Sarawak Mission Trip : Langok (Day 7 & 8)

This would be the last stop of our visit to the four long houses. As compared to the rest, it was all situated along the river channel. However, as for Langok we had to travel up to Entabai, the place where we started and proceed to the other side of the river. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the place. We had to go in through the back door of this long houses. Imagine, they even had an alternative route. This was because it was easier to disembark from here rather than the front which had a long row of stairs leading to the entrance.





The place was rather modern as compared to the rest. This could be seen by the structure of the house which was equipped with modern equipment, kitchen cabinet, aluminium doors and windows. Besides that, the floor were all tiled as compared to the rest which had wood or planks. I had gathered that many of them were able to afford this due to high prices of pepper a few years ago. Other than that, it was easier now to build the houses with bricks than wood as it is more lasting. However, the prices of pepper has gone down and many are still waiting for it to go up again.



During the time here, I managed to help out in the children session. Kat and I finally got to get our hands in the puppet show which we had practiced before. It was interesting to bring laughter to the kids there, though they were not many who were there. Kat was more frantic than I was behind the scene but we managed to pull it off despite feeling the heat behind the sleeping bag.









Here are some of the other images taken from the visit here.











One of the interesting thing about this place was the oppurtunity to be able to be with the people of the Tuai Rumah. He had followed us during the entire trip and it was good to see where he live and his family. Though there is some feud between the people in this long house, but I believe that what we had done here would be able to bring the relationship of the people closer. There were other things which I did that I did not manage to capture on camera which was the fishing trip that Apai Dennis brought us to. It was situated in one of the river channels and overlooking a beautiful pepper plantation. The fishing experience was fun though I did not catch anything but still manage to eat the catch of the day.

As a closing, I would like to share a testimony. It was during this place that God reveal something to me. I was chosen to give a testimony but had none in mind. It seems awkward not to have a testimony but at that point of time, I couldn't recollect any. But God was good and He gave me one. He brought me back to the previous long house when we had gone for a swim in the river. We had decided to be adventurous and tried something interesting which was to allow the current to carry us from the higher ground to where our boats were. As we had gone into the water, the current was getting stronger. Many of the girls were frantic and were clinging on to the people around them. I had Kat behind me and behind here was Su Chen. Being a novice swimmer, I was also panicky. Frightened that I would not be able to support the girls who were in the water let alone try to support myself. There was this part of the river that went deep. We all submerge in the water. I was trying to get up but the current was strong. My head was going into the water and Kat was clinging on me. I tried to cry for help but no one heard me. However, as I was struggling through the current, I was able to catch hold of one of the rocks at the bottom and was able to stay upright while supporting Kat who was clinging onto me desperately. I was hurt while trying to support myself through the current and had scratch my hands while at it.

As I recall that incident, God reminded me what sin is. Sin may look like a very interesting river that we may be tempted to jump in and let the current take it through it. Initially, it is fun as the water is shallow and we are able to support ourselves. However, the current gets stronger and it brings us deeper into sin. This is the time when we realise that we cannot support ourselves and find ourselves submerge into sin. We cry for help to the people at the bank of the river but no one can hear us, no one is able to save us. We go under hoping to find support. Thank God that as we go through sin in our life, God places rocks at the bottom of the river of sin for us to stand and support ourselves. We rise up and walk towards the bank of the river where it is safe and where God wants us to be. God is our rock in which we stand. No matter how deep you are in sin, always look out for the rock that would bring you out of the river of sin.