Tomorrow would be a Better Day!

（明天会更好！）

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEDZyIUbSd0

My mum and my eldest brother came from China sometime in the year 1948. As my father was a vendor at the main bus station of Sungai Petani, he  rented a room at a shop house at the Main Road of Sungai Petani, Kedah. The landlady was a distant relative of ours who was a devout Christian. She was very helpful to her tenants. She told my mum that she could order her twin daughters, Ah Zuo(阿左,Ah Left ) and Ah You(阿右,Ah Right) to run any errand anytime she wished. If my mum could not recognize who was who, she just had to utter loudly, "Ah Zuo,Ah You!", then one of the twin sisters would appear to assist. That was really a blessing for my mum who was a 'Xing Kak'(新客), a new immigrant to this country experiencing a cultural shock in an entirely new environment, which was very different from that of the rural China. My mum was very grateful to the landlady and her family members for all the aid they had rendered her.

Many a time the landlady brought my mum to attend services at the local chapel and she was subsequently persuaded by the landlady to be ordained as a full-fledged Christian. My mother, after much contemplation and careful articulation, skilfully turned down the persuasion of the landlady by relating to her that she was very thankful for her good intention of inviting her to embrace Christianity for spiritual cultivation and uplifting. But then she could not part with her existing belief of the worshipping of deities as she was very grateful to a deity named Tai Gi Aoi Aoi (大姐娘娘, the eldest of the seven deities）who had all along motivated and encouraged her through numerous sessions of trance during times of despair and frustration back at the village of in southern China.

Moreover, my mum could not forsake the century-old tradition of ancestor worship as a sign of homage and remembrance of one's ancestors which forms an integral and important  virtue in the teachings of Confucius.

The deity had given her much hope and faith that "tomorrow would be a better day!" （明天会更好！）My mum had related to me that during the Second World War, due to communication breakdown, my mum had not receive any news from my father for a couple of years. She was very worried about the safety of my father in Malaya. At that time she had no way of updating news of my father. She had to find comfort through numerous sessions of trance conducted in the late evening by consulting the deity, Tai Gi Aoi Aoi.  My mum was reassured by the deity time and again that my father was still safe and sound in Malaya. The deity had further reaffirmed my mum that she would get a few more children in future. However, my mum was sceptical at what she had heard from the deity.  Nevertheless, it was a much anticipated hope. After the War was over, my mum received a letter from my father together with a remittance of money. And not long after that, my father made an arrangement for my mum and my eldest brother to set sail for Malaya.

Knowing that my mum was persistent in her original belief, the landlady did not try to persuade her any further to become a Christian. Otherwise, I could have been a Christian by birth and I could have been nicknamed by my primary schoolmates as “Ya Shou Kia！"(耶稣仔！ Son of Jesus! ）