It's the love

Saturday, June 20, 2009

I went to east timor on the 9 to 16 june. i had just read chris report or reflection, one of my friend who went to et with us.i felt so touch by what he wrote. i really felt what he felt too. this is what he wrote:
Reflections on East Timor mission trip

With a rough idea of what to expect on a ‘mission trip’, and half-hearted anticipation, I packed my bags and set off to the land of discovery, Timor Leste. Before the trip, I enquired of the Lord to speak to me in a unique way and to move my heart for the nations. That was exactly what the Lord did, and much more. Let me recount the happenings and my thoughts through this Spirit-filled week.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a warm and welcoming Pastor Catherine. Our first day was to be spent in Dili. Through the day, Pastor Catherine prepared us for what to expect for the coming week, various precautions to take, cultural differences and lifestyle adjustments we had to make. This aroused in me mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension at the same time. I wondered if I was suited for the work we were going to do, being very aware of my limitations, lack of charisma with children, and inadequacies for the task at hand. Even in Dili, the most developed area in East Timor, I saw the needs of the people, and how much less fortunate they were than I, and I knew that poverty would be even more apparent as we went deeper inland. I felt helpless and thought of the impossibility of bringing tangible help to these people.

Early the next day, we set off for Viqueque. The 6 hour drive was enjoyable as we soaked in the magnificent coastal sights and were immersed in mountainous surroundings. Something about proximity to nature always stirs up worship for our great God in our soul. Worship was in my heart even as I took the wheel in a challenging, bumpy ride. I particularly enjoyed the company in my car. Pastor Ruth, Charissa, Anai the translator, and I, shared a fun-filled time of laughter, conversation and song. As we advanced deeper inland, we saw the poverty becoming more and more apparent in the villages and farms, just as I had anticipated. Compassion for the poorest of the poor gripped me once again. We finally arrived at the orphanage and were greeted by smiles from the children and the sisters. It dawned upon us God’s grace and His journey’s mercies, which protected us through the bumpy 6-hour drive, with relatively inexperienced drivers. We were also amazed at how God held back the rain till the point we arrived at the orphanage.

We commenced our premier programme at the orphanage that night. The team was pretty raw and the children were only slowly warming up to us. I felt very self-conscious and constantly worried that the programme we had planned would not be well-received. By God’s grace, that all came to an end when we started singing ‘Jesus loves me’. I was touched by the Holy Spirit and could not hold back my tears, God told me that He loved them so much and it was not about me, the team or our abilities. We are to be mere vessels for God to work through to reach them. I surrendered to God my feelings of self-consciousness and inadequacy. In seemingly being ‘humble’, I was actually being quite the contrary as I focused on myself and my abilities. I knew I had to turn my focus towards God and indeed without Him, we are nothing. I thank God for bringing me to this point of brokenness at an early stage of the trip.

The next morning we visited the village of Lugasa. As we experienced our virgin village visit, we still felt pretty raw as we conducted our programme. Most of them spoke Makasai, not Tatum, which made the already-uphill task of communication even more daunting. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the children and admired their innocence. In the afternoon we went to Pastor Cat’s house to help her out with her children’s English class. We told the children the story of the three little pigs, and related it to building our lives on firm foundations. We also did our usual song and dance. All this was quite well-received by the children and we even enjoyed a personal story-telling session where we read storybooks from the library to them. The children were such a delightful bunch, responsive and yearning to learn. It occurred to me how teaching English is such a tangible way of improving their lives and giving them hope for a better future. After the class, we had a chit-chat session with Pastor Cat, and she related to us on her adaptations to life in Timor so far. As we listened, admiration build up inside of us for an anointed woman of God. I saw someone who was obedient to God’s call and sacrificed much for God’s glory. She truly inspires me to go the extra mile for God and to be open to His will in my life, no matter the cost.

The next morning we were blessed with a wonderful time of group devotion, where we worshipped, reflected and shared about what God had done in our hearts so far. Once again God broke our hearts for the nation and we spoke the blessings of Isaiah 58:10-12 upon the land.

Our next village visit was to Mana-niki( not sure how its spelt). We were to support Pastor Lucy in conducting a ‘service-like’ event for the villagers. Initially, we were quite well-received, especially as we sang and danced with the children and even the village chief. However, as Pastor James began to preach, we sensed a change in the spiritual atmosphere, and realized we weren’t as welcomed as we thought, especially with the older villagers. Pastor Linda beckoned us to pray in the Spirit and we interceded as Pastor James preached about faith. In the end, we left the village in what I would call a ‘not-so-warm’ sendoff. At first, I felt very disheartened, but I soon realized there was no use for it and I was to rejoice in every situation. I chose to turn my concern to prayer instead of dread. Pastor Lucy will still be in our prayers as she now has to stand firm in faith against opposition. At night, I had the privilege of going to Pastor Cat’s youth computer class to teach them basic Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and Excel. I felt strongly for the youths as I saw them earnestly seeking skills to improve themselves. I was glad that I could have a chance to impact their lives in a way, and help Pastor Cat out with her work there.

