Creasmans World

This year we had a nice gathering of 33 neighbors and friends at our house to celebrate Thanksgiving. We read from parts of Thanksgiving proclamations from the Pilgrims, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln; and then read a lesson in Luke 7:36-50 about where real thankfulness comes from.

Saw the sign below in our neighborhood today. Some of the apartment buildings next to us do not have elevators that stop on every floor, they stop about every four floors. Now the government is upgrading these “lifts” in our neighborhood so that they will stop on every floor.

Singaporeans know what that means – when the government starts making a lot of public improvements, parliamentary elections must be around the corner…

Today was a worldwide day of prayer for CRM. A few of our staff went to a park near our office and prayed for our friends, relatives, neighbors, nations, and governments. Several friends in the US sent requests to us through the CRM office, and we were able to pray together for them.

The Lord encouraged us through some psalms with words like these:

Psa. 33.20    Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

Kimberly with CRM Singapore staff Jeanne and Regina:

Jim’s ministry is primarily with pastors in Singapore, mentoring them in small groups and one-to-one. Pastors are a source of wisdom and support for a lot of people, but often they do not have anyone to turn to for counsel about their own lives and leadership.

Jim serves as a pastor’s pastor, giving a listening ear, encouragement, asking questions to help them discern how God is speaking to them, and providing outside perspective for their own growth and leadership. He works with leaders from all kinds of churches – Presbyterian, Baptist, Brethren, Anglican, Assemblies of God, Methodist, Lutheran, independent – and on all kinds of issues – decision-making, church leadership issues, conflict resolution, counseling needs, pastoral skills, sermon preparation, small group curricula, community outreach….

The goal is not only to build spiritual leaders, but to empower them to reproduce their lives in others, so that their churches will be more fruitful in fulfilling God’s purposes for them, and reach lost people with his saving love.

One of our favorite things about Singapore is the variety and convenience of food available. Here is Jim’s lunch today as he met with a group of pastors at an outdoor food court, which is his typical lunch (and usually dinner) venue…

Cameron and I (Jim) spent four days together on a Father-Son trip talking about growing into manhood. We listened and talked about lessons from Dr Dobson’s CDs on “Preparing for Adolescence” including issues like puberty, peer pressure, relationships with girls, relationships with parents, self-image, etc.

We also had a lot of fun eating whatever we wanted and playing in the hotel pool and at the beach!

Yes, line dancing is popular in Singapore. I think we are in the Guinness Book for the largest line dancing event!

The atriums of malls here are usually filled with some kind of “roadshow” advertising products, but today I found this line dance going on when Cameron and I (Jim) visited a mall. Looks like the ladies outnumber the gentlemen about 20-1.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Today the Parlato Family picked us up and took us to a national park that had lots of hiking trails along a river with several small waterfalls. Although it was low season for water, it was a beautiful hike and gave the boys lots of opportunities for climbing.

We had a leisurely day walking and talking and enjoying nature, which was exactly what we wanted in Thailand!

We also saw lots of Thai people enjoying the park, and stopped at a food stand in the park to have a big meal of roast chicken.

This year we decided to celebrate New Year’s Eve in public. There is a huge crowd that gathers downtown to watch the fireworks at midnight.

We invited some friends, packed some snacks, and got on the subway to head downtown. Tens of thousands of people! All shapes and sizes! What a lot of fun! Street hawkers, performers, and crowds. At one point, it took us about 15 minutes to move about 100 feet. Everyone was jostling and trying to stake out a good position to watch the fireworks. We finally made it through the jam and escaped to a less crowded area on the grassy field in front of Parliament, a little farther away from the fireworks, but a place to sit and relax and talk.

Kimberly had made up a handout of questions to discuss about highlights from the past year and dreams for the coming year. We talked, and at midnight watched the fireworks, sipped some champagne, and prayed for each other and for Singapore. Great way to start a year! (Even if we don’t get to watch the Rose Parade or Bowl games or eat donuts)

Life is all about people…

Since we don’t have extended family in Singapore, we want to share meaningful times together, like Christmas, with friends.

Today we had some friends come over and share Christmas dinner with us.

Here’s what Christmas morning looks like at our house…

We like to share one present with each other at midnight on Christmas Eve, then get up and listen to Christmas music and open presents and be lazy on Christmas morning…

Today we went to our church worship service after opening presents : )

Last year, I (Jim) realized that I love Christmas parties. I love the cookies, the music, the festive environment. I love mingling, seeing friends. I love singing Christmas carols and sharing stories with each other about meaningful Christmas memories. And I love reading the Christmas story by candlelight.

But we don’t normally get invited to any Christmas parties in Singapore! Singaporeans don’t do parties that way.

So last year I decided I was going to organize our own Christmas parties. We marked two evenings the week of Christmas, and invited our friends over for mingling and snacks and sharing memories and reading the Christmas story and singing carols.

And I loved it. It was the highlight of the Christmas season for me. And it was a new experience for a lot of our friends.

So this year we did it again. Only we did three parties, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. And two of them we took on the road, to friends’ houses. I printed up handouts with Scripture references and lyrics to corresponding carols, Kimberly organized the snacks, and we invited all our friends.

Again, it was the highlight of our Christmas experience this year…

We live on the fifth floor of a 25 story building. Virtually all Singaporeans live in high rise apartment buildings, and our neighborhood is full of them.

The areas surrounding the high rises are full of all kinds of shopping. Within a hundred yards of our building is our supermarket, bakery, hair and nail places, hardware stores, Chinese medicine shops, wet market for vegetables and meats, tailors, and lots of little specialty shops.

We also have two outdoor food courts, with stalls selling Chinese, Indian, or Malay dishes. We call them “hawker centres” for big ones, or “coffee shops” for little ones like ours, with 8-16 stalls each.

We can get a decent plate of noodles or rice with meat and veggies for $2-3, and we eat pretty much all our dinners downstairs. I (Jim) also like to sit at the coffee shop on Saturday mornings and read the paper and watch the neighbors go by.

There are two things that are noticeably different in Singapore in the month of December.

One, it feels cooler. No, the leaves don’t change colors and we don’t bring out our winter wardrobes and wear sweaters everyday. Living ON the equator means the days do not get shorter or longer through the year (sunup and sundown 7am – 7pm year round), and the weather does not vary much. However, on average, December is one degree cooler than June. It is a little cloudier, the days are rainier, and it feels cooler. We would still like a dose of winter, but even feeling a little cooler is nice.

Two, it feels less crowded. We have almost 6 million people in 250 square miles, by far the most densely populated country in the world except for Hong Kong. It is a crowded place, and it is amazing that we can all get around without constantly bumping into each other. OK, well, we are constantly bumping into each other. But it is a testament to good public planning that we are able to get around at all.

Because our school system runs on a calendar year, starting in January and ending in November, we have two primary school holidays – 4 weeks in June and 6 weeks in Nov/Dec. These are the times that families go away traveling. And not much can be planned during those months because a lot of people are away. Less people going to work, and it feels less crowded. Except for the gaming shops in the malls that are full of schoolkids on vacation.

So, we enjoy December in Singapore. Thank you, Lord for that one degree cooler weather and for those few less people on the streets!