Hello, everyone, I'm honored to be invited to attend this workshop in Trinity College, and I'm very glad to be here. I think this invitation is the best visa to pass the custom when I entered into Ireland. So, my topic today is the divergence of Garon origin meets Jean-Jean versus Quindum. So I am a PhD candidate in ethnology from Paris-Nantel University. So first of all, I want to give a very brief information of my field work. I did my field work in Sambar County in Ganzi Perfecture of Sichuan Province. It's located in the western part of the Garon region, has a population of around 70,000 people, which is roughly composed of around 55 Garon Tibetan. Forty-five percent and four percent Chiang people. I contacted my field work mainly in a village called Qiong Xiong, where all the villagers are ethnically Garon. My field work lasted for almost a year, four months from 2015 to 2016, one month in 2016, and four months from 2017 to 2018. So in Dambar, there is a well-known history about Song Yu Guo, which means the Eastern Quindum. They claim that their Garon women have extraordinary beauty, and their beauty lies in their ancestry in the beautiful and intelligent queens of the Dong Lü kingdom. This claim, a light of Garon's region, is a dominant narrative in the current media-driven tourist propaganda promoted by the local Dambar government. The high-profile name Dong Lü is used on restaurants and hotel signatures or for the brain names in Dambar. Nevertheless, during my various days in the county, some people, especially members of the local elites, did not support the Dong Lü story. But instead, they told me about another version of Garon's origin, namely the Zhang Zhuang. An ancient kingdom originated from the western area of Tibetan Plateau. In Chinese, we call it Xiang Xiong. Even though concrete evidence for the existence of this mythical kingdom is very small, I found that its legend has nevertheless been integrated into the presentation of the origin of Garon women's beauty, although in a masquerade form. In fact, the Eastern Women's Quindum and the Kingdom of Zhang Zhuang are two ancient civilization, which purportedly existed at a completely different period of history, tales-free tales to them are recorded in different sources. The former been found more in Chinese documents, and later in Tibetan bamboo tests. Why is it that these two different origin stories converged in the identity narrative of the modern day Garon? And how do they influence the wider recognition of Garon ethnic identity? Furthermore, importantly, how do the local fears about it? From the inception of modern geopolitics and the type of nationalism we see beginning from the 19th century onwards, new nation states must also spend time on the elaboration of a nation history or histories of ethnic groups within it, in which the origin needs plays an essential role. The historical as no symbol of our origin story is often selected and elaborated on from existing sources or else invented, even invented with the aim of building a collective tradition, establishing boundaries and maintaining the cohesion of a nation or ethnic group. How these origin tales are presented to the public in turn influences the recognition of the national and ethnic identity for local population. During China's engagement in modern nation-building activities before the advent of the Republican state in 1912, the Yellow Emperor who lived in the period of high antiquity was promoted as the ultimate as no symbol of the origin of Han culture. This novel, erotic and the legendary ancestor was a perfect sample for the revolution, allowing the new republican regime to pursue political independence and cultural autonomy by harkening back to an ancient mythical era of heroes. On the Tibetan side, even though it was not technically a nation state when Chinese nationalism came into being, in nevertheless acquired a sense of belonging and common identity based on their Tibetan Buddhist religion under the leadership of the Dalai Lama. The story of the union between a monkey and a demonist metaphor versions of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvaha and the goddess Tara remained prevalent in contemporary Tibetan communities as an origin myth. The two origin myths claimed by various factions of the Garong do not fit easily into other Tibetan nationalist narratives despite being officially classified as ethnically Tibetan by the Chinese states. Instead, the myth required a commitment and attachment to a separate Garong identity. The inter-ethnic relation held between the Garong and Han as well as with other Tibetans therefore warrants a closer look. In summer, this article will first discuss the two modes of elaboration of the Garong origin stories, examining the origin of the Zhangzhuang Kingdom based on village narratives and on the maintenance of this history in religion's writing. I will then analysis the emergence and representation of the origin of eastern kingdom for the purpose of tourism based on Chinese official writings and on the living memory of the locals. Finally, I will try to understand what mechanism have led to the superposition of these two origins and its consequences for those involved. The Garong cultural festival held in Danba County that I witnessed were centered around the theme of eastern kingdom. However, when I interviewed the villagers in Kongshang village, this martryarch, pardon, martryarchal origin seemed quite alien to them, even though they referred to their territory as a valley of beauty. Most of the villagers were not aware of the eastern kingdom. One villager attempted to explain this by trying to relate the local historical queen to the mythical queen recorded in the Chinese texts. We call our region Ga Morong. Ga is a king, Mo is a wife. The two word together means the king's wife or the queen. Although it's only a guess, the eastern kingdom could be driven from this region's name. We have been ruled on several occasions by a queen at certain point in our history. There are records of queens in the Garong area. Throughout history, their reign were witnesses by occidental travelers and the veracity of which were later confirmed by locals. However, the succession of political power among the Garong was not passed along matrilineal lines. And in most cases, at the time of King's death, the women in the royal family, either his mother, his wife, or his sister, only took over the regency until his legitimate male care was mature enough. There is no evidence in the historical documents nor in the memories of the village which shows a preference for male hares. Male descendants were either valued more highly than their sisters or were at least put on an equal position with them. So although some village like Amto tried to establish a connection between the mythical queen and the local queen, others questioned the authenticity of the origin of a matriarchal kingdom. One of my informants, Amto, criticized this origin story by claiming that the Garong were actually immigrants from western Tibet. The eastern kingdom is nonsense, is a story to please the tourist. We are the descendants from western Tibet, a place currently called Ali. An elderly person from our village has been working in Ali since the 1960s. He told us that our language and his are mutually intelligible. Our language is very special and it is impossible for people from Amdo or people from Khan to understand. How is it that we can communicate with the people from Ali? It's not by chance. The language indicates that we have links from ancient time and it's proved that we are immigrated from western Tibet. Ali Ngari refers to the western region of the Tibetan Ottomans region, neighbors with Speedy and Ladakh to the west. There we find the TC, the in Chinese, the most sacred mountain for Tibetan and Indians alike, which the later group called Kailash. Today, pilgrims from three religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Buddhism converge on this mountain and the nearby Mapa, I hope I pronounced it correctly, Mapa Lake, known as Manasa Rova Lake to the Indians to the south. How do the Garong related to this vast area of the western Tibetan plateau? Jack Ray, a painter from Qiong Xiong, gave me an explanation which elaborated on that of Pen Chou. He said that the Garong are the descendants from ancient kingdom called Zhang Zhong, Chinese Xiang Xiong. We are the descendants of the immigrants from the kingdom of Zhang Zhong, which is located in western Tibet. This kingdom is older than that of Tibetan Yalong kingdom. That is about a hundred or even two thousand years before the time of Songzang Gambu. The king of Brasdy are sent by the court of Zhang Zhong. This origin was recounted in the history of the king of Brasdy. The Zhang Zhong kingdom was a country that flourished in the deserts of the high western Tibetan plateau between about 500 before Kamehara and 625 Kamehara. As it was really mentioned in Tibetan Buddhist histories, the origin and evolution of this regime remain stronger in mystery. In contrast, Zhang Zhong is mentioned and described many times in burn tests. For a long time the burn religion did not garner anywhere near as much scholarly interest as Buddhism did in the field of Tibetan studies. However, from the 1970s onward, studies about burn began to emerge and agree that Zhang Zhong constituted the cradle of burn and that it was a kingdom based on the aliens of tribes in the western region of the Tibetan plateau. Due to its integration into the Tibetan empire in the 7th century, it is now widely considered to be one of the originator of Tibetan civilization. So some Garunwa such as Pencow and Jack Ray supports the Zhang Zhong origin myths. It is not worth that. The only people who told me about this western Tibetan kingdom were those who have some knowledge of literary Tibetan, some knowledge of Tibetan writing. Pencow's grandfather as a secretary to the king of Brazdi was fluent in literary Tibetan for instance. His son, taking advantage of his family's education, taught Tibetan writing to the younger villagers including Jack Ray and Pencow. During my visits, Pencow was the chief of Qiongxiang village and in his spare time worked as a bunbo medium. Jack Ray is involved in temple construction and renovation projects throughout the Garun region as well as providing building services to villagers who need to decorate their homes. Unlike other villagers, this man could read Tibetan and have had more contact with the outside world. These local elites together with the bunbo monks were generally