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Read Part 1, where Judge Po relates her early life.
Youngest singer
In 1965, the Sunday School was preparing a song for the inauguration of our Church Sanctuary. I was fortunate to be one of the singers. In fact I was the youngest singer at the time. (Got evidence of this, yep!)
Gi Bin Sian was the chi huy (conductor). He was so slim and tall and I would get scared if he would scold us. He told us to put our hands together and lock them in front of our chest. Then he would point his two long forefingers to signal us to be ready and, using those two long forefingers (they look real long to me at that time), he would lead us to sing together.
I also remember his assistants were Kwan Kwan Chi, Bee Bong Sian, and other young people of the church (they were young at that time) Linda was there, yes I remembered her because Peter was there too. He was courting her.
First lessons
I remembered Peter carrying me in his arms and giving me an apple, a whole apple not the slices I usually got.
It was a wonderful Sunday School experience, in that there were real people out here who spoke a language I didn’t understand, but showed love and even gave me an apple.
Singing, caring, friendship and discipline were the first things I learned in Sunday school.
Why not God, why not Jesus?… Well, sorry, I didn’t speak Chinese so I did not get to know His name then. But is not God all that….love, care, friendship, discipline? Anyway, I didn’t know all their names, so I just called them “sian si, sian si, hoy, sian si” (“teacher, teacher, hey teacher”)
Later, I dropped the “hoy” because they said it’s “bo le so” like seedless grapes maybe, and we would giggle and when I talked with my friends, we would just say sian si small, sian si big, sian si old, and we practically got names for everybody.
Teachers
Then came the real Sunday School. First person we encountered was this teacher with long brown hair and she could sing high pitch in a very loud voice. Whoa!
Of course the famous Beng Ha Sian. She would flip our song sheets made of Manila paper with her long stick. Yes, they had sticks then, and you better not mess up with Sian Si or whack you go. But I never got that chance to see her use that stick upon us. Never.
If she was absent, there was this bespectacled stout lady who was all smiles, cute and spoke so fast. Kim Eng Sian and she would lead the singing or tell stories. I remember her to be so loving and caring.
Another assistant was this small lady in school, stout, and old looking. She spoke softly and her hands were plump and she could clasp them together to lead in prayers. She was So Sian.
Chinese verses
I don’t remember much because I didn’t understand Chinese or I didn’t understand what was going on.
I remember some verses though like the story about this person when Jesus said, “Sakay, di lo lay; kinadit gua be kao di e Kilay.” Whoa! That’s tough Chinese. I knew what’s Sakay and what’s Kilay. Sakay is to ride and Kilay is eyebrow. But I memorized that until now.
Zacchaeus, hurry and comedown, for I must stay at your house today. (Luke 19:5 ESV)
At that time, it didn’t make sense. How could one ride on one’s eyebrow? However, from the picture, I knew it was this small man on top of a tree and Jesus was passing by and calling him with these Chinese words.
To top this, we had picture card of the story that day with memory verse at the back given to us every Sunday. It’s a source of collection for us.
Then came the end of the year — YES! We got our prizes. I was always present and I remembered I got a very big pencil for a prize. I didn’t care if that pencil was difficult to write because that pencil was kind of a trophy for me. It was wonderful!!!
Go to Part 3 AND THE conclusion
Photo by Sidney Po.
This originally appeared as “My Sunday School Encounter” in Gospel Light vol. 20, December 2012. the author is the judge of the 8th Circuit, Municipal Circuit Trial Court and former Principal of the Sunday School at Cebu Gospel Church.
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Read Part 1, where Judge Po relates her early life.
Youngest singer
In 1965, the Sunday School was preparing a song for the inauguration of our Church Sanctuary. I was fortunate to be one of the singers. In fact I was the youngest singer at the time. (Got evidence of this, yep!)
Gi Bin Sian was the chi huy (conductor). He was so slim and tall and I would get scared if he would scold us. He told us to put our hands together and lock them in front of our chest. Then he would point his two long forefingers to signal us to be ready and, using those two long forefingers (they look real long to me at that time), he would lead us to sing together.
I also remember his assistants were Kwan Kwan Chi, Bee Bong Sian, and other young people of the church (they were young at that time) Linda was there, yes I remembered her because Peter was there too. He was courting her.
First lessons
I remembered Peter carrying me in his arms and giving me an apple, a whole apple not the slices I usually got.
It was a wonderful Sunday School experience, in that there were real people out here who spoke a language I didn’t understand, but showed love and even gave me an apple.
Singing, caring, friendship and discipline were the first things I learned in Sunday school.
Why not God, why not Jesus?… Well, sorry, I didn’t speak Chinese so I did not get to know His name then. But is not God all that….love, care, friendship, discipline? Anyway, I didn’t know all their names, so I just called them “sian si, sian si, hoy, sian si” (“teacher, teacher, hey teacher”)
Later, I dropped the “hoy” because they said it’s “bo le so” like seedless grapes maybe, and we would giggle and when I talked with my friends, we would just say sian si small, sian si big, sian si old, and we practically got names for everybody.
Teachers
Then came the real Sunday School. First person we encountered was this teacher with long brown hair and she could sing high pitch in a very loud voice. Whoa!
Of course the famous Beng Ha Sian. She would flip our song sheets made of Manila paper with her long stick. Yes, they had sticks then, and you better not mess up with Sian Si or whack you go. But I never got that chance to see her use that stick upon us. Never.
If she was absent, there was this bespectacled stout lady who was all smiles, cute and spoke so fast. Kim Eng Sian and she would lead the singing or tell stories. I remember her to be so loving and caring.
Another assistant was this small lady in school, stout, and old looking. She spoke softly and her hands were plump and she could clasp them together to lead in prayers. She was So Sian.
Chinese verses
I don’t remember much because I didn’t understand Chinese or I didn’t understand what was going on.
I remember some verses though like the story about this person when Jesus said, “Sakay, di lo lay; kinadit gua be kao di e Kilay.” Whoa! That’s tough Chinese. I knew what’s Sakay and what’s Kilay. Sakay is to ride and Kilay is eyebrow. But I memorized that until now.
Zacchaeus, hurry and comedown, for I must stay at your house today. (Luke 19:5 ESV)
At that time, it didn’t make sense. How could one ride on one’s eyebrow? However, from the picture, I knew it was this small man on top of a tree and Jesus was passing by and calling him with these Chinese words.
To top this, we had picture card of the story that day with memory verse at the back given to us every Sunday. It’s a source of collection for us.
Then came the end of the year — YES! We got our prizes. I was always present and I remembered I got a very big pencil for a prize. I didn’t care if that pencil was difficult to write because that pencil was kind of a trophy for me. It was wonderful!!!
Go to Part 3 AND THE conclusion
Photo by Sidney Po.
This originally appeared as “My Sunday School Encounter” in Gospel Light vol. 20, December 2012. the author is the judge of the 8th Circuit, Municipal Circuit Trial Court and former Principal of the Sunday School at Cebu Gospel Church.
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