Our contact, Kumar, has asked us to not disclose the name of the town we are working in [let's call it Oz, just for kicks…], but I can tell you that we are in the strictest, most pious Muslim state in the country. Here, it is illegal to convert a Muslim out of Islam. It is not illegal to be a Christian, though. The people who live in Oz are a mixture of Malays, Indians, and Chinese [About 80% of our students are Chinese]. It is difficult to tell who are Muslims (other than the head coverings worn by some of the women and girls), so we were told to not openly discuss religion with anyone.
At KJ Generation, we teach character development as well as English. It is Kumar's hope that through our actions, we can be the light in this dark town.
One of our first nights in Oz, Kumar and Josephine shared with us how they came to Oz and how the center got started. It was all a result of declaring truth and praying for Oz. When they first arrived to Oz, they were dropped on the side of the road late and night and there were no street lights. As they settled in and started praying for the town, they starting declaring that it would be known as a city of light. Soon after, street lights started popping up, and then when they renovated the town's sign, next to the name was a sun. Since it is so drenched in Islam culture, one would expect them to use a crescent moon [the symbol of Islam], but no, it was a sun that was chosen.
We home-school Kumar and Josephine's three kids, plus a family friend. This family friend is the son of an Atheist Canadian and a Muslim Kazakhstanian. Josephine told us a story of how he used to cover up his ears whenever they prayed in the car to and from the center. A team shared a Bible story/children's song with him before they were warned [he looks pretty Western], and ever since then, he no longer covers his ears during prayer, and he has been telling his mother that he loves her and so does Jesus. He occasionally asks his teachers [World Racers] about God.
Just the other day, Michelle Kwak was showing him a video on Youtube to go along with his lesson and on the side bar was a Veggie Tales song called God Loves Me and he got really excited and said he loved that song. So, Michelle played it for him and then asked him about it afterwards. He had never heard that song before but was drawn to it for some reason. God's doing a work in that little kid's heart.
So, please be praying for us this month as we continue to show God's love through our action. You never realize how important your actions are in sharing the Gospel until that's all you have.
