The Words of the Kun Family

Singapore Sisters Pioneer Home Church

Tan Ai Kun
January 1981

Just prior to our first 40-days pioneering in home church, the government of Singapore held a publicity campaign encouraging the people to be more courteous towards one another. Also, the prime minister has been encouraging people living in flats to build closer ties with their neighbors. In a speech on National Day, he said, "In housing flats, our neighbors may become our eternal tribe." This became an external foundation for us to begin home church.

On August 1, 1980, we began our first 40-day condition of pioneering Home Church. For the past four years, the missionaries had truly raised us, pouring out so much love and concern for us. I really feel that doing Home Church is the time for us to love, serve and inculcate God-centered love into the people. What the missionaries had done for us and this nation for the past four or five years, we could transfer to people in our Home Church area, sharing the truth and parental heart and love from our Heavenly Father and True Parents.

We work together in a trinity, Tan Soh Hong and Ong Siok Hong and me. We had a unison prayer condition for ten minutes a day the week before we pioneered the Ang Mo Kio Housing Estate.

Soh Hong has been in the family for two years and has practiced teaching the six hour lecture of the Divine Principle for some time. She is Chinese educated but speaks very good English and is a very determined sister. Siok Hong has been in the family for eight months.

She is very faithful and pure in her love for Heavenly Father and True Parents. She speaks English and also some Malay. I speak English and Mandarin. The three of us really worked together very harmoniously. We are a good combination, because in our area, there are Chinese, Indian and Malay families.

Soh Hong and I stay with my physical family. Siok Hong stays with her family. The three of us meet in the evenings after work, pray together and visit our Home Church area.

In the mornings, Soh Hong and I study the Divine Principle two and four hour lectures. Four mornings a week we study the Divine Principle and one morning internal guidance. We have breakfast at 7:45 a.m., which my mother prepares for us. After breakfast, we clean the house and write our reflections and then prepare to go to work.

My mother is really so happy that I finally returned home to stay, after three years. This time I feel it is a period for us to restore our love, emotion and heart. I prayed that my mother could love Soh Hong and Siok Hong as her own daughters. My mother really helped us very much. When we return home in the evening, she has dinner ready for us. She is very supportive towards what we are doing and very concerned about the type of people we meet each day. Sometimes, in the market she meets neighbors who tell her about our visits to them and ask her if it was she who sent us to greet them. Because of her support, it really enabled the people to trust us more.

Of course, there are still many things we have to overcome, especially during this period. Because of differences in character, and because we are rushed for time, we step on each others' toes. But when we focus our attention on our mission, instead of ourselves, our unity is improved tremendously. Every time there is very deep understanding and harmony among us, Heavenly Father really blesses us and that very night we meet very good families who welcome us.

Within this first 40 day period, we visited and knocked on the doors of 1,080 homes. Because each home is just next to another and each block of flats consists of 90-196 homes, we could cover a maximum of 50 homes within three hours. Also, news about the three of us spread quite quickly. Some of our neighbors called us the Three Musketeers. We did not try to force Divine Principle on them, but told them we were there to really sincerely create a harmonious atmosphere in the neighborhood and stressed that living in flats where each home is so close to another, we should be living harmoniously like a big family caring for one another.

During August, the Malay families celebrate the Hari Raya Puasa (the Muslim New Year). Three families invited us to their home during this holiday.

At the end of the 40 days, we printed cards with our names on them and gave them to people who were friendly towards us.

The mother of the Loo family likes us very much. She told us that her son never communicates with her. How she wished her children were like us, concerned about and caring for their parents! She told us also that children now think that as long as they give part of their salary to their parents every month, their parents will be happy. But that is not true. She said that if her son could talk to her after work, it would mean much more than silver or gold to her.

Many parents in the homes we visited spoke of the same feelings towards their son or daughter. There is a communication gap between the older children, especially those who are working, and their parents.

At the end of the first 40 day period, we had a family night. My brother and sisters entertained us by playing the guitar and piano and singing.

