Mission Minds
We are living in the endtimes and many churches are more urgent about mission work as compared to 10 years ago. Seeing everyone going away on mission trips, how my heart yearns to go! In my over-10 years of being a Christian, I've only been on 2 mission trips. What a shame. I just wish I can be on the mission field again.
My first mission trip was the most memorable. I think it's at least 6 to 7 years ago. I went to Myanmar with the Youth Fellowship in my alma mater church and there were around 13 of us. Before I went, I didn't feel that I was going on a mission trip. It felt like a really fun holiday was awaiting me. It was really really fun, but from the trip, I also learnt so much. I felt like I aged 10 years over that 10 days.
Our first day at capital Yangon was luxurious. Things were so cheap that we stayed at their best hotel. Imagine 2 king size double beds in each room! And each room was shared by 2 people. 1 whole king size double bed to ourselves! It was better than my own holidays! But that was all the comfort we got in the entire trip.
The next day we were scheduled to fly to Mitchyna, which was the town that we were supposed to minister in. There was a Chinese church there waiting for us to go there to pray for them for the Holy Spirit to fill them so that they can start praying in tongues. But somehow we could not get any air tickets (can't remember why), so we decided to go to Mitchyna by road in a mini van. I HAVE NEVER CROSSED SO MANY BRIDGES IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. The whole journey was filled with crossing rivers after rivers after rivers and bridges and more bridges. The roads were so bumpy that we were sure they were not even roads. Everywhere was just muddy paths. How I admire the driver for evening knowing which direction we were heading because EVERYWHERE JUST LOOKED THE SAME.
We spent at least 18 hours on the road before we reached Mitchyna.
In between, we stopped over at some guesthouses to stay the night and have our meals. Many memorable and funny things happened in between and we still talk and laugh about it everytime I meet this bunch of friends.
There was a place where the tapwater was freezing cold that our incharge asked the owner to boil hot water to let the girls bathe while the boys just had to endure and jump their way through the freezing cold bathing water. I can still remember the look on the faces of the people when they heard that we want to bathe in boiled hot water. They probably never saw such pampered people in their entire lives!
While travelling, we also stopped here and there for toilet breaks. But where to find toilets in the wilderness? So all the girls just line up side by side and squat by the roadside to urinate. haha.. and because the roads were all sloped, the urine started to flow downslope! Imagine you are squatting there urinating and you see the same flowing down and passing you by. There was even a need to lift up your legs once in a while to avoid being 'hit'. Think about the poor girl at the end of the slope! wahahaha...
Halfway through the journey before we reached Mitchyna, something dramatic happened. One of the wheels of our van literally rolled away. That was an understatement because we were happily seated in the van one minute and the next thing we knew, we heard a 'bang' and everyonne witnessed a big wheel flying infront of us and rolled all the way at high speed until at least 5 km away. At first we didn't even know it's our wheel! After laughing our hearts out at this hilarious thing that happened, we realised the gravity of the matter. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere and night is falling. I shall not go into the details but we finally got a lorry to transport us through the rest of our journey.
Nearing Mitchyna, we were briefed by our Myanmese liaison that we must not talk and just pretend to be mainland chinese when we are driving past the security checkpoint. Turned out that Mitchyna is a military-ruled province and they are very guarded against missionaries. It was nervous, I tell you! Every soldier was armed with rifles and they looked super fierce! We were all praying in tongues silently in our hearts that we could get through without any problems. Thank God for His protection because after scrutinizing us, they allowed us to pass.
Once we were in Mitchyna, we went to the Chinese church and prayed for them, and visited orphanages, drug rehab centres and made home visitations. The visit to the orphanage was the most memorable. We played games with them, and taught them bible stories and lessons. Before we left, all the children sang us a song. It was a worship song in Myanmese and even though we could understand not a single word of it, everyone of us were in tears. Because every single kid, even those as young as 4 years old, had their eyes closed and hands high lifted up. They were deep in worship and they were crying too. The entire room was filled with the presence of God. We were there to bless them, but we were deeply blessed and touched by them instead. How pure is their heart and love for Jesus. We cannot even compare ourselves with them. I was deeply moved that even until today, I could not forget the faces of the children worshipping God with their spirit and soul.
Being on the mission field makes you realise that you are not that fervent for God afterall. Sometimes we think that we are radical and all-out for God. The truth is, many people out there worship in a deeper way, serve with a bigger heart and love God with a purer intention. It wakes you up from self righteousness and makes you realise that serving and loving God is actually very simple. Just need to do it with your whole heart and being. Not so complicated afterall.
Being on the trip also made me realise the extent of God's protection over our lives. Even though we had to overcome many obstacles along the way, God never failed to shield us from danger. The wheel incident was one highly dangerous incident. The whole van could have overturned, but it didn't. And in Mitchyna, we were told (we only knew this at the end of our trip) that there were military guards keeping surveillance over us opposite the road from where we stayed. They suspected we were there for mission work but had no evidence to arrest us. What a close shave! But we were obviously suspicious because almost no tourists ever go to Mitchyna for holiday and we were a large group of rowdy young people.
Oh man, what memories it brings back to me!
