Selamat Pagi from Kudat, Borneo,
Almost one week has passed since coming to Sabah state, Malaysia, and it has been an exhausting, interesting time. Arriving at the biggest Malay-speaking church coming straight from the airport in the evening, and seeing a table laden with a good number of English 1858GCs and the two-week-old Malay version books too, it made me very, very happy. And they were selling too!
It was very nice when at the airport, the immigration officer apologized to me for taking so long with the man in front of me! It was a very, very pleasant shock, as coming from places where surly faces, seemingly uninterested in their work, don’t even pretend to recognize that you are human — starts to make you dislike being a human. No doubt it is partly because the way that people look at and treat them. Anyway, this SE Asia attitude and way of looking at people is very sweet to be the receipient of. I give a big, surprised smile back to him, tell him it is no problem, and walk out with an extra spring in my step 🙂
The next day i made my way to the Sabah Mission headquarters which is located around 20km from Kota Kinabalu. The Ministerial Secretary was just as nice to me as he was last year, and i spent most of the day talking to a young man about this 1858gc book and putting Bible and SOP on his brand-new notebook. Just sitting in the Mission office talking to him, with a Malay 1858gc book on top of my backpack, turned the heads of quite a few people (well, maybe it was the foreigner look i have that turned the heads), and several books were sold just from that. It is wonderful to see how many SDAs here are interested in Ellen White’s books.
Nite came with a concert by a family from Australia. I understand that the father of the group came out of worldly music into the faith several years ago, and while most of the music was fitting for the church setting, some was not, and i got up and walked out. I found out the next day that one lady covered her ears and prayed during those songs, and at least one man was praying for a different spirt to be present too. While outside i looked up at the full moon, and heard dance-hall music coming from somewhere (where i had just come out of), and wondered what the angels were thinking about it all.
The next day i met several more church members, had several more deep talks, and sold several more 1858gcs. Then Friday i “followed” (went with) the Mission President as he drove 2 hours to a place called “Goshen”. While driving thru some small towns where we saw people coming out of the mosques he said: “You have to be very careful here. If you run over a cow or goat, or even a dog or chicken, the people will come out and demand a lot of money from you, or they will even beat you up and maybe kill you. The younger generation isn’t as bad as the older, but still it is dangerous.” After driving 20 minutes he informed me that this area is mostly Christian. Then after 5 more minutes “This area is half and half”. Quite interesting. We had a very deep talk on the way, and i am convinced that the Holy Spirit is working thru this man to further the work in Sabah. There are currently around 27,000 SDA members here, and his planning to spread out, spread out, spread out – will no doubt be blessed by God with many more baptisms and stronger members.
Goshen is near Kota Marudu, and was founded by a Seventh-day Adventist missionary many years ago, thus the interesting name. This place has the highest concentration of SDAs in Sabah, and perhaps the highest in all of SE Asia. I was told that around 8,000 SDAs live in the surrounding area. It is quite a shock, as there is really nothing around except a run-down store and a paved road that ends at the school’s gate. But in the large, open auditorium, around 3,000 souls gathered to listen to an Australian evangelist speak (GY). It was also a Literature Evangelist convention, and there were probably around 60 LEs gathered. Quite a number of the them were very interested in this Malay 1858gc, and i was surprised to hear that several of them have already gotten this book, and some are even wanting information on how to get quantity to sell 🙂
But i caused a problem i guess, because the Union Publishing director was there, and while we have email contact, and he had told me that the Union is planning to consider a method to officially approve privately printed books for sale by LEs by the end of this year, it has not done so yet, so i could not sell to the LEs. I agreed heartily to that plan, that we should work together, so while i did not sell any more to his LEs, i did not say anything about his strong suggestion that i should not sell this book to anyone at all, and went right on introducing the book to people discreetly.
I had not eaten a normal-type meal for nearly 5 days, so the meal, bot with a bundle of coupons on the Goshen campus, was quite welcome. Sleep was a bit uncomfortable on top of the childrens’ desks in the classroom, but probably a bit more comfortable than the cement floor below. There was no shower, and the only toilet had no running water most of the time – whew! The mosquitos seemed to enjoy my company, taking some souvenirs from my body to enable them to raise a family. One young man in the room could speak some English, but the others could not, so contact was limited. Most people can speak some English, with the college-aged educated types being almost 100% fluent, so there are many, many opportunities for witnessing even without knowing the local tongue. It used to be here that many people spoke their native tongue, picked up Malay naturally from the TV and businesses etc., and learned some Chinese too as many businesses and higher schools were in Chinese, but now English seems to have largely replaced Chinese, with even the Chinese speaking English.
Sabbath morning, after a breakfast of stir-fried rice with tiny pieces of vegetables and gluten, finds me riding in a friend’s car to a church about 5 minutes away. He tells me that he pastored this church for awhile when he was 18 years old! He translates my sermon about my life story, paragraph 4 of chapter 30 in the 1858gc book, evangelising other places like in Nepal, and the 3 Angels’ Messages simplified. The church was small, but packed, with over 120 attending. I wonder what they thot about me telling at the start that God’s house is a holy place, and we should turn off our mobile phones and shoo out the dogs and cats. They did 🙂 Just want to make the distinction between holy and unholy as clear as possible.
A literature evangelist invited me over to a friend’s house for Sabbath noon meal, and i glady accepted. I wasn’t prepared for what greeted my eyes tho – 6 dishes plus rice – with 5 of the dishes having fish or chicken in them. So i put the dessert – sweet peanut soup – over my rice and ate that. I think it touched their hearts, as one man went and opened a can of beans for me – yum. Around 4 families, all SDA, live in houses close together, and while not rich, they have a very nice pickup truck and satellite TV etc. I’m saying this to show that these people DO have means to, and the education to, eat and live healthfully if they wish, but they choose not to. Probably no pastor or evangelist has ever told them the importance of healthful living. Another thing here which is almost just the same as the Philippines, is that they don’t eat proper things at proper times. Some crackers and milk in the morning, some bananas a couple of hours later, some rice with vegetables a few hours later, some soda drinks, some biscuits later, cake at midnite, etc etc.
