Another month has come and gone! This month my team spent month 10 in Malaysia. Malaysia has 3 dominate cultures; Malay, Indian and Chinese and you’ll find a culmination of foods and traditions from each culture. Malaysia is dominantly Muslim and although Malaysia isn’t a closed country, it is illegal to convert Muslims. The main language is Malay and the Malay Ringgit (4= $1USD) is the currency.
This month started off with team changes! I’m now on team Spatz’s Spuds (we wanted a silly team name) with five new women. These women walk in a lot of maturity, love and wisdom. They’re full of joy, laughter and encouragement. I’m very excited to finish the race with this group of women.
My team taught various subjects in English at an English learning center this month. Many of the students who come to the center have behavioral problems or are seen as hopeless. They’re smart kids, but struggle sitting still and act out in order to get attention. Some of the students don’t have both parents around or are continually told they are dumb, naughty, hopeless, etc. Not all the students who go to the center have behavioral problems. I was also given the opportunity to teach an adult English class and high school geometry, which I enjoyed a lot.
Our hosts pray fervently over the center so that it can be used to radically change the lives of all the children that attend. My team was not allowed to talk about Jesus, pray or teach the Bible at the center so we were really challenged to show God’s love to the children through our actions. We did this by speaking truths into the kids, loving the kids and by working on different moral lessons.
It has not been easy teaching the students. Many acted out, refused to listen and would get out of their chair every few minutes (sometimes seconds). There were times the children literally ran around the classroom screaming and refused to sit down. There were many frustrating days because no matter how many times you reinforced respecting your teacher and listening, they would continue bouncing off the walls. The students that acted out did have good days, but when they were frustrated, angry or upset they struggled to verbally express how they felt.
Even though there were hard days, we didn’t give up on the children. We stayed as patient as possible and talked with the students (discipline wasn’t allowed). There are amazing testimonies of children’s behavior changing at home and at school after spending time at the center, which is encouraging. God gave us many opportunities to grow in the fruits of the spirit this month; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
This month my team lived in an apartment. The apartment was very basic and included 5 small “bedrooms” with foam pads, a kitchen with one burner, a toaster oven and rice cooker, a washing machine (yay! for no hand washing) and a cold shower. We cooked for ourselves and got really creative with using one burner and only having a small freezer that functioned. Many of us showered 2-3 times a day and struggled sleeping because it was very hot especially in the apartment.
There wasn’t a lot to do adventure-wise where my team was located, but we found fun things to do around town. Our adventure days consisted of finding wifi at a local restaurant, eating at Pizza Hut and enjoying a slice of delicious cheesecake from Secret Recipe, a local chain restaurant. We celebrated two teammate’s birthdays, Nicole and Karyn, this month with birthday cake and dinner at the most authentic Chinese restaurant I’d ever been to. We also went to a local festival and rode a super sketchy and probably very dangerous Ferris wheel for only $0.75 USD. It was a lot of fun! My team will be wrapping up our time in Georgetown, an island, for a few days where we are hoping to enjoy the beach, street art, Indian food, malls, etc.
Overall, this month was a very challenging month, but my team stayed positive and we were able to figure out ways to thrive even with all the challenges thrown at us.
Thank you for your continual prayers and words of encouragement. This year has been quiet a journey and I can’t thank you enough for making it possible!
