It’s only been three days, but I can already tell this will be my most favorite and most fruitful month.
What is UH Month? This month, we are not given a specific ministry to partner and serve along side. Instead, we are to go out in faith and find our own ministry. Actually, what we’re really doing is looking for Unsung Heroes (hence the letters UH) in the area of Kuala Lumpur. We’re looking for missionaries, pastors, existing ministries, churches, etc. who are already doing God’s work in this community so that in the future we can send Racers to serve them for a month.
How and Where do you live? Well, we’re given a budget. Which is not at all any more money than what we usually get monthly. And we make do. Luckily for us, we are in Malaysia where no price is fixed and you negotiate everything. So we negotiated the nightly rate for the hostel in which we’re staying for the first week and we are currently strategizing a plan of attack for our next hostel. We make our own schedule, too. In the past four months, I have been up before 6am every morning and in bed by 9pm every night. But this month? this month we’re sleeping in (8am IS sleeping in), and we’re staying up. We have wi-fi in our bedrooms, so our beds have become our offices. But when we need a change of scenery we walk across the street into Starbucks. Street food isn’t scary anymore, because when you only have 12RM (4 dollars) per day to eat, for all three meals, you will try anything.
How do you find an Unsung Hero? You google. A lot.
We have sent out a million e-mails, to no replies. So today we started a new thing where we are googling addresses and showing up on people’s doorsteps. It took Aly and I a train ride, a prayer under the rain, three strangers, and a very confused taxi driver to get us to where we needed, but we made it. “You want to come and volunteer for us for one entire month?!” said the woman working at the rehab center with the biggest smile on her face as we explained why we had come.
What is it like? It is a lot like REAL LIFE actually. It’s like I have 6 other roommates and we have rented the cheapest and the smallest apartment in the crappiest area of the city, Chinatown. And since “we are new to the area” we asked around about a church and through a friend of a friend, we were referred to one. After an awesome worship service at our new church, we spent the afternoon with our new church friends sharing testimonies over a traditional Indian meal. Then on Monday night, after a long day of work, we met with our new church friends at a shopping mall for a prayer meeting and then split up into teams for outreach and to pray for strangers inside the mall.
Okay, I know. That’s not what REAL life looked like for me before coming on the race… But that’s the way it should be.
A big fear of mine is that I will get home at the end of the Race and either feel completely out of place, or I will fall back into old habits. But this month, I believe God is going to put a stop to that fear.
Kuala Lumpur reminds me of home. We aren’t allowed to “preach” to just anyone. People are closed off. They don’t run to you or yell out of their cars “what is your name?” or “where you from?” like they do in some other parts of the world (shout out to the Philippines!). Between all the attractive malls, and the endless stands selling things “you need”, this place is a shopaholics worst nightmare. There are so many distractions! And faces are commonly lit up by electronic devices…just like back home.
It is the perfect place and the perfect time for God to teach me the most fruitful lesson of them all: The Way Life Should Be.
As you can see on the right hand side of this page, I have a new team!!
We are called New Heights!!
We are seven women who have reached a point where we are one hundred percent ready to go deeper and higher FOR and WITH Christ!
I want to specifically ask to be covered in prayers as I step into a new role as Leader of this team. Also prayers for unity and trust as we develop a new bond as a new team is very much appreciated!
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
love, A
