Jumble Sale

The Jumble Sale was organized by Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) Melaka at Mahkota Parade to raise fund for the Calvary Care Home. We had been collecting new or used but salable items during several weeks preceding the annual event. This was the first year I participated in the contribution of items as well as the duties at the stall.

Initially I was asked to help blow and twist long balloons into various shapes on the first day. When I arrived at the mall, I was told that the balloons were left in the church. So I ended up helping other team members to set up the stall and sell the items. The sale was excellent for we were being placed at a very strategic location and since it was the launching day, a lot of staff in the mall seized the opportunity to grab most of the best items at a low price.

A pleasant surprise to me was that my secondary school friend HT, who was pregnant with her first child and was shopping with her husband and parents, was able to recognize my voice from my back. I had completely lost contact with her for years after her marriage. Even though I was told by another friend that HT was also working and living in Melaka, we had not even met once. What a blessing!

The following Thursday, I joined in Ps Albert's team which included his nephew Gideon and his two children. There were also other helpers and volunteers on duty.

Sarah would like to extend her stay at my place but as I had promised her father to send her back on the fourth day, we both left for Mahkota Parade in the morning with all her luggage.

This time our stall had been shifted to a slot between a fashion stall and an accessory stall. The transfer was the result of complaints by the nearby shop of our initial location. Hence we were less noticeable. That definitely affected our sale. Nonetheless, our spirit to help the care home was untouched. I was glad to befriend Wilson who was in charge of the balloons. This young boy was such a sociable person that within a few days he had made friends with several workers of other stalls in the mall.

Some of our church members purposely came to give moral and financial supports. We truly appreciated that. By the end of the day, Ps Albert was the customer who spent most as he had taken out his own money to buy a lot of glassware and decorative items.

I stayed until the last shift, tired but satisfied with my day. It was an interesting experience to participate in the jumble sale. Next year you will see me again at Mahkota Parade busy with the lelong!

Sarah's Holiday III

I was planning to bring Sarah to watch "Madagascar 2". However, she preferred another film "High School Musical 3". I am not a cinema fan and I had not even heard of this Disney movie franchise which was very popular among the teenagers. Since my guest favoured the musical over the animation, I just tried to accommodate her.

When we reached the Melaka Mall, the movie was about to start. After I had bought the tickets, Sarah went to buy some snacks. When I realized that she had ordered two packets of popcorn, it was too late to cancel one. She also bought a soft drink. The junk food altogether cost her more than the promotional movie tickets I had paid for!

When I was a child like her, I hardly spent more than RM1 for snacks. And I remember I first stepped into a cinema theatre only at around the age of 14 and the ticket price then was at least three times less than nowadays.

Well, the twenty years plus of age gap between us did make things a lot different.

During the show time, Sarah helped me understand the story by telling me the relationship among the characters that she had known in the first two episodes. She seemed to like all the clothes that the female protagonist Gabriella wore while her good friend Pamela preferred those of the antagonist Sharpay.

After the movie, we went to the children department at Parkson to see Barbie and Baby Alive dolls. Since my childhood, I did not like toys that looked like real persons. So I never fancied having a doll. Thank God now I like to feed and dress up myself as well as others!

At the end of the three days, Sarah was quite happy with her stay with VC and me. We were invited to write down our information in a small book that she was keeping. We also left some encouraging words. I read through other pages written by her good friends of other races. If only we adults learned from the children to accept one another regardless our races and religions, we could live in peace and harmony.

Sarah's Holiday II

I had to attend a meeting on campus in the morning. I brought Sarah along with me. At first some colleagues thought she was my adopted sister. Actually my nephew Zer Yih was almost of her age. When ZT heard that Sarah was my pastor's daughter, she said, "She is pious. Dangerous!" I knew she was referring to me. She must have related our pastors to their religious leaders. I just smilingly gave her a spontaneous reply "The dangerous ones are those who put bombs..." which made her shut her mouth.

The more pious I become, The more loving person I will learn to be from my pastors who preach about God's love.

When the brief meeting was over, I took her to my office and let her use my desktop.

What do you think a 10-year-old daughter of a pastor was surfing on the net? A Christian website about Jesus or the Bible?

She was more interested in Barbie's games.

Before we left the campus, we took a few pictures near the lake. I used to go to classes in the students' residential blocks by walking up and down the stairs

and crossing the bridge during my first two semesters here. The recent metal handrails gave the wooden bridge a new look.

This path reminded me of my morning strolls alone during the semester break in 2004. It had also been upgraded with bricks.

A guard passed by and was surprised to see us. He must have thought that I was an outsider until I introduced myself and showed him my staff card. Chinese employees were rare in this university and there were hardly any people who took their time to walk at the lakeside leisurely.

We were breathing fresh air instead of the artificial one released from the air-con in my office and the view was much more attractive than the computer screen. But I still wonder if Sarah agreed with me.

Sarah's Holiday I

Sarah is Pastor Albert's third child. She followed her father and eldest brother Mark to Melaka from Sabah about a year ago.

She was studying in a Chinese primary school but her Mandarin was not fluent due to lack of practice. When the school holidays began, I invited her to spend a few days at my place to immerse her in the language. My other purpose was to bring her for some outings, before she reunited with other family members who would arrive later in December.

I love to involve children in the preparation of dishes. This time we were making pizzas. Her task was to chop vegetables into small cubes. It was supposed to be done in the kitchen. As she wanted to watch her favorite TV drama, I allowed her to work in the living room.

The smaller pizza was for her. So she was in charge of the topping.

Don't think I had a giant appetite to swallow the bigger pizza. I was going to share with VC, okay!

When the products were taken out from the the oven, VC teased me that the resemblance between my pizzas and those in the Pizza Hut was merely 30%. After all, they still looked appetizing, didn't they?

When Sarah's whole family is around, I will open my pizzeria again.

Outing To Zoo Melaka

On 15 Nov, Pastor Rebekah, sis Bee Lan, bro Johnson, bro Dinesh and I were bringing 20 children from the Children Ministry to Zoo Melaka. We left with two vans from the church.

As soon as we reached our destination, we headed towards the amphitheatre where a multi-animal show had just started.

We were entertained by orang utans and macaws with their antics.

After the first activity, we continued to observe birds and land animals. The children were given a piece of paper to write down the scientific and common names of the creatures they saw.

The next scheduled programme was the elephant show. We all enjoyed watching those gentle giants' performance.

After almost two hours' walking, we took a break at the lake where each of us was given a Mac Donald's lunch box and a toy of the "Madagascar" animation movie characters. When we regained our energy, bro Johnson, playing guitar, led us to worship God who is the Creator and King of the entire mankind and animals.

Our last visit was in the museum.

Animals were either presented in sculptures or specimens.

There were also two living statues newly added to the collection.

Before we left the zoo, Ps Rebekah gave a short speech to all the participants and awarded presents to those who had written down the longest list of the names of animals.

That ended our short but memorable outing.