MY
PA’ ADANG STORY by Colin Wong
GREETINGS and may the
peace of the Lord be with you!
I joined Pa’ Adang
mission trip as I was invited by my senior, Jason Soh. At first I was reluctant
because I intended to proceed with my research project during the semester
break. However, he asked me this question: “God or study comes first?” I was
shaken and persuaded. I was then assigned to the Children’s Sunday School
ministry.
Before the mission
trip, our pastor kept on reminding members that we were not going for a
holiday. To serve, we had to adapt and be prepared for any circumstances and
changes, he warned us.
The life in Pa’Adang is
completely different from that of a city. There are no 24-hours electricity
supply, no internet connection, no air-conditioning and inadequate water supply
(where all men including pastor were required to bathe in the river). Due to
the need of building a new church, all men were required to do physical labor
(to move stones and sand) while women were mostly in charge for the Children’s
Ministry and meal preparations. I was excited and energized on the first day
work as it was a new experience.
Nonetheless my physical
strength started to diminish after a few days. I was tired and unenthusiastic.
My feet and hands were bitten by sand flies. The irritation made me
uncomfortable and frustrated. I began to complain inside my heart. I forgot the
objective of this mission trip, that was – to serve.
Thank God, my attitude
and thoughts changed when I was working with Pastor Jabez. He did not complain
– neither did he show any grievances or dissatisfaction albeit the trying
circumstances. At that moment, I felt embarrassed and ashamed. I realized how
weak I was – spiritually, physically and emotionally! Instead of complaining, I
could have thanked God that He provided us good weather, breathtaking scenery
and sufficient food and drinks. Although some fell sick, I could thank God that
He has not let anyone of us be injured or harmed. If only I could be faithful
in these little things, then I can be entrusted with the larger ones.
On the fifth day, the
second mission trip team arrived in the evening. The team comprised of brothers
and sisters -in-Christ with distinguished professions. Due to the rain, they
arrived slightly later than expected. Therefore they had to work overnight
after dinner to build the foundation. I joined them. When I saw all of them
working collaboratively and wholeheartedly, my heart was deeply moved. Everyone
was faithful in their work for the Lord, and not for men. The scene reminded me
that we are each part of the body of Christ, and we are gifted in different
areas. When we act on the gifts given and work together heartily, we can do
great things.
I hope that I am able
to apply my knowledge not only in my future job, but also in God’s work. I hope
I can serve more willingly and faithfully.
Proverbs 3: 5-6: “Trust
in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all
your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.”
My
Pa’ Adang Story by Jason Soh
IT WAS a wonderful
8-day mission trip travelling from Miri to Lawas, and from Lawas to Pa’ Adang,
and back.
I spent a total of 6
days there to have a better experience with God. Technology has been one of the
factors that causes the ignorance of God’s creation. Throughout this journey
without any distraction from hi-tech devices, I was to able see Mother Nature
with a better insight.
I could see and hear
the cries of the needy to build up their physical and spiritual needs. From
this mission trip, I have realized that it is insufficient to support the
natives financially only; manpower is also very crucial. One of the limitations
of the natives has is education. Therefore it will be good to focus on
education to secure the future of the younger generations and create awareness
in the world’s happenings.
The sermon preached by
Pastor Yahya struck me in living my daily life. He preached “Strengthening our
faith in the world today”. An example given by him was “building houses on rock
and building houses on sand”. He reiterated an underlying basis that we have to
be strong in our faith by reading the Bible and doing God’s work to prevent our
“house” to fall.
Furthermore the
preaching from Pastor Yahya brought a great impact to my life. He spoke on his
acceptance of Christ and his experience of being a pastor in Pa’ Adang. It was
a great testimony seeing how God has chosen His people to commence His ministry
in the great place Pa Adang. It is my pleasure to meet Pastor Yahya and to know
more about him. His sacrifice of moving from the urban town to a rural place
has humbled me greatly.
In Matthew 19:26 –
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all
things are possible.” This has inspired me that “with God everything is
possible”. No matter how small and insignificant we are, if we have faith in
God, everything is achievable.
My
Pa’Adang Story by Adam Tiong
AS WE disembarked next
to the river, I jumped off the pickup truck and stretched. A little distance
away was the 50-meter wide river that we had to cross to reach Pa’Adang, our
mission field. We all began to unload all the equipment, materials and personal
luggage. We began forming a relay line across the river to move all the things
from one side of the river to the other.
