Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 7 - Kids and Team Singapore water party

Thursday morning began with the 1st day of teaching kindergarten. I was in charge of teaching them time, while Jessica and Auntie Lucy were tasked to teach them basic English sentences and Esther to teach them numbers. As Auntie Lucy was teaching them things like "boat", "fish" and "see" etc. I was busy preparing myself for my own lesson. Each child was given a paper clock where they could rotate the minute and hour hands of the clock. There were also given worksheet- 5 out of the 36 or so worksheets printed out for them within the course of 4 days.


I was amazed at how Auntie Lucy could have a good command over the kids. Although she was illiterate to Indonesian's language, she was able to grab the attention of the children quickly, and engaged them in English. It could also have been the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself into her. And He has been doing so in so many instances, such as during the children camps and many others. She was able to bring her message across to them easily, disciplining them when they do something wrong, and still be loved by the children. It was truly remarkable.

When it came to me teaching the time, the kindergarten kids were very enthusiastic about it. They were able to respond quickly to the things I have said. Some of the younger ones caught things very fast too, and the older kindergarten kids were experts in basic stuff. At the end of the lesson, each child has at least one sweet in his/her pocket for getting an answer right. Within that short span of time, I have almost covered most of my "syallabus"


After dismissing the kids, we had a teaching session with the current kindergarten teacher. These veterans took us very seriously, and even though we weren't qualified as teachers in Singapore, they gave us a certain amount of respect. We went through many stuff, such as teaching them techniques on how to manipulate simple words by rhythming them, how to count in interesting ways, and providing them with basic materials and information.

We spent the start of the afternoon doing nothing much. There was a miscommunication with the college about the timings and the days where Uncle Gilbert and team were supposed to go. So being restrained at Yayasan, they tried to make themselves occupied throughout the whole day. This was fulfilled when Auntie Damai highlighted a serious problem. Apparently, due to the large number of occupants in the house, the water level in the 2 tanks have reached a dangerously low level and has to be filled up. In a matter of minutes, we were tasked to fill up water from the nearby communal well.

Uncle Famachoi tried to do a great service to the community. By building a communal bath area with proper toilet facilities, he hoped that the water from the well could be pumped up into the bathrooms, so that toilets and shower head with proper cubicles can be used. You could say that it was a public toilet. But to the disappointment of the poor maintanences of the island, the pump never did worked, and the toilets remained as shelter from the hot sun.

It was interesting to note that there is a skill to fetching water from the well. You had to rest the bucket on the surface of the water, and with a flick on the wrist, you will be able to scoop most of the water from the well. Hoist the bucket up using the rope and repeat the process and you will fill the bucket up in no time! We spent 3 hours doing it once in a while, until an old lady wanted to bathe and we had to leave the vicinity.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So were the team from Singapore. Towards the end of the day, we had an entertaining singing session accompanied by musical instruments of all sorts. Uncle Famachoi was playing the recorder, Jessica the guitar and Esther the violin. And we sang, and sang and sang, until there wasnt time for singing, only to sleep for the next day~

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 6 - The Break and Prayer Night Meeting

After a long event of children's camp, there is nothing better than to find some peace after the whole thing. And since it was a public holiday in Nias, there wasnt any lessons for the kindergarten school children, giving Esther, Jessica and I free time to do whatever we want. Naturally, Zhihong joined in the equation, and when Uncle Famachoi suggested to visit Sorake Beach, we couldnt say no either. If there was anything on this island I wanted to do, it was to visit the beach.

It was a 20 mins drive down to Uncle Famachoi's village. The area which the Wau stayed stretched for about 300-500m with the front view of the beach at their porch. Overgrowth could be seen climbing over the remains of chairs and tables after the tsunami. The tsunami was not kind to the beach either, as the water resided some 100m away from the sand-line, leaving behind jagged corals with pools of water littered everywhere. But with it comes a whole new diversity of sea life. Small fishes of different shapes and colours scattered the rocky pools. Shells of hermit crabs and clams shine against the sunlight, and a lazy starfish float idly at the bottom. We spyed upon many unique things in the water, including a clump of sea-cucumber, anemone that opened and closed erratically, a fish called Frankie who played hide and seek in the corals, and I had the priviledge to spy upon a sea snake for a brief second.

