The purposes of my taking this trip, so far as I know them, are as follows:
1. to practically support the SIL Group in Malaysia this summer,
2. to show my, and your, my supporters’, commitment to their efforts to spread the gospel,
3. To broaden my cultural perspective and gain insight into the many ways people worship and experience God through spending time with Malaysian followers of the Way,- and hopefully to share this insight with you to help us all enrich our understanding of God-
4. to see if Bible Translation, and or Language Development is something I could commit a significant, and profession portion of my life to,
5. To follow in and practice obedience to Christ as I through prayer, thought and conversation with many of you have determined he desires for me to go to Malaysia this summer.
There is a nice Marine Park near to KK consisting of 5 Islands. The following is the Tourism Office's description. "The marine park is a cluster of islands comprising Pulau Gaya, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan, Pulau Mamutik and Pulau Sulug, all only 10 - 20 minute speedboat ride from the city of Kota Kinabalu. The five islands of the Marine Park are characterized by shallow waters, sumptuous coral gardens and all boast splendid white sandy beaches. The reefs lie in shallow waters with little current making it an ideal location for novice divers, however, the diverse and sometimes rare marine creatures also make it an interesting dive location for experienced divers and underwater photographers." Accessed 30 July 2009 at <http://www.sabahtourism.com/sabah-malaysian-borneo/en/destination/83/>
It's a quite enjoyable place to spend a day and take in the sun, go snorkeling, swimming and just relax. As I noticed it seems a lot of people come half way around the world to read a book. This place probably fits a lot of people's ideas of an Island paradise and the islands are fairly well preserved and the beaches consist of naturally eroded, coral sand, the kind they import to other places.
On Sapi the Monitor lizards and Wild Bearded Pigs seem to thrive they are quite tame and feed off of the scraps people leave around. I observed one pig climbing onto a trash can and removing the lid to access its preferred food source. In the past monkeys used to reside there, but they became a nuisance to tourists and were removed from the island. They liked to take bags and food, and were definitely anything but shy.
Surrounding the Islands are several Coral reefs teeming with aquatic life. I got the chance to snorkel and later SCUBA dive among these reefs and saw amazing beauty and life in the fish, corals and invertebrates. I found Nemo and a lot of friends. I'm really thankful for the chance to enjoy these islands and see a great portion of what hides in their vicinity.
I spent the last three days working on turfing and constructing a play area for a “learning center” in a small village built around a noodle factory. I worked with students from D.A.R.E. a program from the University of Dundee, Scotland. They are also here in Sabah for the summer doing a variety of service projects. We had a lot of fun and, as you may see in the pictures, constructed a nice small play set for the students to enjoy.
The children served by this learning center mostly have parents who work at the Noodle factory for extended shifts. Many of the children don’t have appropriate paperwork to enroll in the Public Schools and this learning center serves to help provide preschool education and continue to educate older children so they can enter school when they receive the appropriate papers.
A local church provides and oversees most of the schools needs, so they coordinated our time working here and connected us to contractors and suppliers to assist in the work. This outreach encouraged me greatly to see the Body working to build up the community around it.
I enjoyed interacting with the children, one day we helped provide some activities for the school time. We sang some songs, learned some songs, although some of the Malay ones sounded quite similar to children's tunes I remember. We played a version of "Duck, Duck, Goose." In this version the person walking around caries a stuffed animal/ball and quietly sets it behind another person. That person now needs to notice and pick up the item and then throw it at the person who set it down. No Tagging.
The heat while working was almost as bad as Batang Ai at the beginning of my trip, but being more adjusted to everything helped, and on the last day it rained, cooling everything down. Working with other people has a way of making everything a bit more bearable, and we even recruited some child labor- don't worry, it wasn't for self-profit, they sort of volunteered, and they're benefitting from it too.
I hope the Kibabaig community enjoys their new play area and also that the new play area enriches their learning. I will wonder what becomes of it, but be entirely unable to check up on it's status.
One of my friends here has tested positive for H1N1, and now I’m under house quarantine until Tomorrow. This interrupted my plans to travel today, but I should be able to present the official letter, to MAS- Malaysian Airlines- and travel on Friday.
This simply reminds me of the power of sickness and the fear accompanying it. Sickness can put the world in fear and stop our daily routine so simply, even a disease with a low fatality rate. There is wisdom in preventing its spread, it’s just a reminder of our limitedness. All is in God’s hands let us trust and worry not.
I personally feel quite well, and it’s been 5 days since my exposure, so I should be okay. The time of quarantine does give me an unexpected break, so I hope to use that well.
Today we went to Bako National Park. The park lies on a peninsula that extends north-east of Kuching into the South China Sea. I found it very beautiful and really enjoyed hiking a swimming, and going on a boat out of the river mouth along the peninsula to reach the park headquarters.
Mangroves grow very wall in the coastal estuary and there are quite a variety of animals and plants in the area. In face we even saw a few Proboscis monkeys climbing among the trees. Along the hike there at many points it seemed pitcher plant vines overtook almost all the other vegetation.
We arrived to the peninsula through a boat dock and hiked a 5.6 km circuit to a secluded beach. Most of the hike follows a path several hundred meters above the sea, which provides excellent views along the coast, and also meaning the beach lied in between high rocky rises providing protection from wind and too strong of surf.
The beach was about 100 meters long and the slope into the ocean was moderate allowing plenty of variety of water depth to swim and walk in. A stream fed into the ocean right through the beach, probably why this little section was so much lower than the surrounding rock formations. It wound up through the sand and into the jungle. Near to the ocean sand gobies jumped around at anyone’s step into the stream. I really enjoyed seeing the small little fish move about by flicking their bodies. For fish they can make surprisingly agile and quick movements across the sand bars.
After returning to the park HQ we found the tide had receded such that the shore line was now about 50 meters from the boat dock where we had arrived. In order to get to our boat we had to wade out through the surf and climb into it from the water. I guess they had warned us that we would get our feet wet.
I really enjoyed the park hiking through the jungle, swimming in the cool water at the really beautiful beach and boat rides are just really fun.
Today we are checking in Matthew 21, and looking at the passage where Jesus’ authority is questioned.
“ And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’” Matthew 21:23 ESV
There seems to be a need for the authority to do something, whether that authority comes from a person, a “natural right”, a position or God.
The question of authority and power comes again in verse 25 the issue of the origin of the baptism of John, or that is the authority of John’s baptism. Within the checking the question arose as to whether the words used talked of power in the sense of physical ability to baptize or spiritual authority and power by which baptism possesses meaning.
I observe in this discussion a contrast which easily applies to my life. Do I act out of my own ability only, or do I act with authority behind me to give value to what I do. My abilities are weak, and though I may be able to accomplish something in a certain worldly sense. Only what God empowers will last, grow and bear fruit. My own “power” cannot create such a success, rather I must rely on the authority behind me to make anything I do last.
So I pray that I may follow the right paths and act in a manner which I know God authorizes and will support. I pray that all God’s people may also consider the nature of their actions and seek to act similarly.
I'm just a student with a lot of ideas, but not sure which are the best, especially about how to express them. I'm just a skeptic. I'm afraid to become something, cause that would mean I'm not something else. I'm just a joker, enjoying life, but sometimes missing the point. I'm just a man, but I'm trying real hard to be the one I'm supposed to be. So here we go, we'll see where the road takes me, and if I remember where I'm from at the end.
