Source/Author: By Joseph Soo

Mission Trip to Balingian

All glory to God for a successful and enriching mission trip to Balingian and I was very blessed to attend the trip. In fact, I did not think that I was going to the trip at all since I was not part of this disciple class of Senadin Methodist Preaching Centre where my brother is attending. It was during the discussion between the disciple class and a member of Grace Methodist Church (GMC) and I happened to be there and that Irene asked me if I wanted to join. I saw this as an opportunity to experience interacting with the people in the longhouse and to bring the gospel to them and to glorify God by doing His work. Furthermore, I was not able to join my own disciple class to their mission trip last semester, thus this provided me with a chance to do so.

Prior to the trip, I was delegated to the children’s ministry where I was assigned to work with Sheena, Hui Hui, Ceylene and Barbara doing the programme and sourcing for the materials. Very thankful to God that we were able to execute our tasks successfully on the day and at the same time, we had a lot of fun doing it. At first we thought that there was going to be 40 children but when we arrived there, there were about 20 children. Thus we were able to do a better job as we were short-handed. Furthermore, we thought that the children were very shy but that was quite the contrary as they were all very active. This of course made our work easier.

Before heading to our first programme, we had an ice-breaking session where we played “Simon says”. It was great to see the children having so much fun as they were all laughing and jumping around. Next, we conducted the story-telling and the reenactment of Noah. I was surprised to see that they were all paying much attention to the story told by Barbara as they all leaned forward and listened attentively even though they were very hyperactive during the ice-breaking. After that we had provided animal cut-outs for them to choose and provided colour pencils to colour them. They would then make a headband with it and I could see that they were very proud of their work as they wore it.

After this programme, we had them lined up properly for the dance rehearsal in which would be performed to everyone in the longhouse after dinner. They were eager to learn the steps. The practice went quite smooth. It was a pleasure spending time with the children, playing with them, giving them high-fives, and to see them happy makes us all very happy as well.

Prior to dinner, we all went to bathe in a river and it was a great experience as I had not done this before, let alone with the presence of both the brothers and sisters.

During dinner, the food cooked by the members of GMC was fulfilling and I enjoyed it a lot. We were able to eat together with the locals and were able to briefly interact with them. After dinner, both the children and the youths would be performing and first up was the children. With many people in the audience watching, they were not nervous and had danced well according to the steps and music. It was great because you can see that they enjoyed it. The youths’ drama was well done as well although they were slightly more nervous, but carried it out nicely. We then watched a movie about Jesus and I saw that the locals were watching attentively and was touched by what our Lord has done for us.

The Sunday service the next day progressed smoothly and it was great to hear the whole church sing praises to the Lord. Barbara and I were able to give our testimonies to the locals at the church and I hope I did not bore anyone and had provided some encouragement. After the service, it was time for us all to leave and although it was only a brief trip, I felt some attachment to the children and really enjoyed the time spent in Balingian.

Overall, I felt that all the brothers and sisters did very well in the mission trip and had conducted ourselves properly. We all attended and assisted when called upon and had executed the various tasks and programme smoothly and successfully. Furthermore, we all cooperated well and really enjoyed each other’s company during the trip as we are able to interact with one another and get to know one another better. It was great to see that everyone worked wholeheartedly and upholding God’s work.

Although the mission trip was a brief one, it was enjoyable and an enriching experience for me personally. There were some difficulties and fears prior to the trip such as the language barrier as I have no knowledge of the Malay language. However, I have learnt to place these predicaments in God’s hands in prayer and to not to have these issues divert me away from doing God’s work. Therefore, by God’s grace and His guidance, I was able to do the best I can to converse in Malay, to execute the various tasks properly and smoothly, and not be distracted by any issues.

Furthermore, though I felt the trip was a bit short, but it was what the experience there that counts. Through this, I learned that the finish line is not what is significant but that the process of getting to it is. There are too many times in life that we seek to finish quickly and see the result but are blinded by the significance of the process of getting there, and it is through this process that we can truly see our result like the effort that we have put in and the enjoyment we experienced before reaching the finish line. This provides what is truly memorable and significance in everything we do, and in every journey we take.

I would like to end with a verse from the gospel of Matthew which serves as an encouragement to all of us to take part in this great work for God and I pray that I can have an opportunity to serve and bring the gospel to many people in the future be it is just in my neighborhood or a mission trip. Let us all as Christians take part in reaching out to more people as we all need God!

Matthew 5:16, In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.