Back to Bali - Our Return to Overseas Missions
A team of 20 students and four staff travelled to Bali, Indonesia, from 29 March - 6 April, on the first overseas College mission trip since 2019. King's partnered with Bali C3 Church, led by Ps Gayle Dwije, an Australian who moved to Bali around 30 years ago. Ps Gayle and her team run a Christian College, a live-in discipleship house for young people, often escaping tragic situations, multiple slum ministries sharing the gospel to full Hindu and Muslim communities, and a Compassion program with over 200 students they are responsible for. Thanks to our wider King’s community for supporting this mission trip and helping us partner with Bali Christian College. Our Primary School community worked especially hard to raise money for BCC in their LIFE program fundraiser last term which makes a huge difference in Bali and impacts so many lives.
One of our student participants reported on her Bali Mission Trip experience:
What made this trip different from regional ones was not only the stark cultural contrast of the surroundings – the crowded streets and the manic driving, the incense and the flavours – but the way in which we served. I felt that on this trip especially, it was minimally about us but our primary purpose was to serve the Bali community by investing our time and energy into building relationships, helping with and really supporting the House of Hope, C3 Church and Bali Christian College, along with Compassion and the Arms of Love foundation. I loved interacting with the locals and I formed close relationships with some of the women and I now keep in contact with the people I met there.
A major highlight (for everyone) would have to be the very unexpected mud bath (along with a literal game of ‘stuck in the mud’) that we were subjected to in the rice paddies! It was super fun and was a real icebreaker. Another major highlight for me was the visit to the slums. It was an eye-opening experience for all of us, as we’d never experienced such living conditions – the smells, the cramped hovels, and the tall piles of rubbish that the people there lived in. I enjoyed spending time with the locals and getting to know all the Compassion children and the students from Bali Christian College. Other special moments included our first interaction with Kadek ,when we arrived at the airport, who handed us each a frangipani necklace, made by the House of Hope children. When we played futsal with the church youth, the Balinese girls gave us matching bracelets, and we gave them the classic Australian koala keychain in return. All of the teachers imparted so much into each of us and without them, the trip wouldn’t have been the same. While much of the trip was spent serving others, we also enjoyed time to recuperate, relax, and enjoy being tourists in Bali. I loved the sunrise walks to the beach in the mornings and our nightly supermarket visits. At devotions, it was great hearing the testimonies of fellow students and praying for the locals really opened my heart and deepened my faith...