the one who supported the Zhang Zhong origin myths. However, there are today other Tibetan groups who believe that their ancestors are the off-springs of a monkey and a goddess. Why did I not hear about these origin myths during my investigation in Danba? What identity narratives are being forged by these local scholars through the Zhang Zhong origin story? Where does this Zhang Zhong version originally come from? What is influence on the Garun? To answer this question, we must first examine the origin myth of the Garun kings, Gabo. These so-called 18 Garun kings who dominated the Garun region before the arrival of the communists still serve as a keen reference point in the identity conception of Garun people. Here I begin with a story of a region told by the last king of Brazil, Wang Shouchang. His Tibetan name is Nima Wang Deng, to a Chinese ethno-logist. He is quite old, so I didn't get chance to meet him. So Ma Changshou, when the later was conducting ethno-graphic service in the Garun region in the early 1940s, the royal family of Brazil passed on a myth which is said that they were descended from a mythical egg of the great bird Qiong. Long before our era, there was a big bird called Qiong. Descending from the sky, Qiong arrived one day at a place where which later named Aptian. That is why his tribe was called Qiong tribe. The bird gave birth to five eggs, one red, one green, one white, one black, and one multi-colored. The layer eventually hatched and a man emerged. He had the head of a bear and the body of a man. From his descendants, a tribe was formed and migrated first to Natar, then to Brazdy. Two brothers were born in this tribe. One become the king of Brazdy and the other king is the king of Bawon. So this narrative shows us the mythical origin of the royal family of Brazdy, which enabled the king to achieve his own, to achieve his own apple theosis by forging a cosmic link with an egg of the divine bird Qiong. In Ma Changshuo's original investigation, seminal origin myths were found for other garon kings such as Josuke. Pardon me, I would say in Chinese because the local languages are complicated. Wa Si, Ge Shi Zha, Suo Mo, Dang Ba, He Ke Shi, or we can also call it Wo Ri, etc. According to the ethnography published from the 1940s onward, this divine bird Qiong was worshipped as an ancestor deity by all garon kings. For example, a statue of Qiong measuring about one meter high was placed in the palace hall of the king of Wa Si and was used by the ruler as an object of veneration. This type of statue was also found along with other archaeological relics from the other kings of Suo Mo, Song Gang, Dang Ba, Chuo Si Jia, and Min Zheng Tu Si. Furthermore, a wooden board engraved with Qiong's image was placed above the entrance door of the royal palaces. The creature was usually depicted with a bird head, a human body, an eagle's talon, two horns in the forehead, a ribbon beak, and two spread wings. This statue and a board gradually disappeared after the political upheavals from the mid-20th century onward. It is pity. The fraternal links, but the local people still remember them. The fraternal links among the various garon kingdoms were therefore established through the veneration of the Qiong as a common ancestor deity. Based on the oral and written histories connected by Ma Chang Shou, I hear sensitized the genealogy represented by the graphs below. For example, this is the genealogy of the king of Dolin, the Wasi Tu Si. Although there are some differences among their origin stories, for example, the Wasi Tu Si, they speak of the origin from the Buddha, the Buddha of Puxian, Puxian Pusa. But then here comes a Qiong in the middle, and actually the king of Dolin is from the white egg of the Qiong. But although there are some differences, for example, this is a genealogy from Dandong Tu Si. So according to him, they are from the Qiong's place, Qiong's tribes, and so they become four brothers. And then last one is the genealogy of the king of Trotskyap. And they are not, there wasn't Qiong but rainbow and ferry, but they are from eggs. The egg is an element in the cosmology of Bun Bo. And here is a three king of the Qiong area. But their ancestry link allude to fraternal ties for these terrestrial kings, which means they are brothers. They have the same origin. And for certain Qiong kingdom, such mythical shelled family trees correspond to real-life biological ancestries, such as the two royal family of Brasdy and Baowang. Their ancestors, according to the myth, they were two brothers. And their descendants remained having the kingship links. In 1946, when the former king of Baowang was left without an heir, his wife asked Wang Xiu, the last king of Brasdy, to send his nephew to inherit the throne of Baowang. Accepting her request, Wang first sent his eldest nephew, Wang Zhaohan, Tibetan name Ge Sanima. But the later decided to abdict it two years later and go study in a monastery in Kishite, he said. Therefore, his younger brother Wang Wohan took over the throne of Baowang in 1948. Therefore, for other kingdom, the fraternal bound is rather more symbolic. The story told by the king of Kishite in 1941, his mythical ancestor had fraternal ties with a Ge Ka, which means Zha Gu in Chinese and Wen Chuang. In fact, after waging war against the Qing empire in the 18th century, the Ge Ka kingdom was completely wiped out. Part of this territory was turned into a Chinese military garrison, and the rest was divided into three kingdoms, Somo, Zhuotze, and Songgang. And this therefore strange for the king of Kishite to mention a kingdom that ceased to exist long before the year of the ethnographic survey in question. If indeed, this king made no mistake in his use of the name of the Ge Ka and neither did the ethno-logist Ma Changshou. Then his origin story was not a historical fact, but rather something more akin to an imaginary collective memories, one which was shelled among garrison kingdoms in which names and titles could be vague and in-price, imprecise. The garrison kingdom never achieved political unification in reality, but the fraternal ties embedded in these origin myths reflect the formation of a historical Pan garron identity among its people, which may feasibly be the precursor to the garrison's modern day ethnic narrative. If indeed, the common origin links with the Qion for the garron royal family provides a basis for the recognition of the garron ethnic identity, then we can refer to this as an example of primordial attachment. However, the type of connection which exists between the Qion and the kingdom of Zhang Zhang remains to be answered. In fact, we found that the origin of Qion dates back to Boon mythology. It is thus the Zhang Zhang, the famous kingdom of the Boon religion, is associated with the Qion. The Qion myth was spread and transmitted through the garrison by various means such as the transmission of oral history, wall painting, wooden statue, and also some written narratives. They can also even be found in religious texts in Boon Bo Monasteries outside the garron region. Kunzhe Jabat, a prominent monk of the Degui origin, preached Boon in the garron region during the 1730s and over for the compilation and printing of Kung-Yu sponsored by the Choskab King, Konga Nobu. Indeed, the biography of the Kunzhe Jabat dedicated a portion of the text to the extraordinary king, which was one of his main patents. This text follows the Tibetan literary style beginning with his family origin of which the mythological Qion was given as the incarnation of the Choskab King's ancestor. According to this text, the royal families of Choskab derived from a local chief named Almo Longrin, who lived in Zhangzhuang. One of his descendants, Gya Qion, embodying the great bird Qion conquered all the territory of Zhangzhuang and become his moniker. His descendants then migrated Eastern world and finally settled in the Eastern Garmoron region, nowadays Garron region. This ancestry, which can be traced back to the Qion, further underlined the divine affiliation of the Choskab King, confirming his role as chief of religion political affairs. The text also reveals the existence of the Namsu, which means royal monk who worked alongside the Lei king in the Garron region. This proves that both earthly and spiritual power is rightfully held by the local royal family. Indeed, two royal brothers were to be assigned a specific function. One could be a Lei king and the other a religious leader. So the actual relationship between the royal government and the collage was interweined in Garron region. Political power was exercised by both cleric and nobles, and the spiritual authority was not always held by celibates, monks only. It was common for the Garron royal family to send their young boys to monastery. If one son, regardless of his order of birth, birth among the siblings, inherited the throne, then the other son could enter the religious life, become local petty chiefs or be married into another royal family. These royal monks were then given the title Namsu in front of their names. The kingship ties between the Lei king and the spiritual master were mutually influential. This duality of power resembled a system that prevailed in famous boom bo claim from the 11th century until 1959, allowing them to maintain their roles as leaders of the Lei religious community as well as of their monastic centers. In a similar way, the Garron royal family maintained this alliance between political power and religious authority until the 1950s. The pairing of Lei king and a religious master in Garron royal family was supported by the mythological of the Pyeong. From the western Zhongzhong region, it attributed to a secret ancestry to this family, where political power and spiritual authority were combined. Managing their more and less independent kingdom, this Garron queen were not only the gracious donors, but also the holders along with their brothers of the spiritual power over their territory. This religion, religion, political system has a different form from the theocratic system in other Tibetan regions, especially the region ruled by the Dalai Lama, who were holders of both the religious and political power, as well as being the earthly incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokistarvaha from the 16th century onwards. This system had therefore given the Garron region different characteristics to other Tibetan region. That is, perhaps, one of the reasons why some Garron people continue to claim a Zhongzhong origin today. Pyeong, the mythological bird, is