EFC Leadership Summit 2010 III

The next morning after breakfast, I had to quit my room and put my bag in another room booked by our Melakan group. When I went to the balcony with my camera, I saw my Jamaican MLM classmate Kayode from the next-door balcony on the left. He requested that I took a picture of him.

On the right, I could see the greenness of Tanjung Bungah.

I was fresh again to participate in the second day of the EFC Leadership Summit. An education panel discussion moderated by Dr KJ John was held during the morning session where Dr Lim Boon Hock, Philip Chua who was also Caroline's husband, Sister Mary Tey and Ps Phua Seng Tiong were invited to give a related presentation each based on the domain they were familiar with. I especially liked Sis Mary's reminder that we Christians need to be charged with God's Spirit every day like hand phones which need to be charged and recharged regularly.

Next, we proceeded to another room where we showcased our community services.

This E.P.I.C (Extraordinary People Impacting Community) group of young people were looking for franchise to set up voters registration booths in different cities. Despite his nationality, I got Kayode to be connected with the contact person so that we Melakans could also do something for our country.

The Kluang group who had taken three booths was very active.

They were running various centres and activities to reach out to the community.

Our Melakan "A CIKGU (All Children In the Kingdom of God United)" booth aimed at raising awareness about the mission schools which had been losing their influence among the present generations.

We returned to the meeting room to listen to the testimonies of four participants of the MLM class from different parts of Malaysia. Then a longer slot of time was allocated to Ps Elisha Satvinder who had been doing great community work in Sentul. He shared with us that as he was serving the poor, he understood the Gospel better. When we were watching a touching video which was portraying the children whose lives had been transformed by this loving disciple of Jesus and his team, YB Lim Guan Eng arrived without any protocol and later delivered a speech. This down-to-earth prisoner turned Chief Minister of Penang called himself a brother by faith and humbly invited the people of God to work with him to serve the Penangites better.

Dr KJ John then asked him three questions which he graciously answered.

When we were at the hawkers centre the previous day, Dr Wong had asked some hawkers their opinions of this new leader of Penang who originated in Melaka. All of them had expressed their satisfaction with the Chief Minister's performance and the new state government since March 2008.

The afternoon session was reserved for the EFC Conference where Ps Rick Rusaw and Dr Eric Swanson again gave us more insight of how to be relational and relevant to our communities as a church.

Lastly, Ps Richard closed the summit with his encouraging words

and all of us stood up to sing the newly composed theme song for the conference. It was about the transformation of our nation.

I did not have a chance to buy local products in the Penang streets. But I brought back to Melaka more meaningful things--a copy of Dr Eric Swanson's "The Externally Focused Life", two issues of "Asian Beacon", an E.P.I.C T-shirt,... and most of all the eye-opening experience to have met wonderful servants of God who had put aside their personal agenda to impact the people around them.

May we be a Church, a hope for the city.

EFC Leadership Summit 2010 II

In the ballroom on the third floor at 2.30pm, it was a totally different atmosphere. The receptionists of the EFC leadership summit were standing behind tables to take care of the registration.

The meeting room was already crowded with my brothers and sisters in Christ who were worshipping the Lord together before Piek See and Ps Richard gave their welcome messages respectively.

Ps Phua Seng Tiong was the first speaker to be invited on the stage. Whether being a teacher, a principal or now a full-time preacher, Ps Phua always turned his community around by going to them before they could go to him. The church he was leading at Kampong Sungai Kaya Ara in Petaling Jaya had been a blessing to all the residents regardless their races and their beliefs.

Next, David Bok shared with us how the Gospel grows and bears fruit. He reminded us that becoming a Christian does not make us change, but inviting Christ into our heart makes us a new creation.

That afternoon, the outside heat had just spoilt the air-conditioner pipe of the meeting room. Dressed in a cardigan and long pants, I had to bear the warmth during more than three hours. We were also told that the scheduled dinner at the beach had been cancelled due to a sudden downpour which had caused all the seats wet. So, we could only appreciate the sight of the coconut trees

from our indoor buffet.

I was glad to talk to a few participants who were sitting at the same table and to know that they, like I, benefited a lot from the MLM programme which had changed our mindset as Christians.

