Where am I??
That’s a great question!
T
his month, we are spending three weeks in the Malaysian jungle. Sounds scary enough right?
We have asked the name of the village a few times, had a mumbled response in a language that
is completely foreign to us, and moved on. The World race has taught me not to ask too many questions,
because no one knows the answer, except God. We didn’t even know we were coming to the jungle until
the night we got to Malaysia.
So, the jungle is not quite as scary as you would think; at least this one isn’t. Sure, there’s the
occasional spider and water snake, but we’re making it out here. It’s very hot and there is no
A/C to escape to at the end of a hot day outside. Life here is simple; the people just do what they can
to make it. The houses are all made out of bamboo, aside from the concrete houses put up by the government.
We are here to help build bamboo huts down by the river, and to teach the people english, reading and writing.
There is a bit of a language barrier since we can’t understand anything they are saying and vice versa, which can be
tought since we don’t have a translater. haha.. It’s been a little bit of a challenge, but
it’s caused us to really go to the Lord and ask Him to make up for our inability to speak the language.
We have been teaching the kids everyday, and I’m realizing how much fun it is. They are so eager to learn, whichmakes it even more fun. At the end of each day, we play a few song games with them, do some stretches and say goodbye.
Life here is slow, but it’s been very rewarding to see how even people in the jungle are normal, like everyone else.
The way we do things here:
Eating: The usually bring us crackers and tea for breakfast at 8:30 am, Rice and fish with veggies for lunch. Dinner is ready at about 9 or 9:30pm, and we usually eat it with the pastor.
He sets out our “dinner table,” a few bamboo mats and we sit on the floor and eat dinner with our hands. We wash them in the washbowl first, of course. Dinner usually consists of rice, fish, roasted veggies, and
hot chili peppers. Yes, Mom, we are eating well! =)
Bathing: What a trip! We walk down a path, down some dirt hills, that I usually slip on, through the jungle and make it to a bamboo bridge, cross over and jump in. By the end of each day, we have sweated so much that we don’t care where we bathe, as long as we get wet and cooled off. This week, we have learned that the water
has leeches and snakes. Miranda got a leech on her leg the other day, while the rest of us girls ran in circles screaming. I tried to pull it off twice, but he was latched on. Miranda
finally used both hands to pull him off.Toilet: you know how they say, “the world is your playground?” Well, it’s also good for a toilet.
That’s right! Anytime we gotta go, we take a squat in a bush somewhere.
Sleeping: We sleep on the floor of the church. I usually douse myself in deet right before I go to sleep since
mosquitos are all over the place here. The temperature usually stays the same at night, so it’s hot pretty much all the time.
Days off: Every morning, we teach the kids till lunch time, then we have the rest of the day to go house to house, help build,
spend time in prayer, just sit outside with the kids, or nap. People here are very laid back. The men are off working and the women
stay at home with the kids. On our days off, we are taken into a town 30 minutes away and we stay the night there and get some time
to ourselves to do internet stuff.
laundry: We just wash our clothes while bathing in the river. They don’t smell very good right now, but I just have to remember that no one else smells good right now either,
so it’s OK.
Every night from 8:30 to 10pm, all the kids in town gather in the church and sing praise songs, so we have joined them for
it a few times and danced with them.
During the day, we do school in the church and then sit down for lunch. We are each taking an hour to intercede for the village
and seeking God for the people. My time starts at 1pm. In the afternoon, we sometimes do house visits and go door to door praying people or just hanging out with them.
While hanging in the church, the kids can just come in and out at any time.
The is a little hole in the door where chickens can come in and hang out, so at night, there are often chickens coming in and out of where
we sleep. Roosters begin crowing at 2am and continue pretty much all other hours. haha.. You learn to tune it out after a while.
One big thing I have learned so far is that how I am feeling and what is true are often contrary
to one another. Since we have gotten here, adjusting to the different climate, pace, language barriers,
and conditions has not been the easiest. Through adjusting has come a lot of frustration, but I am
learning so much. God has been telling me to start meditating on what is true instead of how I’m
feeling at the moment. Every morning I have been waking up and asking God what is true for that day,
and it has changed my whole perspective. I love the jungle and the people here!
I love you all! I Can’t wait to share more about this beautiful place!
