The Best Thing

Since our ministry this month in Malaysia is to teach English to about 60 or so sweethearts (age 5-12), as well as a handful of adult students (who are also adorable), I am in full teacher mode. For that reason, the best way I can describe my time here so far is through numbers and a little musical number. Here goes…

14… the number of days since I said a tearful goodbye to my parents in the security line at Philadelphia Airport and flew to Chicago for Launch!

9… the number of days since leaving Chicago with my entire squad — struggling at the airport with baggage weight restrictions, looking like a crazy person while wearing multiple scarves and a sweater (to cut weight from my bag), and taking cat naps on our sleeping mats at the gate (totally normal World Race behavior).

4… the number of days it took us to travel from Chicago, to Hong Kong, to Kuala Lumpur, and finally to our ministry location in Gua Musang.

17.5 … total number of hours in the air (over the Arctic!)

2… the number of movies I watched on that first flight to HK. (Moneyball lived up to the hype by the way.)

13… the number of hours it took to travel to Gua Musang from Kuala Lumpur on an overnight train.

12.75… the number of hours I was fast asleep on said train.

HUNDREDS… Okay, slight exaggeration, but it sure feels that way… the number of PB & J’s I have consumed since leaving home. Good thing they’re so classically delicious.

60 (ish)… the number of students we have the honor of teaching throughout our month here at KJ Generation. They are so eager to learn, so grateful to be taught, and unbelievably obsessed with Angry Birds. Coming here and spending time with them – whether it’s teaching them vocabulary through drawing pictures, or going through a workbook together, or simply kicking a ball around outside – is worth every tear I shed in August as I said goodbye to loved ones. Their purity of seeing the world, their hearts for each other, and the sincerity of their smiles and emotions reminds me of the purity of faith and love that Jesus calls us all to embody and practice. Kids, man — they are the best teachers.

7… the number of World Racers here on Team Joyful Feet who are filling themselves up with Christ so that we can pour out His love onto these kids and show them Jesus without ever speaking His name. We are not allowed to talk to people here about Jesus (although many here assume that we are Christians, since we’re white Americans), and were instructed to take off any cross necklaces or other jewelry that we might normally wear. Gua Musang is in a fundamentalist Islamic state called Kelantan, so our ministry this month is to live out our call as Jesus’ disciples and spread His light through our lives.

8… the number of days we have been living and teaching here in Gua Musang. We have already seen exciting changes in our little kids, and I can’t wait to see what God has planned for us in the next 11 days…

ONE LAST THING (the BEST thing) — Since our amazing contacts here at KJ Generation encourage us to use music as much as possible to teach our kids in a creative way, I can’t help but share a song that I have been singing NON-STOP to the Lord, ever since I boarded that first plane out of Chicago. I love it when secular songs capture exactly how I feel about Jesus without even trying, and this song is definitely an example of that…

As I was looking out the window of our plane, I had no idea what awaited us in Malaysia, but I knew what I was leaving – many amazing people at home whom I would miss more than I could ever say and to whom I am forever grateful for their love, prayers, and financial support. And in the midst of being slightly anxious and sad, a comfort swept over me that was unmistakably from the Lord. He reminded me of something He has told me many times before: that He alone is my true home. The fact that I have a home on earth – in a dearly loved hometown and with loved ones who define what “home” is for me there and in DC/NY – is a huge blessing and something I am deeply thankful for. But it is in His arms and close to His voice where I belong, and if He wants me to follow Him this year to the other side of the world, trusting Him through the uncertainty and brokenness, then that is where I need to be. That is where I want to be. It’s not a sacrifice; it’s not a “pick up your cross” act of obligation; it is an honor and a delight to do this. After all, He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.