a special sample with represented divinity and the legitimacy of the political power of local kings in the past. Today it is still existed as a divine animal in the cosmology of the Garron people. In the Garron region, we can still see the image of the Qiong painted on the wooden board above the entrance door of the houses in the village of Qiongsheng. He is considered as a tutelary guard for the family. Moreover, the village where I conducted my fieldwork is named Qiongsheng, meaning the place where the Qiong landed. A name derived from the original myth of the Brashti royal family. This name, once reserved for the palace of the Brashti king, was later chosen as a new name by the villagers of the communist token over political power. In summary, the myth of the Qiong and their immigration from the western Tibetan plateau give rise to some Garrons' claim to Zhongzhong origin today, with some local people believing that the Zhongzhong is an even more ancient kingdom than the Yalong dynasty of central Tibet, the later of which is widely considered as a cradle of Tibetan civilization. This could explain why the ethnically Tibetan Garrons do not share the same origin myths at the Tibetans in other regions. So here we come to a new myth, Dongyu Guo with Western Kingdom myths. Actually, in the in terms of the narratives chosen for tourism development in Damba, no mention is made of any potential Zhongzhong origin for the Garrons. Instead, the origin story of an eastern kingdom is overwhelmingly promoted. Today, as you enter the town of Damba via the road to the south, you will see a cluster of gigantic statues. Here it is. I think maybe you've seen it. Have you seen it in Damba? I don't remember seeing it. Actually, if you enter Damba from the south, you won't miss it because it's the only entrance. And this building commenced on the project in 2019. And the statue is composed of two parts. The upper part, as we see, the most visible part is the phoenix. Surrounded is a silver phoenix symbolizing the Da Du river and its tributaries. This phoenix is surrounded by small statues symbolizing the watch towers. So it's a little one behind. You can see the little silver ones behind. It's a biolo, the iconic architectural of the Garron region. The lower part consists of an engraved tablet. It's here, the bronze ones. And on which is carved the image of a young woman adorned with a traditional Garron clothing. Here it is. Maybe it's not very visible. And the right of the tablet is an inscription titled The First City of Da Du River, the charm of Eastern women in both Tibetan and Chinese scripts. The statue as a whole reveals a close connection between Danba and Eastern Quindum. Records from this Quindum are to be found in a Chinese historical book which has been co-opted by the local tourism industry. And all those involved in this is promotion from the state to the local level over the last few decades. I'm sorry. Okay. Local level over the last few decades, based on its original meat, Danba is us proclaimed to be the territory full of the living relics of the Eastern Quindum. The Garron are therefore the descendants of this Quindum with the local women, hairs of the intelligent and extreme beautiful of ancient queens, making them one of the most remarkable features of this origin. This divergence in origin story between this Quindum and the aforementioned Zhang Zhuang kingdom is puzzling. When did this new Gagnatic, sorry, it's Gagnatic. It means the road by women, I hope. Gagnaric. Gagnaric, thank you very much. Gagnaric origin for the Garron appears. Why and how did it come about and under what circumstances and how does it relate to the modern Garron ethnic identity narratives? And finally, what does this mean for the Garrons themselves? The Eastern Quindum was originally mentioned as an ancient, here are the questions. Sorry. And originally as an ancient country in the old books of the town dynasty, according to his historical source, it existed during the town period, 618 to 907 comma era. Although the date of birth, the date of his appearance and the disappearance are not clear. Nowadays, as apparently historical origin of the country are attributed to the present Garron community, but their connection is not left open for interpretation. Today, the establishment of this connection is held in place by two powerful forces. The first comes from Chinese historians, intellectuals and authorities, which have undertaken the systematic classification and interpretation of all the different nationalities or ethnic groups required in China to exist in the modern Chinese nation since the beginning of the 12th century, the 20th, sorry, the 20th century. The second force comes from the local people themselves who are required to align their own narratives with the local state version by the local tourism development authorities. In the construction of Chinese nationalism and the quest for national identity, history clearly played an important role when Chinese ethnologists first conducted their work in the Garron region in the 1940s. The history of Garron was their primary research interest. The intellectual of the time made several assumptions about the history of the Garron ethnic group. In the ethnography of Ma Changxiu, as I mentioned above, he not only collected above mentioned region meets told by the local people, but he also proclaimed that he had located the Garrons history with history with Chinese official historical sources, which then form a classic narrative framework for later intellectuals to base their work on. According to Ma, the Garron date back to center to a certain Rangmang people who apparently lived during the Han dynasty 2006 before common era and 220, the existence of whom was recorded in several ancient Chinese books such as historical memories, Shi Ji and the book of the later Han Hohanxu. Given the cultural trace that Ma observed among the Garron, which during his investigation corresponded to what these historical accounts of the Rangmang described, the comparison was set in stone at this time. He demonstrated the similarity of various cultural features between the people, which I made a summary as follow. It is too long, so I want to speak all of them, but one of his point is about that Rangmang valued women as they are and their maternal lineage. And so this is the Garron and Rangmang have a special multi-story architecture, which Ma Changshuo believed that it corresponded to the Diao Lou in the Garron era. So furthermore, Ma Changshuo associated the Garron with the Jia Liangyi people. So following the temporal framework of Chinese history, the Jia Liangyi are believed to have a people who lived in the Sui dynasty, 5,081 to 681 and to 618 common era, recorded in the book of the Sui Shu. They also live in a multi-story structure in the mountains. Thus the history of the Garron is constructed by Ma in the following chronology. So from Rangmang of Han dynasty, they become Jia Liangyi in the Sui dynasty, then they become Garron today. The new appropriation of temporal reference, such as the concrete dates associated with the Han and Sui dynasty, marking a new beginning of official measurable history for the Garron people. More importantly, it provides a means to align Garron's present existence with timeline found in Chinese written documents. This linear framework of Ma Changshuo has been repeated by several later ethnologists and historians. These local Garron elites who received a Chinese based education approve of these appropriations of Rangmang, Jia Liangyi and other groups from ancient times into their own local history guided by a substantial view of history. Common cultural features, especially the multi-story architecture and the relatively high-statual women hold in Garron society are considered evidence of real historical facts. Therefore, the collection between the Garron and those ancient groups recorded in the Chinese sources prove these histories to be true. Among these ancient groups, the Eastern Quindum has been identified as one of the precursor of the Garron because it has some of the same cultural features as Rangmang, the high-right houses and the Gyanaskic social system. Moreover, the relationship established between those ancient communities further integrated Garron's history into the identity narrative of Chinese official history. Statements made by Chinese intellectuals about Garron history as a legitimacy of expert institutional knowledge, the kudu of which has an inevitable influence on the conception of Garron ethnic identity. The discursive power exercised by the Chinese scholar is recognized not only by local authorities. Also by some local intellectuals in 2012 during the Garron cultural festival, a forum of Garron culture was held in Danbat town. Several scholars from university or research center were invited to speak by local governments. A local villager who was also a former local government official participated in the forum and he explained to me that it was very necessary to listen to the expert's opinion. Thus, local official and certain local intellectuals actively attempt to place their own historical comprehension with the Chinese national context. Through this active participation in Chinese official history, this local elite constructed and interpret their history and understanding by embedding them with a grander national narrative. So in general, the local, certain local intellectuals support the Eastern Quindum narrative and they believe that the women's Quindum story is well known by the Chinese tourists because of the famous novel Journey to the West, and so this exotic ancient Quindum is associated with the economic and political interest of the Danbat county. So in conclusion, the kingdom of Zhangzhuang's history, which I, sorry, I missed one thing is that actually the Qiong is behind the Quindum story. Although we call the phoenix the great statue in the entrance road, phoenix in Chinese, but in their Tibetan inscription they called it Qiong Chen, is a great Qiong. So I think that the name phoenix is given in Chinese for the benefits of the current tourists, but the Qiong, the gowns still keep the Qiong close to their hearts. So in conclusion, I think these two, this divergence of their origin corresponds to a construction of their ethnic group corresponding to Anderson's concrete concept of an imagined communities. So without erasing the memory of Zhangzhuang, they have chosen to place it in the Quindum's shadow instead. So thank you all for listening. Sorry for the delay. Thank you very much.


