This month in Malaysia was the most unique month on my Race so far. We were given the opportunity to do what is called “Unsung Heroes Month.” Rather than arrive in a country and begin working with an AIM contact, we were tasked with finding those contacts for future teams.
A daunting task in a Muslim nation to be sure but we were confident in God’s ability to arrange connections on our behalf.
And He did not disappoint.
This blog is going to serve as the most basic telling of some of the incredible things God did for us this month. If I were to include all the details of every story this would inevitably become a short novel rather than a blog post. So if you would like to know more about something please email me or message me and I’ll be sure to get back to you.
Also I didn’t ask anyone if I could use their names (although most probably wouldn’t care) so to be safe I have omitted them all.
So without further ado, here’s what God did for us in Kuantan, Malaysia.
We actually need to back up to the last days we were in Cambodia to start. Because we did not have a host this month, we were responsible for choosing our location (we chose Kuantan) and arranging transportation to Kuantan and lodging while we were there. We were having trouble securing lodging that would be within our budget but were able to find something only two days before leaving Cambodia. Thanks LB!
We had decided to stay a few days in Kuala Lumpur before heading to Kuantan once we got to Malaysia so we had to book a hostel for three nights in KL in addition to our lodging in Kuantan. The place we called originally quoted us RM 40 per night per person but, when we told them we were with the World Race, ended up dropping the price to RM 18 per person per night. That’ll help the budget.
The first day we were in KL Kody and I decided to go exploring. The very first store we walked into, in a Muslim nation remember, was a Christian bookstore. We were able to have a good conversation with the owner and leave feeling encouraged.
After a few days in KL we arrived in Kuantan, ready to begin. Somehow our hostel had some confusion over the rooms we booked though. We originally booked a six person room and a two person room for the month. When we got there the two person room was not available though. So they told us to take the six person room we had booked and a five person room for the night, then we would switch to the two person the next day. We ended up being able to keep both of the larger rooms for the month at a slightly higher price that still fell within budget. So much more space!
Our first full day in Kuantan we set out to explore and familiarize ourselves with the city we would be living in for the next three weeks. We honestly weren’t even looking for any contacts yet, we just wanted to see the city. God had other plans though. Ben, Derik, and Joe were walking together and saw a bunch of white people (not common in Kuantan) get out of a van so they struck up a conversation. It turned out they are missionaries in Kuantan and they were interested in what we were doing. We were able to continue that relationship through the month and ended up submitting them as a contact. On day one ladies and gents.
Kody emailed a guy about teaching english (our ministry in Vietnam was teaching english so why not here?) and they went back and forth a few times trying to figure something out. Remember this one for a second because I’m coming back to it. This same day Ben and Derik walked by an international school that piqued their interest and they stopped to check it out. Remember this one too.
Ben, Derik, Kody, Zack, and I decided we would head to the tennis courts one day to see who we could meet. And also to play tennis. We got there and found out the courts didn’t open for another hour and a half so we left to check out a church in the area. As we were walking up to the building, a car pulled up and a woman got out. We told her we were trying to talk to someone with the church and asked if she was with the church. She said no (she worked across the street with a daycare) but she knew someone who was. She gave us a number to call and went in to work. We called and got no answer so Kody left a message and we prepared to walk back to the courts. But then the woman came back out to tell us she had remembered the person whose number she had given us was on holiday so she had called someone else with the church who could come meet with us and he was on his way. We were able to meet with him for a half hour or so and tell him what we were doing and find out more about their church. We ended up submitting that church as a contact as well but we could have missed it if we had walked up five minutes sooner or later. The timing was perfect.
After our meeting we headed back to the tennis courts because we still wanted to play. We rented our equipment and court and started playing doubles. There were five of us so one was always sitting out. Derik started out and struck up a conversation with a woman who was there with her kids. She was from Texas and was soon joined by her friend who was from Tennessee. I rotated out next so I continued talking with them about why they were in Kuantan and why we were as well. As we were talking a man turned around and asked if he had heard correctly, that we were volunteers here. I told him yes and he then asked me if one of us was named Kody. Remember that thing I told you to remember earlier? Yeah. The guy Kody was emailing about teaching English just happened to be at the tennis courts with us. Kody was able to talk with him for a while and figure out a time to meet and talk more about what he did with his english classes. And to top it all off, the two women we met drove us home from tennis so we could shower then took our entire team out to dinner. And invited us to a barbecue on Saturday evening. Oh, and guess where their kids go to school. The international school that Ben and Derik checked out. This was maybe day three in Kuantan.
