My dearest friends, family and internet stalkers — I mean readers — We've been in Malaysia for two weeks, and it is FANTASTIC!!! The ministry, the people, the food, the countryside….it's all incredible, and sometimes, incredibly spicy (the food, not the people.)
Here's the rundown of what our time has been like here thus far:
Week One – We worked with Pastor Yesudasm in the city of Kuala Krai. The pastor is a a pioneering pastor, and his church consists of only about 10 or 15 members who regularly attend church services. His passion is to reach out to Indian families who are practicing Hindus and share the gospel and God's love with them. We helped with that, doing a lot of relational ministry. Going into homes of Hindu families (who would invite us in, we wouldn't go door to door…they were families the Pastor knew and had friendships with) we sould share our testimonies over tea or coffee, ask them about their lives and pray for them. One time, God did some awesome physical healing stuff…which I'll write about later.
We also would help Pastor lead church and prayer services. Some of us preached, Alana helped with worship and we would always pray for anyone who wanted prayer. We spent time driving around predominantly Hindu neighborhoods, praying for Christ to make Himself known, and to rescue those familes with His love. We also spent a night praying and worshiping on a new piece of land the church has aquired (through a loan they are desperately in need of paying off soon).
Pastor Yesu was an awesome contact. He was really funny, really encouraging and always really loving towards us. His English was pretty good, and he loved to make puns and jokes and kept our spirits up as we traveled. We basically spent our first week in his little red Mazda van, traveling all over the state of Kelantan, visiting families. He even let me drive! That ol' van was practically our home. I kind of miss it.
Oh yeah…one of the craziest things about the Pastor was the fact that he had a lazy eye, and due to glaucoma, he had tunnel vision in his other eye. Basically…he had horrible eyesight. And yet, HE DROVE US ALL OVER THE PLACE!! He says that because his work consists of traveling to meet people where they are, God gives him highly increased eyesight when he drives. He says when he drives, he can see everything much larger and clearer than normal. And so, he continues to work, not being limited by his physical condition. (He also has a kind of bum leg that makes it difficult for him to get around, climb stairs, etc, and he never complains about it, nor lets that get in the way either. Dude is passionate about reaching out to thos ein need, and won't be stopped by physical limitations. He's awesome.)
My new home…
Pastor Yesu and his wife Theresa, who cooked some incredible meals for us!
Praying over the new plot of land…
Life in the van…
Some local children we helped tutor a couple of times…
The Pastor and Theresa with a family we shared our testimonies with and prayed for…
Joyce and her son Joseph are two of the church's strongest members. So full of love. They're crazy awesome!
Praying for the people and country of Malaysia in a prayer garden in the town of Gua Massang.
So that was week one. Again, it was awesome. We saw God move and heal. We were blessed by the Pastor and his wife. We got to know some truly awesome people. We were given the opportunity to share Christ's love with those who don't know Him, and to tell them how much God wants to know them. We prayed, we drove, we ate, we drove, we slept, we drove, we learned, we sang, we drove, we loved, we slept and we drove. It was a FULL week. An AWESOME week. A week full of LIFE. And with that, I am pumped to already be living in week two! Here's a quick preview of what it looks like….
I preached in a indiginous Malay village!
Okay…so, Week Two blog to come. Along with the story of God healing people at a birthday party. So stay tuned!! (Thanks to Angie for the photos!!)
