22 Aug 2005 - 26 Aug 2005 Past Event

Borneo Missions Trip

Venue: Pontianak, Sibu, Miri
Theme: Trip itinerary available from Eld. Andrew Chen

Sarawak and Kalimantan Missions Trip

22-26 August 2005

 

Mission Team

Rev Lee Kim Shong

Eld. Andrew Chen

Lydia Chen

Luke Chen

Chen Chen Ai

Timothy Chen

Katherine Chan

Lim Lee Hon

Choy Ting Lan

Kong Yit Yew

Grace Lee Yuet Thim

 

Objectives

To visit and encourage brethren at existing outreaches in Kuching, Pontianak, Sibu and Miri.

 

Activities

Kuching & Pontianak | 22 August 2005

We (6 of us) were welcomed by Preacher Bong and wife who came to the airport to take us out for breakfast and to meet up with Eld. Andrew Chen and family who were in Kuching 3 days earlier. Together 11 of us left for Pontianak by bus. The bus ride took us south from Kuching through narrow sometimes very winding roads. On the Kalimantan side, we were travelling through forest like jungle tracking on a bus. We saw quite a number of small churches on the way. We stopped 4 times for coffee breaks. We had lunch at a place called Sosok. Rev Lee spent RP16,000 (RM6.40) for rice with fish and a cup of coffee. It is very easy to become millionaire in Indonesia, all you need is RM400. On arrival at Pontianak we were welcomed by Preacher Peter Yokesan and Ajin who then lead us to the hotel in the same bus that we were travelling. We walked from the hotel to a nearby road side store to have our dinner before we returned to the hotel after a long and tiring day.

 

Pontianak | 23 August 2005

In the morning, we went to Preacher Peter Yokesan’s house to have a meeting with some of their church leaders and members. Also present were Peter’s parents. Rev. Lee gave an exhortation (in English) from Jeremiah 1:1-17, translated by Peter in Bahasa Indonesia. This was followed by noting the prayer requests of all present. The leaders then took turns to pray for the items assigned to them.

 

After the prayers we went to view the roof top of the house which will be converted into a worship hall this December. After that we went to see the monument of the equator which shows that Pontianak lies exactly on the equator. On 23 September every year at noon if a persons stands on this line, there will be no shadow. We then left to view a plot of land about 2 acres which was earmarked to be the site of the new bible college. The land was near a village where the people reared pigs. So we visited a nearby pig farm also.

 

At 4pm we went to Peter Yokesan former house which is used as a church now. Here some 40 children gathered waiting for us to teach them Bible story. Lydia Chen conducted the teaching in Mandarin and translated by Peter in Bahasa Indonesia. The teaching was focused on Moses and the Ten Commandments. A session of Q&A was conducted and bookmarks were given to those who could answer the questions. The children were taught to sing hymns in Bahasa Indonesia. Later the children were given materials to make a scroll displaying the Ten Commandments. At 6pm we had the Gospel meet in the same place. About 60 people attended the service. We started by the singing of Hymn ‘Born Again’ in Bahasa Indonesia.

 

“Harus lahir baru ! Harus lahir baru!

Ku sungguh sungguh bilang pada kamu. Harus lahir baru!”

 

This was followed by the exhortation by Eld. Andrew Chen in Hakka on Psalm 121:1-8 and John 3. After the service, we (18 of us) went for dinner and immediately after that left Pontianak by the 10.30pm bus.

 

Kuching & Sibu | 24 August 2005

After a 10 hours bus ride we arrived in Kuching and had breakfast with Preacher Bong. Eld. Andrew Chen’s family went to the cultural village before they left Kuching for Kuala Lumpur at night. We (6 of us) managed to go to the park along the Sarawak River to get a glimpse of Kuching beautiful riverside.

 

At 4pm we left Kuching for Sibu airport. We were delayed for 2 hours at the airport. When we arrived at Sibu we were rushed straight to the church where Rev Lee gave a short exhortation from Jeremiah 14 to about 14 youth and a few adults. We were served some refreshment at the church. After we checked in the hotel, we went for our late dinner with Preacher Ling’s family.

 

Sibu & Miri | 25 August 2005

In the morning we went sight seeing in Sibu. We visited the Taman Aup and a Christian bookshop. We left Sibu at 7pm for Miri. We were welcomed by Preacher Harison and wife Sharleen who immediately took us to a home fellowship. Indeed the fellowship was very warm. We were greeted by the clapping sound of the children as we entered the house. All of us packed inside a small sitting room to listen to exhortation taken from Roman 16 by Rev Lee in English and translated in Kanyan dialet by Harison. This was followed by the prayers from both the children and some adults. After that we went for supper and then only checked in the hotel before midnight.

 

Miri | 26 August 2005

In the morning we were driven round some residential areas to view a few new houses which will be converted into a house church. We took some photo shots for future reference. We also visited the Emmanuel Book shop. After lunch, we left Miri for Kuala Lumpur. We arrived at our church at about 8pm.