This month my team has
found myself in a suburb of Kuala Lampur, Malaysia… working at a
restaurant. While this might not sound like typical missions work, let
me tell you a little bit about why it is so important.
There is a
situation in Burma, which you may or may not know about. About a month
ago, the Burmese government transformed from a military dictatorship to a
democracy, much to the approval of the western world and united
nations. You may have even read about it. But what you probably don’t
know is that the elected officials in Burma are now the Generals that
were in charge of it during the dictatorship, they just have a new fancy
name. Now these men are, as our Burmese Cultural Coach called them,
“not a people of mercy.” They are known for the rape, plundering and
torture of the outlying tribal people in Burma, and are still conducting
such practices now, under the guise of being elected officials.
This has caused a large flood of the tribal people, which are mostly
Christian tribes, to be displaced, terrorized, or forcefully removed of
their homes. So they make their way through the jungles of Thailand,
and swamps of Malaysia to Kuala Lampur, where large groups of them
congregate in refugee communities. Then for about 3 years they stay
waiting for diplomacy to allow them to be relocated to different
countries, since they cannot go home, and the Malaysian Government will
not allow them citizenship for fear of over crowding.
And So…. The
restaurant! We are working at an American Food restaurant called
Kennedy’s run by Peter and Ian Loh, a father and son team of Malaysian
nationals that use the restaurant to raise funds for mission work to aid
these Burmese refugees. They sell hamburgers in order to provide the
displaced families with English Classes (which I’m helping with this month!), regular schooling, and church
services among other ministries including job training for
ex-prostitutes. Basically, these are amazing people, who have a heart
to serve and a great respect for the Race and everything that it stands
for… going into the world to see God and provide freedom. They have
even set up a World Race wall to promote us and all that we do, and to
provide a space for us to talk openly about Jesus in a Muslim country!
This
brings me to what you can do! The restaurant is just
getting up and running, and currently is in various states of staging
and decorating. There have been 24 teams of racers to go through the
doors here, painting and staffing and coordinating improvements. But
what we need is a little bit of America in Malaysia. So. If you would
consider getting involved in helping this restaurant get off the ground,
I’m going to ask you to do something!
Get a box of AMERICA
together! Pack a Small Priority Mail Flat Rate box withmaps,
pictures of you and your friends, license plates, posters, doodles,
magazines, college logo things (baseball caps, shirts, banners, pendent,
posters), classic American books and other things and send them over! Basically anything that reminds you of America.
It may seem like something silly to you, but this restaurant supplies
the community with desperately necessary programs and it needs you to
help take ownership in that.
With some effort from you all we
could REALLY impact an entire community by investing in the engine
behind their ministry. So if you are a part of a small group, get
together and do one as a group. Or do one as a family or an
individual. (Emily’s Mama… this sounds like the thing for you!)
There are no rules!
Here is the shipping Information:
Ian Loh c/o
Kennedy’s
No. 20-1 (Ground Floor), Jalan PJU 5/5
Dataran
Sunway, Kota Damansura
47810 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Best
Way To Ship!
United States Postal Service
Priority Mail SMALL International Flat Rate Boxes.
They come in
different sizes (but stick with the small one), and will ship to
anywhere in the world for the same price. You can also pack them as
heavy as 4 pounds (So pack like a World Racer…. smash and squish that
stuff in there!) They cost 13.95 to send!
Can’t wait to see what you all
come up with. And because it is my last month on the field I hope you
will help PUSH this along, and really take the opportunity to help this
ministry! And if you have any suggestions leave them in the comment box
below so others can see and think about it too!
And pass this
along to anyone you think would be interested in doing this! It would
be a great thing for a CLASSROOM to sponsor and do!
