Destination Timor-Leste ~ The Real Thing!

Let me start by apologising for the glitch that caused a blank post to be sent out with just the title “Destination Timor-Leste”. I really appreciate each of you who took the time to check it out and I’m so sorry that you probably went, “Huh?!”

It happened during the early morning hours when the otherwise effective WiFi in my Timor-Leste hotel room acted up. After checking and re-checking my laptop’s internet settings, I turned to the WordPress App on my cellphone to try to share photographs that I’d snapped. As they couldn’t load properly, I ditched the post but it somehow went public with only the heading intact!

The mysterious part of it all is that the complimentary wireless connection on my mobile phone remained intact! It wasn’t until my host arranged for the staff to give me the password to their office WiFi the next morning that I could access the internet on my laptop. But by then, our driver had arrived so it was time to leave the hotel.

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Why was I in Timor-Leste?

In Asia’s youngest country, half the population is illiterate and close to 40 percent of the people live below the international poverty line. I went as a Singapore Press Club volunteer invited to train local journalists to help build up the fledging nation’s media capabilities. The workshops that I conducted were on scripting for television, newsgathering and interview skills while the other trainers focused on areas like commentary writing, social media, crowd-sourcing news and revenue streams.

L-I-B-E-R-A-T-I-O-N!
A CT Angiogram at the six-month mark following my Pulmonary Embolism showed “nearly complete resolution of the previous PE with minimal residual emboli (blood clots)”. As I’d been cautioned that it could take up to a year for life to get back to normal, I praise God that it’s only taken half the time for me to recover to the extent that I could comfortably resume regular workouts, assume a new round of counselling responsibilities and even travel abroad. 

When my cardiothoracic doctor Lim See Lim (well-liked by patients at the National Heart Centre, I’m told, because of his excellent care) gave his stamp of approval for a trip to Timor-Leste, the good news took a while to sink in! Once it did, the sense of freedom was so palpable that I immediately wrote back to the organisers of the training sessions to say “Yes, I’ll go” and they confirmed my flight a day later! Committing to a meaningful activity was my way of marking the momentous occasion. 🙂

My heart swelled with a round of HALLELUJAHs to my good and gracious LORD.
Hallelujah or Alleluia has Hebrew roots and is a spontaneous expression of joy, thanksgiving and praise towards God. Do check out the uplifting version of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus at the end of this post.

I learnt that a number of fellow Christians hadn’t stopped praying for God to heal me since I was first rushed into A&E in February. I’ve been truly touched by the love shown to me by so many and would like to say a big THANK YOU to each and every person who’s played a role, seen or unseen by me, known or unknown to me, in my journey to recovery. The Lord sees what I miss and I’m so glad that He records and rewards. May He bless you and all your loved ones!

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A Pictorial Record

Now for a photo essay on my stay in Timor-Leste. All the pictures were taken using my Samsung SII handphone—Android above Apple for me! I used to carry a still camera and a video camera on trips but stopped when I realised that I was spending far more time looking at the world through lenses trying to frame and capture people and scenes “just so” rather than simply enjoying the fresh experiences! It’s a job hazard that the cameramen I work with fully understand.

From Singapore, it takes 3 hours and 45 minutes to fly to Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. Sandwiched between Indonesia and Australia, the country occupies eastern Timor island and was once a colony of Portugal. Till today, Portuguese remains an official language along with Tetum. Bahasa Indonesia is also widely understood as neighbouring West Timor is under Indonesian rule.

Cheerful Cumulus Clouds—I snap a fresh batch whenever I get a window seat!
(An interest retained from Secondary School geography)

Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport

Enroute to Hotel

Room Security—a simple press-down door knob. Bellhops-Guards watch the entrance/exit at night.

Breakfast @ Bagan Beach Café yielded one of the tastiest stir-fried noodle dishes I’ve ever eaten.
I was glad I tried some one morning instead of just having juice and fruit. 

View of Areia Branca Beach from the hotel balcony led me to take a Lovely Sunset Walk.
Amazingly, the WiFi was strong enough for me to use WhatsApp several metres across the road!

Tentative Smiles captured for posterity with permission from their Dad.

Most Timorese are Melanesian and the majority of the 800,000 citizens are Roman Catholic—a colonial legacy. This accounts for the giant 27-metre high Cristo Rei of Dili (Christ the King of Dili) statue of Jesus that’s inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Training @ Palácio Do Governo
The Government Palace is the official residence of the Timorese President but he lives at his private home so the sprawling structure is used by various government bodies. The thatched models are mini replicas of traditional houses.