There was a torrential downpour during the evangelist’s Sabbath afternoon meeting. He was talking about how there will be many calamaties in the last days, and how these calamaties will cause a sudden mind-shift in people, making them realize their scientific-secular explanations for everything are not working, and they will be happy to give authority to religious types. While agreeing that this will be one aspect of end-time events, it would have been great if he had gone deep into the Bible prophecies, and into the 1858gc, so he would have been able to tell the 2,000+ gathered, that Satan’s angels will appear at the end-time as Peter, Paul, John, and wicked men such as Thomas Paine etc., and they will do many miracles and amazing things, thus getting the world to believe them, and to put the Bible back into the shade. Also, he could have shown how the 7 Trumpets will be completely fulfilled in the future. He did do a great service for the people tho, in telling them that the 1833 falling of the stars and 18th century Lisbon earthquake were signs at the beginning of the end of days, but are not the signs specifically referred to in the Bible for the very end of days. Hopefully this will get some to studying their Bibles more carefully.
The lady who is pushing getting many Spirit of Prophecy books translated and printed in Malay came with her family on Sabbath, and it was great to talk with them awhile after the afternoon meeting. I thot she might be upset with me for one thing i did, but she wasn’t at all, just saying that we need to be more discreet, and energetic in getting out God’s words to the people. Yes! She stuffed my depleted bag with more 1858gcs, and gave me some mangos, oranges, and longsats,and after getting instructions from her about where i should go to best promote this 1858gc book, we said our goodbyes. What a lovely family! How great it is to be one in heart and spirit 🙂
A LE family i met at the meetings were very friendly to me, and invited me to stay at a nearby relative’s house Saturday nite, which i readily agreed to. It was a challenge to stay up until 1am, not healthful i know, but they were asking questions, and i was very happy to try and answer – about my life, and about the 1858gc and prophecies. The LE couple woke me at 5am telling me they were going home, and i woke up at 7am feeling like a ton of bricks. They had told me the nite before that their relatives were going to Kudat (2 hours away) to the Sabah-wide badminton tournament, so it was with surprise Sunday morning when they let me out at the Kota Marudu town centre at the mini-bas stop. OK, i’m flexible 🙂 But i have no idea where the place to go to in Kudat is, only having the pastor’s TEL#. Fortunately, a young man on the mini-van calls for me, and tells the driver where to let me out. The church i’m let out at is not SDA, so get back in the van, and go to the city centre where the driver is told about the location of the Adventist church, and brings me the 1minute ride there. Nobody is there, so i walk back to the city centre and call the pastor. He is officiating at the tournament, but kindly comes and picks me up.
All day was spent sitting at a gratefully provided desk in front of the gymnasium where the tournament was being held. I tried to show the GC animation on the old computer just bot a week ago in Thailand, but the batteries are too weak to boot it up. On the desk i display the Malay, English, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Tamil 1858 Great Controversy books. There is good interest, and i sell 3 Malay copies before i have to tell them i can sell no more. Probably i could have sold 6 or 7 if they had been available. We are selling them for 10myr (around 2.80usd). The reaction is interesting, with most people who are really interested in the book saying it is cheap, but with those who don’t look like they wish to buy at whatever price saying it is expensive. For comparison, the Union printed hardback 1911gc is 38myr. What my friend here who is pushing the work told me (and my gut-feeling) is true – that those who value the book will be happy to pay a decent enough price so that we can not only print again in the future, but that the person selling can make a little money. I have sold 15 books since arriving, and have spent only 76myr on my living needs, so can vouch for the ability of this book to provide basic needs of the literature evangelist.
An event i had secretly hoped would eventually happen one day did happen at that desk – a man saw the books on my table, and picked one up and started looking at it. I started to tell him about the book, but he already knew about it. I thot probably he was just talking about the 1911gc book, as over 95% of the people who tell me they have read this book or know about this book have got it confused with the 1911 book, but he is different. Then he says, opening the book, “you wouldn’t be the great Daniel Waters would you?” Now it is my turn to be confused, as i think he is talking about me, but don’t know how he could know about me, or why he would think i was “great”. I open the book to the page that has my name and email info, and when i say “this is me”, he gets nearly ecstatic. “You are the one who has been spending your life getting this book into the various languages so that people can have them?! Praise God! You are a great man!” I assure him i am not great, but that all the glory is to God for giving me this work to do, and that i wish to faithfully do it. People like him who are reading the book and spreading it to others (he has distributed around 100 English ones), are doing a “great” work. We talk for nearly 2 hours, and he invited me to come and give a talk next Sabbath at the church where he is elder. The pastor of that church is a friend of mine from last year, and i was hoping to have a chance to go there anyway, so this offer is like manna from heaven. Wow! God’s ways and methods of bringing his people together are amazing.
Then soon after he leaves, a 50-something district pastor comes up to my table, and basically runs down everything i’m doing. That’s OK pastor, you are welcome to say whatever you wish, God has given me a powerful “depressant-repellant” today, and nothing will get me discouraged 🙂 A bit after he leaves around 8 young people gather around the table, practicing their English, overcoming their shyness, and a bit sincerely interested in what i’m doing. I show them pics from Japan, money from various countries etc., all the while weaving into it things from the 1858gc, and appeals to them to think about becoming missionaries one day. How i wish my computer could show them the animation! I ask the pastor if i can give a talk at his church Monday evening, and he says he will contact his elders as there is a badminton tournament going on now. Realizing it is not good timing, i ask him about Wednesday evening, making it clear that if he has something else planned, i am fine with that, as i don’t wish to force myself on his church, he replies that would be very fine. Then a surprise just while leaving the gymnasium – the Ministerial Secretary from the mission headquarters has just arrived, giving me a warm welcome. Actually, this man called the pastor here on Friday, asking him to be hospitable to me. Praise God for preparing the way so smoothly, but not so smooth from a normal human perspective – ha!
