STMS
STMS is one of the last things i would ever regret joining, in fact, the first day i went in, I could already see that there was a plan in the way God chose the people in my english STMS class, it was in such a way that there were exactly 12 people-the twelve disciples =)
Although it was only one month and really short compared to all the other STMS classes, Chinese and Music, and as I type right now i'm still missing my friends there like crazy, I have to admit, it was one of the most fulfilling and meaningful periods of my entire life, and I had a great many new experiences which I would have never obtained if i had not joined STMS.
Firstly, I had the exotic experience of doing street-to-street witnessing!!! o.o we found out about that on the first week we went in. Our teacher in charge was Rev Law Hui Seng, and imagine our sheer terror and trauma when we found out that our first destination was SING KWONG supermarket, and the following week Wisma sanyan o.o okay, not that traumatizing I admit, but we were really blur about how we were supposed to share according to the four spiritual booklet. I myself had never heard about that booklet before until I actually received it that week, and we were supposed to memorize it... What could be any worse.. How was I supposed to share from something I didn't even know about myself? But thank God, despite my dislike towards memorizing work, I managed to finish memorizing the booklet =D
We paired up for our street-to-street evangelizing,and my partner was Yap. It was really amusing seeing everyone just trudge into the building with very little of a clue about what we were supposed to do. We had the booklet of course,and knew basically all the theory in evangelizing, what we were supposed to say to different groups of people, etc, but what about the application??? How were we supposed to get those right words out of our mouth, how were we supposed to face unknown people, just walk up to them and start sharing our faith?? What about rejection??
Thank God Rev Lau had already mentally prepared us for this, saying that success in witnessing is not success in converting one to christianity, but merely taking the initiative in sharing the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results to God, and so, me and my partner, and all the rest of the students, knew how we were going to do it--- by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by ourselves, the blur, hopelessly lost bunch, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, we could do things for the kingdom of God! And that was where our boldness came from.
Before we stepped into each shop in Sing Kwong, me and my partner prayed for the Holy Spirit to just fill us, and just give us the boldness we needed. The first person I approached(a guard sitting outside sing kwong) rejected me, yet, I was not discouraged, and that is another truly amazing thing. The second we approached was willing to listen as me and my partner shared, and accepted Christ!!! Christ was truly working among the place!
Another amazing thing is, although we memorized the booklet in english, we basically had to share in chinese or BM cuz there was rarely anyone in the supermarkets who spoke english, and amazingly, God enabled me to share fluently in Chinese and BM o.o another great big surprise for me.
Next I want to share about my Mission Trip. (just to speed things up a little or else I'll be glued to the cp screen for the rest of the afternoon xD) The first week, Rev Angela told us that we were visiting the Iban long house, that we were actually going to stay there for 5 whole days. After hearing about that, I was wondering about how I was going to bath there, sleep there, carry out my toilet businesses there... (i bet most of the other students were thinking the same just that no one voiced those out openly like me)
Yet, God proved my worries to be nothing in comparison to His plans. Our mission trip was a success. (If I just end my note here without more elaboration would I be bombed? xD) How was it a success? other than having mattresses to sleep on and toilets which were pretty clean although they had to be flushed manually and overcoming the problem of bathing as a community (guys and girls separated though), we were able to build trusting relationship with the Iban people- kids, adults and all. The long house we were staying at was Rumah Meringgai.
The first day we got there, I targeted the group of kids who were 'roaming' about the long house, going fishing with them, speaking to them initiatively, and even having netbasketball competitions with them about the long house and at their school. It was a great experience, to be surrounded by hyperactive kids who just don't get tired of running about, in fact it was a dream come true for me, cuz I myself love running about whole day, just that in the town area i hardly get to do so, and even with my own friends they won't run around playing catch with me the whole day xD
In the afternoon we went to the single street in Balingian, Mukah, and did street to street evangelizing again. It was slightly more challenging doing street to street there because the people there knew we were outsiders, and the people were mostly middle aged or old aged people who were less receptive to the Word. However, we still tried to do the best we could in that unfamiliar place by the help of the Holy Spirit =)
The 2nd and 3rd day were mostly spent at other long houses, where we shared about God and also invited the residents of the long houses for the Evangelism night on the 3rd night at Rumah Meringgai. The Evangelism Night could be counted as the icing of the cake, the night that we were going all excited and hyped up about, but imagine our disappointment when numbers did not reach our target that night. we were expecting a hundred plus people, nearing two hundred, yet numbers did not even reach a hundred. Me and Yap walked all the way to the long house we invited the day before on the Evangelism Night before it started to ask if they were coming. They said they were, yet they did not turn up.