The sea was perfect blue. It cannot get as good as this. As the waves rolled itself over the horizon, surfers try to ride it in vain, only to slip off at the critical point. The sad truth about this beautiful place is that most of the surfers and people are the locals. After the tsunami hit, whatever tourists that visited Nias was greatly reduced. As I walked down Sorake Beach, I could count the total number of angmos with my fingers. It was sad to see the income of the Nias people disappearing over the years.

After the beach and a great tan (not to mention slipper tan T.T) we went for a walk around the village and to visit a nearby resort. It was interesting to see what kampung life is all about. There were people cutting avocados from their trees; we bought 2kg worth of them. Two boys dragging their pig on its hind, bringing it to its final resting place. A heap of rubbish burning in a corner. We finally approached the what looked like a resort. The condition looked really bad and it doesnt look like it was maintained ever since the tsunami. There wasnt any need to since there werent much tourist. The swimming pool was clogging with algae and gunk, while the metal roof pieces are corroding. It was in a pretty sorry state. It reminded me of the trials the Nias people had to face after the tsunami incident.

We met Uncle Famachoi at 3pm who drove us back. We had lunch at Henri's place. His mum owns a restaurant on the 2nd floor of her house. It was cooling and the Nasi Goreng was tasty.

We later had a Tuesday Night Prayer Meeting where we gave our testimonies, worshiped together and prayed together. Uncle William shared the parable of the sower with the group, talking about how there were 4 kinds of people who will receive the Word of God. As he talks about the good sower who planted his seeds on good grounds, I couldnt help but think of the youths in our church, whether if they are growing passionately in the name of the Lord. Nevertheless, I continue praying, for it is not on my strength alone, but God's strength.

God worked in the lives of the people that night as many reaffirmed their faith in serving our Almighty Father. I guess we all need to relook at our lives and think about how God has been so real in every aspect.

Monday, May 19, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 5 - Children's Camp Day 3

For every fairytale ending, there is always a happy ending, and this children camp, although not fabricated, has its happy ending too.

We started off with our revision of what we have learned over the past 2 days. We went through our songs and cheers and introduced a new parable to the camp. It was the "The Good Samaritan", and it was one of our best sessions throughout the camp. We taught a new song "Let your light shine"; a catchy tune with a lot of hand-actions. However, the kids had difficulties with the English word, so we didnt use it in the end. Nevertheless, we have left behind the songsheets so that they can practice anytime. We also made a 3D donkey out of paper, and the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly as they shaped the donkey from nothing into a 7 inches masterpiece.

As we got closer to lunch, we did another skit for them. I had to act as 3 different characters; the robbers who attacked Joo(the name of the Jew in the parable), the "holy" priest and the Levite. There was plenty of interaction from the kids as they responded to our skit with great eagerness. Jessica did a great job acting as an injured Joo, with red face paint all over her face, and Zh acted well as Sam (the name of the Samaritan in the parable).

Auntie Lucy and Uncle William took over the show as we ate our late lunch. They played the "pin the donkey" game and "spot the difference" game with the kids. Its amazing as to find children getting excited over a paper tail and a pale-looking drawing of a donkey. Comparing with your average Singaporean kid, the latter will probably say that it is "lame" and then continued on playing his PSP. After a quick lunch, we started to prepare the kids for the mini-finale.

This mini-finale is an event to summarise what they have learned over the course of 3 days. For every group, they were to perform a cheer and a song, read a verse from the bible, and relate how they find in camp. Parents were invited for this event and it was a big day to the kids. While they were preparing themselves, I was flying everywhere in the house, preparing the chairs for the guests, setting up the projector to screen a presentation and packing the presents for every kid. The task was grueling, but the happy ending draws nearer.

It was climbing to the climax as the parents filled the upper room of Yayasan Harapan. There were easily 30 parents in the house, and many more kids waiting as 3.00pm came. There were a total of 84 kids. It was totally unexpected as the given number was 70 and we would have believed that the actual number would be fewer. All the time, I had implanted 70 sets of gifts, be it the files, the clips, the pencil cases. Except the towels. I had 85 of those. Now, i had no reason why I should bring 85 towels, but I really THANK GOD for this. Out of all the gifts, the towel was viewed as the most important due to promote cleanliness. Even though not everyone had the same pack (it didnt matter cause there were some members not applicable for the camp, but we couldnt reject them on the last day, so we had to come out with a smaller gift), God has the perfect plan for everything and has provided a way for me when it came to the gifts.

