Revival in Dandun! - The Arrival (Part 3)

Crown Borneo Hotel, Tanjung Aru, KK

The alarm went off again at 6am! But this time it was from my HTC phone ;) We made ourselves ready and gathered at the Crown Borneo Hotel lobby around 7am. We put all our bags and boxes on one corner while waiting for our transportation. Just a few minutes later, the off-road cars had arrived and we put all our things in and ready to go after a short prayer outside the hotel. The boys (a.k.a Young Men) hopped into Uncle Jason's Triton! We stopped by at the Kota Marudu town area for a yummy lunch and we went to Skycommunity Students' Hostel, Kota Marudu to pick up the Alpha Belia team.

KK- Pitas Road(Google Map) by Desonny

The scenery was spectacular especially along the way from  Kota Belud to Kota Marudu .I enjoyed it very much. I traveled a lot from Sandakan to Beluran and all i could see is just the palm oil plantation-left and right side of the road! But the scenery along the road to Pitas was breathtaking. A long range of hills dominates the landscape-Haalleluyaah~! The trees grew up thin and straight, like pillars. They put out branches after reaching a certain height and they spread out like an umbrella - canopy. I've used the road before but i didn't really pay attention to the surrounding as i was the driver at that time. How i wish to have a sight like that all the way to Beluran! (and a driver so that i can enjoy the scenery ;p )

Something like this!

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The Arrival

Finally, we arrived at our destination around noon. It took us nearly 5 hours drive to reach Kg. Dandun, Pitas from Kota Kinabalu city. Ah, finally i can stretched out my sore body and legs! The rain has stopped before we came. I stepped out of the car and looked at the surroundings. I saw some few adult villagers were busy cooking. The children were running and playing around.

Cheryl's kids!

A few of the elders in that community were there at that time to greet and welcome us. We could hardly see any youths roaming around at that time. The first thing i noticed when we reached there was the church buildings! Yes, there were two churches standing opposite to each other on the ground. The new church is obviously the cream in color wooden church, and the old church is on the right side of this picture.

The Protestant Church of Sabah (PCS)

 

These two churches depicts the positive spiritual development or needs of the people here years ago. The new church signifies the growth in faith as well as the population of the Christian community increases in Kg. Dandun followed by a group of strong and committed local church leaders. However, as i looked at the surroundings while unpacking our stuff,  i could sense that there was something not right about this place. That 'something' was unexplainable. Then, the words which has been revealed to St. Francis of Assisi by God, came to me at that moment! "Rebuild my church which has fallen into ruin! "  Maybe God wants us to do more here... Maybe God wants us to lift up their spiritual awareness... Maybe God wants us to revive this land...Maybe God wants us to do some gardening and pruning... Maybe God..Maybe God....  There were too many 'maybes' running through my head. I shrugged it off my mind and continue to unpack our things!

(Continue here -> Part 4)

St. Francis of Assisi

Revival in Dandun! - The False Alarm (Part 2)

It was around 3am when the hotel's alarm system went berserk, lights off, air-condition off, emergency light on! I glanced at James. He was still sleeping soundly. I hear no yelling or sounds of footsteps running outside.

 "Is this some kind of fire drill? If it is, then aren't we suppose to RUN and do some headcount outside the hotel compound? Or maybe it's a real one??"

I decided to check the hallway. I opened the door and peeked out. Desonny, Darrel, Cheryl ,Elaine - not there! They could have been burned alive already if the hotel is really on fire! There was not even a soul! I walked through the end of the hallway window and was looking outside for some clue of what had actually happened. I was still thinking if i should wake them up. Then, i saw a man slowly coming out from the building opposite the hotel. I think he was just as clueless as i was that time. No smoke, no fire, no people  yelling frantically for help..nothing! So i guess it was just a false alarm. Ah, wasted my few precious minutes. I went back to my room and not long after that the electricity power came back! I had another 3 hours of sleep before we had to go to Pitas! I was back on the dreamland again.

