Month 4 – Malaysia
This year Christmas looked a little different for me and my team. In the 26 years of my life I have never spent a Christmas away from my family. In fact, I’ve awoken every Christmas morning in the same room at my grandma’s house in a snowy Connecticut town where I would typically spend the day eating and laughing with all of my extended family on my mom’s side.
This year I still did a lot of laughing and eating, but I was eating Indian food with my hands and laughing with my hilarious teammates dressed in Santa hats. It was about 95 degrees outside and except for our amazing host family, we were pretty much the only ones in the city who celebrated Christmas. In fact, it is illegal to evangelize in Malaysia at all, so we had to be rather selective in the way we chose to celebrate and serve.
We brought presents to hospital patients, went Christmas caroling around our community (we even sang one song in Malay and one in Tamil!), had a Christmas morning worship service, hosted children’s Christmas Programs, did a Secret Santa gift exchange and even decorated with homemade decorations!
Although this Christmas I had my moments of being homesick, I know it will be one I will always remember!
Christmas in Malaysia from Carolyn Bradley on Vimeo.