My mother gave a testimony of her experiences as a child during the Second World War. Soh Hong, Siok Hong and I sang. This really helped to bring the whole family together.

Most of the people in our Home Church area are young. Christians, many of whom are Catholics, are few. Many of the people we met have no opinion about religion and feel that each individual has the right to believe in whatever he or she chooses to believe. They do not like others to interfere with their lifestyle. There are also many school teachers in our area, all very friendly and positive towards what we are doing.

In all, 19 percent are very friendly, welcoming us into their homes; 35 percent are positive towards what we are doing, opened their doors and talked to us for a while; 8 percent are very suspicious and did not want to talk very much. Finally, 38 percent are either "not in or refuse to open their doors. But so far, no one has chased us out with a broom, although some try to frighten us with dogs.

Many people are very impressed by our genuine smile and joyful spirit. Siok Hong is especially gifted with such a charming smile that can turn even an angry look into a smile. At first, people looked at us blankly, with suspicion, but smiles really melted their hearts. Sometimes, if they do not understand us, we try speaking in Mandarin or Malay.

Confucianism has a very strong influence upon the Chinese families here. Except for some young couples, most Chinese families have the tradition of praying to their ancestors with joss sticks. But the younger members in a family are usually free-thinkers. Externally, family ties are strong and parents are possessive. We find that in order to really reach out to them, we need to build a trust and deeper understanding, especially with the parents. Thus we serve them and talk with them and listen to them. Trust is so vital for us to be able to really learn to know a family. There is not so much trust among people; they are very afraid that others may take advantage of them. In some cases, the first time we visited them, they were very friendly, but became suspicious when we revisited them. We need to become more popular among the neighbors, not for ourselves but in order to do Heavenly Father's will.

Each night I call the main center and report on our experiences and Home Church activities that evening. The missionaries really give us a lot of encouragement, and I want to transfer this kind of heart and love to the two sisters working with me and to those in our Home Church areas.

We return to the center once a week, on Saturday night. We share our experiences with our brothers and sisters on Sunday after service. In this way, we maintain an oneness of heart, even though we do not see our brothers and sisters all the time.

During our second 40-day pioneering period, beginning September 18, we revisited all our positive homes and began Bible study sessions every Thursday night at 7:15. We study the Bible in the light of the Divine Principle. Many people in our Home Church area believe in the existence of God but only a minority have really studied the Bible. Six people from our area join us in this study, and our group is expanding.

We also became members of the community center youth group and learned to know the tutors, who are enthusiastic about young people interested in social work. We met the chairman of the youth group and through him his mother, grandmother, brothers and sisters. He respects our enthusiasm for visiting every home in the blocks of flats around us.

I have applied for membership in the Residents' Consultative Committee, which promotes community spirit among the residents. They organize programs such as family outings, children's art competitions, get-togethers, free films, etc.

We wrote to our "A" homes and some "B" homes to express our gratitude for their friendliness. Also, through our letters, we could express clearly our purpose in visiting them and invite them for our Bible study sessions and other activities.

During our third 40-day period, beginning November 3, we will try to visit as many "B" homes as possible and write to every "B" home. This time we were able to meet some Indian families. An Indian girl who received our letter called us. She had told her parents about the letter and they were very impressed and wanted to meet us. We went to visit them, and although the parents could only speak Tamil, we really tried to express our gratitude and sincerity towards them. Another Indian family invited us to their home for a meal.

As a Christmas project, we want to train a choir to go Christmas caroling. We will invite young people from our area, and through practicing together, they will be able to understand us better. We will sing outside the "A' homes, with the permission of the owners. Also, we will ask for volunteers to be Santa Claus and distribute small gifts to the children. Because caroling is not so common here, we can arouse much interest and people will see that we are really trying to serve them and that we come with a sincere heart.

In this way, we can celebrate our holidays together, as one big family in our Home Church area, sharing Heavenly Father and True Parents' heart and concern for the people. Bringing joy to them, we hope to gradually build up more trust. 

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