Dear family and friends,
Thank you for all of your support!
I am currently at 92% funded for all 11 months! I would love to be fully funded for all 11 months by January 1st! (The deadline is January 31st) Please prayerfully consider a donation if you haven’t already. Your donation goes towards the World Race and Adventures in Missions partnering with churches and local communities to continue spreading the love of Jesus all around the world. The donation via the DONATE button on this page will allow me to continue on to go to all 11 countries with my squad.
Thanks so much!
The team and I said goodbye to our new friends in Sungai Petani and are now in Kuala Lumpar. KL is the big city in Malaysia. Certain parts remind me of Manhattan NYC.
We are scheduled to meet up with the rest of the squad and start our travels to Africa later today. I can’t believe our 3 months in Asia have come to an end, and on January 1st we begin our 3 months in Africa.
2018 and the holidays are finally winding down.
Back in Sungai Petani, we were celebrating a lot. Here’s a summary to recap the last week for you! Our ministry for the month was partnering with a local church in a mostly Indian community. They are Malaysian by birth, but their grandparents are from India. Fun facts: some of them were a darker skin color than me! 🙂 Also, I’m learning to love spicy foods because as we’ve eaten more Malay and Indian food, you ask for not so spicy but when the food comes it’s still “spicy” by my standards. I’m learning to love it!
Caroling
On the Thursday and Friday before Christmas, we went caroling from house to house with Bethel Assembly, the church we had been staying with for the month of December. We thought it was simply a few houses/a few hours of caroling, but we were wrong. The first night we started at 6pm. We did not get back home until 2:30 in the morning. It was so much fun! We sang carols (most in Tamil their language), danced, and prayed a blessing for the New Year for each family. After the carols and fun, we were invited in and were given treats to eat and sometimes actual food. By the end of the night, we were stuffed. The second night, we did not get home until after 3:30 in the morning. Again, so much fun!
Photos coming soon (or visit Krista’s blog for videos of the nights – link to the left)
Christmas Eve service
On Christmas Eve, we went downstairs for the Christmas Eve service. It was again another night of celebrating! Lots of singing, dancing, gifts given from the church to families, and there was even a break in the program where we went outside and had an Indian feast. After the food, everyone went back inside to continue the celebrations. Our part in the program was to perform a dance to one of their Tamil praise/worship songs. It was actually a lot of fun to learn through out the month and perform during the program. The woman who taught us the dance is Manormani. She’s a sweet woman, with such a kind heart. She gifted our team each of us with fabric to make saris or punjabis. She is so kind!
The Christmas Eve service started around 9PM and ended at 3 in the morning! We had some late nights here in Malaysia. It seems to be the culture of Sungai Petani. Everything starts and ends late.
Penang Island for Christmas
For Christmas, we woke up and exchanged gifts. We did a Secret Santa. Then, we took a train, then a ferry to Penang to meet up with some of our squad. They were blessed to live in a house for a few weeks, so they had a full kitchen and room to host us. They cooked macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, chicken, meatballs, and green bean casserole. It was very good! Their house was near a beach, so we
Wedding
On the 27th, we attended a wedding! The brother of the Pastor got married. It was so beautiful to attend the wedding. I’m getting past the prime marrying age, but I will continue to pray God will provide me a man of God to do life with. The wedding also ended up being a “goodbye” party of sorts. We got to take photos and say goodbye to some members of the church that we have built relationships with. I pray God continues to bless their ministry and continue to grow the Church in Malaysia. They are beautiful people who are strong in their faith despite living among people who are majority not.
In conclusion, I’d like to leave you with this quote I heard recently.
“Sometimes God will lead you in a foggy place, but it’s there that the sheep know the Good Shepherd’s voice.”
I am so homesick and in a foggy place lately, but God is so faithful and I know I’m where I’m supposed to be at this time. I encourage you to obey His voice, even if it may not make sense to you at the time. He is faithful.
Happy New Year!
In courageous faith and for His glory alone,
Sharon
@SharonRuns on Instagram
