When I returned from China on 21 November 2008, I was delighted by the two mails. First, I was invited to a thanks-giving dinner organised by the NTUC ElderCare Centre for the volunteer workers on 5 December.

I won a prize for the article Caring with Our Hands I took part at the Essay Competition organised by the Institute of Elders and was invited to the prize presentation ceremony on 3 January 2009.

My son Solomon accompanied me to the ceremony on 3 January. We took the train to City Hall Station and walked to the St. Andrew's Cathedral. It was the opening ceremony for the New Term of the Institute as well as the prize presentation ceremony for the essay competition. The Institute of Elders is jointly sponsored by the Churches of Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian.

There were elder groups from various church presented the programmes. Although the members were rather old, they were still performing with confidence and energy.

Jesus, our hope and joy

Jesus, our hope and joy

耶稣，人的希望快乐
前途渺茫仍有希望
听那恬和歌乐声
万千信徒全心信靠
畅饮喜乐活水泉
美好快乐属于我们
若斯睿智神圣宝藏
属主信众主领导
在主极乐深爱中

The Institute of Elders organised the essay competition in August 2008. I modified one of my Chinese articles in my website and took part at the contest.

The organiser Sister Jeelan sent me an e-mail to inform me that she had received my article and the result would be released in November.

I was very glad to receive the e-mail.
It was very rare to have a response since the day I have used the e-mail.
It was hardly to have a response for the correspondence with the local press and the web masters of the China websites.

I received an e-mail to inform me the result when I came back from China. It was great news for me.

I found that the first prize winner was Miss Grace Lim. When I saw her at the ceremony, I knew that she was my teacher when I studied in the Singapore Bible College. She taught us the subject of Group Dynamics, which was the subject I liked best.

Grace was the first person who received the prize. I walked forward to take a photo for her. She was surprised when I congratulated her.

I was the second oldest student in the college about twenty years ago. Our teacher Grace has become an elder now, but she is still pretty and brilliant.

The organiser collected 56 articles. Other than the articles for the first three prizes, there were another thirteen more articles were also awarded. The sixteen articles with the thirteen articles from the judges were published into a book titled "The Autumn Rains".

The first prize winner

My teacher Grace Lim