Tuesday 10 December 2019

Which One Are You?


By Grace Moon

Your faith journey cannot and should not be compared with others’ journeys. We’re all at different walks in life, and God only works when you accept yourself in the identity which He has made specifically for you. 

If this pool that you see was your faith in Jesus--your complete trust and confidence in him--which character would you be in this image? 

It was a perfect and undisturbed Friday afternoon when I was imposed with this question. My mentor, Mrs. White, pulled out this picture for our weekly mentoring session, and ever since then, I couldn’t get this image out of my head. 

For me, it was easy to find. I was definitely the one on the typewriter on the far-right corner. 

Maybe I chose that guy because I felt that the people in the pool were having too much fun to be actually productive. Perhaps I deemed my work ethic and my focus on my near future more important than--I don’t know--just sitting in the pool and taking a break. But then, I looked at the illustration again, and I realized that, no, I chose this man because I recognized that we both deliberately decided to prioritize our success over our relationship with God. 

That hit me pretty hard. 

Why wasn’t I the swimmer in the middle of the pool, leisurely taking his lap? I mean, after all, I was given all the things I need to have an excellent foundational relationship with God: my parents are missionaries, Dalat gave me multiple opportunities to question and learn about my faith, and no one has ever questioned or scrutinized me for my family’s beliefs and my parent’s careers. To everyone around me, I might have even looked to live a pretty noble life myself. 

But I digress. All that I say is excuses for me pushing away my “faith journey.” Sure, the environment could be perfect, but if I do not act upon my inherent desire to fulfill myself with a permanent source of life, then, well, I won’t have complete fulfillment. That’s just how it is. 

Life is offered to us by God to find our place on Earth as an advocate for His love and his desire for peace. But most of the time, we don’t fulfill our roles. For me, I’m still trying to figure out what it means to live a life where work and relationships can go hand in hand. For others, like Jong Min Park (12), there’s a slightly different narrative going on: “I feel like I’m the dude with the gear on the right. I’m willing to trust Jesus, but I’m scared to give up everything for him. Something that keeps me from having complete faith in him is me trying to implement my own life and my own expectations of my life to my faith.” 

But wherever we are in our walk of faith, one thing stands clear: no matter what, we must not doubt the fact that the pool is always open for us to dip our toes into, put our legs into, and ultimately, leisurely and peacefully swim in. God is, from what it seems, always welcoming us with open arms. 

So, why not take a chance and see if the water is warm enough for your liking? 


Monday 9 December 2019

Swish, Swoosh, Clank!


By Jae Cho

As posters came upon every Dalat social media account, on December 6-7, Dalat hosted a basketball tournament called the Island Shootout. It included a total of four schools, including Dalat International School. The participating teams were Dalat International School, Uplands International School, Stamford American International School, and Youngsters. 

When I checked the schedule for Island Shootout on Friday, we were playing Stamford at 5:00 pm. From what we knew as a team, we knew that this match was not going to be easy for us. We had played a few games before this tournament, and we had dominated every game so far. We were undefeated as a team.

As school finished, I had to get changed, and I headed up to the weight room to stretch and prepare for the game mentally with my teammates. After stretching and talking for a while, it was finally time. We went down as a team and entered the gym as the crowds were roaring. We started warming up by getting into our layup lines. As one minute was left on the warmup clock, our coaches called our team into our bench. After exciting each other up, starting five went onto the court as the crowds were going crazy. 

The first three-quarters of the match was pretty close. We were down by two points by the end of the third quarter. As the fourth quarter started, we went head to head again, and we were going back and forth with each other still. The crowd was going mad. With 1 minute 30 seconds left on the clock, we were down by two points. We played good defense and managed to secure the difference by only two points. When it was our possession on offense, we swung the ball around the perimeter to find an open Aaron Worten (12) who was well known to be a good shooter. As Aaron Worten (12) caught the ball, he shot it from the three-point line with no regrets. The shot was good! The crowd went crazy as we were up by one point when there was only less than a minute left on the clock.

One of our team captains, Aaron Worten (12), said after the game, “In my head, I was going crazy. I thought I missed it, but once it fell through the net and the crowd went crazy, I was hyped. I love the atmosphere when the game is close, and there is a full crowd, it felt amazing being able to play in a great game.” 

With less than a minute to go, we had secured a good defense, and we were still up by one point. However, Stamford American International School seemed like they had a plan in their heads. As Stamford grabbed the rebound off of a missed free throw, they passed it forward to someone who was an outstanding shooter in their team. The player shot a quick three-pointer as our crowd and team prayed for it not to go in. Miraculously, the shot was good, and there was less than a second left for us to make an offensive play. I was in shock as the final buzzer rang, and the game was over. Although we had lost as a team, I felt like we improved a lot as a team going through difficult situations like this.

