A Tribute to the Seniors

"Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." (Ephesians 6:2-3)

Many seniors live well beyond their retirement age and some have reached 90 years and above. They probably obey the commandment of God and are still productive in their later life. Praise and thank God for His love and mercy.

Five of these seniors are mentioned in this article and they are Deacon Zacchaeus Wong, Sis. Lee Yeng Wong, Elder H. M. Hwang, Sis. Mary S. N. Chung, Deacon H. K. Ho, Ada Driscoll and Frances Martin. The first five are members of our church and the last two are members of the Second Mile Club.

Deacon. Zacchaeus Wong and his wife came to Toronto after a ethnic war with the Malays (Muslims) in Malaysia in 1969. Deacon. Wong was the second deacon in Ipoh after True Jesus Church was established in Malaysia (1927) from China. They arrived in Toronto (1973) to join the family of six in Toronto. Through adversity, the gospel of Jesus was preached from China to Malaysia to Canada. Hallelujah!

God sent Deacon. Z. Wong to preach the gospel of True Jesus Church from the east (Malaysia) to the west (Toronto, Canada). Thank God for His love!

The six Chinese Seniors are members of the True Jesus Church founded in Peijing, China (1917), 400 years after Martin Luther renounced the 95 theses. The church is non denominational.

Deacon Zaccheaus Wong, Sis. Lee Yeng Wong (Ipoh), Malaysia, Elder Hwang (Taiwan), Sis. Chung (Sabah), Malaysia and Deacon Ho, Sis. Yuet Fong (Hong Kong) all met together in Toronto. They did not know each other before and through the grace of God met together. The True Jesus Church is celebrating 100 years of Christianity in 2017.

In 2017. Sis. Chung is still alive at 104 years and lives in a Senior Home.

All glory to God.

Elder H. M. Huang, 97 years

Elder Huang arrived in Toronto on September 27, 1978 and took over the church when my father died in May 8, 1979. Thank God for providing the church with continuous preachers. Before he came to Toronto, Elder Huang was preaching in the mountain areas of Taiwan.

Elder Huang left Toronto at the end of March, 1982 for Los Angeles to stay with his daughter and family and returned to Toronto on September 26, 1983 to work for the Lord.

In the last few years, he commutes between Toronto, Los Angeles and Taiwan and he travels by himself except the last year, when his son accompanied him to Taiwan. It is amazing to see a man of 97 years still able to preach from the pulpit. Praise the Lord for his enduring strength. All glory to the Lord.

Sis. Chung was formerly from Sabah (East Malaysia). She migrated to Canada some thirty odd years ago and was one of the original members of our church. She went to China to study and met her husband, Dr. Hsien Li Tseng, a German trained doctor. He became a high profile personnel in Gen. Chiang Kai Shek's army in China during the Second World War.

They vacated to Sabah, E. Malaysia. She now lives in a nursing home in Kennedy Lodge, a Pentecostal Nursing Home in Toronto.

Her mind is quite clear and can answer questions quite lucidly. Just a few weeks ago Pro. David Reed, Professor of Pastoral Theology and Director of Field Education, Wycliffe College, University of Toronto interviewed her. Prof. Reed will be writing about the history of the church in China. He was quite impressed with Sis. Chung's clarity of speech and expression of thought. Her face was so animated and she was very thankful that Prof. Reed was able to record what she could recall. She was very grateful to the Lord for the occasion. She gave the glory to God. Thank the Lord for the opportunity that Sis. Chung was able to glorify Him.

Deacon Ho, his wife and two sons arrived from Paris to Toronto on April 1, 1980. For a couple of months, Deacon Ho held Bible Study at Sis. Chung's house every Wednesday afternoon and Sis. N. Wong's apartment every Friday night. An average of 14 members attended the evening sessions. Deacon Ho took over tending the church at the end of March 1982 when Elder Huang left for Los Angeles.

Deacon Ho is now in a nursing home in Scarborough. A member of the church brings him to church on Saturdays. His mind is quite active and at 91 years, he still types and emails members. From Monday to Friday evenings when I phone him for prayer, he would ask me how to translate words from Chinese to English. He is learning how to speak a few words in English for the nursing home he is in has many ethnic nurses and they communicate in English. He is learning English so as to be able to communicate with them in English. All glory to the Lord.

