Esther’s Story – His Story
“I was six years old when my oldest brother, then 26, read the Bible and accepted Jesus as his Saviour,” begins Esther, 30, who is of Central Asian descent. “My parents, of another beliefs, felt very betrayed by him.” But her brother remained steadfast in faith and led hundreds in their hometown to the Lord. Six years later, Esther then 12, received Christ on her own when she chanced upon a gospel tract. In 2010, her father came to Christ in a Christmas meeting organised by her brother; soon after her mother accepted the Lord through her father.
Alumna: Soft Hearts and Childlike Faithfulness
“I see people serving God with soft hearts and childlike faithfulness,” says Fang Fang, 41 then. “That really touched my life.” The psychotherapist who worked among mentally-ill people in a mountainous region in East Asia for nine years as a missionary always knew that God made her for “hard places.” Yet, there is a hard place that she is terrified of – “the hardness of heart.”
Alumni: We came to the right place
When Baatarsuren “Baataraa” Buyanmandakh (Mongolia), came to Singapore in Dec 2012, he was “heart-broken.” His younger son, Munhuul, three and a half, had passed away the year before. He and his wife Zulaa have another son, Odko, 12. Before the tragedy, the former Mongolia Campus Crusade campus leader had already planned to go for theological training. “We want to build future church-planters for the 200 unreached villages and towns in my country,” he says.
At first, the Buyanmandakhs were offered places, with free housing, to study in the USA. “But after visiting two schools there, we felt that their teaching contexts may not be relevant to our future ministries,” says Baataraa. “So we came to EAST. As soon as we settled down, we knew we’d come to the right place.”
Alumni Get Together (July 2020)
Recently, at an EAST Alumni Get Together in July 2020, we heard from the outgoing EAST Alumni Chaplain, Mr William Lim Aik Ghee, who gave us his farewell sharing and encouragement to press on. Hosted on Zoom by Ms Esther Tan, EAST Alumni Coordinator, those present then broke into small breakout groups for sharing and prayer.
Alumnus: New Confidence through Love and Patience
“At EAST, I see God restoring my confidence to serve Him on the mission field,” says Peter Lee, an EAST alumnus. “My wife and I were both totally exhausted after serving for ten years in East Asia.”
Read on to find out why Peter feels that EAST has provided the shelter for him to renew his strength to serve, and courage to lead in his life, family, and ministry.
EAST Library Catalogue
EAST Populi
National Library Board eResources
The Digital Theological Library
