Before you read on, we would just like you to know that we will be posting a few more entries in regards to the mission trip apart from this one. Due to the many events that we experienced during the mission trip, in which we would like to share with you, we have a series of blog entries to hopefully give you a glimpse of what God has revealed to us. Be blessed!

Romans 8: 28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. It is such an assurance to know that God works for His people who loves Him and in that, have been called by Him and for Him according to His perfect purpose. So, for us at GCC, to take the initiatory step in our inaugural mission work to Sarawak, we knew that it was all in accordance to His perfect plan.

GCC embarked on their first mission trip last month from 9 -15 August 2009. Prior to the actual field trip, the team went through training sessions, met up weekly to prepare the necessary programmes and also prayed and fasted for 3 consecutive weeks. It was a challenge right from the start, but nonetheless, a fulfilling one. GCC partnered alongside the Sarawak Baptist Church Home Mission Board whom have been kind enough to direct us to the appropriate longhouses in Sri Aman. The team, which consisted of mainly young adults (namely Kenny Khoo, Penny Khoo, Christopher Koh, Saw Poh Sim, Josephine Teh, Ashley Lim, Jeffrey Leong and Pastor Edward), visited the Iban community in the interior of Sri Aman, Sarawak. In total, the team visited 5 longhouses keeping in mind the chief end of it all, which is to make God famous!

GCC’s mission team (from right to left):
Josephine, Jeffrey, Ashley, Penny, Pastor Edward, Christopher, Poh Sim and Kenny (behind the camera!)

The primary focus of the mission trip was on leadership for the participants. The mission trip served as an important ground for the young adults, who are seen to be the core leaders of GCC in the near future. The growth of the participants was as important as the growth of the team as a whole and hence, another important focus was on team dynamics and team building. As much as it was about leadership, GCC never neglected the area of ministry. This was also the backbone focus for the mission team as they stepped into the different longhouses sharing, preaching, praying and ministering to the people there about God.

For some, it was their first mission trip into the interior of Sarawak. For others, it was venturing back into familiar grounds. Either way, every mission trip brings new insights and it was something we prayed for; that God would reveal Himself to us in a deeper level. We expected God to perform miracles, we expected Him to give us new insights, we expected Him to stretch us to a new level of faith and we expected God to move in mighty ways speaking into the hearts of the people.

We arrived in Kuching on 9 August and was welcomed by Pastor Seria, a member of the Home Mission Board, who was kind enough to let us put up a night at her place. Although the initial plan was to push off straight to Sri Aman upon our arrival in Kuching, we decided not to due to the weather which was really hazy. Visibility on the road was bad for long distance travelling. The following morning we took off to Sri Aman town.

The van in which we travelled in from Kuching to Sri Aman, Sarawak.

The journey to Sri Aman took us about two hours plus. Thank God for the safe journey! We were greeted by Pastor Johny, another fellow member of the Home Mission Board, who is also currently attending and serving in the Maranatha Church in Sri Aman. Pastor Johny’s house was to be our base in Sri Aman.

Although the initial plan was to go into the longhouses once we arrive in Sri Aman, we faced another change of plan. Pastor Johny suggested that we ought to attend a home fellowship meeting at night in Sri Aman to encourage and to empower the people there. We unanimously gave heed to his suggestion and from then on, embarked on our first ‘real’ mission work at hand.

The team gathering together at Pastor Johny’s house for a briefing session.

We had time in the evening to shop for supplies before the home fellowship meeting. One of the key supplies we needed to get was boxes of mineral water. Pastor Johny informed us that one of the struggles that Sarawak was facing at that time was water shortage. In most parts of Sarawak, drought has pervaded the land. Moreover, the haze was really bad in Sri Aman due to the burning season. In some areas, people have not seen rain for up to three months! It was a trying season for the locals who lived in the interior as most are still dependant on rain water for daily usage. One of the key issues we were praying for was to see God pour down physical rain upon this land and ultimately, to pour down spiritual rain as well!

Water, an essential supply throughout the mission trip.
The guys loading the boxes of mineral water into Pastor Johny’s jeep!

The home fellowship meeting was held in the home of a member of the Maranatha Church in Sri Aman, Mr. Derrick. About 15-20 came for the fellowship. For us, it was a challenge to put together what we have been practising over the weeks for the first time in this meeting. Another challenge for some of the team members was to preach the word. A selected few were slotted to preach the Word at different services along with a given topic. Talk about being stretched! God is definitely stretching many of us who participated in this mission trip in more ways than one.

Kenny and Jeffrey, performing the “Television” skit which talks about being plugged into the power of the Holy Spirit!
Jeffrey preaching the Word.
One of the challenges some of us faced was to stand up front to share the Word!
Penny helping out in the children’s ministry.

Although those who were present were believers, it was still a breath of fresh air for many of them to have a team coming all the way from a small island called Penang to visit, to encourage and to empower them in the Word. For us, we also received blessing and encouragement from the meeting. It was uplifting to see the fellowship that this group of people had with one another in the name of Christ. Language and culture may be different, but Christ remains the same and He is still our one true God and in Him, we are united.