Hello from home!
This was an update that I wrote on the way to Africa, but was unable to post due to our wifi situations! I hope you enjoy!
Here is a little recap of what happened!
In February, my new team and I had a smooth plane ride to Malaysia after a
layover in Los Angeles. There had been some complications with my laptop
and I was very grateful for the opportunity in L.A. to ship my old laptop
home and pick up another!
After landing in Kuala Lumpur, we made our way to our ministry in Sungai
Petani (a small city on the west side of the country near Penang). There we
stayed in a church called Bethel Assembly. We did not have beds but we had
air conditioning which was a blessing on hot Malaysian afternoons! Our host
family was Tamil (had Indian roots) and they fed us well with street food
(chicken rice and roti, a delicious fried bread, were some favourites).
(One of our favourite dishes this month!)
We worked with the local church, each morning heading out to a local
segregated school for people with disabilities to work with the kids there
and teach them english, heading back to the church for lunch and
holding a kids program in the afternoon.
In the evenings we would travel to different church members houses where we would sing songs and give a message or, on Thursdays and Fridays, we would prep sermons for the Bethel Assembly congregation. Although I had never preached before, I found that I loved this experience! It was so interesting to see how the Lord would work
through the process of prepping a sermon to teach my heart as well as teach
his church.
My birthday was this month and although it was hard being away
from home, my beautiful teammates made this day so special! It was an extra
special blessing when I found out that day I was fully funded! Thank
you all so much for all of your support! It is such a blessing!
Working at the school for people with disabilities was heart breaking, with the teachers struggling with how to properly teach and care for their students. They loved their
students and were trying to help them, they just did not have the tools.
One of the students there, named Fahti, I instantly connected with. And as
my birthday rolled around, I went to the school and was shocked to find out
that he had the same birth date as me!
Saying goodbye to students was heartbreaking and a test of faith for me.
Their futures are so uncertain, many of them being very vulnerable and
liable to fall into hard situations with no support and very little
understanding from the government, let alone their parents. Even with all
this uncertainty, I left with the realization, faith and assurance that God
holds them and their future in his very capable hands.
At the end of this month, we preformed a Tamil tambourine dance for the
church (which I have videos of) and said a very hard goodbye before taking
a sleeper train to Thailand!
In Thailand we stayed in Bangkok city, near the Don Mueng airport at a
hotel called Sweet Loft. We worked in March with a ministry called A
Mane English Centre, teaching Thai students english and holding
different workshops to help them practice their english speaking
skills. Our ministry host believed in using their business as their
mission, ministering to their students and holding a Sunday School in
their 3 story building each Sunday.
This month was a fun one. We ate food from the local market (eating
mostly from a vendor we lovingly named ‘Salad Guy’, who made delicious
salads in bags along with homemade dressings!). At the school, I was
involved with Math and Speech workshops. These students blew me away
with their dedication. They would wake up at dawn, get ready for
school, study all day, then hurry to english school (some students not
even stopping at home to get changed) studying english until it was 7
or 8pm! Some of the students were in the 5-7 yrs old range! And yet in
their classes they were respectful, although a little mischievous (to
be expected)!
(Kidzania!)
It was so fun to interact with the kids, especially when we took a
field trip to a place called Kidzania, where kids can go to be
“grown-ups” for the day, working jobs and earning “money”, with the
ability to buy things there too! I was in charge of a group of
rambunctious 5-8 year old boys (and I loved every minute of it!).
(My crew! <3)
The mission of our workshops was to build relationships with the kids, with the end goal of inviting them to Sunday School. It was so encouraging to see
many of the kids show up on Sundays, including all of the boys that
were in my Kidzania group!
One of the saddest things to see was the idols that hung on chains around many of their necks (for protection and good luck). Since Buddhism is so deeply ingrained in Thai culture, accepting Jesus as Saviour is an extremely difficult decision, with
the threat of being alienated from your family as a possible result.
Please pray for freedom for the Thai people!
