Impacted
Currently it is Month 6 of the World Race and we are in Malaysia. I’m thankfully still with Team Legacy and we are also living with another team from our squad so there is a total of 15 of us here.
This month is Ask The Lord month and so it has been encouraging to see God’s hand in how we were led here. At the beginning of the month our treasurer emailed a ministry to see if there was a way we could work alongside them this month. Little did we know that they had been praying hard for a team because they were in dire need of hands!
They run a homeless shelter called Kawan (which means friend) that is open 3 days a week and serves a warm home cooked meal to over 150 people each of those days. They also hold bible studies, build relationships, and it is a place they hold church for those who don’t necessarily feel comfortable/safe in a church setting. They also give away clothes that are donated by the community to a second clothing store (in a different location) that they run and the homeless shelter is sustained by the proceeds of the store.
This ministry has been going strong for 10years and the owners of the building have decided they want to sell it so the deadline is that everything needs to be moved out by the end of the month!
Thankfully there is a new building for Kawan to prosper in that is very close to the original space. It’s being renovated right now because it was essentially two spaces they are merging into one. The new building is not ready yet but workers are working hard to get it to a place to be approved by inspectors and to get it to a place where we are able to begin moving stuff in by Friday.
Please pray for everything to go smoothly and that the building inspectors approve it, that the neighbors are accepting and open to Kawan, and that God’s light shines in this new building (that used to be a mortuary) and continues to be a place of His love !
Also please pray for the family that has been our ministry host. Shortly before we got here they found out that their 7 year old son had type 1 diabetes. Please pray for peace, protection, love, and faith during this time.
One of the beautiful opportunities tonight that has been one of the most impactful experiences on The World Race for me so far was speaking to women in the Red Light District.
Tonight we all met to do street evangelism and me and my squad mate Ashley got to be in the group that went to speak to women and transvestites in sex trafficking/prostitution.
The two woman we got to go with have been going to meet with these women for about 7 years now and have been building relationships with them.
We drove about 5-10minutes away from Kawan and the area we walked to was a secluded alleyway.
As we were walking one of the ladies we were with encouraged us to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). I’m glad that she did. That also echoed bible study that I had with my team previously that day.
The alley was very dark and hidden. There were many stray dogs laying around (which were cute and friendly) and men on motos driving through the street very frequently. The first woman we met lit up when she saw us. She was joyful and was catching up with the ladies that Ashley and I were with. We were able to pray for her before she had to leave. The second woman we spoke to was translated for because she spoke Chinese. She was a funny lady and kept making jokes about how pale our skin is, how we get sun burned easily, and how “pointy” our noses were :P.
The next woman we prayed for was so precious. She grabbed each of our hands and said “friend”. She then put her hands excitedly together and said “prayer”. We prayed for her and spoke with her for a while afterwards. We all in some way shared how beautiful she was and she was surprised. She felt she wasn’t because she didn’t have any customers. We shared that it doesn’t matter if she has customers or not, that she is beautiful because she is created by God. She is a single mom and she was so very sweet. She also was protecting us by telling the men nearby that we weren’t working.
The next woman we spoke to was a transvestite and I absolutely loved her. I wish we could’ve spoken to her for hours. We were just spending time with her talking about things like birthdays, our dreams, countries we’ve been to, etc.. She spoke with eas in her eyes about how life is precious and how sometimes she feels it’s been wasted/that she has regrets. She was so vulnerable and real with us. We were able to pray for her before we had to let her go.
We will have an opportunity to go back again next week, praise The Lord.
I truly feel like I learned so much from this night and I’m so blessed to have been put where I was.
Some of the things I took away from this night were:
- God has my back: I felt so unqualified and scared when I volunteered to be in this group. The truth was that it wasn’t me doing anything and that when we say yes to God and depend on Him, He is going to do it all. “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.“
Psalms 16:8 ESV
- It’s so simple, not easy, but simple: We are called to love each other as ourselves. It begins as simple as meeting someone right where they are with a greeting and a smile. It’s not a fancy, scary formula. By just showing up that night to see those ladies it translates to “hey, I see you, I care about you, I don’t want anything from you, I’m not judging you, and I love you just how you are.” I truly love them all so much and we only had one conversation and I could FEEL God there. His hope and light was in that alley with those woman. I pray that they can someday see themselves how He sees them. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31 ESV
- I have no right to judge anyone (man or woman): He was guiding my thoughts and replacing bad ones with truth. I found myself getting tense when a man would walk by and I wanted to just take all these ladies away from that place but I’m not their savior, they ALL already have one. I too was lost and dead in my trespasses until I asked Jesus into my heart and He changed EVeRYTHING. My purpose there was to love and be a vessel for Jesus to shine through me. “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:11-12 ESV
- We all need Jesus: We are all the same. We all have the same Heavenly Father that created us. We are broken and sinners in our trespasses and don’t know any better until our hearts and minds are opened to the truth. Before we know Jesus we are all just trying to survive the way we know how until we learn the truth, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ and it transforms us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV
- Impacted:. I will forever be changed this night. These experiences and places that we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus just proves how much Jesus loves His children and that He will go to any lengths to reach the unreached. I don’t know what lies ahead but I’m grateful and blessed to have gone the places He has brought me. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”
Matthew 18:10, 12-14 ESV
This hits close to home for me.
In some counties in my home state of Nevada prostitution is legal. In the city where I’m from we used to have an active brothel for my whole upbringing in that town and that was just a normal thing (praise the lord it’s closed now).
It doesn’t matter how far the Lord takes me from home, the same struggles and suffering exists at home! We ALL need Jesus!
This night really started a fire in me I never knew was there. I have a heart for people who struggle with drug and alcohol abuse, because I myself did too.. but as this World Race journey unfolds I’m seeing so many different ministries and ways that Jesus‘s light and love is being shown and experienced by others. I’m just excited to have the opportunity to go back next week and see those ladies again.
Blessings,
Court