So a few days later Kody, Zack, and I were treated to a free dinner (including crab!) by the man who taught the english classes while we discussed a time when we could help with his classes. We set up some times to help and they dropped us off back at our hostel to get ready for our next adventure which was…
A soccer game! We went to a soccer game Kuantan’s second tier team was playing in the big stadium. We accidentally purchased the wrong tickets so we asked someone if we could pay the difference and upgrade our seats. (Trust me, they were not hurting for seating at this game. There were probably less than 250 people in a huge stadium.) I’m not totally confident we would be able to do that in the States but it was no problem here. It was quick and painless and we ended up with better seats. Small blessings are awesome.
That was a Friday and the next Saturday was the BBQ we had been invited to. We had great food and even better fellowship. We even got to teach and play Nerts. While at this free meal, we were also invited to another one. Free meals were a pretty big theme for us this month.
Sunday morning we split up to go to some different churches. And we were all treated to free meals after our respective services. How good is God? Also Derik, Zack and I were all given money at the service we went to. I can’t say I’ve ever had that happen to me before but it was very welcome.
Monday we took an off day and went to the beach but during that time Mason received a call from the Pastor of the church he had been at the day before. On Wednesday they were going to be having a meeting with all of the local Christian Pastors and they wanted some of our group there to talk about what we were doing. So cool right? So Wednesday arrived and Mason, Joe and Kody went to meet with the Pastors. They came back excited by the possibilities of submitting so many different contacts and encouraged by the unity in the Kuantan churches they had seen.
Wednesday evening was the first of two consecutive nights helping out at the English classes. Both nights went well and we were treated to meals after each. I hope future teams get to go help there.
Derik, Joe, Luke, Zack, and I were planning to leave for Singapore Friday night at 10:30 but first we were taken out to dinner (again, I know) by another family we had met this month. The wife grew up in a home where her parents hosted missionaries (sometimes long-term) frequently so she loves to do the same when she has the opportunity. We certainly weren’t complaining.
Our first day in Singapore we were walking around exploring (apparently that’s what we do when we get to a new place) and we stopped to take a picture for a couple on a bridge. We struck up a conversation and found out they used to do mission work with YWAM. We had a great conversation and they prayed for us at the end before we went our separate ways.
We wanted to go to church while we were in Singapore (okay, I wanted to go and asked if the guys would go with me) but we weren’t super familiar with the best way to get there or how long it would take. We got to the 5,000 seat theatre (not kidding) only about ten minutes before the service was supposed to start. Somehow we still ended up right in the middle, about fifteen rows back. Can you say blessed?
While the five of us were in Singapore, Mason had a couple cool adventures. He was invited to speak to a group of youth at one of the churches and was able to pray over them at the end as well. Because I wasn’t there I don’t know all the details here so you should message him about it because I know it was really impactful for him. He also met a man who happened to be the owner of a Christian orphanage (the only one in Kuantan actually) we were already going to on Tuesday. Again, I don’t know exactly how this connection happened so you should just message Mason.
Tuesday we were able to go to the orphanage to speak with the people there about becoming a ministry opportunity for future World Race teams and we left knowing we had a great place for future teams. There are some serious opportunities to serve in that place.
Wednesday night brought home church back at the house where we had had the BBQ. We were able to eat spaghetti then worship and pray together as we enjoyed each other’s company. This was the last time we saw a couple of these families that had basically adopted us as they were going on separate trips to New Zealand and Australia in the next few days. They seriously blessed us so much though.
Another thing that happened this month was our fearless team leader, Luke, becoming fully funded! So thank you to all who helped get him to that point.
Friday night were were invited over to another house for a night full of Settlers of Catan. I can’t tell you how many games of Catan we played this month but it was definitely above twenty. Any who, we played Catan and had good conversation all evening before retiring for the night. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, this was a sleepover. The next morning I was up early to watch the sunrise because the house we stayed at was on the beach. Pretty cool right? We rented a couple surfboards and did our best to ride some waves that morning. My best isn’t that good but I still had fun. We also got to throw around an American Football for the first time in seven months. We were taken back home in the early afternoon to hang for a bit before…
Being treated to another meal. Yes, seriously. It was home cooked and delicious and after we had eaten we put on Miracle (for a little Patriotic spirit after seven months away) and played some poker. We were also invited to Easter brunch the next morning when they found out we didn’t have any plans yet.
So the next morning we went to a sunrise service where we worshiped with a bunch of people and finalized a couple of contacts then went back to our hostel to pack up all our belongings. We were picked up mid morning for Easter brunch by the people we had eaten with on Saturday night. Then they took us back to their house before also dropping us off at the bus station. And, to top it all, they made us sandwiches for the bus ride back to KL.
This month was seriously blessing after blessing after blessing. The Lord showed up in such a big way all month. I can honestly say, this has been my favorite month of the Race so far.
I hope you are as encouraged by reading these stories as we were by living them.
