Alumnus Matthew’s Calling to Mongolia
Alumnus Matthew Ong in Mongolian Countryside during winter.
EAST Alumnus Matthew Ong graduated from EAST with a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Ministry in 2018. He received God’s calling to Mongolia through a pastor’s light-hearted response to a baby’s cry in his congregation, “Is there a Mongolian baby crying in our midst?”
That question was God’s prompt in his heart back in 2014, which led to a friendship with the first Mongolian family (Luya and Tuul) attending his home church, Glory Presbyterian Church. Between then and now, Matthew has made four to five trips to Mongolia itself, getting to know the country and the people better.
Introducing Student Council President: Brandon Chan
Left to Right: Adeline, Brandon Chan, Brandon’s brother, Brandon’s sister-in-law Front row: Brandon’s dad and mum
Sports has always been a big part of my life. I always loved everything that is related to sports in general. Since I was a young boy, I would want to go to a park, a court, or an empty field. My parents even sent me to swimming lessons when I was seven years old. It was then no surprise that I took up studying sports at polytechnic and university. God led me to EAST through sports. A simple tennis game turned out to be a profound game changer.
Experience of 1st Year MA Leadership Student from Mongolia
Boggii (Oyunbolor Munkhtuvshin), 1st year MA Leadership student & her family
Hi, my name is Boggii and I am a first-year student at EAST studying MA Leadership. As a mother of three young children, the last 10 years or so have been me feeding, changing tons of diapers, cooking, cleaning and driving kids to and from school. Many nights were sleepless and days endless, where I felt hopeless and weary not just physically but spiritually as well.
EAST@Chapel – 28 July 2021
We give thanks that our community has been able to come together online for worship, prayer, exhortation and community during this season of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) measures in Singapore. It has been nice to see our local and international alumni occasionally tuning in as well.
Rev Jonathan Yao, our Dean of Advancement has taken the opportunity as one of our Chapel speakers to give our community a reminder that Jesus Christ has called His disciples to be servant leaders. He said to His disciples that “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave” (Matthew 20:26-27 ESV). Messages like these are good reminders in our journeys of personal transformation at EAST.
While this way of gathering is different from the usual Chapel with us each other in person, we still appreciate the opportunity to have conversations and pray with each other as an intentional community. We definitely look forward to our Chapels in the coming weeks!
In the meantime, the Lord be with you with His grace, protection and provision in your family.
(click for more pictures below)
Updates from an alumnus in Colombo
From left: Edward, Daniel, Julia, Hanna & Samuel
EAST Alumnus Edward Kim graduated from EAST in May 2016 with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies. After his graduation, he and his family has served in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with Sri Lanka Campus Crusade for Christ. Below is a short interview with him to get an update of how he and his family have been doing.
- What led you and your family to serve the Lord in Colombo, Sri Lanka?
Before graduating from EAST, I had planned to return to East Asia which I had served last eight years as a missionary, but Father God led me & my family to Sri Lanka, strange country to us at that time. In Sep & Oct 2016 (eight days), I visited Sri Lanka for field investigation. However, I found three main reasons which made me hesitate to serve in Sri Lanka after visiting. Firstly, I felt the weather was too hot for me. Secondly, the language (Sinhala) was difficult to learn. Lastly, it will not be easy to serve covertly on Campus because skin color of most people there is different from mine (Local campus students mentioned to me you are white, but my skin is not so white in East Asia. Anyway, I am easily recognisable among the local students on campus.)
Finally, I obeyed God’s leading after receiving several signs through God’s words, especially Genesis 45:5-8. Then my family arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka in Feb 2017.
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