“In my weakness I found His strength”
A Chat with Pat
I: Hi Pat Shum! As one of the team members who went on a mission trip to HB Province, China, recently, would you like to give God the glory by telling us about it?
P: Well, it was a short mission trip. We left KL on Monday 23rd October and returned on Thursday 2nd November.
I: Was it a fruitful trip?
P: I’m sure it was a fruitful trip because in His great commission in Matthew 28:19-20, our Lord Jesus Christ promised us: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations …..teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And in John 15:5, Jesus also declared that, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
I: What did you do there?
P: I got to do something I didn’t expect. I had the opportunity to visit two house churches and share the word with them. Originally, all the women of the team (i.e. Pat Toh, Kim of CBC Subang-Sunway and I were to be joined by May as our interpreter, to minister to students of a Bible School; while the men of the team (Senior Pastor Richard Toh, Edward Wee from Brisbane and Philip Goh from CBC Puchong) to minister to the leaders there. But guided by the wise discretion of local leaders who were more knowledgeable of the current sensitive situation there, the ladies were split into two groups with Lina, formerly from the Nilai student fellowship joining us. Lina and I were sent to house churches to minister to them as part of their monthly celebration gatherings. We followed two local full time workers on their preaching cum teaching at these house church celebration gatherings. (Both workers were young ladies – one aged 28 while the other only aged 22, but like me, they were novice preachers and teachers!)
I: How did you feel about it?
P: Initially, it was with mixed feelings. On the one hand I was delighted that I had an opportunity to minister at house churches. I’ve heard about such churches and read about them. Given the opportunity to worship together with them was a new experience. On the other hand, there was no interpreter. So I had to communicate in my limited Mandarin vocabulary. But I must say that as He promised, My Lord was with us all the way. It was as wonderful as in the words of an old hymn:
“All the way my Saviour leads me, What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercies, Who thru’ life has been my Guide.
Heavenly peace, divine rest, comfort, Where by faith in Him to dwell.
For I know what ere befalls me Jesus doeth all things well. (x 2)”
I: In what way were you blessed through this mission trip?
P: It impressed me that my heavenly Father’s family is very big. At every town we stopped, we enjoyed the kindness and hospitality of our kinsmen in Christ.
I stand gently corrected and taught by my Lord. In packing for the trip, I was like a ‘kiasu’ who anticipates every possible need. From my past experience of mission trips to Guangzhou, beds were without mattresses and had only hard wooden beds with bamboo mats. So I packed a baby comforter as a soft support for my back. But I had to leave that together with other things in my bigger bag back in XF. (We had to limit our belongings to only one small bag to avoid unnecessary attention of vigilant local authorities who do not welcome foreign missionaries.) Through this, the Lord showed me how lacking was my trust in Him for all my needs. At the first church house we visited, the hostess installed a water heater in the bathroom, for our convenience; and the bed she let us sleep on had a four-inch thick mattress!
Praise the Lord! The congregations in both house churches responded to my questions – a confirmation that they understood what I said! In the second house church we visited, there was an instance when I was lost for words due to my limited vocabulary. But Hallelujah! A sister in the congregation came out with the word to complete my sentence!
I: Before we end this short interview, is there any word of encouragement you’d like to share?
P: I’d like to quote the words said by Apostle Paul in Acts 20:35: “I have shown you in every way, by labouring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Praise the Lord! In trying to share what little I knew and in what limited vocabulary I had, I have had the opportunity to see God’s grace shining through. In my weakness I found His strength, and despite my shortcomings I experienced being refined in gentle loving kindness.
Attracted to a clown’s hat during an afternoon walk in Central China,
Pat could not resist trying it!
By Pat Shum,
Member of Covenantors 6 SG