Hello, welcome to the recording on what to do when a rental property has been abandoned and there's items left behind. My name is Lynne Smith from the Communication and Education team of the Residential Tenancies Authority. This session will look at what are the first signs when a rental property has been abandoned and as a manager or an owner, what are your first action steps to take? What are the options to terminate the tenancy? We're also going to have a look at what happens if the tenant has not abandoned and also the process to QCAT. For goods and documents left behind, we will look at what to do with personal documents and the role of the public trustee and when you can dispose of the goods. So let's firstly look at what is abandonment. It's when a tenant leaves the rental property permanently without ending the tenancy agreement. So there's been no notice issued to end the agreement and they've just packed up and left the premises. If a property manager or an owner believes on reasonable grounds, it has been abandoned. The agreement must formally be ended first before they can take possession of the property and deal with anything that's been left behind. So let's have a look at what those reasonable grounds might be and what are usually the first signs that the tenant has gone. They're most likely will be many factors to consider when assessing the situation. It's a case by case basis and each situation can be different. It could be any or multiple items in the list on your screen that are there your first signs to indicate on reasonable grounds that the tenant has gone. The rent has not been paid. You've made several attempts to contact the tenant without success. When you've driven past the property, the letterbox is overflowing, the grass is high, the house looks deserted. It could be a neighbour's come forward and advised you that they moved out last week. There's no household goods inside and the electricity's been disconnected. Again, these are just some of the potential signs that someone has gone. As best practice, it would be advisable to document the reasons and evidence as to why you believe the tenant has abandoned. Once you have established that you have reasonable grounds, that you believe the tenant's left the property, you then have your first action step that you need to take. First is to give 24 hours notice on an entry notice to enter the rental property on the grounds of abandonment. The entry notice can be downloaded from the RTA's website. This entry notice will allow you to enter the rental property and determine if the property has or has not been abandoned. Once you have entered and you see the signs that the tenant has gone, so as an example there's no furniture, there's rubbish left behind, everything's just gone. The neighbour's might have also confirmed that the tenant has left. So in these situations, you have two options. You can issue an abandonment notice giving seven days notice to formally end the tenancy agreement on the grounds of abandonment. An abandonment notice can be downloaded from the RTA's website. Or you can apply for an urgent application with QCAT to have the agreement terminated on the grounds of abandonment. The RTA recommends documenting your evidence and if there are any items left behind, you need to take photos and a full descriptive inventory. The option to terminate the tenancy is up to you. If you have no doubt and your evidence supports your decision, then you may choose the seven day notice process. If you do have some doubt, you could always go to the tribunal as an option, provide your evidence for a decision to be made by an adjudicator. Let's look at what happens if the tenant has not abandoned. So what happens when you enter and you find that the tenant is still potentially residing there? I haven't moved out, it looks like they've still got possessions there and they look like they're still living there. If there has been a breach of the agreement like not paying rent, you can issue a notice to remedy breach and follow that pathway as outlined in the legislation. If you have issued an abandonment notice and the tenant has come back and disputes this, the tenant will need to apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal within seven days to have the notice set aside. We would also recommend good open communication between both the property manager and owner and the tenant to work out what's happening with this particular tenancy. Remember, if the process has not been followed correctly or your evidence does not support the property being abandoned and why you've made that decision, the tenant may seek compensation at the tribunal. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal is QCAT. If you are seeking a termination order on the grounds of abandonment, this is an urgent application and you go directly to the tribunal. If you are seeking outstanding monies to cover cleaning or damages or you're seeking compensation, this is a non-urgent matter and you will be required to get a no-sub unresolved dispute from the RTA's dispute resolution service before applying to the tribunal. Information on this process is also on our website. You can go to QCAT's website, qcat.qld.gov.au and you'll find information on their process, the application forms and fees and where to lodge your application. So now let's have a look at what to do when there's goods and documents left behind. Queensland Tenancy Laws outline the process that you need to follow for abandonment and also if items have been left behind. Pedalties apply if you do not follow the process. The tenancy must end first before you can go in and deal with the next step of the items left behind. So as an example, if you have issued an abandonment notice given the seven days, once that notice has expired, the next day you can enter and change the locks, organise cleaning or trades people and then assess and address any items that's left behind in the property. So let's deal with the personal documentation first. If you do come across the tenant's personal documents such as your birth certificates, family photos or money, it needs to go to the public trustee. Anything like driver's licence, passports or Medicare cards, they need to go back to the government department that issues these items. Information on the location for your local public trustee office can be found on their website, pt.qld.gov.au. It is outlined in the Residential Tenancies and Room Incommodation Act that the public trustee must take these items, whether the tenant is a client of theirs or not. As I mentioned earlier, you cannot clean, you cannot change locks or remove any of the goods until the tenancy has ended. So let's look at what determines whether you can dispose of something or whether you need to follow a different process. So if the total market value of the goods is less than $1,500 or an amount that's listed in the regulations or the storage of the goods would be unhealthy or unsafe or would cause their market value to be completely or substantially reduced or the cost of removing, storing and selling the goods would be greater than the amount raised in the sale of goods. So one of the questions used asked is how do I determine the value? You need to do an inventory and photos of everything that's left in the property. So as an example, if there's some furniture left behind, you could go online to some of the marketplaces or local classifiers and see what similar furniture is going for or ask a second hand dealer to give you an estimate value. If you do find that there's an animal or a pet that's been left behind, please contact your local RSPCA and get assistance or contact your local vet. Remember, what might seem like rubbish to you and it may very well be, however, it may not be rubbish to someone else. It's best that you cross your T's and dot your I's with this one and have some evidence to back up your decision. So however, if the items do not fall into these categories, then another process must be followed and that includes storing the goods for one month, disposed of by auction, and this will include a notice promoting the auction day, time and place. The notice must be in the area where the goods are and you must give at least seven days notice for the auction. The costs of removal, storage and sale of the items can be taken from the money raised through the sale and any other money must be forwarded to the public trustee within 10 days of the sale. One question that always comes to play here is what about the renteries, cleaning or damage bills that might be outstanding after you've claimed the bond? Can't I just take the proceeds and be done with it? Well, not quite. There's another process to follow and in most situations you probably have already claimed the rental bond at the RTA. You'll need to put in a claim for money outstanding over the bond amount and that means you need to come through the RTA's dispute resolution service first, get a notice of unresolved dispute and then go off to QCAT. If you are seeking to get the proceeds money from the public trustee, you'll need to get the order from QCAT first before they will release any funds that they hold. The RTA's website has more information on this process. If during the process the tenant wants their goods, you cannot withhold them. You can ask the tenant to pay for storage and removal costs. Remember seeking any other money will need to be going through this process. Property managers and owners cannot seize goods or documents in exchange for rent owing. Theft of goods can be treated as a criminal matter and can be reported to the Queensland Police. So in summary, no one understand the process involved. If someone has abandoned the property, there are two options to terminate the tenancy on the grounds of abandonment, either an application to the tribunal or an abandonment notice. Remember having good documentation and evidence as to how you've reached this decision will help you should there be an issue. If any goods are left behind, take photos and document this. Assess the items to see if they meet the criteria where they can be disposed of or whether you will need to follow the storage and auction process. Remember owners and managers cannot seize goods in lieu of rent or damages. Abandonment and goods left behind can be a tricky situation. Make sure you follow the rules and have evidence to support the decisions that you are making. You can find out more information on the process on the RTA's website. Even if you're going through the either process, you can still continue to try and reach out to the tenant and try and resolve this situation. You can keep connected with us by subscribing to the RTA News and you can also link in with the RTA on LinkedIn. You can also listen to the RTA's podcast on various tenancy information topics through Spotify, Apple or Google podcast. Remember the RTA is here to help you and everyone involved in the tenancy. Our website has a lot of information, resources and forms available for you, along with the access to the RTA web services at rta.qld.gov.au. You can also call and speak with one of our friendly contact centre staff members on 1300 366 311. We're available Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm. Thank you.


In this paper, we describe how a chatbot can be used to improve the quality of education for masters of system analysis. The chatbot allows students to interact with the course material and receive feedback from instructors. It also provides a platform for students to discuss topics related to the course and share ideas. Additionally, the chatbot helps students to understand the intricacies of investment analysis and make informed decisions about potential investments. This article was authored by Tessiana V. Shabelnick, Seriai V. Krivenko, Natalia Urodinova, and others.


