No more tortillas, no more rice and beans, no more speaking Spanish, no more Reggaeton blasting from stores as we walk down the streets…
Because we are in Asia!!! Malaysia to be exact. 
There have been a lot of changes the last couple weeks and I’m excited to share them with you guys. Other than the obvious fact of now being on the other side of the world and on a different continent, this month marks being with my brand new team, Abundant Pursuit (see below):
(From left to right: Sarah, Gracie, Jenny, Me, Katie, Jordie, Caitlyn)
We picked this name for a few different reasons. We want to be a team that is pursuing the Lord and is also aware of his pursuit of us. We also want to be a team that is actively pursuing others and seeing people with the Lord’s eyes. But we don’t just want a little bit of all of this; we want all of this in abundance.
Another very exciting part of this month is that we are doing what is called “Ask the Lord” month, or ATL for short. This means that this month our team did not receive a ministry host or structured ministry to do. This month we are challenged to deepen our dependence on the Father by asking Him where to go and what to do…every single day. Our team was originally assigned the city of Batu Pahat in Southern Malaysia to do ATL. After arriving in the capital of Kuala Lumpur (one of the coolest cities I’ve ever been in), we began researching Batu Pahat and looking for lodging. However, after a couple of days of praying but continuing to come up empty handed, we made the decision as a team to stay here in Kuala Lumpur (KL) to do ministry. So that’s just an example of how ATL month works. We have a lot of flexibility to decide every day what we think God is leading us to do. We’ve decided to start every day this month in worship and prayer, and our team is reading through Acts together during this time, which we thought was a fitting book to study as we learn to depend more on the Holy Spirit. I have already been so stretched in my prayer life, but that’s what I want this month to be about. Praying and depending more on the Lord. So basically, ministry could look anything like making friends, loving on them, and sharing Jesus with them, doing prayer walks around KL, or ministering to homeless people. Every day will look different!
Another exciting change for me this month is that I was invited to be a team leader. This is a chance for me to love the girls on my team extra well and I’m really excited for the chance to do that.
Asia is incredibly different than Central America and KL is a very diverse city. There are three main ethnic groups here which are Malays, Indians, and Chinese. So with that comes a mix of cultures and religions, although the predominant religion here is Islam. I’m looking forward to updating you guys on how ATL month is for our team and how God shows up. I appreciate your prayers so much as I continue to fall more in love with Jesus and follow his plans for my life.
-Marisa
