Timor is beautiful. She practically stunned me with her beauty. I couldn't help but paused many times during our 7 hour drive from Dili to Viqueque with awesome wonderment. Each turn of the drive is filled with many "Wow!". I am totally captivated by what I saw. I couldn't help but proclaim that God is so so good. His creation is amazing. I know- God loves Timor.
Humbled
The biggest takeaway from this trip was what God did to me. He humbled me. I was totally humbled by what I saw and experienced. Though many who go for medical trips in rural areas feel that they can and need to do much, God taught me otherwise. Sure, their sanitation, health status, infant/maternal/under 5 mortality rates, healthcare and other infrastructures are nowhere comparable to Singapore. Yet, I feel that they are so blessed. Though their homes may not be as sophisticated as a Singapore home, God has given them a huge playground to live and play in. Imagine stepping out of your home to magnificant views of the mountains, valleys, huge green pastures, waterfalls, rivers, grazing animals. The children run around, climbing onto big buffalos, riding on horses across large green pastures, playing catch, making their own toys from raw materials that God provided all over the place. Their screams of joy and contentment are so precious and lovely to my ears. i wonder how many Singaporean children can claim to have such joy and fun during their childhood.
Humbled
The biggest takeaway from this trip was what God did to me. He humbled me. I was totally humbled by what I saw and experienced. Though many who go for medical trips in rural areas feel that they can and need to do much, God taught me otherwise. Sure, their sanitation, health status, infant/maternal/under 5 mortality rates, healthcare and other infrastructures are nowhere comparable to Singapore. Yet, I feel that they are so blessed. Though their homes may not be as sophisticated as a Singapore home, God has given them a huge playground to live and play in. Imagine stepping out of your home to magnificant views of the mountains, valleys, huge green pastures, waterfalls, rivers, grazing animals. The children run around, climbing onto big buffalos, riding on horses across large green pastures, playing catch, making their own toys from raw materials that God provided all over the place. Their screams of joy and contentment are so precious and lovely to my ears. i wonder how many Singaporean children can claim to have such joy and fun during their childhood.
For all the villages that I went, I realised that the people were all self-sustaining. Basically, they grow their own food and get their water from wells (for the richer ones), ground water and small rivers. I am amazed by how God provides. Yes, their lifespan may be shorter than in developed countries. We see many cases of diarrhoea, worm infestations, infections there. But we also see many heart attacks, strokes, cancer, suicide here in Singapore. There, the people do not grieve much for the dead. I learnt and am still learning- To not do too much so as to take away their contentment in life.
Simple is good
God has blessed them to be simple people. I love being with simple people :) The villages are amazed and filled with joy by the simplest of things. I realised one of the things that I enjoyed most during this trip were the times when I waved at the villages as we drove past them and seeing their reactions that followed. Many stared a while and then waved back with a big smile. The most lovable ones were the children. I totally love and miss their shouts of " Malai, Malai!!! ( foreigner)", and then running after our car waving frantically. I enjoyed the times when we stopped, interacted with some villages and played catch with the children :) The shouts of joy and smiles from them warmed my heart totally. I knew too, that it warmed their hearts. I knew that we have made their day just by that simple smile and wave. It definately did to mine :)
I learnt to enjoy the simple things in life and to be contented at wherever I am. I learnt that I have so little to give, yet so much to learn from the villages and all others. Though I have prepared myself for the fact that we could actually do very little for the people there and wrote down a list of objectives and focus for myself for this trip, there were moments when the reaity of how much we can do and thoughts of " Why am I here for" sank in deep. There were times when I had to force myself to realign back to the focus I had when I came for this trip and to do as much as I possibly can, given the limitations. Yet, I was very much inspired by Milo's sharing. He mentioned that he went for his first medical trip when he was an M4 years back. Then he did almost nothing. Yet, there were many " not so clear cut" things that he picked up and remembered from the trip and God made use of all these when he was called to serve in Timor. And... Missions is like this. Alot of preparation is done beforehand. Yet, only about 10% of all that you have planned would be implemented effectively. So, go with the flow. Learn to enjoy the moment :) If there are things to do, give thanks. If not, give thanks too, enjoy the time when you've got nothing to do. Basically, to be simple and be contented in whatever situation :)
God has blessed them to be simple people. I love being with simple people :) The villages are amazed and filled with joy by the simplest of things. I realised one of the things that I enjoyed most during this trip were the times when I waved at the villages as we drove past them and seeing their reactions that followed. Many stared a while and then waved back with a big smile. The most lovable ones were the children. I totally love and miss their shouts of " Malai, Malai!!! ( foreigner)", and then running after our car waving frantically. I enjoyed the times when we stopped, interacted with some villages and played catch with the children :) The shouts of joy and smiles from them warmed my heart totally. I knew too, that it warmed their hearts. I knew that we have made their day just by that simple smile and wave. It definately did to mine :)
