I wanted to finally tell you all about training camp and what God showed me there, but that half-written post will have to wait a bit longer as I share where I'm currently at. Physically, that's an island in Malaysia!
Two weeks ago, AIM staff alerted my squad that our first country would be Malaysia, not Australia, and finally gave us information about our ministry for the month. My team and one other are working at a Youth With A Mission base in Pulau Penang, a tourist hotspot located on the northwestern coast of Malaysia.
I took this picture from the top of Penang Hill yesterday.
My team of seven is spread out across a few different ministries; most are at Kawan, a drop-in center for homeless people to come eat breakfast and lunch, take a shower, do laundry, and take a nap undisturbed. I'm serving at a fairly well-known missionary hospital by helping fundraise for a new Oncology (cancer) Center; our time will also involve meeting with patients and praying for them.
It's a relief to be finished with the past two weeks and at our first location. After my internship and a week spent visiting friends and family across the Florida panhandle, I essentially had one week to see physicians, search for last-minute items, savor final moments with loved ones, repeatedly debate over which items would make it into my backpack–the list continues.
Instead of completing my to-do list, I felt like I checked off the majority of a "DO NOT" list.
DO NOT leave any item left unfound by the last week. I spent more time than I could afford scouring through stores and paid more than one express shipping fee (This crushed me.)
DO NOT leave any immunizations/medicine pick-ups to the last week. I was trying to maximize taking advantage of my insurance policy, but this ended up being a dangerous move.
DO NOT leave packing to the day before your flight. I still had to search for different items during the day, couldn't figure out which clothes were best, and ended up with flying to Chicago with no sleep, no shower, and random items either shoved into my airporter (duffle protecting my backpack while flying) that wouldn't fit into my backpack, or chucked to stay in the car before I walked into the airport.
DO NOT leave too little time to spend with family and friends. I ended up not seeing life-long friends before leaving, and my family still felt like they hadn't spent enough time with me.
With other tasks I completed from the "DO NOT" list and additional responsibilities I had at home, I left for Chicago Monday morning last week feeling pretty beaten down. While not being able to pick up my typhoid pills and having my netbook's internet connection continually fail became rough final blows, God repeatedly provided grace and blessing in each circumstance.
I was able schedule a very late appointment to get the typhoid injection instead of the pills, and cheap public transportation was nearby for me to travel across Chicago to get it.
Since my teammate and I randomly got off one bus stop too early on the way to the appointment, we passed by Giordano's, Chicago's most famous pizzaria, and I got lunch from there on the way back.
One of my sisters just received a bonus from her work, and decided to use part of it to fully pay for my netbook replacement.
My aunt and uncle who live near the city graciously picked up my new netbook at the store Saturday morning and had just enough time to drop it by my hotel before I left to catch my afternoon flight.
My whole family actually rallied around me to these past two weeks. Their help and how much I needed it was humbling, to say the least, but at the same time undeniably beautiful. My aunt and uncle's early drive over was the final brick in layers of service that paved the way to my departure from the U.S. Both my two brothers and parents worked well into the night with me before my flight to Chicago last week, doing everything from reconstructing a pair of jeans, copying movies onto an external hard drive, and hosing down and blowdrying my tent. My sisters and brother-in-law also pitched in long-distance with the logistics of Chicago transportation and the selection of my computer.
I wasn't able to choose my family; they were a gift just given to me. Now that I've left from them, I've chosen to embrace a new family that God has given me for this year. The seven of us have striking differences and odd similarities with each other; we're still in the process of unearthing our stories and discovering our dynamic. Our hope is to loudly and exuberantly proclaim Christ with our love for each other, and I see much potential for becoming a truly beautiful team.
That being said, since our arrival in Malaysia on Monday it's been another incredibly rough week for me in trying to connect with everyone. My time in the Word has consistently strengthened me though, and God revealed to me yesterday in Ruth 1 that His hand has been behind my recent three weeks, that His purpose in them is good and beyond what I know right now, and that His timing is perfect.
In addition to praying for my team and I to all be extending grace to each other better, please pray for my interactions with patients and workers at the hospital. Also be praying for God to prepare the hearts of those we speak to when we go out on the streets to share Christ on Wednesday nights; we'll mostly be meeting with a mixture of the homeless, backpackers, and sex workers.
