After taking the no-pay leave for a month, I have become better in my health. Sometimes I went to the Thai Good News Centre to see Sister Salli. I then got to know the Thais. At the end of the fifth month of my unpaid leave, it was time when I had to decide when I should go back to work. But I made up my mind to take up a one-year study in Bible College which I thought of for a long time. When I went to our company and explained to my manager that I would not be back to work as I decided to go for a study in Bible College. My manager said that let me take another year's unpaid leave. She told me that I would go back to work in the company after my one-year study. I did not take her suggestion. It would be unfair for me to hold on to my then managerial position. It would also be unfair for the person who needed to cover my duty. Therefore I resigned.

When I was doing my study in the Singapore Bible College, my field education was to serve in Thai Good News Centre. I resigned from the well-paid job and went to study in Bible College on my own expense because I wished to serve in Thai Good News Centre. At that time, the Lutheran pastor who was in-charge of the Theological Education wished to arrange me to serve in other church as my field education. I told Dr. Bloomquist, our well-respected reverend who taught in Trinity Theological College about my wish. Hence, I remained serving God in Thai Good News Centre.

Sister Salli ever worked in the Lutheran Church in Taiwan and she spoke good Mandarin. She also worked in the Lutheran Church in Thailand for many years. Therefore she also spoke Thai very well. At the Centre, she used to speak Thai and was very friendly to the Thai. Hence, there were more and more Thai people coming to our Centre.

When I was completing my one-year study in the Singapore Bible College, there were eight volunteers of our Centre planning to go to Thailand for a two-week mission study trip. Sister Salli did not alert me when we were carrying out the planning. Until few days before departure, she told me that she had to stay in the Centre. The work in the Centre should not be stop. So, I should lead the mission study group.

At that time, I had gone through the planning for a long time. So, I was not panic and took on the challenge.

But I suddenly felt uneasy a few days before our departure. I knew that the day when our College holding the graduation ceremony, we would be on the way to north-east Thailand from Bangkok. Before our trip setting off, I told my College lectures and classmates to pray for me. I also told Sister Salli about my disturbed feeling. She said that Sister Anneli would be receiving us in Bangkok and she would be praying for us with the prayer partners in Singapore.

When we arrived in Bangkok, Sister Anneli received us. The Lutheran Church in Thailand and her arranged for our group to visit various Lutheran Church in Bangkok. After that, she went to North-East Thailand with us by taking the night train.

We spent a few days in North-East Thailand and went back to Bangkok again. After taking a short break in the Lutheran Church near the airport, we flew back to Singapore.

We were received by Sister Salli in Changi Airport. As I was the group leader, I brought back some Thai publications and needed to send them to Thai Good News Centre. The other group members went home from the airport. Sister Salli was with us, my wife and me. She asked us to take a drink in the airport before going to the Centre.

While we were taking a break at the cafe, Sister Salli asked us about the two weeks in Thailand. She said that our co-workers from Thailand had called her and they were very glad for our visit. Our work during the trip had benefited the co-workers in Thailand and was also very encouraging. The she asked, "Did Sister Anneli tell you anything before the departure?"

I said that Sister Anneli sent us to the airport and wished us a peaceful journey.
Sister Salli then told us about an incident. When the night we were traveled from Bangkok to North-East Thailand by train, there was an air accident. An airplane traveling from Bangkok to North-West Thailand dropped. Sister Anneli did not tell us about that case because she would like us to fly back to Singapore with a peaceful mind.
After checking the timing of the accident, I thanked God who saved us. If the airplane was traveling from Bangkok to North-East Thailand, it might drop on our heads.

I planned to go back to work after the graduation of my one-year study in Bible College. But when we were back from our mission study trip, Sister Salli was on a three-month furlough. She needed to go back to Finland. Therefore I was temporary taking over her job in the Centre for three months.

When Sister Salli came back from Finland, she talked to me personally that she wished that I continued to serve in the Centre. She mentioned that the Thai workers and maids appreciated my caring of them. During her three months furlough, the Thai people still came to the Centre. Although they did not see Sister Salli, they were not used to it. But when they needed help, I always did my best.

I then became a staff of the Centre in October 1991.
Although Sister Salli tried to ask for a better salary for me, but our Lutheran Church took me as "new-comer", a fresh graduate with years of working experience! Therefore, after deducting the CPF, my take-home pay was only seven hundred dollars. It was fortune that my wife was still working and we did not have any child yet.

More and more Thai people came to our Centre and many people from other churches joined us as volunteer workers. Our Lutheran brothers and sisters also visited us very often. We welcomed volunteers to assist us in serving God, but too many cooks spoilt the food.

One day, Sister Salli told me about a case and she wept.
There was a Board Director's wife visited the Centre. She asked about our activities. She commented that Sister Salli was incapable. "Why wasn't there any timetable for Bible Study?" I told Sister Salli that if there would be anyone came and queried about the work of the Centre again, ask those people came and talked to me. It was me who manage the work.

Although it has been 16 years passed, I was still fed up with that Board Director's wife. A bold and childish woman!
Those Thai people who came to the Centre were either workers or maids. Other than on Sundays, they only came to Golden Mile Complex to send money home or to shop on weekdays. How did we plan the Bible Study Class? Other than Sunday, we would conduct the Bible Study Class whenever they came and told us that they would like to study Bible. Even when there were one or two persons, we conducted the class for them.
Sister Salli was then 50 years old and she had many years missionary experience in Finland, Taiwan and Thailand. Didn't she have any experience? Didn't she have more experience than that woman?
That woman later challenged me to go to other Lutheran Church and see whether I could work there. I resigned from my well-paid managerial post of our computer company and worked in the Thai Good News Center because of the Thai people. If I had to leave the Thai Good News Centre, I would rather go back to the computer company!

Part 3 of 3