I have participated in many Ulu Julau mission trips, and I witnessed different happenings.The 28th Ulu Julau mission trip ( 4th -8th Dec 2017) was organized for over 270 people from all walks of life, young and old. The oldest over 80 years old was brother Wong Kie Sieng from Miri. Our mission covered 44 longhouses with an addition of 2 new longhouses. We were divided into 18 groups, each with their own tasks.
At Rumah Budit an elderly woman asked us to bless her room (sampi bilik) because of unpleasant sleep caused by bad dreams and evil smell. We sang, ‘In the Cross ‘and prayed for her. We noticed talismans hanging above her door and amulet (dried chicken claw) tied to her grandchildren’s swing cradles. We talked to her about Christian Faith and the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally she consented to let us discard these charms. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we burnt and buried them.
Our group organised a simple Christmas celebration cum evangelism night at Rumah Jeffery, formerly Rumah Bani. We invited Rev. Lau Hui Seng as our speaker. It was a rare scene to see many elders sitting and listening attentively to the words of God. Three witnesses shared with tears rolling down their faces and touched the hearts of the listeners.
Before we left the next morning, three families asked us to bless their rooms. My first experience at this longhouse: an elder consented and gave us permission to take down the charm hanging above the door. We prayed, took it down and burnt it.
We need to pray for Rumah Jeffery for more youths and grownups to stand up without fear to accept Christ. We must pray that there will be a revival at this longhouse. Though only a handful of youths are active Christians there, God is leading them.
For the first time we got acquainted with Tuai Rumah Agil when our team visited his longhouse. It was hard to see him during our previous trips. He welcomed us and joined the worship attentively. His participation and invitation ‘datai agi’ assured us he is ‘reborn’.
We practised our songs for praise and worship at Rumah Langgang in the afternoon for our final night at Rumah Chat. There we prayed for Tuai Rumah Langgang who suffered a minor stroke two months ago. He testified to us that it was God’s grace and mercy that he could still walk and talk though he felt weaker now.
The longhouse folks at Rumah Mengga (formerly Rumah Seli) and Rumah Ikeh wished that we can visit them more often. Their plea reminds us they need to hear the words of God to strengthen their belief and faith.
We have to keep on praying for the indigenous people of Ulu Julau. Let’s pray that more longhouses will open their doors for us to evangelise to them, that some longhouses will be revived, that some youths will surrender their life to God and that more teams will visit them more often in a year.
Let’s join hands and stand up together to do this mission for the glory of God!