The pace of life in the town of Kudat is slow. There is one “tourist” hotel, 4 stories tall, next to the gaudy Chinese Buddhist temple. Being the main civilization between Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, i thot there would be buses going to both of those cities, but they are only headed one direction – to KK. So if i wish to go to Sandakan, i have to make the 3 hour trip back to KK, then get on a different bus and make the 8 hour ride to Sandakan. Sounds like my plans need changing, as there is no point just going from town to town without making any impression on the people. The pastor is at the badminton tournament Monday and Tuesday, so i walk around town a bit, buy some food, type some, wash some, and get royally frightened.
DON! What was that?! A gunshot? I instinctively huddle. Hearing no further sounds, i look around, but don’t see or hear anything abnormal, so go on with what i was doing. Ten minutes later – DON! Wow, that was close! What is going on?! Around the 3rd or 4th time it finally dawns on me that it is raining mangos on our tin roof. Maybe the gravitational pull of the moon is greater at nite, or the breeze is stronger, or i’m just more sensitive to it, but a chart made of the falling times would probably show a concentration in the dark hours. DON! roll roll thump! – another split mango outside my window. It’s kind of cool having food fall down on your head 🙂 I tell lots of people here that it won’t be much trouble in the Time of Trouble for believers in Borneo, as bananas and mangos and lots of other delicious food is available for the taking in the jungle all over the place. Oh yes, durian too – whew!
It’s surprising to me how similar many things are here to what i remember in the Philippines – same attitude towards many things, same style of eating, same style of cooking, same bathroom style etc. The streets are cleaner and paved much better, but if you look carefully in the ditches, you will see about the same amount of trash. Nice to see that they don’t eat much pig tho, so no squealing under your seat when riding the bus. One thing that IS very different here, is that no one asks me to sponsor their daughter in college – nice!
The church youth are all going to the Bak Bak seaside, and i am invited. There isn’t much sand there, but it is fun seeing the tidal pools in the crevices of the rocks. My main fun is playing with the hermit crabs – they are so cute! I still remember feeding lettuce to the one i used to keep as a pet for a couple of months when i was a kid, until it did what all hermit crabs eventually do – die. A new friend and i gather 6 of them for a race, and it is hard to keep them in the right place to start – then they’re off! huh? The main one that was so wiggly before refuses to come out, and some little guy wins. The smoke from our group’s BBQing fish and chicken is sickening me, so after playing one-on-one volleyball for a while, and chasing/being chased by little kids, i’m happy when it starts raining as that should end the smoke – doh! Of course they just move the grill under the shelter where all the people have to gather also if they want to stay dry, so the smoke gets in the eyes and clothes worse than ever. They finally hook up a flourescent light to a car battery, and we all eat rice, with most of those assembled eating assorted dead things.
One youth leader asks me to give a 5-minute talk, but i turn him down with the excuse that i’m not prepared. My conscience doesn’t give me much rest tho, and about a half hour later when the pastor asks me the same thing, i readily agree. I show the 1858 Great Controversy book to them, and read a sentence or two, trying to get them to think about being missionaries for Jesus, as he is coming soon. One young man especially seems very interested, and we can have quite a deep conversation. After the meal the evening sky attracts my attention and holds it for quite a while – how lovely! How many stars!? And look how low Orion is! We go back to town in the rickety, old van, to find out that one girl has left her cell phone. The drive back is mostly quiet, and thankfully we find it quickly.
If you get over 30 Xerox copies made at a time, the cost is only 4sen each. How can you even afford the paper, let alone the copy ink, when an A4-size page is around 1.1 cents usd? I gladly make 70 copies of GC chapter 32 Malay version. One of the two pages is not printed correctly, so i give it to the worker there. She looks at it eagerly, sees my Jesus T-shirt, and tells me “I’m a Christian too”, with a nice smile. May God lead her into all truth.
The study that nite at church is with around 60 people in attendance, by far the largest GC study group i have ever had. It isn’t easy to keep the one-on-one contact with those studying, and no doubt many could care less, but there are several who show that they DO care, and are interestedly discussing and answering questions.
The ride in the tiny car for 3 1/2 hours to Tamparuli the next day is quite tiring. I don’t know why it should be, as we have air-con most of the way, and you can even see a beautiful view of Mt. Kinabalu, but i guess the shock-absorbers on this car are not good, as it feels like the whole road is making a map on my body. I arrive mostly exhausted, but after writing a note of thanks and requesting help for my trip to Sarawak from the Ministerial Secretary, and talking to the church member who runs a hair salon, i find a van to KK, and then a bus to Keningau. Time-wise, not too long a travel, but i am bushed, and try to lay down in the two seats in my row. I actually sleep a bit too, but not so sure if that was good for me, as we turned and twisted up and down a mountain, and when my head got vertical on my body, and i yawned, my right ear made the loudest – splittingest pop i have ever had in my life. But the greenery looked brilliant, and the rice paddies and everything looked so fresh and alive, that i was just glad to be alive and not so sleepy as before.
The bus lets me off specially near the house where i stayed most of 6 weeks last year. Within 10 minutes of arriving, the husband and wife come back from the clinic, and it is a nice reunion. Sure glad i didn’t opt to take the 1/2 hour following bus that would have saved me 1myr. We immediately get into the pickup for a drive with young oil-palms, to plant them in a newly-bulldozed area up on some hills looking over the lush greenery of Borneo. The wife is the main one getting the Malay 1858gc book proofread, printed, and sold. She is quite the seller, having already sold more of these books at a higher price than i have in all my travels over the last year. In fact, she has already received enough back it seems to print again – praise God! Actually, she is planning to use this money as seed money to translate and print other Spirit of Prophecy books – with the one currently in the pipeline being similar to “Counsels on Diet and Foods” (without the copyright infringements!).