I had woken up at 4am and did not have any nap since. After the meal, I began to feel sleepy during the first keynote speaker Ps Rick Rusaw's speech.

Thanks to a glass of cold water, I was able to pay attention again when the following and the last speaker Dr Eric J. Swanson, co-author of "The Externally Focused Church" and the newly launched "The Externally Focused Quest", showed us examples of how to help the lost and the least to come to the Lord.

EFC Leadership Summit 2010 I

Last February during the MLM class, Piek See urged all of us to make ourselves available on 23rd and 24th April to attend the EFC (Externally Focused Church) Leadership Summit. Having been in the class for more than a year, I was keen to have fellowship with other course mates from all over the country and listen to local and overseas servant leaders who were going to gather in Penang to share what they had been doing for their community.

Josephine volunteered to be in charge of our registration, accommodation and transport between Melaka and Penang for most of us who were going to travel by aeroplane. Min Toon also helped in arranging the transport from Melaka to the airport in Sepang for some of us. My only concern was to find a place to leave my car for two days. It was easily solved after I had checked with Albert P who said it was safe to park outside his house which was near the Ayer Keroh road and who was willing to drop me at the petrol station on the roadside so that I could hop into Dr Wong's car at the appointment time.

Ten of us went to LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) with two vehicles. We met Pastor Elisha Satvinder whose name had been made familiar to us by Pastor Richard and Piek See. He was going to the summit as a speaker.

It was the first time I took a domestic flight to travel within the Peninsula.

After flying about half an hour, we arrived in Penang. My fifth trip to this Northern state in Malaysia. A van was waiting for us at the airport to bring us to our hotel. On the way, the driver stopped at a hawkers centre so that we could have some local specialities for lunch.

As soon as we entered Paradise Sandy Bay Resort, an employee greeted us with a big smile,"Welcome to Paradise...". I imagined when I went to be with the Lord one day, an angel would also greet me, "Welcome to Heaven..."

After I left my bag in my room on the 20th floor, I had to descend quickly to Tanjung Room to help in setting our booth for the next day. I wished I had a moment to take a rest at the balcony

and start counting the number of nearby resorts which were also blocking the beautiful view of the Straits of Malacca.
Nevertheless, I managed to seize a ten-minute break later to take a sip of my welcoming drink at the pool side

and to fill my eyes with the beach where other carefree hotel guests, the real tourists, were enjoying their holidays in shorts or swimming suits.

Dinner At Emmy and Felix's House

Two days after KC and I said goodbye to Emmy at Equatorial Hotel, she telephoned me when I had just published my first post about the convention and was going to send her the link from my office .

"I'm missing you... What are you going to do tomorrow evening?"

"Nothing special..." I was planning to just stay at home at Paya Rumput the whole day, which had nowadays become a luxury to me on Saturdays. However, Emmy's invitation to her house to taste her homemade food instantly succeeded in tempting me to leave my net again and abort my diet plan for the weekend. She specified that if KC was also free to the dinner, she would make it vegetarian. I immediately contacted KC and fixed an appointment to go together. Since I knew where Emmy lived at Klebang after giving her a ride the other day, I volunteered to be KC's driver.

When we rang the bell the next day, both Emmy and Felix came out to receive us. It was a typical western house in a tropical country. They used to have a nicer view with their backyard facing the Straits of Malacca. They were very upset that the water was now covered by reclamed land.

In the living room, I saw the hard copy of my blog entry which Felix had printed out in big characters so that Emmy could have a look as well. Emmy started the conversation by showing us a frame of two pictures in which her granddaughter strikingly resembled her when she was a little girl.

Felix very soon joined us at Emmy's favorite corner. Actually he preferred sitting on another set of chairs near the backyard.

In front of cheese and olives, I had the impression to be back to France.

As the green olives had the lowest calories among those appetizers, I felt free to send a few into my mouths. Emmy noticed that it was unusual for a Chinese to love those small, bitter fruits. Thus, she saw me as a westerner in terms of food. I told them about my first meal at a French house where I, without knowing that many more dishes were yet to be served, had eaten too many snacks before the real meal started .

We shifted to the dining table. Emmy had specially prepared a French leek-potato soup which made me nostalgic about those good old days in Neuves-Granges.

