Category Archives: Testimonies

Testimony by Mrs Rachel Chin

Since young, my son, Moses Chin, suffered from a form of social anxiety disorder and was petrified of being in the spotlight. When he was in primary one, he was enrolled in a wonderful school with caring and loving staff. However, he did not speak a word to any staff or student for the entire year because of his anxiety. Under the loving and patient care of his teachers, Moses gradually opened up and was able to hold short conversations with his teachers and fellow classmates from primary two onwards. However, he would clam up whenever he had to do an oral presentation. In other words, no sound would come out of him, no matter how hard he tried. So as far as I know, from primary school to secondary one, he had never done any oral presentation or platform event.

When Moses came to VLCS, God performed a miracle on him. God gave him the courage and desire to do oral presentations, firstly in a small group of about 10 students, and gradually to a bigger group of 20 plus students. Then, to my great surprise, Moses signed up for the preaching event for Regional Student Convention 2017, in spite of his phobia of being in the spotlight. I thank God for godly and caring mentors such as Mrs Ranee Quirey, Mr Philip Yee, Mrs Cynthia Chan and Mr Jonathan Cheng whom God has placed in Moses’ life to help him overcome his fear of public speaking. With their encouragement and guidance, Moses has improved by leaps and bounds in his skills of oral presentation. Mr Jonathan was particularly instrumental in preparing Moses for his preaching event at RSC.

The last rehearsal in school was a breakthrough for Moses, as he was able to overcome his fear to preach in front of the entire school. However, he was unable to project his voice, so the majority of the audience could not hear him well even though he was using a microphone. After that incident, he prayed regularly to God to help him project his voice at RSC.

The day when he was due to do his preaching at RSC, I could see that he was very nervous. He walked up and down the hall and his hands were icy cold. I prayed with him and his prayer was again, “Dear Father God, please help me project my voice.” When his turn was near, he kept drinking water from his water bottle and making coughing sounds. I went to the front and sat near Mr Jonathan. The first thing Mr Jonathan told me was that he hoped Moses could project his voice. I was very nervous and spoke to God in my heart, “Dear Lord, please don’t put Moses to shame. I don’t need him to win any medal. My only wish is that he is able to project his voice!”

When it was Moses’ turn to speak, I was like watching a tense horror movie, feeling very scared inside. As Moses opened his mouth, I held my breath, and then to my amazement, an unfamiliar voice came forth, loud and clear! Tears of relief and joy just flowed down my cheeks uncontrollably. Then, I sensed God asking me, “Did you see the Red Sea parting?” “Hallelujah, Lord, I see the miracle! Sorry, for my unbelief! Though I am faithless, thank You that You are faithful.”

Praise be to God, Moses won a medal (6th place) in the preaching event! Till today, my husband, my daughter and I marvel at God’s miracle. Moses spoke fluently with a different accent – we had never heard him speak like that before. My hubby said if he were to hear Moses’ voice only and not see his face, he wouldn’t know that it was his son preaching. All glory goes to God for this miracle that happened in Moses’ life!

VLCS was the saving grace of God for my son as he struggled to get his life together after a tumultuous period of teenage sojourns coupled with severe health problems. Before coming to VLCS, he had lost so much self-confidence after the social and physical failures of the past few years, that he was quite withdrawn and unable to continue in the local school systems.

At VLCS, he buried himself in the coursework and thrived in the self-paced learning. With the kind support of the supervisors in his class, he managed to finish up his High School requirements much quicker than expected.

The less stressful pace at VLCS, where there was no homework to be brought home to complete, meant that he could devote his time after school, with his limited energy, to his musical pursuits. This enabled him to do a credible audition and be accepted at the NUS Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music with a full scholarship to pursue his dream of a career in music.

We are so thankful that enrolling at VLCS has given him the opportunity to move on successfully to the next phase of his life. His confidence level has shot up and his health is so much better as well!

Thank you so much VLCS!

I made two promises when I agreed to give this speech. The first promise is to the school that I will not spend more than 5 minutes talking. My second promise is to my son Josiah that I will not share any thing “personal” about him.

Shh… I am about to break the second promise!

When we first came back from Thailand where we had been missionaries, my concern was getting Josiah into a primary school that would take him in, and if he would fit in. After all, he had never been to a Singaporean kindergarten nor attended any “formal” primary school education other than homeschooling. In order for Josiah to be admitted, he had to sit for an assessment test where he was given some papers to do on his own. After he finished answering the questions, the staff asked Josiah to please check his answers before submitting it in. Being home-schooled, my son innocently and obediently searched for the answers at the back of the paper, for some weird reason it was there, promptly found it, and began to “check” his answers by marking it right and wrong. Imagine the shocked look on the face of the staff who got the paper back all marked and graded! That was ten years ago.

I love telling this story because of one thing: home-schooled children are taught to be independent learners right from the start.

However, along the way, I saw how Josiah struggled to fit into a fixed way of learning, and had to attend CCAs that he didn’t want to attend. I prayed and only in my dreams could I imagine giving my son what I thought was best for him. If only he could go back to homeschool! But at that time, I was a single mom with two jobs trying to make ends meet and taking care of two young sons – time was not on my side. So when I was introduced to VLCS 5 years ago, I was so so grateful!

I thank God for the vision that was given to Mrs Boey to start this school. Thank you, Mrs Boey, for making this dream come true!

VLCS is a place where students learn to be effective learners. Teachers are dedicated to guide and encourage every child to pursue excellence in whatever they do.

I want to especially thank Mrs. Liah, Mrs. Lim, Mr. Jonathan and all of the teachers here for the years of sowing seeds of faithfulness into every student’s life, including my son. God has answered my prayers. One of the biggest satisfactions I have as a parent is seeing my child blossom under the gentle care and love of all the staff in this wonderful school.

And now, together with so many friends and school mates, son, you are about to graduate and soon will be out of here. How exciting is that!?

Let me share with all of you a story to help you remember a very important lesson.

Once there were two young boys who went ice skating on a frozen lake. Half way through skating, the surface of the frozen lake suddenly broke and one of the boys fell into the freezing water. The other boy who was still on the lake, overcame his initial shock, immediately ran ahead and grabbed a big tree branch. And with all his might he broke the branch off the tree. And with that branch he kept hitting the ice where he knew his friend was going to be swept to. He kept hitting and hitting, not caring if his hands were bleeding. Within a few minutes, he broke the ice and managed to grab his friend out from the freezing water.

Thankfully someone saw what happened and had called for help. When rescuers came to the scene, they were amazed that such a young boy managed to break the branch off the tree, as it was nearly impossible for such a young boy like him to break the branch off as it was quite thick. Even more amazing was how he managed to use this branch to break the ice in order to get his friend out. When they asked him how he did it, his answer was, “No one told me I couldn’t do it.”

And now, my message to all of you who are graduating. Dream big. Go after your dream. There will be times where it will be very hard and difficult and almost impossible. But don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it, just because they haven’t done it.

And the greatest rewards come when you give of yourself to serve God in whatever He has called you to.

Dream for God and achieve great things for God.

THANK YOU.