We are living in the endtimes and many churches are more urgent about mission work as compared to 10 years ago. Seeing everyone going away on mission trips, how my heart yearns to go! In my over-10 years of being a Christian, I've only been on 2 mission trips. What a shame. I just wish I can be on the mission field again.
My first mission trip was the most memorable. I think it's at least 6 to 7 years ago. I went to Myanmar with the Youth Fellowship in my alma mater church and there were around 13 of us. Before I went, I didn't feel that I was going on a mission trip. It felt like a really fun holiday was awaiting me. It was really really fun, but from the trip, I also learnt so much. I felt like I aged 10 years over that 10 days.
Our first day at capital Yangon was luxurious. Things were so cheap that we stayed at their best hotel. Imagine 2 king size double beds in each room! And each room was shared by 2 people. 1 whole king size double bed to ourselves! It was better than my own holidays! But that was all the comfort we got in the entire trip.
The next day we were scheduled to fly to Mitchyna, which was the town that we were supposed to minister in. There was a Chinese church there waiting for us to go there to pray for them for the Holy Spirit to fill them so that they can start praying in tongues. But somehow we could not get any air tickets (can't remember why), so we decided to go to Mitchyna by road in a mini van. I HAVE NEVER CROSSED SO MANY BRIDGES IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. The whole journey was filled with crossing rivers after rivers after rivers and bridges and more bridges. The roads were so bumpy that we were sure they were not even roads. Everywhere was just muddy paths. How I admire the driver for evening knowing which direction we were heading because EVERYWHERE JUST LOOKED THE SAME.
We spent at least 18 hours on the road before we reached Mitchyna.
In between, we stopped over at some guesthouses to stay the night and have our meals. Many memorable and funny things happened in between and we still talk and laugh about it everytime I meet this bunch of friends.
There was a place where the tapwater was freezing cold that our incharge asked the owner to boil hot water to let the girls bathe while the boys just had to endure and jump their way through the freezing cold bathing water. I can still remember the look on the faces of the people when they heard that we want to bathe in boiled hot water. They probably never saw such pampered people in their entire lives!
While travelling, we also stopped here and there for toilet breaks. But where to find toilets in the wilderness? So all the girls just line up side by side and squat by the roadside to urinate. haha.. and because the roads were all sloped, the urine started to flow downslope! Imagine you are squatting there urinating and you see the same flowing down and passing you by. There was even a need to lift up your legs once in a while to avoid being 'hit'. Think about the poor girl at the end of the slope! wahahaha...
Halfway through the journey before we reached Mitchyna, something dramatic happened. One of the wheels of our van literally rolled away. That was an understatement because we were happily seated in the van one minute and the next thing we knew, we heard a 'bang' and everyonne witnessed a big wheel flying infront of us and rolled all the way at high speed until at least 5 km away. At first we didn't even know it's our wheel! After laughing our hearts out at this hilarious thing that happened, we realised the gravity of the matter. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere and night is falling. I shall not go into the details but we finally got a lorry to transport us through the rest of our journey.
Nearing Mitchyna, we were briefed by our Myanmese liaison that we must not talk and just pretend to be mainland chinese when we are driving past the security checkpoint. Turned out that Mitchyna is a military-ruled province and they are very guarded against missionaries. It was nervous, I tell you! Every soldier was armed with rifles and they looked super fierce! We were all praying in tongues silently in our hearts that we could get through without any problems. Thank God for His protection because after scrutinizing us, they allowed us to pass.
Once we were in Mitchyna, we went to the Chinese church and prayed for them, and visited orphanages, drug rehab centres and made home visitations. The visit to the orphanage was the most memorable. We played games with them, and taught them bible stories and lessons. Before we left, all the children sang us a song. It was a worship song in Myanmese and even though we could understand not a single word of it, everyone of us were in tears. Because every single kid, even those as young as 4 years old, had their eyes closed and hands high lifted up. They were deep in worship and they were crying too. The entire room was filled with the presence of God. We were there to bless them, but we were deeply blessed and touched by them instead. How pure is their heart and love for Jesus. We cannot even compare ourselves with them. I was deeply moved that even until today, I could not forget the faces of the children worshipping God with their spirit and soul.
Being on the mission field makes you realise that you are not that fervent for God afterall. Sometimes we think that we are radical and all-out for God. The truth is, many people out there worship in a deeper way, serve with a bigger heart and love God with a purer intention. It wakes you up from self righteousness and makes you realise that serving and loving God is actually very simple. Just need to do it with your whole heart and being. Not so complicated afterall.
Being on the trip also made me realise the extent of God's protection over our lives. Even though we had to overcome many obstacles along the way, God never failed to shield us from danger. The wheel incident was one highly dangerous incident. The whole van could have overturned, but it didn't. And in Mitchyna, we were told (we only knew this at the end of our trip) that there were military guards keeping surveillance over us opposite the road from where we stayed. They suspected we were there for mission work but had no evidence to arrest us. What a close shave! But we were obviously suspicious because almost no tourists ever go to Mitchyna for holiday and we were a large group of rowdy young people.
Oh man, what memories it brings back to me!
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