It’s our last month in South East Asia. Wow I can’t believe we are almost done with Asia. The last month in Asia we headed to Malaysia. Hey that kind of rhymes!!!
Malaysia is a very diverse country. One of the most diverse countries we got to go to. It is full of culture and full of vibrancy. There are many different ethnic groups including: Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arabic, and Malay. With so many different ethnic groups in one country, you can come across so many people in so many different ways of life. Even in the small towns, located in the jungle, you can see the diversity of this nation.
Malaysia is prominently a Muslim country, but is not limited to that only. Because this country is in South East Asia you will find all sorts of religions there. Malay people are required by law to practice Islam and cannot leave Islam. If you are not Malay, you are, for the most part, able to practice whatever religion you would like. The country runs under the Islamic Sharia or Islamic Law that is found in the Quran and the Hadiths (opinions and life example of Muhammad).
With Malaysia having some rules about religion and how it should be practiced in their country we found ourselves learning a new way to show the love of Christ. In most cases you are not allowed to go around trying to convert people to Christianity or any other religion. (Not that you should be doing this ever.) You must live differently and show them what is different about you, that difference is The Lord. I personally think this is how people will come to love Jesus more by the way you live your life. It’s not what you say it’s how you live. Jesus told us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Not shove religion down people’s throats.
Christianity is a way of life. It’s not what you can’t do or what you can’t say. It’s finding new ways to love people. Its feeding the hungry, loving the poor, and healing the sick (physically and spiritually). This way of life is free from chains and bondage. It’s letting go of yourself and falling in love with the Father more.
You love for The Father is shown in how you treat one another. It’s being willing to let the unexpected be your reality. This is how we are supposed to live. People will ask you why your different and you then have a chance to speak life into them.
Okay back to the month!! Malay people are some of the most loving, most hospitable people I have ever met in my life. Actually people in Malaysia no matter what ethnic group you belong to are this way.
This month we were sent to Gau Musang. It is located in the Kelantan district (one of the most conservative Muslims states in Malaysia). It is located in the Northern part of Malaysia. It has over 100,000 people there; spread throughout a vast amount of area. The town is tucked away in the jungle surrounded by cave and mountainous structures. It is incredibly beautiful. There are three main people groups there: Malay, Indian, and Chinese. Because each of them live their lives completely you see a range of food. They all have different food. So this month was great month for food for me because well I love food.
We were with a seasoned AIM contact for the month. The Kumar Family. The Kumar family is incredible. Their descendants came from India. They have three beautiful children. They are also some of them most holy spirit lead people I have met. Holy cow!!
While we were with them we got to teach English at their center. The center teaches English and character building skills to a range of people, from kid to adults. We taught a handful of classes every day; during the week.
My favorite class was a group of Chinese students, most of the spoke great English, just needed help with a few things. (In fact I might need help with English as well) There were five of them and they were around the age of 15. We would teach a short lesson on English for a little bit then went for walks, played games, and just hung out with them. It was pretty great. I had two other classes that were sort of adults. One group was strictly adults. However, the other class was with one of the Chinese students from the other class in this one as well, and her older sister. (I had a hard time pronouncing her name) The younger sister really wanted to learn English.
Other things we got to do while we were there were fellowship gatherings. These included, my dearly loved, Indian food!!! Oh how I missed it. If you haven’t found out by now that I really love Indian food, you now know. We would worship together, eat together, discuss together, and laugh together. It was an incredible time, and also in English!!! During one of those nights Kumar prophesied over our team and prayed for the rest of our journey. Man that guy is a very in turn guy with The Lord.
I know it might not sound like we did a lot this month but we taught a whole lot of English to the community there and we got to love on the town. Especially some of the people at my favorite places to eat!!! If you ever go to Malaysia get Roti Boom. It’s incredible and very bad for you, but don’t let that scare you from trying it. It’s sort of a desert. It is a very thin flat bread style, sort of like a tortilla, but not really, covered in sweetened condensed milk. I will have to say though that I still like donuts more.
I also got super sick this month. Sometimes on the race you eat street food or food that is from a vender. I ate some food from the market and got a bacterial infection. This lead to me going to the doctors several times to get tested and treated. It was not fun to have, though there where things that people on our squad that had worse sicknesses then I got. It still sucked. Being sick in a foreign country is hard. It took a little bit to get all healed up but I was luckily healed up by then end of the month.
We came, we saw, we loved, and seen God work more and more through us. This life that we get to live is so incredible. It’s not about the travels, or the things we get to do, it’s about the people God has placed in front of us at that very moment. It’s how we love and how God loves us. We were all chosen to live a life like this. A like that is free. The things we got to do and the people we got to meet would never be possible without God’s hand at work through us.
