forgot the last time to mention the name of this blessed school, this school that we weren't supposed to go to, and only by chance (or miracle, whichever you prefer), a roadblock meant that we had to change course, and so end up in this school - 天赐学校. for all the Chinese illiterate (i trust not many), that would mean 'sky-given', or in our Christian perspective case, 'God-given'. What a blessed name! a school commissioned by God, given by God; perhaps the students never realised the significance, but for us there, the implication was clear. and God, yes God was going to work! some way or another.
and the second day commenced with organizing the library, at least for a few chums such as John Tay, Deon, Benlee, I and a few others. Deon, with great precision started to write out sticky identification tags to paste on the sides of the books whilst the rest of us stood around and waited for further instruction. the library was a small enclosed space, perhaps about half the size of a regular room in Singapore, the cabinets lining the perimeter of that tiny space containing shelf upon shelf of Chinese books; later on, i adjourned for a moment to help in the painting work being done in the neighbouring room
in case memories of the previous days' painting ensue, it wasn't furniture painting this time, but actual what-we-do-in-art-class painting; thin sheets of mahjong paper, a few pencils (sharpened with jack knives) and colored paints that never seemed to mix properly; i found myself working alongside Alvin and Hadi, quite a humorous pair, and they enlisted my help in drawing - lo and behold, a unicorn.
I didn't really know how a unicorn was like, so i tried to draw a horse and somehow managed to sketch a horn upon the top of its head. the juxtaposition of horn and horse wasn't quite perfect but will do will do, seeing that it all fell into that theme of fairytale - yes there was Alvin's giant carrot, a rather out of place pikachu (yes i remembered how to draw pokemon from primary school!), flying balloons, flying pigs, angels adorned with halos standing upon a skyscraper. and everything had wings.
we wanted to tell them, to soar and pursue whatever their dreams were
the second piece of art was equally fantastic - or at least it was meant to be - the 12 animals of the zodiac were sketched - but the children kept laughing at our inability to draw realistically; maybe the tiger did look like a kitty cat, the snake looked like a worm, the dragon was all black (yup, spilled calligraphy ink haha), the monkey was a stick figure, and the pig had sunglasses; but laughter was all that mattered. At the end of it, we topped it up with a chalk fight, grating chalk into chalk dust, tossing and rubbing it off on each other. that was my morning;
but something wonderful was happening in the library
John Tay sneaked behind Benlee as Benlee provided the necessary cover (though i never knew Benlee, with his relatively thin figure, could provide that much blockage); they slipped about six Gideon bibles into the library that day, sandwiched between the Chinese books, camouflaged under the many others; and that was that. planting the seeds of the Gospel. but you might ask, what's the use? seeing that the bibles were in English. we asked the same question. and God would answer us in time to come.
the mass dance came up soon; we thought we were supposed to teach the children how to dance; but apparently we ended up simply doing it as a performance in front of the whole school. so yes, we walked on sunshine in front of the whole school, and did a pretty decent job. The break-dancers of course, decided to give their own rendition, which i didn't quite manage to pick up though i thought it was worth learning. nevermind. tim is no breaking material, i should just stick with being good old mugger boy tim.
later on; we were shocked. oh no. we had to come up with five more performances on the spot. yes. five (must have been the fitting relationship it had with us being in Year 5, nah maybe they just wanted to torment us, or maybe they loved us much, yes i think they loved us much); so we panicked, and somehow, we found a way to stand up under the pressure.
alright. we started with the hokey pokey, bought time for Mich, Sarina and Lucy (our lovely dancers!) to come up with a performance, which they executed quite delightfully; Eve, Benlee, Ben and I sang and harmonized the 'In the jungle, the mighty jungle' (yup yup!); The breakers gave a lovely rendition that saw Seb Chua in his coolest element (haha); our Kum-Ba-Yah and Amazing Grace practices didn't go to waste. and finally, we taught Twinkle Twinkle little star.
well. later. i sat in the sea of Year 9 girls. and was taught how to speak in ChongQing dialect! yes! they were all so enthusiastic. how wonderful." 好巴实！哇塞！" heh.
and the best was yet to come (in true ACSian style). here's the story:
as we watched the basketball match that afternoon, the girls surrounding me, it suddenly occurred to me that i should, i should remember these girls, for their bubbly antics, for their warmth and laughter; there were several cards in my haversack, and i opened the bag to take them out, asking the girls if i could get a signature or a short message written on these cards; needless to say, they obliged.
and whilst i opened the bag, they peered inside, and saw many books, and asked out of curiosity what these books were about. i stuck my hand in again, fished about among my card trick and secret book, to stumble upon the only Gideon bible i had. and i took it out, passed it to them, told them what it was. they grabbed it, with much excitement, opened it and saw that it was in English.
it was in English. their faces fell. but lighted up as they saw some familiar Chinese characters.
it was John 3:16 in Chinese. and as they read. i saw excitement, anticipation. but then they turned to me and said they didn't understand.
there and then, i saw the opportunity. and strangely, i had the courage (from God i suppose) to seize it. and i asked them about Christianity, and Jesus, they said they heard about Jesus before in History class, but didn't know much beyond that; there, I shared a 3 minute gospel, with my limited Chinese ability, but God provided the words - thankfully.
and there stared on in shock. they nodded. they knew what i was talking about. and they listened attentively. i think i realised at that time why God had allowed the girls to be drawn to me, not an ego-boost, not anything of that sort. but for that very moment.
and i told them to keep the bible. it came back to me later on.
i passed the bible to a guy named 胡健 from the same Grade 9 class, and asked him to pass it on to the girls, asked the girls to keep them. and i had told the girls that if any time they needed hope, they needed light, they could remember that verse from John 3:16. also, i left them some hope that somehow, a Chinese bible would make it to them. somehow.
and farewells followed. some hope glimmered in my heart. perhaps that made the farewell easier. but as i turned the final corner, and jumped and waved again, the girls waved back with the rest of my class and 胡健, and my heart sank a little, but was lifted again by God's work in that lovely school. i didn't cry. maybe i would have. but i didn't. somehow.
that night. we returned. and soon. the bone came.
but that's another story for another day. i'd best be off now, to polish, to pack, and to spend time with God before leaving. yup. see ya guys after LDC. may God keep the passion fresh in our hearts, and i hope God will work in LDC as well! (:
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