God was glorified!
I would like to thank everyone who supported us spiritually and financially to our mission trip to Malaysia. Your partnership with us changed lives in Malaysia, and it is still continuing to affect those who we interacted with.
In September, I learned about the opportunity to go overseas to Malaysia with our youth pastor as he spoke at a youth camp. This would be my first overseas mission trip; so I was very hesitate about committing to this trip. However after much praying and talking to people about this opportunity, in December I committed to this trip. Even through my hesitations and worries, God was glorified.
We were assigned books to help us prepare for this trip. However due to my laziness and my busy life, I was not very prepared for this mission trip. I read most of the books and researched about my workshop but I felt like I could of done a lot more. A week before we were supposed to leave for Malaysia, I was over at Chris Gaw’s house (another team member) almost every night preparing for our workshop that we would teach at the camp. As I was traveling a part of me felt like I was inadequate and unable to serve him. Even through my laziness and our last minute preparations, God was glorified.
After traveling for 24 hours, we arrived at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our schedule was very tight and we had no time to rest. When we got to the airport we were greeted by the leaders of Pantai Baptist Church. I got the privilege to drive with Thomas Yap who I later served with at the camp. We spent our time just talking about ourselves and what we expected from camp and how I could serve this week. We went to the hotel to check in and had lunch with the other leaders and it was amazing just seeing people across the world loving the same God that I love as well as serving him because we have the same mission. After lunch we had a meeting with the camp committee to discuss the logistics of the camp and pray over the camp. At this point, we were exhausted and our jetlag got worst...we became delirious. Even through the awkwardness of meeting a group of people, and our physical weakness, God was glorified.
The next day was the first day of camp and it was hard just realizing that I had to serve these kids for the rest of the week. But I knew that I was there for a reason and there was no time to waste. The day progressed with the games, the dinner, the message, and we finished with our first small group. I was co-leading with a leader from Malaysia named Callie. She was a blessing to work with and together we lead 8 campers (age ranged from 13-18 of males and females). During the message, Justin told them that if they had any questions about their faith they needed to answer them within this week because they must know what you believe. The questions ranged from: What was sin? Why did Jesus have to come down? Why are Christians so hypocritical? It was amazing seeing people so vulnerable about their insecurities. We spent a good hour just answering questions and posing questions to challenge their faith. Even through my worries and my lack of knowledge, God was glorified.
The next day we woke up at 7:30am after a long night of prepping for the next day to led a group devotional. During the group devotion I kept challenging them that there is more to life than what they been living. I wanted to stress the importance of studying and applying the truths of the Bible into their lives. In the afternoon I led a workshop with another member (Chris Gaw) about sovereignty and free will. The first day we had 8 people who came and by the second day 25 people came. It was amazing seeing how God’s grace overflowed as we taught this complicated subject. As we shared about how God has so much grace and mercy that he actually saved us, we explained to them differences between the doctrine of Arminianism and the doctrine of Calvinism. God used us to bring basic and solid teaching on these two theologies. We stressed how this workshop wasn’t about learning about doctrines however it was really to help people understand about their own salvation. At the end of camp, many of the campers came to us about questions not just about these two doctrines but about Christianity as well as questions regarding salvation. Even through our lack of preparation, our limited knowledge, and our nervousness...God was glorified.
The stress and the pure exhaustion of the week took its toll on my body. Many of the team got sick and I was one of them. After lunch on the 3rd day of camp I started to get headaches so I decided to take a nap during games and free time to try to rest my body. However when I woke up for the message, I started to have body aches. I decided to miss the evening message and sleep with hopes of feeling better in the morning. As I woke up for the last morning of camp and I felt all right, so I went to lead group devotions. However after breakfast I went back to my room and threw up. I went back to bed and when I woke up I walked to the main hall, and I started blacking out and felt dehydrated. I left the camp early to get medical treatment at a local hospital. The host family was truly gracious to us throughout the entire trip and it was evident when they took care of me during this part of the trip. Also God provided a pharmacist on our team, Aunt Swee-Ling, who was a mother to all of us. As she provided medical advice and was the caretaker during our time in Malaysia. God was gracious to us on the way home and none of us got sick on the airplane. Even though my body was physically weak, God was glorified.
The next day we spent the day attending the host church’s service and Sunday school. It was amazing seeing God work through the Church in Malaysia. That night we held a leadership workshop for the youth leaders of Pantai Baptist Church. We encouraged them and explained to them what the youth need from their adults leaders and the expectations that youth have. The last day we got to go sight seeing. God was gracious to us once again as he allowed us to come back home safely after a 24 hours flight back. Even though we were not experienced in leadership training, God was still gloried.
The thing I realized the most from this mission trip is that even though I was unworthy, God was bigger than who I am or what I have to offer. He did what He wanted even though our team was unfit to be there. God showed his grace and his power so that we can experience joy from working with Him.
For pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chewywong/
No comments:
Post a Comment