Mission Trip to Gerik Day 2: Starting from Scratch

Waking up earlier than usual is something of a norm for me in mission trip. The cold night kept me in a half asleep mode too. Nevertheless, I felt thoroughly energized for the much anticipated encounter. To maximize sleeping time for everyone, we took turn at the bathroom and woke the next person up after use. I took the liberty to pull some toothpaste prank on JJ and Yuan Ming who struggled to stay awake after brushing up.

Joanna did a great job at leading the morning devotion. She ditched the prepared devotional material and in turn allowed us to pray specifically for our respective expectations for the trip.

Yuan Zhang's Roti Tampal for breakfast

We had a light breakfast at the mamak restaurant beside the church. JJ gave us a Vitamin C supplement pill each. This is important because Vitamin C can boost our immune system and enhance natural healing. This is something I learned from my Timor Leste mission 2 years ago. Thank you Beatrice!

We spent an hour waiting for our 19 packs of rice which will be our lunch with the family in Kampung Kendak. It was a great opportunity for the girls to get together and get familiar with the (apparently) famous Yuan Ming. He is one very interesting character in this trip. Despite my impression of him being a quiet person, he is surprising cheeky and mischievous! Well, it was great to see a different side of him.

Walking on the trail to Kampung Kendak

The journey to Kampung Kendak's entrance took only about 20min. We parked our cars by the side of the highway and we continued the rest of the journey on foot. The hike was far shorter than we expected. When JJ told us about crossing the water, we were expecting Sg. Rajang, but it was more like a leak in the toilet. We arrived in the village in about 15min.

We went on to survey the pond that the previous team constructed for the village. It was badly destroyed and JJ was a little disappointed by it. But the end of the old could also mean the beginning of the new. We immediate began the construction of the new washing area by taking sand from the destroyed pond. Man, that 200m was the hardest 200m I had ever tread on. Carrying over 30kg and climbing 20m uphill was no easy task. But we managed. Hence, the construction began and lasted for the next 5 hours.

Joanna serving coffee to the team and Pastor

Joanna and Shirleyuen approached the only daughter of the family named Awie. They made us coffee while we worked and labored. It was fun working with shovels and cement. Tiring too. We took lunch break after laying two layers of foundation. It was a joy to eat with the villagers.

Yuan Ming and I mixing the river
sand with cement

The thing I really enjoyed wasn't the work itself, but rather the amazing story of ministry faithfulness shared by Pastor Fendi. He shared about the difficulty he faced when he was first called to serve in West Malaysia. As a Sabahan, he didn't have much and the unfamiliar city life of Penang Island overwhelmed him. But God was faithful every step of the way. Pastor is also a very patient and longsuffering pastor. To disciple Azmi into a pastor, Pastor Fendi spent 14 years in educating and molding Azmi since he was only 6 years old. That's a really long time of investment.

When Pastor Fendi first arrived in West Malaysia, he started by mingling around the town of Gerik. The Orang Asli will eventually come out from their villages for supplies. That's when Pastor can build the first contact with them. Azmi's father was the first to accept Christ and he brought Pastor Fendi to his first Orang Asli village, where he began his work as a missionary and pastor to the Orang Asli. While most urban missionaries tend to begin with the Word of God, but things are a whole lot different for the Orang Asli. They are often worried by worldly concerns because they can hardly feed themselves. They would ask questions like "Kalau saya jadi Kristian, berapa gaji saya?" Pastor realised that this will not bode well for the Gospel and he changed his strategies. Instead of rushing into the Gospel, he would begin by building a relationship with them. When they find him trustworthy, they would embrace him as part of the family and would be open for the Gospel. Outreach and the gospel begin with a genuine intention to build a trustworthy relationships and friendship. It is the most important building block of an effective ministry, which I have a tendency to overlook. That was a great reminder for me.

Pastor Fendi working relentlessly to lay a concrete platform

He continued to share God's gracious providence. He was blessed with a brand new 4x4 which enabled him to travel further and deeper into the forest in search for opportunities. But he constantly reminded me that wealth and complacency are pastors biggest temptation and downfall. Wisdom indeed. I am overwhelmed by the active participation of GBG in the Orang Asli ministry. The youths are ever ready to follow Pastor in all his work and about 99% (he claimed joyfully and confidently) of the congregation is involved in the work one way or another. They might not have much money to offer, but they offer their utmost dedication, time and energy. I begin to wonder if the urban churches can do the same. I would be thrilled if churches offer more of themselves instead of just money. Pastor Fendi remarked that money is never a stopping factor. God provides. But our willingness to obey and do His Work is far more important.

