Ulu Julau 2015

Sooooo I'm back~! After this 10 months' hiatus... *phew, wipes sweat* Life in IPG can seriously get more and more hectic, but don't worry I'll never give up on blogging. I mean, hey, I'm personally witnessing my own growth through blogging, how cool is that right? ;)

Cut long story short, yieng sing invited me to join this 5 days 4 nights Ulu Julau short-term mission trip in Sibu on 8/6/15- 12/6/15 and I said yes! I've always always always always wanted to go on some mission trips, but sadly I never get any news or opportunities, not until my friend invited me. IMAGINE HOW EXCITED I WAS? Just to give you guys a clearer picture, Ulu Julau short-term mission trip is held twice every year, once during June and once during december. It's main aim is to reach out to the ibans living around that area. If interested, you can search up the group "Misi Jangka Pendek Ulu Julau" on facebook and download the participation form.

You probably couldn't believe how hard I begged my parents to allow me to go. Of course, my paranoid parents have their own concerns too, what with the area being so remote and all, and just the thought of using rivers and kayaks as the main source of transportation is enought to send them into panic mode. So yes, I'm really really really thankful that my parents did not stop me from going after citing all sorts of articles about people being eaten alive by crocodiles at the riverside. *grins*

I arrived in Sibu two days earlier before the trip and stayed in yieng sing's house. Her darling mum kept on stuffing me with all sorts of food haha! The night before entering the camp, Yieng Sing and I was extremely nervous. I was kinda worried. Worried that I couldn't fit in. Worried that this mission trip would turn out to be a nightmare. So we held hands and pray together, surrendering all our worries to God.

We reached Ulu Julau Methodist church along with all the participants and were shortly distributed into groups. There were 15 groups in total if not mistaken, and each group was given a certain route to a certain area, either using water route or road route.  Hence, yeah, you rely on your teammates totally for the 5 days to come. I was told that there were around 120 participants, eldest 80 years old and youngest 4 years old. So yeah, you see, age doesn't matter when it comes to serving God. What matters most is your willingness in serving. And it's not a one day of a week matter. We need to remember that everyday of our lives testifies of our faith :)

Allow me to intro my teammates! From the left is Joey from Petaling Jaya, Me, Hellen from Julau, Sofea Jonathan from Miri, David Kedal, Shing Le n Siew Xiang from Kapit. There's also Uncle Raymond and Auntie Irene from Kuching but they're not in the picture. On the first day, we were busy preparing stuffs like writing down songs on mahjong papers, stories and games for the kids. My group was instructed to take the water route, much to my excitement cuz it means we'll be using boats! XD 

We have Night of Worship and all the Ibans living around the area were invited. The church was so so packed. I was really touched seeing the crowd before me-people from all walks of life, of different skin colours and different languages and different backgrounds, all congregating together to worship. It was, oh so truly amazing. My tears just flowed, seeing the people gathering together just because of the one thing in common-- that each of us had personally experienced and witnessed the love of God in our lives, that we're each God's favourable child. You can hear people singing in Iban, Chinese, English, BM and all sorts of different languages yet it was so harmonious. 

Lord I stand in the midst of a multitude
Of those from every tribe and tongue
We are your people redeemed by Your blood

Rescued from death by Your love
There are no words

Good enough to thank You

There are no words to express my praise

But I will lift up my voice

And sing from my heart

With all of my strength

Day two! All the groups using the water route were ready to depart.

Aaaaand, we're off! We took this sampan for around 4 hours to reach our first house, Rumah Nyanau. My first time travelling on water for such a long journey. IT WAS SUPERB. The scenery was amazing! Upon reaching, we unloaded all our luggages and equipments and began the long climb up the winding steps to the long house. After that, we went around inviting the people in the long house to gather together for our sessions. I was kinda freaking out because obviously I dunno how to converse in iban language. I was practically screaming inside my head WHAT AM I TO DO. But then I saw my teammates around me actively going around, inviting people in their broken BM or iban language. It was like a wake up call to me. No language barrier is going to stop me from quitting. And no language barrier is going to stop these people from knowing the love of God. So all I did was just smile and smile and smile, point around, fully maximizing body language LOL

The kids the kids the kids! They're oh so adorable!

 

We played lotsa ice-breaking games. This is the human chain game. The whole long house was filled with laughter. Even the elderly people came out and watched the kids playing around. 

Praise & Worship session! We taught the kids to sing songs with actions. They love it! ;)

At night, we had a short time of sharing. Tann shared his testimony on how he came to know God. While the adults were listening to the sharing, me and a few other friends were at the end of the long house telling them bible stories and teaching them to do crafts.

Look at their smiles!

So we repeat the whole process at each of the long house that we stopped by. Among the other houses that we visited were rumah Amba, rumah Guyu and rumah Nunying. I was told that rumah Amba was once a longhouse with many believers passionate for God, but then, as time passes, many people lose faith. When we reached rumah Amba, only 3 people came for our sessions. The rest did not join us. It was really sad.  Anyhow, we still continued the session for the sake of the 3 people. We sang "Ku mau cinta Yesus selamanya" in the Iban language. I saw tears welled up in their eyes as they sang the line "Meskipun badai silih berganti dalam hidupku, ku tetap cinta Yesus selamanya".  I dunno what difficulties they had gone through, being the only 3 believers in their community. Were they scorned, jeered at? Were they treated like a shame of the community?  This further reminded me, that no matter what life hurls at me I'm still gonna cling on to Jesus.  Ku tetap cinta Yesus selamanya.

And here's a random picture of us all crammed together in a small room having late night meetings. On the verge of exhaustion. Every night, after everything is over, which would be around 12am+, we would gather together for reflections and discussions. To be honest, it was really exhausting, waking up early and sleeping late every single day. But of course, it was all worth it, to share with people about the love of Jesus.

Meet my team! *cheers* last day last day! Can you see exhaustion written all over our faces?  :P 

Another random picture taken by Tann. Caught off guard, but still, I love this pic! Awww! We went kayak and swimming! IN THE RIVER! (Something that my parents kept on reminding me not to for fear of being eaten by crocodiles). But turns out, there were no crocodiles at all because the river flow was very swift. According to the Ibans, crocodiles only live in still rivers. Anyway back to the topic the water was so cold and crystal clear. I seriously LOVE it! And and and did you know that the water was so clean that they did not have to filter their waters? *in awe*

Here's David carrying all the equipments. Very shy but sweet guy ;)

Dear uncle Raymond! Very nice and humble person, and also very sweet! He takes great care of all of us, and he even took extra notice on me and Joey, being the only two participants from West M'sia. He was always asking whether we're okay or are we used to everything and such. Very sweet righttttt ;)

Ask me if I would go again, I would definitely say yes. In fact, I was kinda hoping that I would have the chance to be involved in more mission trips in the future. I want people to know Jesus. I want the world to know Jesus. Sometime, I just have to hold back the urge to shout out "Hey! There's a God out there who really cares and loves you, do you even know?" Admittedly, I still do not have the courage to do that. I'm still worried about what my friends will say *Slaps own head*. Anyhow,  i've heard people saying that short-term mission trips aren't that effective/ doesn't help much because the time is too short. But hey, we can never know how God choose to work and reveal Himself right? (: 

I believe in Christianity
as I believe that the sun has risen:
not only because I see it,
but because by it I see everything else.

-C.S Lewis-

Ending pic haha! Selfies in Julau *wink*

你创造宇宙万物

统管一切所有

但你却关心我的需要

了解我的感受

你铺陈天上云彩

打造永恒国度

但这双手却甘心为我

忍受彻骨钉伤苦痛