How the children do apostolate

When I was in Indonesia, I just needed to walk to teach in the neighbourhood Sunday School. One of the catechism children stayed a few steps away from my house. She always played first in the morning (she was primary 2, I guess, now she's grown up already!!). Then she would stop playing and told her friend, "I need to go to Sunday School!" This friend of hers, is actually not a Catholic, but this little friend followed the child to the Sunday School!! Weeks over weeks! This girl even joined our Christmas celebration and the parents couldn't do anything because "She enjoyed going to Sunday School with Devi!" (Devi is the Catholic girl)

:)

Simple, natural, sincere... Kids are the best in these three things! ^^

Cute-ness of kids this week..

One fine day at a kindergarten, I was doing observation study. While I was holding the video camera, a kid asked me:

xx: Do you want to go to doctor?
me: nope.
xx: Why?
me: because I'm not sick.
yy (the friend): Pretend lah!

***

A legionary's 5-year-old kid came to retreat:

me: what do you sing in school? Humpty Dumpty?
xx: no, it's baby song!!
me: how about B.I.N.G.O?
xx: it's also baby song!
me: what do you sing at school??
xx: national song!
me: try to sing it?
xx: you sing!
me: national song? I'll sing my national song, I don't know your national song.

Wah, kids these days do not sing children songs???

***

Just now, me and my housemate bumped to a daddy with 2 kids and a helper.

boy: (to me and my housemate) look I have Hello Panda! (biscuit)
me: wah nice!!

then they went out first because they live one level below us.

boy: are you staying here? (pointed to the door opposite his door)
me: nope, we're going up.
boy: bubyeee!
(and the little sister blew kiss to us! =P) I didn't know I have cute neighbours! HAHAHA..


Have a great week! Just one more day to weekend!

7 Quick Takes Friday - Vol. 13

- 1 -

This post becomes a 7-Quick-Takes-Sunday. My retreat with Legion of Mary ended today. It was quite tiring but it was quite relaxed too compared to my personal retreat (that's why I told other members that they still need to go to their personal retreat =P ). It's very nice to encourage each other and to have a spiritual input. At least there's something knocked my head hard enough to wake me up and struggle harder :)

- 2 -

Last week flew very fast. I went to the kindergarten almost every day to do my observation study. One of the kids called me and my colleague "Suspicious girls" because we walked around with video and audio recorders.

- 3 -

I love the talk that was given in the recollection on Wednesday. The speaker talked about the topic "Bringing up happy and holy children". She explained 14 tips on practicing virtues (for ourselves!). She said, "To bring up happy and holy children, we need to be happy and holy too!" Even though most of the people who attended the recollection were married women, I've found the meditations and talk were very useful. The interesting thing was, during examination of conscience, one of the questions was "Do I realize that as parents, we hold the primary responsibility of the education of the children? Do I communicate this with my husband so that we can carry out this duty well?" Wow..... This is very very cool! Another point was, "Even If I have not been given any children, do I become a witness of genuine marital love for other people?"

- 4 -

Somehow I could not recall much on the past week. Oh thank God, I felt much better at work now. Things are getting tougher, but I do enjoy my interaction with the preschool children :) *sorry for writing this again and again!*

- 5 -

No time to do house chores for the past week. I was super-KO when I reached home.

- 6 -

Ohhh...we had sushi after Legion of Mary meeting on Monday! I hope we really get more new members.

- 7 -

Need to start running again... >.<

What does it mean to grow up in a Catholic school?

This thought somehow struck me because I am educated in Catholic school from kindergarten to high school, yet...I don't know LOTS of Church doctrine till I came to Singapore and I am 'challenged' because this is the first time I entered a non-Catholic school (my university :) ).

Nevertheless, there are some little things that matter a lot for me and I may not get these things if I don't go to Catholic schools. :)

1. cross-subsidy

In most Catholic schools in Indonesia, the parents who can afford to pay more would pay higher tuition fee. Some parents did abuse this system though (e.g., by pretending to be poor), but this system allows us to enjoy good education with affordable rate. We also have friends from various income levels.

2. retreat

Of course we should go retreat once a year, but at least in Catholic schools, we had compulsory retreat for Primary 6, Final Year Junior High School, and Final Year Senior High School.

3. discipline

Well, perhaps this is special for Ursuline schools. I remember the nun in my school told us how "discipline is related to the word 'disciple' ". It was such a long time ago, but in the middle of annoyance of how strict my school is, I can't forget what she said and I'm so happy to find this explanation of the word "discipline" again in spiritual books these days.

