Welcome to Penang, Malaysia! It’s rainy. It’s sunny. It’s noisy. It’s beautiful. It’s our last week here, and I am so sad to leave. Time flew by especially fast this month. It really feels like we just got here last week, and there’s so much to do that we are leaving behind. Here’s a couple of pictures and reasons I loved every aspect of Penang this month:
On Monday, Wednesday, Friday we volunteered at a homeless center called the Kawan Center that proves showing the love of Christ with your actions is more powerful than words sometimes. This building has such a sense of peace inside, and it’s beautiful to see how passionate people have poured themselves out to make this place run so smoothly. Hundreds of people are blessed with food, clothing, showers, and a place to rest in a way that changes lives.
My Favorite Way I Saw Jesus Here:
Sarah Schultz. Dang, this girl was in her element. Watching people find something they are passionate about is one of the most incredible things to witness. Everyday she was excited to meet new people, catch up with her old friends, bring nail polish to paint the ladies’ nails, teach games. Whenever we were walking around Penang, she always had to stop to say hello and check in on the people she met. Seeing her heart for the homeless brings me so much joy.
A day before we arrived, there was a huge flood in Penang, and lot of people’s homes were majorly damaged by the water. Our host sent out a couple texts to friends to gather donations for a specific refugee village on the mainland, and word spread quickly. Before we knew it, we were literally drowning in mounds of donations of food, clothing, hygiene products, cleaning supplies, diapers, the list goes on and on. I spent most of the month organizing the supplies into packages to easily be passed out to people in need.
It sounds like a boring job, but organizing excites my heart. There is nothing more satisfying than walking into a room of chaos, sorting it, sending out packages, and leaving the room empty at the end of the day. Ahhhh.
3 Super Gross Things that Happened While Sorting:
1. A can of sardines exploded from the heat and some unnamed victim unknowingly wiped the juice that got on her shirt all over her face trying to wipe off sweat…
2. ANOTHER can of sardines exploded and we thought the smell was lingering from the last can. When we found the second can almost a week later, the whole plastic bag it was in was FILLED with maggots. I had the pleasure of taking that one out.
3. The Kawan Center where we were organizing the donations has mice and they eventually found all of the food packages and started chewing into all of them. It took Talya and I a whole day to clean up all the mouse poop, and while I was making fun of Talya for gagging at it all, one of the mice came and crawled across a pipe on the ceiling to watch us. His little ears were absolutely adorable! I felt a little bad seeing him and his family all trapped on the glue paper the next day.
On Tuesdays, my team spent most of the day praying and worshipping at the Penang House of Prayer (PenHOP). It was time that challenged me to explore different ways to pray and reevaluate how I talk to the Lord.
My 2 Favorite Ways To Spend Time with the Lord:
1. Singing scripture while meditating on it or while praying. A guy we briefly met and prayed with told me to sing out my words because that’s how I do it. I guess I’ve always known that it’s more natural for me to sing my prayers than to speak them, but I’ve always held back because often time in group prayers I just felt really awkward starting to sing when everyone else was speaking. Hearing these words from someone who knew nothing about me and getting to practice singing scripture at PenHOP has encouraged me to just pray as the spirit leads no matter what else is happening.
2. I learned this year that the Lord really loves to speak to me through pictures, and I’ve been practicing trying to draw out what I see. It never turns out like the picture in my head, but that’s okay. I’ve gotten pictures that speak into my identity in Christ, pictures of warning and discipline, and pictures to focus my prayer life. The creative side in me just loves it!
On Thursdays, we spent much of the day out on the streets in Penang relying on the Lord to guide us on who to talk to, where to go, or what to do that day. I often end up doing something that makes me really uncomfortable, but the Lord is teaching me more about boldness every single day.
3 Things that Happen When you Let Boldness Guide You:
1. Nothing ever turns out how you expect and you might not understand what is happening, but God is clearly planting seeds.
2. Sometimes God might lead you to a 2 1/2 hour conversation about everything from sports to drugs to armaggedon to angels. God can and will use anything from your past to speak to others.
3. Boldness is really just obedience, so it’s okay and possible to be nervous and bold at the same time.
The Best Way to Celebrate Your Birthday in Malaysia:
Go bowling and then get pizza. We may all be terrible bowlers, but at least we’re champs at clearing our plates.
Public Service Announcement:
I know the monkeys on the beach have big, adorable eyes. Their little hands might melt your heart a little. The way they jump and put food in their mouth is just too much to handle.
But do not. I repeat. DO NOT stare the monkeys in the eye.
It doesn’t matter if you just tried to save their lives by convincing them to not eat toothpaste tubes. A staring contest will result in a monkey charging full speed at you and trying to bite your leg. Bad idea.
