Good Times

I took advantage of every opportunity to mingle with the locals, to learn their language and culture and history. I mostly talked with the pastors, all of whom speak English. There were over twenty pastors there from all over Sarawak. I peppered them with questions and tapped in to their knowledge of Sarawak and their insights about God.

This year I brought, along with six other books (missionary stories and compiled Guide Magazine stories) a copy of Nyla and the White Crocodile, an old story of how God used the daughter of a chief, a mysterious white crocodile, a man-eating python, and a young Christian teacher to convert a whole longhouse. They don’t have the book in Sarawak, and though the story happened many years ago it is well known. We were only an hour away from the place where the story occurred (it happened on the Tatau river). A mission school called Bukit-Nyala (which means “hill of the shining light”) had been built near Nyla’s longhouse. The books were gifts for my friend, Pastor Sim. Several of the pastors wanted to read Nyla and the White Crocodile and it was passed around throughout the week. I talked for over an hour with a man named Morris, who attended and taught at the Bukit-Nyala school. Today the school is abandoned, I never did find out the reason why, although I do know there is a newer Adventist school in Kuching, the capitol city of Sarawak. It’s called Sunny Hill School. (Sunny Hill, Hill of the Shining Light…don’t know if there’s a connection but I plan to ask one of the pastors in an email someday soon). I also had the privilege of meeting Nyla’s nephew. I worked with him on the church but didn’t know who he was until the end of the week.

For those of you who’ve never read Nyla and the White Crocodile, I highly recommend it. I read it many times as a child but it still inspires me. I can’t describe how profound it was to be there, so near to where God worked such miracles. I had always known that the stories were true, but I didn’t know how true they really were. Morris asked me to send more copies of the book and I definitely intend to.

And even more: Pastor Sim told me there are many other stories like that one that no one has ever written down. God’s planted a dream in my heart: I want to write those stories. I can’t think of anything I would enjoy more than writing about the miracles God has worked and is working in Sarawak. In fact, by the grace of God I plan to return to Borneo with UCA next year, and after a couple years of college I intend to go to Borneo as a student missionary for a year or so. I spoke with the SDA mission president while I was there this year and he wants me to come teach English or help with missionary work in the longhouses. One of my best friends, Abby Hochhalter, has the same dream and we are going to go as SM’s together. I am so thrilled about working in Borneo that I feel a burning in my heart when I think about it.

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