Training was conducted with the help of an interpreter. Videos had to be downloaded beforehand as internet access was restricted to the offices in the Government Palace. The projector in the main conference room wasn’t hooked up to an audio system but a resourceful Timorese taught me to bend the conference microphone to amplify sound from my laptop speaker—a useful tip!

Streets of Dili with a Timorese journalist as guide. I met many friendly and helpful locals.

A Spot of Shopping @ US$4-US$6 dollars each. The local woven fabric is called Tai.

As Timor-Leste supplies organic coffee to major chains worldwide, I was told it’d make a great gift, so I bought boxes of Arabica and Robusta as recommended by a frequent visitor. Little did I know that the intended recipients needed a percolator to brew the drink! I’d thought ground coffee was like soybean powder that could simply be stirred into water. The reason for my knowledge gap is that I prefer iced water and cold juices so I rarely drink coffee, and if I have to choose between java and tea, I’d go for the lighter drink—preferably the ice-blended version!

Air Timor
For its Singapore-Dili flights, the national carrier charters an A319 aircraft from SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines. A business traveller who flies in every month told me that his fare fluctuates between US$650 and US$850 depending on demand. I learnt from a fellow journalist that the number of passengers on each flight is capped as the airport runway is short and a full plane wouldn’t be able to land or take off. While I wasn’t able to personally verify that, having an entire row to myself on the way home does lend weight to the information.

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What’s your impression of Timor-Leste, I’ve been asked. A serene and rustic environment balanced against the people’s strong desire to develop and prosper. The Timorese currency is only available in values below US$1 so American dollars are used in most transactions including cab rides. Locals say the cost of living rose because United Nations peacekeepers and their families freely paid more for daily items during the 13 years that they were on the island.

Most East Timorese voted for an end to Indonesian rule in a 1999 UN-sponsored referendum. However, anti-independence militias backed by Indonesia’s military responded with a scorched-earth campaign until an International Force ended the violence. I’d been heavily involved in my TV network’s extensive coverage of the tense conflict so it was particularly meaningful for me to be in Timor-Leste a year after the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers. The young state shares large deposits of oil and natural gas under the Timor Sea with its neighbours Australia and Indonesia. May it experience strong growths and stability in the years ahead.

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Hallelujah Chorus – Andre Rieu (Conductor) with Harlem Gospel Choir, Sopranos and Tenors
Lyrics/Music: Charles Jennens, George Frideric Handel
Hallelujah Chorus is the climax of Messiah by Handel. It’s said that he composed the piece in 24 days while modern musicians can barely even copy it within that timeframe! At the end of his manuscript, the composer wrote “SDG”—Soli Deo Gloria which means “To God Alone The Glory”. With this inscription and his speed of composition, it’s believed that he wrote the music in a fervour of divine inspiration during which he “saw all heaven before him”!

For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of our Lord
And of His Christ. And He shall reign for ever and ever
King of Kings and Lord of Lords for ever and ever
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

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Revelation Song – 11 International Worship Leaders
Lyrics/Music: Jennie Lee Riddle

The Perfect Balance

“It’s not fair!” is a cry that you’ll hear even from the tiniest tots.
Equally instinctive is the motion of little arms held up expectantly for a hug.

The need for love and justice appears to be a fundamental human reflex.
And to me, the balance between the two is such a critical one.

When I was first told about the God who loves me and is ever ready to forgive all my sins if I repented of them, something deep in my human spirit responded to the conviction of His Holy Spirit. But as I fell in the category of what’s generally regarded as a “good girl”, I didn’t really comprehend the great divide between a holy God and sinful Man—sin being defined as the transgression of Creator God’s law and absolute moral standards whether in deed or thought.

Nonetheless, the concept of God as Love and a focus on the New Testament (the second part of the Bible that starts with the life of Jesus Christ) sustained my faith from my secondary school days right through to my early working years as a TV reporter. But that didn’t give me a complete picture of God Almighty, of whom Proverbs 15:33 advises, “The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord brings instruction in Wisdom.” So once faced with the demands of balancing a high-adrenalin newsroom career with being a wife and raising two young hyperactive sons, partial truth reduced me to becoming what’s known as a “backslidden” or nominal Christian. There’s a warning by Jesus to this group in Revelation, the last book of the Holy Scriptures.

