Cambodia mission trip - Island Team (Part 3)

Hello hello GEPC~! Your favorite girl --> Rachel-san (all the way from kuching) is in the zone~~ I am terribly sorry and i humbly beg of your forgiveness for I have 'carelessly' let my 'laziness' to keep me from blogging for my beloved brothers and sisters. Hehe~ I know you guys love me and won't mind one la~~ *angelic grins*

So, how are you Gepc? Come on, let me hear some noise~ Let me see some more hits on that 'profile viewed'~ Well, now i don't care what YOU are doing, YOU better stop right there and give me 10 minutes. I guarantee YOU a boost of entertaining and relaxing stress-free spiritual dose that will keep your mood nice nice until you sleep tonight~~

Hehe...so without any further delays, i better start rewinding back from where i've paused. Gosh, where should i start...its been ages man.... *paisei* Well, anything for my cute GEPC-mates! *wink*

Here we are, reaching day 4 of our cambodia mission trip. We're still in Koh Kong city and had spent a night in a hotel (which i forgot the name) with bea-u-ti-ful sea-view.

It's very very nice for photo-shooting sessions but too bad we don't have the time. Our schedule for day 4 was very packed. But we never dreamed that exciting adventures that would scare the hell out of us AWAITS.

If i'm not wrong, this bridge will take us to Thailand. 10-15 minutes car ride.


So, after the early prayer devotion at 6 smth am, we headed for breakfast. Pastor chin was giving us a deep hint that we were going to use up every energy we need for today's mission. Pastor Sara was wearing long-sleeves shirt and i was asking him like..."Not hot mer? Its 45 degrees u know. "

He said, "Later then you know, got put sun screen lotion or not?"

Stupid Rachel still cannot get the idea. She thinks one umbrella is enough to keep her from becoming an ugly-darkling.

This was where we had our breakfast.


Well, we don't named as "Island mission team" for no reasons, okay. Today, we will be fighting against the raging deep blue sea and rescue oppressed islanders!!
*Indiana Jones theme song playing*

No lar, just kidding. The weather was good and the seas was calm. Hehe.

Actually, all of us were very excited about the boat-ride. I mean, we never get to try this in Malaysia. We were still "gong gong happy-go-lucky" until we see this...

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!!!!!!!!!!!


YOU

HAVE

GOTTA

BE

KIDDING

ME

*PENGSAN*

Please don't do this to me~~~~~

We had nothing to hold on. We had nothing to cover our heads. We had only 1 sunblock with SPF 30++. AND WE WILL TRAVEL UNDER THE HOT SUN FOR FREAKING 2-3 HOURS IN THE OPEN SEA!

WHAT? NO LIFE-JACKETS!!!!!

*Rachel Pengsan Again*

I was not allowed to use my umbrella because the winds were too strong and i would fly away together with it.

Mission impossible Live in action. (No wonder missionaries carry the word MISSION)

And I tell you hor, when the boat start speeding, Hah...Roller coaster will be nothing and just a piece of cake to you in the future! Each time the boat hits a wave, it made a giant leap. So you say ler...

And the most scariest thing happened half way, WE LOST TRACE OF PASTOR CHIN'S SPEED BOAT!! (Oh yeah, i forgot to mention. Aloy, shiaoyong, sabrina, amanda, pastor robert, pastor vutti and me in one boat. Pastor Chin, pastor sara and Sophoan were in the other one.) So, we waited in the middle of the ocean... lost....

We tried some cold jokes while waiting like challenging each other to walk on water by faith.
Yeah, i know...not funny.

Aloy tried to act cool. But actually he was super-terrified. He was praying like mad. Haha.

But thank God that very soon pastor Chin's boat was back on track and the journey continues...

I also made a prayer...Hehe...its went like this...
"Dear Lord, please don't let the sun made me into an ugly-darkling. Please protect my skin from turning black..."

10 minutes later.

"Dear Lord, never mind liaw lar. Ugly ugly lar. I sacrifice my skin for u. Skin nia mar...never mind lar...you can whiten it back again."

