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Roller Coaster speed up as it moves down
Uncle Yong and Aunty Chen used to operate school’s canteen, they were hard workers and serious in earning their living, they were not wealthy neither lacking. Uncle Yong and his wife have 5 above 60 years old elderlies under their care, they are their parents, an uncle and a 92 years old grandmother, and they also have 2 children who are still schooling. Every day, uncle Yong’s parents and his uncle have to wake up before day light to sell beverage in their central wet market, everyone in the family played their own role and live harmoniously and happily.
When our government declared MCO, another of his uncle who lived in Brunei moved back to stay with them. During that time, everyone had no income, Uncle Yong’s burden were getting heavier with the increase of living expenses. In the end, they started from delivering bread to receiving Manna Food Bags as aid recipient. They had experienced the joy of delivering breads to others, but when they were at their lowest points, their hearts were comforted when they received the Manna Food Bag instead. Malaysia Christian Basel Penampang branch 7979 Holistic Care Station had built close ties with Uncle Yong and his family by giving regular care and encouragement.
On one afternoon, when the sun was shining bright, the volunteer had a talk with Aunty Chen in the car. “Our lives are already very difficult, furthermore we have 5 elderlies and 2 children …” Aunty Chen poured out all her worries, she was worried that Uncle Yong would lost interest very quickly while using up all their savings, life would get worse. The volunteer shared her thoughts after they prayed over the issue: “If God allows, then you will not be able to stop it. Things will go on smoothly, and the outcome can be out of our expectations.” Thereafter, Aunty Chen’s heart was comforted, and she agreed with Uncle Yong.
Roller Coaster Climbing Up Slowly
Uncle Yong encountered many challenges in the progress of setting up the coffee shop business, it was not an all smooth sailing. However, God’s blessing is unstoppable, whenever need arises, there would surely someone there who would offered to help, just like the incident where Uncle Yong worried about the startup capital, then one church member was willing to contribute for investment purpose.
Looking back at one particular incident when it was close to opening, where Uncle Yong was worried and troubled over the deteriorating condition of a very expensive roast duck oven. However, they chose to believe that the God who had brought them through all their lowest points will bless them once again. Aunty Chen told Uncle Yong: “You will in-charge of searching for our new oven, I’ll in charge of praying.” Very soon, somebody sold an unbelievable low price roast duck oven to them. On another occasion, when the business was bad due to pandemic, many of their workers left, that left Uncle Yong and his wife to handle everything. When the church heard that, and so coincidentally there was one public holiday during that period of time, the church brothers and sisters went to the shop to help up by taking and delivering orders. Uncle Yong and his wife were so moved by their deeds. Later, an orphanage in that community closed down, a youngster from the centre had no way to go, he ended up working at the coffee shop.
At present, Uncle Yong and his family slowly catching up to their previous days, his parents were also back to the Central Wet Market to sell beverage. “Just like the roller coaster rides, it goes up and down, it seems like dangerous, but God is just like the rail track that hold us firmly, preventing us from falling …” When we talked about the lowest point of their lives, Aunty Chen expressed that although running the business was difficult but with God’s blessing and caring from church’s members, she still felt very thankful, and thus named the coffee shop “Happiness”. Holding on to each other, Uncle Yong and Aunty Chen weathered the storms and received the blessings of God, they have grown closer and became more harmonious with each other. Meanwhile, Aunty Chen also insisted to bring their children to church, their daughter had slowly turn from a rebellious teen to a teen who is close to her parents, she shared everything with them, in return gaining trust from her parents. The Roller Coaster Moved Slowly
On one early morning, Happiness Coffee Shop ….
