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Rembering My Hero,   Remembering My Calling
      My Grandpa Conrad died last month. His death was not unexpected, but still it brought a roller coaster of emotions. Grandpa was a hero to me. He taught me all kinds of things about how to fish, how to drive and how to fix things around the house. He was a man who often smiled, who worked hard and who certainly loved playing with all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren!
  
 
       I flew back to Denver for a few days to attend his funeral. Over the last couple of years, I have been to a handful of funerals here in Singapore. Sijie’s Dad died last year and a few other friends have had close relatives pass away. Most of them did not believe in Christ. Funerals are always sad. But when I was at Grandpa’s funeral I was struck by the difference in his funeral and the others.
 
 
        Many years ago Grandpa trusted in Christ. So, while his death was sad, it was a sorrow that was infused with hope. As believers, our great hope and expectation is to spend eternity with God in his kingdom. So while death is sad and I certainly miss Grandpa, I was reminded that for Christians, death brings a sorrow that is shot through with joy and hope. We mourn because we will miss the one who has left us and yet we can rejoice in knowing that he has      gone to be with the Lord and we can look forward to the day when Christ will return. Weknow that one day this mortal body will be raised in immortality, this perishable body will take on imperishability, this corrupt and broken flesh will be made glorious. One day all will be resurrected and Grandpa together with all of us who trust in Christ will spend eternity with God in his kingdom. So for me , I can rejoice in Grandpa’s life. I am sad and I mourn his passing, I weep at the emptiness that not having him here
  
 
leaves. But I can also lift up my eyes and look with hope to the great God of the universe who will one day bring all things to completion. And that is the big difference between attending
Grandpa’s funeral and the other recent funerals. Some of them were filled with various religious rituals but there was no hope in it. And so death was just bitter and depressing. 
While I miss life in the States,  Grandpa’s death reminded me that we need more Christian funerals in Asia. There are still millions of people in this part of the world who have never heard the gospel and I want them to hear it before they die. I hope that they will turn to Christ in faith so that they can spend an eternity with Him in his kingdom.
 
"Where O death is your 
victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 
  
~ I Cor 15: 55-57
 
 
An Emphasis on Mentoring
One of the things that we emphasize at EAST is mentoring. Besides teaching, each of the faculty lead a mentoring group and spend lots of individual time with the students. One student that I have enjoyed getting to know is Eugene. He is a Korean who has been studying at the school for the last couple of years. He also did his ministry internship at SMU so he and I spent a fair amount of time doing ministry together even before I came over to EAST full time. One thing that I appreciate about Eugene is his humble heart and constant desire to learn more. Whether it is in the classroom or out doing ministry, he is always meekly asking me questions. Eugene has been in full time ministry for the last ten years and he graduates from EAST this May. He and his wife are praying about what God has for them after this. Wherever he goes, I think that Eugene will be a great ministry leader and I am excited to have been able to journey together with him for this short time that he was studying at the East Asia School of Theology!
 
 
Settling in to EAST

     Over the last few months, Sijie and I have slowly been getting to know our new teammates at the
  
 
school. We are the youngest ones on the team and so it is quite a change from the campus ministry where we were older than most of the other staff! We both really appreciate the deep walk with the Lord that many of the other faculty have. It is a great encouragement when they continually check up on us and demonstrate God’s love toward us. It is also exciting to see their passion for reaching Asia with the gospel. Many of the faculty have been serving as missionaries for 20 - 30 years and they have demonstrated a great perseverance in serving God and walking with him faithfully. We pray that God would continue to draw us together as a team and that all of us would love the Lord deeply as we minister to the students.

  
 
New Name, Same Mission
You may have received a letter from our Country Leader about our impending name change to Cru Singapore in 2013. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us!  You can read more at the following addresses:       
Letter From KH
    Newname FAQ                           
 
 

Blessings, Matthew, Sijie, Hudson and Amber

  
 

If you would like to support our ministry: 
Please make cheques out to: “Campus Crusade Asia Ltd.” and mail to: blk 122A Sengkang East Way #04-53, 541122
email us at: matthew@sccc.org.sg   or  sijie@sccc.org.sg