I realized I need at least 30 minutes, and I would try to stick to the 30 minutes. But yeah, that's why it's today as a regular talk. HPEC is an alternative format for Haskell Packers. But yeah, before we start, firstly, I think a competition is a good thing. Experimenting with new ideas is always allowed. Or at least I take the freedom to experiment with whatever I want. And I think that's the basis for innovation. So, HPEC, what is it? It's an alternative format for Haskell Packers. It's based on Yaml. It generates cabal files, at least for now. Yeah, it can infer module names. I will look, see that in a minute. It removes redundancy from your cabal file, like GPC options, dependencies. Sometimes you want them into multiple sections. We have a library and a test section, and we want, by coincidence, for both sections, all warnings, stuff like that. Or a same list of, a shared list of dependencies. It provides some sugar coating. That's not crucial, but it's just nice to have, I didn't see why not. I will see that for GitHub repositories. And it, that's the mindset I developed under. It gives you 100, or me, it gives me 100% control. And that's also the main purpose of this project, that it makes my life easier. And if it happens to make somebody else's life easier, then it would be awesome. But, let me first, in this case. Okay, let's start with a short example, basically. Let's assume we have Haskell Program, a really simple one, here in main.hs, just hello world, one line. What would it take to write a cabal file for that project? We're not looking into that, but instead, we're looking into how we would use HPEC to generate the cabal file. We'll just say, we'll just say executables. Executables are mapping, because we can have multiple executables. And we'll just call it foo, for example. Yeah, that's a yaml mapping, or like JSON, basically, right? And then what would you need to specify, would say main should be main.hs, okay? And that will not work yet. Because, yeah, we also need at least one dependency, base, right? So let's put it here, and that should build, and then we could even run it and print, hello world. Okay, that's a little bit, yeah, the idea to specify as little as possible. That would be the corresponding cabal file on the right side. Yeah, we could also specify a library. I would just remove that for now, and a library, we can only have one. This one, it's not a setting. And what we would need is source directories, right? Yeah, I prepared that here, right? Let's assume we have a source directory that has source files foo and bar. And we followed a convention that in this source files foo and bar, there will be two modules foo and bar. And as we follow this convention, HPEC would just infer just from what it sees on the file system that we indeed have two modules there foo and bar and we'd expose them by default. Of course, that's not always what I want, right? Sometimes I may only want to expose one of those, for example, foo, right? And yeah, then it would just only infer the modules that are private to the package that would be bar in that case, right? Of course, if I had more modules, I would just touch bus.hs and it would also infer that one, yeah? And I may be in the situation that I say, yeah, but instead of specifying the exposed modules, I may want to specify the other modules, the private modules, right? And I could also do that, right? And then it would just assume that we want to expose foo and bar and bus would be the other modules, right? It would just always infer the other one, right? Or we could actually specify both, right? For example, let's assume for some weird reason, we're in the source repository, we have bus, but we don't care about it. We don't want any metric, we want 100% control. We just say, yeah, expose foo, bar is private and bus we just ignore. It's kind of a little bit the idea. Okay, yeah, okay, it generates cabal files. I already mentioned that, we have already seen most of it. So basically, I have a package.yaml, or if I have like a directory where I have a package.yaml and I have source directory where I have a Haskell source file that's called foo, and I have the following content. Basically, I just specify this source repository in my package.yaml, then it will infer this, or it will produce this cabal file, right? And most notably, it will infer this module here. And yeah, the same works if I have a couple of modules. It will just assume that I want to expose all of them by default. And if I don't want that default, then I have various ways to influence that. I could either specify exposed modules, right? And it would assume the other modules would be private, or I could do it the other way, I specify the other modules. We already have seen that, right? Or I could specify both lists, and then there's no magic happening, right? Then it will just infer nothing, okay? Okay, removes redundancy. Yeah, in general, we can list a couple of things in a cabal file, right? We can list GHC options, we can list dependencies. And we can do that for a library, for an executable, or for a test suite, right? HPEC allows you to specify listings globally and on a section level, in contrast to cabal. And it will then just assume that I will just merge the two lists. If you have a global one, a top level one, and a section specific one, it will just merge the two lists. For example, yeah, if you had a list of dependencies here, foo, or base, and directory, and file path, right? That would be a global one. Now, if you had another section here, for example, let's say we have tests, yeah? Tests are a mapping tool. We can have multiple test suites. Let's assume we have a test we have called mapping here. Again, for a test suite, we basically need to specify an entry point and a source repository, right? Then again, it would infer the modules that we have by coincident in that source repository, and the list of dependencies that we specified here top level would now be shared. We see that here, would be shared between the library section, right? And yeah, the test suite section, basically, yeah? And I could, of course, yeah, what is common for test suites is to have additional dependencies. For example, I could have HPEG as a dependency here, that we would just, just a little bit smaller. Yeah, then basically this top level list of dependencies would have shared between the two sections, the library and the test suite section. And here we had one additional dependency. Could, of course, be a list, like, yeah. Is there a node? Current's not, we'll see that later. Like, current state is just, I add what we need. And I'm also happy to, like, if I write C bindings, I would maybe resort to cabal or extend XHPEG, right? So far, I haven't had the use case yet, right? No, it's not. Yeah, as I say, it tries to solve the common use cases so far. I could think about it, like, adding something like that, but I'm not sure. I would, I, myself, I'm not afraid to use cabal if I do something more exotic. So, that could also be an option, just. The other thing, is there enough? I will also talk about that in a second, okay? So, basically, at the end of the talk, we'll go back there and let's talk about that quickly. Okay, I already had that, right? If you have a list of dependencies here, specified top level, it will be effective for all the sections. And the sections could also specify their own list of dependencies, same for GHC options. We only have one top level here. It would be effective for all the sections. But we could also have section-specific GHC options, right? I cannot do the same thing for source tiers. For example, here I have an executable, right? And I have a test suite. And very likely, I want to test the code that I wrote for my executable, right? The modules that I have used for my executable, right? So then I can just say globally, top level, I say source is a source repository. That will be used for the executable section and two. The executable section, in addition, has a driver directory, where it is the main driver. And the test suite will have an additional source directory test. So both of the sections would have two source directories, right? So I guess that makes sense. Yeah, sugar coding. As I mentioned before, I provide some sugar coding currently for GitHub URLs. That's of course a common thing that, but this is not. Yeah, you could do that. But I mean, HPEc currently is not tied to Git.  That's true. I mean, it's maybe an interesting idea, right? I'm not sure yet. I would probably think about it. That's true.  You could do a little bit more, right? If you assume that you're distributed with this HPEc or this package.yaml file and let the people generate the cabal file themselves, right? Then, yeah, it really depends what you would have in mind, yeah. But look, let's look at that. If I specify, like, as a GitHub repository, this username and repository name obviously could also be our organization here, of course. And it would just infer this source repository from that. And in addition, it would also add a home page and a bug reports URL. Just would assume that the home page is the GitHub readme and the bug reports URL would be the issue tracker on GitHub. Because I think that's the same defaults, but of course, again, I may not want that. I may want to specify my own home page. And of course, that is also possible and same for bug reports, I could just specify an email, for example. Or I may just choose that for this project, I'm not interested in bug reports. I could just null it out, basically. If I set it to null, then it would just not be generated. Again, that's the mindset. Basically, it assumes some same defaults. It does a little bit, you could call it metric, but at least it's metric that you can control and that may be a kind of metric. But at least I want, you know? Yeah, I think we already covered that. So I can either go with defaults or specify my own home page, own bug reports URL. It also does something at inference package names and it's a little bit more controversial. But if I want an executable, I just want to compile and I don't care. Then I can just, as we did in the beginning, I can just specify an executable, right? And if that, like the package.yml is in a directory called foo, then it would just assume as a package name foo, okay? It was also assumed because Kabal needs a version, it would just assume that the version is 0.0.0. Of course, I mean, of course, I can specify a different version here, right? As we would expect. Yeah, so I called this a little bit controversial. I want to minimize this controversial because, for example, if I have this under revision control and the package.yml is top level, then of course, a user could check out this repository on the arbitrary names. Yeah, so I'm not too excited about, I mean, it's really useful for like getting things quickly, but I may make this a warning or may even drop that in the future. I'm not sure yet. Yes? When you start caring about the name, then you are. Yeah, exactly, that's kind of, I mean, the only thing with this name, currently everything can be under version control, which is used to generate the Kabal file, except for the name. So this is why the name is a little bit special, yeah. Okay, yeah, things that we haven't covered so far, let me quickly, okay. Yeah, it also infers license files, it's just the thing, you know. If it happens to be that I have a file here that's called license, then it will just assume that's the license file, right? And of course, we can also specify license here. So usually we want that in combination. No, HPEC won't do that. I would also like a tool that generates more things, but HPEC doesn't do that, at least not yet. Yeah, I should add that for license, currently license doesn't support it. And yeah, license should also be, it should be possible to set it to Nile. But yeah, currently it's not. Well, you need a package name, so it has to infer one. Yeah, Nile is a treat specialist, past as Nile, or in Yama. It has to make the call. Okay, no, okay, I got that wrong. So firstly, it doesn't make sense to Nile out the package name. And yes, you can have, can you, or should I try? You can quote it, yeah, for sure, yeah, then it works. If you quote it, then it works. I guess you have to quote it, yeah, pretty sure, okay? Yeah, let's continue here. It supports most of, yeah, like the cabal fields, like category, synopsis, description. And it warrants on unknown fields. I mean, I think it's also important, like, of course, Yama is kind of free format, but that doesn't mean that we lose any sanity. Or if I say here foo equals is bar, I would just say, let's do it again, right? Ignoring unknown, it's a warning only. But yeah, it will say that. We could add a strict mode to make it an error. And yeah, we're almost through. Project status, documentation is a little bit lacking, but the readme contains links to examples. I think it's pretty straightforward. Of course, there should be a manual, but currently there's not. It's not feature complete. This means I add features as I need them. And I mentioned that before, I'm completely fine. If something's not supported, if I do something exotic, and for some reason I think it's a bad idea to add that to HPEC, then I would just use cabal for that. For example, I'm not sure if I would add flags. They're useful in some situations, but I try to go without flags. No, the only thing, it looks at a cabal file just to try to make a small diff just because I want that. If I have a project that has a cabal file at an HPEC file, then I want a minimal diff, basically. But there's no tool that would do the other way around. Of course, for my perspective, it should also be a separate tool. If I want that, like Sörnke suggested a couple of times. That would be cool, of course, to have a tool that looks at a cabal file and generates an HPEC, like a package.yaml. But I think it could be a separate tool, could be in the same project. I would love to have it, but I haven't written it.  