Many expat families of our Church have come and gone when the home of our family was in Malaysia or Singapore. Not to single out the Monsons, Amy and Brian, who came into the Church Clementi Ward in Singapore just barely 2 years ago, as being more outstanding then the others but the eye of Dad's camera captured the following memories which is appropriately shared here this year end of 2013 when they return home to the US :
...and enjoyed singing Christmas Carols together after dinner
They first came to our home in the auspicious Chinese New Year of the Dragon in Jan 2012 which happens also to be the dreaded year where the world was supposed to end on Dec 21 as interpreted by some of the ancient Mayan calendar.
To our family, the new year was ushered in with happiness and joy especially when we had two special families from America in our home that we regarded as our Angels ie the Dickson family who came to Singapore earlier and then followed by the Monsons. See our reference to them in our Never Ending Christmas Story of 2012
During their visit when the video of Mom was played on the computer of her exciting moment of having her dream come true to sing in the world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir....
... Brian Monson pointed out that he was a choir member at that time. What a delightful coincidence.
The world didn't end in 2012 but Mom's sojourn in it did after a 7 year battle with cancer. Her last year in 2012 experienced the most number of days in the hospital during which Dad appreciated seeing Brian and Amy come by to visit Mom where prayers and blessings were also rendered with loving faith.
Mom had a most beautiful funeral service in memory of a woman of great faith and service to her family, her Church and her community. She was also known for touching lives for good. Brian and Amy were there to hug the family in time of our mourning....
...and their arms continued to stretch out to the family by having our family in their home on Christmas evening that year, the hardest Christmas for all of us without Mom.
We had a sumptuous dinner together...
...and enjoyed singing Christmas Carols together after dinner
Brian's vocal skills was manifested on Christmas that year when he sang a bass solo for the Singapore Church Stake Handel's Messiah program
They opened their home to us for family home evenings on Mondays too. One can see that Amy is carrying their first baby in the photo. Both of them had sacrificed their early mornings to teach seminary to the youth of our Church which included our two youngest boys!
Brian was also a sport with the Elders Quorum in various activities such as bowling...
...and even a cooking class of chilli crabs where he is seen killing a live crab for the first time for the meal
We learnt from the master chef and Elders Quorum President Alaster Tan
We got to visit their home on 2 Sept 2013 to see their new baby Issac for the first time!
We took our last family photo together with them at Church on Sunday Nov 24...
....and one of us just boys together. Missing is Han still on his mission in Manchester who left Singapore on 27 June 2012 shared on this journal post.
It was also the same day we went to visit Mom on the anniversary month of her leaving us on 6 Nov 2012
Photos and words cannot fully express our appreciation for all they have done for our family in Singapore. They were a young married couple who came like Angels to offer their love and assistance to us. We are happy that they could leave us with the first addition to their family with baby Issac and more will be added through time for sure. May Issac view this blog post one day and any of their future children to know how wonderful their parents have been to our family in their stay of two years in Singapore from 2012 to 2013. We wish them not just farewell but all the choicest blessings for their growing family and that they may always be blessed with safety & protection wherever they may live. We know that Mom would want us to do this for them and the link to this post has been added to her 1st anniversary blogpost of her departure found here.
They left a nice momento to remember them, a lamp shade from their home now placed on our family piano. We will surely miss them but will never forget them as the couple who came into our lives to bless us as true angels from heaven. May our friendship be forever till we meet again to rejoice with one another recalling our eventful days in Singapore!
Post dated event :
March 2017
Han in his Spring break while at Yale University Connecticut reunited with the Monsons again when he met them in Boston while visiting with his sister Su and husband Jay and his niece Baby Leah. See Baby Leah's cute greeting on video here.