Q: How do you feel about this Open House?
A: There are many spiritual highlights and uplifting missionary moments that came out of this Open House.  This Open House is the Lord’s Open House.  He has shown forth His power and it turned out to be a great success.  Many hearts were touched by Him.  Members and non-members have come away with a deeper feeling of reverence for the Savior.  This is because the Spirit of God has borne witness to their souls of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that is once again found on the earth.  The priesthood is once again in our midst.  And we have a living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, to guide us in these latter days.  The Lord’s Liahona is with us today.

Q: How significant this new building is in your view relative to the history of the Church in Singapore and why?
A: This is the first chapel in Singapore that is built in the heart of a public housing neighborhood.  The Compassvale Link Chapel is nestled in a beautiful and young residential area.  We expect high growth in this area.  We already have some Mandarin speaking investigators from the Compassvale neighborhood.  We hope that they would join our Church and help to build Zion in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.  In contrast, the stake center at Bukit Timah and the Pasir Panjang Chapel are located in private residential areas.  Growth in these areas is not as robust as in public residential areas.

Q: What does this building mean to you personally?
A: This new chapel could not have come to fruition without the generous tithing contributions of the members throughout the world.  The tender mercies of God have indeed been manifested to the Singapore saints.  One way to show forth our gratitude to our Heavenly Father is to continue to be full-tithe payers.  Our contributions in turn will help other Saints in other parts of the world to have the same joy and experience as us in having new chapels in their midst.  For those who are not full-tithe payers, may you recognize that every blessing that you have received comes from God.  For there are no blessings that anyone can stake a claim that he/she has earned them through his/her own intelligence, creativity and sheer hard work.  “I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants” (Mosiah 2:21).

Let us show forth our genuine love and faith in God that we love Him more than mammon.  Let us put aside even our legitimate reasons that we cannot pay a full-tithe.  I know that He knows all of our needs.  He knows that only through His way will He be able to take care of our needs no matter how dire our temporal situations may be “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).  These words from the Lord are as plain and assured as can be.

If we cannot obey the law of tithing, how then can we have the strength to live the law of consecration which is part of the law of the celestial kingdom?  “But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them; And are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom; And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself” (D&C 105:3-5).  Let us not only dream of qualifying for celestial glory but to ensure that we are actually leading our families toward it.  “For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory” (D&C 88:22).

Q:  Can you share your vision, hope, and desire for the Church in Singapore relative to the future of the Stake?
A: Now that we have a beautiful chapel in the North-East heartland area, I envision a chapel up North for the saints living in the neighborhoods of Yishun, Sembawang and Woodlands.  I would also like to have a chapel in the West serving the saints in Clementi, Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Batok, Jurong East and Jurong West.  These are densely populated areas and having chapels in these areas will bring higher membership and can only bring greater blessings to the saints.  I hope to see chapels in the four cardinal locations of Singapore.

We will continue to build on the strength and faith of our wonderful members.  We will work together to have a second stake.  We will strengthen our wards by consciously doing missionary work, looking after the welfare of each other through magnifying our callings, doing home and visiting teaching, obeying what God would have us do at home (such as daily family scripture study and prayers, and holding weekly family home evening, to name a few), and leading our families to qualify for temple blessings.  If we so live our lives faithfully by serving “[Him] with all [our] heart, might, mind and strength, that [we] may stand blameless before God at the last day” (D&C 4:2), then it will be a matter of time before the Lord seems fit to grant us a small temple in our midst.

Article By Brother Sadikin Budiman

Brother Daniel Choo was serving as the Bishop of Bedok Ward when the news of moving to Compassvale Link building was revealed. With delight he wrote: “I believe Bedok Ward members had been meeting in the old building in Paya Lebar since Elder Victor Chen was then the bishop. I would say that we met there for at least 10 years.  Majority of the members and I were excited about the move. This means that we are going to meet old time members in the same building.” Commenting on the previous meeting place in Paya Lebar, he added: “When it rained heavily in the old building, members suffered as it leaked into the building. Water could be seen falling down from the roof and all the carpet flooring would be wet in the Primary room. There was really no peace when it came to worshipping on rainy Sundays. In the new building, it is really worry-free and it helps the members to appreciate much more of the blessings that come from Heavenly Father.”

Since its ground breaking day on October 31, 2009, the seemingly slow rising construction with its unique design and shape had evidently attracted the surrounding residences with much curiosity. The saints from Bedok and Ang Mo Kio Wards were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome from some of the local residents as they went door-to-door to hand out the Open House invitation cards. 

Currently serving as Bishop of Bedok Ward, Keisuke Sakamoto explains his new found enthusiasm: “Since I came to Singapore, I got an impression that the mission in Singapore and mission in Japan are very similar-- not very many people are willing to listen or want to be baptized.  I have reasoned that Singapore and Japan are economically wealthy countries and so are the people.  People are busy working and not too interested about religion nor the gospel.  Their lives are happy enough that they do not seek true happiness. I am speaking in general. Then we had the Compassvale Chapel Open House and there were so many people who came to visit us.  It was unbelievable to me… We passed flyers out twice before the Open House and I saw many of the members who participated were so excited to do this missionary work.  And the responses were great too.  All the members who distributed flyers had special experiences and some even found people who were interested in the gospel. I served my mission in Japan and we did door-to-door knocking.  But we could never get this kind of responses in Japan.  I realized there are people who are willing to hear the gospel.  They just have not gotten the opportunity!”

Elder James Nowland, currently serving in Singapore Mission, reported that Ms. May Lim, a non-member, was overjoyed to see the new Chapel finally opened.  “When Ms. Lim moved to Compassvale Link several years ago, she often prayed that there would be a church nearby so that she could worship in it. Shortly thereafter, construction began on the Compassvale Link Chapel.  She humbly recognized that this was God’s answer to her earnest prayers.”

Article By Brother Sadikin Budiman