However, we knew that we still had to do to our very best, God had given us this number of people, and it was His will, so who were we to question His will? And so, we chose to put our trust in God, that despite the few numbers, He would continue to work mightily that night. AND HE DID. A great number of people accepted Christ, including young kids, when Pastor Tie conducted the altar call. =DDD lesson learnt- GOD CAN WORK BIG THINGS EVEN AMONG FEW PEOPLE, WE JUST GOTTA PLAY OUR PARTS FOR HIM.
Another amazing thing is that all the technical equipment worked fine that night, and we could just sense angels around the long house, guiding us through all the programmes and watching out for each and every one of us.
As we left the long house on the 4th day, we left a part of our hearts there with the Ibans, praying that someday we will be able to return to see them again =')
Another thing I gained through STMS is a whole lot of awesome friends =D friends who are after God's hearts, and friends who were willing to share their sorrows and pains. they're among those tagged in this note, and i truly thank God for them,either English, Chinese or Music STMS friends, and I really miss them a lot =')
My prayer for all my friends and also myself is that even after STMS ends, even after returning to our regular lifestyles, that each of us will continue to draw closer to God, each and evey day, and share the Good news to as many people as possible, for there are people out there just dying everyday before they get to hear the Good News.Also, live our everyday for Him, for a day without God is a day not worth living at all.
The slogan I had with my friends during the house to house witnessing at the kampungs in Mukah is this--- Save a soul for God, uh huh uh huh. (sounds better when pronounced verbally). do try it, though, make it a challenge for yourselves, a challenge which is more than possible by the Holy spirit =)
Remember Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy spirit comes on you, and you will be [God's] witnesses in [Sibu], and in all [Sarawak] and [Malaysia] and to the ends of the earth =)
GOD BLESS ALL~
Although it was only one month and really short compared to all the other STMS classes, Chinese and Music, and as I type right now i'm still missing my friends there like crazy, I have to admit, it was one of the most fulfilling and meaningful periods of my entire life, and I had a great many new experiences which I would have never obtained if i had not joined STMS.
Firstly, I had the exotic experience of doing street-to-street witnessing!!! o.o we found out about that on the first week we went in. Our teacher in charge was Rev Law Hui Seng, and imagine our sheer terror and trauma when we found out that our first destination was SING KWONG supermarket, and the following week Wisma sanyan o.o okay, not that traumatizing I admit, but we were really blur about how we were supposed to share according to the four spiritual booklet. I myself had never heard about that booklet before until I actually received it that week, and we were supposed to memorize it... What could be any worse.. How was I supposed to share from something I didn't even know about myself? But thank God, despite my dislike towards memorizing work, I managed to finish memorizing the booklet =D
We paired up for our street-to-street evangelizing,and my partner was Yap. It was really amusing seeing everyone just trudge into the building with very little of a clue about what we were supposed to do. We had the booklet of course,and knew basically all the theory in evangelizing, what we were supposed to say to different groups of people, etc, but what about the application??? How were we supposed to get those right words out of our mouth, how were we supposed to face unknown people, just walk up to them and start sharing our faith?? What about rejection??
Thank God Rev Lau had already mentally prepared us for this, saying that success in witnessing is not success in converting one to christianity, but merely taking the initiative in sharing the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results to God, and so, me and my partner, and all the rest of the students, knew how we were going to do it--- by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by ourselves, the blur, hopelessly lost bunch, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, we could do things for the kingdom of God! And that was where our boldness came from.
Before we stepped into each shop in Sing Kwong, me and my partner prayed for the Holy Spirit to just fill us, and just give us the boldness we needed. The first person I approached(a guard sitting outside sing kwong) rejected me, yet, I was not discouraged, and that is another truly amazing thing. The second we approached was willing to listen as me and my partner shared, and accepted Christ!!! Christ was truly working among the place!