The bed is as i remember it. It is nice having a familiar bed, and familiar food after travelling so much. But this is only for one nite, as the next day i follow them to the clinic where i internet and help fix their computer. She comes back in the clinic after being out most of the morning saying “I went to change tires and the lady there bot 2 books”. I don’t know how she does it. And she has all the reasons in the world to be really negative and doubt God, yet here she is spreading the truth with more zeal and fervor than most anyone i have ever seen.
After visiting a church friend who runs a computer instruction school near the Hiap Lee supermarket, i’m taken to Tambunan, the only spot on the Keningau-KK road with more than 100 inhabitants, and am picked up by the LE who invited me to preach this Sabbath. I find out that well, i’m not really going to preach, but some time will be given me in the morning service. I’m to find out that, while the heart is indeed willing, the execution of what comes out of the mouth is lacking in some areas. His grandfather tells me some stories of what Borneo was like during WWII, under Japanese occupation. Seems that most of his people fled to the jungle during the day, and then often sneaked back into the village at nite to collect a pot or something. They dug in the jungle floor, and basically lived out of sight during the day. He said one time his family was in the field during the day, and a Japanese warplane came overhead. They all knew to raise their hands above their heads, so they were not troubled. If they ran, they wouldn’t be here today.
It is nice meeting the pastor again. He had translated most of the 1858gc into Malay over a year ago, but had lost it in a computer crash. He is quite happy about the newly printed one, and kindly lets me give a mission report in the morning, and then translates the chapter 32 study in the afternoon. Around 20 people attend, and especially one young lady is really into it, answering all the questions if i would let her 🙂 The evening is spent playing with the kids at home, as they climb all over me until they figure out that the Japanese ice-skating game i put on their computer REALLY IS fun.
It’s very interesting and informative to hear how the people here came into the family of God. For example, the young lady mentioned earlier said her father was a sorcerer. He had 8 daughters, and was told that he must sacrifice one of them in order to have a son. He would not do it. Many things happened, and to make a long story short, after he gave his life to Christ he had a son! and then another son! 10 kids – whew! He is now the one doing the bulldozer work for the fledgling oil palm plantation. Terracing jungle in Borneo – quite a tough job, but he seems to love his Cat.
We go to mission headquarters in Tamparuli, where there is a double wedding planned. When i walk in the church, who should i see but the man who invited me to speak at his old church a week ago, and he is reading the English 1858gc! What a pleasant sight! He takes me to the wedding reception, but with all the loud music and chicken and just plain lack of food, we decide to go to his nearby house where he treats me to sugar cane, and his daughter cooks a nice meal. He drops me off at the Likas church where i meet the caretaker that i was such good friends with a year ago, and who was sick when i first arrived in KK, so i could not see him. He looks gaunt, and tells me his wife is really sick too (cancer), and then he says everything is “swinging”, and he has to lay down, so we pray and i let him go. Perhaps i’ll never see him again in the land of the living…
I find my towel in the church kitchen (yea!), and after talking to the pastor and hearing him say that he thinks the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all one and the same (like he is someone’s son and someone’s father at the same time), makes me shake my head inwardly. I try to lovingly correct that, but soon my ride comes. I stayed with this family a week or so last year, and helped them make a decision to keep the Sabbath, and change their NZ flight plans from Sabbath to Sunday. I really don’t know how they will accept me, thinking that perhaps they harbored something regarding that, but the only feelings harbored seem to be friendly ones, and soon i am put at ease, and then even encouraged as i hear some of their testimonies of how they are spreading the end-time truth. Sure hope their plans to start a self-supporting retirement home/medical missionary training centre work out well.
The father comes home late, but tells me two fascinating stories regarding this 1858gc. One time his wife was in Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, over 2 hours of flight time away from where they live in Sabah state (KK). On her way to the airport for the flight back home, she gave the taxi driver a English 1858gc. Well, the doctor in Keningau went a month or so later to Kuala Lumpur too. His hotel arranged a taxi for him to the airport, and HE did the same evangelizing technique – give a English 1858gc to the driver. The driver got very flustered, and turned pale, and said that he had been given that book before. Now it was the doctor’s turn to be astonished, and to be even more impressed of the Holy Spirit’s leading when, on relating this incident in his church back in Kota Kinabalu, a lady said that SHE was the one who gave this book to that man a month earlier.
But the most incredible story is what can only be described as direct intervention by God. There was one lady who was searching for the truth. She was going around to different churches and temples and whatever searching for something to fill her heart-longing, that heart-longing that only God can fill. One day this man gave her a English 1858 Great Controversy Between Christ and His Angels and Satan and His Angels. That nite she had a dream, and an angel appeared. He said, “your search for truth is now over”. She is now a baptized member of the Seventh-day Adventist church, and is helping to start a little branch church in a new area. Incredible!! Praise the Lord! Thank you Jesus for bringing this lady into your fold. Please bring more and more of your precious children into the light, and continue to give me encouragement to keep pressing on with this work.
The next morning i study 1858gc chapter 32 with the mother and 3 children. The two older children promised last year that they would read the book, and they did, but say they couldn’t really understand it so well. That’s OK, that’s what i’m here for 🙂 It is a pleasure studying with them, and they seem impressed by the solemnity of the message. The daughter says she is planning to devote one year of her life to the 1000 Missionary Movement, and i say that will probably change the whole direction of her life, and she won’t be satisfied with just one year.