(Continue here -> Part 3)

Revival in Dandun! - The Dilemma (Part 1)

It was Friday (18th November 2011) and our last working day in school for this year! Five more days to go! Airasia Web check-in? Check! Hotel booking? Check! Printed maps? Boarding Pass? Pocket money? Check! Check! Check! I was ready to unwind myself for a week in Vientiane City of Laos! Yahoo!!

My mind was all set to go but not that particular Friday! I remembered an Alpha friend of mine posted on the Facebook wall, asking if anyone can help out for the Alpha Belia training in Kg. Dandun, Pitas, in which the training falls on the same date of my trip to Laos! I was suddenly in dilemma whether to go to Laos or Dandun. Laos? Dandun? Laos? Dandun? There was this unsettled and restless feeling in my heart. A little voice kept on prompting me to go for Dandun. I felt like i can't afford to miss this opportunity to witness God's healing in Pitas! To think of it makes me feel excited already until i forgot my trip to Laos. So that night i decided to forgo Laos and embrace Dandun in my dream. 

 (Continue here -> Part 2)

Youth Alpha Weekend Away at Paganakan Dii, Sandakan

One of the highlights of the Youth Alpha Course is the Weekend Away! On the 6th-7th November 2011, we had our Weekend Away at Paganakan Dii, Mile 14, Sandakan. This is the time that we learn and experience the Holy Spirit promised by God to be poured down unto us!




We started off the day with the 1st session " Who is the Holy Spirit? ", followed by "What does the Holy Spirit do?" and before we went for the Ministry time, we had the session on "How can i be filled with the Holy Spirit? "At the end of the day, it was amazing to hear touching testimonies from the participants and how the Holy Spirit really works in them! Praise the Lord!

Picture courtesy of Jotham & Carol

We were blessed to have our gifted member, Mr. Jotham Mansah, to shoot an awesome vid for us! God bless you Jotham! Check the Weekend Away video out at the link below!

Below is the previous Weekend Away we had in our first cycle of Youth Alpha 

at Ulu Dusun Catholic Retreat Centre! 

The Words I Would Say -Sidewalk Prophets (Cover)

Hey there! Here's a song recorded by me and my friend dedicated to all of you out there! A friend of ours asked us to do a cover for this song and we found out that the lyrics are meaningful! Enjoy listening and sorry for the low quality sound yah! ;)

End of Season 1 - Youth Alpha (St.Mary's Cathedral,Sandakan)

Yippee! End of 1^st cycle of Youth Alpha course! The 2^nd cycle is coming soon and can’t wait for it! God is sooo good that He has been with us and guiding us throughout the whole session without fail. Although there were some hiccups here and there, we managed to overcome it as a team and of course with the help of the Holy Ghost!

Giving a live talk in Christian context was a new thing for me. Being a speaker, sometimes i find it very challenging because i need to ‘walk the talk’. At first, when i was asked to be one of the speakers, I felt reluctant as i have no credibility and unworthy to preach about God. But God proved me wrong. He is just so amazing that he strengthens me daily through his Words of wisdom and gave me ‘Light’ when i need it!Throughout the Youth Alpha journey, i realized that life is more than just a physical experience. No matter how much we own or control the world, there must be certain times that we feel something is not right and we keep on looking and pondering what is THAT exactly we search and yearn for! I’m glad that I found the answers through the Alpha Youth course! I praise God for that! It has been a life changing experience since then. Did i graduate with 1^st class honour from this course? I don’t know. But what I’m really sure of, is that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

Amen, Lord!

Picture courtesy of Jotham Mansah Koyopo

6th International Youth Conference (POWER 2011)

On 26-30th July 2011, i attended the Youth Conference as stated above in Kerala, India. It was an awesome experience to be among the 3000 participants all over India and other parts of the world. The theme of POWER 2011 "More Than Conquerors" - Romans 8:37 asked us to be BOLD in our faith and BOAST about Jesus! But before that, we need to do some 'housekeeping' first and check ourselves : Are we walking in the Light of God? :)

I would love to share my testimony with all of you! Cekidaut!!

Peace and all good!

To begin with, I would like to thank Mr. Joseph Roosevelt Pereira, Mr Henry Solibun and my anonymous sponsor for giving me the opportunity to experience and discover God’s real presence and love in India. May God bless your good deeds!

