God used my Cantonese/Mandarin incredibly to connected with people in Malaysia. Here is the thing: there are not many Christian in Malaysia but I keep running into them, and Chinese are the minority but I keep running into them. God’s plan is crazy! I am going to list out the stories that I remember the most. Enjoy!
The Hairstylist
One afternoon I went inside a really nice hair salon to get haircut but I was going to leave because of the price. The lady asked if I speak Chinese and insist to give me a haircut. She told me about her journey of moving away from home and started a business and that’s something we both have in common. She complimented me the way I spoke is very gentle because normally the Chinese men around her usually speak rudely. At the end she gave me a HUGE discount that’s almost free. That was the beginning of the rest of many following stories.
Mr. and Mrs. Wong
Me and my team had a prayer walk and we stopped at a shop where they sell motorcycle accessories. The large selections of stickers caught our attentions and I noticed the couple aka the owners spoke Chinese. The story began with me translating for my teammates. Then they told me how they worked 7 days a week, 15 hours a day and spent many years to save up money before opening of their shop. They are 60 years old and have 4 children, 6 grand kids and 1 great grand kid. They told me it is hard to survive as Chinese in Malaysia because the government doesn’t give them the benefits as much as Malaysian/Muslim. I have never thought my own people struggle like that. I asked “Wouldn’t some Chinese convert to be Muslim just for the benefit?”. Mr. Wong replied “Yes, but I won’t because I am a Christian. 10 years ago I was given a bible and I read it from beginning to the end and that’s how I found Jesus.” I couldn’t believe my ears! The state that we live in only have 2000+ Christians and here is one! Mr. Wong said her wife is Buddhist and his children are Atheist, his only hope is for his family to know God. There I prayed in Mandarin for the first time and I felt the Holy Spirit was with us even though it was a little odd at first. I can’t tell you how hard it is to find a Chinese who believes in God and aren’t afraid to show it! They treated us with a bag of free drinks at the end and I felt so blessed to be with them.
Stephen the Reverend
On the Easter Sunday we looked for a church to attend and it was very difficult. After a lot googling, we found there’s an Anglican church somewhere near us and they have a night time service in Chinese/English. I met Stephen who is the church pastor and he started to talk to me in Chinese and was so excited to meet us and hear what we do. (He kept saying to the crowd “Tonight we have a group of missionary here.”) I was so touched by the worship and sermons that night because how much it reminded me of the church in Hong Kong. God has been faithful to me and constantly lead me back to his plan. We had a great time having dinner and fellowship with all the people afterward.
Next day Stephen invited us to join their leadership prayer meeting. The state that we stayed in called Terengganu. Every Monday all the leaders from 6 churches get together to pray. It was amazing to see how all of them came as one no matter they are catholic, Angelica, or non-denominational. It was so powerful to experience how passionate they are for the Gospel even it is extremely hard in a Muslim country with limited resources and future leaders. We encouraged them but pretty sure we were encouraged even more. The next day we were invited to have dinner with them for Stephen’s wife birthday, and they treated us with a table full of authentic Chinese food! (So happy!!!)
The Yolk’s Cafe
You gotta love when your teammate sometimes. Liz came back to the hostel one morning and said “Hey I signed you up for a gig in a cafe! The owner is Chinese!” I thought “Oh no…how am I supposed to prepared 2 hours worth of songs to sing? And people are gonna think it is weird to hear worship music!” Long story short, I went to meet with the owner and his name is Nickson. Him and his friends were engineers and did all the mechanical/remodeling work of the place by themselves. They make this really cool drink that looks like a picture of the galaxy and let customer to keep the glass bottle. Nickson was happy to have someone to speak Cantonese with, and we are both OBSESSED with Jason Mraz’s music! Even he isn’t a believer, he welcomed me to pray and sing worship music.