The father kindly takes me to the under-construction airport, and even tho we aren’t allowed on the plane until 10 minutes before departure time, we push back a few minutes early. Air Asia is quite quick about work on the ground, altho they are a bit haphazard. The 1:25 minute flight to Kuching is over in just a touch over 1 hour, and it has been fun watching the jungle and coastline unfold beneath, and showing currency from different countries to the very well-mannered seemingly Muslim boys next to me. Kuching airport is very nice, and the information desk is helpful with a free map, and info on buses. Instead of taking a 17.5myr taxi ride as the mission president has recommended, i wait 1:10 for the 8A or 12 bus to take me the same 4km for 1.4myr. Always glad to save 4usd.
The bus driver lets me out near Sunny Hill school, where the SDA Sarawak mission headquarters, church, school, and ice cream factory (!?) are located. A big banner on the front fence promoting a Christmas program with the “Ecumenical Alliance of Sarawak” is troubling, but just the tip of the iceberg.
I’m kindly allowed to stay in a dormitory guest room. And wouldn’t you know it, the Lord has worked it out again. He has done it so many times, it isn’t even a surprise to me anymore, but ALL the pastors in Sarawak are gathered here for continuing education! Thank you Lord! Now i can reach them all with this 1858gc book without having to run all over this vast state trying to find the needle in the haystack. The needles have all assembled in this one haystack – ha!
The first morning there i am allowed a few minutes to give a testimony about why i came, and present the book of course. While the response is not as enthusiastic as in Sabah state, it is good. And who is that? The pastor who was the first Malaysian pastor to ever befriend me, when i was green off the boat from the Philippines in Sandakan last year! He stands up and says a few very kind words for me, which i appreciate tremendously. It also seems to give some of the other pastors a reassuring nod that this guy is really OK.
A couple of pastors like to talk to me, but they are busy with their studies too. This is a for-credit course affiliated with our SDA school in Hong Kong. As soon as i hear that, i am worried about the liberal influences, and hearing that they all went to a Catholic church the other day and received a book about the history of Catholicism in Sarawak, and hearing the instructor give his devotional talk about Jack Welch of General Electric and how he grew it into a “billion-dollar company”, tends to reinforce those worries.
Most of the pastors have notebooks – NEC brand, purchased somehow thru the mission. One elderly pastor has trouble getting connected to the wireless internet, and my “used to be a computer programmer” blurb gives him the idea that i might be able to help. I’m happy to be able to help, but when the next one comes, then the next one, i’m thinking — All my time is going to computers, and i should be spreading this 1858gc book… Well, God had it figured out before me, because after fixing their computers, most of these pastors happily purchase a book 🙂 Making “disk cleanup” work again was the most difficult, but pertinent information on the net about deleting the HKEY entry for that worked like a charm. Don’t count this old “punch card trained” computer boy out yet – haha.
There is a group of stores across the busy street, and in the evening there are some noodle stalls set up. One of them says “Vegetarian” in big letters, and altho the owner can’t speak much English, i can read enough of the Chinese characters to point to the “tofu” one etc. Can’t go too much wrong here, as nothing has been killed to go into my stomach. The only thing is, i want some rice, but no one here has any. It is a paradox of these “poor” countries, that the most staple food – rice, cannot be purchased already cooked except in some exotic “sweetened steamed in bamboo” thing. In Japan my main staple when dining out was rice balls (triangles) available at every convenience store you come across. In fact, those “onigiri”s are the number 1 seller at convenience stores in Japan! But none for sale here, and don’t remember seeing them at my last 7-11 visit in Bangkok either. Yes, i know, they have more rice than they know what to do with at home, and when they eat out, they want something “fancy”. Phooey on that. Bread, p-nut butter, raisins – yes, i know, my boring staples. Keeps my stomach happy. I do buy some mangosteens to let it know it IS in a tropical place, but pass on the durian. A pastor and maid even give me some rambutans, and sour longsats are available for almost free – 1myr/kg. yum yum. Now if i can just get that sticky-key problem solved, i can go to bed….
The very friendly pastor says he only comes to the mission headquarters twice a year, as it is a 10 hour drive. He tells me some Japanese came this spring, and some Americans came in the summer, and churches are getting built by foreign help. One pastor suggests that i sell the Malay 1858gc book to him for 3myr, so that his church can raise money to build a new church. Interesting, but he really doesn’t seem so interested in the book. If he showed a deep interest in the book, and making money for a project was something on top of that – i would be very cooperative. But when he shows little interest in the book, just in the money that the book could bring, i’m not very interested. As usual, it is hard to get it across to people that this is the ORIGINAL book, and that they have most likely NOT read it. Everybody assures me they have. sigh…. Finally one or two get the correct idea.
There are many books in the Mission conference room by a Nigerian/American man about how the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. He supplied the money to print the books here in Kuching, and when he came a while back he printed them, and the pastors are handing them out freely (in English). I sit down with the book, and while the English is a bit odd, it is your standard SDA fare for interpreting prophecy,,,,,until,,,,,what!? “Istanbul is now in Vatican City”?!?! And the 7 heads on the beast in Revelation were ALL wounded to death?!?! The “wound” was given to the beast in 1798, and the wound was healed by Napoleon?!?! I talk with an elderly pastor who showed the book to me, and we have a deep discussion of spiritual things, and he admits that no one took the time to really read carefully thru the book, instead, just skimming thru, and that it “looked good”. He pointed this problem out to some other pastors, but then i hear a couple of days later from a different pastor that the book i’m promoting, the 1858gc, is the one that has some problems with the 7 heads…..How rumours get started….sigh………..
The prayer meeting is dead. The speaker has copied from the SDA GC web site about the goals of the church, and just reads it. Maybe it sounds good to those with a this-world point of view. A LE just cannot fathom that this 1858gc is a different book than her beloved GC, and after trying to show her 3 times that it IS different, i just let it go. She is not against the book, praise God. One man who has brought his whole family (looks like the ONLY family at prayer meeting), buys 4 English books from me – wow.