“I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth! For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realise and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” – Rev 3: 15-17

Fast-forward my 30s which I shared about in “Hope Springs Eternal”. In my 40s, I devoured the Old Testament (its first book Genesis explains the creation of our universe and the first man and woman) and found that so much of it made sense to me in this phase of my life. The Psalms expressed every emotion that I could ever feel and echoed every cry that I could ever utter!

The holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy and goodness of Father God reverberated through the pages of the front part of His inspired Word. And when I combined all that with His love, grace and compassion epitomised by His Son Jesus in the New Testament, a richness and wholeness came through that had escaped me previously.

I don’t know who first said this, but “The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”

If I believe only that my God is Love, I would not have the assurance that He’ll be fair, for love alone—at least as far as we humans know it—can lead to biased, illogical or plain bad decisions. On the other hand, if I know my God only as being Holy or Righteous, I wouldn’t be at all certain that He can truly understand or have compassion on Mankind, a race riddled with inconsistencies and frailties.

But when the two are combined in a perfect balance, therein lies my security and equanimity.
(Friviolous aside: I’ve known the word “equanimity” for ages but this is the first time I’m using it in a sentence! It means mental or emotional stability or composure, especially under tension or strain.)

To be certain of justice from the Impartial One whose standards are perfect and yet whose love is great and mercy is rich—I can safely put my trust in a God like this. No wonder we are told that, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” –Genesis 18:25b. That’s one of my favourite Bible verses found on my introductory page “Me In A Nutshell” . Another is Psalm 89:14, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face.”

In a court case, witnesses are asked to precede their sworn testimony with words similar to these, “I promise that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” In John 8:31-32, Jesus told all those who believed that He’s the Son of the Living God, “If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” That is why my email signature looks like this:

Showers of Blessings!
🙂
Carol 珍
http://www.carolfoo.com

Seek the Truth, Love the Truth, Live the Truth!

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David Ravenhill, a Christian minister and author taught my church recently that when we pray, we need to believe three things about God—His “Presence, Passion and Power”. David’s illustration goes like this (non-verbatim)—”If I’m walking alone on the streets and a huge muscleman wants to attack me, a friend who’s equally well-developed (Power) and loves me (Passion) but isn’t there at that time (No Presence) wouldn’t be of any help to me. If another friend suddenly turns up (Presence) and is more than willing to rush over to assist me (Passion) but he’s much smaller than my would-be attacker (hence No Power), both of us could end up getting hurt despite his kind intentions!”

A God who is forever the ideal combination of Presence, Passion and Power provides the perfect balance that any of us could ever want or need.

– Weary and wonder when the sun will shine on you?“
“So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word. And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities.” –Hebrews 10: 23-24

– Feel misunderstood or unappreciated?
“For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” –1 Samuel 16:7b ~ “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” –Galatians 6:9 ~ “For surely there is a latter end [a future and a reward], and your hope and expectation shall not be cut off.” –Proverbs 23:18

– Treated badly or taken advantage of?
Forgive, as God has so freely forgiven us. For Christians, our role model is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Perfect One who was betrayed, wrongly accused, slandered, rejected and crucified. Yet Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” –Luke 23:34

“For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.” –Matthew 6:14
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in Heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop.” –Mark 11:25

Pulpit Commentary – Biblesoft (Useful Link: http://www.biblehub.com)
“The pious writer urges the injured person to commit his cause to the Lord, not in the hope of seeing vengeance taken on his enemy, but in the certainty that God will help him to bear the wrong and deliver him in His own good time and way.” Hillel (the ancient Jewish sage and scholar) enjoins, “Do not thou that to thy neighbour which thou hatest when it is done to thee.” In modern lingo, it means that whatever you find hateful, do not do to your fellow man. As Jesus taught in His famous Sermon on the Mount, “Love your enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to those that hate you, and pray for those who speak evil about you (those who accuse you falsely, mistreat you, spitefully use you) and persecute you.” –Matthew 5:44

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In The Image Of God
I believe in asking God for His perspective on each person I encounter. He alone knows their entire life journey that has shaped them thus far. Ellel Ministries uses a very enlightening skit to demonstrate this. A friend or colleague may seem to over-react to what many consider a harmless remark. But if we could get a glimpse into what has built up over a long period of time, we would realise that for that person, it’s the “last straw that breaks the camel’s back” causing their cup to “run over” but in a negative way. (In Psalm 23:5, the phrase ‘My Cup Runneth Over’ means “God provides more than enough to meet my needs.”)

