So I’m sitting here in month 10 updating you on what happened in month 7. Trust me when I say this: some things will never change…my procrastination not withstanding.
Malaysia. Malaysia was a month that I think I will likely look back on most fondly three years from now. During our time in Malaysia, we stayed in the city of Kuantan on the east coast of the main part of the country. Our team was assigned to do Unsung Heroes for the month, which means we were without a ministry host for the month. Instead, we were searching for future ministry contacts that could host World Race teams moving forward. Malaysia is a largely Muslim country, so finding Christian ministry contacts seemed like a daunting task at first, but the Lord was so good to us in the process.
On our first full day in Kuantan, Ben, Derik, and I actually found our first contact. In a city void of many white people, we found a white family along the river and figured we might as well see what they’re doing in Kuantan of all places. Turns out they’re part of a missions organization working with young people in that area, primarily Muslim teenagers. It’s illegal to do ministry with the Muslim Malay people, so they’re taking quite the risk to bring the Gospel specifically to that group of people. They define what it means to be an “unsung hero.”
Throughout the rest of the month, my team found and submitted close to ten other potential ministry contacts, which essentially opened up an entirely new city for AIM to send racers in the future. Praise the Lord. He is good. We found an orphanage, churches, prison ministries, etc. All thanks to the Holy Spirit placing them in our path. For their privacy and obvious need for anonymity, that’s all the detail I will provide regarding their ministry, but you can be praying for them nonetheless. Pray that the Lord will continue to provide support for them and for AIM to be able to quickly send teams to serve there. I hope to be able to look at blogs in the future of teams that worked with contacts we found. It’s for that reason that I could see myself looking back most fondly on my time in Malaysia. I look forward to seeing the fruit that the Lord produces in that city.
We were also EXTREMELY blessed to run into a group of ex-pats at the end of our first week in Kuantan. There were five families working in Kuantan who took us in and showed us the love of the Father in a really radical and admirable way. They fed us, transported us, and even offered to do our laundry. They are people I will never forget and a group that I hope to always stay connected with after the Race is finished. One couple even invited my entire team to their home to spend the night on the beach before we left for Thailand. Mind you, they have a young baby and they still opened up their home to us. Hopefully they’re increasingly aware of how impactful they were in our lives that month.
Lastly, my team was blessed with the opportunity to visit Singapore for a few nights. Memo to future racers, though: make sure you tell your SQM that you’re leaving the country. Singapore was a really cool blessing from the Lord. An incredible city that I’ll never forget. In my recap video below, you’ll see a lot of sites from Singapore. Go check it out if you ever get the chance…though it’s quite expensive. A lot of what you’ll see in this video is us walking or visiting churches. That was a big part of our ministry…searching. It may not look like a lot of Kingdom work, but the Father was working overtime in Malaysia.
Enjoy!
