I don’t want to speak too soon.. but I want to share a few things that have happened in just the first 5 days of being in Malaysia.
We have attended a meeting at a local church that is planning a youth conference in a few weeks that we will get to help serve at.
We have unloaded several vans of donations, sorted through the donations, and assembled around 400 bags of clothes, shoes, and food to relieve local Myanmar refugees (where we are going in January) that have suffered from a recent flood here in Malaysia, and distribute some of those bags to various villages.
We’ve been able to eat and talk with some of the men and women that come to the homeless shelter here in Georgetown.
We also had a day working with Muslim students. They shared some of their stories, we shared some of ours, played games, and made baskets out of plastic wrappers for the school to raise funds.
My team is paired up with team Estuary so we are living and serving with an additional 6 wonderful women! It has been unbelievable! It can be wildly hot, but the food is incredible, and so is the work! We haven’t had too much down time so I look forward to resting each night. I’m balancing on a good amount of busy and just a hint of exhaustion but every man, woman, and child’s smile, every van full of donations, and every meaningful conversation is just more motivation and excitement for the things to come. God is moving in Penang.
In addition to everything we are doing, I’ve also been able to hear a lot of beautifully tragic stories. It is illegal for Muslims to convert to Christianity or any other religion in Malaysia as well as MANY other countries. Citizens are stamped with ID cards that say their religion. Once they are labeled as a Muslim, they are held to the standards of Islam and Syariah (or Sharia) Law. Being identified as a Christian, caught going to church, or falling away from Islam can land you punished by the government, shamed but your colleagues, and abandoned by your families or worse. In some places they will have you killed.
Please pray for Muslims. Please pray for those enduring religious persecution. Please pray for those who have escaped. Please pray for Penang, pray for Malaysia and the other countries that handle religion so forcefully. Please pray for our teams and for me to better understand some of what is going on here and for us to allow God to move through us in mighty ways.
I am also $4,178 away from being fully funded with just 19 days until the deadline. Please pray for that as well! 🙂
There’s no place I’d rather be.