Our mission to Pa’
Adang was to assist the Penan people living there to construct a new church so
that their old church can be converted into a school. Pa’ Adang is not
accessible by road hence all the materials used for construction have to be
carried into the Pa’Adang village.
Our mission team’s
objective was to pave the way for the next mission team that would be arriving
the following week. That team was led by Rev. Ling Biu and would continue the
construction of the new church which they hoped to complete. Our team would
attempt to collect as many raw materials such as sand and stones for the team,
including doing some other preparatory work such as road construction and
hostel building.
While I was helping to
carry all our equipment from the river to the village, I decided to carry two
items; a heavy piece of roofing felt and another smaller plastic bag filled
with odds and ends. It was approximately one kilometer walk to the village. At
the beginning, it was relatively easy even though the roofing felt was quite
heavy. Overtime though as I began to tire, I couldn’t hold the roofing felt
properly as the plastic bag of odd and ends became quite troublesome.
Looking back while
writing this testimony, I realized that this situation reflects certain parts
of my walk with God. In becoming a disciple of Christ, I have learned to carry
my Cross through life. However along the way we become so bogged down with
other worries of life that carrying the cross seems harder than ever and we are
sorely tempted to put it down. The opposite in fact should be the case. By
setting aside all other worries and focusing on carrying our cross, our journey
through life will be a lot easier and purposeful with Christ by our side.
For the first two days
that we were there, the men were divided into two groups. One group was to
collect and transport sand and stones from the nearby riverside to the building
site, and another group to clear and prepare a temporary road up to the
building site from the existing church. I volunteered to join the group that
was going to create the road, seeing as I had never done that before.
Under the supervision
of Bro. Gilbert Hii, we began to clear and level a road from the bottom of the
hill where the old church is located, up to the top of the hill where the
building site for the new church is located. We began by clearing away the
undergrowth that blocked a straight path up to the building site, and then
leveling any uneven ground with gardening hoes and shoveling the excess dirt
into holes or low parts of the road to make it more even.
During the first day
working on the road, I decided to do all I could and put all my energy into it.
I tried to work and hard and as fast as I could, and at the beginning declined
to take a break even when I felt tired. By the end of that first day I had lost
all my energy and even fell sick going into the second day. I had to take the
second afternoon off to recover from my sickness.
While recovering, I
realized that I had fallen into the trap of taking too much pride in myself.
Most of the time, we become prideful in the form of boasting or recognition.
However from this experience, I realized that choosing not to admit our
weakness is also a form of pride that is equally dangerous. By admitting that
we are weak or lost in certain parts of our lives, we can then allow God help
us in those areas. By allowing God to work in our lives, we can then benefit
ourselves, the people around us and the work we do for our Lord.
Going back to work the
following day, I decided to go join the group collecting sand and stones at the
riverbank, as I heard that there would be more shade there so I could recover
better. Working slowly, I understood that I had reached my limit the day before
by overextending myself in the work process. By focusing too much on the work
and what I myself could do, I forgot to focus on God in the process of the
mission. It was a sharp reminder that we all are God’s tools and we need to be
humble enough to set aside all our worries and pride to let God work through
us.
All throughout the
mission I was constantly reminded at the beauty of God’s creation. As we woke
up at around 6am every morning for daily devotion, we could see the breaking of
dawn as the sunlight hits the hilltops surrounding Pa’Adang that were still
covered with low hanging clouds. Cold crisp air gave way to a clean fresh
earthly smell as the day progressed to noontime. After work each day, all the
men would bathe in the river to conserve water in the hostel. The river is very
clean and we used it for bathing and washing our clothes. There is a part of
the river that rushes over a bed of rocks which is ideal for scrubbing our
clothes. The water is clean and cold, and rushes along quite fast which makes
it ideal for rinsing. In the deeper part of the river, the current slows and
turns greenish as it becomes deeper, making a very refreshing scene. As night,
the air turns fresh and cold again, and due to the lack of night activities, we
sit around the dining table talking and singing along to songs from our mission
pamphlets until we went off to sleep around 10 pm.
This mission trip
helped me understand more about myself in terms of my values and understanding
God. It also enabled me to be closer to God’s creation; to understand why and
how we go about doing His will. Although it was a tough week, all in all it was
one of the most memorable missions I have ever been and I thank the Lord for
leading me to Pa’Adang.
