Royal Rangers Selangor #6

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Sarawak Missions 15' - #2



Hi there, more mission trip testimonies! By Ranger Adam and Ranger Vivien (:
Hope you'll be blessed


Helloo everyboddy. I'm Adam! This is my first Sarawak Missions trip and having been to just one has already given me so many reasons  to come back again. I'll start off by saying this trip has been the most physically testing trip ever. The hike was so tiring and energy consuming but after arriving at the longhouse, the Iban people really welcomed us and probably fed us with all their food and you know what, it was all worth the sweat. The people were so humble and welcoming that it melts my heart. But of course the highlight for me everyday was the night service. The people in the longhouses live on their pepper plantations and being able to see them seeking or craving more of God in their simple lives is the main reason that gives me the urge to come again next year. Being able to bless the people as a team has been an amazing experience. Seeing our bond and unity grow so tremendously in just 7 days has given me the assurance that the next trip there will definitely be better. Been a privilege serving and blessing these people with you rangers!




It was a wonderful experience being able to bless the Iban's people in the longhouses. The past seven days in Sarawak has been wonderful to me. We went to 4 different longhouses. Each longhouse has more than 12 families. I could see the differences in each family and their lifestyle was totally different from us. The children there are so independent, even at 5-6 years old, they have started to go to school and stayed in hostels. If  it were for us, we would probably want our parents to be with us all the time but the children can actually stay alone outside without their parents. They only go back home 2 weeks once, on a Sunday. I was really touched by these children. And the people there were so nice. They gave us lots of food especially pork and rice, hahaha. I could see the joy in their eyes. The exciting part was that I got the chance to ride behind a motorcycle and sat behind a Hilux. It was so exciting. I could feel God's presence with us when we prayed for them. When Cmdrs asked me to pray for them, I really prayed for them with all my heart even though my prayers were not as good as others but God still helped me. Helping out in the Children Ministry really taught me alot. Colossians 3:17 'And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him'. It was not easy handling all the children but God's presence was there all the time. I have no idea about how to take a bath in the river either. Having to do it for the first time was the best thing ever. This year, we had medical clinics with 4 doctors together with us. The doctors were so wonderful and humble. I've never seen such good doctors in my life. Everything ran very smoothly and I had the chance to learn all the medicines. Through this missions trip i have learnt 2 lessons. I started to learn to be appreciative. To appreciate the things that my parents provide for me. And i really thank God for putting me in such a great family. I can get anything from my parents but not for all the children at the longhouses. We like to compare ourselves with kids who were born rich but we never think about the kids that don't even have rice to eat. This really touched my heart. 2nd lesson that i learnt is not to give up so easily. We tend to give up so easily but the people at the longhouses chose to surrender their problems to God. There was one family that we prayed for where the lady's husband still hasn't accepted Christ. Yet she kept praying for her husband and asked us to pray for her too. Sometimes we have to wait for God's timing and continue to trust in HIM and not give up so easily. HE will give us more than we ask which reminds me about this verse, Romans 10:13 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved'. God Is Good All The Time. First missions trip to Sarawak and definitely many more to come! This missions trip really helped me and I encourage you guys to join us too. Come and experience it for yourself. See you there! - Vivien Teo



Blessings

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Sarawak Missions 15' - #1

Greetings! 3 more days to Christmas! Even as God gave us His greatest gift this season, let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas and remember to take time to give back to the people around us (: As some of you may know, we had 2 teams from our church that went all the way to Sarawak to bless the people of the longhouses and we were proud to see our Expedition Rangers rise up to the occasion so here's an afterthought from our very own Ranger Hans.