If I regenerate the thing like that, don't take this special C option by now. No, it would always generate the whole file. Is there a way to annotate the cabal file? No, currently it's not. No, it could be. You have a much nicer integration of that. Yeah, I think I would prefer that one. Because then you still had everything in one file and you could do everything. It could be a quite useful feature. It's just single T of E. Yeah, yeah, something like that. Yeah, you could do it on a section level, yeah, that's pretty cool. You could then have a top level and on section level. Maybe that's not so bad, could be interesting to do that, yeah. Yeah, I think, yeah, it would make sense to have something in cabal. I have a way to do everything that's allowed in cabal, even if it's not supported by HPEC. But I think I like that idea, yeah. But yeah, again, for now I'm also not afraid to just use cabal if it's not supported. That's the thing you were asking before, Mikhail. Like, you were asking whether it's in first dependencies? Yeah. So currently it just infers only things that you could, except for the package name, that you could put on a revision control. That's kind of the mindset. So for that reason- The most you start programming, you know, the library pass. You don't want to repeat yourself by telling from which library it comes because they usually come from only one library. Yeah, yeah, I see this problem. I mean, I see this problem. I think there should be a better solution.  I would love to have some tool that automates that. I just don't know yet or how exactly we'll do it. So what I could imagine, okay, and that will give me a list of packages just or- Yeah, it may be first the imports, actually, import commands in the beginning. Okay. Because it's used for jigs. Okay. Then it also infers the packages. Okay. I mean, I could imagine that it could make sense to have a tool that can put that into cabal files or package.yaml files, right? But you still want to have this on a revision control. So it needs to be in the file, I guess, in some file, at least I would assume. You're not sure? The question is, you keep configure as it's usually produced from some other file for the- Okay, so if we- So that you really want to generate each time in the first one. So the assumption would be I look at not like the package that I have on my system, but I have some global package index like from HackHatch or. So if you are building the package first time, then you want to have these versions and these packages in your cabal file. Okay. If you are building it on developer machine and you are expanding the package, changing it, then it's installed on your machine. So there are like two use cases. You can always say, first run, I just add the editor release of packages that I used previously, and I use the same list next time. But first time you start with no knowledge besides the knowledge of what it's in.UHC. That's binary packages installed. Okay. But you would still specify the dependencies. Like in gem files, you still specify the whole list of dependencies and then you just lock the versions. That's the gem. And all the transitive dependencies of course. The easiest way to make sure that you automatically do as much as possible would be not to specify them to try to infer them from environment. Okay. So you need to remember them in advisor release, which is guaranteed in general. Okay. So when you see the problem, you already fix on the same solution and unless the user tries to fix a different package. And then you just lock under version control even though you know that it's automatically generated. Yeah. I mean, I think we, at least I want to lock dependencies. And then, but then there's this other thing that I also. It remembers it. It remembers this advisory list. You just need to add this advisory list to the version control. But you can generate it also from scratch when it depends if it has not been seen well. With, with, with advisory list, you mean a list of just package without versions. Package that you use is free to run. Okay. With versions. Yeah. Okay. Always with versions. Just one lock file. Yeah. Yes.  I want better support for lock files. But yeah, HPEC doesn't do anything there yet. But let's discuss this further later maybe. Yeah. I mean, currently the, the assumptions basically it would never infer anything from your local system. Also not from the internet. For that reason, currently the mindset is there would not be a config file. That's, you could of course have a config file where you specify the author and stuff. You know, because that's almost me. But currently it says, yeah, everything that it uses to generate the cabal file would be in the repository so that everybody can go there and regenerate it, right? On any system. Yeah. And I use it every day. I would not want to, to, to be without it. Even so, it seems like a small thing, right? It's not a big thing. It's also not, you know, you can't write a paper about it. But I still think it reduces a lot of repetitive tasks for me at least. And yeah, we use it for all new projects at Zalora. Okay, so this is, this is our slide. So we could still. So there is a casual carbon, which actually concentrates more on tricky things like read polling, making sure that the documentation always follows the compiled code, NILs, which mostly focuses on building and uploading it. And the only part that NIL is called NIL, it's pretty easy to find. Okay. And there is also stack, but it's just a, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I saw that, yeah. Okay, that would be from my side. Are there any questions? I have a comment. Yeah? Of course, this situation is a little bit specific to Hspec, because Hspec, as it does automatic test discovery, it will just always generate a main driver that includes the test files that are there. So this actually did good case, in that case they are good, not sure. But then if some test file is missing, then it would just, because it's not specified in the cabal file, then it would just not be executed. If you, with an executable or a test suite section, if you don't have this automatic discovery feature and forget it, then cabal1 complain, you can just package it, upload it to Hack Edge. And then on install time, it will just fail because the module is actually missing, yeah, so. Yeah, yeah, that's a common thing, you're right. Yeah, that's, I think we see it a lot in Travis files, right? That we do a cabal estest and then do a cabal install on that. Generate a tab all for that reason, yeah, makes sense. But if you have a tool that just, at least for me, if I have a tool that just infers it, then the better, right? It won't even fail, because even if I have a failing build on Travis, it takes my time, kind of. Okay, I think we have four talks today. I think that's about 30 minutes. So maybe we should just stop here and continue discussing later.


Right. Good morning everyone. Welcome to today's sessions. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer. Maybe any one of us can please lead us in prayer. Rebecca, is it okay if we can lead us? Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we come before you, thanking you for the gift of life that you've given to us. Father, again, thank you for usading your word. What you did here when you were already 30, you started getting disciples. So Lord, as we're here, we're also learning on how to be disciples and how to disciple others. As we are in this session today, Lord, we pray that you bless our teacher, our lecturer, our pastor. Lord, give him the gift of wisdom, knowledge and understanding so that he can teach us and inculcate into us what we hope this and the generation to come. I also pray for my brothers and sisters who are already in this class. Lord, also give us a way of understanding, just like King Solomon asked you of wisdom, Lord. Please, Lord, give us wisdom so that we can serve, serve your flock in the name of Jesus we've prayed. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Rebecca. All right. So it looks like we're almost coming to the end of our course. So we've been talking about the ministry of the pastor and we looked at what, how Jesus led the example as being the greatest shepherd, the best, the greatest pastor, looking after the fold that he was, that was under his care. And so today we'll go into chapter, that's chapter 11. And on your notes, if you're tracking along on your notes, I know that there are no points there on your notes. So what we're going to do is this is still a work in progress, but what we're going to do is we're going to look at, just like it says here, summarize a few responsibilities of the pastor from both the epistles of Timothy, first and second Timothy, and Titus. So we're going to look at the responsibilities of a pastor. Right now, if any of you have not been called to be a pastor or you feel that your calling is something else, it's all right. You don't have to switch off, but the point is we all will get, these responsibilities may come upon us and we never know when and how those responsibilities come. So like we were talking about the gifts of the spirit, the functions of the ministry, the five-fold ministry, there are times they're also entangled, meaning they're all co-relator, co-work with each other. So if you feel you're called to be a teacher or an evangelist, these responsibilities, some of these responsibilities will still be available and optional for you to use in whatever ministry that God has called you for. So we'll pick up from here responsibilities of the pastor. And I have my notes here, but I'm just going to have it open and then want to request maybe a few of us to keep your Bibles ready because there's a lot of verses that we're going to read. So let's start off, right? 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14, let's read that. Let me try and see if I can... Any one of us can read 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 14, do not neglect your gift which was given to you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Thank you. And let's also read 2 Timothy 1.16. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 16. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Amesiphorus for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. Right. So thank you so much Roslyn. Now Paul is saying in these two verses that the Holy Spirit guides the church in selecting gifted spiritual leaders, right? And in many places we see that laying on of hands of the leader confirming the call of God upon the person. And we see that Paul wrote in many places. He says, I was the one who, you know, chose him and he says to the church in Ephesus, writing to Timothy, lay hands on the leaders and pray for them, right? So one of the responsibilities of a pastor is to know or to recognize the gifts that people have, right? To recognize your congregation, to recognize their calling. Now many at times people who come into church, they don't know, right? They don't know what is their calling or they just coming to church just to, you know, okay, because it's Sunday and I have to be at church. But they don't know that, okay, there's a calling. There's something that God has called each one of us for. Yes, there's the general calling, but there's also a specific calling. Now as a leader, right, as a pastor, it's very important that we recognize that God has placed certain anointings upon people, right? And we must be in a place to recognize that and develop these leaders and develop these people into leaders into the call of God. Now this is very important. It's a very important responsibility. Why? Because if I'm not doing the right thing in raising up leaders, I'm not going to be effective in the body of Christ. Yes, I can preach Sunday upon Sunday. I can do all the related tasks, but if I'm not raising up leaders, I would say I've failed to be a good pastor, right? And in many places, look at the example of the Lord Jesus himself. He raised up these 12. He didn't tell them, okay, you're going to be leaders. It was only later on after teaching them, after towards the end of his ministry, he says each one of you will have a call, will have a say in the ministry ahead, right? He recognized their potential. The day the Lord Jesus shows the 12 disciples, he recognized their potential. Look at Apostle Paul. The moment he saw Timothy, Timothy was about 17 years old, the moment he saw Timothy, he recognized, okay, one day this young boy can be a good leader for the church, right? Now, when we are choosing leaders, there are a few things that we must always be, remember, we must always be careful about and prayerfully choose leaders. That's why in the verse that we read, it says that, you know, it is a call of God upon their lives. So we must be careful, but even as we do it, we must see certain things. And certain aspects are very, very, very important. There will be people who are very gifted, very anointed, right? Full to the Holy Spirit. Yet their character or their personal life does not, you know, does not reflect in a good way. Now, what would we do as a pastor, as a leader? We see that, okay, what this person can be, but we as leaders, as pastors, we need to teach them in the right way, train them in the right way, right? Let them know that, you know, there's, I always tell people this, I mean, your gifts and your callings can take you somewhere, right? It can take you up the ladder, but it's your character only that can keep you there. We are very anointed preacher, teacher and all of that. Rise up the ladder, people will recognize you all of it, but for you to stay there, your character needs to be right, right? And so even as we are raising up leaders, make sure that the leaders that we raise up are built in character also. Not only, okay, the word, yes, that's prominent, that's the first priority, but also character, right? See, give them the smallest task, see if they're faithful in that. Give them the most menial task, right? See, they're faithful in that. And if they're faithful in that, it shows their character, right? They're willing to serve no matter what, right? So it's very important as a pastor in the pastoral calling to the main responsibilities to recognize and train leaders, right? Let's look at the next one. The spiritual leader is entrusted with the standard of sound teaching, right? And the leader is to guard with the help of the Holy Spirit, right? The spiritual leader is entrusted with the standard of sound teaching. Let's read 2 Timothy chapter 1 was 13 and 14. 