Thank you to all of you who have been so generous in purchasing a copy, and I hope that you, and the people you’re giving the book to, will benefit greatly from the simple but deep message within its pages!

Here are some photos of the weekend. I didn’t have time to take many, because we were all so busy!

Fr. Thomas Lim, OCD encourages his parishioners to purchase a book for others.

A friend is… someone who brings out the best in you.

Illustrator Clare Tan and author Daniel Tay at Church of Sts. Peter and Paul

Now this is truly ironical, especially if you know my history with the language. But, God does have a sense of humour, so I would put it past Him to do this. I wonder what my JC Mandarin teacher would say if he received a copy of a book written by me in Mandarin… Incidentally, for those of you who don’t know, I took ‘AO’ Level Mandarin three times. My scores: F9, F9, E8.

What I am also grateful for is the opportunity to share my book with other Christians… in other countries. Will see how it goes…

In other related news, it’s been 47 days since the book has been published, and I’ve sold about 450 books already. An acquaintance of mine, Raymond Anthony Fernando, author of Loving A Schizophrenic, tells me that this makes it a bestseller already. That makes it about 10 books a day, which is not too bad, actually. I’m looking forward to my first booth sale which will take place at Church of Sts. Peter and Paul on Jun 26 evening, Jun 28 evening and midnight Masses, and Jun 29 morning and evening Masses.

Anyone wants to help me out at the booth?

Befriending Jesus is a book that can certainly be judged by its cover.

On 27 April 2008, just days after my second book was published, CANA - The Catholic Centre took 100 copies off my hands and placed them near the counter. It just so happened that Singapore Archbishop Nicholas Chia was there that evening, and the cover of the book caught his attention. He picked it a copy of it and thumbed through it, asking the question that everyone who’s seen the book asks, “Who’s Clare Tan?”

It just so happened (as well) that Clare Tan, the illustrator of Befriending Jesus was there that evening, and a CANA volunteer brought her to meet His Grace. Complimenting her on her creativity and skill, Archbishop Chia proceeded to give her a friendly slap on the cheek, the kind that he gives to all who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation from him. It left Clare bewildered, but pleased nonetheless, to have her work complimented by the Archbishop.