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"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: REJOICE!" Phillipians 4:4

Hannah - Mission Trip Reflection
Sunday, June 27, 2010, 4:05 PM

hey(: so here's my reflection for the mission trip. 
well, the mission trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. though i would still have many other chances to go for mission trips, but it will always be special because it was my first. I went to batam, not knowing what to expect, and having no clue of what we were doing there. There was, however, one lesson that i learnt doing the trip, which is... expect the unexpected. you'll see later why(:

on the first day, we all set off for habourfront with excited spirits in us(: haha, i left house with a back pack and a pillow case, and my neighbours stared at me as if i was running away from home in the early morning:O hahahaha! so we got on the ferry and started snacking on prunes and val's motion sickness pill that knocked us out:P the ferry ride wasn't that bad, but it was cold): so when we reached batam, we went to get supplies. oh we had lunch at A&W first! yum!:D we got boxes of water, loads of cup noodles and biscuits, and tons of toothbrushes and toothpastes, etc. hahaha 75 toothbrushes and toothpastes!:D wheeeeeeeeee!~~~ it was fun going groceries shopping with the jie jies and kor kors(: then we checked into the hotel, which was.... well i can say maybe one-star hotel? but you know, the jie jies already told us to lower our expectations, so we didn't mind.(: 
yunwen, megan and jing yi = room 213; 
me, joyce and val = room 208;
nat, weilin and sheer = room 313 (somerset 313!);
eleta, jasmine and ps debra = room 308;
guys one room (uhhh... i can't rmb their room no. heh:P)

but when we opened the room door, a strong cigarette smell filled our noses): GAH. according to weilin, nat and sheer who sweeped their floor, there were cigarette buds, plastic bottles, etc under the bedsD: oh wells, we felt comfortable in the rooms after a while(: then we went to the village. it was my first time seeing a village and i suddenly felt so fortunate. i was so lucky that i had a proper steady house with a nice roof over me every night, and that i had a nice bathroom to bathe in!:) the church was much smaller than fcbc in expo. it was like a section of our hall. the pastor then explained to us what we were suppose to expect and we discussed about our plans. he also shared about his calling from God and how he arrived in this village, which apparently was illegal:O well, lets be honest, we were all falling asleep except for andrew(jasmine) who was copying notes!(x then we had a little walk around the village and we headed back to the hotel where we had dinner at a nearby restaurant. it was briefing and lights out!

on the second day, we stayed in the hotel first to practice the skit while the rest went to get more supplies. (: hahahhaa, it was by 'divine appointment' that we got roles. i can't believe that val even prayed over the lots!:P but it was great fun!:D then we had lunch at the same restaurant and went to visit the village. oh btw, crossing their roads is like death sentence! ahhhh!D: hahahahhaa! so every night we would pray for crossing-the-road mercy.:D and their public transport is really cool!:D anyway, we went there to set up lessons for the kids in the village. at first we expected 20 kids, but 120 kids actually turned up!:O it was a huge shock for all of us! see, expected the unexpected(: as there were so many kids, we had to split them up. i'm not sure what they did at the lesson side, but i heard joyce was busy gorging(?) out the eyes of the kids' masks!>.<

on the third day, we left for the village early in the morning for cell. (: we expected 5 youths but only 2 turned up, so we decided to delay it. & their youths are like 20+. so we played with them 'big fish' and 'small fish'. 'IKAN KECHIL, IKAN BESAR' HAHAHAHA!:D yes, val's reflexes are slowwww:P since there were only 2 of them, we decided to go home visiting and for our prayer walk(: seeing all the rubbish dumped on the floor, i naturally prayed for good rubbish disposal system(: then we had a tuna sandwich lunch, and it rained): which was not a good sign because we were having a bbq at night. so we prayed really hard and by God's grace, the rained stopped! AMEN!:D then we had cell meeting with one guests because the other 2 had to go. but before cell, we were playing twister which sheer was trying to kill us): BLEAH. joyce and megan led icebreakers, but me, weilin and nat led worship. then val shared about joseph and dreaming big for God. 1. willingness 2.faith(: then we started preparing for the bbq(: oh then the others came(cause some went to buy more supplies!) and andrew(eleta) came. he's stealing her away): GAH. and he wants us to wash his feet. ew. so while some leaders were practicing entertainment, we were outside barbequeing sausages and sotongballs(: cause we burnt the sausages, so it looked like CHEMOTHERAPY!:P HAHAHAHA! then the sotongballs tasted weird so 7 ppl tried one sotongball(x then the ppl came and we ate(: & had good entertainment! it was an awesome time of worship where we sang, danced and jumped for the Lord!:D we went HIGHHHHHHHHHH!~~~ :D:D:D:D:D so then we left the village in darkness again): at night, the six of us girls slept with val in the same room! MUAHAHAHAHAHHA! 3 on one bed, and four on the other, heh:P so fun!:D we slept about 2 according to batam time:P so 3 singapore time?

the next morning(our last day *sobs*) we woke up early to attend church(: weilin, andrew(jasmine) and val shared their testimonies and we had the longest prayer ever!:O then we made balloon animals for the kids and played with bubbles(: we took cool jump shots but that wasn't the main point. we headed back to check out of the hotel and went to eat lunch at kfc(: then had jco donuts and it was ferry ride back): oh yah, then we sent off our translators(forgot to add them:O) well, on the ferry ride back, we... slept.:P hahahha! it was saddening): we didn't want to go home because we left all our worries at home(:

so okay, the main point was that this trip made me more aware of how fortunate i am. it was an interesting experience where i went through things that i would never have expected. though it was a rather comfortable mission trip, like we could eat kfc and had a hotel and all, but i did learn a lot from this trip. (: i got to know people who actually sacrificed alot to do God's will, and follow the plans which God had created for them. what touched me the most, was that those christians in the village could actually be grateful, and praised the Lord with all their hearts. during the church service, they took God seriously and they took the sermon seriously. you could really feel God's presence among us. i feel like its very different back in Singapore, where we have so many things and we take them for granted. we go to church every wk, sometimes treating it like a routine. honestly, if i'm one of the villagers, i would find it really hard to trust and believe in God. it is because i would be asking God why didn't He bless me with a nice house and all. so that really touched me, their child-like faith and their love for God. (: i really wish i could be like them sometimes(: 

i really thank God for blessing me with this trip(: though it was short, but it was really fruitful(: i really wish that i can go back there and continue helping the village there(: this trip has also helped us in the cell become closer and get to know each other better(: thank you Lord for blessing me with this awesome trip! i love you, God! 

AMEN!:D

loves, Hannah(: