5 minute read
LET GO AND LET GOD!
by Jeremy Lee. Jeremy and his wife, Alicia, are members of Wesley Methodist Church. Prior to this mission trip, he was in the healthcare sector helping seniors age gracefully and investigating tuberculosis clusters in Singapore. With renewed faith from God, he is seeking to return to the healthcare sector to make a difference in people’s health.
Timor-Leste is a country nestled in South-East Asia between Indonesia and Australia. With a population of less than 1.3 million, 97.5% Catholics and 21 times bigger than Singapore, this young country was the place where God led wife, Alicia, and I for our 6-month Missions Internship Training & Exposure (MITE) experience from July to December 2023.
This mission trip started because I felt led by God to be on the ground and do something more for His kingdom. Taking the step of faith, I left my job to join the MITE programme as I believe that when God calls, I have to seize the opportunity from God and trust wholeheartedly that He will provide. Looking back at this 6-month MITE programme, I was given a first-hand experience of the amazing work that God is doing in Timor-Leste through St Paul Methodist School (SPMS), one that definitely cannot be accomplished solely by human strength.
I have experienced what it is like to have faith in God and also witnessed the goodness of God being exhibited.
I have experienced what it is like to have faith in God and also witnessed the goodness of God being exhibited. During the start of the mission trip, I did not know how I could serve in a school as I neither have any classroom teaching experience nor any prior knowledge of the education sector. Even though my educational background is in biomedical science with work experiences in healthcare administration, an area vastly different from the education sector, God was still able to plug me nicely into His kingdom assignment. I was able to make full use of my undergraduate knowledge to teach biology to Grade 10 & 11 students. God is indeed amazing as I was able to join a teachers’ training programme conducted in August to be equipped with the foundations of teaching. I was also tasked to teach a subject that I liked and had undergraduate experience in. God had indeed equipped me to perform the role set out for me. Even though I didn’t know it when I said “yes” to Him!
God’s goodness and providence did not stop here. My wife and I were also given the opportunity to co-lead the planning and execution of post-exam activities for the whole school. It was an uphill task as 10 activities had to be implemented over 9 days for 605 students. Initially during the planning phase, I was worried and concerned that these activities were too large scale and complex to be implemented. Moreover, managing 605 students was no mean feat. However, the theme for the post exam activities, which was “In Faith, We Move”, was a constant reminder to me. In faith, we must entrust everything to God, submitting, surrendering and yielding ourselves to Him even though the task may seem insurmountable. God will never give you more than you can handle because Paul tells us: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) I have also learnt to move in obedience and venture with endurance, and the result is witnessing God’s hand at work in making each and every post exam activity a success.
I am extremely thankful that God assigned me different roles to contribute towards His kingdom during my 6 months in Timor-Leste in 2023, where I served as a biology teacher and also supported the operations function. For example, I helped SPMS to prepare for Minister for Foreign Affairs (Singapore), Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s visit to SPMS in July 2023. All in all, the MITE programme to Timor-Leste has allowed me to experience the goodness of God and how faith can move mountains in the work of His kingdom.
To all who are considering serving in the field but may be unsure how you can help, I want to encourage you and say that when you take that first bold step of faith to serve, God will walk alongside you for the subsequent steps in your faith journey. Do not worry about how you can serve because God knows the gifts and talents that He has given you and they will fit nicely into His kingdom assignment for you. Let go and let God!
