Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
This month – we lived and worked in Penang, Malaysia. The culture of Malaysia is made up of three different people groups: Malay, Chinese, & Indian. It was an amazing mixture of cultures and colors – and many of these people groups intermarry and have incredibly beautiful children. Surprisingly – the two national languages are Malay and English … so, we had a great time being able to communicate with the people. We lived at the Kawan Center this month, a drop in center for the homeless in the city. They were opened M, W, & F for breakfast & lunch. People could come in for breakfast, take showers, change clothes, even lay down for a nap, and wake up and have lunch. It is illegal to sleep on the streets in Malaysia, so many of them are up several hours of the night – allowing their children to sleep. I had an amazing moment the first time we fed them…where I felt the Lord saying to me: “this is love… this is exactly what I call you to do – feed the hungry”! It was so powerful. The Kawan center closed around 3 pm and we would walk down the street to The Lighthouse – where we did the same thing. It was here though, that we were able to build more relationships with the people. This is where we met Dean, Louie, “Superman”, Kim, Steven, Ed, & Andrew James. There were so many families – families with children and it was heartbreaking and comforting to see them day in and day out. Heartbreaking to know that they could not provide for their children, but comforting to get to physically see their bellies get full.
There were always so many interesting stories from our days at the Kawan and the Lighthouse. Our very first day – we got to de-gut chickens and even chop off the fingernails on the feet! This may be a task many of you have done to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner … but it was all of our first time to dig the guts out of a chicken. I got to serve in the kitchen a lot, which was a lot of fun for me. I love to cook and to get to help cook such different meals than I have ever even eaten before was a blast. There was also a lot of time to just sit with people and ask them their story. One guy was actually from the States and after the economy went down… he lost his business and all he invested in it – and now he is homeless in Malaysia. Another friend we met, went to the States for college and wants to be successful in his home country, but just can’t get a break. Here are a couple pictures of our friends eating their food.
The hardest part was not always watching them eat and having to understand the reality behind that… but it would have to be our nights of evangelism. These nights were when the reality of their living situations came to life. It was really easy to just see them as regular ol people who I happened to give breakfast & lunch to on certain days, but there is no denying the pain of their situation when you walk past their “home”. I quote the word home because I saw many of my friends sleeping on park benches or on sidewalks. I was in shock the first time I saw a family that I had grown to love (a tired Mom, a dad who is constantly working to provide anything for his family and 4 very young children) all sleeping on a cement bench together – with no protection what so ever. Those babies had no pillows to rest their heads on, no warm beds, no comfort of lullabies to sing them to peaceful sleep… heart wrenching. I could only pray that the grace of God and His love would cover them each night and bring peace to that Mom and to those children. No one deserves that – and God says that He wants us to feed the hungry and that by feeding the hungry – we are in turn, serving Him.
Mt. 25:31-40. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
I feel like I have been learning what this means & I am so thankful for the opportunity to walk in that this month. This month was challenging on a personal level for everyone on my team … but it was a beautiful month of learning to see people the way God sees them and learning to love and offer grace to the ones that the world sometimes has completely turned their backs on.
All of my pictures from the month have been uploaded and if you would like to see them, you can click
here.
P.S. THANK YOU so much to everyone who donated to Anna – God has worked a miracle. She got in way over what her goal was … and now she is about $2,000 away from being completely funded for the year – which is right where I am at also. You are all amazing! The Africa countdown is on it’s way … 4 days!
