Sarawak Mission Trip 2006 - Part 4 By: The Boss No comments

Hello friends,

How do you do? :)

Ahh...we're coming close to the end of the trip finally...I can smell the finish line...after this, just one more post to go regarding Sarawak mission trip 2006. Its been an awesome trip so far, and its just getting better and better all the time! So many stories to tell, so many memories captured in pictures...I just gotta' share it with you guys! The journey continues...

Let's pick up the trail from where we left. At this point, both groups are making their way towards Kerapa longhouse. For group 1, led by Cmdr. Gideon, the hike was a breeze...naturally! For group 2, led by Andy, the hike was needless to say physically challenging. As always, they sent us for our 'boot camp' training. :) Up the hills, down to the valleys, through the fields, down the cliffs...the thought of it makes me tired! :) But anyway, miraculously, both groups bumped into one another towards the end of the hike and it was like...WOW!! Gosh, they really missed us! Hehe...everyone was like hugging and hi-fiving and crying tears of joy (esp Shaun)! And so, sama-sama, we entered into Kerapa looking like war-time heroes! Man...we were glad to be there again! For some of us, this was our 3rd time being at this longhouse. Fantastic feeling...

As always, for the opening ceremony...TEA TIME! We certainly stuffed ourselves with all those cute lookin' kuih and biscuits...and also with the legendary Teh O'. In every house, there's always a 'crook' who sits in the center of the circle. His job is to ensure that our cups will always stay full of tea and that our mouths will always contain food. He's got the best job in town! And we always looked forward to meet these interesting characters. Certainly a fun lot of guys...

Anyway, we spent the following 3 nights in Kerapa doing ministry and running English camps for the children and the youths. Here's a summary of our itenary during our stay in Kerapa:

5th Dec
- Arrived in Kerapa
- Tea time
- Free time / swimming in the river
- Dinner (more pork & pork & pork)
- 1st night service
- Supper
- Light's out
- GT Klang Philharmonic Orchestra (3-piece orchestra) at about 1.30am

6th Dec
- Wake up & wash up
- Rush in and out of toilet
- Breakfast
- Group prayer time
- Healing and empowerment by the Holy Spirit
- Children & Youth English Camp
- Lunch
- Free time / swim in the river / karaoke session / sleep / snore
- Wash up
- Dinner
- 2nd night service
- Prayer for healing
- Supper
- Lights out
- GT Klang Philharmonic Orchestra (5-piece orchestra). More members added.

7th Dec
- Wake up & wash up
- Breakfast
- House-to-house prayer walk
- Children & Youth English Camp
- Lunch
- Free time
- Baptism service
- More free time / swim
- Wash up
- Dinner (guess what? They slaughtered one huge 57kg pig for us! Hooray!!)
- 3rd night service
- Prayer time
- House-to-house prayer walk
- supper
- Preparation for orchestra session. Musicians fine-tuning their instruments...
- Philharmonic orchestra started and lasted througout the night. Thank God for sunrise!

8th Dec
- Wake up and pack up
- Breakfast
- Blessed draw
- Farewell speeches and saying our goodbyes
- Made our way to the jetty- Left Kerapa via longboats

You see friends, words can never really describe to you what happened and what it felt like being over there. Thank God for cameras! At least the photos will better explain our journey and memories we've shared over the past 4 days in Kerapa. Our time in Kerapa was simply...awesome! In every longhouse we've visited, every one of them made us feel like a family. They cared for us and took care of us as if we were one of their own. Their hospitality really blessed us and touched our hearts. And man..if only you knew how much they loved to eat...especially rice...and pork fats....

So anyway, here's the pics and I hope the short captions will help you understand what went on over there in Kerapa. Enjoy, friends!

Kenny, Grace, Sheila, Jon, Lisa, Kyleen and Jason with some of the kids of Kerapa.

Going through Daniel's bible. We found out that Daniel hasn't done 'spring cleaning' on his Bible for almost 4 years. The boys going through all his 'treasure' collected over the years...

Our favourite two boys...Jerry and Anseyi! Cute lil' fella, aint he?

Daniel doing the 'chicken dance' with the kids. Gosh...they simply loved it!!

Lisa, Amy, Win Li and Asher sharing a Kodak moment with Nalam and friend...

My buddy, Samson explaining to Kenneth and 'Teddy-bear' Ted about the mechanism of his battery-powered oil lamp. Haha...I'm sure you knew your lamp story would end up in this post, right Sam?

Donna with sis. Ruth, just before she songlead for the 1st night service.

Daniel sharing about how his life was spared because he chose to put God first.

Laura speaking about challenges she faced before coming for this trip and how God made a way for her to be there in Sarawak!

Here's Dandy doing what he does best..."Yeaa, preach it Snow White!" the crowd cheered!

Prayer for healing - Cmdr. Jason

Lisa praying for healing upon this lady...

The kids all lined up and anxious to get the English camp started! These are one bunch of lovely, awesome kids, I must say...Such a joy to work with them!

Kyleen and Laura getting into action during the opening game - Mother chicken and the baby chics game...

Reuben sharing about the parable of the sower and the seed...

Over at the Youth English Camp, here's Asher going through her motions. They main focus for the camp was the 5 points of Evangelism Explosion. The group did a fantastic job sharing with the youths of Kerapa about God's plan for Salvation in English.

Craftwork at the kids' camp. Aww...ain't she pretty?

