This past Sunday, my team and I had the opportunity to volunteer at a field day hosted by one of the local schools in our town. We found out about this event through Gowry, a woman who takes English classes from us at the community center here in Kuala Lipis. She also brings her three sons to our English classes and we have absolutely fallen in love with this sweet family! We have the opportunity to talk with Gowry about everything from how she and her husband met to what she does when she goes to the temple to worship. And yesterday she invited us to come over for a home-cooked dinner with her family this weekend! What a sweet blessing it is to form friendships like this all across the world.
The field day we helped out at was an absolute blast! The highlight of the day for me personally happened during one of the relay events for the 4-6 year olds. One adorable little boy with a shy but sweet personality caught my attention from the get-go, and when it came his turn to ‘run’ the relay (in this case that looked like hopping from the line of children to a cone about 10 feet away and back with your legs tied loosely together), he absolutely froze. I mean fear in his eyes, everyone staring at him, unable to move FROZE. It was heartbreaking and adorable and almost immediately my motherly instinct kicked in. Within seconds I had run to his side from my spot at the ‘finish line’ and began half hopping/half dragging him to the cone so that he could complete his portion of the relay. Parents started cheering for us and I poured out encouragement on him through a very out-of-shape, out-of-breath smile, and we finished his relay hand-in-hand before he fled to the back of his line with a bashful but grateful grin.
I never even got his name, but his smile is one that I’ll never forget!
After all the events were run (including one that we had participate in! A 50 meter relay reminiscent of the Dunkin Donuts run because we had to chug a bottle of water and stuff our faces with cake…anything for the children, right?), there was an awards ceremony where every single child (and sweaty American) got a trophy or medal or award of some kind. Seeing my little friend skip proudly over to his mom after all was said and done with a medal around his neck would have been more than enough reward for me, but then he turned to me with that precious face that never even said a single word to me and just gave me the sweetest little smile you ever saw and in that moment a little piece of my heart got left in Malaysia.
**I am just $1,300 away from being FULLY FUNDED!!! I am completely in awe of the Lord’s faithful provision for my World Race thus far, and I can’t wait to see Him provide this last little bit necessary to keep me on the field for the next five months. Please consider helping me reach this final deadline by July 3rd! Just click on the button that says ‘Support Me!’ at the top of this page. All donations are tax-deductible and there are no processing fees! Thank you for your support!!
With love and wanderlust,
Cassady
