MORE THAN A VISIT
Call it a visit, an outing or even a mission ~ it is definitely more than all that put together. It was a marvelous day of bringing joy and love to fifty old folks in Miriam Home Kluang, Johore, run by a few dedicated, committed Canossian Sisters. We arrived during their Communion Service and Sr Christin was there extolling the virtues of forgiveness and the love of Christ, giving them hope and encouragement all the way.
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We, the Canossian Lay Missionary Group and well wishers, [together coincidentally equaled the number of residents] entertained them with games, songs and dances. It was a slow start, but with enthusiastic gestures and some coaxing, we were soon immersed in fun and laughter and some even danced longer than expected! The frail ones happily responded by tapping small musical instruments or even clapping to the rhythm of ‘Rasa Sayang’. The session ended with every resident receiving prizes and gifts. We, on the other hand, were joyfully rewarded with their toothless grins and expressions of gratitude! Our members even promised to visit them again.
Our next destination was Tangkak where a church was found to be in a deplorable state. The wooden structure and pews of St Matthew’s Church were visibly rotting away. The Christian community, which consisted of farmers, rubber-tappers and truck-drivers, had gathered in the church compound and seemed genuinely pleased to welcome visitors from Singapore. To our surprise they treated us to a scrumptious spread of local goodies. We were truly impressed by their friendliness and generosity. The farmers also brought out their produce of papaya and vegetables. They were not selling their crops but welcomed any donation to the church building fund. This little gesture confirmed their desire of rebuilding their church to house a bigger flock. It also showed the community’s hard work in maintaining and deepening their faith in Jesus. To this end we the Canossian Lay Missionary Group promised them our collaboration and support, making our next project as bold as sending them 60 refurbished pews from Singapore to replace their shaky ones!
Altogether
it was a day well spent, spreading love and cheer and seeing Jesus in
everyone we met.
Patricia Chung
Canossian Lay Missionary
April 14, 2002
