Based on population, Indonesia is the fourth largest nation and the first largest Moslem country in the world. Last May 21 to June 1, 2012, eight of us from Victory Church Caloocan participated in Ten Days Mission trip to Medan, Indonesia. This was the first time that Victory Caloocan of Every Nation (The congregtion I’m attending to in the Philippines) had its own team to go off for a short term mission. To name the members of the team Medan, we had our leader Meanne Mrassigan, Victory Church staff; Daniel Herrera Sr., businessman; Cecillia Adame, private company staff; Maricar Escobar, public school teacher; Gabrielle Acosta, interior designer; Joice Villamor interior designer; Evelyn Ko, graphic designer, and Donna Marie San Juan, accounting excecutive . A team of different ages and of different professions but had been united to reach out other nation.
Victory Caloocan-Medan Team with Our Ground Missionaries
Our Every Nation church planting in Indonesia started last 2011. Our ground missionaries have been accepting and hosting short term missionaries to reinforce our work in that country. There were almost twenty campuses in Medan, but we focused on the University of North Sumtra. It’s indeed a huge campus like University of the Philippines. On our second day to Medan, we took a tour on some part of the campus and we found out that the students were amazingly very hospitable and friendly. Students there were very easy to engage with, they love chatting about anything under the sun, and they love singing, foods, and games like Jenga, Pinoy Henyo and Pictionary Man. In most of our time with the students, we would talk about facts about our cultures, language, etc. and they would share about their personal lives as well. Along with that, we got opportunities to minister to them using the principles in the Bible but without quoting the verses directly. Though it’s an open country we still could not bring out our Bibles inside the campus or carry it in public places. We wanted to protect our ground or long-term missionaries there and would not want to cause them danger due to any wrong move that we could do. But despite the limitations around us, I’m truly glad that in those ministering experiences I became a witness of students who were gaining hope, students who were starting to realize that joy is reachable, and students who started to appreciate their lives like they had never done before.
Bridge Event Picture Taking
During our stay In Medan we also conducted a bridge event for those students that we got to know inside the campus. We had a seminar about INTEGRITY and EXCELLECE which was held at 061 Bistro, Bar Restaurant. We rented angcots (jeepney-like public vehicle) to give free rides for commuter students. I am proud to share that he speakers of the seminar were from our own team. We made it sure to provide them a comfortable venue and delectable refreshments. We got great feedbacks from the attendees and so it was indeed a success and a fun event!
Worship Service at Aviation Academy Medan Indonesia
Another unforgettable activity that we had was our visit at Aviation Academy. We attended their worship night service and all students there were Christians. They had us as their guests and one from our team preached to them with Indonesian interpreter to make sure that even those who were not so good in English would understand the message. Also, we had our chance to share our life testimonies and to pray for them as well. Truly, it was a glorious night for our team to witness this group of students worshipping God with their whole heart, mind and soul. They were men and women of stature, quite intimidating but when you see them singing, dancing, jumping and clapping as they worship, each of them was like a representation of a child-like character with doubtlessly pure heart worshipping before God! And it was amazing!
Furthermore, as part of our itinerary, I was privileged to lead a life group attended by established student leaders from USU, Aviation Academy and our long-term missionaries themselves. Here in Manila, Life Group is actually one of the program we are promoting to serve as an avenue in preparing students for LIFE—leadership, Integrity, faith and excellence. And so when we were at Medan, I was able to share a message on how we should response in times like when God doesn’t make sense in allowing things to happen in our lives. Indeed it was a great experience to speak to those future leaders. In our last day with our Indonesian friends we threw a farewell party at a videoke bar, because majority of them were really into singing. We had fun as we had our contest and chitchatting times but it was a hard time for us to see some of them crying when we were already saying our goodbyes.
Our participation on the Ten Days Mission was indeed life changing and though our time with the students was just temporary, I believe that the relationship we had built with them was lasting friendship. Though we had a lot of limitations, God is so great that He poured out on us His provision, protection and grace every step of the way. And I will never get tired to boast about the greatness of God that manifested through this mission trip. The prayers and supports of the people around us were of great significance to make all those happenings stated above highly possible. Pray that God will also use you to reach other nations by sending, going or praying. 🙂
By the Script 