The main dish was lasagna. Emmy had put so many ingredients in this Italian speciality that whether there was minced meat or not made no difference to us. And the taste was much more excellent than the one I had eaten at Equatorial Hotel.
Each of us was given a small portion accompanied by salad, which already filled a big space of our stomachs.

Their Filipino maid was busy bringing new dishes and removing bowls and plates from four of us. Emmy said to KC and me, "If the MBMB people see my life here, they will take away the money they gave me during the convention!"

The dessert pudding surrounded by fruits in cubes was another masterpiece from Emmy. Moreover, it was beautifully presented in a plate with a holder. In fact, even plain water had the honour to be served in big wine glasses!

Felix had given me white wine to drink as appetizer. During the meal, he offered me red wine. Before I emptied the glass, he passed to me another cute small glass with digestive liquor named "Kahlua".
Emmy poured some milk into hers, which looked like a strange mixture to me.

After the dinner, we continued our chatting in the lounge. As a historian, Emmy could recount Malaysia's history much better than we Malaysians did. Felix who had been reading a book per week since the age of twenty was himself a living encyclopedia! Like Emmy, he had so many stories to share with us that I began to doubt Emmy's comment that her husband was a quiet person. Listening to him talking about those countries where they had left their footprints was like watching interesting documentaries. Sometimes, Emmy interrupted with her other topics. KC and I were amused by these two "television channels" who needed no commercial break.

I had exceptionally accepted a small cup of expresso at the end of the meal earlier. So I did not feel sleepy even though my eye bags were big enough

to keep two scoops of the chocolate ice-cream which Emmy had continued to feed us at 1.30 am!

KC was more tired than I after her hectic day. We made up our mind to make a move at last. It was already over 2am. Not only Emmy insisted that we took back the bottle of sparkling juice and the cake which we had brought for them, she generously gave me all the leftover of the delicious lasagna to share with others. Felix also lent KC and me each a book about the Chinese in Hong Kong and Shanghai so that we knew our cousins better.

In this eighth year of my stay in Melaka, I finally encountered a couple who was as friendly and hospitable as Nicole and Ernest whom I had known fifteen years ago in Besançon.

I Have Won A Prize From Albert's Blog!

Last Monday, in the midst of marking my students' final test papers, I took a short break to temporarily release myself from the boredom. I started to surf friends' blogs. Out of the eight which were linked to mine, only two were quite active.

Although Albert P's often updated his "Albert World of Physics" which was meant to increase his students' interest in physics and to help them cope with exams, I seldom spent time reading it and never left any comment.

Last month, an entry of Albert's finally attracted my attention. He was going to give a prize to one who could answer his four questions by filling in six blanks each with the correct word. Living in the Internet world where having access to all kinds of information and knowledge is within seconds, it seemed to be an easy task. At first I was only interested to see how tight the competition would be among his students whom I supposed were his target participants.

After three weeks, two students responded but unfortunately none of them answered all the questions correctly. I began to be tempted to participate in the quiz. However, since Albert had mentioned that he would reveal the answers after ten students answered, I remained silent.

Another week passed. When I visited his blog again last Monday, I noticed that there were no more respondents. This time, I decided to give it a try as an outsider reader.

Based on the previous answers provided by his two students, I was certain that the fifth blank was the one which caused the most headache. I had roughly the answer in Chinese, but giving the exact translation in English was another challenge. I was hesitating between two words. After some consideration, I posted all my answers via the comment.

That afternoon, I happened to have a meeting with Albert at Sis Annie's house to discuss urgent issues related to the Calvary Care Home (CCH) children. I did not say a word regarding my participation in his quiz. That evening, after I sent him an SMS to remind some Bible verses, he replied, "...I am now in front of my blog. You get all answers correct. Your prize is coming soon."

Having received the confirmation from this guru cemerlang (brilliant teacher) in physics, I immediately considered myself a pelajar cemerlang (brilliant student) even though there was nothing to be boastful to have defeated his Form 4 students. In fact, when I was a science student in school, while I could daydream during the maths and chemistry classes and yet scored good marks, I was not able to understand physics very well by studying on my own.

