This month my team will be doing ATL (Ask The Lord) for our last month here in Malaysia. Last time when we did ATL we just made one big plan, we didn’t really take it day by day. So this time around we want to just live day by day and see what God has for us each day.
Our team is in Georgetown, Malaysia. It is a very touristy island in Malaysia.
Without further ado, let me tell you about today.
Our plan for today was to go to a coffee shop and pray that God would send us someone to talk to. Like I said previously this is a very touristy part of town so a lot of people speak English. Melanie and I both heard about a lighthouse coffee shop….which I thought was an actually lighthouse at one point…(The main reason I pushed so hard to go there) So after lunch we looked it up and headed that way.
On our way to the Lighthouse Cafe a group of girls stopped us wanting to ask us questions. They were doing a school project asking about the city and then we got to take a picture with them. They were so excited to see us and talk with us it just instantly brought me joy.
Once we left the girls and started walking to the cafe again we stumbled upon an art gallery. If you know me this is pretty much a love language of mine. I love wondering through art galleries and seeing how people see the world. I’m no art critique, I don’t care about the deeper meaning or anything I just truly enjoy looking. I felt like God just put that in our path today to love on me a little bit. I don’t believe in luck or coincidence. I believe in a big God.
Back on our journey to Lighthouse Cafe.
Turns out Lighthouse Cafe is apart of a very big crazy amazing foundation and one of our fellow world race teams is working in an orphanage next door. Who knew? Not us! Not a clue. God knew.
So we go inside this little cafe and order some coffee because…coffee. The man that works there is named Eddie and he is originally from California. We got to hear some of his story and found out that Lighthouse welcomes volunteers. Eddie went and got the boss man of it all and he got to tell us more. (After we got FREE ICE CREAM..not luck…God)
So Lighthouse foundation does a few things; they have a cafe, a laundry mat, a thrift shop and a bakery. These four businesses help to fund the school, the homeless outreach and the project to help women out of prostitution. They also have supporters who give money donations or food.
We got to tour the homeless outreach and the school. The women are very protected so we didn’t get to see that side of the ministry. Belli (the boss) told us about how many of the homeless are elder because their families don’t want to care for them in their old age. They don’t have a place to stay over night at the foundation but they can come during the day and get a meal. He also said if we wanted to come help with dinner some day we could. Really hoping we get to do that.
The school was also amazing. The kids get the opportunity to learn typing skills because Dell donated a bunch of computers and is a really big sponsor of Lighthouse. They also get to learn life skills at this school like cooking. If the child is homeless they are provided a home so they can attend the school. Kids from the orphanage next door also come to the school.
NONE OF THIS WAS PLANNED!!! I REPEAT NONE!
Our plan was to go get coffee at a coffee shop, pray, maybe talk to a person if we felt led. God just continues to amaze me. I don’t know why I keep expecting so little when God always blows my expectations out of the water.
I hope this was encouraging to someone because I just feel so love and encouraged today.
And guess what…It’s only day 1.