Hello! I’m Hans. So, this will be my experience/feeling during Sarawak Missions Trip 2015. It was the 16th of December and the next day was the first day of missions and guess what I was still in Singapore! I was supposed to reach home at about 10pm but my flight was delayed and ended up reaching home at 12am on the 17th, and we were supposed to meet up in church at 3am. I was panicking cause my bags for missions were not packed yet. But all through the rush God managed to give me time to pack which sacrificed my sleeping time. At 3am on the 17th of December, we all gathered in church and checked all our stuffs and we headed to the airport! I was like “Hey airport I’m back after 5 hours again.” After 2 hours, we reached Kuching and we met some doctors and most importantly Pastor Gideon. We all had a nice lunch and we went to the nearest s
upermarket (Giant) to buy stuff needed for missions. After that it was a long 4 hours drive to Betong. All of us planned to sleep but no, we stayed up practicing all the Iban songs instead. We finally reached Betong Sion Baptist Church, we stayed a night there before going to the longhouses. 


The next day, on the 18th, I sat in a van with a few others while the rest took the 4 wheel drive. So we (Team 1) reached a place where we needed to hike to our first longhouse Selangking. I really thanked God when we could sit on motorbikes and not hike all the way (coz there were many slopes). Selangking was the first ever longhouse I had seen and it wasn’t as bad as I expected. After lunch, we then had the chance to witness 5 baptismal candidates willing to follow Jesus and get baptised. I was really touched by their faith in God. Around 8pm, we had our first service, I was told to be in the kids ministry so I didn’t have the chance to stay for the adults service. There were only 7 kids in total but I can tell you, it was not easy. Even with a language barrier, we managed to mingle with the kids with BM and I really thank God they understood fully what Cmdr Trisha was teaching. All in all, I really had fun with the kids, amongst the hype. 


The next day, I woke up early in the morning. We had our morning service and I shared my testimony. I was nervous as I had never shared my life testimony before. After that we went from pintu to pintu to pray for every family and I can feel God’s presence around us. After that we left for our next destination, which was Jelang! This was the bad part as we had to hike for 2 hours! Despite the tiredness, we managed to reach Jelang safely. The people there welcomed us with opened arms. We even played football with the kids! (KL Boys Vs Iban Boys).

Nevertheless, night came and we had our night service. I volunteered myself to the kids ministry again and somehow I never regretted it. Cmdr Trisha explained about how Jesus died on the cross for our sins and asked who wanted to be saved. Suprisingly, all of them raised their hands. God is really planning something in their lives though they’re just kids. Service ended and the hype had not ended. Some of us had to dance their traditional dance so we danced. 

The next morning, we had our morning service as usual and we went from pintu to pintu to pray. This time, God’s presence was stronger than ever. God really gave us the words to speak. We then left for Luing which was our third destination. The clouds were dark and it looked like it was about to rain but God held the rain. Right after we entered Luing, it started raining, and there was where we met team 2. We didn’t plan to stay the night there but our plans changed and we had to. I realized that it wasn’t a coincidence, God really wanted us to stay there. After lunch, we had a clinic set up for the people there. I was helping with the dispensary and it was a successful one. After the clinic before dinner, we had time to mingle with the kids there. I learnt a handful games from them. Its so funny sometimes how you learn more from the kids. We had a night service there and it was great. The next morning, we had a morning service where Pastor Gideon shared. After that, I went to the place where we hung our wet towels and I was there to collect them. As I walked, one of the planks of wooden floor broke and I free fell for a split second. I really thank God it was only a small part where one of my leg went through and I ended up with only bruises. If the hole were to be bigger, I could have fallen 7 feet. 

After that we departed to Kerapa, our last destination. We were welcomed even more and all of us were forced to do the Ngajat. We also had a clinic there and a total of 70 people came. During the night service, team 1 was incharge of the kids ministry and we “entertained” the kids. The next morning, we headed back to Betong and to Kuching where we stayed for a night in Sister Olivia’s church. 

As a conclusion, this was the best trip ever and I would like to encourage all of you to come! You will never regret it! Somehow stepping out of my comfort zones (not having luxurious toilets) really paid off as we had blessed the people there. There is this line from the Bible which is “For those who are great will be made humbled, and those who are humble will be made great.” We should really be humble and share the gospel with everyone. For everyone deserves God’s love!


Kudos Hansies (; We're proud of you!