The Gibson Gazette

This blog contains the ramblings of a Brit who been living in Singapore 20 years and counting.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012




GIBSON GAZETTE 2012

Dear Heirs of Christ,

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the name above every other name. 2011 has quickly passed us by and, as we enter into the year 2012, we truly thank God for His grace and mercy to us. Indeed we are so amazed by God goodness and His faithfulness. Indeed He has been true to His Word because He has indeed extended our borders like Jabez and He has used our family in a incredible way. For this we give God the glory and honour that are solely due to Him and Him alone. Last was indeed a great year not only for ministry but a breakthrough for our family too.

Following are snippets of Praise that we want to share to give glory to God:

1. The Lord has indeed expanded Tim's ministry both locally and overseas. Locally he has been invited to minister in a few churches of different denominations. He has also been invited regularly to speak at the chapel in a local Bible College and also minister regularly in churches in Malaysia. His book 'The Big Picture - Picture Perfect' has been receiving good reviews overseas and Tim has also made a Revelation multimedia teaching DVD that has been well received, especially by Bible students. The Lord has also brought him to Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar to minister to these developing countries and he will share in more detail in his column.

2. For Shen it has been an amazing year that she saw how God used her in Mel’s old Secondary School as the Parents Support Group Chairperson. The Lord just open doors for her to minister to the parents with challenges with their teenagers, doing a few talks in the school. The Lord has also opened doors for her to connect with the teenagers to befriend them and to minister to them. At the end of the year she led a group of Parents with teachers and students to dance for Christchurch's 60th anniversary and it was a memorable time for all of us. At the same time, the Lord has been gracious to use her and Tim as a couple to minister together in Cambodia and in Cebu, Philippines. It really humbles and amazes us to see how God can use us in teaching church planters with words of knowledge and prophecy.

3. On the home front, the Lord has indeed blessed our children and thank God they have grown spiritually and physically. Melody has just turned 17 and she has been great in helping us to look after her siblings when we went on mission trips and other ministry. Gideon is now 15 and he went to Cambodia for his first mission trip and certainly the Lord has transformed him (do read the column where he shares in detail). Matthew is now 8 years old and he is certainly the life of the family (do read his sharing in his column).

This year the Lord gave our family this scripture Zephaniah 3:17:
“The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

TIM TALKS

2011 was the best and worst year for me! Best in that, as has been mentioned, many ministry doors have opened and the ministry itself has gone much deeper and with greater anointing, especially overseas. However, at the same time, it has been the worst year ever in terms of spiritual attacks in the form of health problems and ministry discouragement etc. Teeth problems, blood pressure rising, back and leg problems. Praise the Lord that through it all He has been my strength and shield, an ever present help in trouble 

The highlight of last year for me was when I went to Myanmar (Burma). Fifteen years ago I went to see my friends from Bible School, Nish and Rani, start a church plant in Yangon (Rangoon). This time, fifteen years later I witnessed how the church has grown and also was privileged to end their new Bible School with the last course and speaking in the Graduation ceremony. I went at the same time Hilary Clinton was there and sensed it is a tremendous time of transition for the country. Another highlight was being able to do a series on Revelation in our church plus in another church and produce a multimedia teaching DVD that has been in high demand and is something I am very proud of.

A final highlight I want to share is how God provided for my heart’s desire – an iPad2! Several brothers from my service came together to buy this as a Christmas gift – my best Christmas gift ever. Thanks 

SHEN SAYS

Last year was a very fruitful year for me. I was able to do more talks in my children's school and got to pray with other parents and be a support to those parents who have very challenging teens. At the same time I was busy doing more talks in late July and early August. I was diagnosed with Vertigo disease which the doctor said was due to too much stress and overworking! Of course I was asked to have complete bed rest by my family. During that time I really sought God and took time just to be still to be strengthened by Him.

During that time I felt useless because I couldn't do anything for my family but God was really good to us. He knew that my hubby and kids were getting sick of outside food, He sent a sister who came to our home with a pot of curry chicken and a beef casserole. On top of that, she left some money for me to get some help to clean my home.

Another sister came to visit me and upon seeing that my stove was old and the tiles in the kitchen were broken, sent her men to come and repair my kitchen tiles and even bought me a brand new stove. Our hearts were just so overwhelmed with God's goodness and these sisters were indeed angels sent by God to us. The Lord is good and within a short time I recovered and continued serving in my daughter's former school. Just last November, I got a group of parents with the school teachers and students to dance for the school's 60th anniversary and it was also a fund raising project and by the grace of God, the funds have been raised. All glory to God.

I use to admire when a godly man and his wife served the Lord together in missions and I used to ask the Lord when it is the time when I could serve the Lord with my man hand in hand. This is year that the Lord has given us breakthrough in serving Him together. We were able to go to Cambodia, Siam Reap to celebrate our 17th anniversary. It is great to see that we could do missions and also to have a time for ourselves.

In December, we were able to go to Cebu, Philippines and taught the church planters. It was really an enriching time for us. We felt such liberty in ministering to God's people in a developing country. The main breakthrough was when I was able to do a women's ministry and just to encourage them, praying for them and seeing them wanting more of God's presence, not willing to leave, this really brought joy to my heart. They requested me to bring some sisters to do a women's conference for them this year and I am really excited and look forward to do this. Please kindly pray for me as we are seeking the Lord how to do this women's ministry in Cebu and beyond.

