2 weeks ago, after a songtow, two trains, one bus, one ferry and an uber, my team arrived arrived in Penang, Malaysia. We hit the ground running doing everything from working in a prayer house to working a popup shop, kids camp, and cleaning. It’s incredible, and my team and I feel like we’re in an oasis perfect for soaking in what this season is really about!
This month, we are living with our host who is not only an American, but an alumni world racer as well! Her apartment in in Penang, which is an island off Malaysia’s mainland. After 3 days of travel, she welcomed into her home with homemade cookies, a decorated Christmas tree, and candles that smelled of Christmas.
The morning after we arrived, we went to PenHop. It stands for Penang House of Prayer. That in itself has been an experience, and I’ll be writing another blog about what I learned in 7 consecutive hours of praying. The next three days were spent working at a pop up shop for Village Artisans. Village Artisans is a fair trade company that hires men and women in northern India to prevent human trafficking. They use materials that would otherwise be thrown away such as bone for some of their jewelry and leftover saris for some of their scarfs and purses. In a matter of 3 days, my teammates and I turned a small, family owned coffee shop into a high end boutique, changed the atmosphere, and tore it back down into a coffee shop.
We priced items, dressed up in scarves and jewelry, and encouraged the women that came into shop. Not only were we able to support the free trade, anti-trafficking movement, my team and I were able to grow together as a team. We were with each other more in the first few days of Malaysia then were were most of Thailand. God knew team Querencia needed 45 hours of over the top earrings and colorful scarfs to bring us closer to together.
After a late night of setting the coffee shop back up, we immediately began 3 days of firez youth camp. It was the first of it’s king here in Malaysia. That’s a big deal because Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, partially closed country. Their policies are confusing, but it is illegal for Malay’s to be anything other than Muslim, once an individual converts to Islam, it is illegal to convert to any other religion, and it is illegal to evangelize to them. It isn’t, however, illegal to be a Christian if you’re a foreigner, Chinese Malaysian, Indian Malaysian.
Many of the churches here lost hope in revival, but a church full of mostly young adult aged people didn’t. When they prayed, they saw revival that began with the youth, and so a vision was born. Firez camp was created as a place to share who Jesus is. Hundreds of kids showed up to the camp, and most of them had never even heard the name of Jesus. From 10 am to 11pm, we were there watching Jesus move. The youth were told they were loved, and that they were not a mistake. They learned that there is a purpose to life here on earth.
The Holy Spirit was present. On day one, there was no excitement, but by the end, they were jumping for joy in His presence. On day two I watched a boy sit with his hands in his pockets as session began. He didn’t look sad, but he didn’t look excited either. As the message went on, the boy’s stature grew. Before worship began, there was an alter call. He began to go forward and when his friend didn’t follow he looked back and tried to get his friend to go with him. His friend refused, but he ran to the front anyways. At the last session, this same boy stood in the back of the auditorium with his hand raised and a smile plastered on his face.
I don’t know the exact numbers, but I think around half of the youth accepted Christ as their savior. That’s amazing. Those days were long, and my team and I were able to continue to grow through pure exhaustion. Both literally and metaphorically, we were able to lean on each other. The week didn’t end there though! The morning after camp ended, we were at PenHop again, and the morning after that Ally and I worked at the same café where village artisan was washing dishes.
The first 9 days in Malaysia were absolutely insane in the most incredibly only God could have thought that up kind of way. Continue praying for me and what God is doing here in Malaysia because it’s pretty cool. Also, if you’re looking to give any tax deductible donations before the tax season ends, I still have to raise a little under $3,000 by the end of January to stay on the field.
