My new team, team Horizon, is in Malaysia this month living on a palm oil plantation in a little city called Gua Musang. Our hosts are a sweet Chinese couple, Uncle PC and Auntie Kim. They run the palm oil plantation and also have a “retreat” here for pastors or whoever comes. It’s an awesome place and we love it…it’s the best of both worlds; we get to live in the jungle, but in a house (kind of like a camping cabin) and there is a toilet and running water. And let’s not forget our friend Roy who visits in the night, a very sneaky rat who calls this place home. We discovered him when he woke Ashley up by running across her arm one night and jumping over my head. There are also 2 of the cutest puppies ever here that we affectionately named Samson and Nala and monkeys that jump from tree to tree outside of our windows.
We spend the day working around the plantation, fertilizing trees (which is sometimes terrifying when you have to wade through the muck), cleaning up, fixing things, going to church services, bible studies, etc. Mostly we do a lot of manual labor. On Christmas Eve, we get to host an American style Christmas dinner for church members and friends and families in the community. There aren’t many Christians in this country; the majority of the population is Malay and by law they are born Muslim and it’s illegal for them to convert. There are also a large number or Indian and Chinese people here…the Chinese food is off the chain! One of the churches we go to is Chinese church. Another is with an Indian pastor, they go out to poorer areas and bring gifts and offer to pray for people…just getting to know and care about people to build relationships that will hopefully lead to them being open to hear the gospel. It’s never an easy choice for a Malay to be a Christian, it’s a decision that can bring backlash from the government and many are ostracized by their families. Definitely people who could use some prayer.
The team change has certainly been challenging, I miss my girls that I’ve seen every day for the first 3 months. But I’m so thankful for Jacquie being here with me and getting to know and love her more. I really do love the people on this new team too…it’s a completely different dynamic with very different personalities, but it’s been good and I’m seeing why God put us together more and more. Sometimes you just have to trust when you can’t see the point. It’s funny too because most of the farmers are on this team, so we all bond with our hick-ness and work well together. It is nice to hear other people’s accents being commented on and not my own =)
