Bowling As An Amateur

I was introduced to bowling by my former secondary school classmates during a supper outing many years ago. Without any experience, my very first attempt was incredibly successful--I hit all the ten pins! All my buddies were astonished. The result of my second round was the total opposite--the bowling ball fell into the gutter during half of its rolling journey and I had a good laugh of myself. Later, a friend accidentally slipped on the lane while throwing the ball. All of us teased him mercilessly. Since, I considered bowling as a recreation more than a sport.

Two weeks ago, after watching professional players' performance.

and seeing former Asian Number One Shalin Zulkifli during the SUKMA bowling event at MIBC (Melaka International Bowling Centre),

I was keen to roll a bowling ball again. Since the Calvary Care Home "team members" were not able to follow me back to my hometown for holiday, I invited VC, one of my best activity partners, to go together to the bowling centre at the shopping mall near my house in the morning.

We were the earliest birds at 10.30am to benefit from the "happy hours" rate.

My blog friend Vince who also came from Batu Pahat had commented that everything was old in this centre which had been existing for years. To VC and me who did not even know the correct way

to release the ball,

we simply enjoyed the fun to pose with all kinds of animal positions.

VC who only played the second time in his life scored higher marks than I who did not even reach 100 in the first game.

Now you understand why I could only appear at SUKMA as an onlooker, not a participant.

Church Camp VII: Fellowship Times

Before I had the sense of belonging to Calvary Life Assembly (CLA), I always wanted to run away as soon as the church service was over. Since 2008, I have still been running--everywhere in the church compound for various reasons--to arrange the return transport for Uncle Seelan, to make sure new visitors were attended to at the coffee lounge, to take pictures of guest speakers, etc. Early this year, I committed myself to sending Calvary Care Home (CCH) boys back. So I have even less time to sit in the canteen and chat with church members who are getting more and more familiar with my demeanour.

Having to rush nowhere in this church camp, I finally had several fellowship times with some Calvarites.

During my first afternoon stroll, I met Sis Fei Gin near the waterfall and joined her to walk to the club house. I had the great respect for this single lady who had sacrificed nine years without holidays bringing up destitute children, most of whom were not from her ethnic group. I remember when Pastor James announced to the congregation her resignation from her full-time job at CCH and advertised the vacancy, I was asking God in my heart, "Will it be me?". Two years later, as a mere part-time volunteer serving at my own pace and not willing to compromise my social life, I am still too far from taking over the position.

The next afternoon, I held another conversation with Sis Fei Gin while Luke, David and Daniel were having a tea break in her room. She shared with me her health problems despite her nursing knowledge, her vegetarian diet, her view about parenting the CCH boys, etc. Though I did not agree on all her points, I understood her better.

Sis Fei Gin's room was next to Sis Christine's. I began to develop friendship with this elderly sister in Christ after we had been put into the same Externally-Focused Small Group. During the free time on the first day, she telephoned me to find out my whereabouts. A short while after I entered her room, her room-mate and neighbours who were back from their walk came in to initiate a ladies' talk on the sofa. The most interesting topic was from Sis Christine who revealed to us her love stories which had taken place at least forty-five years ago! To me, she had been the most unlikely person to contribute that part of her autobiography. Yet I felt so related to her sharing.

The second evening after the revival time, she invited me alone to her room again to accompany her to a trip down memory lane and gave me advice regarding certain issues. Now, she became my mentor in relationships in addition to prayer.

This church camp also allowed me to befriend Calvarites whom I only knew by faces. While I was sitting near the swimming pool to keep an eye on my "sons" who were having fun in the water, more real parents joined in with their children. One of them was Michelle whom I had first seen in September 2008 during an outing to Tanjung Keling invited by my cell leader's family. Her eldest daughter had grown bigger but this trendy mother of two remained fit. As a pioneer of the newly founded ladies cell, she succeeded in grooming another member Adrienne who had been surprising us with her different hairstyles.

