Indonesia mission trip (Part 2)

Finally, it's time to write a full report of the trip I went. Haha.. I'm so sorry for the delay. Anyway, here goes...

Like I've said earlier, I've did a lot of extraordinary things there. I've never thought that I'll do something like that (honestly!!!). Firstly, the first night I spent in the village with the poor, I was brought to do some visitation. As blur as I was, I didn't know who we were visiting (AT ALL!). I thought it was just merely some poor people who are Christians. And visiting them would encourage them. So we went. That's where God's planning come into the picture. The people we visited are actually ex-lepers. Some of them lost one of their legs, some lost their fingers and so on. The first house we visited was a pair of couples. Both of them were ex-lepers. They have this grocery shop which I would say quite well managed. They were told by our host that we are from Malaysia on a mission trip to Indonesia. First thing that came out of their mouth was "Puji Tuhan". And one of them actually told us that our visitation was as though Jesus was coming to them Himself. I was so amazed with their faith. All the 3 houses that we visited, 2 of the houses have ex-lepers. And "Puji Tuhan", these 2 words are always mentioned. I mean, I can't do that if I were them. With the poverty and the sickness I once had, I would asked whether God knows of my presence. Why is He giving me these? But they didn't! They just "Puji Tuhan" all the way through. And they actually have this dawn prayer every morning at 5a.m.! And I woke up to join them the next morning. I didn't have a good sleep (or rather I didn't sleep at all?). There isn't any fan in the room. Gosh! Darn hot! Back home? I have a 2 fans in my room. If I'm hot, I can just switch on the air-cond. How blessed I am!

Apart from that, I'm very impressed by the ministries that the Indonesians are involved in. I was very encouraged by them. They started training youths that are about 13 or 14 to give sermons. And they will encourage them all the time until they can do it well. They were given the chance and the exposure that we can hardly find in Malaysia. I actually witnessed that with my own eyes. When we were joining them for their Teens Service on the 21st, I actually saw a 16 year old girl giving a message. Though I didn't really understand what she was talking due to the language barrier. But having the courage to stand in front of 450 people, it means something! Another thing to highlight is the sports ministry. Though I'm not into sports, their sports ministry really made me go "wow!". They have so many coaches for so many teams. They have so many ways to reach out to the people there. You can read more about it here - http://www.genb-max7.com/.

Talking about the Teens Service we went, I gave my testimony. I guess preparing it in RBS did helped me. I had Josephine to do translation for me. My testimony was related to RBS, too. I shared something about piano. Here's the story. I was away for RBS when my team started to prepare for the mission trip (thousand apologies for that). But I did my part in RBS also. I prepared my testimony. Hehe.. And I wasn't told of anything else apart from the testimony. When I came back from RBS, I was told to act in a skit. And there I was, practicing for the skit. And this time round, it's really mission trip - to be prepared for the unexpected. My skit wasn't used. Instead, I was asked to summarise one of the skits and link it to my testimony. And guess what, I agreed to it. ME being ME, would not have agreed to do so so easily. After agreeing to it, I had no inkling AT ALL what to do. I was told about it on a Thursday night and the Teens Service was on Saturday. With the Extreme Prayer on Friday night, I knew I didn't have much time to prepare. I thought I'll just write the summary and give my testimony, that's all! Friday came and passed. Saturday came and Teens Service was coming!!! I haven't even write down anything. When we had our lunch, I was thinking of what to share. I didn't know. I started to panic. What am I going to do? I've got my main point to share - focus -, but I don't have the details to share. Then, thanks to Amos for giving me THAT KIND OF preparation! He told me that when he went there the week before to share, 475 people turned up. I was like.. what!!?? I was only told 300 to 350. That's a big difference! I was so scared that when I went in the car, I started scribbling every single thought that came into my mind. Everyone said I'll be fine. But I did not think so. I could hardly imagine myself standing in front of 475 people, talking in BM!!! That was really a hard time. The place where the Teens Service was is actually a big hall in a mall. Yes! A lot of churches have their services in a hall in the mall. Cool right? Anyway, back to the story. When we walked into the hall, everybody was staring at us. I was thinking, those eyes will be looking at me later. And when I sat down, I could feel my hands freezing. I could hardly breathe. I was reading my testimony and summary over and over again. But nothing got into my mind. All that I could think of was - the eyes. Haha.. Anyway, Ricky and Amos were affirming me and stuffs. My team was trying hard to keep me calm. And finally it arrived! Ricky, I still remember you gave me 3 minutes but I spoke longer than that. But, I'm sorry. 3 minutes is really so not enough for me. I've only gave 1/4 of my testimony (of course the main point). Hehe.. Give me a longer time (if there is a next time :P). Thank God that I've pulled through with His strength. And when they did a headcount for the attendance that day, there were 450 people! I spoke in front of 450 people!!! Woohoo!!! And I hope something went into their mind that day. God, I hope I made you proud. =)

Basically, that's about it! But something to share. I think that God placed me in this mission trip for a purpose. He gave me a chance to see the great things that the Indonesians have done in their country. They've done it! What about us? I really pray that something will happen in Malaysia. I really pray that something will happen in Elim and in EY. Everybody has to play a part. It doesn't matter matter whether you're in Indonesia or Malaysia. It doesn't matter whether you're in Ipoh or KL. It doesn't matter whether you're in secondary school or in college. When there's people, there's the ministry. Keep this in mind! Let's continue to be God's tools to extend His Kingdom!

A song that touched many of the team members. =)