G-STOMP 2009

For the past two years, 2007 & 2008, I've been to Sarawak visiting several Iban longhouses in a small area call Pantu.

It was through a short-term mission trip organized by FES simply known as S.T.O.M.P..
Come May 2009, it will be my third time visiting that place again.

What exactly is STOMP?
Read here for further background.

This time, however, it's going to be slightly... different.

For the past two STOMPs that I was in, it was organized by FES for students, targeting specifically undergrads from local universities.
STOMP is an acronym, which by their definition,
stood for Students Together On Mission Partnership.
It was a short-term (2 weeks) cross-cultural mission trip that aims to help students ignite a heart for mission and to journey with them on a road of spiritual, mental, physical and emotional discovery.

How is it different this time?

Well, the obvious one would be the fact that most of us are not students any longer.
Secondly, instead of merely being a participant like previous two years, I am now heavily involved in the other side of things - organizing and putting this mission trip into a reality.
That's probably the two significant difference in my third trip to the Land of The Hornbill.

Ever since my first taste of stepping into the Iban culture, language and ultimately, their lives in the longhouses during STOMP 07', I found myself very much connected and touched by this community.
In retrospect, I think I first had the idea of organizing my very own mission trip back there upon returning back from STOMP 07'.
Back then it was just an idea that lurked at the back of my head.
I never actually put it to serious thought.
Having been part of FES's second consecutive STOMP last year, it made things clearer that I really wanted to pen this idea down on paper and not just in my head.
What more, FES decided to skip STOMP this year to take up another event.
I took that as a 'sign' and an opportunity for me to step in.
And that's what I did.

I mustered some courage and tried to get things started.
I initiated by first getting myself a small group of fellow ex-STOMPERs to see if they were interested in the idea.
I sent out emails out, persuaded a few friends to take up the challenge, got some feedback from FES staff and then now, here I find myself, just 3 weeks away from my third trip! :)

The preparation bit of it has really opened a whole new perspective and insight to me.
I'm not really a planner to begin with and so, to start off something like that was really quite a big step for me.
Personally, I wanted to experience the pre-mission trip planning and organizing bit more than the actual field mission work actually.
Not that I'm not looking forward to the actual trip but I guess, I wanted to get a taste of a new flavour and to me, the organizing bit was something new.
So far, things are looking good.
A few hiccups here and there, as expected but really thank God that thus far, no major obstacles have hinder our way.

So, what's G-STOMP??

Since we are going to be visiting 2 same longhouses that previous STOMPs have visited before and since it was initiated by FES in the first place, we wanted the essence of FES's presence to remain in our team name and therefore we revised it to this:

Graduates-Serving Together On Mission Partnership (G-STOMP).

Instead of the previous STOMP acronym that place emphasis on students coming together, we now emphasize on fellow graduates coming from different background, different denomination, different job scope and from different STOMP to serve on a mission partnership.

G-STOMP is a one week follow-up mission trip from the 9th-16th May 2009.
We will be visiting two longhouses - Rumah Panjai Semawa and Rumah Panjai Enchiap - along the river of Pantu, Sarawak.
Come partner with us in prayer! Prayer items as below:

1. Safe journey by land, air and water.
   
2. Health and protection (physically & spiritually).
3. Communication - Enable us to communicate with the people there our limited knowledge of Iban and also for the people there to be able to communicate with us.
   
4. The community - The openess of heart, the willingness to listen and the sensitivity towards the spirit as we share our lives and Christ with them.
5. For us as a team - To be able to work together as a team, to help and to encourage one another in every way possible.
6. As individual participants - That God would speak to every single one of us in His unique way and that we will be open to take in new experiences, memories and knowledge of who He is in this trip.

It's exactly two weeks from now when we actually go on board and fly over to Kuching, Sarawak.
Aku udah asai takut mimit. Enda nemu nama tuk ti dekak nyadi! Tang nama nama pun, kitai anang nyerah dan tusah ati laban Apai bisik begulai kitai! :)

I leave you all with STOMP 2007 theme song.
It's called "Bapa yang Kekal". Here's the Iban version with translation:

Bapa Yang Kekal (Apai ti meruan)
Kasih ti mulia udah (Kasih yang sempurna telah)
Ku nerima ari nuan (Ku terima dari mu)
Ukai tegal pemanah aku (Bukan kerna kebaikan ku)

Laban semina kasih nuan Tuhan (Hanya oleh kasih karunia mu)
Ti ngerai ka aku (Kau pulihkan aku)
Nyadi ka ku ulih ngagau nuan Apai (Layakkan ku tuk dapat memanggilmu bapa)

Chorus:
Nuan meri ti dipinta ku (Kau beri yang ku pinta)
Maia ku ngiga lalu ku ulih (Saat ku mencari ku mendapatkan)
Ku ngetuk pintu nuan lalu nuan muka ia (Ku ketuk pintumu lalu kau buka ia)
Laban nuan apai (Sebab kau bapa ku)
Apai ti meruan (Bapa yang kekal)

Nadai nuan ninggal (Takkan kau biarkan)
Ka aku bejalai kediri aja (Aku melangkah hanya sendirian)
Nuan semampai bisi ka aku (Kau selalu ada bagi ku)
Laban nuan apai (Sebab kau bapaku)
Apai ti meruan (Bapa yang kekal)

P.S.: Will update about G-STOMP again before I leave for Sarawak! Thanks for keeping us in prayer!!

“Maka kata-Nya kepada murid-murid-Nya:
"Tuaian memang banyak, tetapi pekerja sedikit.
Karena itu mintalah kepada tuan yang empunya tuaian,
supaya Ia mengirimkan pekerja-pekerja untuk tuaian itu."

Matius 9:37-38