Easy anger or extreme shyness could be a defence mechanism against past multiple hurts and abuse while brash arrogance and workaholism could well mask insecurity and a relentless need to prove oneself acceptable through continuous achievement. That’s not to say that bad behaviour is acceptable but let’s take a little time to look beyond the surface and it’s likely that our response will be the better for it.

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The following may seem fantastical if you don’t believe that the Bible was written through the inspiration of God but I really hope you’ll finish reading this paragraph. God has exposed the strategy of satan the fallen angel turned devil—he was once the high ranking archangel Lucifer who was kicked out of Heaven for rebellion and pride, wanting to be worshipped “like the most High”. No longer able to enjoy his former status and intimacy with the Almighty and with Hell as his ultimate eternal jail, he bitterly resents Father God’s offer of restored relationship with fallen man made possible through Jesus’ freewill sacrifice of Himself for us. Christ revealed that while He came “so (we) can have real and eternal life, more and better life than (we) ever dreamed of”, satan “the thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy”. And therein lies the root cause of many of Mankind’s perpetual problems. Bible references: Isaiah 14:14, Matthew 25:41 and John 10:10.

If you have questions concerning what you’ve just read, here’s a great link that you might like to check out:
+ http://www.cscc.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=96

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He Is – First Assembly of God
Lyrics/Music: Jeoffrey Benward, Jeff Silvey
This is so beautiful! I’ve watched it 5 times in the last 24 hours alone. Would have loved being a part of the orchestra or choir. “He Is” describes Jesus revealed through all the books of the Bible. Amazing!
(Thanks to Rena for introducing me to this)

Jesus Messiah & Hallelujah, Praise The Lamb – First Assembly of God
Lyrics/Music for Jesus Messiah: Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, Jesse Reeves
Lyrics/Music for Hallelujah, Praise The Lamb: Bill & Gloria Gaither

All Things Weird & Wonderful

Skinny Pig
Breed: Guinea Pig (Practically hairless)
Price: S$150 (USD120) for one, S$200 (USD160) for a pair
My neighbourhood pet shop is promoting the Skinny Pig and I like stopping by to check them out. To me, this critter fits the traditional definition of cute—ugly but adorable!

My Favourite Bird
Pelicans always look adorably goofy to me. That large throat pouch never fails to make me smile 🙂

My Favourite Dog
Chow Chow resembles a miniature bear with a lion’s mane. Its unique tongue comes in one of my favourite colours—purple! Origin: China, where it’s known as 松狮犬 (Songshi Quan)

My Favourite Cat
Don’t know what breed Harry Cat is, but I really like this picture from a children’s book called “The Cricket in Times Square” written by George Selden and illustrated by Garth Williams. I’ve added one of my Guiding Principles and made it the cover of files containing songs that I use to lead group worship. The words in Chinese 敬 拜 耶 和 华 (prono: jìng bài yē hé huá) mean Worship Yahweh/Jehovah.

The picture reminds me of Isaiah 11:6 in the Bible, “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatted domestic animal together; and a little child shall lead them.” …..World Peace!

A Thing Of Beauty Is A Joy Forever

“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray”
-Joyce Kilmer

Glass Finery – Skylight of Raffles City as seen from Out Of The Pan restaurant
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Apple Delight
I call this the Fruit Fly—what imagination! -(Artist unknown)
Love the way the stalk was split to make butterfly antennae!

Red Blood Cells seen under a scanning electron microscope that detects incredible details of 1-5 nanometre in size. They’re the most common type of blood cells and they have the tall task of carrying oxygen to our entire body. Women have some 4-5 million RBCs per cubic millimetre of blood and in men, it’s 5-6 million.

Eagle Paw
Sheer artistry! -(Artist unknown)
“Those who wait for and hope in the Lord shall renew their strength & power; they shall soar on wings like eagles and mount up close to God; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired”
-Isaiah 40:31

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Perspective
“Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done”
-Johnson Oatman, Jr.

Fun Occupation: Regurgitator
(Thanks to rYo for sharing this)

Fun On The Job

🙂