God was very faithful to me. After 2 - 3 hours of sun exposure, i was not as dark as i thought i would be. HAHAHA.

Yay, we've reached the first Island~~


Finally a relieved smile on sabrina's face.

It's a very small fishermen's village. A home for about 40-50 villagers.

Okay, here's the next scary part. We need to walk a narrow path (made with just planks) all the way into the village.

After the boat ride, we couldn't even keep our body balance anymore. Everything seemed like....goyang here and there....we were so scared that we would just fell into the water.

So. Sabrina, shiaoyong, amanda and me formed a choo-choo train with our hands lay upon each other's shoulders and walk~ *cute ler*

See how long is the plank-bridge? Somemore not stable one...



Here, we are~~ The first thing we did when we set our feet on the ground was to thank God for bringing us safely.

Beautiful, isn't it?

A quiet , pleasant and peaceful village. I see smiles.


And this is the church, built by the mother church at Koh Kong. To refresh your memory, please click here.

Sadly, the church is lacked of extreme spiritual support. There is only one pastor taking care of it and he has grown weary and tired due to many discouragements. He didn't know what to do and there was no full-time church workers to help him. The people there were not keen in knowing Jesus. The fire has went down and grown cold.

No youths. No committed believers. The church needs an esplosion. Gospel esplosion.
But due to financial restrictions, help can hardly reach the village. Especially when the petrol price is rising each day, who can regularly rent a boat to travel from island to mainland?

I thank God for each and everyone of us and for all the people in the world who are so blessed to hear about the Gospel. It is only by God's grace that we are the chosen one. Chosen to carry a mission - let the others hear the gospel.

It was noon and we were just in time for lunch. A kind villager prepared a fabulous seafood lunch for us.

Here comes the sweaty, salty, still-haunted-by-the-boat-ride hungry people.

All of us looked like just bangun from tidur.

If you haven't ate your lunch or dinner, forgive me cause i'm showing you this...


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HAHAHAHAHA! We don't risk our lives for nothing okay~~~

It's fresh, It's juicy, It's delicious, It's tender, and It's CHEAP!!!!!!

Ahahahaha....don't care liaw...DIG IN!!

We ate until our lips and fingers were so....anyway we looked like "xiao Hua mao" (cats). Aloy couldn't bother to take his eyes away from the dishes. He forgot his surname liaw. Hahaha.

After filling our stomachs, it's time to do our job.

The children are a bunch of energetic, cheerful and tarzan-like kids. They are so happy like 24 hours stress free.

Pastor Sara breaks the ice by teaching them to sing songs with some cute actions.

They looked in awe of him...

There's a school nearby. So I assumed that the children's education is attended. But, how far can it go? I really don't know.

I always felt that a part of me still left behind in Cambodia.
I hope i can do something for the children.

Jesus calls the children dear, “Come to me and never fear, For I love the little children of the world; I will take you by the hand, Lead you to the better land, For I love the little children of the world.”


They were very happy to see us.

The housewives.

It's time to show what we're made of~~

Shiaoyong first.

Paling semangat is Shiaoyong. Lol.

Until the little girl looked at her like one kind.

Okay, my turn for story-telling.

Actually, my story is last minute idea one. Shiaoyong, sabrina and me were cracking our head, thinking how to tell the children about Jesus. And the story goes like this...

Once upon a time, there was a little boy living in a village. He has a father who loved him very very much. They lived a very very happy and content life with each other's love beside. Daddy told the little boy not to go into the jungle to play because it was too dangerous. Many ferrocious creatures waiting to eat him. But little boy don't care and got lost in the jungle. Daddy went into the jungle and fought every animal that came into his way in order to save his only son. Finally, the little boy was back safe in his father's arms.

Of course, we campur a bit sugar and spice in the story lar. And aloy had to act along with me. Ahaha.

But, the point of the story was that, Jesus is like their father who would give his life just to save them. When you are lost, He will find you. When you are in danger, He will save you. When you are sad, He will hug you. No matter what happens, He loves you.

