Malaysia Recap!!!
What’s up guys?!!
Can you believe another month is over?
Our month in Malaysia was crazy busy and full of so much fun and laughter.
My team, XOXO, was serving and living with another team on our squad, The Way. Together we called ourselves, X Way!
We worked with an international organization that has a location in Penang, Malaysia. The whole month we were constantly moving between ministry sites, camps, and condos.
Kawan: Homeless Shelter
Fun fact: Kawan in Malay means ‘friend’. A few times a week we got to go serve at the homeless shelter where we would help prepare meals, talk about Jesus, and really just pour into the locals. They also have a church service for the homeless community on Saturday mornings so a few of us had the chance to share our testimonies and encourage them to grow their relationship with the Lord.
Firez Camp
During our second week in Penang all 12 of us girls volunteered as camp counselors for teenagers attending the camp. This was such a powerful experience for everyone involved. There were many kids there who had never heard the name Jesus before the camp.
Each day they had sermons from pastors around the world. I have learned that it is very uncommon for Asian adults to tell children that they are important and play an special role in the Kingdom. This has caused self-esteem issues, depression, and other psychological problems in many of the teenagers at the camp. One night after a sermon the pastor asked the kids to be brave and walk to the front of the crowd if they currently have or have ever had suicidal thoughts. After a few minutes of prayer the teenagers started walking up, all searching for answers. As more campers walked up so did more counselors to pray over each individual. Over half of the campers and even some of the counselors there were standing in front of the stage waiting from someone to hold them and pray for them. Have you ever held crying teenage girls in your arms before? They were just so desperate to be loved by God and to hear that they were important. We got to be some of those people who told them the truth.
Christmas Play
Six of the girls from X Way had the privilage of putting on a Christmas play for a Chinese church. At first we thought we were just going to be given parts and practice with the church members. We were later told that we would be the only six in the play and that we got to create our own skit for it. After practicing a few times over a few weeks we preformed a short dance, a skit of Jesus’ birth, and a song for the congregation. We put a lot of time into making sure the play was culturally appropriate and what the pastor wanted but it was totally worth it to preform for Jesus!
Flash Mob
All 12 team members got to participate in a flash mob at a nearby mall. Well, it probably wasn’t a “real” flash mob because there was a person announcing what was going on and telling us where to go the whole time. BUT we danced in front of strangers in a unexpected place so I think I can check ‘Be apart of a flash mob in a foreign country’ off my bucket list! In Malaysia they have strict laws about evangelising but for some reason the rules bend a little around Christmas time. So dance mob with Christmas songs and the story about the true meaning of Christmas it is!! Look how cute the kids we got to dance with were!
Decorating the Condo
Our teams arrived a little earlier than our host expected so we had to move around a few different times because of that and Firez camp. Eventually though we got to a condo that the organization just started renting and we were in charge of getting it set up for future teams. We bravely fought off mosquitoes, cockroaches, and flies the first few days but by the time we left the condo felt like a home.
Christmas
For Christmas we hosted some of our squad mates and were able to celebrate the holiday together! Christmas morning we had a secret Santa gift exchange, played Christmas music, and talked about our normal Christmastime traditions. It was such a sweet time to reflect on how far we have come in a year and really appreciate where we were.
That about sums it up for this wild month. God taught us a lot about patience, community, and flexibility. We poured out our hearts and were also filled up by the things we got to be apart of.
Our squad has now met up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and will be traveling to our new ministry sites in Africa over the next 2-3 days. Did I really just say Africa?!! Most of us are stoked to get to a new continent and experience a new way of life. With that being said, I will be in a small, remote village in Lesotho called Malealea. I will have little to no wifi through the next month so my updates will mostly be made on my blog. Make sure you subscribe so you can get email alerts while I’m off of social media!
I am so close to being fully funded!! My final deadline is at the end of January so if you feel called to support my journey now is your chance!! Click the donate link at the top of this page.
Thanks for all of the love and support.
Happy Holidays!
Much love,
Steffy
