Trading the bustling little red dot in return for a 4 day 3 night with our family, family of Church of St. Michael and with God our father. We spent the next few days getting to know our young to elderly friends through ice breaker games, sharing meals together with other families, sharing the work and getting to know the word of God better.

One of the games required children to put shaving cream on their members’ faces, and the condition was the member has to be a female. It seemed as if that the team that applied the shaving cream in the ’nicest’ style shall win the contest. But of course that was not the purpose of the game. After the kids smeared the shaving cream on the faces of the beautiful ladies, Father Terence handed the kids hotel packed shavers, before the ladies were blindfolded. You could hear the squeals! Once the blindfolding were done, the shavers the children were holding were changed to spoons without the ladies knowing. While the objective of this game is to remind the ladies (and of course the men too) that the path of life may be unknown and we might even get hurt along the way, it is also to remind us all that the devil shall not disturb our hearts as long as we have faith and trust in our good Lord.

It is an understatement that the greatest take away from the camp was the bond that grew stronger between spouses, families and even newly-forged friendships in CSM. Above all, we now know that the peace we have is already a gift from God- seek Jesus’ peace and cherish your love ones.

By Odilia Lim

Today, Father John is spotted with a Nikon Camera bag. I asked him which camera is he using now, but he opens it for me and shows me the body of Christ instead! He has just come from responding to a last minute call to anoint someone who is not well and soon may be passing. He shares that the whole family is not catholic but he went to our neighbour’s bed to bless him. He no longer captures moments in picture, but he captures hearts for the Lord!

Q: Hello, Father John. Share with us how did you spend father’s day when you were yet to be a priest?

Oh my, that was a long time ago! I entered seminary in 1964, when I was 16! So there were hardly chances after that to spend Father’s day together. But when we did, it was simple- we did things like go to mass together, have a better meal than usual… we spend time with each other.

Q: What advise would you give to fathers of families?

I pray that they will be happy, have good health, have peace in their hearts and give peace to their families. Because in life, there are many troubles, and this is the most important.

Q: Tell us something interesting that we do not know about you?

A: I love photography. When I was younger, I would buy lenses for my camera and go different places to take photos. But that was 30 years ago when I was very crazy about photography. I like taking pictures. I still do, but only with my mobile camera.

Q: What drives you everyday?

A: In my daily life, I am on mission every day for the lord

Q: How will you be spending this year’s father’s day?

A: I have no plans for Father’s day but I am celebrating mass St Theresa’s for the Vietnamese community

Interviewed Julianne Danielle Lim