'Marty' Samson leading the group in praise and worship during the 2nd night rally. I see your future, buddy....

Such a beautiful sight seeing everyone worshipping and praising the name of Jesus. Even the kids sang and worshipped God with all their hearts and voices.

Win Li sharing her testimony to the people, translated by Sis Ruth.

Asher and gang perfoming the skit entitled 'The Book of Sin'...she looked pretty cool with those horns on her head. Looked natural on her...:)

Shaun playing the part of the defense lawyer aka Jesus...the crowd went wild when he entered the court scene! Woooo hooo!!

Kyleen's moment to take center-stage, even as she shared her testimony.

Kenny, our very own 'Bob The Builder', preaching the Word to the people during the 2nd night. Fittingly, he spoke about the wise man who built his house upon the rock.

Time for prayer and healing - Lih Woon praying for this lady and her child

Cmdr. Gideon praying for this girl called Nalam. Just to share with you, Nalam is a very cheerful and beautiful young girl. She's got a voice, but has difficulty forming words and speaking proper words. And the only sound that she can make is 'Naaa...'. But friend, God used her to teach us an important lesson. Throughout the 4 days, all of us noticed how she worshipped God with all her heart, despite her inability to speak words. And this reminded us that we as people who have a voice and can speak properly, shouldn't we be able to worship God with all our hearts and with all that we have? If we who have the ability to worship God, choose not to worship Him, dont you think He can cause the deaf and the speechless, the rocks and trees, to worship Him? Friends, even though she knew was different, but that never deterred or stopped her from praising Her maker, not for one moment. To God, she's always be a perfect creation...

This lady came forward to testify about how God had healed her during the time of alter ministry.

Our host, testifying about how God has reduced the irritation in His eye. About 3 months ago, he underwent eye surgery, which then caused him to have severe irritation in his eyes.

God's faithful servants - Pas. Leslie and Sis. Ruth

Lighter moments during supper...havin' a cuppa' tea!

Whenever Jon moves his hands like that, you know what's coming!!

Praying for the families in the longhouse...

Shaun turn to get into action to pray for this family...

Day 2 at the Children's Camp...craftwork time!

Reuben and Daniel teaching the kids about Joseph and Mary's journey into Bethlehem the night Jesus was born...

The kids saying the Salvation prayer...praise God for each one of them!

The 'Dog' group family photo...

The 'Piglet' group...

The Monkeys!

Lastly, the Chickens!

Our final moment at the Kid's camp. Its been an awesome time for all of us involved to be able to bless the kids!

Grace in action during the water baptism service!

I baptise you in the name of the Father....

The Son...

and the Holy Ghost...

Amen!

Jon's turn to be the baptizer...

Kenny making sure that the 'old man' goes down completely!

Its been a special day for the 8 water baptism candidates! But trust me, its been an even more wonderful experience for us to be able to baptize them in water! We thank God for the opportunity...

Swim and mandi time in the nearby river...

Alison going through her facial-cleansing class with the young girls...

Alison's turn to lead in praise and worship! Man...she was a natural!!

Our dearest Amy Tan sharing her life testimony which blessed everyone...

The kids doing a song performance during the night service...such a wonderful and happy bunch!

"Read your bible and pray everyday if you want to GROW!"

The ever-reliant support crew who was there to guide and motivate the kids on!

JN sharing her testimony during the 2nd night service...

Vivian following the footsteps of her dad...she preached a powerful sermon about prayer! Well done, girl!

This picture was taken during the house-to-house prayer done after service. The people were really glad that we took the time to pray for each family in the longhouse.

Praying for healing and God's blessing upon this family. The man on the left is suffering from cancer.

The group sharing lighter moments with the longhouse people over supper...it was like a feast all over again!

More smiles from the group...notice Asher's weird look on her face?? What's with that look, girl?

Final morning with the people...here's the gang with the youths!

Asher and Nalam...everyone's favourite! I mean Nalam...:)

Lucky draw time...these were some of the gifts that were up for grabs.

We sent our talismatic Samson to pick our gift...and he won us that mat! Nice stuff, wei...

The entire family photo! We'll definitely miss them all...

Laura and her new found fellowship of the sisters...

Our team together with the 2 most memorable kids...

Anseyi and 'daddy'...

Kevin and Shaun forced this guy to be in the photo...here seen posing with our prize mat!

More lovely shots of the ladies...Alison's grooming class students!

Lisa doing her thing...

Well friends, one of the saddest things in life are the times when we have to walk our close friend towards the check in gate in the airport. Its known as the 'walk'...its like, the distance from where we are to the check in gate is all we have left of our moment of togetherness. And if felt excatly the same over here in the longhouse. Even as we grabbed our gear and strapped on our bags, they escorted us all the way to the jetty. Behind every smile, there's a story to be told. Our hearts melt at the sight of the people in tears even as we left on our boats. They've blessed our hearts in so many ways, that it hurt so much to leave. As someone once said, its like leaving your 'kampung', and looking forward to the next year to come back again. We'll definitely be back. Our prayers are with you, Kerapa...

We'll conclude our Sarawak story in the final episode, hopefully by tomorrow. Till then, have a wonderful time this Christmas season. Be a blessing to someone, and be that difference that people are looking for! God bless...

Quote of the trip:

"Better out from the frontdoor, than the back!"

Samson Yap

Famous Anglo-French linguist and buddy

Currently pursuing his PhD in SPM at Le' Sri Lethia

I guess you all know what he's referring to...