My Promo-Mentors Challenge: When Four Generations Gathered Together

This is an entry to @futurethinker's #promomentors-challenge about a memorable day.

_{Image Source: Beth Thomander/Twenty20}

Above is not my photo but photo credit to Beth Thomander for capturing such a beautiful photo of different generations. I decided that maybe I need a nicer thumbnail for this post since the photos that I have taken of my maternal grandparents are actually rather low quality as I took them in a rush.

In case you are not aware of and are interested, I have written a previous post about my paternal grandparents whom I grew up with and living together with. If you want to read about them, you may link to the post here. This current post is actually talking about my maternal grandparents, the dad and mom of my mum who are still alive, the great grandparents to my son.

My maternal grandparents live apart from us in a small town named Sarikei. They stay with my three unmarried uncles. They have eight children: four married daughters, four sons whom one of them is married with children. In Chinese culture, we address paternal and maternal grandparents differently, so I address my maternal grandpa as wai gong and grandma as wai po. When I was young, their house had always been my favorite place to go, maybe because it is situated in a rural area, there are many interesting activities that I as a city kid didn't experience before like cock fighting, planting black pepper trees, planting cocoa trees, eating fruit fox or bat meat, rearing livestocks and roasting them. It was always a fun time, especially playing and bullying my uncles back then.

_{Image Source}

The reason why this trip I had two years ago was different than the previous trips was I WAS BRINGING ALONG MY SIX-MONTH-OLD SON! Levi has the privilege of being their first ever great grandchild, which also means it would be a gathering of four generations. Though I am not the eldest grandchild but after I got married, my grandparents had been asking me to make them 'naik pangkat' (a local Malay language meaning to be promoted) as they were already at an old age. My grandpa was 88 and grandma was 85 back then. After Levi was born, I was very sure they were thrilled too before a new generation has started within the family.

Here is a video by Martin Lenard about Sarikei to give you an idea how the place is like.

So, in February 2016, which was also during the Chinese New Year, my husband @danielwong and I flew back with Levi to firstly meet his own grandparents who are my parents and rented a car to drive back to Sarikei for a two-days-one-night stay. Sarikei is a small district with population of approximately 56000 people only and is situated along the longest river in Sarawak, the Rejang River. It is not accessible by plane but by express boat or by car. A big part of the road towards Sarikei are trunk roads which aren't that pleasant to drive or travel on. I was naturally concerned if my boy could take it because it was a 6.5 hours drive.

_{Photo from my own Facebook account}

He slept most of the time in his car seat but sometimes maybe his body generated heat from a long contact with the seat might have upset him a little but it was minimal crying. My youngest sister entertained him and I also prepared new toys to keep him occupied. I was very thankful for his cooperation.

_{Image Source}

Upon arriving at a little place before Sarikei namely Jakar, we turned in to my grandparents' place first before checking in to the hotel. Before the trip, I was already anticipating to catch up with my grandparents because I knew their health had greatly deteriorated. My grandpa went blind as a result of glaucoma and my grandma was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. There was another reason I was feeling a lot for them because their only male heir in the family who is my cousin brother(5 years older than me) passed away in his sleep in the car just months before. No one dared to let them know, in case they could not take it. I was of course sad to learn of the news from my mom. Till now, we are not sure what happened to him. Hmm. My mum has been pretty stressed with her parents' conditions and though we are of different faith (I am a Christian while she is a Buddhist), she asked me for help and I told her the only help I know is Jesus for I also have nothing else to offer besides Him. She was very supportive and even told my grandparents beforehand.

I was expecting how I could cheer them up with Levi's presence and also took photos together of them and their great grandchild. Hopes were high. I even made arrangements with my husband, Daniel to take over Levi so I could went ahead to share hope with my grandparents. However, soon after dinner, after I had just introduced Levi to his great grandparents who could no longer express much, he cried and cried. I tried to console him, fed him thinking he could be hungry. He still cried on and on until we had to keep him in the car. Perhaps it was due to many people looking at him, or it was too warm for him, or he was tired due to his schedule being upset and the long travel. Daniel was helpful to just keep him in the car and played with him. I was with them for a long while too because I was worried of Levi but I was talking to Daniel too who encouraged me to do what I felt I wanted to do, which was to share hope to my elderlies including my granduncle who is blind since young. He initially stayed with a blind men association and knitted baskets for his living blunt he got sent back after he reached a certain old age.

My Granduncle, the brother of my grandpa

_{Photo from my own Facebook account: This is my granduncle.}

It was really quite chaotic for both my heart and I looked extremely tired (hence why I blurred myself in the photos before😜). I just took the step of faith to be there to share what was upon my heart. I went to talk to my granduncle first and listened to him. Sometimes, they want to talk to us badly not because they are seeking for attention but rather it really isn't easy growing old, especially with ailments and realizing more disabilities, needing more help. He is a Roman Catholic so I reminded him of his faith, of how present Jesus is and how powerful his prayers are.

My Grandpa

_{Photo from my own Facebook account: This is my grandpa.}

Next, I went to my dear grandpa. I remember when we were young, I used to accompany him watch his black and white television and always asked him questions about the shows he was watching. Now, he can't see anymore with his eyes, so I can imagine how helpless and even useless he may feel. My uncles made a chain for him to help guide him for him to walk to the toilet and to the dining hall, so he would still hold on to it and walked by himself. I talked to him and told him about Jesus, who can hear him when he calls on Him. I prayed for his eyes and peace for him before I left too. He responded together with me, asking Jesus for help in the simple Mandarin Chinese he has been speaking to me.

My Grandma

_{Photo from my own Facebook account: This is my grandma.}

Finally, I went to my grandma who is suffering from Parkinson's. She looked much thinner compared to last time. I shared the gospel of how Jesus can heal her sickness and heal her soul especially. She agreed to invite Jesus into her heart with the limited words she could still speak. It took a lot of courage from me and also to hold back my tears as I prayed for them one by one. I often feel the regret of not able to do this for my paternal grandparents. Against the odds of feeling tired and my child crying, I needed to still do this. Thank God for His grace for me to do what I thought I couldn't do at that time. After I was all done, Levi stopped crying and became his happy self again. Isn't that mysterious? We always feel he could be sensitive in the spirit, in things we can't explain.

---

Before we left, I prayed for life, peace and joy to cover the whole household. So much effort for a short trip, but it was worth it.

You will find as you grow older that courage is the rarest of all qualities to be found in public life. ~Benjamin Disraeli
Source

Hence, this was one of my most memorable days as I was recalling on what to share for this challenge. I truly believe that two of the contributions I could offer to them is my faith and the beginning of a new generation in their bloodline, though my son takes after my husband's family name. My grandparents and granduncle are still alive today, though their bodies are really growing older. I just did a video call with my grandparents last week to wish them happy lunar new year.

---

Hope you enjoyed reading something that meant a lot to me. I have no intention on any religion bias but I offer them the only Solution I know. They have been under medical help all this while but perhaps the peace of heart is the one missing. Hopefully one day, when Levi is older, we can do a big family photo together.

Thank you again @futurethinker for an opportunity to write about a day that I want to keep as my memorable day, to remember that I did what I needed to do and rose above situations that seemingly full of defeat and frustrations.

_{Animated Banner Created By @zord189}