4. Serviam!

My school motto is "Serviam". We must wear the serviam badge on our left collar EVERY DAY. Even though the school always reminds us to bring this "I serve"-spirit after we graduate, I used to take it for granted. However, after my spiritual director told me about morning offering: to kiss the floor while saying "Serviam" and then offer the whole day to God through Mary, I am so glad that I spent 6 years in this Ursuline school with this motto: “Serviam”. Like what my maths teacher said before, "My 'Serviam' is in my heart already, not on my collar."

The school always demands us to excel in our studies, but that's not the most important thing on earth. The school reminds us to greet the cleaner uncles and the teachers every time we bump into each other, and I think this is one simple thing that affects me so much till now.

5. Parents, don’t let go your responsibility
My school really pays attention to parents’ involvement in the children’s education. Parents can’t throw the responsibility to the teachers. The school has regular meeting with parents and if parents do not come without valid reasons, the school will warn the parents!

Oh well...I wish..my school would have shared more about the Church's teaching. I guess this is my next goal as alumni, to share with the students about the beauty of the Church :) or at least to share with my teachers how Catholic schools can help the parents to realize the importance of giving formation for their children too.

7 Quick Takes Friday - Vol. 12

- 1 -

Today the girls in Girls' Club (series of Saturday's activities and spiritual formation for primary school girls) had a drama workshop. They'll be performing Annie (cut down to 15 minutes!!) at the end of this year. It's quite fun to see them trying to introduce themselves as Mr. Warbucks and Annie

- 2 -

I was bombarded with work for the past two days after I came back from leave. :(
I talked to Krizia and she gave me some tips to break down the tasks and to talk to my boss. I feel enlightened after talking to my boss, at least now I know what to prioritize. Thank God!

- 3 -

I finally went to S.E.A Aquarium. It was crowded (with Indonesian tourists!!). This is one interesting conversation that I had during my trip:

Paul: (showed me mudskipper) See see the mudskipper?
Me: wahhh..
a kid: (to her mom) Mommy mommy what is that? (point to the mudskipper)
mom: Looks like prawn. (both mom and kid spoke in Indonesian)
me: (to the kid) it's not a prawn.
Paul, paul, what is mudskipper in Indonesian??
Paul: how do I know??


The wonderful thing about having animal behaviourist-boyfriend is...you see what other people do not see!

Like this cleaning station =D

or this mating sharks..

- 4 -

I still have homesick. Sigh!
It's not as bad as previous holidays, thank God I only went home for one week..However, I've been dragging my feet for the past three days, and had a gloomy face every time I arrived at my house here in Singapore. I don't know. It's still...difficult. The feeling of homelessness is coming back and sometimes I'm just wondering, how long more I will be 'homeless' like this?? (even though I know that this situation is temporary)

- 5 -

Today is Indonesia's Independence Day celebration. Me and my friend had a chat, how we hate it when people say, "You don't want to go back to Indonesia, because you don't love your country, do you?" I know friends who come back to our homeland to work after graduating from Australia. Does it mean they love Indonesia? I think it really depends on many reasons. I still love my country and have difficulties to accept the fact that most likely I won't go back to my country. At the same time, I always challenge myself, "Do I want to go back to my country for the comfort I receive from my family?" "Do I want to stay in Singapore for a selfish reason?" Sometimes I really feel that I can contribute more to my country by not going home. Plus, I still need to pay my student loan!

- 6 -

I read this book in Indonesian:

I think it's very useful for people who want to understand basic principles of Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. It's beautiful and it's addressed in a very personal manner. My mom wanted to read this book! (it's quite a rare occasion in which she asks me to leave my book so she can read it :P)

- 7 -

I finished writing the article about "Why young people cannot close their ears about Church teaching on contraception?" Thanks to my senior, Imma, for editing the article. It's really challenging to write a proper article in Indonesian language. Thanks to the book above (Catholic for a Reason IV), I managed to get proper translation of the most cited points from Gaudium et Spes.

More quick takes at www.conversiondiary.com!

7 Quick Takes Friday - Vol.11

- 1 -

Greeting from Indonesia! I am spending my long weekend in Indonesia. My helper is on vacation, so my vacation becomes a replacement for my helper. Ironing + mopping the whole house :) Anyway, I've got lots of cleaning up tips from my mom. I've done lots of things wrong in my house in SG. For example, I don't have a separate pail to wash kitchen wipes. *yup, it's disgusting* My mom has three different pails to wash clothes, wipes, and mats.

