THIS IS MY LIFE - 11

11. MY SECOND APPOINTMENT
After the Command Anniversary celebrations of 1956 I had my furlough in Malacca, staying with Mr. & Mrs. Tan Khia Fatt, while he was the branch manager of AIA there. They were soldiers of the corps and were very kind to Lt. Lim, their corps officer whom she referred to as her “younger brother.” Unfortunately Mrs. Tan Soo Lan is now suffering from Dementia, living with her son and his family in Bedok.

On 27th July 1957 Lt. Lim and I became engaged. In August 1957 the cadets of the Faithful Session were commissioned and one of them, Lt. Goh Siong Kheng, was appointed to Kuching Corps; I was then moved to Malacca Corps while Lt. Lim went to Balestier his home corps in Singapore.

Not long after my arrival into my second appointment I had my 21st birthday. Captain Staples bought a lovely cake but there were only two of us to eat it! I remember cutting it but forget what else happened. However, I still have my cards among the rest of the special ones received on the various significant occasions in my life!

Captain Staples and I followed the same busy schedule as our predecessor, Lt. Lim. There was Sunday morning Holiness Meeting at 10; Sunday school at 3 p.m.; Open-air meeting at 5 and Sunday evening Salvation Meeting at 7. Monday morning was always spent recording statistics and writing reports to CHQ. During the week, there were the usual meetings like Home League on Tuesday afternoon, Holiness Meeting on Thursday night, and classes for the Corps Cadets and tuition for the schoolchildren, Torchbearer youth group meeting on Friday evening and English meeting on Saturday. During the weekdays there was always the 18 hours per week visitation to be done. We travelled everywhere by bicycle, even for carolling with the youth almost every night in December before 25th.

We also had 2 lists of donors from whom we collected – one for Annual Appeal and the other monthly for the corps. One of our regular corps donors was Mrs. C.Y Chang, who was a sister of the well-known Mr. C. K. Tang of Singapore. Her husband, Mr. Chang, was a Methodist lay preacher and a great friend to the corps officers of Malacca. He used to help us at least once a week with the local dialect and in turn we assisted him in English. He was also always willing to conduct the meetings whenever the officers were out of town.

I

While I was stationed in Malacca, I was allowed to visit Singapore once in 6 weeks. I would leave Malacca by a Sing Liang bus on Wednesday morning. It was a journey of six hours, crossing two ferries, at Muar and Batu Pahat. At the end of the journey, my beloved would meet me at the bus station at Beach Road, Singapore about 5 p.m. to take me to the home of Chim Ku Ma and Ku Cheong at 41 Dhoby Ghuat. Lt. Lim and I would spend Wednesday evening strolling along Princess Elizabeth Walk, but he was careful to take me back by 9.30 p.m. because he himself wanted to be home by 10 p.m. Thursday was spent shopping for what I needed but mostly it was only look see, look see. Sometimes it was to visit his parents and other relatives. He always had my long-sleeved uniform ironed and white shoes cleaned ready for the United Thursday Night Holiness Meeting. We never missed attending this meeting. On Friday morning I had to catch the first bus back to Malacca.