Sitting around during a mission is always normal

How to pick up a chick

There wasn't much work to go around, so we had plenty of time singing praise and connecting with each other. Although the sun was merciless, but the breeze was surprisingly cooling under the shades. JJ learned how to pick up a chick, and it was cool! He even taught us how to dump a chick! Drinking right from the pipe was awesome. The pipe was flowing with underground water that we all pay RM1.50 a bottle for, and we had it for free!

The washing area was finally ready at 3:45pm. Before we left, we went down to the river to build a small bathing area for the village as they wait for the cement to dry completely for the next 2 days. We left Kampung Kendak with much joy and little energy. Of course, we left our marks there. What did we leave behind? Perhaps you should join the next mission trip to see it for yourselves!

Our mark on the project!

Arriving at GBG for the evening was perhaps a great relief for us. We were thoroughly exhausted. Seeing the hunger of the weary workers, I decided to make them some food. Michelle and I liberated a generous amount of tuna and mayonnaise. We finished the entire loaf of bread we bought previously. We had our filled and was energized once more thanks to a good shower.

We began our practice for the Youth Meeting in no time. We began with a sense of reluctance. The hot weather was not exactly helping. But we enjoyed it nonetheless. We made some addition to my role as the "Pokok" (tree) with some artificial leaves and flowers. We even had a freestyle karaoke session before I immediately doze off for a power nap.

I thought the Youth Meeting was going to be called off as there was no one in sight despite being 30min over 8pm. But when the Youth started pouring in, we knew we were going to have one heck of a night. We began with a time of worship. We were all surprised by the enthusiasm shown by the youth. They responded loudly to my every call and they enthusiastically participated in the worship. They thoroughly enjoyed worship. After the worship, we broke the ice with a simple game. Again they participated actively.

After the game, we performed our sketch. It was the story of Zaccheus the tax collector. They laughed at every silly action we did and they enjoyed it too! I went on did a short sharing on the story about how God is able to save a person no matter how sinful we are.

Return of the Prodigal Son

It came down to the youth to show us their talents. They were given a short 30min to come out with a sketch on the story of Jesus fed five thousand and the story of the prodigal son. They were so excited about it. They did their utmost best to show their funny side which they had not failed to put a big laugh in us. We had a great time together. Michelle remarked that she wishes to see such participation in her church's youth group. Well, so am I. Such enthusiasm for the Lord and fellowship is hard to come by in our culture.

Pastor's wife gave us a surprise task: to come out with a short sketch on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus with the youth. JJ was a little taken aback by the request but he bravely took up the challenge nonetheless. By the grace of God and the spontaneous response from the youth, we manage to come out with a 1-minute sketch in less than 15min. How rare can this be? Normally the participation that I received was all reluctance and shyness. LOL oh we losers! I'm so excited to watch the sketch tomorrow.

Supper for our forgotten dinner

The entire thing was so fun, we hardly noticed that the clock struck 10. A sense of relief came with a great sense of joy and achievement. Then, hunger suddenly struck us. Haha, we were so focus on the Youth Meeting, we forgot our dinner! Yes, that I believe, is what a true fasting is.

As we came down from the church, the cooling breeze was refreshing. The sight of the full moon was majestic and mesmerising. We hang around for a while before our attentions were caught by the sight of a few fireflies. We decided to go for KFC when all of the sudden, the heavy downpour that the Lord withheld the entire day (probably for the sake of this mission) befell us. We changed our mind and ended up having our supper at the place where we had breakfast, haha!

The night ended with a time of devotion. Tonight's devotion was led by Yuan Ming, who displayed a surprising level of composure and boldness. We all encouraged him for his exceptional effort.

I proceeded to prepare my sermon for tomorrow. It's been months since I last preached in Li Xin Baptist Church. This time, I will be preaching in a language that may be familiar and strange to me at the same time. I prepared a English version of the sermon which was then translated into Bahasa Malaysia. I really enjoyed it. To be honest, I miss the feeling when the Holy Spirit inspires me to write a sermon. Ideas just kept flowing, not just in English but in BM. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do His will is simply amazing.

Tomorrow shall be the end of our journey. It's only the second day but we already felt like we have known each other for ages. I hope we can keep this even after the mission, so that we may come together and continue to serve God faithfully. This is only the beginning of something great, much like the breakfast Michelle and I volunteered to prepare later for the beginning of the end.

Groupie at Kampung Kendak

God's Character, My Encounter.