As the groups perform their items and as the leaders toil till the end of the day, "Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" comes into my mind quickly. It has been a successful camp, and the children were all delighted with the overall outcome. We made new friends, both young(children) and old(translators and parents). Even though we were dehydrated, losing our voices, exhausted, there was a glowing sense of pride in our hearts that we have done it. We have finished the camp with a big bang.

It was a happy ending after all.

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 4 - Children Camp Day2

Day 2 started at 9.00am, with children who stayed overnight at Yayasan, singing their morning devotion with Uncle Famachoi. It was all set for a new day.

For the whole morning, we taught the parable of the house on the rock/house on the sand. We taught them how to make a 3D house, and even asking them to decorate it with their own drawings on the outside of the house. The attractive thing about the house was the roof, which brighten up the whole house when everyone joined the houses together forming the word "I Love Jesus" (Interestingly, this was not part of the plan, but when it was executed, it remained perfect). As the individual groups come out with their cheers and team spirit, you could see the excitement and joy of all the kids. It was simply amazing. For Singaporean kids to do such an activity, many will brand this as boring, some even complaining, but the Nias Children were so engaging, eager and ready to try new things. We later performed a skit and the kids enjoyed it very much, some even volunteering to be involved in the skit when Zh called out to them. We also taught them a new song "Wise and Foolish Man". The kids loved the hand-actions and the melody of it, but more importantly, they were all interested in learning English, which was very crucial to us. We've got to thank the translators in our midst, who were always there to translate the meaning of the song into Bahasa Indonesia.

After lunch, as the heat took its toil on the day. We gathered all the kids to the room and asked them to quieten down. Many of them were very active, and if we do not contain them, they may be dehydrated from the heat. Spending quiet time was a very impromptu decision, and Zh was given the task to lead them in quiet meditation, he had to come out with something on the spot. He soon starting a story, talking about the beach, the sand and a white bird. Things started to go wrong when the white bird became the main highlight. We could tell that Zh was pressured to come out with something out of nothing, and when the white bird started talking, I knew we were pooped. At that point of time, I started praying, praying that the situation can be saved. Then the story of the footprint hit me. It was the perfect story to talk about, especially when it was at the beach! I waved my hands frantically at Jessica, the only person who could have executed it correctly as Zh continues on his dialogue on the white bird. First i tried mouthed out the word "Foot prints", but to Jessica it looked like "Foo bi". Thank God I started pointing at my feet and mouthed "Father and son" before Jessica finally got it. I pointed to her and mouthed out "You do it", just in time when Zh told all the children to "open their eyes" and shortly after telling them to close their eyes again. Jessica then took over the whole thing and it went flawlessly.

We had team-bonding group games in the afternoon. The rubber band game was a major hit for most of the kids, each trying eagerly to transfer the rubber bands from one straw to another. We also played a balloon game where the kids passed the balloons from one end to the other end. After all the activities, it was some indoor activities in the room. We taught them the AJ slap, and boy were they addicted to it. I had no idea how many times I did it, but it was something that kept them entertained even till the end of our mission trip.

The day ended early at 7pm, and many of us felt exhausted, but satisfied from the chain of events that took place. We felt closer to the children and God was working in our lives. There were also more translators in the scene, so talking to them wasnt as tiring as before. We could see our efforts paying off as the last day of the children's camp draws closer.

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 3 - Children Camp Day1

3rd day slowly crept in as the beginning of day 1 of church camp commerced. It was also my 1st time meeting the kindergarten students. Auntie Lucy was teaching them alphabets, which was very engaging as they would sing the nursery rhythm out in front of us. After that, we did a little join the dots game of a zebra, whereby the kids coloured a multi-coloured zebra after they traced the zebra out. There was more work to be done for the children's camp. Uncle Famachoi requested the YAFers to come out with a large poster and to stick it up on the wall. There were other tasks to do such as cutting name tags and getting the projector ready. I had to dedicate the job to someone else as while the preparation of church camp is still going on, Uncle Famachoi was invited to a wedding ceremony, and the newly wed couple would want a few from the Singapore team to participate as well. I was one of the fortunate candidates to go.

