Ah, it seems like forever ago, but I remember it so fondly – the warm nights, Chrislyn in her wild, sequined outfit, sparkling in the colorful light as we sang and danced the night away, deep into the early hours of the morning! Right now, you’re probably thinking either…..
A) Chris is pulling my leg (it’s been known to happen) OR
B) The Clermonts have gone off the deep end and are now partying their way through Asia on the funds that I supposedly gave for missions
And then there’s C) Ministry in Malaysia somehow entailed dressing up, singing, and dancing, until 1am in the morning. ***SPOILER ALERT*** : It’s this one!
Our month in Malaysia held many surprises. First of all, the people we worked with all month were almost all of Indian decent – Tamil, to be more specific. This was not at all what I expected in Malaysia, though I will say that both Chrislyn and I were thrilled to be eating Indian food all month! Another surprise that we could in no way be prepared for – the church group we worked with kept some VERY peculiar hours. It was a rarity for us to be in bed before midnight. More often, 1 or 2am was when we finally laid our tired bodies and minds to rest each night (or rather, each “morning”). What was even more bizarre about all of this was that the kids were all up this late as well. Mornings, of course, were a bit slower getting started. We were weary of calling our host contact before noon for fear that we would wake him. After all, the church leaders would sometimes have meetings that lasted until 3, 4, or even 6am in the morning after we went to bed. Eventually, with no choice in the matter, our bodies reluctantly adjusted and we accepted the reality that this would be our norm for the month.
Early in the month, we spent a lot of time at two different homes, one for people with disabilities and the other a children’s home. We did some maintenance projects at each facility as well as just spending time with the residents. In the evenings, we visited different cell groups spread out around town where we often would share our stories or lead Bible studies. As the month went on, more of our outreach focused on the quickly approaching Christmas holiday. We worked on decorations and performances for the big Christmas Eve celebration coming up. Though Malaysians are generally either Muslim or Hindu, we found that most people were well aware of the Christmas holiday, mostly due to its commercial appeal (much like our culture back home in the U.S.). Our hope, was to shed light on the true reason for celebration, a thing less familiar to them.
Now, about those late night dance parties….. Our host let us know that we would be going caroling each night during the weeks leading up to Christmas. All of us had been caroling before and therefore thought we had a pretty good idea of how this all might look. All of us were wrong. It started out with going shopping to buy a particular outfit, red and white striped button-down shirts for the guys and sequined magenta blouses for the ladies. Matching outfits – this was our first hint that caroling might be a bit more of an ordeal here in Malaysia than it is back home. Another notable difference is that December in the U.S. usually means cold temps, bundling up in warm clothes and perhaps even traipsing through the snow. December in Malaysia means tropical (aka. hot and humid) weather in the low to mid 90s. Santa hats + summer temps = a lot of perspiration.
Finally, caroling in the U.S. usually means heading out into the neighborhood for an hour or two, three max before calling it a night. We, however, loaded into vans around 7pm and sang and danced our hearts out till 1 or 2am every night. It was exhausting….. exhausting and incredibly fun. The songs we sang were neither somber nor boring, they were lively and joyful! There were drums, tambourines, guitars, dancing, energy, and JOY! Certainly, the message is there in our traditional American carols, but try dancing something other than a waltz to Silent Night sometime and tell me how that goes for you. Of all of the many differences there were – the heat, the outfits, and the incredibly LONG hours, it was the overwhelming joy that defined the experience. It was this joy that set it apart from any other caroling experience I’d ever had and more importantly, it was this joy that spoke the Gospel truth that we were trying to tell to the Hindu and Muslim households that had become our audience. It just felt right!
Although we missed our families, Christmas in Malaysia really was a wonderful time. It was so refreshing to be in a place where Christmas was more about Christ’s coming to earth than it was about shopping, parties, food, or even time with family. I know for a fact that no matter where we happen to be this time next year, I’ll be thinking of our friends in Malaysia and the lesson they taught me about what joy we have in Christ Jesus – and the gift of life that he freely offers to us all.
PS. Not sure if you’re supposed to use “PS” when blogging, but oh well. Reminiscing on Christmas in Malaysia will also forevermore remind me of how our Christmas Eve celebration service, complete with a New-Year style countdown at midnight, lasted until 1am. This was then followed by a half-hour “dance party” (for lack of a better word) and dinner finally being served at 2am on Christmas morning. Malaysians sure know how to party!
