Please see the attached newsletter about some important happenings in Singapore.

Just thought that you would like to know what is happening with Apollos Institute and the growing demand for leadership training.

South Africa: Bill Sampson, one of the elders from East Brainerd, and I will be going to Benoni, South Africa. I will be speaking at the annual seminar of the Southern African Bible College. The 2008 SABC Lectureship is scheduled for Sunday, 28 September through Thursday, October 2. The theme is "Spreading the Flame", emphasizing missions, evangelism, and training. Jerry Hogg is the fine director of the school.

The deacon at the Pasir Panjang congregation who serves as the liason for our Branch School in Singapore posted a number of pictures of Gerald and the Sacrificial System course he taught during July. How wonderful it is that our faculty are able to spread the teaching of the Gospel worldwide. Photos of Gerald in Singapore

Dear Family & Friends, I found a little time to give a brief update on what is happening with Tamara Cook and other ministry events of this immediate time. I am actually writing to you from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia once again! Why KL Malaysia??? Well, that has to do with Tamara and Charles Cook. Let me start with an update on Tamara... The surgery was successful in the repairs needed to relieve the pre-surgery pain and she is now undergoing daily therapy and has even begun walking a little bit each day! She is still in the hospital, but might be released as early as next week! Once again, I thank you for your prayers on behalf of the Cook family. Tamara will need to continue therapy for the next three months from what Charles has reported, but nevertheless, she has been blessed by the God of all mercy and has been delivered from this painful trial. Now, as to why am I back in Malaysia... I am in KL once again because Charles was scheduled to present a Servant Leadership seminar and a Gospel meeting starting this evening (Friday) with the Wangsa Maju church. Due to Tamara's health situation, we all knew he needed to be with his wife.

Sunday 8:15pm Singapore time

Hello everyone,

Tamara was in surgery for a little longer than 6 hours Saturday (2:00pm to 8:00+pm). It took longer than thought due to extra "repairs" needing to be done, but she is presently recovering in ICU and will be there for a day or two. Then she will be moved to a regular hospital room. Her previous pain has been relieved! Now she is going through whatever recovery pain there is to be found after a back surgery.

Please continue your prayers in her and Charles behalf and I will update you as time goes by. Thank you for your partnership in prayer through this trial for the Cook family.

On a different note.... We just finished up our second weekend of studies with Gerald Paden teaching the Old Testament sacrificial system course and next weekend he will return to include a study of the book of Hebrews. Near 40 students are in regular attendance!

More to come!!!

A servant for Jesus & the billions in Asia,
Tom

(From previous emails:

Dear Family & Friends,

FINALLY!!!... our first newsletter from Singapore! Due to no Internet connection yet at our apartment, I have had limited access to receiving and sending emails because we have spent most of this past week just getting settled into our home. There will be more to come!

Our love to you,
Tom, Nancy, Jaydon & Shayla
Read attached PDF

Dear Family & Friends,

It is Saturday night our time in Singapore and I just wanted to send out this quick update so you can report to the church you worship and serve with what is happening with the Goracke family.

We have been welcomed here with a "red carpet treatment" by many here. Jaydon & Shayla are still wrestling with the time changes, but are getting closer to sleeping through the night. This will make it easier on mom & dad when it happens too!

We signed a contract on our apartment this afternoon , but will not be able to move into it until this Friday at the earliest. We were excited to see it today! It will make a nice home for our family.

We have been staying with the Winston Chong family from the Pasir Panjang church. Winston serves as a deacon for the church as well as a board member for SIBI Singapore. He and all of his family have just blessed us with their warm hospitality.

Winston's wife, Hong Ngee, helped us to get our Singapore bank account set up on the first day we arrived here as well as helped us with preparations to use certain public transportation. Already we have gone out in exploration to get around by ourselves.

Dear Family & Friends,

The time is near for our departure to Singapore!
We have been busy with all the necessary preparations and have finished up with several visits with supporting churches and brethren. We have one more meeting time with our overseeing church in Seagraves, Texas tomorrow, Sunday the 18th.

We are scheduled to fly out of Lubbock at about 7:00 am on Tuesday the 20th to arrive in Singapore just after 12 am on the 22nd...
Singapore time.

We were blessed by the service of a Singapore brother and Charles Cook, the administrator for SIBI Singapore, to have our housing secured as early as June 1st. We will be staying with Singapore brethren until then.

We request your continued prayers as we make our final preparations in the next couple of days and for the blessing of safe travels all the way to Singapore. Upon arrival, I will send out a notice as soon as possible.

Thank you for your partnership and your
encouragement in every way. Know of our love and continued prayers for you.

In service to Jesus and His Gospel,
Tom, Nancy, Jaydon & Shayla

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings from Singapore. We are settled in, presently teaching our 4th Bible course since November, we are calling the school Singapore International Bible Institute (SIBI), news about the our minister training program is being broadcast to neighboring countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, India, etc.) with inquiries coming in regularly, we are very pleased with the progress being made.

Soon we should have a blog or web site up online giving our ongoing news, we will notify you monthly as news is posted. We believe this will be the most efficient way to stay in touch with everyone.
Another American missionary family, the Tom Gorackis, will join us in this work later this month. Attached to this email is a copy of the current weekly bulletin of Pasir Panjang Church of Christ, Singapore, the church that is partnering with us and allowing us to use their facilities to operate SIBI Singapore. Our contact information is shown below. We are most grateful for those who pray for souls in Asia and who support our efforts with your resources. May God bless our combined efforts.

In Christian Service,
Charles and Tamara