Malaysia
1. What were your living arrangements like?
My team and another team worked together this month (Anchored by Freedom) and we lived in a two-story house. Us girls had our own room and slept on the floor on our sleeping pads. We had running water that worked 90% of the time for awesome showers!
2. What was the food like?
We cooked for ourselves this month so there was lots of oatmeal and ramen. But the little restaurant down the street from us made perfect chicken fried rice!
3. What was the culture like? How is it different from ours?
Malaysia is a very Muslim culture so the “weekends” are different days (school was Sunday-Thursday). It differs from America in that there is little practice in freedom of religion. Because many teams have been at our location in the past the neighborhood was very aware of our presence and wanted to use Christianity as a way to prove we were present only to convert people. In order to protect our contact and his family we could only pray, worship, and talk about God inside our house.
Night time English class
4. What did you learn about yourself?
I learned that I became accustomed to seeing myself as unworthy and while I understood that God loves me unconditionally I never actually loved myself unconditionally. So I learned to give myself more grace and forgive myself for choices I made in my past.
5. What did you learn about how the culture effects the way the people understand the gospel and live as Christians?
Malaysia made me very appreciative for a life that allows Christians to be expressive and full of life. It was also hard because being on the race our focus has been to love people through worship and a focus on a Christianity so it was good to be reminded that God doesn’t always call us to seasons of sharing the word but also seasons solely of love. SIDE NOTE: We had two kids in kindergarten who are arranged to be married one day!
6. What was your most memorable moment from this month?
One of our first nights in Malaysia we had a worship service with both teams and our contact family. It was full of the Holy Spirit and just an incredible thing to be a part of; I really like looking back on that night. The hardest was either having less ministry than the past months and therefore lots of free time or else not being able to talk about God in public.
7. What was the biggest lesson you learned?
Definitely to love myself and forgive myself; It was a relief lesson to realize I don’t have to prove myself to God and be encouraged by the identity that He has given me.
8. What did you see God doing among the people of Malaysia?
God is slowly softening the hearts of the neighborhood we worked in. While there were many people who were curious about us living among them there were also many people who looked forward to seeing us everyday. There is a teacher at the school who has worked there 5 years now and this was the first month that she began asking questions about God.
Patting the kids to sleep
9. What did you learn about the community and the people you served?
They are becoming more open to foreigners in their territory and more open to asking about the Lord. Our contact and His family are a wonderful example of strong faith and obedience to the Lord. (He once went to India with $8 in his pocket). God also has big plans for our host family; He is taking them through a new season and a future of radical ministering (maybe in America!)
10. What FUN activities did you get to do?
We went to Langkawi Island for a weekend and enjoyed the ocean (as always) with Banana Boating, swimming, and McDonalds!
11. What one thing surprised you the most?
How much lice love me.
12. Explain your “typical day” this month.
Wake up at 7:30 and have team devotional, then quiet time/reading until lunch. (I read a lot of books this month). Quick lunch followed by work at the school; I would sweep and mop and Marissa would give baths. Then we would both help the kids through snack time and pat them asleep for nap time. After school we would have team time/game time/Jesus time. Two night a week I would help the guys teach English and two nights a week we would have church/worship service. The last week of the month I helped in the 6 year old room at school in the morning. And a lot of nights would end at White Tent (chicken fried rice) watching the Olympics or listening to “American” radio.
The 6 year old class
13. What different projects did you work on this month?
Helping the teachers, teaching English, loving on the kiddos, talking to God.
14. Name one main difference between this month and previous months.
We couldn’t talk about God in public.
15. What customs did you have to follow in Malaysia that we don’t have in the U.S.?
Shoes off! Long pants/skirts and no tank tops (it was super super HOT)
16. What were some rewards and challenges of being in a closed country? Explain the different cultures and how they interact.
I think I hit on most of the challenges of this and the reward is that I am so appreciative of home now. I didn’t see a lot of interaction with multiple cultures except with the children but they would tease each other quite a bit.
17. What was the school like you were teaching in?
Our neighborhood was by a university so there were Muslim kids, Nigerian kids, Chinese kids, and even a kid from Yemen. It was a very diverse school and while it was an English school every child had the option to take one class in their home language (Arabic, Nigerian, etc.). The ages of the kids ranged from 3-6 and I helped in the after school program (a mixture) and in the 6 year old class. One day I asked a Nigerian girl what Nigerian dirt looked like and she said it was green. Then after I explained what dirt was she said, “Oh we don’t have that.” But we did have random classes where we learned words in everyone’s different languages.
The soon-to-be marrieds
18. Have you read any books that you would recommend to others to help them grow in their walk with Christ?
Yes! The Ragamuffin Gospel – it kicked my butt (in a good way)
The Confident Woman – Joyce Meyer
Love Does – Bob Goff
19. Since you are halfway done with your race are there any things that you wish you would have taken with you on your race that you didn’t or anything you wish you had more of?
I have too many clothes. And you can buy pretty much anything anywhere it turns out. I do wish I had an extension cord (random, I know).
-C
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