I learnt to enjoy the simple things in life and to be contented at wherever I am. I learnt that I have so little to give, yet so much to learn from the villages and all others. Though I have prepared myself for the fact that we could actually do very little for the people there and wrote down a list of objectives and focus for myself for this trip, there were moments when the reaity of how much we can do and thoughts of " Why am I here for" sank in deep. There were times when I had to force myself to realign back to the focus I had when I came for this trip and to do as much as I possibly can, given the limitations. Yet, I was very much inspired by Milo's sharing. He mentioned that he went for his first medical trip when he was an M4 years back. Then he did almost nothing. Yet, there were many " not so clear cut" things that he picked up and remembered from the trip and God made use of all these when he was called to serve in Timor. And... Missions is like this. Alot of preparation is done beforehand. Yet, only about 10% of all that you have planned would be implemented effectively. So, go with the flow. Learn to enjoy the moment :) If there are things to do, give thanks. If not, give thanks too, enjoy the time when you've got nothing to do. Basically, to be simple and be contented in whatever situation :)
Rojak-everything and anything
I tried my hands upon almost anything and everything there. Learnt how to drive through big big potholes filled with mud, rocky terrains, mountains, winding bends with goodness lots of blind spots and vehicles speeding through all these and refusing to budge( thx to Lenny's patient guidance :), avoiding people and animals that stray right into the road right in front of our jeep,
helped set up the mobile clinics, helped out with registration, organised the people, crowd controller,baby carrier, children entertainer, saw patients, helped out in the pharmacy, fed the children with medications, applied ear drops, treatment room, gave healthtalks, prayer warrior, cameraman, part of taskforce to do a mini community assessment.... Ate their local food, interacted with the villages, heard from Ps Cath and the village midwife about their culture and practices, learnt their language, made a fool of myself trying to communicate with all sorts of actions and hee, pronouncing Tatum and Makasae all wrongly! These experiences sure opened up all my senses to see, hear, feel, taste and touch Viqueque- the district whom we are serving. God showed me through the seemingly superficial peacefulness of the place into the wounds from their violent past and deeper needs of the people.
I tried my hands upon almost anything and everything there. Learnt how to drive through big big potholes filled with mud, rocky terrains, mountains, winding bends with goodness lots of blind spots and vehicles speeding through all these and refusing to budge( thx to Lenny's patient guidance :), avoiding people and animals that stray right into the road right in front of our jeep,
helped set up the mobile clinics, helped out with registration, organised the people, crowd controller,baby carrier, children entertainer, saw patients, helped out in the pharmacy, fed the children with medications, applied ear drops, treatment room, gave healthtalks, prayer warrior, cameraman, part of taskforce to do a mini community assessment.... Ate their local food, interacted with the villages, heard from Ps Cath and the village midwife about their culture and practices, learnt their language, made a fool of myself trying to communicate with all sorts of actions and hee, pronouncing Tatum and Makasae all wrongly! These experiences sure opened up all my senses to see, hear, feel, taste and touch Viqueque- the district whom we are serving. God showed me through the seemingly superficial peacefulness of the place into the wounds from their violent past and deeper needs of the people.
Real needs
Although the focus of this trip was mainly medical, I knew that their true need was very much something else. There is really very limited things that we can do. Except for the few who can be really treated, most others were just symptomatic treatment. Many of the conditions ( especially those that we saw in Lugasa) required surgery or needed more intensive investigations and treatment- things that we could not provide, given our limited resources. Mental preparation beforehand with all these helped, but reality was just... reality. Everytime when I see these cases, my heart just sinks. That look of disappointment and resignation on their faces just broke my heart. So many of these cases are very much treatable back in Singapore. I was uncomfortable at how we had to send them away with just multi-vitamins. Yet, for every of these cases, I stopped to pray for them before they left. I prayed for God's miracle to work in their lives and for them to find their peace and hope in Jesus.
Although the focus of this trip was mainly medical, I knew that their true need was very much something else. There is really very limited things that we can do. Except for the few who can be really treated, most others were just symptomatic treatment. Many of the conditions ( especially those that we saw in Lugasa) required surgery or needed more intensive investigations and treatment- things that we could not provide, given our limited resources. Mental preparation beforehand with all these helped, but reality was just... reality. Everytime when I see these cases, my heart just sinks. That look of disappointment and resignation on their faces just broke my heart. So many of these cases are very much treatable back in Singapore. I was uncomfortable at how we had to send them away with just multi-vitamins. Yet, for every of these cases, I stopped to pray for them before they left. I prayed for God's miracle to work in their lives and for them to find their peace and hope in Jesus.
What is missions?I brought into this medical mission trip with a burning question for the Lord to answer.
"What is missions?"
