During our six-hour bus ride from the Kuala Lumpur airport to Penang, I fell in love with Malaysia. The landscape driving to the island was stunning. Penang is surrounded by the Strait of Malacca, a waterway connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean) as well as beautiful mountains and tropical rainforests.
But what I love even more is the diverse culture. Penang is a melting pot of ethnicities, languages, and religions with the main three races being Chinese, Malays and Indians. The best part of it though is Penang is known for being the unofficial food capital of Malaysia, so the streets are filled with authentic Chinese, Thai, Malay, Indian, Vietnamese (and more) food carts, stalls and hawkers and… it’s incredibly cheap! We have definitely taken advantage of the opportunity to taste the different cultures.
However, with the diverse cultures and religions, it’s also been eye opening and heartbreaking to see the prevalence and overtness of false worship. One after another there are mosques and temples, but what’s even sadder is in between, there are businesses, shops and restaurants filled with images and statues of their gods and constant burning of incense. There’s even little shrines all around town where people can worship by bringing offerings to their gods. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and witnessed before.
Another thing to know about Penang and Malaysia is it’s against the law to minister to Muslims. So while the constitution allows you to practice your own religion, anyone who chooses to share the gospel with Muslims can face persecution from the government and some Muslim groups. According to Malaysian laws and culture, anyone who speaks Malay and practices Malay culture is considered Muslim. They are required to follow Islam from birth and changing religions comes with great legal and social consequences.
Here is an article sharing what life is like as a Malay Christian http://radical.net/articles/what-life-is-like-for-a-malay-christian/
With that said, it makes it difficult to carry out ministry here. BUT, what we can and have been doing a lot of is praying for the nation, government, the Muslims and Muslim believers with the PenHop staff (our ministry partner this month), which I’ll talk about further in a future blog or vlog post!
I look forward to sharing more about our ministry with you in the upcoming week(s) but for now I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what Penang is like!
As I mentioned in my last post if you have any prayer requests please let me know!
God Bless,
Ally