Then, when i asked them, "Who wants to know Jesus?"
Everyone raised their cute little hands. Praise God. Hehe.
After that, i taught them how to pray.

Put your hands like this and close your eyes.
Jesus is like an invisible super man.

I said pray...not inserting your finger into your nostril la hor....*pengsan*

From far, more and more villagers came and watched us.

Sabrina and Amanda were starting a game with the children....

....until this fella showed up and stopped us.

The policeman sort of like warning us to end whatever we're doing and dismissed us. Afraid of the consequences such as going to jail *gulped*, we unwillingly called it off and went back to the church where pastor chin and pastor robert were preaching at that time.

I managed to zoom in and snapped this photo. This is how the housewives use their time at home to earn extra for their families.
These people get to eat crabs everyday by setting a booby trap by the seaside. Digging out the flesh and sell it to the people in the city to be made into crabsticks.
Yes, its juicy. Finger lickin' good~

When we reached the church, a few policemen had already gathered in front of the church, trying to stop the service from going on. Stressed of what had happened, the mission team had a small prayer meeting to ask God to make the policemen go away.

Actually, they just wanted money.
I'm not sure whether they were paid or not because after a while they left. Thank God that we could start the service right away.

Though not many people attended but most accepted Christ.

After the service, we hurried to the next island which took us 45 minutes of boat ride.
Oh the boat ride~~ the horror~~~~~


Here we are~ The second fishermen village.

As in the picture, the weather was partially filled with dark clouds. Very sadly because of that, we had only 1 hour to spend with the villagers.

The church.

The service.
Yeah, i know there wasn't many people attending. It was tuesday and most of the villagers were out working. So honestly, there wasn't much we could do after travel all the way there.

Except for this children. They were thrilled to see us.

We told them to ask their friends who were still at home to join us...
and guess what....

They ran back to the village...screaming and shouting...their voices filled the entire island....

......Then.....

The earth started to tremble....

.....The ground shook.....

Our hearts palpitated....

....A drop of Aloysius's sweat slowly rolled down from his left forehead....

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INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!

We were as excited as the children were to see us. All the children from the south to the north, from the west to east of the village came to see us. And there were only 5 of us.
When they came running to us, we had to shout, "CHOP CHOP!".
Otherwise, island team become pizza team.

We sang songs. A new song taught by sophoan last minute. Hehe.

They were very very.....very happy.

Shiaoyong said this to me before, "I hope I can bring some laughters and joy for the children. Not much, just wanted to be a part of their precious and happy childhood memories which they will remember forever."

Likewise, Shiaoyong. Likewise...

Naked baby.

Another naked baby.

Not that i don't support nakedness for babies. I believe i was naked when i was a baby. But this is little bit too much. You see, there were a lot of unpleasant "business" on the ground...which i'm not sure whether is made from human or animals.
And the babies just left there...crawling by themselves...
Next time, i need to bring dermatological medicines.
And pampers.


Story-time~

Guess what animal i was trying to imitate...

With Sophoan as my interpreter, the children loved the story.

I led them into a prayer to Jesus...

"Dear Jesus, please come into my heart and stay with me forever. Please come into my family and bless us. Please give me food and bring me to school. Thank you for loving me. Amen."

Yay, everybody wants to know Jesus.

Too bad no time for games. A thunderstorm was waiting to start. So we hurried back to the boat as soon as the service ended.

We were all praying earnestly, hoping God will delay the rain. Because it will extremingly dangerous with the strong winds and waves. Especially none of us know how to swim.

But thank God that we arrived the jetty safely. The rain started as soon as we stepped on the land. Thank you God for not ready to see us in heaven yet. Hehe.

And that's all for our short mission work in Cambodia. It was very fruitful and an eye-opener for each and everyone of the team member.

As for me, mission accomplished!

Till i conquered the next laziness in me, i shall return guest blogging again~~

Take care, folks! Love you all!