FRUITFULNESS IN THE IN-BETWEEN

By Kelvin and Julienne Ng

One of the families in the Philippines who received COVID-19 relief from Dawn for the Poor

Theo in a cardboard castle that we made during circuit breaker

We came back from the Philippines on 28 March 2020, yanked abruptly from a locked-down Manila into Singapore’s circuit breaker. COVID-19 cancelled all our missions plans with Dawn for the Poor. The family reunions we longed for had to wait. The church hall we missed was closed to all. While waiting for new assignments from church and work, we found ourselves asking God, “Is there nothing for us to do?”

But God had plans for this in-between time.

Ironically, we could do more for our Filipino friends back in Singapore than in locked-down Marilao. Julienne sold T-shirts on Instagram to raise funds for their COVID-19 relief fund, and we told our mission story in BFEC’s Easter video service and in a THIR.ST article. (https://bfec.sg/kjt)

We took the chance to do an online Biblical Marriage Counselling course, and answered the call to lead our cell subgroup for married couples and young parents.

Another thing that had troubled us over the last year was Theo’s speech development. With no way to start in-clinic consultations during the circuit breaker, we tried online speech therapy instead. This filled our days with interesting mouth-shaping exercises and lots of language homework. Theo started to pronounce more sounds, and we finally felt like there was a guiding light in her speech journey. Phase 2 allowed us to have in-person therapy, and it also saw Theo step into BKK for Nursery 1. We saw Theo blossom through the interactions with her classmates and attentive teachers.

We used to think that a busier schedule meant more fruit. But God showed us that fruitfulness can happen even when all plans are cancelled, if we walk into each day in His Spirit.