"He Has Made Me Possible"

Brothers & sisters in Christ,  

May the peace of God be with you.

My name is Adeline Lim, I am from Miri. I am just a young believer in Christ, I started to join GMC in 2007 and I started to join cell group in 2008. I have never thought that I am able to serve the Lord in this way even to stand here today is an “Impossible” to me. I am always not convinced that I am being good enough to share with others. I am still a person who needs to be transforming into Christ likeness. So in order to live a Christian life, I have decided I should serve the Lord as much as I can.

This was my 3^rd trip to Selangau. The first trip was last year August 2009 and the second trip was on November 2009. After the two previous trips to Selangau I still do not have the confidence that God would use me like how he would use others, all my previous teammates are gifted and talented. They could lead smoothly and effectively. I think I have only managed to assist them in a small area only. It was a BIG challenge for me to join the mission trip because I am not fluent in Malay and definitely not understanding any of the Iban language.

The reason why I decided to go back to this mission trip is because I wanted to continue to serve the Lord.  We can only serve him with our heart and yet he doesn’t need anything from us, therefore we should try our best to serve him in the area that we are gifted. During the two previous mission trips I have actually build a strong relationship with the local people at Selangau. They are all very warm hearted and friendly nice people. I wanted to go back and to see the transformation of the people.

There is a “BIG Difference” of this trip compare to the two previous mission trips. It is something that I have never expected. When I promised to join the 3^rd mission trip then only I found out that all my previous teammates were not going and I was anxious and extremely worried but I have already promised that I will attend the first meeting. So during the meeting I had brought up a discussion suggested to postpone our trip so that others were able to join us. But my team leader responded that we should go on this date because it was a school holiday and all the children would be around. They assigned me to lead on children ministry. At that moment, my mind was like having “Millions of Impossible” of how could I lead? There’s a language barrier and I am so young in Christ. When I went home, I had the thought that I should not go and I couldn’t sleep the whole night I even thought to call my team leader to cancel my name. But I have been thinking the whole night if I don’t go, I won’t be able to find a replacement in such a short notice. I put my faith in God and my family prayed for me so I decided to go lastly. 

Praise the Lord on the next day my younger brother, Addam decided to join me to the mission trip. On the last week itself, 6 people from Bintulu Immanuel Church decided to join us. There are all very gifted in Children Ministry. They are assigned to teach the children. I myself and Monica will lead on the singing and Artwork. We only practiced for 2 times on the children songs even I was so nervous when leading the singing but GOD DID AMAZING WORK, the Holy Spirit was with us and the prayers were answered. The children enjoyed the singing and responded well. They were very eager to learn. Thank God all my teammates were very supportive and encouraging to each others. We made it!!!

I praise God because He has made me possible. I never thought that God will use me to lead and bless the children. I am very joyful because I can praise the Lord and God has built my confident to serve him.

“GOD WILL MAKE EVERYTHING POSSIBLE”

Thank you!

Sharing by Adeline Lim

Posted & Photos by Peter Yong

Emily Tiang's Testimony

Balingian Mission Trip 22-24th Aug 2009

Emily’s sharing
__________
I am Emily Tiang, I am 16 years old. I joined the short term mission trip because my mother signed me up since it was a week of school break. This is my first time and I do not know what to expect.

When I reach there, it was a lot better than I had expected. I was glad that I had gone. I had actually enjoyed the stay.The adults and children at the longhouse were very friendly and lived simple lives. I feel relaxed to be among them. The food is simple yet nice like bamboo shoots, midin, tapioca leaves, oil palm shoot, most of which are obtained from the jungle. I was also not bitten by mosquitoes, Praise the Lord.

I helped with the drawing and colouring in the children’s ministry. Helped the children tie their hair while some got their hair cut. It was a joy to be able to see so many people, 35 of them, from infants to adults, being baptized at the Selangau church.

I hope more youths will join such mission trips in the future.
Thank you.