MELODY MUTTERS

Last year was just like 2010 for me, like a roller coaster. As all of you know , I did quite well in my 'O' levels and got a place in Pioneer Junior College. Honestly, I was not happy being placed in PJC initially as it had always been my desire to go to St Andrew's JC. However I felt that God wanted me to be in PJC for a reason, because He never places us in a place by accident. Even though there were times I disliked JC so much because of the immense pressure and stress but I always had God to cling on to and hold on to Him as my source of comfort and refuge. Though I still might have chosen another path if I had to make the choice between JC and Poly I know that, when I out of JC, I will look back and say now I know why God placed me there. No matter whether I can see the big picture or not, I still thank God for His abundance for even allowing me to be in the JC.


Another thing I want to thank God for is His grace and mercy which enabled me to pull through JC1 and be promoted to JC2. To be awfully honest, last year could be said to be my toughest year. JC was a new experience and a totally different place compared to the secondary school. Academic wise so much was expected from me and much work had to be done independently. I felt miserable at times but I was grateful to God for helping me to find good friends and also seeing me through the year. He has also given me lifelong friends since my secondary school days. They have always encouraged me and been there for me.

One more thing is finally I have my own room to myself since last December. It must have been my earnest prayer to God that He has touched my parents and since then instead of moving to a bigger place, which we are not so keen because we love our place which is very convenient for school, market, local shops, eating places and even with a mega shopping centre and an MRT nearby. My parents did a makeover of our home and now both me and my brothers have our own rooms. I really appreciate my dad for going out of his way to make us feel so blessed and not forgetting my mum too.

All in all I am just so thankful that I am promoted & able to take my 'A' levels this year. 2011 has been a tough but fruitful year and I wish that this year will be better. I do hope you will covet me in your prayers as I will be taking a huge milestone this year, the dreadful 'A' levels.

GIDEON GURGLES

Last December I decided to join Youth Impact (my youth church) to for a mission trip to Cambodia. The whole trip was about S$800 and for a student with no savings this meant a lot to me. However my parents were very encouraging but they told me that they would come out half and the rest I needed to raise my own funds. I spent days thinking of how to raise the money in such a short time and how many cars I needed to wash before I raised the amount. Just then, my mum's good friend, aunty Margaret heard about my trip through my mum and she started to raise the funds for me. She raised half for me and decided to teach me how to bake Carrot Banana Cakes to raise my own funds. I made about 10 cakes and most of my mum's friends bought the cakes from me. Within a day I raised more than $800!

After weeks of preparation and training, I finally got on the plane with 70 other youths to Cambodia. I was so excited about the fact that God is able to use me to bring people to Him and to testify of His greatness. When we reached Cambodia, we took the van for 6 hours ride to a village called Pusat. We went to the children's home to play with the children, taught them Christian songs and did street evangelism. During the street evangelism, I shared the gospel to the strangers for the first time and some of them got saved. It was something that I would never do in Singapore. There was this incident where we went into a house and saw this man resting. We shared the gospel to him and when we asked if there was anything we could pray for him, he said that his jaw had a lump and it was very painful. After praying, we could see vividly that the lump had gone down and then we prayed again and this time the whole lump was gone. After witnessing this first hand miracle experience my faith in God was truly built up.

During the school outreaches, we played games with the children and performed skits for them. During a school outreach, we were given opportunity to share the gospel to the teachers and to my amazement there were some teachers who accepted the gospel. On the last day of our time in Pusat, the children in the children's home put on a performance for us and prayed for us. As we said our last good-byes, all the children started to cry. This really touched me because they were just so happy when we played with them and took time to know them. On our last day, we went to Phnom Penh and went to the slums to share with them about God's love and our church. We did a rally in the slum and there were about thirty children gathered together to hear the gospel. This experience has definitely made me appreciate my life in Singapore more.

This whole experience had indeed brought me closer to God and my faith has grown. The things that I have seen and learnt certainly helped me to be grateful and content with every little thing that comes my way. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those people who contributed to help me to go on this trip and my team members who helped me. I am already looking forward to my next mission trip.


MATTHEW MURMURS

Hi I am 8 years old and this year I am in Primary 3. Last year the Lord did amazing things in my studies. I got very good marks for my English and Mathematic but I only got a C for my Chinese. I was worried that I would be put in not a very good class because of my Chinese but the Lord is good. During our family devotion I shared about my fear and God did a miracle that I was put in the second best class. The Lord also has given me a good tutor from church who also taught my elder sister and brother before.

Last year, I found that I am closer to God because He has always listened to my prayers. I got first for my track & field and our class was the only one chosen for that level to participate in Stars Night. I was put in the band and I now learn how to play clarinet. My desire is to play Clarinet for God. Please kindly continue to pray for my Chinese that I will do better this year with the help of my tutor & God:)

That's all for our family news. It is a bit too long but we hope you enjoyed reading it and continue to pray for us. It is your prayers that have really enabled us to be committed to do God's will. We are grateful to God for every remembrance of you. We truly appreciate your friendship, encouragement and prayer support which means a lot to us. It makes serving a joy and a pleasure because of friends like you. This year we believe God is going to do greater thing in our family and in the church. This year, the Lord has impressed on us that He will do a RESTORATION work in our lives. The things that the locusts have eaten, He will repay us back. Therefore we will be strong and be of good COURAGE because He is the author and the finisher of our faith. Of course the world will go darker through the years but we are confident because Christ alone is our security and that's why we can stand firm in Him. We pray that this year will be a year of fruitfulness, favour and the richest blessings from God to you.

SHALOM!

Lots of love & blessings from,

THE GIBSONS