Country: Malaysia
City: Kuantun
Language: Malay. Many different languages are spoken here, however, and English is quite prevalent (woohoo!).
Currency: Ringgit (conversion rate is 4.2 ringgit to $1)
Time difference: 13 hours ahead of EST
Weather: It’s another toasty one! It is very hot and muggy here, with average temps around low 90’s, though it feels like 100+.
Local meal eaten recently: Since we are responsible for our own meals this month, and have no kitchen, the food budget is extremely tight. We have only been allotted $4.29 per person per day for our meals, so we are learning to experiment more with street vendors. I’ll admit this has been challenging as we are finally in a very westernized area with access to more American style foods at the nearby malls…and a Starbucks!! I can’t tell you the frustration of knowing that one latte will eat up your entire day’s food budget 🙁
There is an outdoor “food court” within walking distance of our hostel which serves only local foods. Here is one of the menu signs on display there:
My most recent lunch there was this:
The noodles were fairly tasty, but I can’t say the same for the soup dish. It contained some mystery ingredients consisting of a slimy, gel-like ball and inner parts of a pig. I can’t say I will ever order this again, but at roughly $1.50, the price was right.
Living conditions: We are staying in 2 different rooms at a small homestay, which is essentially just a home in which families rent out various rooms. So, we are back to A/C and hot water (Yippee!), but we do not have a kitchen. For the first time on the Race, I also have access to a washing machine where we are staying, which is so awesome! You simply hang your clothes outside to dry, which takes no time. LB and I took the smaller, 2-person room (pictured below) which has the benefit of sharing the bathroom with only one other person for a month! Praise! 
I know it is terribly messy, but this is literally the whole room (I was standing as far back against the wall as I could to take this shot)…and our backpacks explode once we settle down somewhere.
Here is our combined toilet/shower room that Asians so love. The shower head was definitely not made for my height.
My team ministries: This month is a very unique one for team Ascension. Our team was one of two selected to take part in an ATL (ask the Lord) month. ATL is something all of us have been pressing into more during the Race and it is simply listening prayer. Listening prayer involves quieting yourself before God and just opening yourself up before Him, to hear more clearly anything He might want to share with you for either yourself or others. He can sometimes gives you a picture in your mind or a verse or sing word….anything goes. It is very hard to explain via email, but it is just a practice of truly going to Him with nothing on your agenda but to listen and seek. Sometimes you get nothing and sometimes you don’t fully understand what you see/hear. I’ve often even battled over whether what I saw or heard was simply from my own mind and not God, but I’m learning that when you have the Spirit, God becomes a part of all these things….your thoughts, passions, gifts, etc. So, I have been trusting in His ability to speak to me however He chooses and have seen some pretty cool and powerful things come out of this over the last few months.
So, in terms of what this means for our team this month, we do not have a ministry host or set ministry for March! That’s right, no one was here to greet us and put us up at a place or tell us our ministry schedule. We will all be praying through the entire month and trusting in God to direct our steps and show us ministry opportunities. We have already been in prayer about the month and some things different individuals got was a hospital ministry, public worship, prayer walks, going out to malls and coffee shops to purposefully sit down and get to know individuals, etc. I’m sure this will continue to change and develop once we are there and see the opportunities before us. ATL month is difficult in one sense as we literally don’t know what we will be doing each day yet, but it is also a cool opportunity to allow God to use our different skills and passions creatively. There have been so many times in the past where I wanted to go talk to someone I walked by or do something for an individual God put on my heart, but there was no time as I was walking to ministry or going to team time, etc. Our schedule is needed, but it can sometimes confine you from reaching out beyond it. ATL month is a month where it is all about those opportunities and the freedom and time to pursue them, which is pretty cool! We found our homestay and location simply because it was one of literally 2 places in that whole region that we can afford on our team budget! So, we just started with that and are moving forward from here.
On our first ministry day, we set out for the local hospital to try and speak with patients, simply to offer encouragement and spend time with them. However, as foreigners, we are not allowed to simply walk in and start visiting folks. We were given the contact info for a man who can help us fill out a volunteer application, of sorts, to see if we might be allowed to come and visit in the future. As we walked away from that, slightly bummed that our first attempt did not work out successfully, we came across a sign on the road for a nursing home. So, we walked there and was welcomed in within seconds. We had some very interesting and hilarious conversations with people of all backgrounds, and it reminded me of my time at Home of the Ancients back in Nicaragua. Though many of the residents have Alzheimers and don’t speak English, we made some good connections and all felt God in our time there, in various ways. We plan on going back there at least 2-3x/week to continue building relationship with the residents and staff.
Our walk to the hospital (right)
One of the girls on my team, A.T., is a skater and brought her skateboard on the Race, which has opened so many doors! She found this awesome skate park and has started making many new friendships there. So, we will be incorporating time there into our ministry as well. We are even trying to put together a skate tournament there with prizes and food as a final celebration before we leave at the end of the month.
This is the view of the skate park/soccer field
Some of the skate ramps (photo credit: Grace Chase)
Trying our hand at skating….ha!
Pray that we will utilize this month to the fullest and truly learn to listen to and obey what God says, no matter how odd it may seem to us at the time. Can’t wait to see how He works it all out!
Interesting fact: Islam is the official religion of Malaysia with all ethnic Malays considered to be muslim. A Malay person cannot renounce Islam according to their law, so there is no acceptance or allowance for conversion to another religion for those born here. Ironically enough though, this country has a wide variety of ethnicities and religions within it. From Malays to Chinese to Indians, you see all types of different people walking around, and as long as you are not Malay, all religions are tolerated here. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how warm and welcoming the Malay people have been to us. We are not in a typical tourist spot here, so seeing Americans walking around is NOT common. As such, we get lots of looks and smiles, and many a selfie request 🙂 It’s so refreshing to see the genuine excitement and acceptance from women covered in their hijabs and full length pants and tops and the kindness of strange men. This is one of the countries I’ve actually felt safest in and most welcomed by. It seems we as Americans could learn a thing or two from them here about acceptance and tolerance.
There was a whole mini market at the bottom of the mall full of Islamic clothing
Most of the women were covered head to toe, even at the beach
What surprised me: All of the cars! After months of taking all sorts of various modes of transportation and seeing motorbikes everywhere in Asia, we were all shocked to see that the large majority of residents here all have cars, at least in this city! Add to that the large malls they have with stores like Nike and Starbucks and we quickly felt like we were back in the US. It was a weird transition from the red dirt roads of Cambodia to the streets here in Malaysia, but there is still great need here; it just looks quite different. I feel like God is giving us all this month, which is in such a developed location, to learn how to be more intentional with our normal, daily routines back home.
Off day opportunities: As is always the case with our countries, there is not enough time or money to see and experience all that Malaysia has in store. However, my team plans on squeezing in a lot this month on of our days, by visiting both Kuala Lumpur and Singapore! I’m very stoked about both locations! Locally, we are right near a beach and have access to 2 different malls here, so can enjoy some familiar foods on occasion, as well as watch a movie for $2!
