Written by Chia Sheng

“How should I spend these 9 months before I start my undergraduate study?” This was the question I asked myself until I met Wycliffe Malaysia. In December 2020, I finished my pre-university study and decided to enroll in a public university. The only intake was in October 2021. Therefore, I have about 9 months before I start my undergraduate study and I wondered what I can do during this period. After prayer and much consideration, I decided to give my time to God for what He has done for me, even though this is not worth mentioning as a comparison to His unfailing love and grace in my life. After submitting enquiries to a few mission organizations, I was grateful that Wycliffe contacted me and I started serving as a volunteer in January 2021.

During the 9 months, I was given several tasks to work on. The main task was to reorganize information in their database. I helped to update and classify the contacts accordingly so that information can be sent out through the system correctly. One of the challenges I encountered was to familiarize myself with the software. I also helped evaluate a new system and then make comparisons between the new and the existing system for the possibility of upgrading the system. Other than that, I also helped on some translation of their materials from English and Bahasa Malaysia to Mandarin. Since Mandarin is my native language, I am more comfortable in constructing sentences in Mandarin. However, some sentences and phrases were quite difficult for me to translate, especially biblical terms because I am not familiar with words and terms used in the English language Bible. I often compared the English with the Chinese version of the Bible to understand the meaning of the biblical terms before I do the translation.

In September 2021, I stopped volunteering at Wycliffe Malaysia. This journey has deepened my understanding on how Bible translation plays a huge role in evangelism. It touches the hearts of people most, when they read the Word in their mother tongue. Throughout these 9 months, I also thank God for the opportunity to know more about Wycliffe’s missionaries and their ministries. Although most of the time I was working from home due to the COVID-19 lockdown, I am still thankful for being able to spend my time meaningfully before I start my under-graduate study.

To conclude from what I have learned and realized in this journey, I would say that the world today needs more young people to step out for the kingdom of God, because “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”. Serving the Lord should not be periodic or seasonal, instead, it is our lifetime mission.