2 Timothy 1, 13 and 14. 2 Timothy chapter 1 was 13 and 14. What you heard from me keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ.  Right, thank you. Now we see here two things here. It says there, keep the pattern of sound teaching, right? Now Paul is writing to Timothy and he's telling Timothy there's a lot of things happening around. A lot of doctrines, a lot of new understandings that are happening but you keep the sound teaching that I have taught you, right? That's one. And the second portion says, guard the good deposit that has been entrusted to you. So what is the next responsibility of the pastor? One, to keep sound teaching. Is your teaching in line with the Word of God? Does it, anything that we preach and teach must be aligned to God's work? Sound teaching. Now in a day and age that we are living in, there are so many, so, so many doctrines that have come up. Some are alright, some are false, you could just say it's false. And what happens is they've started off well, but somewhere along the line they've gone away from the truth. That's why Paul says, guard the deposit that has been given to you. So when we read the Word, when the Word goes into our heart, we need to guard it. And so as leaders, as pastors, we have this awesome privilege of ministering this Word in a sound way. Sound teaching. Sometimes when I think of it, it's just so, such an honor. Whether there are 10 people, whether there are 10,000 people, it does not matter because we are going by this Word of God, which is the true living Word of God. And as pastors, we must make sure that there's no dilution to the Word of God. The sound teaching of God's Word. Another thing that I've noticed is when people don't understand something from the scriptures, we make up our own thing. And when we make up our own thing, it becomes a false doctrine. If we don't understand certain things, let it go. Prayerfully wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. Keep reading, keep trying to understand. And slowly the Lord will bring revelation. There are many things in the book of Revelation that I'm still learning. But I'm still trying to understand, okay, how is this going to happen? But it does not mean it's not going to happen just because I don't understand it. I can't come up with my own assumptions.  It does not make sense. How can He come back? He will not come back. Now, what am I doing? Because I don't understand, I'm coming up with my own doctrines. How can spiritual beings and earthly beings live together during the millennium period? It does not make sense. Now, if it does not make sense, but that's what the Word of God said. So we must stay with a sound doctrine. And there are plenty of scriptures all through that we read from the Bible, which we may not understand, but stick to sound doctrine. Remember the church in Thessalonica? What did they say? Said the believers in the church and the people around came and said, the raptures already happened. And so Paul had to sit, write the epistle, saying, no, the rapture has not yet happened. Don't you know, if you read the letters to Thessalonica, it says, don't you know, didn't I tell you when I was there that this is what is going to happen? In the trumpet sound and the twinkling of an eye, we will be transformed. We will meet Him on the clouds, and He goes on to explain. So as pastors, make sure that we are teaching sound doctrine. If we are unsure about something, take some time. Say that you're not sure, right? You can go read about it, learn, ask your senior leaders or those who are in the ministry for many years. You may have people who you may know of, read about them, listen to sermons, learn. And then if you feel that you are, you know, this is in the line with God's word, then go ahead and release it. But it's our responsibility. And as pastors, it's very important because what we are doing is if we don't feed the sheep good grass, and we feed them some, you know, something that is spoiled and some, you know, maybe decayed and something that is smelling and it's not good for the sheep. What is going to happen? The sheep is going to face the consequences because we are giving the food that is not right. And the sheep is going to eat it. But after that, the consequences are bad. And as shepherds, we must be very watchful of what we are teaching. Right? I remember, you know, just a couple of weeks back I was listening to a couple of sermons. And as I was listening to the sermon, you know, my attention was somewhere else. I was just doing something and the sermon was just, I was just listening to it. And I was surprised because in the middle of the sermon, the preacher says, it's a wonderful church, wonderful pastor, big ministry. He says this, God broke the law for love. And that sentence struck me, you know, as I was just listening to it. I was not paying attention, but when I heard that God broke the law, but Jesus says, I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. And then the preacher went on to give examples that didn't really relate to the scriptures. It didn't coincide with the scriptures. But then I noticed that the whole congregation, maybe thousands of people are all clapping and, you know, whistling and, you know, they're enjoying the sermon. I thought to myself, how many of them are going to go back thinking that God broke the law for love? That was the sentence he used, God broke the law for love. And, you know, I just thought to myself, you see how dangerous it is if we don't have sound teaching, we can end up just diluting this whole gospel, right? So make sure that we're sound teaching the gospel, right? Third one, if they had to preach and teach the gospel faithfully, they are worthy of double honor. Let's read 2 Timothy 5 and 17. Second, oh, there's no five. Hold on. It is, I think it's 1 Timothy. Yeah, it's 1 Timothy 5, 17. 1 Timothy 5, 17. The elders who direct the affairs of the church well or worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. Thank you. So it says that those who preach and teach the gospel faithfully are worthy of double honor. Now, what is the key word here? The key word is faithfully. We are to preach and teach the word of God, the gospel faithfully. Right? So another very important responsibility of a pastor is whether we are teaching or preaching to two people, or one person, or even if it's hundreds or thousands of people, we are to preach and teach the gospel faithfully. When we do that, that is double honor, right? What an honor that is, right? All we need to do is preach and teach the gospel faithfully. Stay faithful to the word of God. Stay faithful to his promises, right?  It's a wonderful scripture. It says, no man puts his hand to the plow and turns back and goes the other way. If he does, then there's something wrong. He's weak-willed. So Paul is saying here to Timothy, just preach and teach faithfully. Stay faithful to the sound word of God. There will be new doctrines coming from all the other ways, all the other sides. People with new ideas, new things, new doctrines. But you stay faithful to the word that has been given to you. Faithfulness, right? It's very important responsibility of a pastor. Now it's very easy to lose faith in a journey that we are in, right? Very, very easy to lose faith. And when we look at what's happening now, it is sad. And it's disheartening to see pastors and ministers of God going back and saying, hey, I don't believe in God anymore. What happened? Somewhere along the line, the enemy has come and stolen that joy or that seed of God's word from their heart. And from faithfulness, they become unfaithful. So Paul is saying, as a pastor, be faithful to the gospel. Be faithful to the word of God. Let's go to the next one. Now, another responsibility is pastors must be people whose life and gifts are clearly visible both in their homes and outside of the church. And I'll give you the words. Second Timothy chapter 1 was 3 to 14. That's a long scripture. Second Timothy chapter 1. Let's go ahead. Second Timothy chapter 1 was 3 to 14. I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did, as without seizing, I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you being mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you which dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to store up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed for I know who I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us. Amen. Amen. Thank you Rosalind. Now Paul is just telling Timothy his life testimony. Of course, Timothy knows what's happened in his life but he's trying to remind him. The ones who have been chosen as a pastor has not been novices but they must be people whose life and gifts are clearly visible to people. Paul is saying here, what is he saying? Verse 8, he's saying, do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord. Do not be ashamed of me who's a prisoner. Do not be ashamed of the gospel. And he goes on to talk about many other things, right? He says, I was appointed here by Christ. It is not my own work. And so as pastors, as leaders, may our lives be a testimony for people who are watching. That's a very important responsibility for pastor, right? It is not about preaching but to live the life that we're preaching about. What does Paul say? He says, you know, I don't want to be disqualified from what I myself have been preaching. To the Corinthians, he says that I've been preaching the gospel and if my life does not show that, then I myself am disqualified. What is the use of me preaching, right? So picture this, as pastors, you and I have this wonderful responsibility. Not only in the church but even at home. We are to be a testimony unto Jesus. Now I've reminded of this book that I was reading and this little joke came up but it was so powerful, you know, it really struck me. There was this wonderful man of God who had a big church and one Sunday he was, I think I've used this example before, but one Sunday he was preaching at church and everyone was just enjoying the message. They clapped and after the sermon, the woman came up to the pastor's wife and said, oh, your husband is such a wonderful preacher. He's so, you know, so anointed, so gifted. But the woman, the preacher's wife didn't seem pleased at all.   Aren't you appreciative of your husband who has preached so wonderfully and he's such a great man of God? And the woman says, I wish my home was on that pulpit because when we go home, he's a completely different person.  