God used many experiences during this trip to answer me. It wasn't an immediate answer. In fact, the answer was formed slowly through the days of the trip. Every day, God refined His answer clearer. At the last village and moblie clinic session, I got a clearer picture to the answer for my question. It came when I was praying for some of my patients as usual. It was then that I realised what their true need was. And I realised that missions to me is to use healthcare to bring HOPE. It doesn't matter whether their conditions can be cured humanly or not. Why do these villages come to see us? Isn't it to look of some sort of hope? And for conditions that we could not treat, that hope in which we pointed them to- the true source of hope when we prayed for them... Isn't it all the same? A very humbling thought... But that medicine is only just a tool to bring and point people back to the true source of hope and joy. That I am so very blessed. To be given such good education in Singapore, to be trained as a nurse, just so that I can be there to minister and bring hope to the people.
Reflecting back, sure I enjoyed seeing patients. Yet, I totally enjoyed doing all the other things too. I especially love the journey there when I could just wave and smile at the villages when we drove past, the laughter and squeals of joy from the village children as well as the orphanage children when we sang, danced, told stories, prayed for them and basically, just interacting with them. I realised... I enjoyed giving hope, joy and laughter to the people. And yes, medicine is only just one of the tools for that. To become very simple, touch ground and to connect with people is the key. Which means using all sorts of methods ( heh, including making a fool of myself) to bring out that smile and connection. Yes, missions is all about God and people. 
Missionary life
Learnt so much from Ps Cath and a few other missionaries' sharing about what a missionary life really calls for. All those close shaves, interesting experiences, God's amazing grace and providence, tears, struggles and lessons learnt etc etc. And the preparation that I need to have to prepare myself for it. Wow. Realise that I have so much more to learn and much more that God needs to prepare me before He sends me out. Sure, there is always a sense of inadequacy. Yet, the thirst to know and learn more so that I can truly serve out 'missions' grows even more as God refines my calling. And yes, I definately need lots of training in general medicine, peds, O&G, EMED, crisis relief, public health, rural medicine, simple surgery etc etc.. Yet, so many other things to learn too. Such as how to engage the children, tell stories that have important moral values, action songs, doing magic tricks, cooking, changing a car tyre, fixing things, disciplining children, building rapport and connections with many others, learning to be resourceful, creative to solve many seemingly challanging issues etc etc... Basically, ways to connect with people, learning to be wise, learning to let go, being firm and serious at times, yet providing unconditional love to those whom I serve.
Learnt so much from Ps Cath and a few other missionaries' sharing about what a missionary life really calls for. All those close shaves, interesting experiences, God's amazing grace and providence, tears, struggles and lessons learnt etc etc. And the preparation that I need to have to prepare myself for it. Wow. Realise that I have so much more to learn and much more that God needs to prepare me before He sends me out. Sure, there is always a sense of inadequacy. Yet, the thirst to know and learn more so that I can truly serve out 'missions' grows even more as God refines my calling. And yes, I definately need lots of training in general medicine, peds, O&G, EMED, crisis relief, public health, rural medicine, simple surgery etc etc.. Yet, so many other things to learn too. Such as how to engage the children, tell stories that have important moral values, action songs, doing magic tricks, cooking, changing a car tyre, fixing things, disciplining children, building rapport and connections with many others, learning to be resourceful, creative to solve many seemingly challanging issues etc etc... Basically, ways to connect with people, learning to be wise, learning to let go, being firm and serious at times, yet providing unconditional love to those whom I serve.
BeautifulSo yes, it was a beautiful trip. A dream come true to finally step foot onto a land which I have been praying for the past years. Beautiful that God answered my prayer to bring me into this land, beautiful that Timor is beautiful, beautiful that I could see so many beautiful smiles along those whom I served and learnt from, beautiful to see God's wonderful miracle upon Beatry who couldn't walk at all initally but progressed everytime when someone prayed for her (she was supported by people when she came to see us, but walked by herself from her home to the group of children to whom I was giving a healthtalk), beautiful that I managed to share about how beautiful God made them all with the orphanage girls, beautiful that God made me more beautiful internally as He released me to serve ever more humbly among his people, beautiful that He refined my calling and focus in life, beautiful that He taught me so much and beautiful knowing that though a short trip, the love, hope and joy that they recieved will be remembered forever.
Timor means rising sun in Tetum. I see it in their eyes. I see it in their dreams. I see them rising. Yes, there's much hope in Timor. God has a wonderful plan for her. So rise up Timor! Rise up like the morning sun. Look to Jay-sus ( Jesus in Tetum) and find your hope in Him. There is hope.I believe in you. Because I believe in a God who looks with hope upon this land! Remember, Jaysus sei kura ita ( Jesus will heal you)!(This picture is remarkable. It is prophetic picture taken early in the morning on a mountain with a climb up that narrates the calvary route Jesus walked. At the top of this small mountain stands a statue of Jesus standing on a world globe. How prophetic of what God will do for young Timor as she turns to her true source of hope!)
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