I have typed, deleted, and retyped this blog too many times to count over the last month. When I arrived in Penang, it was so easy to share the things I was going to do. Now that they’ve happened, I find myself struggling to find the words to explain it all.
I wrote a blog when I first got here about the ministries I would be doing, so here is the end product of everything I’ve done these last 3 months. It’s been a crazy rollercoaster, but definitely the best ride yet.
PenHOP:
The Penang House of Prayer has been a place of rest and an atmosphere created for intimate time with Jesus. On Tuesday nights there is a time dedicated solely to intercession. There is a focus each week and, as a room, we join together in prayer for the same thing. It was here that I realized how crucial intercession is. Sometimes God places desires on our heart for change and justice, and sometimes we aren’t always able to be on the front lines for these certain things. Intercession is just as important as these actions are. We may not know the name or the face of those we pray for, but the Lord does and he is answering our prayers whether we know it or not. I have recognized that my attitude towards prayer and worship should not stop when I leave the prayer room. Every single day I need to create space for the Lord to speak and move in my heart.
J-Kidz:
On Monday nights and Saturday mornings, my team helps out at a tutoring center called J-Kidz. Here we help underprivileged kids with conversational English skills. This has been such a wonderful opportunity to build relationships with the same kids every week. Helping them has been so great because they don’t receive the necessary attention they need in their schools.
Rejoyce Cafe:
A few days a week, two or three of the girls on my team will help out at a local cafe. This has been so much fun and we absolutely love spending time with the owners. We help clean. cook, and sometimes even get to make coffee. It has given us an opportunity to grow closer with each other as a team.
Outreach/Evangelism
From 8-10pm on Wednesday’s, my team partners with YWAM to go out and talk to people on the street, or to pray over the city. Each week we get to choose our own small group, and decide what we want to do. God had something different planned for me though. Every Wednesday night I go to the same alley with the same 2 people, and talk with prostitutes. This has been one of my favorite things being here in Penang. We go through the alley and speak to mostly the same people every week. We get to hear their stories and pray over them.
The lady I connected with the most, loved when I came back to her with new phrases I had learned in her language. One week, with help from a friend with the translation, I shared with her some of the things I loved about her in Malay. It was extremely difficult to pronounce but I could tell by seeing her face, that it meant a lot to her that I even tried. I am so grateful for special moments like that one with her, and will truly miss her when I leave.
Another woman sometimes has no other choice but to bring her 10 year old son with her to the alley. I can tell that he has completely grown numb to all that goes on around him. He sits and waits while his mother serves customers all night. His mother has so much shame in what she does that she barely looks anyone in the eyes when talking to them.
This experience has opened up my heart to truly seeing how God loves. As humans we can never love perfectly like Jesus does. Unconditional love is defined as love without limitations or conditions. We all are messy sometimes, but it doesn’t matter because Jesus loves each of us no matter what.
Burmese Refugee School:
We spent every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at a Burmese Muslim Refugee school which we will call BRS. For the safety of the school, the teachers, and the students, the information I am allowed to share is limited. But here’s just a sneak peak into what it is we do here…
For the first few weeks, while the kids were on their winter break, we cleaned the entire school. We scrubbed every single wall, desk and book. Seeing the building slowly turn into a beautiful school again was so rewarding for all the hard work we did. It made us all very excited for the kids to come, and for school to resume. On January 11th, I became Teacher Bri. My co-teacher and teammate, Megan, and I teach many different classes and subjects throughout the day. We spend most of our time with 11-14 year olds in third grade. Every day is always different, but every morning without fail, I am greeted by dozens of sweet faces who all grab my hand, shake it, and say “Good morning teacha!!”, and when asked how they are, they all respond with the same reply of “I am fine, thank you.”
Every single day I am able to spend at BRS is my new favorite day. The kids absolutely melt my heart into a puddle. Teaching English to my third grade class is my favorite part of any day! The first few days at the school, I would get a simple handshake and small smile from each of them. Now, every time I walk into the classroom, they give me huge hugs and have the biggest smile on their faces. Instead of doing their homework, they will make notes or pictures that say “I love you Teacher Bri”.
These kids are extremely joyful, loving, and funny 99% of the time, but being a refugee is not easy. In Myanmar, Muslims are being persecuted by Buddhists and are forced to flee the country they were born in to save their families. Because the majority religion in Malaysia is Islam, many Myanmar refugees come to find safety in Malaysia. The reality is that the government here does not want them, and gives them little to no rights while they are here. Some refugees are taken into detention where they are treated awfully.
We have heard many stories of the families of the children we teach. Some of their family members have been picked up by the police and they never know when they will see them again, if ever. Some of their parents are left in Myanmar with no guarantee for their safety. Some of the students’ fathers have multiple wives, while some wives are beaten instead. It’s heartbreaking to hear about what is normal to these kids. Having a school to attend is such a privilege for them.
With that being said, showing them the love of Jesus without telling them has been our biggest mission here. It has been the best/worst thing. Not being able to share just how much their father in heaven loves them has been extremely hard for me. They have changed my entire world, and have taught me more about the Islamic culture than I ever knew. I am in love with these Muslim children and God is too.
Penang has my heart in it’s entirety, and it aches just thinking about leaving here in just one week. It has been the best 3 months ever. I apologize for how all over the place this blog was, but it was very difficult to describe all that the Lord has done in Asia these past few months.
Love always,
Bri
