Over the four years, the Faith Methodist Church prayer walks have made many memories for me.

Episode 1 We have “eating fellowship” after the half an hour walk. My son used to read books to survive the boring conversations. Now he listens to our conversations. To me, he is becoming more grown-up. However, to him, our conversation skills have improved. Actually it was his comment which prompted me to write this article.

Episode 2 Our practice during breakfast is: whoever’s food arrives first, prays. Once a brother was just sitting there and I asked why he had not ordered his food. “I purposely delay my order, so that my food won’t come first”, he said.

Episode 3 Some years ago before the rabies epidemic, a dog ran up to Rev Pau and nipped him on his calf. Luckily he has skin as tough as cowhide. The dog world compensated for this incident. During the rabies epidemic this year, a white dog came up to Andrew Sia and I. We made “tsk” sounds and it licked our hands while the others in the group walked to the end of the lorong and made a U-turn back. When Rev Pau got near us, the white dog left us and sat down in front of him – almost like how humans bow down in submission. He is not even fond of dogs.

Episode 4 One time Edmund, my husband, ambushed the two pastors with a tough theological question that he had prepared beforehand. The pastors paused in their eating and rose to the bait. A debate ensued. The rest of us thoroughly enjoyed it and egged them on. When the debate got too hot, Peter Sii said “Time to leave”. What a spoilsport! Other than this rare occasion, we let the pastors take their breakfast in peace.

Episode 5 This morning (6.15 a.m., 1 June 2019), the sky was dark and darkening by the minute, and we were in front of Timberland Medical Centre. We set off for our prayer walk armed with our umbrellas. Barely two minutes into the walk, a white mist appeared in the distance. Praaahhh! Down came the rain! I opened my umbrella in time. I stepped gingerly in order not to wet my shoes as I was flying to Perth later in the afternoon and I needed to wear my sports shoes there. I was hoping that Rev Pau would say “let’s go back” but he continued – as if he wanted to walk into the eye of the storm. He was unwavering in his resolve to complete the prayer walk! I gave up avoiding the water puddles on the road. We walked and walked until the rain clouds dried up. Later it took four hours of fan blowing to dry my shoes. Hopefully our small sacrifice and many prayers for the lost souls had brought some into the open arms of God.

By Ting Su Hie, Faith Methodist Church, Kuching