It has been a struggle bus to keep up with updating my blog. I’m so sorry to my readers and loved ones.
Here is an update about Malaysia ministry last month.
We were working with an YWAM base in Penang.
It consisted of working with a place that served meals and offered rest to the homeless. I absolutely loved working in the kitchen with the long term volunteers. They were so happy to serve others because they were once in the same situation themselves. Money was not their concern, serving others was their concern and what brings them happiness. It was such a blessing working with them and building those relationships.
Another part of ministry was prayer walks on Wednesday night’s and evangelism. Those nights were really awesome and always got me pumped praying against strongholds and bondage. We would also pray for people those nights.
We had the opportunity to do ATL in Malaysia. That’s when we Ask the Lord where He would like us to serve and who He would like us to serve then we go out on the mission. Sometimes you discover who and sometimes you search but only pray because God is testing your obedience even if things don’t go as you thought they would. You still believe God sent you out for a reason even if it was to teach obedience.
We also had fun building relationships with the different business owners on the street we walked every day. And that was so much fun. They recognized us after a while and would invite us in to sit to talk. One business owner before he even knew us invited some of my team members into his hostel one night for banana cake. He said come in I have banana cake. So of course my team walked into the hostel for cake and fellowship. And wind up singing a song about banana cake to this gentlemen because he asked if they could sing and asked them to make up a song. I’m sorry I was not there for this first visit it sounded amazing. After that he would ask us to drop by and always shared food with us and usually ended in singing. There were so many other great relationships built one being a man who owned a hamburger food truck he was our first friendship and when we hadn’t walked by for one day he would ask us where were we. One night we were great entertainment for him and his friends. We had got bubble tea, it’s called pearl tea here. But some of my team mates realized you can shoot the tapioca balls with the straw pretty far! So the man that owned the food truck said try to hit the sign across the street if you do I’ll give you a free hamburger. Everyone tried hard but Mel is the winner! It was hilarious we had to stop for traffic a few times. But these are just some of the relationships my team built.
A random ministry opportunity came up to paint a mural. It all came about because Mel saw a gentlemen painting outside near one of the restaurants we ate at. She said his work looked great and if he needed help she is a painter too and he told Mel about a friend of his that needed artist to start painting murals at his soon to be business. He gave Mel the number and she went to check it out and the couple was very excited and willing to buy all the supplies. This was a God ordained ministry and such a blessing to both us and them. I’ll post the video to my blog so you can see it.
But these were the major parts of our ministry last month.
A cool ministry we also had the opportunity to do was help lead a church service on the mainland. I lead worship by myself for the first time. And one of our teammates, Monica gave the message. And then Mel and I finished with a couple worship songs. They were very encouraged and blessed us with lunch and a tour of the beautiful gardens. After that they treated us all to drinks and deserts we felt so blessed and loved! Malaysia was such a blessing of fellowship and food.
Malaysia was super cool and lots of growth. So now I’ll share about my growth!
Coming into Malaysia we had come from a debrief. The Lord revealed a lot to me at that debrief and I realized I wasn’t growing like I should have been. And one of the reasons was fear. I was afraid to use my gifts and the permissions of using them. Like prophecy, pointing out things that hinder us and warning those around me. So I realized I have the gift of prophecy but it’s more like the watchmen kind of prophecy so warning others of things I see that the Lord has made me sensitive to. My team had so much grace for me when using this gift and encouraging me to continue growing in it and using it because it’s important for the body. Once I started using that gift the Lord started speaking so loudly to me and it has been an amazing month growing further in that and allowing the Lord to use me.
Also I have grown in my gift of singing and worship. This has always been an insecurity of mine. Even though I’ve been encouraged my whole life to use my voice I didn’t believe it myself and struggled with fear of man. But it doesn’t matter what man thinks or says. If God has given a gift He desires for it to be used and cherished not hidden and forgotten. So I have been pushing myself out of my comfort zone and into growth in this area. Is it easy ? No. But it has been getting easier each time.
What gifts are you hiding or afraid to use? Step into them with faith and let God use you the way He created you to serve and lead.
Many Blessings,
Naomi
