Jungle/Rainforest
We laughed after we found the pattern of the month. We would ride into a village, stay for a night or two (never more than three!) and come back through town to get to the next place. There was always time for a stop at the gas station or local restaurant. I’m pretty sure our pastors think we only eat KFC and McDonald’s. They always let us know when we’ll be driving by one. I guess that’s their picture of America! KFCs overseas are seriously pretty nice. The one we visited last week even had free wi-fi! So yes, we’ve been in the jungle, but also not more than 45 minutes from the closest corner store. There are so many ridiculous stories to tell that I thought I’d just give a summary of our time here. I’ll go village by village and you can get a picture of what it’s been like to wade into the jungles of Malaysia!
Village 1: March 22-24
This was Elizabeth’s village. She was a sweet lady who took great care of us. She helps lead Bible studies and pastors the church in her village and occasionally another church in another village. Elizabeth translated for us, cooked all of our meals and was so gracious. In this place there were several amazing kids that spoke decent English and loved hanging out with us. I was reading my book one day only to look up and be surrounded by 6 children. We got into a lot of mischief with the neighbor’s pet monkey, Kika, and also with our trip to the river. There was an awesome pool by a small waterfall where the kids kept begging us to go and swim. It was fun to see how carefree and rambunctious they were and how uptight and nervous I was about the fact that they were jumping from a high slippery rock into a shallow pool with a large rock lurking under the murky water. These kids were fearless and so full of life. It was good for my soul to be in that place.
Kika.
Elizabeth's grandson, Fandi.
Fun and flying.
We slept in a small room by the church and I felt quite prideful after rigging my mosquito net like a genius so that my legs were not forever entangled in its evil clutches. There was a ceiling fan and the toilet was on the edge of the village. Our food was interesting and my taste for fish was greatly diminished. There would be a fantastic bowl of noodly goodness and just as you take a bite there’s a small fish or fish head hiding in it. We often had whole fish with many bones, eyeballs and other organs. Let’s just say that I will never complain about my salt-and-pepper catfish fillet back home ever again.
Finally comfortable in my mosquito net!
Fish for dinner.
Village 2: March 25 – 26
Early Sunday morning we left Elizabeth’s village to pick up Mike and Logan who arrived in Malaysia only hours before. We all went to the second village to attend church. Elizabeth went with us and gave the message. On the ride over she nonchalantly mentioned that sometimes there were cobras burrowed under the fallen palm tree leaves. What?! Needless to say, I chose not to go for a jog in that place. After a service completely in Malay, we had some tea and bread. Lunch was an interesting surprise. Logan told us we were having fried squid. I laughed and asked him what was really on the menu. Sometimes the guy is silly or sarcastic…not this time. When it was served, I ate it. It just looked like giant spaghettios, but was a bit more chewy than noodles.
In the early evening, one of the church members took us fishing. Well, Logan fished while Kelly and I took pictures, but it was fun! On the way home we bought birthday cake for Mike! Our time in this village was sweet. I got to lead a women’s study with about 12 women from houses nearby. I felt the Lord leading me to talk about Ruth and when I asked if any of them had heard the story, no hands went up. It was shocking that they’d never heard of the book of Ruth. Still, not everyone has a Bible and those who do have to know how to read. My heart goes out to them and I realize that I need to treasure my Bible and my ability to read it.
With the women's Bible study group. In case you missed me,
I'm the 6' tall white girl in the corner!
Village 3: March 27 – 28
This was one of the most beautiful villages. High in the mountains and deep in the jungle, it was positioned by a wide river with lots of palm trees all around. While all the houses were made of bamboo, the church built by Korean missionaries was concrete. This was the most interesting in terms of showers and toilets. The pastor showed us the toilets and I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like it. They were squatties, but the water tank of one looked like the Hulk had wrestled it away from the wall. It hung loosely out over the toilet bowl and sprayed water everywhere all the time. We showered here and tried to stick as close to the door as possible without getting our clean clothes wet. The other toilet had a tank attached to the wall but it was still dripping and it was quite difficult to use the toilet without coming back wet. Awkward.
Here we had some more fish and a pasty flour/wheat concoction wrapped in banana leaves. The consistency was crazy! Again we led a women’s study and children’s study. Taryn and I worked with the women. Translation was so strained at this village. I have never had as much trouble with translation on the entire Race. What would’ve taken 15 minutes in the States was well over an hour in the village, simply due to trouble communicating. We constantly changed words and phrases and could not even seem to tell them how to get into partners to talk and pray. Everything was very tedious and time-consuming. God somehow gave me a tremendous amount of patience and the ability to see that they really wanted to learn and that language was not something that would change overnight. If ever I could have the gift of speaking in tongues that would’ve been the place to use it!
