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.
Getting to know Samuel & Agnes Too
Samuel and Agnes Too joined EAST in May 2020. Samuel has been a visiting lecturer previously and has taught a number of classes on Missions Foundation at EAST. He is now a full-fledged resident faculty at EAST and Agnes joins us with years of missions field experience from Japan and East Asia. Due to recent Covid-19 situation, the interview with them was conducted over Zoom. But their warmth and authenticity still came through.
An American in EAST
“The shocking hot weather”, and “pedestrians waiting for traffic lights to turn green even when there are no cars coming.” These are some of the “cultural shocks” Jessica Yi (USA), then 23, first experienced in Singapore. And her favourite thing to eat? “Bubble tea,” she replies, “Sure we have it back home but the bubble tea here is a whole new level!”
Jessica came to Singapore to intern with the ACTS Ministry International (AMI) “Since I would be here for a year, I decided to study at EAST, which I found on the internet, to equip myself,” she says.
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.”
Alumnus: I hope to build others the way he built me
“At EAST, God confirmed His calling for me to serve Him in full-time ministry,” said Samuel Linn. This call was the result of convictions built through classes such as Bible, evangelism, and movement building, and extended times alone with God. He also reminisced, “Dr Keith’s Bible Study Methods’ class taught me the most important skills of studying and teaching God’s Word accurately. Janice Chuang’s training on evangelism pulled me out of my introverted shell to reach out to others.”
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