Hello my beautiful friends and family! I hope that you all had an incredible holiday season and you are coming into the New Year refreshed and renewed. I know I am. It has been a while since my last blog post and there has been a lot that has happened. I guess the best place to begin would be a recap of what I spent my last month doing in Malaysia.
My team and I spent our December in the city of Melaka, a very historical part of Malaysia. It was beautiful and it was HOT, which was a big change from our month in Japan where I was constantly bundled up in a winter coat, gloves and a winter hat. Melaka temperature was, on average, about 95 degrees Fahrenheit each day. Though the city we were living in was rather touristy, with shopping malls practically across the street and a Starbucks every other block, our living quarters were in stark contrast.
We lived in the community hall of the church we were partnered with for the month. Let me just say that before coming on the Race, I had expectations of what living situations would be like: those expectations did not include air conditioning, beds, showers, above ground toilets, or honestly even a room itself (I still have yet to use my tent for something other than our weekend hiking/camping trip in Bolivia). This month, though still exceeding my expectations, felt closer to a “World Race month” than any other. We slept on the floor on our sleeping pads and showered using a bucket of water. Our toilet was a hole in the floor and A/C was non-existent, which made dumping a bucket of water on your self even more appealing after spending a long, sweaty day out in the heat and returning to a room that was nearly equivalent in temperature.
It was a humbling experience, and though not always glamorous, it was one I had been looking forward to. An opportunity to be pushed even more outside of my comfort zone and an opportunity to experience a new level of thankfulness for the privileges and comforts I have been so blessed to grow up knowing.
We spent the month partnered with a church called Real Love Ministry, who focuses on being a safe place for the deaf and sexually broken. The church was located in the business district and the sign read “RLM Management”. Because Malaysia is a semi-closed country, run by a Muslim government, Christians can’t really build churches that look like churches. Instead they must be disguised as a business, as not to draw too much attention.
We had a variety of different ministries for the month. In addition to just fellowshipping with the members of the church, we participated in Christmas caroling with them at different venues such as hospitals, malls, hotels and private homes. December was also the month for the church’s annual fundraising dinner, for which we were asked to carol and learn a sign language dance to perform in front of 600+ people! That one is a story in its own, but for now I’ll just sum it up with one phrase: Learn to laugh at yourself and at your situation. My team is excellent at this, which made this month’s randomness all the more enjoyable.
Another aspect of ministry for us was evangelism—which was rather difficult to do in a country where it is illegal to talk about Jesus to indigenous groups and Muslims in such a way that could come across as trying to convert them. You could say this was one of our greatest challenges for the month, especially considering it was nearly impossible for us as foreigners to distinguish who was Muslim or of the particular indigenous group from those who weren’t. Malaysia is a melting pot of three main people groups: Malays, Indians and Chinese. Malays are the indigenous group, but any one of the other cultures could have adopted Muslim as their religion.
What evangelism looked like for us was really just building relationships: with the baristas at the coffee shop, the woman at the grocery store, the girl who worked in the shop next to our home, etc. Being intentional about our conversations and just showing them Christ through the way we carried ourselves, even if we weren’t able to say His name.
For me this was the hardest part of the month, but I will explain more on that in my next blog.
That was it for our ministry with the church, and when we arrived these three activities were the only things that had been planned for us. To be honest with you, I was a bit disappointed. Yes, I loved every bit of the work we did with the church, and I do feel like we made an impact on many of the church members and the locals through caroling and outreach, but singing and dancing aren’t necessarily my forte, or my ideal forms of ministry. One thing I had been praying for specifically was the opportunity to do some type of ministry with kids, which is something I haven’t done a lot of on the Race, at least not consistently enough for me to consider it one of our main ministries.
Well, God heard my prayers and He knows my heart’s desires. Through a random turn in events, one of the members in the church signed us up to volunteer in the children’s ward at the nearby hospital each morning, and to visit an orphanage in the afternoon for both children and those with developmental disabilities each afternoon.
The rest of the month we had a jam-packed schedule, but I loved every minute of it. Our mornings were spent playing cards and coloring with sick children and their families; our afternoons were spent chatting and getting to know the locals and squeezing on sweet Indian children who called us “Auntie” at the orphanage. In the evenings we would get home just in time for a quick wardrobe change into our caroling attire and be picked up to go to our next performance and share laughs and make memories singing with our new friends in the church. Did I mention that everyone who speaks English in Malaysia speaks in a British accent, because the country has a British influence. Which means they also sing in British accents. Which means that in order not to stand out, the American girls had to also sing Christmas songs in British accents. “Do you heeyah what I heeyahhhh?” Yep that’s right, picture it. It was just as hilarious and ridiculous as you’d imagine it.
The month of December was one of the most physically, spiritually and emotionally exhausting of the Race for me, but it was also one of the most rewarding and contained some of my favorite moments. Our team grew so much closer through our constant laughter and gathered enough crazy, hilarious stories to last a lifetime. I learned sign language. I felt a new level of love for the children and adults at the orphanage. I got a fish pedicure. I attended the grand opening of our beloved orphanage and learned some new dance moves from beautiful Indian women in traditional Indian Saris. I rocked out in karaoke with new friends and I celebrated Christmas with my sisters.
December was pretty spectacular.
RLM Management (Real Love Ministries): Our church and our home for the month!
My sweet Indian babies from the orphanage.
“Auntieeee…”
All dressed and ready for caroling with our new friends from the church, Lionel and Prakash. I love these two.
Hospital visits in the children’s ward. Most of the kids we saw were in there due to Dengue Fever, a result of being bitten by an infected mosquito. We had so much fun playing Uno, coloring pictures and sharing stories from our travels with the awesome families we met.
The banquet hall of the church’s fundraising dinner, where we sang and danced on stage for over 600 people.
Team Kairos in their World Race best after our big performance. The sweet lady next to be is our friend Ruby from the church. She’s an absolute ball and one of my favorite ladies.
Fish pedicures in Kuala Lumpur… Not my favorite thing haha.
On our last night we had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of the orphanage. It was one of my favorite nights and was filled with Indian culture, from the dances to the beautiful, vibrant outfits.
We woke up Christmas morning to a fireplace with our very own stockings, thanks to my crafty teammate Meagan. Such a good Christmas!
