Taiwan Hakka Theological Seminary Short-Term Mission Team to Sabah and Sarawak (2014)

(Taiwan – Liao Hsiu-Chuan)

If short-term missions are a spiritual battle, then this mission trip made me deeply miss the comrades I once fought alongside!

The day before returning to Taiwan, in the morning we relaxed by visiting a cocoa shop, tasting and shopping. In the afternoon, we went to Brother He’s house and enjoyed a rich fruit feast and durian cake. After returning to the bridal shop where we stayed, we began packing our luggage. When we came from Taiwan to Sabah, there was no problem—160 kilograms of luggage were all shared items such as puppets, props, candies, and stationery. When returning to Taiwan, in previous years we were not so strict in dividing things. Each person averaged about 10 kilograms of checked luggage? This issue? Speaking for myself, last year on the return trip, I checked in a big Pampers carton. It did not only contain my own belongings, but also five or six sets of costumes borrowed from churches for drama evangelism, props, clapper boards, tambourines, and musical instruments. In addition, I personally purchased sound equipment for praise aerobics and indigenous dances. Afraid that they might be damaged during check-in, I had to carry them back and forth as hand luggage. Moreover, 20 kilograms of checked luggage costs 400, while 10 kilograms only costs 200. For this 10 kilograms and 200, some team members had opinions.

It truly gave me deep reflections!

Some things cannot be measured by money!!

I thought of the warmth of Wu Cong, Xiu Ju, and Jia Yin.

The year before last, during our ministry in Keningau, one day we went out early in the morning to cast out demons at the chairman’s house. In the afternoon, we held an evangelistic meeting at a church. It rained heavily, and we braved the rain to prepare for another evangelistic meeting at the next church. On the way, due to the uphill muddy road made slippery by rain and full of potholes, we tried several times but couldn’t get up the slope. Everyone prayed together and finally managed to drive up! After arriving at the church, we had to prepare at least 200 balloon shapes for each session, not to mention Jia Yin performing six times as the robbed neighbor in the Good Samaritan story, bruising both her legs! The key point is that when we returned to the church where we stayed at 11 or 12 at night, exhausted, there was no water and no electricity, let alone a water heater for a comfortable hot shower and sleep. So we went straight upstairs to sleep. It was Xiu Ju who boiled pots of hot water one by one with a gas stove, giving each person half a bucket for bathing. It was Wu Cong who kindly called each of us to come down for a bath. Since I happened to be on my menstrual period, I was too tired to move, but Sister Zeng patiently and gently called me many times. I was so touched that I could not pretend not to hear, so I went downstairs to wash. Normally, when bathing, we would turn on the shower freely, but looking at that half bucket of water—sigh—we could only wipe ourselves with a towel dipped in water, and it was so cold…

Under such circumstances, Jia Yin even gave me half of her remaining hot water!

At that moment, that half bucket of hot water was absolutely priceless in my heart!

I thought of Rui Ri, Hui Fang, and Zheng Nan.

Previously, the day before returning to Taiwan from a mission trip, not to mention going to Tanjung Aru seafood restaurant for dinner or to Brother He’s house for fruits, we once flew from Kuching back to Kota Kinabalu at 3:30 in the morning, without rest! Because the next evening there were still two Taiwan Night sessions at “Add One Cup.” So we went to Sister You Ying’s house to prepare food—salted pork, fried rice noodles, tea eggs, aiyu jelly, and more. In the afternoon, we prepared balloon shapes at “Add One Cup,” and then continued with two consecutive evangelistic meetings! One from 6:30 to 8:30, another from 8:30 to 10:30, with the same program: praise aerobics opening, indigenous dances, puppet shows, dramas, hymns, testimonies, short sermons, and altar calls. It was exhausting! After returning to the bridal shop at 11 or 12 at night, we did not go straight to sleep—we started packing checked luggage, because the puppets, props, and costumes had just been used.

They served like this without complaint or regret!