This year, having known many Calvarites especially the Calvary Care Home (CCH) children, I was keen to attend the church camp which would be held in mid June. Last April, when I was planning my holiday, I purposely scheduled my South Korea trip in such a way to avoid the clash of dates with the camp.
At first, I was supposed to go with the bus, so was the CCH "gang". One day, when I was helping with the registration, Sis Joanne, on behalf of Pastor James, asked me if Albert P would consider driving his new car so that the church could give five more seats to others who applied for the bus. I remembered when Albert had submitted his registration form, he was not even sure if he could finally make it. And he had wanted the transport provided by CLA as much as I did. Nevertheless, I passed Ps James' message to him and was surprised to learn that he agreed to take the steering wheel himself and was willing to let me book a seat in his car. Because of the presence of two adults and three children as the tentative passengers, he was even thinking of stopping by somewhere else before the check-in of the church camp in Genting Highlands on 14th June.
After some discussion and arrangement, it seemed definitive that we would first go to Kuala Lumpur on 13th June afternoon. We did not contact the following days until one day before our departure. I felt compelled to confirm again with this CCH colleague who now changed his mind a bit more slowly than a models who changes her clothes at fashion shows.
"Is everything still on tomorrow?"
He replied with a broad smile and an "OK" sign with his fingers. I thanked God that he was kind enough not to change his mind and delete my name from his final passengers' list which also included Matthew, Luke and Daniel.
The next day after the church service, Albert already intended that we started our journey to the capital as soon as possible.
Even though I was not able to reduce my body weight to keep the burden of Albert's car as light as possible, at least I prepared simple luggage and put it in a bag, which I carried when I travelled back to Batu Pahat for weekends. Luke and Daniel had also packed their clothes in their school bags. Looking at our driver's two trolley bags which belonged to himself and Matthew respectively, I had the impression that the father was going to the airport together with his son to catch a flight to South Korea which he had been longing to visit after reading my blog entries.
Once the boot was closed, my mind was back to the reality--I was on vacation again, this time with members of my family in Christ!
Earlier on, I had heard that Albert had the reputation of driving slowly. It was my first experience to sit in his car while travelling on the highway. In the beginning I guessed it might occur that the traffic police fined him for dragging in the second lane. I clapped hands in my heart each time he somehow succeeded in overtaking a bus or a lorry...
Being the CCH administrator, incoming calls and messages by workers, volunteers, etc followed him wherever he went as long as his cell phone was not off. That distracted his attention. After his bad experience with a summons, he was wise enough to touch his cell phone just to let us quickly take it over to talk or send an SMS on his behalf, though I supposed he was still tempted to hold his gadget like a smoker with cigarettes nearby.
When the boys were not playing games, they became restless and made noise at the back. Sometimes, it was funny. Sometimes, I felt like kicking them out of the windows.
With the company of these fellows whom I had hardly known one year ago, I was wondering what kind of trip I was going to have during four days.
1 comment:
Driving to Genting was my second try in my car. Thank God for His angels protecting us as the motorist who collided with car did not die, did not want my money and disappear into thin air.
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