It started off when I received a call from Mr. Henry Solibun, asking me if I can take 5 days working leaves to attend the 6th Youth International Conference at the Divine Mercy Retreat Centre in Kerala, India. Imagining myself asking my strict and assertive Madam Principal, I thought it was impossible. Being a novice teacher, i was advice that it is not recommended for us (newbie) to demand or do something that might affect our confirmation status. I still remember my Principal once said that NOBODY can get 5 straight days leaves except for those (teachers) who are getting married or someone close to you passed away. “With God all things are possible." - [Matthew 19:26 ] I thought to myself , i should give it a try. I send her a text message asking permission to take the leaves and within few minutes, she replied, " Yes, with copy of the calling letter. " I was extremely surprised and excited at the same time! I believe in the saying that if God leads you to it, He will lead you through it." And yes, He just did :)

One of the highlight for me during the conference was when Fr. Michael gave each one of us the Communion Bread and asked us to put it on our palm and reflect upon it. At that time, the video of my life started playing on my head. It flashes back all the things I've done that could have hurt His feeling and that moment was the most remorseful moment i ever had in my life. All this while I've open my hand and stretch out my palm to receive and welcome Jesus in my 'house' every week but i seldom 'clean' and 'tidy up' my house. From that moment on, i can never see the Host the same way again. Thank you Lord!

God is so ever-loving that He showed compassion and love to me through the counseling session. I was fortunate to have Bro. Trevor as my counselor. He reminded me that our God is a forgiving God! All we need to do is just to walk in the Light of the world! And I was very fortunate to have met this beautiful lady named Ms. Susan, a Malaysian volunteer, in the retreat center. She brought us to several shelter homes under the care of Divine-Potta Ministry ,by the Vincentian Fathers ,which provide shelter to the poor, the abandoned woman, the orphaned children, the Aids patients and the mentally ill people. What really struck my heart was this little girl, a HIV positive, sang a song for us joyfully and purely innocent without really knowing what is going on with her right now. She is such a young little girl that supposedly to have a bright future ahead and yet she has shown me HOPE! God, bless these people and keep them close to you!

I never regret attending the POWER 2011 as it leaves a big impact on me! Throughout the 6 days, I made a lot of new friends from many parts of India and the world. I consider myself lucky to have the chance to experience eating the real local Indian food on the first night. I also met few amazing and outstanding lay and ordained preachers. But most importantly, i met God! His presence was so real that i felt peace and love overflowing within me until today! Thank you Jesus!


Pax Et Bonum,

Crispus Mosinoh

St. Mary’s Cathedral,

Sandakan Diocese

Youth Alpha Leaders Training (St.Mary's Cathedral, Sandakan)

6 years ago , my cousin residing in Australia showed me a picture of her, attending some kind of small gathering, through Facebook ( or was it Friendster? ) . There were people sitting on the tables with some finger food on the picture. She described how fun and cool it was to meet new friends, enjoying good food, learn about a great man named Jesus through short clips and had some open discussion on any issues we can think of, including the taboo one. At that time, i thought it was a great program and wish to have it here.

At the first day of Youth Alpha Training during the introduction, i was like “Oh, is this what Shasha has told me about six years ago? “. Suddenly the memory of her sharing me about her experience was so vivid and clear. FINALLY! It has arrived here in Sandakan!

I was attracted on the simple concept : Eat+watch+converse! The topics for the 10 weeks programme are very relevant to youths nowadays too. One of the questions from the short clip was “Is there more to life than this?" These 7 words really strike me hard. It really made me think and reflect on my life. It makes me realize that life must be more than the normal and usual routine everyday.

I thank God that i was given the privilege to participate in this Youth Alpha course. It’s by the grace of God that He has worked through Caroline Tai to bring Youth Alpha into our Diocese. Not forgetting the two amazing and beautiful facilitators, Chrisanne & Elaine, who has committed themselves into bringing Jesus to other people. I think it will be going to be an awesome programme for all the youths and i am looking forward to attend it! To sum up everything, Youth Alpha is a powerful evangelising tool in todays era!