- 2 -

Once Paul asked, "Why do people never learn from previous generation? Mother-in-law always has problem with daughter-in-law." Now...I now someone who has learned it and has peaceful relationship with her daughter-in-law. It's my maternal grandma. It turns out that every time my maternal grandma complained about little things that my aunt does, my grandma would  call my mom, then my mom would tell her that my grandma was a visitor in that house so she shouldn't complain to my aunt because each person has her own way to manage the house. So...that's the secret how my aunt always said that her mother-in-law is nice. On top of that, if my aunt complained about my uncle, my grandma would talk to my uncle and correct him. So..rule of thumb from my mom is.. respect other person's "territory". If I were 'visitor' next time, let's say I'll temporarily live with in-laws, I need to ask-ask-and-ask how they do things in their house.

- 3 -

I finally met my brother's girlfriend. A very simple girl and thank God, now she's the one stopping my brother from spending money on unnecessary things. Hahaha.

- 4 -

What happened this week? Ohhh..lots of work. I am taking leave at the 'wrong time'. I was really rushing to finish some analysis on the observation and passed everything to my colleague (sorry, Wanyu!!!). I hope I don't leave anything behind!

- 5 -

Somehow I feel like someone who's taking sleeping-pill when I'm at home. I seriously sleep a lot!! I took two naps on Thursday and I slept non-stop on my way from my house to my uncle's house and on our way back yesterday. So...it's kinda a blessing that my mom asked me to clean the house these past two days. Anyway, my helper is coming back to work tomorrow (kinda unexpected!) *smile*

- 6 -

The morning mass at St. Laurensius was very well-attended. I guess there should be around 60 people? I mean...these two days are public holidays and to see so many people attending 6am Mass on public holidays is very uplifting. :)

- 7 -

My cousin and my brother told me how the Protestant cell group members in their university have been trying to bring them to their church and cell groups. Thankfully my cousin is very firm, when her friend said "Anyway our service and your Mass is the same", my cousin just said, "It's different. It's just different". Because this friend of hers is actually a lapse-Catholic, I told my cousin that she has responsibility to explain to this friend about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and to explain the difference!
Pray for her friend!
 
For more quick takes, do visit www.conversiondiary.com!

When was the last time we went to Confession?

When I received the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a preparation for my Confirmation in 2004, the priest told me that sins are like thorns in the flesh. I told him that my last Confession was during retreat in 2002 (Yes, I only made confession again just because I was going to receive Sacrament of Confirmation).

Even after that experience, I've never really heard about frequent confession till I joined the Charismatic Prayer group in high school. At that moment, I know that members were encouraged to go confession regularly, but I don't have any idea how often is 'good enough'. None of the more senior members also seem going to confession regularly and they do not tell us how to do it. (The priests in my parish do not stand by 15 minutes before Mass like what the priests do in Singapore). From my understanding, we need to make appointment to go for Confession.

Interestingly, in my parish in Indonesia, during Lent and Advent, the priests will stand by almost every day in the Church. You'll see long queue outside every confessional. (5 pews filled with people on Tuesdays and Fridays because it's when we have evening weekday Masses). What does it mean? It means people are longing to come back to the Church. It means many people are longing to start a new life again, again, and again.

FAQ: Why do we bother to receive Sacrament of Reconciliation frequently? We'll make the same sins anyway.

Well, every time we receive the sacrament, we receive special graces to start again. Imagine you scan the viruses on your computer. If you do it frequently, you'll realize that your computer works faster because you remove the virus soon before it affects many areas of your computer. Imagine you record your own expenses frequently. You can choose to do it daily, weekly, monthly, or even bi-monthly. The longer you delay, the more likely you miss the small unnecessary expenses. (It may be small, but if you spend on this thing quite frequently, it IS a large sum of wasted money). That's why the Church recommends us to do daily examination of conscience. That's why the Church encourages us to go for frequent Confession.

Yes, it may be the same sins again and again. Nevertheless, the circumstances are different, and we want to be more sensitive with the disorder of our love as soon as we can. Perhaps last week we immediately scold a friend. Perhaps this week we still scold that friend, but our failing came up after holding it for a few days. Perhaps the problem yesterday purely because of my lack of temperance, perhaps today it is because of my impatience.

FAQ: Can't I just say sorry to God directly? Why do we bother to talk to the priest? He's also human.

Ehm ehm *cough*
I thought Jesus said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’" (John 20:21–23) Through Sacrament of Reconciliation, by confessing our sins and with an act of contrition and the priest's absolution, we're truly sure that we are forgiven.Of course we must still constantly say sorry to God every time we make mistakes :)

Secondly, we have pride in ourselves. Confessing to someone with an authority is obviously require humility. It's such a shameful thing!!! >.< So through Confession, God truly helps us to purify ourselves. We're truly humbled through this Sacrament.

