Hello from India!! I am currently enjoying the cool temperatures in Manipur, and am so excited to be here!
This blog is kind of an overview of my time in Malaysia. My intentions were to have this blog done and posted a couple weeks ago, but for some reason I have really struggled writing this blog; so I apologize for how late it is.
The month of November when we were in Malaysia, my squad was split up. Two teams were living and doing ministry on the mainland, and the other four teams (including mine) were on the island of Penang. We are staying in Georgetown at the Penang House of Prayer – or Penhop for short.
The living situation at Penhop was difficult in some ways, but overall probably the best bonding experience. Sleeping in a box of a room with six of your buds with mattresses covering all but two feet square of the floor can be frustrating sometimes, but the laughter and fun we had in there together was so worth it.
Not having access to WiFi at Penhop had its challenges but was a huge blessing. In Thailand when we had access to WiFi in our hostel it was really easy to just put in my earbuds and scroll through social media or watch Netflix whenever I needed a break from people (being an introvert on the race is HARD), but at Penhop, that was not an option. Because of that, we were all “forced” to be more interactive with each other, and as a result, my team has grown so much closer and we’ve come to know each other so much better.
Ministry in Malaysia is a lot different than in Thailand. Ministry looked like a lot of time spent worshipping and interceding for the Malay people.
Once a week my team went to the House of Hope; a place where families can come for certain meals and can send their kids to learn English. We were only there for a couple of hours and in that time we worshiped and prayed a lot over the place and the families. We went on prayer walks and we helped out around the establishment in whatever way we could.
Every Wednesday night we did street outreach with some people from a YWAM base a few blocks away from Penhop. We split into groups of five or so, and would walk in whatever direction we were instructed to, and from there we’d ask the Lord where He wanted us to go and who He wanted us to talk to. A couple of hours later we’d all meet back up and share about our experiences and what the Lord did.
Evangelism was not and still is not something I’m strong in or super confident about, and honestly, going out for the first time scared me a little. But as the time went by, I found that I was calm because I trusted in the Lord and found my confidence in Him. I learned also that I don’t have to do anything special when I’m talking to someone about Jesus. I don’t have to worry about how the words coming out of my mouth sound or even if the person is receiving it; all that matters is that I am obedient to the Lord in it. I found that it’s so easy to complicate things when in reality, the message of the gospel is so simple, it’s just love.
Most days are spent in the Prayer room for anywhere from two to seven hours at a time.
Yes, I said SEVEN HOURS. When I heard for the first time that we were gonna spend seven whole hours in the prayer room without breaks for food or anything, I freaked out. I generally have a really hard time sitting still or concentrating on anything for that long and I was genuinely distressed about the idea.
The first three hours we spread out around the room and read our bibles or journaled or prayed silently. The next two hours were spent in worship, and the last two in intercession.
The first Tuesday I went sir crazy after the fourth hour. I took as many bathroom breaks as possible and had a really hard time concentrating on anything. But both Tuesdays after that were different. I was able to sit still and focus and worship and the time passed so quickly. In those times I learned so much about patience and pursuing God for an extended amount of time. And that sitting in His presence for hours is only a chore if I make it one. He has the ability to turn it into the sweetest time if I let Him. And that’s what He did. He made all of those sessions a time where I could just sit with Him and read the bible and pray and journal without distraction. Some days I journaled pages of just prayers, while other days I fell asleep in the Lord’s presence. It was so cool to see Him take away my restlessness and distraction and replace that with contentment and anticipation of the things I would learn that day.
One of my absolute favorite things about Penang was the diversity there. Georgetown was settled by Europeans and so much of the architecture is European. Many of the people there are Malay, but there are also a lot of Chinese Malays and Indians who live there, as well as people from other places.
There’s a section of Georgetown called Little India, where there are a ton of Indian stores and restaurants and is decorated more or less in an Indian style. There’s also China town which I haven’t actually been too (I know, what was I even doing) but have heard is pretty cool.
Penang is known for it’s street food – it’s super duper good apparently. I’m somewhat sorry to say that I did not really have much of the street food. I tried some of the sweets and stuff but a lot of the Malay street food is very fishy (like actually fish in it) and I really don’t like fish. A good portion of my squad also stayed away from the Malay street food for the most part. We ate a lot of Subway (I know what you’re thinking, but it was in budget and convenient) and peanut butter on bread from 7/11. I also ate a lot of Samosas from a cart by the side of the street in Little India. They were so cheap and SO good. Some people called them “chicken triangles”, which basically is what they are. It’s like some kind of flaky, crunchy tortilla type thing full of chicken or potatoes and spices. If you know me well, you know that I cannot handle spice to the point where a few years ago I was taking my pepperonis off my pizza (I don’t do that anymore) and so that should give you an idea of how good those Samosas were. They had a pretty good kick to them but the flavor was so good that I couldn’t stop eating them even though they burned my throat.
I’ll miss Penang. I’ll miss living only a few hundred feet from the coast, I’ll miss the white coffee, I’ll miss the diversity, I’ll miss the constant ocean breeze, and I’ll miss our kind and funny hosts.
I’m so grateful for the time I got to spend in Malaysia and for the relationships I was able to form there, and I’m so excited for what’s to come here in India!
-ALAINA
