Could you believe? C.H.O.L. caught fire. THANK GOD! Everything is fine with us. No one got hurt. Everything in the boy and girl's dorms were gone as the fire started off first from the boy's dorm and then spread very quickly to the girl's dorm. Dara, Evangel and Lin's study room also got it but thank God that we managed to bring out many of the furniture on time with the help of the villagers, mostly our ex-students and their parents.
All the clothing, money and belongings of the children were gone. School books, uniforms, bags, shoes etc were also burned up. They have no more clothing of their own. However, thank God for the last batch of clothing that Elder Wee brought up in January 2011 and I kept them at another place. So, they were all given the clothing last night. PRAISE THE LORD! They could wear these clothing for Sunday Worship today (13 Feb). The weather at night and in the morning is cold. Thank God. We still have stock of jackets and wind breakers for them.
Jesus says, “
for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matthew 6:32, KJV).
The fire started at about 5.15 p.m. on Saturday (12 Feb) when we were having our family worship. We do not know exactly what was the cause of the fire but the boys were saying that it could be because of the loose contact of the electrical plug and the mobile phone charger in the boy’s dorm that triggered the fire sparks and when the wind blew in, it ignited the mosquitoes nets and then the mattresses and blankets and the whole wooden building. Everything happened just so fast. When we ran to the boy’s dorm, the bed was already on fire. Within 5 minutes, the whole room was already burning. THANK GOD! The fire didn’t take place in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping, when there was nobody to help carrying things, and when there was no one to drive the fire engine.
After the fire had finally died down, we carried on with our family worship. We thanked and praised God for Who He is in our lives. After we had sung the song, “Thank to God for my Redeemer,” Dara reminded all of us once again to thank God for the series of messages we had learned at the end of last year, entitled “When Disaster Strikes” to prepare us for such a time like this. Indeed, God’s Word is our comfort and strength, as the psalmist says, “This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy Word hath quickened me” (Psalm 
119:50, KJV).
THANK GOD! There are two power supplies for the Home, one from the front yard and the other from the back yard. Though the one from the back yard were cut off due to the fire, thank God that we still have light at the front yard. So, we are not living in darkness. The same is also true with the water source. We have two main pipes, one to the boy and girl’s dorms and the other to the guest house. Since the dorms were reduced to ashes, the children are now sleeping at our guest house, with full water supply. THANK GOD! Our kitchen is also not affected by the fire. Likewise, the fire didn’t burn down our Fellowship Hall. We are now putting up at the house that we have built for Elder and Mrs Wee. It’s just in front of the Fellowship Hall.
Couldn’t imagine. Our house was burned up by fire. Nevertheless, we still believe that God is in full control. In time like this, some may think that it must be due to some sins in our lives so God is chastising us. We acknowledge the Bible teaches that “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth (Hebrews 12:6, KJV).” But this is not always the case. The Book of Job says that Job “was perfect and upright, and on
e that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1, KJV) and yet he encountered calamity in his life simply because he was a godly man and God, as it were, offered him to Satan to be tempted, as it is written in Job 1:8, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
We are finite. We may not know exactly why God allows certain things to happen 
to us even when we have tried our best to live for Him but still, we must believe that God is the Author of our lives and He has the final say. We are just an instrument of God. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Through this incident, we have learned also not to hold on to material things too tightly but to learn to let go. Like Job said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the LORD" (Job 1:21, KJV). God has always been very good to us and H
e will definitely grant us His grace to go through this time of testing, though it may take quite a while for us to rebuild everything again. Don't worry. We are fine. God is always so good to us and He has granted us His peace and joy even in moment like this. PRAISE THE LORD! “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, KJV).
The police officers have come to block up the area. They are going to file a report. There
after, we should be able to start cleaning up the mess. Do pray for wisdom for us to know how to go about doing it and how and when to start the reconstruction. Do also pray for strength and good health for all of us.
It has not been easy especially for Dara, having to go through so much at this time when her health is still very weak. The environment is quite smoky at time due to forest fire or the villagers burning the rubbish. She finds it hard to breath at time becau
se of the air pollution. Kindly uphold her health in prayer.
Due to the fire and the water from the fire engine, many of the books of Dara and both Evangel and Evangeline were damaged. Those books are for their studies. Pray that we will be able to quickly source out the number of books that were destroyed and find a replacement so that they may move on with their studies when everything is more or less settled. We also hope to explain to Dara’s lecturers about her situation and ask for permission for her to
study at home. Pray that her lecturers will be very understanding.
The students do not have any uniform to go to school on Monday (14 Feb). And as some of you may know, every student needs 4 different sets of uniforms throughout the week. So, we will be going to the school to inform the teachers about it. Pray that they will be able to buy all the 4 sets of uniforms from the school as soon as possible and also the school will have enough text books to sell to them at this time. In a month’s time, they will be having their school examinations, followed by the long summer holidays. Pray that their studies will not be affected.
Under His loving Care,
Robert, Dara Evangel, Evangeline Peh
& all at the Christian Home of Love
& the Truth Bible-Presbyterian Church
13 February 2011
