girls really loved the song. :) Grace did a very good job with it! :) haha.. okay, that's all!
DAY ONE
Large group! The girls, especially the younger ones really enjoyed the singing, which I believe is what we're doing in the picture. :)
This year there were a whole lot of new crafts, specially planned by Carolyn and Cassandra Lo! Here is my group (12 little girls!) making a little memory verse booklet.DAY TWO - field day! We rode buses out to the forest, where the ALERT Cadet was, for the whole afternoon. Led by Major Farr, we had a "paralympics" theme, where each team could compete in discus, javelin, Olympic torch relay, shot put and long jump. The girls always enjoy field day cuz it's like going on an excursion. :)
On the bus ride, which was filled with laughter and singing
The final heats! haha.. I think they're doing the javelin throw, which is really a foam noodle
Besides using our muscles (?) we had to use our brains. Using simple materials such as a styrofoam cup, plastic spoon, ice-cream sticks, tape and a mousetrap, we had to make a catapault to fling an eraser as far as possible. Most of the catapaults basically looked like this. And I think the record distance was about 12 feet!:)
This was another project we had to use our brains for. We had to build a boat out of, again, basic items, like a CD, a cup, straws, tape and a plastic bag. The boat which could contain the most pennies without capsizing won. It turned out that the youngest group held the record of 285 pennies!
The teams walking back to the bus at the end of the afternoon... it was a pretty long walk but the girls were good sports about it. :) My group in particular liked to run...Aileen (from my group): Can we run noww?? Pleeeaase?
Me: Okay, you can run.
Girls: *feet pounding the road*
Me: Okay, STOP!
Charity: Stop so fast?? I wanna runnn!
Me: No, you see, coz we caught up with the other people alreadyyy.. if you want to run, we have to walk slowly, and then once they are further away, we can run. Okay?
Aileen: Oh! OKAY! Charity, we have to walk slow slow!
DAY THREE
Here's the girls performing at the Parent Presentation! They did several memory verses (with actions!), and a few songs too. Parent Presentations always are a little confusing, but by God's grace everything went smoothly!
Some final pictures before at the end of the day... This was the last day and so a lot of pictures were being taken.
All the leaders from the ATI conference 2008! We really thank God because everything went well, the girls were mostly cooperative, and we had enough strength for each day! Without Him, we wouldn't have made it, that I'm sure!:)This video is of the girls singing a song entitled God's Word Abides Forever during the Parent Presentation. The song was composed by Grace, just the night before the conference began! The girls really loved the song. :) Grace did a very good job with it! :) haha.. okay, that's all!
Strong in the Lord conference in Singapore
I thought that I'd also add more pictures and such on what Jolynn already said about the conferences... Of course, it wasn't all play play play; we had lotsa work during the conferences! :) haha. But it was a "good" sort of work. :) So this is the Strong in the Lord conference, 6th September: 
My group! It was nice having Emily as an assistant and Phoebe, who was not actually an assistant but a "talker", getting the other girls to respond too.
Sitting in the church during large group
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven." ~Matthew 5:16
My group! It was nice having Emily as an assistant and Phoebe, who was not actually an assistant but a "talker", getting the other girls to respond too.
Sitting in the church during large group
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven." ~Matthew 5:16
Bright Lights conferences 2008
This year, there were five Bright Lights conferences held in 3 different cities in South East Asia: Singapore, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.
Thank God for all the opportunities we had!
Singapore:
Malacca:
Kuala Lumpur:
What did you benefit from the conferences you attended?
Thank God for all the opportunities we had!
Singapore:
Malacca:
Kuala Lumpur:
What did you benefit from the conferences you attended?
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