Albert added to my delight by praising that I was an A+ student. Little did he know that despite my former physics teacher's high esteem of me, I had dropped this science paper during the Chinese Independent Schools' National Unified Examinations for fear that the possible low grade might be a sore in my result slip.

The next thing I thought was the prize. I imagined two scenarios. As a teacher, he might smilingly hand over to me a physics workbook written and autographed by himself, and then encourage me to learn more in the subject. That would rather be a torture to me... The next day, I quickly expressed my "worry" in his blog. As a blog friend, he might give me a treat at his forever favorite Johnny's together with Matthew. Having taken the same menu three times at that restaurant, I would not be very keen to eat those familiar dishes.

I did not see Albert until yesterday. In the afternoon, we brought four CCH boys to Popular bookstore at Jaya Jusco. He asked me what I would like to receive as a reward. It would be nice if all the competition organizers consulted the winners' preference before they gave them the prizes! I simply left the decision to him.

I was reading Spencer Johnson's best selling book "Who Moved My Cheese?" when I later saw Albert walking towards the counter, carrying a transparent box which contained a pink object and trying to hide it from my sight with a chuckle. He was behaving like a mouse who had just discovered a piece of cheese and wanted to keep it to himself. When all of us came out from the bookstore, he passed to me a plastic bag with the "cheese" inside.

"This is your prize."

He had got the idea from our lunch at CCH earlier. I immediately liked the gift, laughed at it and suggested that we held a prize giving ceremony on the spot! The witnesses of the two-minute event were the CCH boys and passers-by who must be wondering what was happening to these two excited Chinese fellows in white photographed by an Indian boy who was Luke.

To be crowned as a princess, you do not need to marry a prince. Just participate and win in Albert's quiz!

10th International Convention Of Melaka Twin Cities IV

Wednesday 14th April morning, I still left my house very early because I was not sure what time exactly the interpreters needed to report duty. When I arrived at Equatorial Hotel at 8am, the registration counter was not even open. This time, I was ready with all my translations. So my mind could relax despite my lack of sleep.

Emi joined me for breakfast. Since we were neither required nor interested to join any sessions of talk in the convention halls, we stayed in the foyer to take a rest and had some sharing together.

KC who came much later was right. We only had to turn up for the closing ceremony at noon to make noise in our kandang again.

The prelude of the event was "Dondang Sayang". It was the first time I watched this love ballad originated in Melaka sometime in the 15th century. Accompanied by musicians behind, two singers exchanged Malay pantun (poetry) in a lighthearted style.

Next, the Mayor of Melaka and the Melaka State Secretary gave their speech one after another. The colleague for Arabic and Emmy knew that the Yemen ambassador and the Cuban ambassador needed their simultaneous translation. KC had been told by Sukhirah the previous day that the Nanjing delegate who had requested an interpreter for Mandarin had withdrawn himself from participating in the convention. Nevertheless, she did her job faithfully. I still had no idea who was listening to my voice. Anyway, it was a good opportunity to practise my reading as well as my writing skills. And I was now a bit more familiar with the topic of conservation and management of world heritage sites, which was the theme of the convention.

I already felt myself like a radio reporter after reading four texts.

Emmy continued to translate spontaneously even what the emcee said. She could be employed as a deejay! When the event was over, I said to her, "You've worked overtime!" She replied, "I've worked like a dog these two days! Even more than my maid!"

The participants were leaving the ballroom. I looked at the temporary wooden booths and asked one of the technicians, "Is our kandang going to be demolished soon?" He nodded.

I jokingly urged KC and Emmy, "We'd better take some pictures now. This is also a heritage site in danger!" Those who heard that all laughed.

KC,

Emmy

and I posed in front of our own "cage" as a memory of our two mornings' vocal work.

Before we went to Oasis Pool Side for lunch, Sukhirah called all the interpreters to an office to hand over a token of appreciation each given by MBMB. She was the only one who verbally thanked us for our service.

I was not tempted by the variety of dishes anymore. I ate a little for the sake of keeping my friends company. Since my entire teaching load had been shifted to the city campus, I seldom met KC who was stationed at the Alor Gajah campus most of the time. It was an occasion for us to chat about our recent life.