The Chinese pastor is VERY kind to me, and gives me a tour of Kuching, driving me to the site of the first SDA place of worship here (now an Islamic shop), the grave of a SDA missionary (Youngberg) who died under Japanese internment, and the Sarawak museum, which probably IS the best in SE Asia, even tho it is quite old and the displays show it. All the stuffed birds and animals are really interesting, with the orangutan being the most impressive for me. Those guys are almost as big as gorillas! “Orang” means “human”, and “utan” means “jungle”. So the fruit “rambutan” means “hairy jungle”. To say “humans” in Malay, just say the word for “human” twice – “orang orang”. Quite simple, eh? Oh yes, the reconstruction of the inside of a longhouse is very interesting, of course, for the skulls hanging from the ceiling. Yes, they are real skulls – and the pastor points out that one is quite large, possibly from a European, and that some others are no doubt of Japanese origin, as they were quite easy targets i understand. It seems really weird to be able to just reach up and touch a busted head of a dead person if you want.
The museum has been largely looted by its own workers, according to a man who sells old pics of Borneo in the market. He has old pics with bare-breasted women that they can’t display in the museum, and he can’t display in front of his little stand either, but does in the back. The men back then too didn’t wear hardly anything, with tatoos being their main body-covering it seems. Even some of the SDA pastors today have tatoos, as they told me that when they were little, if you didn’t have a tatoo, the natives would not let you into their territory. That has all changed now, with many of the young village men not having tatoos, and of course the women wearing regular clothes. I’m told that unlike the natives in Sabah, the natives here (mostly Iban), are not very faithful tithe-givers, or really strong believers. There is a smaller tribe here that is tho 🙂
The Chinese pastor has asked me to give the sermon in his church on Sabbath, which i gladly accept. He also allows me to stay in his home, so it is good to leave the mission headquarters, where i was the only one, and which costs probably 10myr/day. I’m not too sure what his wife and 3 kids think of me coming in tho…. Well, the littlest one takes a liking to me when i put the “Where’s Noah?” game on her dad’s notebook.
After Chinese church very early Saturday morning, where the average age looks to be 60, we go to a English church around 5km away – Tabuan. It is freezing cold, so i sit in an entrance room. Actually, that works out better, as i have opportunity to meet with and talk with many people that i would not be able to if i was sitting inside. I’m taken to a Chinese wedding party after church, but on the way, i ask them to take me to the potluck at English church at the mission. They assure me that i am OK with them, so go off to see that they have catered a huge meal as to be expected for a wedding. I tell them i cannot eat, and they assure me it is vegetarian, but understand when i say that i cannot make people work for me, and pay them to work for me on the Sabbath by cooking for me. I don’t go to restaurants on the Sabbath, and will not eat here, but they are free to go ahead and eat if they want.
The man agrees to take me back, and i enjoy potluck with the English church people, with a couple of them being interested in discussing spiritual things deeply. I can’t believe they are giving the Pathfinder kids dried jelly-fish and junk food to eat at 3pm, and discussing money matters, with nothing uplifting, all on the Sabbath. No wonder the two boys who are present are disrespectful, talking when the leader is talking, and spending 80% of the meeting sending SMS messages on their handy phones. The Chinese pastor and i visit a sick member in the hospital, and then go to visit an interested person, but she is out. In the evening we all go to the Waterfront, and then a big shopping center. It is hilarious to see a young clerk wrapped up in her muslim scarf, and on top of it is a red and white floppy “Merry Xmas” hat. What a splendid missed photo opportunity!
The Chinese pastor keeps telling me he wants to study this 1858gc book with me, but we can’t seem to find the right time. I go to see the father who bot 4 of the English books. He is quite wary of me, and, while pleasant enough to talk with, says he can read this book on his own, without studying with me. Somehow i sense that he really is dedicated, and his demeanor is not mean, so after a few minutes i ask again about reading some of it together, and he agrees. We delve into chapter 30, the most controversial, and difficult chapter, (and i think – the most important chapter). He starts by answering questions like most – giving what they think – but soon learns that i am asking directly from the book, and the study goes smoothly. He is very warm to me at the end, thanking me for coming and explaining to him the difference between the original book and the later one. Now he can, with a good conscience, recommend it to not only his children, but to other committed SDA members.
Merry Christmas! It is nice to be with a family on Christmas morning. No, there is nothing special -wait, the father is asking me to give a study on chapter 1 of the 1858gc book for morning worship – nice! This is a great Christmas present 🙂 His family seems surprised to learn that God doesn’t forgive everyone anytime, that there is a limit to the time, and that even tho Satan DID repent, it was too late. Just in the same manner, many will repent after the Close of Probation, but then it will be too late. I’m very happy we studied, and when the pastor says that God had the salvation plan with Jesus all laid out before Satan sinned, i mention to him that we will read what happened in chapter 3 – titled appropriately – The Plan of Salvation. He doesn’t reply much.
I find out in a few minutes why – the whole family is preparing to go to a friend’s house for 2 days, coming back in the evening after i have already taken a flight back to Kota Kinabalu. Always a topsy-turvy life, just glad God has given me a large dose of patience. After a split second of “Whaaaa?”, in my heart, i feel a little humbled, knowing the reason now why the wife was so interested when i first came about my departure, with her first question being “When are you leaving?” Seems she was worried about me finding a ride to the airport, not about getting me out of her hair. Sorry for the wrong thots. This will be nice for me actually, as i can complete lots of computer typing i’ve been wanting to do. A man comes looking for the pastor’s family, and i sell him a Malay 1858gc. I KNOW the book will sell well here, praise God. Interesting emails and pics from a former pastor in KK who is evangelising China now, makes me even more determined to get this book translated into Chinese soon.
