This past week I have been spending my time in the Jungle of Malaysia. When I was first told that I was going to be spending my time in the Jungle I was extremely upset and wanted to cry, we had been spending a great week in Kuala Lumpur, an absolutely beautiful city with a lot of things to do, but regardless of how I felt plans had already been made and soon we we’re going to be on our way to the jungle.
Before we went to the jungle we spent a week in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur working with Pastor Tony and TM Farms. TM Farms grows organic produce out in the jungle and helps the farmers to sell their produce in markets throughout Malaysia. Pastor Tony is high on reaching out to help people in need and building relationship in order to bring them to knowing Christ. So our time in KL was spent helping them relocate their home/office just a couple of blocks away. We split up into two groups Aimee, Michelle, and Erin were in charge of painting. Keri, Andrew, Ryan, and I were in charge of tearing apart their old walk-in freezer and rebuilding it at the new location. We were given few tools, no direction, and free range to just get the job done. It was quit a challenge but in the end we had the entire room covered and sealed with styrofoam.
In order to get from KL to the jungle we took a two hour van ride to the town of Raub where we stayed the night in one of Pastor Tony’s houses. Then the next morning we took a one hour van ride to a dirt road where we all piled into a trailer hooked to the back of a tractor, from here we had a very scary, bumpy, dirty, curvy, two hour ride to the village we were going to.
In the jungle we had a lot of down time but in the mornings we would split up into two groups and either go help on the farm or teach the kids. We could never get many kids to stay for school, but there were always a lot of them hanging out with those of us who were at the farm. Then in the afternoon we would either spend our time going house to house to visit people or playing with children. I was always partial to the children and fell in love with every single one of them, it was such a great joy to me to be able to share my love with them and spend my time trying to bring a smile to their faces. In return the children we’re extremely giving, they would always share their snacks with me, carry my water bottle, fan me with a leaf, introduce me to their friends and take us all for swims in the river. On one occasion we all had two inches of mud on our sandals from after it had rained and we were inside a woman’s house visitng with her and we came out we had discovered that three little boys had taken the time to clean all of our shoes off.
A majority of my days were spent working, lunch, swim in the river with the children, and then play games with them until late into the evening.
One afternoon the kids took us to go see the “bear”, we didn’t really know what that meant because of communication barriers so we just followed. The kids ended up taking us to a house in a different part of the village and were just pointing inside saying “bear” but we didn’t see anything and could only hear what sounded like a dog barking. So after some time a teenage girl goes into the house and chases a bear cub out of the back room, the thing does not look happy and she just keeps chasing it back and forth from room to room. This goes on for a while and the bear is just getting more and more angry when all of a sudden a naked girl comes running out of the back room with the bear chasing her and the two girls kind of climb up onto the ceiling. All of a sudden the bear jumps out of a hole in the side of the house and Erin, I, and bunch of kids take of running. Needless to say no one got hurt, the bear did run away, but apparently he comes back all the time, so no need to worry we didn’t loose their pet.
So we just left the jungle yesterday to take a three day break here in Raub and then we will be heading back to the jungle for one more week, which I am so excited for. I absolutely fell in love with the jungle–the crazy kids, the wonderful smiling faces, the great hospitality of our neighbors, the bear, our afternoon swims in the river, bucket showers, and the endless supply of rice that we had for every single meal.
Alright everybody! On top of all of this I am still needing to raised $4,500, and if 90 of you could please step up and give a one time gift of just $50 I would be fully funded. I promise you that your funds are going to good use and that God will truly bless your gift. God Bless all of you!
To Make a Donation you can either:
1) donate online by clicking the “support me” link on the left hand side of this page
2) mail a check made out to AIM to the following address: PO BOX 534470 Atlanta, GA
30353-4470
