After a hectic month of traveling and adapting to life on the Race, my first blog on the mission field now comes to you as I am leaving Malaysia. My month was spent mostly in Kuala Lipis, preparing a new English school and hosting several weekend English workshops for some of the local kids. Kuala Lipis is a fundamentalist Islamic area that is sensitive to Christianity, so my first month as a missionary I was advised not to mention Jesus' name to the people I ministered to in order to avoid the slim but present chances of jail time, deportation, or rioting. (Keep in mind that we are in Malaysia during the month that an American video mocking the Islamic prophet Mohammad greatly offended the Muslim world.)
We often speak of being Jesus to people, rather than just telling people about Him, and month one of the World Race required this team to rise up to that challenge in a very practical way. Several blogs will be comin' at ya in the next week, sharing with you the adventures team Divinely Appointed lived out in Malaysia, the truths that I'm already learning on this journey, and the incredible teachers I have been blessed by along the way. For now, I'll leave you with a glimpse of some of the beautiful faces of Malaysia I encountered in these last few weeks, from the checkout line in the grocery store, to the English students who are the future of this nation. I have been shocked by the mixture of ethnicities in this country– Indians, Chinese, and native Malaysians, all distinct in skin color and bone structure and religious tradition, but all unified in their beauty and their desire for love…same as you and me. I hope their portraits will speak to your heart and remind you of the beautiful diversity of God's creative handiwork.
