Focus on the Family…May to August, 2010

2010 Kara's Graduation from Dental School

2010 Wong Family Reunion

Team Grandkids

Grand Palace Bangkok, Thailand

River Tour Bangkok, Thailand

Hard to believe that the last blog we wrote was at the end of April. Time has really passed by quickly and there are so many wonderful experiences to share with you all. It will be hard, but we will try and give you a quick update according to each month.

MAY was really a busy month. It started off with a bang, when we were able to attend an outdoor concert with Andrea Bocelli. He is a world renowned singer that was brought to Singapore by a very wealthy Christian businessman. The businessman offered free tickets to all the pastors of the churches in Singapore. It was a magical evening under the stars and set in the middle of the famed Singapore Botanical Gardens.

This was followed by a quick trip to the San Francisco Bay area to be with our families and friends. Effie and Arnold even had the chance to fly to Southern California to visit Arnold's sisters. It was back to the Bay Area and then we went to Dallas for a reunion with our children and their families. We praise the Lord for His goodness and grace to our family. The family has grown by leaps and bounds, see photo above. We capped off our visit to Dallas with Kara's graduation from dental school.

There have been and will be many more exciting changes in store for our family. Dana and her family have relocated from Mason, Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia. Lisa is getting ready for the ground breaking of the George W. Bush library in Dallas. Elena is getting ready to defend her research for her doctorate. Marina is relocating from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Seattle, Washington. Alicia is awaiting the arrival of her second child (a girl) in January. Tricia is about to start a new school year as a math specialist in the Dallas, Texas area. Kara has graduated from dental school and is doing a residency in Houston. Whew-- that was quick.

JUNE was a pretty amazing month, too. Arnold returned to Singapore to be the church camp speaker. Effie and Kara were able to experience a hiking trek in the majestic Carmel-Monterey area with Effie's sister, Darlene. When they got back it was off to Russia for a river cruise up the Volga from St. Petersburg, Russia to Moscow. It has been Kara's childhood dream come true to see the treasures of Catherine the Great in the famed Hermitage museum. Effie, Kara, cousin Gina, & Auntie Darlene had a stupendous time filled with wonderful sites and memories.

JULY was a memorable month. Effie went on a mission trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. A team of 27 people from Grace Baptist Church went to do a Vacation Bible School to over 200 students at a private school. The amazing thing is that they managed to do it in 2 days! Over 30 decisions for Christ were made to accept Christ as the Savior. While it was grueling, it was very rewarding.

One of the highlights for Arnold was being the Spiritual Emphasis Week speaker at Singapore Bible College. For four days, he encouraged and exhorted the student body from the Book of Romans.

Toward the end of the month, Effie and Arnold got to celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary. Part of the celebration actually took place a week later in August.

AUGUST was and is going to be exciting for us. We got to visit Bangkok, Thailand for the very first time. In this beautiful land, Christians comprise only about 1% of the population. Temples abound. We got to see the Grand Palace and to take a river tour. While the trip was short, it was packed with lots of site seeing, eating, and resting. We praise the Lord that Bangkok is returning to some sense of normalcy after the dangerous events of the summer between the "Red Shirts", "Yellow Shirts", and the government.

Throughout the summer we were blessed by visits from dear friends from the United States. It was great to see them and to renew long and dear friendships built over the years.

As the remainder of the year fast approaches, we are so grateful for the opportunity to continue serving the Lord at Grace Baptist Church. Each day we have experienced the grace and mercies of the Lord anew. Many of you have continued to love, encourage, and pray for us and our family. We treasure you all.

Please note that Arnold's email at church has changed to arnoldwong@gracebaptistchurch.sg.You can find our contact information in the previous blogs. We would love to hear from you and reconnect.