As Aaron Worten (12) said, “When they hit the shot with .4 seconds left to win the game, I was stunned. However, surprisingly, I wasn't mad or sad, I was pretty cheerful. Even though we lost, we put our hearts on the court, and I couldn't have asked for anything more.”

Our other team captain, Wansuk Kunawaradisai (12), also said after the game, “The teams we played against during the Island Shootout Tournament had a higher standard than most of the local teams we've played earlier in the season. We had some tough losses, but it motivated us to work towards a better version of ourselves. We're excited to correct our mistakes and improve by putting in more hours of practice.”

Tuesday 3 December 2019

A Thanksgiving Appetizer


By Tien Min Tan

The three-day-week slowly inches towards the end as the Tuesday comes to a close. Though the gates have shut and most have scurried home, the campus still teemed with students who refused to go home. What could have been keeping these students here past 5:30 PM on a Tuesday evening?

Well, these were the students that had wanted to come together to celebrate and worship God after school! After school on Tuesdays usually serve as the students’ time to worship God as the students of the Leadership Development class lead their own worship for fellow students with the supervision of Spiritual Life Director Kirk Ronzheimer—they call it Student-Led Worship.

This time, however, the students had planned a special thanksgiving worship gathering set to begin at 6:00 PM and last an hour in the Student Center. One by one, whiffs of Mr. Ronzheimer’s hot apple cider and Madaline Rude’s (12) plate of cookies blew across the faces of every student as they walked into the Student Center only to be greeted with a breeze that sadly only hinted at a white Christmas.

The room quickly filled with students as Dael Kim (12) and Uncle Keith Henderson began to serenade the singing students from the front of the room. As the worship came to an end, the students turned to their friends to chatter on to create the soft white noise that permeated the room. Some students then began indulging themselves in the sweet treats that lined the back of the room while some took pleasure in cutting out colorful maple leaves to write gratitude notes to either themselves or friends.

Riley Phillips (12), a regular attendee of Student-Led Worship, expresses that the thanksgiving worship gathering “…was a super great opportunity to relax and reflect on this past semester and all the ways God has blessed me. I was feeling extra thankful for my awesome friends, my sister, and the apple cider, so that’s what I wrote about on the thankfulness leaf that we did.”

As the hour came to an end, Dael Kim (12) closed the evening with a prayer of gratitude and peace for the attendees. Though the hour had felt short, the gathering had been a peaceful time of reflection and appreciation before the restful long thanksgiving holiday ahead of all who participated.

Unforgettable Memories of Laughter: PTO Family Fun Day


By Yerin Park

Filled with delighted giggles and excited screams, another PTO event for the Dalat community came to great success. On November 22, many Dalat families, who accepted the exciting invitation to the PTO Family Fun Day, gathered in the grassy area next to the outdoor basketball court.

After purchasing an entrance bracelet for only RM5, children raced to try the unlimited carnival game stations of their choice. From a soccer ball to rubber duckies, all the game stations involved a variety of fun and unique equipment that drew the attention of the crowd. The guarantee of receiving tokens—which were later exchanged with some quirky prizes—from winning a game sparked their motivation and enthusiasm.

When feeling too tired and sweaty from the active games, some kids crowded around the table on the side to get a charming face painting, sticker tattoo, or nail art. The eyes of the children twinkled as they waited patiently in a line to put some vibrant colors on their faces and nails; the colorful decorations certainly brightened up their mood as well as their looks.

As the event approached the end, people with hungry stomachs sat around and enjoyed slices of pizza with family and friends. With their loudest slurps, children cooled off and treated themselves with the all-time-favorite dessert—ice cream.

Though the event was planned primarily for the younger elementary students, what made the Family Fun Day successful was the contributions of various groups of people in the Dalat community.
As well as the Dalat Parent-Teacher Organization, a group of students in the From Kids For Kids Club gladly volunteered to dedicate their Friday afternoon and help out in the special event. Jireh Ang (12), a humble member of the From Kids For Kids Club, looked back at the event and stated that “the Family Fun Day was tiring, but it was so worthwhile to see the kids having fun.”

Another helper, Jordan Chang (12), remarked on the event with a content smile on his face, “Serving the younger community was so fulfilling, as we were able to see the positive impact that we had on them.”

The memories made in the Family Fun Day positively impacted everyone who participated. The extraordinary day with much love and laughter will be remembered with a big, bright smile on the faces of the Dalat family.