On August 23, 2007 the Second Mile Club held its Annual Garden Party at 192 Carlton Street, Toronto, Canada.

Because the weather forecast predicted it would rain with a possible thunderstorm, the Garden Party was held in indoors in three different rooms. I was very happy to be seated between Ada Driscoll (99 years) on my right and Frances Martin (96 years) on my left. Both are of Scottish descent with Ada born in Scotland and Frances in Canada.

Ada Driscoll came to Canada from Scotland when she was 18 years old and she worked for Loblaws, a food chain. She sat in a wheel chair on my right. Her hearing was all right but she could not really see. I had to cut the meat into smaller pieces for her to eat and she ate everything on the plate, including slices of cold meat, potato salad, cheese macaroni, cole slaw, tomato, a bun, coffee and chocolate and strawberry ice cream. Her appetite was fantastic for she ate everything offered to her. Coffee was also served.

After the meal, she sat in her wheel chair listening to the live performance with musical accompaniment while some danced and others clapped their hands. The music was very lively while the audience sang along with the familiar songs of old. Ada showed her approval by clapping her hands to the music. She will be 100 years in 7 weeks time and everyone sang happy birthday to Ada.

Ada is a member of the Second Mile Club for 40 years and she regularly goes to the club. She is quite happy with her situation though she is a widow and has no children. She lives in a nursing home and has five nurses on call to cater to her needs twenty four hours. I am so glad to see someone so contented with her life. Thank the Lord for her contentment in life.

May she see her 100^th birthday and more. May God bless her.

Frances Martin was sitting by herself in a table for 8 persons when I arrived at the Annual Garden Party and I joined her. She seemed very nice and we got on well.

Frances, 96 years old lived by herself on the top floor of an apartment while her sister lives on the bottom flat. She informed me that she goes shopping for groceries and cooked for herself. It is incredible but true that she was able to do what she did! She also told me that she had one son, but did not elaborate further and I did not pursue the subject. She has 20 / 20 vision and I did not see her wearing any hearing device.

I have not met Ada or Frances before because we go to different branches of the Second Mile Club did not know that I would be paying tribute to the very senior citizens, but was so impressed with the two ladies that I decided to write about them. I thank God for the privilege of knowing all five seniors for giving me the hope of living a victorious life before God.

God had given me an opportunity to observe the behaviour of others and their impact was indeed, tremendous. God is gracious to all He has created, men and women, young and old, and people of all races. I also thank the Lord God for the opportunity of writing this article to pay tribute to the seniors. Thank the Lord also for the opportunity of reaching out to two of the three members of the church to engage in prayer every Monday to Friday nights.

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She also goes to the club once a week and joins in playing bingo. I asked her whether she won any money and her reply was, "Some cents" and we both laughed at that. She probably enjoys the company of others more than anything else..

Frances' appetite was as good as that of Ada's for she almost finished her whole plate of food. I did not cut up her meat for her as I did for Ada. She could manage by herself. She admitted to be a typist in the past. Thank God that she is still an independent person. May God continue to bless her for her good health.

I did not know that I would be paying tribute to the very senior citizens, but was so impressed with the two ladies that I decided to write about them. I thank God for the privilege of knowing all five seniors for giving me the hope of living a victorious life before God. God had given me an opportunity to observe the behaviour of others and their impact was indeed, tremendous. God is gracious to all He has created, men and women, young and old, and people of all races. I also thank the Lord God for the opportunity of writing this article to pay tribute to the seniors. Thank the Lord also for the opportunity of reaching out to two of the three members of the church to engage in prayer every Monday to Friday nights.

Both Sis. Chung and Deacon Ho are very appreciative of the prayer sessions and they are brought closer to God. Our prayer is for the common good of mankind, evangelism, repentance, and self-control.

May we continue with our family service (Monday to Friday nights) as well the prayer sessions with not only the seniors but other families as well.

All glory to the Lord God of mankind.