Sarawak
The next day, we had an early breakfast, prepared by our very own GT Klang chefs. Thereafter, we had a short briefing before leaving for our respective longhouses. There were altogether three groups, each going to two longhouses before converging in Kerapa.
My group left Betong in two pick-up trucks. After about an hour of butt-aching, windy, hair blowing ride, we finally reached the jetty. We took a boat ride and started on our hike to Jelang. The hike was definitely challenging, testing our endurance physically and mentally! But thank God we made it through and we reached the Jelang longhouse in an hour! My first impression of the longhouse was how simple and empty it felt. For those who live in the city, as soon as you step into one’s house, you will see furniture, TV, decorations all around. But as for the longhouse, there was nothing, except mats on the floor and pillars supporting the roof. You can already feel how simple their life was, and yet they were satisfied and contented with what they had. We conducted service in the night as well as the following morning. Concurrently when the adult service was going on, there was a children’s service too. The kids were very cooperative (not to mention adorable!) and they would listen eagerly to what you have in store for them. It was very encouraging and we had a very fun time ministering to them.
We left for Luing on the 1st of December by foot, and we arrived at the longhouse in the afternoon, sweaty and tired. We conducted service in the night and the following morning too, with lots of preaching and praying. One incident that was very memorable was when we prayed for this old man who was pretty sick. Despite what the doctors said and what he was going through, he still managed to praise God. And that’s what we should all learn from him, praise God, even when times are trying! On the 2nd of December, we got ready and left for the longhouse in Kerapa. We hiked all the way to Kerapa for about a good 30 minute and when we arrived, we were greeted with welcoming sounds of gongs and rubber tree seeds necklace for the guys and “Christmas tree” halo leaves for the girls.
Kerapa is one of the largest longhouses in Sarawak with forty two “pintus” all in all which equals to forty two families. You could really see how much God has blessed them. We spent two days ministering to the people there, performing our skits, worshipping God, preaching and praying. We also did something very different this trip – we noticed in all our previous trips the Iban people had very few pictures of themselves & family. So what we decided to do was to bring a color printer, laptop and a camera and have a photo session for everyone!! This proved to be a hit with the Iban people as everyone came in their Sunday best, all dressed up to have the portrait taken. We then made very simple but elegant picture frames and had the pictures mounted. On the final day before we left the longhouse, we presented to each family their portrait as a memento of our visit.
Finally, at the end of our stay, we travelled in longboats and vans for our journey back to Kuching. On the 6th December, we had service that started at 9:30am and ended about 1:00pm. After some flight delays, we departed for Kuala Lumpur at 10pm and we reached Klang around 2am.
In conclusion, I am so glad to have been a part of the missions team. I went there to bless, but instead I think I was the one who was blessed more. God has opened my eyes and shown me things that I did not see before. It has made me more appreciative of what I have, for the people in the longhouses have so little and yet they are so contented with whatever they have. God definitely moved in the longhouses and it was such a blessing and an encouragement to see how they worshipped Him. Missions has also made me step out of my comfort zone. I did things that I didn’t know I could do or would ever do. I definitely do not regret attending missions and if I would have been given another opportunity to go again, I would. And you can count on that!
Pamela Teh