I was especially glad to have known Emmy who was such a friendly person. About fifteen minutes after she had left with her husband's car, she telephoned me, "I'm still on my way back. I'm already missing you two. You must come to my house and I'll cook for you!"

Having swallowed 6 hotel meals within 42 hours, I had to begin to plan my next 42 hours' fasting in order to get rid of my added kilos...

10th International Convention Of Melaka Twin Cities III

That Tuesday morning, KC told us that she was not going to be around at the hotel that night because she had an evening class to teach at the city campus. As a vegetarian, she would also not miss the grand meal which would be composed of mostly meaty dishes. Therefore, she had dressed up in kebaya instead of office clothes to work since she would not have the occasion to wear it later.

During lunch, she suggested that I invited someone to attend the dinner on her behalf with her invitation card. As Albert P was the first person who had telephoned me that day and to whom I had returned a call later to discuss Paul's cheating case, I naturally thought of this Calvary Care Home (CCH) administrator in his batik shirts in several events held in hotels. However, having experience with this CCH colleague who sometimes changed his mind faster than a model who changes her clothes at fashion shows, I already made backup plans even before I dialled his number.

"Hi, Albert! It's me again. I've got an offer for you or a favour from you."

"Is it a trip to France? Haaaaa..." Even if he accepted a free air ticket to travel, the eve of the departure he might still suddenly cancel his plan to board the flight.

I explained the situation to him. He gave me a positive answer by assuring me that he was going to iron his batik shirt.

"In case you change your mind, can you please find somebody else to replace you?..."

My concern about his tendency to make indefinite decisions was not in vain. True enough, he texted me fifteen minutes later to inform me that he had decided not to go and that Annie agreed to be the replacement. I immediately switched to my plan B and got in touch with this sister in Christ whom I had also befriended at CCH. Worrying that she might have the transport problem and other unexpected reasons which I could not help, I had to be frank with her.

"If you can't go, I've a friend who might be interested." I had no way to contact VC whose hand phone had been out of battery for a few days. So, my blog friend Vince who liked western food was my plan C. But I was not sure if he had any traditional costume to wear for this formal dinner.

To cut the story short, after numerous SMS and phone calls until until my fingers were tired and my throat was dry, Sis Annie finally confirmed to join me at this official dinner of the convention in the ballroom of Equatorial Hotel.

She appeared in her nice blue baju kurung. I had put on for the first time the Vietnamese tailor-made cheongsam which my Taiwanese friend YC had sent to me by post as a present two years ago. Emmy in her beautiful black dress and jewellery came with her husband who was wearing a silky shirt. We were directed to be seated at a table next to the members of media.

When I asked Emmy to repeat her husband's name which I did not hear clearly, she answered, "Felix, like the animal." She was referring to the famous animated character. It was the number one association with this name. Somehow after leaving our kandang that morning, I did not expect to encounter a new member of the same species suitable to be kept in a cage!

Felix had heard from Emmy about my liking for lasagna and her plan to let me taste this Italian speciality which she could also prepare. With his thumb up and his shining big round eyes like Felix the Cat, he said to me, "She cooks very well." When the husband gave such a compliment, I had zero doubt about the wife's culinary skill.

Emmy and Sis Annie very soon had topics in common, especially when they heard the same oldies performed by artists on the stage. Felix, who was less of a chatterbox, sometimes stood up to talk to his acquaintances at other tables. As a club member of Equatorial Hotel, he even knew the manager as well as the chef.

Sis Annie was all smiles. "No regrets..." Before we started eating, she already sent an SMS to express her satisfaction with the food, the company and the atmosphere to her daughter Adrienne who was working a night shift. I then reminded her to thank Albert for having transferred the blessing to her.

I had almost forgot that only local cuisine would be served at an official function like this. When I saw the dishes, I realized that Sis Annie was the best candidate to replace KC since she had no problem eating all kinds of meat and seafood. I felt that God was asking me, "No regrets about persuading her hard to come, right?"

We enjoyed both the meal and the performances. The delegate of Japan who had given the longest presentation during the close door meeting in the morning was again eager to give the best of him by volunteering to sing two songs in Malay.

Appreciating this wonderful moment where people from different cities and countries were gathered in Melaka, the gateway of Christianity in Malaysia, I said to Sis Annie, "It would be great if all of us would sing together to praise the Lord."

