Raub '09

Went to Pahang last Saturday for a mission trip to an orang asli village in Raub.

The whole trip was kindda crazyyy. After preparing everything; the messages, the arts and crafts, the presentations and preparing mentally, everything was thrown out the window. Initially, we prepared to go to 6 different villages during the course of three days. Then, we were told that not only were we staying at the same place, we also had to face the same group of people for all three days. I went like "WHAT.. =.="

But i guess its God's way of training us to trust in Him. We didnt really have much problem though. Things just kindda flowed really reaLLy well:) The three day thing was actually a camp for villagers of three different orang asli vilages. The houses there is beautifully unique, made out of bamboo and thatch roofs. In a way, much more beautiful than resort chalets that looks like it because they're real. People live in them.

Upon arrival, the villagers sent us jugs and jugs of beverages. At first we were suprised at so many jugs that was sent. Surely they didnt expect a super humongous large crowd, did they? Then we realised that every family sent one jug. All as a welcoming gesture. So sweet:)

Then the KIDS. There we so many of them! They make a lot of noise too. But they're so innocent. They were really shy at first. Then carmen and i started chasing them! LOL. We warmed up to each other pretty fast and on the last day, we became their 'tree'. We also became their barbies, playing with our hair and everything. haha.. at a young age, they're really good at making plaids:) Truth be told, i prefer hanging out with them anytime than the adults:) i wonder what they're doing now..

Since the village has no electrict supply, we had to use generators. They were pretty good:) But they had to shut it off around midnight coz it was running on petrol. Imagine this: our group was having our debreifing the first night, which lasted very very long and suddenly everything flickered and went dark. All hopes for a bath was lost(but the guys did bathe after that). I guess that was when we really focused on the breifing. lol. However, that debreifing was the best ever though:)

We slept on the floor with bugs all over us:D cool huh? im not complaining but its a good reminder that we ought to appericiate the nice comfy beds that we have. not to mention the clean bathrooms although bathing in the river is not so bad. did i mention about the river? its soo nice and cool. the water is pellucid:) nothing like kl rivers. Nothing.

The food pulak.. they serve so much rice. they literally served it in those basins that you use to wash ur clothes. cant really show coz all the pics are with dylan and carmen.. sigh.. and we ate bamboo. nicee.. and the sambal belacan thingy was so hot. Era, one of the kids, was drinking tonnes of water while eating that.. she's one cute kid:) eyes as big as saucers. O.O i miss the food..

One thing fo sure, the group members were amazing:) I really do thank God that i went for this trip coz otherwise, i would have never known this group of people. Our common goals were to step out of our comfort zones and to serve our God among a community that He loves. We were reminded in every meeting(almost) that we are not tourists but servants. There were many many times that i wanted to kill myself for doing really stupid things but had to remain calm coz the work wasnt finished yet. Everyone's openess and willingness to work, made it so much more easier to bond:) since our group consists of mainly guys, there were 8 dudes in total and only four girls, we all had a pretty good insight of how the male brain works in terms of relationships. Oh my cheese, i would always prefer a relationship topic to chemistry any day! Really, this bunch of people opened up much more than i thought was possible given that most of us only knew each other for at most, a few months.

Yesus yang ku cinta, terima kasih kerana memberi kami peluang ini untuk membuat kerjaMu. Hanya Kau yang dapat membawa semuanya bersama. Budak2 remaja yang dengan sukarelanya masuk ke dalam hutan untuk membuat kerjaMu? Bapa, ku sayang Engkau sebab mmg hanya Kau yang dapat membuat semua ini..

BM saya teruk? i know. One of the many challenges we had to face was also to converse in BM. Imagine praying in bm... =.= its was so so tough at first but after a bit it was much better. I find myself sometimes praying in bm now:) amazing.

There's just so much that i miss there.. those three short days..

All glory be to God..

Father, i dont want to stop changing. I wanna keep going on for You..