Despite my previous knowledge of our route in my support letter and in the map that is so creatively displayed on my “Home” and “About” pages, our final month is NOT in Vietnam. Instead we are serving in the beautiful country of Malaysia.
Our travel to this country was memorable enough, but Malaysia continues to surprise us as if to make our month here (and our last month abroad) literally unforgettable.
We reunited as W-Squad to fly from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. From there, my team took two buses to take us to our ministry site in the city of Sungai Petani. Like most countries we’ve been to, Malaysian buses do not own a watch or even care about time whatsoever; therefore, our bus was nearly two hours late. As if to apologize for the late departure, this bus provided ample legroom and a seat that J.Lo herself could sit with room to spare. But once my hopes were high in the sky, the air conditioning began placing its icy fingers on every body part it could touch, which made sleep virtually impossible.
At 1:00AM, we were finally at our destination—deadbeat and sketchville—and were thrown to the curb. Literally. With little English, the bus driver just yelled, “Sungai Petani!” And with no help from him, we were left to fend for ourselves with our 50-pound bags to simply wait on our contact for further instruction.
Pulling up in a pimped-out van, our contact, Thomas, loaded our bags and took us to the Malaysian version of Steak-n-Shake for seemingly “just drinks.” Normally we would be ecstatic to receive any type of edible item upon arrival, but at that point—nearly traveling for 24-hours—we only had one thing on our minds: sleep!
At the restaurant, we were greeted by Thomas’ cousin, David—who discovered just an hour before that he would be housing us seven, crazy American missionaries for the month.
Once we finished our waters and complimentary curry dishes, David led us to his house. But our unforgettable travel into Malaysia still wasn’t memorable enough. On the way to David’s house, we were pulled over by suspicious cops who saw seven Americans being transported across the city by a pimped-out van at 2:00AM.
Finally at our new home, we were shown to a room decorated only by the concrete slab at our feet. Too tired to say anything or even to halfway care, we dug in our packs for our air mattresses and passed out until lunch the next day.
David's home/Our home
Our bedroom (5 girls on air mattresses) With David, our host
Regardless of our bizarre entry into Malaysia, it has kept its promise and has continued to be unforgettable in the short 48-hours we’ve been here.
Only half of this country’s population is native (and being a native, there is no freedom of religion making half of the country Islamic). However, the rest of the population—mostly Chinese and Indian are free to practice their religion: Buddhism and Hindu.
Although there are vast differences in cultures and religions here, everyone is very generous and hospitable. In fact, last night a group of men offered to pay for our entire table’s drinks because they were so in shock at seeing Americans—and Christians, at that.
This month, my team and I are working with a small church of Indian-Malaysians who recently experienced the death of their founding pastor. Even though this is now my fifth month serving alongside a church, it is no coincidence that God sent us here at this exact time.
As we are serving with this church, our duties will include preaching, teaching, music, entertainment, and fellowship—all the ingredients of a functional church. However, it being a sensitive time for this body of believers, God has entrusted us with much.
Please pray that we will impact this church in the short 3 ½ weeks we will be here and that God will direct us down the path in which He desires this body of believers to go.