A bible and a hymn book as a wedding gift, together with a little bit of cash here and there, we presented the bridesgroom. They were dressed in their ethnic costumes, with yellow, red and black exploding everywhere. The groom has a distinctive hard wooden necklace around his neck with a traditional knife; his wife has two large golden ear-rings around her ears. As hundred of relatives came for the event, singing and praises were all given to the guests as girls sing and dance and the men prance about with their warrior outfits. It was interesting to note that it is a Nias tradition for a person to represent a whole crowd as the voice of it. During speeches, he would yell "yaaallleeeaarrreeeeehhhhhhhhh" in acknowledgment of the speaker's words.

As the procession dragged on, we were becoming increasingly worried about the time, whether or not we could make it back to Yayasan by 3.30pm. By 3.00pm, we had no choice but to devise a sneak escape route. After exchanging a few words with his friend, Uncle Famachoi led Uncle Gilbert into his friend's house. Following that, Uncle William, Esther and I took our leave, pretending to take more shots of the wedding ceremony. We took a back exit of the house and soon enough we were on the main road. It was exciting to see us escape from the wedding procession. Our plan, however, did not work as the bridesgroom's wife had spotted us leaving. Perhaps it was my bright orange t-shirt which gave away our strategy.

Church camp shortly commerced after our return. There were already close to 50 children as more started to fill in the cramped house. Initially, we were all lost for what to do. Our plan did not go smoothly. What was to show a cartoon video ended up with doing the ice-breakers 1st. We were all unprepared, and were too worried over the missing dinner. As we tried to include more time-fillers into our programme, we ourselves got frustrated over one another. Thank God for the skit, which could have saved the day. The "deep and wide" song deserves credits as well, it being the most popular song throughout the camp. When the food finally arrived, we could only eat in silence, and plan for the debrief of the children. Church Camp Day 1 ended at roughly 8.30pm. Everyone was tired and somehow it felt like we had run a 20km race.

God was trying to show us that by our own understanding, mankind will tend to fail. It shows that no matter how much you have prepared, if your heart and your purpose is not centrered to God, it would all be futile. We can have all the preparations ready and laid out, but we failed to put our faith in God, and let Him work in the camp. We soon realised that while there was many activities going on, there was little of God's word, little of God's prayer. little of God's everything.

We were determined not to make the same mistake again.

Friday, May 16, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 2 - The Preparation

Day 2 was a full swing into preparation for the camp. I had to separate the logistics evenly, such that each ziploc bag would consist of the parables we were teaching. A games template was also drawn out for the kindergarten programme. Unexpectedly, Friday was a normal day of lesson for the kindergarten students, and little echoes of little children could be heard from the hallway. At some point of time, the electricity was cut, sometimes lasting till 10pm on alternate days. For some, it became a ritual habit of doing things in the dark without electricity. The Wau family, on the other hand, had a generator, which we relied on heavily. That afternoon, we met 4 of Pastor Famachoi's English students. For students aged between 12-14 years old, it is quite shocking to find them speaking rudimentary English. I could see the urgent need for people to teach English.

I remembered photocopying with Uncle Gilbert. It was not ready by the time we were there, so Uncle Gilbert requested to have some refreshments at a cafe by the sea. Unlike most of the buildings in Nias, this cafe was nicely done, and it could be seen a lot of money was invested in the construction of it, as its territory extended all the way to the sea as a jetty and a lookout point. After some chit-chat, mosquito biting and drinking, we went back to the shop to check on the printed pages. There was a total of 72 booklets for college materials and about 700 pages for kindergarten. We ended at 8.30pm and had a late dinner.

We had a prayer meeting that night, asking God to bless us with strong minds and stamina for the Children Camp, that souls can be saved and lives can be touched.

Indeed, God is in control of our lives, and He can make miracles.

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : Day 1 - The Journey

We left the house at 4.15am the next morning, with Uncle Daniel picking us on his van, together with Esther, Jess, Eil and Plin. Our destination was to Changi Airport and our flight was at 6.45am. There was not many people sending us off in the wee hours of dawn, but even so, Pastor Alvin took the trouble to come down to pray with us. We had our last breakfast in the airport and then, the 4 YAFers and 3 adults were off for Nias.