“This is a large poor community, we have to cook 200 packed meals!” “Good! The yellow noodles that we ordered is on the way, I’ll pick it up ….. and also eggs.” “Please tidy up the table outside, we are going to pack the food on it.” “Who can buy soya sauce, we need it for the fried noodles?” The conversations went back and forth as the volunteers busied themselves at Uncle Yong’s coffee shop. Happiness Coffee Shop was the business that Uncle Yong took over earlier, now it had become the community hot spot that spread out Happiness to every needy family. 过山车加速滑落 勇叔和珍姨原本是学校食堂的小贩,每天勤恳工作、认真生活。一家虽不是大富大贵,但也衣食无缺。勇叔夫妻上有5位六十岁以上的老人家要照顾,包括父母、叔叔和92高龄的老奶奶,下有2位上学的孩子。勇叔父母和叔叔每天天未亮便到中央巴刹冲泡茶水卖茶,一家人各尽其责,和乐融融。 政府宣布实施行管令时,勇叔远在汶莱的另一位叔叔搬回来和他们同住。当时,大家都没有收入,生活费的增加,不经意地加重了勇叔一家负担。慢慢地,勇叔一家从派发面包给予他人援助,到领取吗哪包接受他人援助,感受到派发面包帮助他人时的喜悦,也感受到自己在面对低谷时,受到吗哪包帮助的那份感动。马来西亚基督教巴色会兵南邦堂7979全人关怀站也因着吗哪食物银行深入接触勇叔一家,志工更是常常关心和鼓励他们。 某天中午,烈阳当空,志工和珍姨在车中对话。“我们的生活已经很难过了,家里还有5个老人家、两个孩子……”妻子将忧虑一股脑说出,担心勇叔做事三分钟热度,把家里仅有储蓄亏光,生活雪上加霜。志工为她祷告后,将心里的感受与她分享:“如果上帝允许,你是没有办法拒绝的。事情会顺利发生,甚至超过想象。” 就此,珍姨心里得到安慰,默许了勇叔。 过山车缓缓上升 勇叔着手筹备咖啡店开张,并非一帆风顺,重重挑战需要一一解决。但上帝的祝福并没有因此终止,咖啡店开张的需要,都刚好有人能协助,就像勇叔在烦恼抵押金时,就遇上教会会友愿意资助般,迎刃而解。 记得咖啡店开张之后,勇叔为着即将损坏的昂贵烧鸭炉而犯愁。但他们选择相信带领他们渡过生活低潮的上帝,会再次祝福他们。珍姨告诉勇叔:“你负责去找新的烧鸭炉,我负责祷告。”不久后就有人以超低的价格把烧鸭炉卖给了勇叔。还有一次,因为疫情而生意不佳,工人也纷纷离开,店里只剩下勇叔夫妇两人打点,忙前忙后。教会知晓后,恰巧那期间遇上一天公共假期,弟兄姐妹几人便来到咖啡店帮忙,有人端茶倒水,有人点餐送餐,让勇叔和珍姨备受感动。后来,因该区某家“儿童之家”关闭,有位年轻人不知何去何从,就来这边打工了。 现今,勇叔一家的生活慢慢恢复往昔,勇叔的父母也回到中央巴刹卖茶。“像坐过山车一样,虽然高高低低好像很危险,但上帝就是那个轨道紧紧牵引我们,不让我们掉下去……”谈到这段生活低潮,珍姨认为,有上帝的带领和教会会友的关心陪伴,过程虽然艰难却充满感恩,因此把茶店名字改为幸福。 勇叔和珍姨携手经过风雨,一同领受上帝恩典,夫妻之间的关系越来越和睦。这期间,珍姨也坚持带着孩子去教会。女儿更是从青少年叛逆中转变,和父母的关系亲密无间,愿意和父母分享,父母也更加信任孩子。 过山车珊珊而行 某天大清早,幸福咖啡店里…… “今天这区很多贫民,我们要煮200份餐盒啊!” “好!订购的黄面等下就要送来了,我去接……还有鸡蛋!” “外面桌子清理一下,等下在那边打包。” “今天炒面,谁可以去买酱油?” 里面传来志工们你一言我一语的声音,大伙在勇叔的咖啡店里忙碌着,不亦乐乎。 幸福咖啡店,是勇叔当初接手经营的咖啡店,如今她成为这个社区传递幸福的据点,将幸福带到每一个有需要的家庭当中。 Comments are closed.
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