Another amazing thing is, although we memorized the booklet in english, we basically had to share in chinese or BM cuz there was rarely anyone in the supermarkets who spoke english, and amazingly, God enabled me to share fluently in Chinese and BM o.o another great big surprise for me.
Next I want to share about my Mission Trip. (just to speed things up a little or else I'll be glued to the cp screen for the rest of the afternoon xD) The first week, Rev Angela told us that we were visiting the Iban long house, that we were actually going to stay there for 5 whole days. After hearing about that, I was wondering about how I was going to bath there, sleep there, carry out my toilet businesses there... (i bet most of the other students were thinking the same just that no one voiced those out openly like me)
Yet, God proved my worries to be nothing in comparison to His plans. Our mission trip was a success. (If I just end my note here without more elaboration would I be bombed? xD) How was it a success? other than having mattresses to sleep on and toilets which were pretty clean although they had to be flushed manually and overcoming the problem of bathing as a community (guys and girls separated though), we were able to build trusting relationship with the Iban people- kids, adults and all. The long house we were staying at was Rumah Meringgai.
The first day we got there, I targeted the group of kids who were 'roaming' about the long house, going fishing with them, speaking to them initiatively, and even having netbasketball competitions with them about the long house and at their school. It was a great experience, to be surrounded by hyperactive kids who just don't get tired of running about, in fact it was a dream come true for me, cuz I myself love running about whole day, just that in the town area i hardly get to do so, and even with my own friends they won't run around playing catch with me the whole day xD
In the afternoon we went to the single street in Balingian, Mukah, and did street to street evangelizing again. It was slightly more challenging doing street to street there because the people there knew we were outsiders, and the people were mostly middle aged or old aged people who were less receptive to the Word. However, we still tried to do the best we could in that unfamiliar place by the help of the Holy Spirit =)
The 2nd and 3rd day were mostly spent at other long houses, where we shared about God and also invited the residents of the long houses for the Evangelism night on the 3rd night at Rumah Meringgai. The Evangelism Night could be counted as the icing of the cake, the night that we were going all excited and hyped up about, but imagine our disappointment when numbers did not reach our target that night. we were expecting a hundred plus people, nearing two hundred, yet numbers did not even reach a hundred. Me and Yap walked all the way to the long house we invited the day before on the Evangelism Night before it started to ask if they were coming. They said they were, yet they did not turn up.
However, we knew that we still had to do to our very best, God had given us this number of people, and it was His will, so who were we to question His will? And so, we chose to put our trust in God, that despite the few numbers, He would continue to work mightily that night. AND HE DID. A great number of people accepted Christ, including young kids, when Pastor Tie conducted the altar call. =DDD lesson learnt- GOD CAN WORK BIG THINGS EVEN AMONG FEW PEOPLE, WE JUST GOTTA PLAY OUR PARTS FOR HIM.
Another amazing thing is that all the technical equipment worked fine that night, and we could just sense angels around the long house, guiding us through all the programmes and watching out for each and every one of us.
As we left the long house on the 4th day, we left a part of our hearts there with the Ibans, praying that someday we will be able to return to see them again =')
Another thing I gained through STMS is a whole lot of awesome friends =D friends who are after God's hearts, and friends who were willing to share their sorrows and pains. they're among those tagged in this note, and i truly thank God for them,either English, Chinese or Music STMS friends, and I really miss them a lot =')
My prayer for all my friends and also myself is that even after STMS ends, even after returning to our regular lifestyles, that each of us will continue to draw closer to God, each and evey day, and share the Good news to as many people as possible, for there are people out there just dying everyday before they get to hear the Good News.Also, live our everyday for Him, for a day without God is a day not worth living at all.
The slogan I had with my friends during the house to house witnessing at the kampungs in Mukah is this--- Save a soul for God, uh huh uh huh. (sounds better when pronounced verbally). do try it, though, make it a challenge for yourselves, a challenge which is more than possible by the Holy spirit =)
Remember Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy spirit comes on you, and you will be [God's] witnesses in [Sibu], and in all [Sarawak] and [Malaysia] and to the ends of the earth =)
GOD BLESS ALL~
posted by Andrea at
8:12 PM
0 Comments
