Alpha goes into the heart of Borneo

n December 2014 when Alpha Belia was introduced to the Archdiocese of Kuching, a handful of youths from Kapit made their way to Kuching to join the much publicized event. Upon their return, they wasted no time in organizing their maiden run of Alpha.

Feb 06, 2015

KAPIT, Sarawak: In December 2014 when Alpha Belia was introduced to the Archdiocese of Kuching, a handful of youths from Kapit made their way to Kuching to join the much publicized event. Upon their return, they wasted no time in organizing their maiden run of Alpha.

Communication amongst the youths from Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kapit was relatively easy through LineApp. In a short time, the first run of Alpha in Kapit was organized and successfully conducted with collaboration from priests and young leaders.

Where is Kapit, many will ask? As described by Redmond O’Hanlon, it is ‘in the heart of Borneo’ or the gateway to Borneo. The rivers are the main mode of transportation as the town is not accessible by land and air. So it was by riverine vessels that our city folks from Kuching and Kuala Lumpur used to get to Kapit and the journey was nearly three hours upriver from the town of Sibu.

Fr David Ho, the current parish pastor of Mary Immaculate Conception Church played host to 131 people, comprising more than 110 young guests from at least four parishes from the Diocese of Sibu and 20 team members and facilitators from Kuala Lumpur and Kuching. He was inspired by his brother priest, Fr Vincent Chin of St Peter’s Church, Padungan, Kuching to take on the task of organizing the event though he knew the challenges leading up to it. He invited his brother priests from the neighbouring parishes in Song, Belaga and Kanowit to get their youths to come. By the time registration closed, more than 110 guests had signed up.

Aleescia, a youth from Kapit, was tasked by Fr David to see to the organizing at the base. Together with her team mate, Nuwin, the two became friends with the Kuching and KL teams. They rounded up a group of youths for training the day before the event to help facilitate the smaller groups.

Two of the team members from Kuala Lumpur, Terence Andrew and Lyn Loh confided that they had never met someone as hospitable as Fr David. He is known to all in Kapit town and obviously respected by everyone. He managed to get the parish council to take responsibility for the event and got the Ladies’ Guild and the Divine Mercy prayer team members to avail themselves throughout the whole event, working in the kitchen, preparing meals for the young guests.

While the guests were being fed well physically, spiritually their spirits soared throughout the days of the camp. In session after session, they soaked in the talks delivered by the speakers. The biggest impact of the small group sharing was the bonding between the guests and their facilitators. A big team, led by Fr George Harrison from the Church of the Holy Family, Kajang, also helped to facilitate. Fr George, when asked about his experience, echoed similar thoughts. It was an amazing experience, seeing the unity amongst the team members, the giftedness of the speakers and of the worship team from Kuching. He said, “They are simply amazing. Superb!” This priest had the whole group in stitches when he sang Hindi songs which got them into a dancing mood during the leisure time at night.

The team of musicians from Kuching also had stories to tell of their experience in Kapit. Apart from their delivery during Praise and Worship sessions, one of the team members, Prescilla, shared that she was prompted by the Spirit within to reach out to specific persons during ministry time in order to pray with them. When she listened to the Spirit within, the heaviness in her heart was replaced with an indescribable joy and she was prompted to doubt no more.

Terence further shared of his experience during ministry time, when the youths were praying over one another. Many experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. He said the music team from Kuching led by Sue J Fraude was inspiring. Terence himself, felt the presence of the Spirit, and he was visibly moved by what he saw. This young lad confided that when it was time to leave Kapit, he almost broke down. Such was the impact of the trip on him, though he has done numerous outreach, even to as far as Lagos in Nigeria.

Team leader, Aaron Bradley from Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Klang, had yet to share his story at the time of writing but it was told that this young man, together with Charles Eric and Terence, was a very engaging speaker whose sense of humour endeared him to many. Team mate, Lyn Loh wrote of her experience of falling deeper in love with Christ. Lyn was baptized last year, after she attended a Youth Alpha Camp with some university students in Petaling Jaya. She went on to help organize numerous outreach programmes and after this Kapit experience, we can expect her to follow Jesus more closely. Kevin Paul from Kajang was so taken up by his experience in Kapit that he asked to be exposed to more outreach. Meanwhile Eric Charles, a Sabahan working in the Peninsula felt called to reach out more to his fellow East Malaysians living in the peripheries and bringing them closer to Jesus.

We witness once again the impact of Alpha Belia on the young people. Let them have a powerful encounter with the Lord so that when they are asked to defend their faith, they will defend it in the name of Jesus! We further encourage those who are strong in their faith to help in strengthening others and to go into the interior of Borneo and lead others to have this encounter too.

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