For the past month we have been living on an island in Malaysia. We were spoiled with our home for the month. We had hot showers, washer, beds, foosball table, and a great roof top view of the city, the mountains, the ocean, and the mainland. This island seems to be the melting pot of Asia. There are Indian, Korean, Chinese, Malay, Thai, and a wide range of backpackers; there are Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, and many others. (Sorry, internet was too slow to upload pictures…those will come soon hopefully)
(Our roof top view of the city.)
The Hospital
I would work here Monday through Thursday. This was a Christian hospital, which is incredible in itself because Malaysia is a strong Muslim nation and has laws against “converting.” We would jump on a bus and ride 30 minutes to the hospital. We would start off fundraising by going around to all of the waiting rooms asking for donations for a child’s heart transplant. Then we would walk around with the chaplains to visit and pray for patients (another blog soon to come). Then we would eat our free lunch and then go back to fundraising for a couple more hours. For fundraising we liked to station one group in front of the bakery they had and another group in the main waiting room with some sort of musical instrument depending on who came that day. I thought I would hate the fundraising aspect of the ministry, however God showed me how much of a blessing you can be to someone simply by smiling and asking them how they are. Who knows- you may be the only person that day who took an interest in them. Sometimes conversations would actually start and I would get to share a glimpse into the love of Christ. By the end of the month, we raised over 10,000 ringgit or $3,300 USD.
The Homeless Shelter
I worked here on Fridays. We started off the mornings with worship as staff. Then we started – some cooked, some served bread and coffee for breakfast, and some boys ran the shower room. I helped cook. My first time there I started off by cutting the fingernails off of chicken feet (yum). Then we would serve lunch and end by cleaning up. Also, one night a week we would get into groups and walk around to meet people on the streets and share. Check out this incredible story from one of my friends, Amanda.
Coffee Shop
This was run by a group of volunteer believers from PenHOP as an outreach to the community. I never worked here, but a bunch of my teammates did.
PenHOP
God’s gift to me this month. I had been praying for the Lord to deepen my understanding and desire for prayer. As soon as I walked in I felt it – the place was filled with the Holy Spirit, with the presence of the Lord – and God started to answer that prayer. We had the option a few days a week to come here at night when they were open. This is a place where I would spend about 8 hours a week in prayer and worship. I FEEL IN LOVE WITH THIS PLACE and our brothers and sisters there. I have no idea what my future holds, but I would be more than okay if it involved a community like this.
Here is our cribs video of the place where two of
our teams lived this month stayed this month!