Thirdly, we need another article on the special role of priest. Yes, he's a human. Just like Peter and the other apostles. Yet, don't you see that God told these men, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained". Who are we not to trust the authority that is appointed by Jesus himself?

When was the last time we went to Confession?

To be honest, not all people have the privilege like the people in Singapore. It's so easy to go from one Church to another Church. It's quite convenient to find priests. However, I do believe that there's always a way and it's worthwhile to 'hunt' the priests to receive this Sacrament. Even in Indonesia, the priests go to the neighborhood during Lent and Advent to hear Confession too. So...there's always a way. :)

And even if it's been a looooooooooooooooonggggg time since we went for Confession, just do it. We may not be as bad as the Prodigal Son, right? hehehehe. Yet the Father still embraced him. He does embrace us, anytime we want to come back. :)

For further reading, do give it a try to read Scott Hahn's "Frequent Confession" ^^

7 Quick Takes Friday - Vol.10: 7 things I want to do in August

- 1 -

I'm counting down the days to go home (real home = Indonesia) next Wednesday! The plan of this trip home is just to spend time with my family, and of course with Pril, Nyz, and Nic. Initially I wanted to buy wine from duty free, but apparently my dad wants me to buy something so I'll see if I can ask my senior who will go home using the same flight can buy the wine. If we go to Indonesia, one person can only buy 1 bottle of alcohol in the duty free.

Usually when I go home, I'll also clean the statues of Our Lady and Jesus upstairs. Hopefully I can do it again this time. 

- 2 -

Next, I plan to write an article for my parish magazine in Indonesia. Let's pray that hopefully I don't write wrong information! (Yes, I'll send it to some friends to proofread and check the accuracy of the article). I'm quite nervous because I'm used to think of some terms in English. It feels to translate "openness to life" to Indonesian language (any suggestion, Nic??). Another thing that I don't know about my church in Indonesia is how they prepared the Marriage Preparation Course (MPC). Obviously I'm 'not-yet-there' and I know that in Singapore and other countries, engaged couples can attend Natural Family Planning (NFP) course on top of their MPC, but I have a feeling that most people in Indonesia think that NFP is 'counting the days'.
Anyway, the first article that I want to write is "Why should young people  know about Church's teaching on contraceptives?" We've been taught sin ce young that "Soeharto's family planning programme was 'successful' "; "Indonesia has over-population problem", while the real problem is the uneven development of various regions.

- 3 -

To keep jogging on Sundays! Thank God last month I managed to run every Sunday!!! (Thanks to Pheara!!) Even though Paul insisted that what I do most likely is "shaking-both-hands-while-I'm-walking", me and Pheara have run either faster or longer every week. My legs do not ache anymore after running. Oh well, it seems that I seriously need to run faster or longer! Current record is 30 minutes for 1 round running at Macritchie Reservoir. (That's short :( )

- 4 -

Go to Timbre again. Yeay!! Not sure when I'll go to Timbre for my birthday because I have Legion of Mary retreat beforehand, Legion meeting on D day, and list of stuff as usual. Hahaha. Okay I'll skip Tuesday Lounge that week.

Oh anyway, Timbre is an opened-cafe with live music! Very nice!

- 5 -

I'd love to arrive at Mass early. Last month was very bad (and I was late EVERY DAY last week. Arrgggh!!) God must have been laughing at me because every morning I literally bargain with Him. (I seriously said, "Oh God, please please 5 minutes please...")

- 6 -

I hope I can meet my brother's girlfriend!!!!! The girl that can make my brother wash dishes. Yeah yeah, love is very powerful. His ex-girlfriend was the one that made him say grace before meal and go to parish youth ad-hoc activities.

- 7 -

To start work on my dreams. Perhaps travel blog? Since I'm planning my trip in December and need to start checking Mass schedule in Bali.

Dreams that you should work on

I have lots of dreams that I have not started to work on. So meanwhile, let's just throw these things here and while I'm working on them, please feel free to take these dreams. :)

1. To set up inclusive preschool!
I think an inclusive preschool is a good opportunity to let the typically developing children and children with disabilities interact with each other. Naturally they are still so innocent and experiencing that each child is just like another child with the same dignity. Of course we need competent teachers and therapists :) At least children can have interaction during meals and arts or physical exercise :)

2. To have a travel blog with list of Mass schedule
Also includes spots that are family-friendly :)

3. To translate spiritual reading books to Indonesian language

^^