The Ulu Julau/Kanowit (10-14 June 2109) mission trip was a beautiful surprise for me. I had been struggling for some time whether to participate in this mission expedition and made up my mind just before the closing date of the expedition.

It made me think of Jonah’s experience. No matter how one tries to escape or ignore God’s calling, in the end, one would have to obey. I also believe everything is in the hands of God. His will is good.

What came as a surprise was that I was put in a new team, the expedition team. Expedition means uncertainties. I didn’t know how many clothes to bring along nor whether we were going by land or by river! Everything was a question mark! It was a great challenge indeed and we had to put our trust in God.

I was grateful as all our worries were groundless. God blessed us with good accommodation and food. The pastor let us use his parsonage and we could get food from the nearby town. Although the trip was hectic and we were tired, it was worse for our driver. Praise the Lord for a safe round trip.

Our task was to explore new long houses. We had to be very cautious not to arouse unnecessary spiritual battles with the local folks. For the first few days, we met minor obstacles at Machan. We were able to visit eleven long houses in two days. Although some rejected us, five welcomed us.

On the fourth day, we visited a new place called Nyemah. On the way there, we saw many other long houses. Due to our limited time, we could not visit them. We passed by some Ibans performing Miring (Iban ritual of calling the spirits). We turned back to the place trying to have a better understanding of the ritual and our car got stuck in the mud. We struggled for twenty minutes to no avail. An elder called out loudly declaring “The Lord is with us, we shall not fear!” A miracle happened immediately; a Hilux truck came by at that very moment and towed us out of the mess. Praise the Lord for sending a truck with the gears and someone who was willing to help us.

We proceeded to the place but the ritual was over. We realised that many people in Nyemah needed the gospel of Jesus. We hope more expedition mission teams to come to share the good news with them. We found out there were twenty to thirty long houses here.

On the same day, the pastor led us up a hill to pray over Kanowit. It was drizzling and we were reminded by the kind locals to be extra careful of the slippery steep slope.

I felt that our leaders were like the pioneers. They led us on, taking the risk and at the same time finding all possibilities to get access to places and to people as if making pathways in the desert. I found that no matter whether you are in the forefront or following closely behind, it is great to be used by God.

Where are we?
Many a time, when we need the Lord, we would pray, “Oh Lord, where are you? Help us!” On the contrary, when God calls us, where are we then?! God loves us equally, irrespective of who we are or what we do;if we are dedicated, God can use our professions and He will care for us and give us gifts to share the gospel.

You might be a fire fighter, a Chinese doctor, a medical doctor, a pharmacist, a nurse, a barber, a physiotherapist, a driver and so on but you can offer your familiar field and let God use you with His power.

We often claim that the harvest is plenty but the workers are few. There are so many people who have not heard of the gospel. Still, there are few dedicated workers. This brought me to the thought of those past missionaries who had come to us. Without their dedication, we would have never heard the gospel of Jesus.

In the past, the foreign missionaries had used various methods in order to bring the gospel to us. We should learn from them how to effectively and creatively bring the gospel to our family and neighbours. Oftentimes we stop short at the urge of wanting to do something. We must put into action our such thoughts or they flicker and die out soon! We need impetus and perseverance to spread the gospel to many places.

“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.’” (Luke 16:15)

Written by Angela Lee (Fu Ling Methodist Church, Kapit)
Translated by Christina