City Life On The Race – This is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

PSA: If you aren’t in a reading mood, then here is a video of our time in Malaysia! (Or just keep scrolling for photos 😉

This month was our first stop in Southeast Asia! My team participated in something we call Unsung Heroes. It’s an unconventional month of ministry because we spent our time working to establish connections with individuals and organizations equipped to host (and ultimately benefit from) AIM teams in the future. We had experiences speaking with a wide range of workers with very different backgrounds who were able to open up their homes, their schedules and their hearts with us as we learned how teams could help support them in the coming months and years.

 

Here is my new team after team changes in Guatemala. We are team Parkour!

We were staying in a hostel in the heart of Kuala Lumpur for a few days getting adjusted to the massive 13 hour time difference when something unexpected happened. Our teammate Maria met with some contacts she had through an international school back home. After their meeting she shared with our team that they knew of an apartment we could rent for our budget (even though the place was actually waaaay out of our budget) and we got to stay there for the rest of the month!

There is a word that has become a part of race culture. It’s the word bougie. (Pronounced: boo-zh-y, kind of like the ‘g’ in concierge). We use this word when our physical circumstances are beyond what you’d expect for the race. I’d have to say that our apartment in Kuala Lumpur felt like the bougiest of bougie. It was surreal to be in the middle of the capital city…. right beside the mall and the Patronas towers with a Starbucks on every corner. (No really…) And also to be in such a melting pot of Asia. (In Malaysia there are Indians, Chinese, native Malays, and people from many other countries as well). It’s not illegal to be a Christian, but it is illegal to evangelize the native Malays who are Muslim.

Without a traditional host to help us navigate things, it’s clear we operated in a great deal of caution with this kind of law in place. But eventually we realized that it’s still okay to talk about faith with people and share God’s love in different ways. We handed out some flowers to women on Valentine’s Day and didn’t hold back from sharing with them that they were beautiful and loved. The blessing you get from seeing other people so blessed is worth stepping out for, and I hope we can continue to be this bold (and even more so) as we go on in the race…and in life in general.

Side note: Don’t ever go to the Batu Caves during a Hindu festival unless you are prepared for massive crowds, people following rituals like walking around with hooks in their body and a borderline riot to get on the train. Just think Disney World plus squatty potties!

 

Some of the contacts we met with in Kuala Lumpur. They were so kind and we ate…and ate and ate and ate with them. And then they ordered extra dessert!

 

Working with some students at a local refugee school.

 

 

Valentine’s Day!

In Malaysia, maybe due to our city-center location, I felt the lure of materialism pull me in like a giant magnet. (I don’t think this lure had ever really gone away, but it does lie dormant at times…for very short times).

It was easy to rationalize the “need” to buy an extra shirt or pair of jeans or face lotion when I could have lived without it. It was easy to look around and compare myself to girls on the squad or girls on the street and think, “Dang she makes casual look so cute.”(Or if I’m severely honest, “How can I hold on to the look of being 26 even though 33 is looming in the future?”) Dear sweet Jesus help me in this!

At times I find myself more focused on seeking out a way to feel more beautiful rather than celebrate the beauty in someone else. I think this is all a part of the idea of “abandon” that we talk about so much on the race. It’s not my job to achieve a certain standard of physical beauty or cuteness (especially while living on a racer’s budget)! But it’s sure tempting to indulge yourself when those things are bombarding you right and left. Man do those things bombard you in our culture. Our culture has bombarded the world.

One of our contacts in KL mentioned how much of an influence we have as Americans. Like many things, we forget that or take it for granted. He mentioned that it’s a shame we don’t use that opportunity more for the Gospel.

In KL, we had to walk through the mall to get to our apartment, and one day I was standing in just the right spot for the ‘en’ to be covered in the word ‘entrance’. What was left was ‘trance.’ I thought, “Yep. It really is so easy to become en-tranced by all the glam of this city and the lure to have more and get more to somehow be more.

What a lie. It’s such a letdown when you realize how much you’ve been duped by believing it.

I have been thinking I need to be more proactive in the process of changing this mindset, and that in order to let it go I need some more abandon in my life (yes, you actually have to choose this on the race even though at times it seems to be chosen for you)! Lent this year for me is centered around this theme and asking God for a change of heart through what I physically give up.

Now that we are moving on to Thailand, I anticipate that it will be challenging to live out some of these things I’m mulling over, but I’m going to continue asking for a change of heart towards myself…and in the way I view and value others as well.

Things are very different here as I finish writing this in Thailand, in a room I’m sharing with the 3 other girls on my team. There is no AC in this room, just the fan blowing and the night air and we are sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor. Honestly I haven’t felt this at home in a while. There’s something about having less that brings you together and gives you a different perspective on an experience. I’m excited about this month and what it will hold for us here, even though I know we will be stretched. Can’t wait to share what God does! 

Love y’all and thanks for your encouragement!!

 <3, Heather

 

Here are a few more pics:

 

So we used our adventure days to take a side trip to Thailand. It’s cheap and beautiful…two of the greatest things. #bestchoiceever

Also Thailand. Ahh pure goodness.