Later, Sis Abigail arrived with her lovely toddler daughter. As a befriender at CLA last year, I shook her hand when she entered the main sanctuary but never talked to her. This time, I had a closer interaction with her. Given a single room to be with her child, she had no adult room-mate to go out with during free time. As a result, she had not been enjoying the camp much.

I told her that I had read about her adoption of the little girl in one of the past issues of "Calvawrites" and that my late father and my mother's sister had also been blessed by similar kind acts. As we exchanged our family testimonies, her eyes brightened. I think she would have liked to stay longer at the swimming pool if not for Naomi who needed a nap. I was very glad that this encounter had been a blessing to both of us.

Around 120 people had turned up in this church camp.

Of course, the people with whom I spent most of the time were still my travelling companions. On the way back to Melaka, the junior ones who, after yelling "boring la!" for four consecutive days, said at last, "I wish we could stay longer."

The senior one, after multiple stops at the road side and moves back to the lane just to shift from the auto-gear to the manual gear, in spite of my reminder in a high pitch to use turn signals, finally listened to my advice that simply pressing a button was enough to change gear while driving.

Again, I felt like kicking them out of the car. This time, the driver included.

Church Camp VI: My Secret Places

Before I joined the church camp, I had narrowly associated Genting Highlands with the casino and theme parks based on my past experiences.

When I stood at the balcony of my twin-sharing room and looked at the scenery, I was glad that we were so close to the nature at 10th km of the renown mountain retreat.

Rain began to fall after I settled my luggage and planned to walk around the resort. When the sky was blue again,

I carried out my solitary exploration.

To me, even contemplating a small white flower among green leaves was a joy.

How much more when I came across a phenomena as beautiful as a waterfall.

The next afternoon, I seized a moment to be alone and came to the same spot with my booklets. Instead of sitting on the bench which was beside the road, I chose the grass to enjoy a better view of the water rapidly dropping in elevation. Moreover, I would be less noticeable.

When I raised my head, leaves of three surrounding palm trees were like opening arms. I almost wanted to lie down to wave back at them.

Ants which were passing by me were also very friendly. Not a single one of them felt threatened and bit me, though I must be a gigantic stranger to them.

When the same type of flower grew from another surface, it had a different charm.

The third morning, I managed to wake up at six o'clock on my own. I waited in the room until it was brighter to survey a nice corner for my personal devotion. This time, I took another road.

On the first day, I had met some church members telling me that there was nothing special to see over there. However, I discovered this nice place and was willing to go back to my room to get everything ready and take my Bible before making a second trip there.

I supposed few campers had bothered to spare their leisure time to chit chat under the shelter

or on the bench which seemed to be abandoned for months.

I sat on the bridge to meditate on God's words while breathing fresh air, listening to the falling of water and occasionally watching a squirrel running from one tree to another.

Had I been given a whole day alone in Genting Highlands, I would abide in these secret places in the presence of the Creator of the universe.

Church Camp V: Sessions In The Meeting Room

We checked in at Genting View Resort in the afternoon. Our first gathering

in the meeting room only started after dinner. Everyone was full of energy!

As I was sitting at the back, the first night I did not know that John was the drum prayer. The next day while I was taking my food at the dining hall, I overheard Sis Lyn who was telling another sister that John had played the drum very well. I immediately passed the complement to him as soon as I returned to the table.

Paul and David looked much more relaxed than when they were singing in the church on Sunday mornings.

Even their symbolic father who usually sang with his serious face was jumping and clapping cheerfully, as if he had just learnt that the school holidays had been extended another two months.

David had opted not to follow Albert P's car so that he could have "more freedom". When I saw him at the reception counter, his face was dull. Though he had arrived much earlier with the church bus, he had to wait for us almost one hour in order to leave his luggage in the 6-pax unit which he was sharing with Albert who would be holding the room key. After a good dinner, he was happy again.

One of the memorable moments of the sessions was when our guest speakers Pastor Ronald, his wife Jasmine, Pastor James and his wife Maggie offered their arms to hug us like they did to their children, according to our gender. All the Calvary Care Home (CCH) boys, except Daniel who was in the children church, joined the male queue to experience love expressed in this tangible way.

