Christ's love compels us...

It was on the 8-9th September. Just over two weeks ago. My third time in Kg Mendulong in three months. My first visit was during my holiday trip with some Korean tourists. The second was during my visit doing the Celebration of Hope Malaysia project.

I have heard of this village since the first year I became a Christian in 1984. I heard lots of good reports about the people of this particular village. One of our former SIB Presidents came from this village. Many strong leaders of SIB came from this village too. So I was really looking forward to visit the place and arranged a visit when I had the chance to do so last August.

It is a very clean and beautiful village. Beautiful and friendly people. Nice place to be. Calm and quiet. But I cant help noticing the absence of young people in the church service during my first visit. I noticed the same thing my second. I was told that, the young people would come to church if some youth group will come and pay a visit to the church. Powerhouse and BPM came to my heart. So I conveyed the invitations to both teams to team up with the Interior Ministry...The purpose? To stir and encourage the young people of that church!

So how was the trip?Lets hear what someone had to say about that trip:

Christine ( http://www.xanga.com/chrishellz) wrote:

I went to Sipitang over the weekend for a short mission trip in Kampung Mendulong. We went in 3 groups/ministries and there were 22 of us, in 6 different cars. There were the mission ministry headed by Ps. Jubilee, and he was alone, and then 10 from Powerhouse Youth ministry and 11 from Borneo Praise Ministry. Ps. Jubilee and 10 of us from Powerhouse left for Sipitang first at around 12.30pm, and BPM left at 2pm cause some of them were working. It took us like 3 hours to reach Sipitang, and 45 minutes to Kampung Mendulong.So yea, we arrived at Kampung Mendulong at around 5pm, and we were told that the first service starts at 7.30. So we hung out with the people there, ate lotsa local fruits, like rambutan, langsat and mangoesteen. nyummm!!! Also rested for a while. When it was almost 7pm, we took out shower, wanted to get ready for dinner, but instead of dinner, they served TEA! LoL~So we were having tea at 7pm. We were still waiting for the group from BPM, and it was raining quite heavy. And by the time they arrived, it was already around 8pm. They said that the river was too deep, and they were going around trying to look for different route to get into the village, and there was one way also but the bridge broke down, and well yea, not sure how, but they finally got here safe and sound and in 1 piece.

How we got through?

The brigde was giving away as we reached it. And there was this "no entry sign" put up. We had to make up our mind very quickly. If we walk from that point, that would mean some 45 minutes walking to the church carrying delicate musical instruments ... daring the rain! So, mumbling "Lord, help me!" I crossed over to the other side driving a heavy Hilux! What a rush! Roger, Rijol and Jeffrey followed my lead...We were told in the following morning that the bridge had collapsed!

God is good!

LoL~ We had our opening prayer, thanked God for everything and had out dinner!!! Dinner was good!!! =) But there was no eletricity. lol! So we had candlelight dinner instead. lol! How cool is that. We started our night service at 8.45. BPM took over the worship and Ps. Jubilee preached. It was a good time in the Lord's presence, and the messaged was good, he basically preached about being the light, stay strong and also live a life as a true christian. He closes us in family prayer!! We held each other's hand across the church and prayer!!! =)

I had to play by ear while preparing myself for preaching. I find myself of late that I dont read the Bible to "prepare" sermons as such but I read the Bible to live! So when we have the "Life" in us, preaching will not be a struggle but a life-giving experience..

So after the night session, we had duriansssssss! Nyum~ And we slept around 1am.

The next day, we woke up at 5am, to do bible study and pray. I was like 10 minutes late. LoL~ Ps. Jubilee shared about Jeremiah and Hananaiah, it was a good message and also learnt a lot, about being true christian, like being sensitive and knowing that you're really called by the Lord. We finished at 6am, and then we had like an exercise thingie. LoL~ It was so funny, but fun at the same time!! At 7am, Ps Jubilee, told me that I need to get the team to do a children service. and this is a last minute thingie. LoL~ So there we go again, like Pitas trip, David did the games, with the help of Jia Jun, and I did the singing.. hahaha! It was fun. The children here are fun, and more attentive, and also all smiley! =)

Actually, when I was told that I will be sharing in the morning devotion, I planned to share on "Friendship With God" but when the morning prayer bell woke me up, Jeremiah 28 came to my heart... And about the children thingie, I was also taken aback that the ministry was given to the team! One more for the check list!

Our morning service starts at around 9am. They said the time over there is RUBBER! Rubber time! Means it can start anytime and end anytime. lol~ So yea, BPM took over worship and worship was AWESOME. The members of SIB Mendulong also had some performances for us to testify about God. They had like dances and singing. It was beautiful. Then Ps Jubilee preached about staying strong, and he focused a lot on the young people. He was very straight forward and frank, spoke about hell and also lukewarm christian. I learnt a lot from the message. Ministry time was beautiful, first he prayed for people who wants to have a new heart, and then he also prayed for parents and people who wants their kids and families to be saved. Responds was awesome, and it was a good time with the Lord..

So enjoy our slide below!