With 7 Malay 1858gc books left on my last day here, i get serious about introducing it to as many on this compound as possible. The Mission office was closed Christmas day and yesterday, but it is open today, and the 2 young workers in the HHES office happily buy this book, but say the same as most everybody: “I have this book already. Fortunately, with them being book specialists, at least one of them seems to catch on quickly when i rephrase what i just said about the book, and show them the first page. The treasurer wants another English one when i pay her 40myr for 4 nites, but i don’t have any more. The cleaning lady is positive i stayed in the room for 11 nites, not 4, but after telling her 3 times when i came and left, i just smile while she talks a bit, and she lets me depart in peace.
One thing bugs me here, treatment you almost never get in Japan, and rarely in America, but common in Chinese speaking and Middle Eastern countries, and not infrequent in India either. Why bother asking a question if you are going to cut me off before i say 3 words? What’s the point? It tends to make one lose heart to talk at all.
The pastor’s family comes back from Christmas vacation, and while a bit surprised at the earliness of their arrival, i’m even more surprised when the father says he would like all of them study the 1858gc book again – wow! Now THAT’S my kind of pastor! Just come back from a 2 day holiday with your family, and the first thing you want to do is to study this precious book. His wife reads the first paragraph, and then the oldest son and he takes turns reading the rest. The oldest son looks like he’s really into it, and i’m praying earnestly for the Holy Spirit to impress the solemnity of the message on his heart. The father seems really pleased, and i’m singing in my heart as we get in the car for the drive to the airport.
The airport is brand new, with a gorgeous salt water aquarium, and a fine view of the mountians off to one side of Kuching. Everything is efficient and fast, with my Air Asia check-in taking all of 15 seconds. I’ve learned that while they’re a little strict on the checked baggage not being over 15kg, they could care less about enforcing the “one carry-on per person” rule, as, myself included, some of us have 3 bags. I look up some SOP texts on my computer, and find that God DID say to Adam and Eve to not touch the forbidden fruit. I have a bread, p-nut butter, pumpkin seed, carrot, and cookie meal, and hear the announcement for my plane to load up. I see a long line, so eat about 5 more minutes. Whoa, the line is all gone! I quickly go to the toilet, then to the boarding gate, where the attendents look like they’re about to close up. There’s still 2 or 3 after me, but the plane is mostly full, and i take a seat next to a lady in the emergency exit row.
About half way thru the flight i mention to the lady that it is a bit cold, isn’t it, and she agrees, and engages me in a very pleasant conversation. I tell her i was raised in Tennesee in America, but lived 15 years in Japan working in a vegetarian restaurant, teaching English, learning Japanese, and doing missionary work. “I’m a missionary too”. My eyes get big, and inwardly i am praising Jesus for putting me right next to no doubt the only other person on this airplane who would call themself a “missionary”. She is Roman Catholic, an Iban, but teaching in a school in a village in Sabah. She also does literacy training work.
She tells me one story to make me groan inwardly, and one to smile outwardly. Seems that in her village there is a Seventh-day Adventist church too. One day she and another Catholic lady saw the SDA pastor coming towards them, so she said “Hello”. Pui. He quickly turned his head and walked past them. But the other story was that young people in her village would tell her that it was their custom to drink lots of alcohol, and they couldn’t stop, as this was their culture. She told them: “The Adventist kids can stop, why can’t you”?
She asks me the main differences between SDAs and Catholics, and while praying for words to speak, i am praising God for this opportunity. I’ve been holding a 1858gc book with me, and show her the cover, and explain the 4th commandment. Then i talk about the dead being asleep until Jesus comes again, and lastly i explain in one or two sentences that Jesus is in the Most Holy Place now interceding for us, and forgiving our sins now. She doesn’t say much in response, but puts on her glasses and looks at the cover of the book for a while. Sure hope she got the right idea on the 4th commandment. Before getting off, i ask if she would like to pray together, and she eagerly says “yes”. Lord, thank you so much for leading me to her, and may that planted seed spring up to bear fruit for you one day.
Taxi fare is 20myr to Wisma Merdeka, and 200 to Keningau, both of which are around 15 times higher than a bus, so i just start out hoofing it. I walk around 20 minutes, and come to a bus stop where a girl is waiting. “Is there a bus going to Wisma Merdeka”? “Yes, just follow me”. Several buses go by, but nothing for us. Finally a mini bus comes by, and we get in together, being the only riders at first. She talks a bit on the bus, but she seems to wish she could speak Engish better. She asks me if i will still be in KK for New Year’s, and seems genuinely sad when i tell her i’m going back to Bangkok on the 31st. She pays for my ride, which i try to persuade her not to do, but she is adamant, and i find myself getting flustered at her very helpful actions, and her beautiful face (even if it does have a pierce in the side of a nostril – uuuugh).
I stay at a nice backpacker hotel for 18myr, and while there are 4 beds, i’m the only taker. There is hot water which i luxriate in for a few minutes, getting lots of caked-in sweat off my body that just doesn’t get the scrub and dub when splashing about with buckets. This place even has a air-con, which i switch from the last setting at “22”, to 26. I sneeze and blow in bed awhile, so notch it up to 27. Still too cold, so it goes to 28 – finally, sleep city (with a swig from a newly-opened cough syrup bottle). Sure am glad no one else is in here, as no doubt normal people would complain about the air-con being broken if it was blowing out 28C air. ha!
Eighteen of us fit into the mini bus going to Keningau in the morning. This van is smaller than the ones in Georgia and Armenia, ones that are jam-packed with 13 people. Body width is different here. Alighting after a 2 1/2 hour ride, i go to my friend’s furniture store, and wait for him. He is my best non-SDA friend i’ve made since leaving Japan. But his last email was in April, and even sending him a post card from Nepal has not elicited a response. Maybe heeeeeeeeee’s,,,,,,,
Extremely shocked and happy to see me 🙂 He’s a bit busy a first, but spends nearly all the rest of the day until around 8:30pm looking at my pics, telling me about his life, calling a Japanese friend, telling me the Japanese speech i made for him last year went over very well, etc. etc. We saw a German man in town, and talked about his shop for a while too. I didn’t know there was such a run on sugar that it was rationed just last month. Sure hope to see you in heaven, Y-san, and sorry that it was only one day this time, but sure do have lots of good memories with you.
