The mission
trip to Tudan Methodist Church was my first time in the mission field. In the
beginning, when I knew the date of this mission trip fell on 27th
June, I felt conflicted due to my foundation final exam being on 7th
of July. However I still wanted to challenge myself, and feeling that this is
my responsibility as a Christian, I made the final decision to go for this
trip. When the date of the trip approached, my body started showing a lot of
red blots, and those made me felt itchy. A close friend who had this similar
ailment before gave me a skin ointment and advised me not to go. However, feeling
that this being a challenge from God, I still joined with a brave heart.
All seemed
well until a sudden announcement that my Accounting class replacement would be
on 27th of June. I immediately told Tsy that I would be late to the
trip. She kindly arranged for me to participate after the night fellowship. At
the same time, I also told my situation to Pastor Jabez, and his wife
prescribed me medication to further treat my skin problem. I felt really
touched and am still really appreciative of them. I felt guilty as well for
burdening the people around me, but I made up my mind to do better in the
remaining days of the mission trip.
On the
second day, my group leader, JC, gave me the task to evangelize. He told me
that since I had missed it on the first day, I had to do it now on the second
day. At that moment, I felt discouraged because I did not seem to know much on
how. I prayed to God to give me courage to face this evangelism challenge. When
we reached our destination, I saw a garbage dump area filled with uncountable
piles of rubbish. My groupmate, AW, told me that the people living here survive
on the dirty pond water with floating rubbish for bathing and drinking, and the
villagers here are seriously poverty-stricken.
Our group
split into two for the day. I was with JC and visited a house belonging to
Christian. My group members showed me how to spread the gospel to indigenous
people there. Later, we visited a second house, and I knew it was my turn. As
my group approached, the people looked at us. I quickly took out the evangelism
booklet 'Empat Hukum Rohani' (Four Spiritual Laws) and met a woman to read
through. After I finished, I then asked some questions to her, but could not
seem to illicit any response. My teammate, John, tried explaining as well, but
still no response from her. We felt disappointed, but praise the Lord that her
husband responded well. We felt delighted to be accepted. We then continued
visiting others, and were glad to find most of them were already Christians.
When we asked them about their belief in God, they responded excitedly with
tears flowing from their eyes. Their desires to know more about God as well as
their expressions encouraged me.
After all
that, we went home. After lunch break, we went to visit another area behind
Tudan Church. Gabriel and some Tudan church mates were in my group. We walked.
The people of that area were more unwelcoming as compared to the villagers in
the garbage dump. They closed their doors tightly despite being at home.
However, we successfully visited six houses. Four of them said that they
believed while two others were still deciding. We felt encouraged to hear some
of their decisions. I felt that our toils for this evangelism trip were worth
it.
In
conclusion, God loves us, and this we know very well. However, most people are
blinded by material possessions, and they could not feel God's love. Through
this journey, I found that indigenous people, being poorer as compared to city
people, desired more for God's love. God's love is fair to everyone. He does
not care how rich or poor a human is. Everyone has the privilege to receive
God's love and care. This mission trip taught me a big lesson: we have the
responsibility to spread the gospel to needy people. Although there are
obstacles from spreading the gospel, if we trust that God is with us, we can
overcome every obstructions. PRAISE TO OUR FATHER GOD!
(Amended by Peter W)
(Amended by Peter W)
Tudan Methodist Church