Fourth village: March 29-31
This was the first place we stayed more than two nights. It might not seem like a big deal to be on the move, but when you have about 70lbs. of stuff to carry around that changes things. Why can’t I just simplify my life and wear one outfit for the next two months?! I don’t think I have that many possessions until I have to pick them all up again. By the time I sat down to write this blog I have already packed my bags 6 times. We move again tomorrow morning and then once more on Saturday. That makes for a tiring time.
Anyway, this village has sweet and energetic youth and children. We had lots of worship with singing and dancing…they love those tambourines! Some of my teammates went to swim in the freezing cold water with the children while I took a jog. We introduced the kiddos to Duck, Duck, Goose and it was an instant hit. I also instantly hit the ground after slipping through some mud while rounding the circle. This gave Taryn great joy as she doubled over laughing and could barely breathe! This place was also deep in the hills with lots of angry dogs and killer bees nearby. A mutant grasshopper landed on my tent one night and was the topic of much conversation.
First game of Duck, Duck, Goose.
Cameron Highlands and a Bamboo Hut: April 1
April 1st was an interesting day. Many times we asked ourselves if it was a big April Fools joke. We drove around for hours because the pastor wanted to take us up to Cameron Highlands. Apparently it’s some cool tourist spot. We saw lots of signs for strawberries, cheap stores and a tea farm. Basically we ended up at Starbucks for half an hour and drove back the way we came for dinner. Only later did we find out that it’s part of the culture to not share too many details or make plans ahead of time. It’s been so much “go with the flow” this month.
As we went with the flow it took us straight to the craziest place yet. We went to spend the night in a bamboo hut. Our driver pulled off the highway and went down a steep mud hill. It was dark and rainy and there were 5 dogs surrounding the car. We stumbled up the “steps” (three 2x4s) in our flip flops and kicked them off by the door. Inside I felt like I was going to go through the wooden floor, as the house was elevated about 4 feet off the ground. There was one man sitting in the corner staring at us by the light of the one candle in the center of the room. No one spoke English as the other car had not arrived yet. I secretly thought that if these weren’t believers we could probably be robbed and murdered and buried in the ditch out back. I was thankful that Steph and Taryn were with me. The other car arrived with our pastor and he said we’d be sleeping here and leading Bible study in the morning. With a few instructions he left. We found out that the bathroom was not only outside, it was anywhere outside you wanted to go. This was quite an adventure as Kelly and I slid down the muddy hill in our flip flops and tried not to think of the hidden cobras under the leaves. I dreamed about scary snakes and creepy spiders but nothing attacked me in my sleep.
The next morning we were all a little over this whole living in the jungle thing. It’s nine months in and we’re tired. We have packed and unpacked so many times, there’s nowhere to do laundry and if there was we couldn’t pack it wet, we ate bread for breakfast and no one here understands us!
This was the point where Steph brought us all away from our pity parties and back to the Lord in prayer. We asked for focus and repented for bad attitudes. Immediately after this we met Eli (pronounced “Elly”). She is a sweet Mexican missionary that has been here for 2 years. She has a hilarious personality and brought such new life to our team. I shared the story of Daniel 2 with the believers who gathered and we moved out after lunch. We came to a new little town and had a kids’ program and testimony time. It was good to laugh and play with the energetic kids that met us there.
Lunch with Eli and the team on the way to our last village.
From left: Kelly, me, Taryn, Steph, Mike, Logan and Eli
Gua Musang: April 2-3
Now we are finally able to get a bit of rest. We’ve spent the past two nights at Eli’s house and had a blast. The first night we helped her cook homemade fajitas and salsa. The guys went to stay with the pastor and the girls had a movie night with Eli. Yesterday we spent some time on the internet and went to check out a cave nearby! We ended up climbing up some scary ladders into a dark cave higher up. It was crazy! For dinner last night Steph and I served up some grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. Kelly made us French Toast this morning! Talk about a treat!
Climbing and exploring the caves with Stephanie.
We’ve been able to shower, do laundry, check our email and just hang out as a team. We even enjoyed a fun workout this morning. Even though the month has been hectic and unorganized, God’s little blessings keep popping up. The people of Malaysia are extremely nice and hospitable. They are hungry for God’s Word and their praise to Him is beautiful to hear. They’re also a people of deep prayer. I’ve observed so many sweet things this month as we moved through the jungles.
We will go to one more village tomorrow and head out to Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Hopefully we can find a good church to attend for Easter, then we will fly out to Phnom Penh, Cambodia on April, 11. The Race continues!
