We have made it to Malaysia! After about 20 hours on a bus and an hour train ride, we made it to our ministry site for the week in Port Klang, Malaysia. We will be moving around quite a bit this month, serving with different pastors throughout the country.
Malaysia is best described as a multi-cultural nation. There are three prominent ethnicities: Malay, Chinese, and Indian. With that, there are a variety of religions in Malaysia as well. In the community that we are staying in, there is a Hindu temple, Muslim mosque, Buddhist temple, and a Methodist Church all within sight of one another. As we’ve been working with the church, we have also taken the time as a team to learn more about these religions so that we are able to know who and what they believe.
With all of these cultures wrapped into one community, the food also is very diverse and delicious! We have gone out with many families from the church and they have ordered all the AMAZING food that surrounds the area. We’ve enjoyed all kinds of Indian, Chinese, and Malay food while we’ve been here. We had the experience the first day we were here to eat an Indian meal with only our fingers, which is their custom, and our pastor and his family were definitely entertained!
Right now we are working at the Tamil Methodist Church and planning programs for different ministries they serve with. We had the awesome opportunity to visit their elderly home which houses 11 ladies from the ages 68-91. They were such a warm and happy group, with lots of hugs and smiles as soon as we walked into the doors. We sang songs, played games, performed skits, and shared with them how special they are and how much God loves them. We also got the chance to ask them about their lives, talk to them about their families, and listen to them talk about anything and everything they wanted. I sat with a charming Malaysian lady named Cecila who has four children and is a retired Kindergarten teacher. She loved talking about her four children and thirteen grandchildren and was such a delight to chat with about teaching and hobbies she has enjoyed over the years. We came away incredibly blessed and hopefully they felt the same as we did!