But on the pulpit, he's preaching well. Now, what is the testimony there? Church people saying, oh, very good man of God. But at home, your wife is saying, you know, but that's not what Paul is talking about. Paul is saying, be a good testimony at home and in the church. Many a times, Paul says, follow me just as I follow Christ. He's not saying follow me when I'm in church. Follow me, follow everything that I've been doing because I am following Christ. Whether people see me, whether people don't see me, whether I'm alone in the prison cell or whether I'm preaching in front of hundreds of people, follow my example. Now as pastors, we have to come to that place. We continue to develop and say, God, help me to be a testimony, both in the church to the people I minister to and at home. Because if I'm only a testimony in the church and not at home, I have failed. If I'm only a testimony in my workplace and or if I'm only a testimony in the church and not in my workplace, I have failed. So as a pastor, we have to be a testimony. We have to lead by example. I always believe this. What we do as a shepherd, our sheep will do the same thing. It's the anointing that flows. If you are a person who, for example, if there's a pastor who's always gossiping, always talking bad about people, you will find the same thing happening in the church. Now it's nobody's fault, but our fault. Because we have not set the example. If there's a pastor who's always maybe is going through some living a life that is sexually immoral, you will find the same thing in the church. You'll find it. Now how can this pastor go and minister to those who are going through these challenges in life when he himself is in a pit? And the Lord Jesus says it's the blind leading the blind. That's not what we want to do. We need to be an example. And when we are right, we can come to a place to speak into people's lives. It's very important. As pastors, we have to maintain integrity in our life. Learn over time. Of course we will make mistakes, but we learn over those mistakes. Okay, I made a mistake. God help me not to make this mistake again. Help me to grow, help me to develop and to build myself in wisdom. And I think one of the greatest challenges for pastors and leaders of course across the church is wisdom. Paul says the gifts of God are irrevocable. Just because we are preaching and there's healing and miracles. It is God's work. It's God's gift. God is doing his work. When the word is preached, God will do his work. There will be miracles. Now we as people may have sinned and all of that, but God is still doing his work. But what is it? We must always come to a place by saying, God, it's not about me. A cleansing of our own lives should happen continually. So again, as pastors, we must be a testimony. We must be people who can say, follow me. This is a follow Christ and it comes over time, but we can. We can. It's the same Holy Spirit who works in us. So to pastors who are here now and you're already leading a church or you're leading a small group. What you do is very, very important. If you're starting a church service 10 minutes late every Sunday, don't expect the congregation to come early. You have to be there early. You have to set the example and then they can follow it. So next one. The pastors must be gifted in managing their household and also managing the household of God. 1 Timothy 3, 4 to 5. 1 Timothy chapter 3 was 4 to 5. 1 Timothy chapter 3 was 4 to 5. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his family, how can he take care of God's church? So powerful words from the Apostle Paul. He says, now it's interesting to see the Apostle Paul doesn't have family and children. But look at the wisdom of God upon his life. The man who was not there for the Lord's supper, but he says, what I receive from the Lord I give to you. The man who was not married writes about husband and wives. The man who did not have children writes about children, how important it is for children to obey parents. That was the wisdom of God. As leaders, as pastors, learn how to manage your family. And I think this is an area where as pastors we have failed big time. We don't know how to manage our family, but we're very good at managing the church. And so we need to get that right. We must come to a place where we say, okay, family. We always say this, right? When we ask people what is priority, God or family, obviously people say God. Yes, God is priority, but family is what God created. So you can't separate them into different boxes. You can't say, okay, this is God, and then this is family. No, God and family co-exist with each other.  So he has put children, he has put family under our care and we must take care of it, right? So as pastors, we must never, and I was sharing, I think last week with the first year students on how so many friends that I have, right? Who are pastors' children, but they hate going to the church. They're friends of mine. They don't like going to the church. They've been brought up in the church all their life, right? Their parents are pastors. All their life they've been brought up in church. And I asked my friends. I said, hey, we were all friends. We're still friends, but I always, out of curiosity, I always ask them, why you don't like church? You know what they say? Because my dad and mom like people in the church more than me. That is the number one answer that we get. My parents like the church more than me. From the time I was small till about 17 years old or 18 years old till I joined college, I think only once we went out as a family.  Now who's to blame? I can't say all the blame is on him for choosing the wrong things, but even the parents, because all the left go for prayer meeting, go for this meeting, go for that meeting. And they have a house and right next to the house is their hall, church hall. So the half the time the parents are there. And they have a few church people who would come and cook in the house and they would come and, you know, give them the food he would eat. There was no time. That's what he was sharing with me. There was no time I could sit with my parents and talk and have. I don't remember when was the last time we had lunch together in the house. Either my mother would have gone or my father would have gone. I'm the only son. They had some church people at home who would look after me. I don't know who they are. But whatever I needed was there. If I need some books, if I need some toys, I need a cycle, I need anything that is needed, materially was there, but they were not there. And as I was hearing this, it really, you know, the Lord was ministering to me. And I said, God help me never to come to this place. The parents, I speak to the parents always, they are crying. He's my only son. He raised him up in the right way. Always took him to church, always asked him to be in the, you know, worshipped him, got him a drum kit, thinking that he will play drums. Always asked him to, you know, sit for Bible study. You know, this man was in the ministry for many, many years, but somehow I mustered up the courage and I said, Uncle, I think you need to go back to understanding your son. He's lost his childhood. He doesn't, he, when I was talking to him, he said, I've never gone out with a family. So I asked him, Uncle, when did you go? When did, when was the last time you went as a family? No, we cannot go. If you go, who look after the church? I said, you're still saying that, right? And Paul is saying, how can somebody look after the church of God when he is not able to manage his own house? The ministry may be going well, but he's broken. His wife is broken. His son is broken. The whole church keeps asking, you know, why did this happen to him? They're all praying for him. That's wonderful. But it's, you know, instead of, instead of doing the right thing, of course, sometimes it's out of ignorance. And we're all praying that he comes back to the Lord. But this is what he is, he's saying. So he doesn't like church. He doesn't like church people. You know, he says, I have seen their lives. There's something else in the church. And then when they go out, there's something else. Right. But here it's very important. Paul is writing the Timothy. We don't know whether Timothy was married, whether he had children, but I'm sure he's, he's exorting the people within the church as well. Leaders and overseers and deacons in the church. He's saying, look after your family. If you don't do that, how can you look after the church? Right. And this problem is real. So as pastors, the responsibility of looking after the family is very important. Spending time with family, spending personal time with your wife, with your children, praying for them, spending time together, being there for them. Very important. Because there will come a time the children grow up, they'll be 15, 16 years old, and you will not have a right to speak into their life because they, you were not there when they needed you. Right. So I make a conscious decision where my boys, they're growing up now, but whenever they say, I make a decision, I have to drop them and pick them up from school. It doesn't matter what time it is. It doesn't matter if it's raining, whether it's thunderstorms are coming or whatever is coming. I drop them, drop them to school, pick them up from school. Make sure I do it. I personally want to do it. Are there school vans in school bus? Yes, but I want to do it. And during the way I talk to him, just spending time, just finding out, just letting him know about school, what you should do, what you shouldn't do. There are small things that make a difference. So if you are in that place with children, spend time with them. And sometimes I look back at these photos that we took when they were kids and I feel, oh man, they've grown up so fast. They were just one year old, two years old. They've grown up so fast. And now they want friends more than family. So it's very important that you come to a place where you know that you're doing the right thing in your family. So Paul is very important. Paul is telling the congregation, the leaders, especially pastors, look after your family. Next one, pastors are to wholly give themselves to the scriptures. The pastor's attention is directed to the truth. 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 4. Let's read that. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 4. 1 Timothy chapter 2 was, who was all meant to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth? This is a very important point for pastors to bring all of them to be saved and to bring them to the knowledge of the truth. The pastor's attention should be directed to the truth of God's Word. Now we always say this. Don't give the devil pulpit time. As pastors, when we are preaching and teaching, focus on the truth. Jesus says the truth will set them free. Now the wrong thing to do is to go up on the pulpit and begin to talk about everything else, what others are doing, or what this person is doing, what that ministry is doing, all of that, bringing out all the wrongs of what's happening around and then spending the last five minutes on the truth of God's Word. No. As pastors, we must focus on the truth. Remember that people come from different backgrounds. There will be people from different faiths. Let the truth of the Word of God touch their lives. Remember, truth is greater than what is false. Light is greater than darkness. So you speak the truth. The wrong thing to do is to say, this religion does this, this religion does that, but this is what Jesus did. You don't have to talk about all the other things. Jesus said, just speak the truth. The truth will set them free. The Word of God. So we must direct people to the truth of God's Word. Not direct them to ourselves, but to the truth of God's Word. Okay, we look at one more point and then we take a break. To the sound words of the Lord Jesus, the pastors are to lead people to the sound words of the Lord Jesus and the teaching that is in accordance with Godliness. We are to discipline them in Godliness and discipline them in the things of life. So as pastors, we must be disciplined in our personal life and also discipline the sheep that are in our fold. We have a responsibility of encouraging and exhorting our congregation, telling them to pray, set time aside for prayer, set time aside for reading of the Word of God, set time aside for the things of God, family, prayer. We have the responsibility of exhorting the congregation. It's a responsibility. We must do it. We must discipline the sheep. Imagine a shepherd does not discipline the sheep. I love what David says. Your rod in your staff. What is the rod used for? And what is the staff used for? The staff is to gently pull the sheep that is going astray. The rod is to whack it when it keeps going away. So there will be times. Discipline is important. We have to discipline ourselves and then discipline our church members. All we can do is we can share with them the importance of being disciplined in life. There will be people in a congregation who are at different maturity levels. Spiritually, they are at different levels. Some people will take it. Some people won't take it. For those who don't take it, don't push them. Don't be stern. Don't be rude with them. Just move on. But focus on those who have made a decision to discipline themselves. Build them up. Continue to exhort them. Continue to build them in the word, in the faith. Discipline is important for the pastors. When they are disciplined, they will be able to talk and speak into the members' lives. The congregation's life. We will take a break. We will come back and we will continue with a few more points. We will look at a few rewards as well for the pastors. Let's take a break.


Hi, my course is called Contemporary Barcelona and it's Cultural History and it's a history of Barcelona over the last century and a half with particular emphasis on culture, on the urban transformation of the city and on the transformation of Barcelona from a grey industrial city during the period of Francoism to the cosmopolitan global city that it is today. We focus a lot on the last 50 years, on the transition to democracy, on the 1992 Olympics and on the 21st century city that Barcelona is today that attracts so many people but we also focus on the 19th century on how an industrial city became known as the Paris the Mediterranean, on the modernist architects of Antoni Gaudí, of Puig de Carafalc and Dominique Montenegro and the beginning of the formation of this gem of the Mediterranean that we know as Barcelona.