The internet here is pretty bad, and I'm having a hard time loading pictures or doing any other "big" things like that. I don't even know if this will actually post, but I'm giving it a shot and will update with the pictures I wanted to include later.
I started keeping a story journal that I may refine and one day publish… This is from 10 September 2012 and it's titled
I may have stepped into the most beautiful place in the world, and yet it's cloaked in a darkness I hope my eyes never adjust to. The landscape here in Malaysia is beyond words; the people, wonderful.
I spent likely two hours on the front porch with two of Pastor Michal Thomas' entusiastic and joyful children. We played a soccer-type game and Monkey-in-the-Middle, laughing almost continuously. We laughed some more as 4 bulls grazed in the small park accross the street.
I watched the sun set over the jungle canopy that stops in the same spot as the pastor's backyard; the voices of birds, bats, and monkeys comprised the ambience. I thought, "This is the most beautiful, and yet the darkest, place I've ever been."
Pastor Thomas and his family, by necessity, keep their ministry a secret. Open air preaching, sharing the Gospel, openly professing Christ as Lord all result in imprisonment without trial… indefinitely. I, myself, am currently just words away from legitamite persecution. Without Christ, and just a few miles from the border with Thailand, this city sees its youth succumb to drugs and prostitution regularly. It's dark here…
But there is a light here. It's the light of Christ being cautiously, carefully shown by Pastor Thomas and his family. I will always remember them in my prayers… knowing that ever so slowly, the Son is RISING over this dark, dark jungle.
Please remember Pastor Thomas and the body of believers here in Changlun. Pray for them. If you'd like to know how you can help their ministry here, send me an email. Once I get decent internet, I WILL post pictures and videos of the family here and the amazing surroundings.
God Bless yal!
