50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

Life
Bible-Presbyterian
Church
Lord’s Day
Worship in
Kuching,
November 1998
Page 170
day Inn Damai Lagoon Resort. The next
two days, we were on our own.
On Saturday, we travelled inland to
visit Tram Epoi’s long house ministry in
Marau Kelasau, a small Dayak village situated
some 140 km from town. This was
arranged before our trip with Tram and
preacher Bong, who volunteered to ferry
us with their respective convoys. Our
church treasurer, Elder Chia, had recently
dedicated the Marau Kelasau Evangelical
Church of Borneo, which took a year to
complete. The gruelling journey, which
took approximately five hours, was interspersed
with several breaks.
Upon arrival, the two resident evangelists
immediately beckoned the Dayak
villagers to congregate inside the chapel
for a short worship service. A few choruses
were sung before Tram introduced the Singapore
delegation. This was followed by
Elder Sng’s exhortation from John 3:16,
ably interpreted by a Dayak lady. Canned
foods were also presented to the villagers
for their hospitality. Before leaving, a visit
to one of the decrepit long houses gave us
a glimpse of their living conditions. Returning
to the resort by late evening, we
retired for the day.
Early on the Lord’s day, two mini
vans were at the resort to ferry us to
preacher Bong’s church. Situated on the
second level of a hardware shop in the suburban
district of Jalan Kedandi Tabuan
Dasun, its spacious hall, with two adjoining
rooms, could easily accommodate 80
people. The worship service and Sunday
school commenced concurrently at 9.30
a.m. Comprising four families, 20 students
and our group, the hall was filled to the
brim. After preacher Bong’s exposition on
Luke 22 in Mandarin, Elder Sng exhorted
the congregation on the unfinished work
of the Great Commission and shared his
personal testimony. A joint gift of $1,000
from our English and Chinese Services was
presented to them. They received it gratefully.
The worship service ended with fellowship
over light refreshments. Due to
time constraint, we journeyed back to prepare
for our return to Singapore. We thank
God that the resort graciously extended our
check-out time, enabling us to acquire
some rest.
In the evening, Preacher Bong, his
wife and two others were at the airport to
see us off. We were truly blessed with good
weather and safety throughout the trip. It
is our prayer that the brethren will continue
to grow in their faith and good works. All
praise and honour be unto God.
Rev. Dr Timothy Tow