Article distributed by Wendy Tiong. Posted by Peter Yong

Melanie Tiang's Testimony

Balingian Mission Trip 22-24th Aug 2009

I am Melanie Tiang, I am 14 years old. This is also my first time to a mission trip. I have similar expectation to Emily’s. But it turned out a lot better than what I have expected.

The longhouse folks and children are very friendly and they welcomed us warmly when we arrived. I am quite comfortable with their living environment and fitted in well.I helped with the drawing and colouring in the children’s ministry. We also played some games with the children. I can see that the children enjoyed the children ministry.The children enjoyed singing the songs of praise which were taught to them. They even performed on the last night and also did the puppet show about the lost sheep to the longhouse folks. I am privileged to be part of the team.

I hope that more youths will go for trips like this to serve them.

Thank you.

Article provided by Wendy Tiong. Posted by Peter Yong

To Share What We Have

Sharing by Jocelyn. Article provided by Wendy Tiong.
Posted by Peter Yong

I went to this mission trip because I had wanted to do so last year but had missed the opportunity.

So this year when this came up and it was during the one week school holiday, I brought my children with me as well. I had not stayed at a longhouse before, and did not know what to expect. Nevertheless, I felt peace in going. I had to drive with a backup driver. The longhouse folks were very friendly and we quickly settled down with our unloading. We had to bath in rain water collected in a tub since there is no piped water. It was so refreshingly cold after a long journey.

I watched those who had been to this longhouse before with their sense of familiarity and ease. Though language is a problem for me, because I neither speak BM nor Iban, this was no obstacle to helping with the team in what they are doing. To be able to leave my comfort zone and go for this trip was a blessing for me since I felt that I do not even have the urge to complain when I see the earnestness of the longhouse folks in hearing what we have to share.

It was also a real joy to be able to witness some 35 people, from infants to adults , being baptized in the Selangau church on Sunday by the pastor there. To be able to share what we have in terms of food, bibles, quiet time, songs of praise, guitars, fun time and just by our being there, serving in whatever ways we can, can bring the gospel message alive and more acceptable.

I would urge those who have not gone to sign up for the next one.

Selangau Short Mission Trip 22-24th Aug 09

Video clip by Wendy Tiong. Posted by Peter Yong

God’s Grace is Sufficient

From Local Missionary at Pa Adang, Lawas, Sister Kong Moi Fah(26^th February, 2009)Original article in Mandarin translated by Rev. Law Hui Seng).

Posted by Peter Yong

“Thanks be to God, His grace is sufficient for me,” This is God’s promise to me. This is my third year in Pa Adang. Three years is not a long time and it is also not a short time. No matter what, they have gone. God does not forsake me. He leads me to experience Him every day.

As I recall the past, when I recount every moment of my life, I have countless thanks to give to God. God allows me to learn lots of lessons. Though in these few years, I experience lots of pain and tears, God allows me to grow, to draw close to Him, experience His love, and grace. I learn to understand His will. I know that God puts me in Pa Adang for He desires me to learn many lessons. He wants to train, mould me to become a child pleasing to him, so that I can willingly, without complain, give myself to God to walk this path of ministry.

At the moment, in Pa Adang, our ministry starts to enter into establish mode. The Pa Adang Penans have started to learn about wet padi planting, rearing fish, learning to plant vegetable, etc. Thank God for He allows me to see portion of the Penan people starting to settle down.

2009 is a year of breakthrough for the Penan people in Pa Adang. Finally, they are ready to send their children to the government school. This is the greatest encouragement to us as teachers. Thank God that finally, we have the first batch of Penans. We hope that more Penan parents can see it, open up and allow their children to go to government school to receive education.

Actually, the Penan children need a period of time to adjust themselves to the new school environment. They never learn to live with other races; they also never come out of their original environment.

Finally, I hope GMC can pray for the Penan students who are studying in the school now. Pray that God will grant them extra measure of wisdom. May God bless them with very good ability to adjust and learn new things. All glory be to God, Amen!