The next morning we went to the village of Fatudere. Interestingly, there was a beautiful beach there and we made use of the sandy terrain to have our children’s programme. The children were filled with joy as they ran and rolled around in the sand and a game of soccer really got them going. It was a fun morning at the beach.

In the afternoon, we went to Pastor Cat’s youth English class. Personally, this was the event that impacted me the most. Even though the turnout was poor and we only had the chance to interact with 4 youths, it was such a wonderful time of getting to know them better. My heart was breaking for them as they struggled to formulate English words and construct sentences to speak to us. I felt so much compassion for them and saw how they really wanted to learn. English is such a powerful tool they can use to break out of the poverty cycle and make things better for themselves and for the generations to come. After we had our interaction time, Pastor Cat got us to introduce ourselves and tell them our occupations or ambitions. This was an effort to inspire them and give them hopeful motivation. As we introduced ourselves, Pastor Cat wrote down the various occupations on the board like a Vocabulary list. Later, it was their turn to share of their ambitions, and after quite a while of explaining to them what it meant, the students finally were able to stand in front of the class and proclaim their ambitions. January shared that he wanted to be the president, Ana a teacher, Masalenu a manager and Salvador a doctor. I was so moved by their humble sharing and was reminded of God’s faithfulness and how He fulfils our dreams and destiny. I know God will definitely do the same for these youths. I teared as Pastor Cat told them to remember what they said and told them that indeed, ‘they could make it’. We prayed for them and for God to take hold of these lives and bless them. I know that God will indeed watch over these dear youths and help them realize the desires of their hearts.

Its Sunday morning, and we were blessed with the opportunity of visiting a church. We had a wonderful time of praising God and put up a song performance for the church. I am still impressed with how God made our team musical, and helped us produce a sweet sound to Him. In the afternoon, we paid our final village visit to Bibleo. This was my favorite village visit and I personally enjoyed myself a lot. Our programme was well-received by the children and we sensed a more open spiritual climate there. We had a time of fun and games after that. Joy filled the place as paper balls danced in the wind and laughter resounded in the air. We even managed a game of volleyball, and the ‘Malais’ were put in their place as we got served by the much more ‘professional’ and seasoned villagers. We had a blast.

Our final night in Viqueque, time for our finale programme at the convent. We played, danced and sang. What was really special was when we turned off the lights and sang ‘This little light of mine’ waving our torchlights about. The children at the convent have such pure and angelic voices which cause a resonance not only in the air, but in the heart. We concluded with an appreciation session and our ‘theme song’ for the trip, ‘Jesus you are my Lord’. This song was a new song to them and all of them picked it up very well, this was evident every morning, when we would hear it being sung in the corridors of the convent.

What a trip! My heart is filled with gratitude to the Lord for all He has done and all that I have given and received. Truly, the Lord has blessed me with such a trip, great company, great fun, great purpose and great revelation. Most of all, it has caused a shift in paradigm and perspective. I have learnt so many things and have been revealed countless truths. One of them is the giving of oneself to God’s call and purpose, this I received from Pastor Cat, through watching and interacting with her and other missionaries as well. ‘Whoever tries to keep his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall preserve it.’ the very words of Jesus himself. Another thing I learnt is that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Truly, there is a huge need for the people of God to do His work in so many parts of the world. Many of the people in East Timor are in need of a helping hand, to teach them and to aid them. They are indeed quite open to receiving Jesus Christ, if only the message were to be brought to them. One more thing that has been revealed to me is a reaffirmation of my call to do medicine and become a doctor. Just before the trip I was feeling insecure once again of my choice to go overseas to pursue medicine, and asked God to tell me clearly again, even though He has done so many times before, that being a doctor is indeed what He wants me to do. After seeing the needs of the people, I am convicted once again in my spirit that I want to become a doctor for Jesus. Praise the Lord!
Truly this has been a remarkable journey and I have seen and set foot on a remarkable land. Definitely, a piece of my heart is in the land of East Timor and the faces of the children and youth will be lingering in my head. This land, seen through the eyes of man, is one of devastation, ruin and poverty. However, seen through the eyes of Jesus, it is a land of hope, and God is going to pour out His abundant blessings, and build up its ruins with the firm foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He hadwritten wat i wanted to say. God has really showed me what it is like to be poor, but praising him so well. studying is also very important. but he is more important. god has blessed me and i should really appreciate what i have and not complain at all! they say that english is gd and only through studying, they can get out of proverty. we should learn from them to count our blessings and not complain. just by giving them a sweet, or playing the finger catching game, u can see the real joy in their faces! we complain like crazy. the ppl there dun even have pants and shoes to wear! they walk 1km to go and bath! god has shown me that god is really good and that i should be thankful. i noe that many of his works are to be done and he will use my hands!

your words here.. =)