Meaningful encounters on our trip
By Goldie Chong
The Gateway pastors: Standing R-L Shirley, Lee Neo, Pit Loon,
Kee Hing (red shirt) & Mei Chan (white blouse), Chok Wang & Yoke Cheng (with granddaughter)
Pastors Goh Lee Neo, Shirley and Pit Loon (who we fondly nicknamed the Trinity of the Gateway Bahasa Church) took us to lunch at a popular restaurant but when we got there, it was closed. It was God’s arrangement that we went to another restaurant for there we bumped into our old friends Pastor Lam Kee Hing and Mei Chan from Kota Kinabalu who were attending a conference in Melaka and about to leave that afternoon! Their hosts Dr Pang Chok Wang, a respected Christian gastro-intestinal specialist, and his wife Yoke Cheng surprised us by paying our lunch bill!
Ministry to cancer patients
After lunch we visited Gateway’s Mission House where they provide free hospitality to patients and families who come to Melaka for medical treatment. This is one of the church’s outreach ministries and many of these relatives have found Jesus Christ during their stay. We prayed for a teenage boy who was going through chemo-therapy.
He was fearfully expecting to have his leg amputated but through prayer, the doctors saved it to the relief of his whole family. We were already seated in the car to leave when Ps Lee Neo told us to wait awhile. The reason?
The family from Indonesia
She went back upstairs to pray for the family’s young daughter making sure she received Jesus. “I remember I haven’t prayed for her. I never know when there will be no opportunity anymore’’, she explained. We were touched by such compassionate concern.
Ladies fellowship
Gan Chui Peng the ever-energetic former headmistress of several educational institutions, never fails to invite us to her lively ladies group. We led a bible study on how Jesus lighted a spark in an ostracized Samaritan woman’s lonely life resulting in her introducing Him to her whole village. We ended by challenging these faithful and influential ladies to start sparks in their own circle of influence.
Full Gospel Businessmen in Melaka is a band of business entrepreneurs and CEOs who meet regularly for outreach and fellowship. We attended their outreach dinner in a boutique hotel which was formerly a Peranakan family’s historical home in Heeren Street. We were guided personally by the owner on an eye-opening tour of this impressive heritage building explaining to us the various antiques, pottery, paintings, costumes, heirlooms, etc. of his family.
Since it was the week after Easter, we shared about the two disciples who were on their way back to Emmaus after having their hopes dashed by the death of their “hoped for saviour’’. To them, it was game over, they were going home, end of Part 1 and ‘’it is finished’’. They did not realize that when Jesus declared, ‘’it is finished’’, it was actually the beginning of the glorious Part 2 – that having finished His work on earth, He is now alive to continue it forever. We ended by asking them to consider whether they also have a Part 2: while experiencing darkness and hopelessness, we should remember in fact Christ is already risen bringing new hope. Whether on earth now or in heaven later we can enjoy Part 2 because our Lord is alive.
The blessing in disguise
All the family members in Melaka were to travel to Singapore for a nephew’s wedding. It was decided to hire a 7-seater maxi-taxi for R$900. Due to miscommunication, the taxi was booked for Thursday morning, but we had the FGB meeting on Thursday evening. Unfortunately, it could not be changed so we had to plan our own way to Singapore.
This caused a certain amount of stress because Tek had sciatica and could not walk long distances. After much consideration and enquiry, we had these options: book another taxi for a few hundred dollars or take the bus and get off at the Johore Baru Causeway to take another taxi to Singapore to avoid the long walk at immigration building (passengers need not get off if they are in cars).
After much prayer we bought bus tickets with the option of getting off at JB or Singapore, depending on Tek’s condition during the trip. God was good. Tek had no pain despite the one hour long queue at the Singapore immigration and we arrived at our destination at a total cost of R$60. END
We missed the maxi taxi and took the bus to Singapore