We took a budget flight to Medan. I must admit that the journey to Medan was relatively fast. Upon arrival, Pastor Harpusan greeted us at the arrival hall. He is a good friend of Pastor Goh, running his own church and a school beside it. He was the person who helped us with the arrangement of flight from Medan to Nias. As there was 2 hours till the flight departure, Pastor Harpusan volunteered to bring us to his premises. We were treated to the grandeur sight of the half-completed church, together with the multi-storied yellow school compound. This school caters to children from kindergarten to high school. We shortly went to his house, a red tiled wall house with a mango tree in his garden. Mango was part of the menu as we were invited into his house, and it was sweet and juicy. We later had lunch at a chinese roadside stall, before returning back to the domestic flight terminal.

I must sat that while Medan looks like a 2nd world country, their domestic airport appeared newly furnished. It was later discovered that it was recently destroyed by a fire. Perhaps the government do embrace the philosophy of slash and burn technique for building as well. As we waited terribly long for our flight, the other half of me was wondering if our plane will ever come. It was not till 45 minutes past the scheduled time did we finally got on board the plane. It looked like a early 20th century plane, with its 2 propellors sticking out at its sides.

We touched down at Gunung Sitoli Airport, Nias, at roughly 2pm. On first impression, the whole place looked like another movie of Congo, with vast trees that stretches over the hills and an old empty runway. We were ferried over to Telok Dalam by a car convoy. The trip was rather smooth-sailing; the roads seemed new with no pock marks, the houses were decently constructed with cements and bricks, some even having a satellite to watch TV. As we snaked through the island, rivers wind past bridges and jungle after jungle past by. But towards the 2nd half of the journey, we were finally greeted with the ocean. The sight of was spectacular. Waves would crash into the rocky banks, sending foams of seawater into the air. Surfers cruise away in the water like time has not moved at all. For the first time in my life, I actually saw a clear blue sea.

Sometimes I would always wonder why we cannot get the better of the 2 countries. While Singapore has a better infrastructure and governance, Nia has its natural beauty at its backyard. But as I think about it, if every scenario was to be the same, the we would not be expecting much in Heaven, since all of what we got from Earth would be the same as up there. The Lord has prepared an eternal home for us, and it should be something we should look forward to. It should be the day when we would cherish every moment of it, just like how I cherished every little detail and sight of the beaches of Nias.

We reached Telok Dalam at 4pm. Being the town centre of Southern Nias, it had a closer resemblence to a typical Indian Village than Central District New York. Long dusty roads with 2-storied shophouses are scattered throughout the area. School-children flooding the narrow streets as our transport make its way to Pastor Famachoi's house/mission centre/kindergarten.

Yayasan Harapan Nias had a big driveway with sparse bush on the side. At the corner was a mini-playground, weathered and over-used. Pastor Famachoi was standing at the front porch of the building. He is a short man with thin frame in his late fifties. On closer inspection, he had a bruise on his chin with cuts all over his hand. Apparently, it was due to an accident with 2 drunkens. Thank God for preserving him from death. Auntie Damai soon joined her husband in the greeting session. It was a mini-reunion of their princess from Singapore.

Preparation of the cam,p went full throttle right after moving into my room of 4. We had a meeting ironing out the itinerary of the mission trip, staying till 10.30pm. It was also the first night when I experienced the life of bathing in rainwater.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Journal Entry for Nias Mission Trip : -1st day

It is interesting how one would have to resort to writing on a chinese composition book. What was initially used for japanese is now converted to a journal entry. This is how it all begun...

The date is 15th May 2008. I have packed my bags, ready for mission trip. It ha been a tough journey of preparation, praying and working with the 6 of us. And I would guess that it would be normal to say if your body is ready, your heart isn't. It is that state of mind when you feel drained and worn out from all the preparation and you strongly feel for the whole mission trip to be over in a blink of a day. I was in that mode as I trod to Zhihong's house for the night before departure. Apparently, Zh has not prepared his bag (still busy playing WOW), so I was pretty much by myself, lying on the sofa, feeling the cool breeze from outside, texting away on my handphone.