10th International Convention Of Melaka Twin Cities II

The next morning after the registration, I sat at a corner outside the convention hall. While waiting for Emmy and KC, I continued to translate the last part of the second speech which I had not been able to finish before I left my house at 7am. My two colleagues who arrived a bit later were invited by other staff for breakfast on the same floor. They telephoned me to join them and passed me the coupon. My heavy dinner the previous night still had effect on my stomach, so I just took cereal with milk and a croissant.

After being fed with good food two times, we were finally required to "produce" in our kandang (cage for domestic animals in Malay), called by Emmy to describe the wooden booths specially built to cater to the interpreters.

From our kandang, we could see people who held important government posts in Melaka, ambassadors, mayors of city halls and city council from all over Asia or their representatives, speakers, heads of departments, agencies, federal and state members of the media and all the local and foreign participants who were gathered in the opening ceremony of this annual event.

Our main job there was to read the speeches by the Chief Minister (CM) of Melaka and the Mayor of Melaka Historic City council (MBMB) which we had translated into Mandarin, French, Spanish and Arabic respectively, while they were delivering their inaugural addresses in English. Non-English speaking participants who needed the simultaneous translation in any of these four languages and who had switched on their headphones would be listening to our voice through the microphone.

After the short opening ceremony, the CM of Melaka, ambassadors and city mayors proceeded to a reception and special meeting among them. We interpreters were supposed to follow these very very important people (VVIP) downstairs immediately but we preferred to spend a brief shooting time with the mascot of the forthcoming SUKMA XIII who was happy to pose with us in front of the camera.

The secretary of the event Sukhirah who was in charge of the interpreters was desperately looking for us, for the close door meeting had already started. So we quickly entered the Phoenix ballroom to settle down in our second kandang.

The first agenda was to revise the minutes of the meeting 2009. I had been carrying the hard copy with me since Monday morning but I had no time to even read the 12 pages once due to my heavy teaching load. Since I had not been instructed to work on the report, I selectively translated main outlines.

Next, the ambassadors and the city mayors gave their speech one by one and discussed on the topic "Heritage and Tourism". Our task became much more challenging as we had to interpret on the spot without any texts given in advance!

Sitting between Emmy and KC, I could hear Spanish on my left and Mandarin on my right for the same speech. Lack of experience, I was sometimes stuck in words when coming across names, unfamiliar vocabulary or accents. KC neither was used to improvising. Only Emmy seemed to cope with the situation very well for I kept hearing her voice in her mother tongue.

I had forgot to switch off my cell phone inside my handbag which suddenly rang! Thank God it was not loud. I promptly put it in a silent mode and wondered why Albert P had telephoned at that hour. Receiving no response from me, he sent an SMS "Paul was caught cheating in test by a teacher... Please help to counsel." In the midst of my "tough labour", I managed to speedily type a message to the symbolic father of the Calvary Care Home boys--"I'm now working as an interpreter for VVIP in an international convention. My life is also at stake!..."

One week earlier at MBMB, I had been told by Sukhirah that the Romanian ambassador was the one who requested a interpreter for the French language. Since, my worry was minimal knowing that he was after all not a French native speaker. Among the four interpreters, the colleague for Arabic was the first to step forward from the kandang to give simultaneous translation in English to all the participants while the Yemen ambassador presented his speech in Arabic. When it was the Romanian ambassador's turn, he spoke fluent English! I began to be confused about who actually needed my service. Anyway, it was a relief to me and from that moment onwards I simply imagined myself speaking French to the air.

When the meeting was over, I was quite exhausted though I had not made extreme effort. During the buffet lunch at Oasis Pool Side, my stomach was still not craving for food. I had a moderate meal consisting of salad, soup and fruit, which surprised Emmy who had witnessed the contrast of the quantity of my serving the previous night.

The real reason behind my apparently small appetite was that it was looking forward to the grander dinner later...

That afternoon, I alone stayed back to translate the two other speeches for the closing ceremony the next day. When the job was done at 5pm, then only did I walk out from the hotel to hang around at the nearby shopping malls.

The practice of "pay first, play later" was indeed a better option.