Dinner At Ps Lee's House

Last Sunday after the church service, Pastor Lee who has been visiting Calvary Care Home (CCH) quite regularly with his Vietnamese church members invited the whole CCH gang to his house for dinner Friday.

After my busy schedule Friday morning, I went to CCH to take a rest while helping Daniel to do his maths homework, guiding David to read his book and chatting with the boys. The latest appointment was 5.30pm in front of MITC (Melaka International Trade Centre) with Albert P who would have fetched Matthew back from tuition and George who would have come from the church with John, so that we all hopped into the van to look for Ps Lee's house together.

When I was about to leave CCH with my passengers, Sis Fei Gin drove in. I talked to her a short while before we went off. I noticed that my oil tank was going to be empty very soon. So we had to stop at a station to pump petrol. We were 5minutes' late when we arrived at MITC. My car was the only vehicle in the spacious parking. Albert telephoned and informed me that now we were to meet in front of a nearby barber shop where the boys usually had their haircut. Holding the steering wheel to move from one unfamiliar place to another several times was the fastest way to make me lose my mood. Knowing this weakness of his working partner, Albert quickly offered me a ride in his car as soon as he saw my fed-up face upon our arrival.

I always drove past Tasik Utama on my way to CLA (Calvary Life Assembly). I sometimes thought that I would love to settle in this residential area if I were to quit Paya Rumput. It seemed to be a peaceful place despite the big number of houses. After turning everywhere to search for the location based on the address given by Ps Lee without indicating any landmarks, we finally found the double-storey house and realised that it was actually situated within the walking distance from the school where Albert is teaching!

I was immediately attracted by the plants that were flowering and fruiting so well. I had the same plants in my house but they were suffering from malnutrition as a result of my negligence.

Ps Lee and his wife Sara who receive their church members frequently for worship, bible studies and meals manage to keep their rented house very clean and neat.

A former pilot, this servant of God not only knew how to control aircraft in flight, he mastered musical instruments too.

When I watched him playing worship songs with his Vietnamese mandolin, I told myself that I should make up my mind to resume my guitar practice for the sake of the Lord.

I wanted to give a hand at the kitchen. But our capable lady host Sara had already got everything almost ready to serve us.

All of us were made at home there though it was only our first visit. The boys could also feel this hospitable couple's loving kindness expressed through their tender voice, encouraging words, friendly smiles and warm hugs. Ps Lee revealed to Albert and me his childhood suffering as an orphan. We understood better why he had a heart for the children.

At first, I had thought we were going to eat beef noodles, which I had tasted twice last year, once on the Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) family day and the other time on the fundraising day to help CCH. Sara had prepared something different--pork chop accompanied with rice, sliced cucumber, fried vegetables and steamed egg cake. A bowl of fish sauce was available for us to pour onto our rice. I remembered my varsity days during which I was the one who served my friends pork chop roasted with my small oven.

On one of the Saturdays before the CLA church anniversary cum dedication, I was sitting opposite Ps Lee to have lunch together with other working bees who had spent the whole morning spring cleaning the church compound. I told him that I had worked in a Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant as a part-time student's job and had always loved Vietnamese specialities like spring rolls, baguette sandwiches, etc. I was glad that two months later, I got to taste authentic Vietnamese cuisine again. To show how much I appreciated the food even though I was not hungry at all, I finished everything in my plate except for a small portion of rice which I decided to leave aside. I also emptied the bowl of green bean dessert.

Instead of skipping dinner like I used to do, I had had Mrs Ee's delicious beef soup Tuesday, Kelantanese speciality nasi karabu Wednesday after my hangout at a Ramadhan market with VC Wednesday, Hazween's lamb stew Thursday and now Sara's pork chop rice Friday.

To regain confidence to stand on a balance, I need to seriously keep myself away from sitting at a dining table after 7pm. Please help me to achieve it by kindly not sending me any dinner invitation next week...