Hello Everyone! Can you believe it is 2019 already? I can hardly believe that I am starting month 4 of the World Race! My team had a fabulous time in Malaysia, and I can’t wait to tell you about it –
Malaysia is technically a closed country which means evangelizing to native Malays is illegal and can get you deported. Malaysia is also a melting pot that has a high population of Indians, Chinese, and Malaysians.
Our month started with walking across the Thailand-Malaysia border. I think it’s the first time I have walked across an international border! After getting through customs, we took a subway train to the city of Sungai Petani. This would be the city we’d be staying in all month. We’d be partnering with Bethel Assembly Church. It is run by Pastor Thomas who was our host all month. The church was majority Indian, and most of them were related. The church had a family feel to it.
Our lodging for the month was also at that church; we slept on our sleeping mattresses in the upstairs room of the church. We had air conditioning, running water, a fridge, a toaster, and toaster oven. We made our breakfast meals, and lunch/dinner was picked up for us by the pastor. We had a washer machine also, but the first time we tried using it, it flooded our living area, so we opted for a laundromat for future laundry days.
Our ministry consisted of a lot of things. Also, a lot of our ministry happened later in the evening which was different from previous months. The ministry we did consisted of home prayer visits, prayer meetings on Wednesday nights, preaching at their Thursday night services, learning Christmas carols, learning an Indian Dance we would perform at the Christmas Eve service and creating a Children’s Christmas program.
I was able to preach one night on Mark 2:1-12, it’s the same Bible story I wrote about in my sponsorship letter. It was very cool to experience the faithfulness of God through all steps of getting ready for the World Race and now being able to share my favorite stories in the Bible with the church. My favorite ministry of the month had to be Christmas caroling and the Children’s Christmas program. For the Children’s program, we prepared three songs with actions, a skit and we read them a book. We went caroling for two nights before Christmas and sang songs in Tamil and English. All the houses we went to were awaiting our arrival and sent us off with snacks before we traveled to the next home.
Because we did most of our ministry in an Indian based culture of Malaysia, we were able to try things I didn’t expect coming on the race! My new favorite snacks include Milo tea (reminds me of hot chocolate) and roti (reminds me of a crepe with things cooked into them, like a banana.) The spices used in the food this month were MUCH different from anything I had experienced in Minnesota. I got used to it over the weeks we were there and appreciated being able to try authentic food.
For adventure this month we took time to explore other parts of Malaysia and find some beaches. We went to the island of Penang and the island of Langkawi. When we were in Penang, we were able to visit the Penang International House of Prayer. Langkawi was a very touristy spot. I went with 3 of my teammates, Paige, Krista and Eva. While we were there, we splurged on delicious gelato, went island hopping and had an opportunity to check out the tourist shops to buy gifts for our Secret Santa.
It was very different experiencing Christmas in a different place especially in a warmer climate. We made the best of it though. We participated in Secret Santa as a team and my teammate Ashley Jones got me very intentional gifts. She bought me a deck of cards and wrote different Bible verses on EVERY card. She also bought me a bag of KitKat’s (my favorite snack that reminds me of home) and a head scarf to wear on travel days (I’ll do anything to prevent myself from getting lice!!!) After spending Christmas morning as a team we traveled back to the island of Penang to meet up with other squad mates We had an American style dinner complete with mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken. Christmas evening I went to the movies with a small group of squad mates to watch Mary Poppins. I fell asleep during the movie because the night before I was up until 3 am. Our church we were staying with definitely knew how to throw an excellent Christmas Eve service.
The Lord used a lot of different things last month to work in the life of my teammates. It was the first month we were by ourselves as a team doing ministry, so it gave us the opportunity to focus on the intentional connection as a team. Not surprisingly the culture of where we were was prolonged, and things happened when they happened, sometimes 30 minutes early and sometimes 2 hours late. It pushed us into patience and recognizing the importance of how we spend our time. We learned not to sit and wait irritated, but to use the time while waiting to ask each other intentional questions and make the most of all down times.
Overall, Malaysia was my favorite month so far. Our living conditions weren’t the best we had, but we got to spend the month making lifelong relationships with the local people around us. I wouldn’t be surprised if I visited Malaysia after the race 🙂
Here are some praise reports from the month:
– the relationships we made with the people of the church
– continued growth as a team
– making it to Africa safe and sound, with all our things
and prayer requests:
– pray for deep boldness this month, most of the ministry we are doing here in Lesotho is Evangelism.
– as always pray for health
– more unity as a team
My wifi this month is very limited, so I can’t promise a speedy reply, but I would love to hear how you’re doing and what God taught you through the holiday season. Love you all so much!!
Ashley
P.S. Keep an eye out for a travel day vlog all about our travel from Malaysia to Lesotho.
Until then, make sure you’re keeping up with my teammate, Krista’s Blog. She posts a weekly vlog, subscribing to her blog would be a great idea!!!
