There is much I would love to share with you but I have limited time so I will give you some highlights…
So we only have 3 days left in Malaysia before we head off to Thailand. Can’t beleive the month is coming to an end.
Monkeys: Our days have been filled up with prayer walks, house visits, orphans/troubled kids, and group of kids whose parents are in jail or prostitutes. There has been some laughter, lots of prayer, playing games, sharing the word of God, and cleaning. One afternoon amidst these things our contact took us to a mountain that you can climb. We got there later than expected so we didn’t have time to go all the way to the top. When we parked we saw a few monkeys over by a dumpster. As we walked closer to the main lot we saw monkeys everywhere! I was so excited and of crouse pulled out my camera. I was taking a picture of a monkey on the electrical wire above and he was raising his brows and looking at me. Then I snapped and it flash and he got mad… he hissed and made his meanest face at me… I thought it was funny though some thought the monkey was going to attack me… Then we start heading up the mountain and got to a slipt in the paths, not sure which one to take we slowed and stopped… the monkeys did not like that… they began to watch and creep towards us then as we began to move one came towards us hissing.. most ran but I waited and he stopped, so I thought no big deal and feeling proud I didn’t run, he stopped until the other 6 monkeys can up and then they all started hissing… so I ran too! Thank you Lord for humbling me. We later discovered a road where others were walking and realized the monkeys must own that other path 😉
Cookies: If you didn’t already know I grew up Cathlolic. I am so greatful for that and it has been a huge part of my journey with God. Here in Malysia we have done communion quite often. For the first 2 weeks we did it every morning, at 7am!. Since I haven’t been doing communion every week like I did growing up it was a bit hard to go into it with the right heart, especially so early in the morning. One thing about communion growing up that was hard was it tasted so bad, those wafers and sipping wine from a cup you share with everyone, yuck! This distracted me from the true meaning of communion for many years. Well, here in Malaysia we had communion using a broken up cookie and grape soda!! I would have looked forward to communion as a kid if that were always the case!! But in the end I learned that it is not so much about what you use as your heart and attitude going into it. Remebering what Christ did for us and letting you heart fill up with grattitude, letting all else dissolve in the scope of what God has done for us, what Jesus suffered surpasses all else, and that He lives and invites into His Kingdom brings a joy that nothing else in the world could bring! Do you ever feel anything like this when you take communion? Whether the elements used are significant to you or not, you are missing out on so much if you don’t go into it with the right heart. So, every day, every week, or every so often, using cookies,bread, crackers, or wafers, I pray that when you go into communion you will truly remember what Jesus Christ has done and still does for you!
Police: So, apparently it is a law here in Malaysia to have an ID, a passport if you are a foreigner, with you all the time. We had not been doing that and haven’t run into any issues. Well, last night as we were heading from the place we had just had some dinner and prayed for the family after a bible study, to the place we were going to sleep for the night we go stopped at a police road block. Only 4 out of the 7 of us had their passports on them so the police got very angry. The kept us there for about 25 minutes questioning and who knows what else the pastor who was driving. I was one of the three without a passport so they could have leaglly taken me and my teammates, Ashley & Emily, to jail. So, in that 25 minutes we prayed, and had a few moments of laughter, and asked God to give us favor with the police. I prayed God would tell the police man to bring back the passports he was holding and let us go with a warning. In the end that is what happened! Praise the Lord! They really wanted to either get a bribe from us or take us to jail. It is not against the law to be a Christian here but it is to convert a muslim. We were with Indonsians in the jungle but they probably didn’t care. The government doesn’t like Christians and they knew we were coming form church. We were not in an area westerners go for fun or to see for any reason so they probably guessed we were missionaries too. I wasn’t scared, for even if I went to jail God would be with me. My passport is in the country and they would have driven the hour to get them and bring them to release us… God is good and He gave us favor so that we could get home and get some sleep!! Thank you Lord.
Please continue to pray for this nation, for these wonderful people and children. Pray for our team as we finish her and head into Thailand. That we will get there safely and find some comfort in our 18 hour+ train ride. Pray for health and saftey. Thanks.