Friday morning we go down to Kota Kinabalu in the pick-up. It is a bit scary, but slowly done, so mostly safe. It’s great talking about lots of things, especially about how to press forward with spreading Spirit of Prophecy books. Altho the mountain road is not so heavily travelled, we come across one car that has just flipped and landed off to the side, then a little further down, one car has skidded off to the other side and banged up pretty badly, with an ambulance wailing a mournful tune. It’s raining heavily, and we wonder if we can get everything done before Sabbath. KK has a huge traffic jam, so i’m let out around 3:10. I walk over to Wisma Merdeka, the big shopping complex i went to several times last year and exchanged money, ate, and became friends with someone. Actually, i want to meet that someone again, but the shop where she worked looks like it is closed, with no sign of her. Actually, quite a few of the shops look to have been changed out. Guess the retail business is tough everywhere. Don’t see the pirate software shop that i saw last time either, but the restaurant on the 3rd floor is still there, with the great view out over the sea.
Stocking up on food means a bag of 4 apples, a big pack of crackers, and a little one of salted garbanzo “nuts”. This will form the nucleus of 6 of my next 7 meals. This is another test in the “perseverance” category i guess. My umbrella keeps me dry, but not my back pack, so things are getting a bit soggy. I wait around a couple of hours at the Likas SDA church, greeting the people as they come to the DVD concert of a Christmas show at Southern Adventist University several years ago. It seems a bit odd welcoming people in Borneo to a concert of people i don’t know in Tennesee, where i grew up, but no one seems to think it odd. As expected, the first song starts out with drums, so i skip out. I need to prepare for the study tomorrow at the English church of the 1858 Great Controversy – just finally decided because of this music – chapter 32 The Shaking.
Whoops, i have been looked for, for over half an hour i’m told. One lady told me before entering, that she would take me to the English church where i am to stay tonite. Thank you Lord, and church members, for letting me stay in a room at the church. It is nice to not have to pay, especially on the Sabbath 🙂 It is much nicer than expected, with even a mattress on the floor, so while my trusty anti-mosquito device is doing its job, i’m sleeping on my side, trying to stay cool. I’m responsible for opening the gates early in the morning, so get up a bit after 7 to open up. It would be nice to get a touch more sleep, but today is my big day – i’ve been announced in the bulletin to give a Great Controversy study after potluck. Pressure.
Morning Sabbath School is by the Saluds group from the Philippines. The male quartet is very nice, and most of the songs are good, but one talks about “mama dying and going to be with Jesus”, and another says “I’m saved by grace (implying we don’t need to keep the commandments)”. We should check a bit more closely that we are not only preaching and teaching the truth, but that we are singing the truth too. Yes, we are saved by grace, i know, but the thrust of the song seemed to be “I’m saved now”, which is something no sanctified tongue will ever do, this side of translation.
Church service also is a musical treat, so we have a huge musical feast today. Hope people will stay behind to study the 1858gc in the afternoon. No need to worry, for while the large Filipino contingent has left, it looks like only two or three of the regular church member families have absented themselves from the study 🙂
Maybe around 25 people attend, and even after lunch, the participation in the study was very good – perhaps the best i have ever witnessed. It was clear that even after just one reading, some of them were able to ask deep questions, things that had glided over most of those studying this with me up to now. It was interesting to see how God had prepared me, for in going over this last nite, i had come across something that i had questioned myself, but not having ever had anyone ask me, had not diligently pursued the answer. Well, that question came today, and i was prepared – Thank God! Most of the questions revolved around what exactly is “the straight testimony”, “is the straight testimony and solemn testimony the same thing”, “when is the shaking”, “does to be shaken, mean shaken out of the church”, and “what are the standards?”.
No, we do not know who will be shaken or not, and it is not our business to judge who goes to heaven and who doesn’t. I mention some standards, things that SDA did not do when i was little, like divorce, earrings, necklaces, drums etc. It may have been taken by some to mean that if you wear earrings, you will be shaken out, but what i was trying to get at, is that we MUST uplift the standard, and if we are not following the straight testimony in some way, we must come into line with it. Someone mentioned vegetarianism, and that stirred up some controversy. Some seemed worried that perhaps their whole church would be shaken out. I told the story about what happened in one SE Asian country, with not even one SDA going to church on the Sabbath after their side lost the war with the communists in 90% of the churches. One said that if we lived like the standards in Ellen White’s day, we would all be considered strange. I smiled, and nooded a big up and down, while not saying anything. I wanted to mention that even in Ellen White’s day, those who followed the dress reform were considered “odd”, and especially those who were vegetarian and didn’t smoke etc. were seen as a bit “crazy”, much more than even today. I did say that we have slowly become more and more like the world, until you can hardly tell the difference between God’s people and the world.
We all joined hands, and i closed with a flowing prayer, one that could have only been from the Holy Ghost, as it was quite touching (at least to me). It closed with an appeal that we all regard the truth as more precious that our own life, as Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and eternal life is only in him. Lord, please bless your people who are called by your name. Please forgive our sins, and please mold us into your image, after your heart’s likeness. Please help the church members to raise the standards, so we can obey the straight testimony, be purified, receive the Holy Spirit, give the truth in great power, and meet you in the sky one day soon. Amen.
NOTE: Post written March 11, 2007
hello, tq 4 showing this “story” to me.. i also sda but i live in kudat, in kg. tiga papan. i know u dont know this place but hope will see u soon… thanks very much..