At the end of March we had a squad debrief, then on April 2nd we
travelled across the border into Cambodia smoothly (a miracle!). We
had to pay some customary bribes along the way to police and border
attendants. Cambodia was such an interesting country.
Pol Pot, the huge genocide that took place, had affected the structure
of the country. Walking the streets of Battambang (pronounced
Bat-tum-bong) we could tell there was something different. Because Pol
Pot targeted educated people (doctors, teachers.. etc.) and the older
generation, every face that we saw was about 30 years old or younger.
Education was not something that people particularly desired and
violence was something that was very accepted in Khmer (pronounced
“Ca-mai”, the Cambodian people) way of life.
We worked with students at Ezra Brightstart Learning Centre, teaching
them english and building relationships with the hopes that they would
come to Sunday School (which we also taught) and would hear about what
Jesus has done for them. We had the opportunity to hold a VBS for the
week of Khmer New Year (my team mates lovingly referred to this
holiday as a Nationwide water fight). VBS was also the week of Easter
and it was awesome to teach about the cross to these kids while also
celebrating the resurrection! We had large turn outs and I definitely
will not forget the friendships that we made not only with the kids
but with local missionaries.
This month the Lord really brought up wisdom and how all wisdom comes
from him. I am thankful for the people serving in Battambang that were
able to share their God-given wisdom with my team and I this month.
We were able to finish our time in Battambang by taking our students
on a thrilling bamboo train ride!
After saying goodbye, we headed to Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat is located), had a little conference with multiple world race squads before heading to the airport to fly to
the Philippines!
Oh, the Philippines! I LOVED my time there! If you ever have a chance
to visit, go! The people, the landscape, the culture are amazing. We
had another flawless flight getting there, (thank you, Lord!). After
landing in Manila, we stayed at a Kids International Ministries (KIM)
base there. That place was rocking! It had waterslides, so much room,
instruments, a gym, and the ministry was absolutely amazing! We stayed
there 2 days and we were able to invite kids off the street to swim
with us. The Lord has definitely shown that ministry may not always
look like what we expect. Living for Jesus alongside others is really
what God calls us to do. And I would say that was my lesson this May.
After serving with KIM in Manila, my squad broke into 3 groups, my
team combining with 3 other teams. We headed to Tacloban (a 27 hour
bus ride from Manila) and finally arrived at the Kids International
Ministries base absolutely exhausted. This place (although it does not
have a water slide) was awesome! Because of typhoon Yolanda (the
strongest typhoon ever recorded that rolled through 5 years ago), many
of the homes in Tacloban were wiped out and are still being rebuilt.
We were able to see the extent of this by travelling around the
Tacloban area and serving food to the local kids.This was one of my
favourite parts of this ministry as we were able to teach the kids
bible stories (eg. David, Joshua and Jesus) while they ate nutritious
food called “Lugau” (a mixture of rice, meat, vegetables and spices).
We then sang songs and played games. It was so cool to love them in
this way!
We also helped a local church dig a well and as well as construct
a building for them out of wild bamboo that we wrangled from the
forest.
We assisted a local church holding a sports camp to help reach young
adults in the area. It was inspiring to see the way that they were
reaching out to the local youth and especially the “Ladyboys” that
were struggling with their identity. This sports camp gave the church
the opportunity to love these boys, encourage them and show them the
love and example of Jesus.
Because it was May and the kids were getting ready to go back to
school in June, we were able to help local schools by cleaning
classrooms and landscaping. There were so many good things about this
month!
The people working at Kids International Ministries Tacloban base
(also called the Lighthouse) were amazing people with touching stories.
It was so good to get to know them and hear about how they got
connected to the Lighthouse after the typhoon. We were fed awesome
food!
I also made a very special friend, a 11 year out boy named Kurt! Shout out to him! It was awesome to get to know and hang out with him this month. It was very hard to say goodbye!
Special thanks to Rebecca and Cherish that let me use their photos!