At the night of the gig, I honestly was really nervous at first but my fear was gone soon as I sang the second song. People started coming in and it turned into a party, everyone jammed out at the end. Nickson sang a few songs with me and we got really excited when we sang the same Chinese songs that we both love! I once had a vision of playing a gig and sang Chinese/worship music in Asia and it came true that night. God is so good! My squad mates talked with the customers as I sang, it was such a beautiful picture! My teammates left after the gig, we continued to sing for couple more hours. I met few more friends of Nickson and 3 of them are also believers. I don’t know if Nickson will ever give his life to Christ, but I am thankful God gave us a friendship in just few short days.
The Leather Man
OK. I really don’t know how did I not take a picture for this one but I guess that’s what happen when you got too carry around in conversations. I met this man name Gil, he is actually pretty well-known in Cameron Highlands that you could find him if you google his name. He owns a small leather goods booth where he made all of the products, he used to own a travel agency and many people have heard his name in the city. On a normal day you would see him making a leather bracelet or playing his classical guitar. That man is a master on guitar! On the Saturday I walked by and talked to him about guitar and music, and he told me he is the worship leader of a church. “You should bring your guitar tomorrow and play with me.” He said. “I am in! But how am I gonna learn all the songs tonight? I don’t have my guitar with me.” I replied.
“I will play and you can learn right now.”
If God ask you to do something, sometimes you don’t really have time to wait. He would play a song then pass me his guitar let me practice. Thanks to years of playing by ears, I managed to pick up the song pretty quickly. It was the BEST time I had that night! I found someone who is a (super) perfectionist like me when it comes to music. We talked about guitar models, chords, scales, worship, and…….things probably are too boring to describe. It has been a long time since I actually got to learn new tricks from someone.
Next day was great at church! I met a young Chinese professor who happened to be there from his yearly trip with family. I prayed for him and he told me a lot more details with Chinese being in Malaysia.
The Young Followers
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
Last story is when me and Liz hung out one day in Cameron Highlands. We planned to go to a hiking spot or tea farm but it wasn’t possible due to weather and the traffic during holiday. We ran into Gil after walking in rain for a while. Gil told us there’s a Christian cafe nearby called “The Lord’s Cafe” and couple church members work there also. Liz thought it would be a good idea to go and encourage the workers there. Liz noticed a table of 5 young people and Liz confirmed with me if they were speaking in Chinese. Then she asked “Would you be willing to start a conversation with them? I felt led to talk to these people.” I was worried that the young people would think who is this creepy old man talking to us in Chinese? I began to talk to one of the girl and she immediately asked “Are you Christian?”
“Yes, me and my friend here are on a mission trip! So all five of you are Christians as well?” I asked.
“Oh no, not just us. This whole group of people are too.” She said as she point to a table of 15 plus people behind her. God can surely surprise you easily! We learned that they came from this church with 90% of young believers in Penang which is also the next place my squad is going! Me and Liz met their leaders and they shared how some of the youngsters were saved. They drove us around to strawberry field and we had good conversation in the car when we stuck in traffic for 2 hours.
We went to their church the next day. It was the coolest! There is the huge crowd of future leaders right before my eyes. You can tell that their hearts are on fire for the Lord! I was so encouraged by their testimonies and faith!
There are so many more stories like that and I wish I could tell you all of them in details. God gave us great gifts to expand His Kingdom and love on others. My fear disappeared as He opened my eyes to these gifts this month in Malaysia. I am thankful that He gifted me in languages and musically which I now use it freely, gladly and boldly! In the beginning of the month I asked specifically for God to speak to me in Chinese. An afternoon when I was on my way to a Buddhist temple, I heard He said “????????,????.” (“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 1:11) We are so loved by God in every way! If you can just slow down for a second you may find God is simply telling us that He loves us no matter what.
In the Buddhist temple, as I was surrounded by people who worshiped the false Gods. I saw a homeless man reading a Chinese bible. He rejected me when I asked to pray for him, but i couldn’t forget the serious look he as he read. Perhaps it may seem confusing or nothing makes sense where you are with God, but it all starts out by one simple “Yes”, God can take care of the rest.
Will you say yes to Him?