Though in my memory Dad had never hugged me tightly, he used to speak my primary love languages which were quality time and words of affirmation. Thus, I did not crave for any hugs from him when he was around.

As I was approaching Sis Jasmine, I was thinking of Mum, neither from whom I had this kind of close physical touch. My geste was rather on Mum's behalf to understand Father God's heart since she had not yet received Christ as her Saviour.

The CCH boys were not the only ones

lack of their father and/or mother's love.

I noticed that the person who had embraced Ps James for the longest time was surprisingly one whose parents had been faithfully serving in the church...

The group devotion was like a cell meeting.

The first morning devotion, I was borrowed by the CCH group to lead. The second one, I returned to my original group and had some interesting sharing with other young adults.

Before the following teaching session, line dancing was introduced during the praise and worship time.

Albert was one of those who were being revived spiritually as well as physically. He had warmed himself up by shaking his body so much that he had to take off his jacket to continue to dance.

Standing just behind him, I thought I was the only person with my jaw dropped. I even wondered if he had absorbed the dancing spirit from Sis Christine since she was the one who looked rather reserved those three days. Later Ps James said to us, "You all should dance like Albert Peh..." That was the confirmation that his liveliness in movements was something so unusual that it even attracted Pastor's attention!

Our brother in Christ's unintentional high-profil performance did not finish there. He had been touched by the Holy Spirit to lead to sing "Jesus Loves Me", which was not in the original worship list.

He told me that he had sung during the Easter service in the past and the congregation cried. This time, recalling God's marvelous work in his life, he himself shed tears.

As he was getting more emotional, he took David in arms, who was standing nearest to him, to release his fatherly love. I knew my foster son would have felt loved being fed roti cheese rather than being hugged. Nevertheless, David kindly let this touching scene last until the end of the song.

After all the teaching sessions, I was encouraged to keep looking for God life instead of good life.

Church Camp IV: Genting Highlands Theme Parks

The earlier incident which had delayed us about half an hour did not affect our mood to go up to Resorts World Genting.

Personally, I did not look forward to the theme parks. And I would prefer to see the Statue of Liberty in New York

and the Eiffel Towel in Paris, not in Genting.

But to the boys, everything was fun and enjoyment. They were eager to hop on all kinds of rides. We checked the ticket price. In this peak season of school holidays, it exceeded the amount of their angpao account which I was keeping on their behalf. We had to appeal to Pastor James who was the one to decide if the boys were allowed to use money from their own bank accounts. The chairman of Calvary Care Home (CCH) did not give his approval immediately. Therefore, the boys could only lean on the gates with disappointed faces.

When I put myself in their shoes, I did not like the feeling either--watching others while myself not having a chance to experience the rides.

After lunch, we also passed by SnowWorld and the outdoor theme park without entering. I think it was the most cruel experience I had ever had with children...

No further motivation to stay longer at Resorts World Genting, we quit this city of entertainment without having entertained ourselves much. This time, we took the descending road.

While driving, our tour leader Albert P thought of stopping for other visits. As soon as he noticed the sign board showing "Highlands Mushroom Farm", he refused to listen to his electronic buddy Papago who had calmly instructed him to take another direction to go to Genting View Resort where we were going to attend our church camp. Somehow, he was quite receptive to my nervous human voice shouting "signal!" every time he made a turn or changed lane.

The vegetable farm

and the mushroom farm were in fact not the cup of tea of my travelling companions.

We spent longer time at a mini-market next to the farms--The adults chatting and sipping our cups of linzhi tea kindly offered by a shopkeeper while the boys hanging around among the shelves.

Mushrooms were present everywhere, some of which were huge enough to be my shelter.

To comfort the boys whose desire had not been satisfied earlier at the mountain top, their symbolic father finally brought them for a "family ride". There, we did not have to care how much we would be charged as adults or children, during peak season or low season.

The boys looked "thrilled" and smart on those animals, didn't they?

To "poor parents" like us who would like to travel with children to Genting Highlands, this is a "theme park" I strongly recommend.