We’ve made it to Malaysia! A very green land filled with hills and rows of trees everywhere. The craziest jungle type atmosphere I have ever experienced. We have amazing thunder and lightning storms with rain almost everyday. This month we are in northern Malaysia, less than an hour away from the Thailand border. We have been blessed with another great host family and house. For those of you that don’t know, Malaysia is a Muslim dominated country. It is illegal to openly talk about Jesus or try to convert anyone. We are extremely limited on what we are able to do here.
The farthest mountain range is Thailand!
So for the month we are helping a pastor and his family with their preschool. They run a preschool right next to where we live. They are unable to share Jesus directly with the children but can through their actions and their lifestyle. Men are not allowed to teach there, so ministry for us men is limited. We can help clean the preschool and help maintain the lawn and possibly teach some English classes at the preschool after hours.
The family is constantly under attack from the neighbors and landlord. The landlord might kick them out of the house and they will then have to move the preschool back into the house we stay at. They live a tough life with possibly being the only Christians in the area. God called them from India to come so they came. So encouraging them and helping with whatever we can is our prime ministry for the month.
The landlord for the house we stay in really doesn’t want racers here so he doesn’t allow any cooking in the house, so we are forced to eat out every meal. So building relationships with restaurant owners has already started to happen, built off of past relationships from racers and their loyalty.
Since we are not allowed to run in the streets because neighbors will try to find fault with us, several of us got memberships at a gym. We have already met several guys there that we see each time we go, so hopefully we can shine a light by working out there. It is a real strange month with more free time than we have ever had but it gives us a chance to slow down and think of our future to come. It is a great reminder of how good we have it in America.
We got to go explore a cave last weekend. It had a couple tight squeezes and spots where you had to crouch down in the water. This little spider was just bigger than my hand! We also saw a snake, huge frogs, bats, and several other creatures. On the hike to the cave we found ants that were almost an inch in length!
In case you are wondering after our last month in China we will be flying back to the States on May 30th. We’ll land in Seattle, Washington, completing our trip around the entire world! The realization of returning home and the life ahead is quite exciting and intimidating. What does God have next for me? So please continue keeping my fellow racers and I in your prayers.
The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur
