Annual Cleaning on Memorial Day 2004
Special Highlights by Mr. Sek Ming Wong
Translated by Alvin Cheung
It was such a beautiful sunny day! As most of the people would gather with friends and families to go to beaches or parks to celebrate their Memorial Day weekend, our brothers and sisters were all gathered together at The Chinese Baptist Church of Miami. Guess what they were all doing? It was the big annual cleaning project of CBCM and they were all helping out to clean up the church.
According to the original plan the cleaning project suppose to start at 10 A.M. However, brothers and sisters had already arrived before 9 AM. There were more than 120 brothers and sisters participated in this event and all of them are willing to sacrifice their holiday time and clean our Lord’s house in one accord.
Our energetic cleaning project director Brother Sam Ng, Pastor David Chan, Mrs. Chan, and Deacon Samuel Lee were among the first to arrive at the church. When most of the church members arrived, they were all eager to start the cleaning. Within seconds, they were all armored with gloves and cleaning tools and ready to attack the “war zone”. First, each fellowship started cleaning their room. After that, they were all helping each other to clean up different areas of the church. For example, TYAF members were in charge of cleaning all the restrooms, once the restrooms were clean, president, Brother Ken Yip lead other members to paint the CBYF room. Others like Brother Sam Tsui and Vincent Feng were cleaning the Baptismal sink at the sanctuary. Jason, Ben, plus NCCF brother Mok Hi-Lung were busy using pressure guns to clean all the exterior windows, window screenings and walls around the church. Their bodies were soaking wet with their own sweat and water, much like they were just getting out from their shower. Also, our church’s “electricians ’’, Brother Ricky Wong and Kevin Tang climbed up and down the ladder to change the high heads and light bulbs.
The Junior Church room got a complete clean up and fresh paint job under the leadership of JYAF and CBYF with the assistance of Noah Fellowship and Mark Fellowship. All the original big chunky pews were moved to the small house. It has now a beautiful light blue color so that when the children have their worship they will have a clam and peaceful feeling.
WMU, “the lady army’’ were assigned to clean the kitchen. Although some of the sisters already passed their seventies, e.g. Sister Cheung Wong King –Di and Sister Wong Ho Shui Fu, they were all full of energy and eager to serve our lord. Also Sister Cheung Lee Yuk Ying and other WMU sisters were working together to make our church’s kitchen neat and clean. Mrs. Chan was also among the lady army who works diligently with our sisters to clean the refrigerator and stove.
Next time when you enjoy the cool air in the sanctuary please do not forget our background hero Brother Joseph Lee of JYAF. Some of you might know there are 3 big air conditioning units outside the sanctuary. Due to lack of cleaning throughout the years, all the exhaust pipes were covered and stuffed with dry leaves and branches. They decrease the air conditioner performance and increase the electricity bill expenses. When Brother Lee saw the situation, he volunteers to clean these big air conditioning units. First he pressured clean all the walls around the unit, then he took apart the fans and pressure clean the exhaust pipes and removed all the dry leaves and branches. Then he removed all the rust with a scrapper and repainted it with a new coat of paint. It took him a few days to accomplish the whole project. We can feel the willingness and the love that Brother Lee has towards our Lord. Brothers like Kevin Tang, Sam Ng, sixto Henry Su, Jason Chan, Vincent Feng and Sam Ling were at the church from morning till 6 PM that day and they really set an example for all of us to follow.
Besides all the hard work physically, we would like to thanks Kelly’s Cajun Grill for providing the delicious lunch to nurture our bodies. We would like to thank Brother Kevin Tang for providing the delicious breakfast, watermelon, and drinks for all of us. We also would like to thank Mr. Henry Su Senior for donating $500.00 for all the paints.
We thank God for so many brothers and sisters who are willing to serve our Lord in our church.
Hallelujah!