MJCC on Mission: What if I say “Yes, Lord!”

Aug 18, 2017

By Eva Cabrini
Eleven students from Malacca–Johore Campus Catholics (MJCC) and ten Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionaries from the United States of America said “Yes, Lord” for the 5th joint Mission Trip together.

This time, the mission trip brought us to Belaga, Sarawak July 12-29. This group was led by Stefanus Able and Stephanie Shipley, under the supervision of Frs Andy Lee, John Chia and Sylvester Ngau. The local students came from six universities: UTM, UTHM, UTeM, UiTM Pasir Gudang, MMU Melaka and USM.

The 18-day mission trip taught us a lot. Small things, such as smiles and handshakes made us realise that God’s love for us is everywhere. The warm welcome from the local people, especially the villagers of Uma Lahanan where we stayed throughout the mission trip, made us feel loved beyond our expectation. For Karen from UTM, this experience of God’s love deep within, made her feel complete for the first time. Going to different longhouses almost everyday and seeing how our faith unites us all despite the different cultures we have, all in Jesus’s name, was amazing.

We visited a total of 10 villages on this Mission Trip. There were a lot of people, a lot of charity work done and a lot of sharing with the kids, youth and also adults, especially from the Asap-Tubau Parish. Among the things we did during the Mission Trip was to clean the parish priest’s house which is now under renovation. During the night, we had sharing sessions with the youth in different villages about Jesus and Catholicism. We also spent time listening to the villagers’ stories. We felt sad when we heard how, in one village, the headman no longer allowed the Catholics to use the church building. So, they moved out of that village and had to build a new church for themselves.

We also experienced God’s healing on this Mission Trip. One of our team members had a motorcycle accident and couldn’t walk. The next day, after Mass, Fr Andy offered to hear confessions during the Holy Hour. She went for confession, after which Fr Andy anointed her with oil. A miracle happened when she was healed immediately after that; not only could she walk, she could even jump and lift one of our members! Praise the Lord!

Throughout the Mission Trip, the four FOCUS full-timers and six students also taught us ministry skills and modelled ‘incarnational evangelisation.’ Eva Glenn Roberts from UiTM Pasir Gudang was grateful that it helped her faith grow deeper in God. “They inspired me so much in serving God’s people. I feel the spirit of the Lord is so present in the work with this team,” said Eva.

Fabron, from Miri, summarised the entire experience: “How great is our God! It’s so wonderful what He has in store for us if we just say ‘yes’ to Him. God has spoken to me and has personally asked me to deepen my faith in Him through this mission trip. It was not easy leaving the comforts of my cozy home for more than 2 weeks to go somewhere I’ve never been before. The experience and the knowledge gained is so valuable that I need to share it with others! From being able to see Christ in the hearts of the unified villagers to witnessing a healing miracle, it was just awesome and eye opening at the same time. It was an amazing two weeks of ‘faith reconstruction,’ I would say, and it has impacted my spiritual life greatly.”

God works in ways that we cannot understand and He will continue to work if we say ‘yes.’ --UTHM