Saturday, June 23, 2007
I have not felt this way in a long time, that feeling is just the amazing changes of life and I'm speaking about my own life. After the mission trip, its a whole new feeling to missions. How a little can become a lot, its just a wonderful feel! I only led the children's worship but its just great to be able to serve the Lord and see such curious faces all willing to learn how to do the little actions and sing the songs in english because they don't speak much english. I'll put my reflection here and you can read about it. Its really hard to explain and only till you go experience it for yourself you might never understand=)
Personally, I am really glad to have gone for this trip. Even though it might not be something big, but it has placed a new thought and a new sense of God in me. I have never gone for a mission trip before and this was the very first in my so far very short life. It was amazing to see how much a little mission can help people that much and bring about so much more help to the people giving than to the people receiving the help. As the saying goes, "It is more blessed to give than to receive". Now, I fully understand the meaning of that saying. God has shown me that no matter how much you put in to a little job that you are given, whatever the result is, you still reap something. I only led in singspiration and this is the very first time I am doing this for children but the response you get from the children is a great gift to place in my heart. The smiles and the willingness to respond to you, even if you are a stranger to them! Even though the perspiration and the amount of energy given out from me was overwhelming my tired body, I knew that this was all I could do to give back to God. Using the littlest strength that I have in my body to praise God and teach them all those actions. The greatest thing that God has given me is the great love He has for us and has given to us. Not only does His love come out through us tothe children but also the children's smiles that represent the love,childlike and innocent.
The challenge I faced is mainly the fatigue that was brought over from our missions training week in church. Even though there is enough time to rest every night, but naturally, camps are really tiring. When we first met on Friday, I was already feeling the fatigue. We haven't even gone on the trip, and I was already feeling tired! Through God's empowerment and the many prayers that people had been praying for, God's grace really amazes me. He gave me so much energy to do His work. Another challenge would be the little time we had for preparation. There was the choosing of the songs, the writing of the songs and also helping the others in the areas that they were in charge of. There was just so much to do! Of course, with the help of many people, we managed to finish our jobs and even though we slept really late,we knew that we were prepared. The biggest challenge I faced though, was the swollen foot I had, I accidentally hurt it whiles practicing the skid and it was swollen later in the night. It also hurt a lot and I had it iced and bandaged and after praying really hard, I felt better in the morning! Thanks be to God! I had another problem when we were in Malaysia and that was a terrible headache. So many problems that stopped me or rather prevented me from doing much but I still managed to fulfil what needed to be done. It's really an experience I would not forget. Although the swollen foot could already stop me from making a trip up to Malaysia, I really thank God for the wonders He makes.
I really cannot stop thinking about the time I led the children in the songs. It was really a good experience that I can never forget. Another time would be when we sang the song during the service and the look on the faces of the people. I just want to thank the whole team for being such a wonderful group to be with and work with, even though it was a very very short trip, I believe that I gained a lot from bonding and spending more time with each other. I would rate the trip as a 10, because of the experience I've experienced from God and the fellow friends in this trip I will say that any and every mission trip should be a ten because it is a gift from God to just be able to share His love!