Unfortunately, because of the political state of the area that we were in, I can’t really share too many details as far as our exact location or the name of the ministry we were working with.
The month of April and 8th month of my Race was spent in Malaysia. I have to tell you, that coming into Asia I had no idea what to expect. I knew it wasn’t going to be anything like what I’d experienced before, but I was surprised by how quickly I fell in love with it! Most of the people we met, especially in our last week there, were more hospitable than you could imagine. I found little pieces of home scattered through out the month and some days it’s what kept me going. God is always faithful to provide what we need right when we need it.
Our main ministry for the month was teaching English and Homeschooling our host’s children. Our hosts had recently been in a car accident that had left the husband unable to walk for the time being, so everything that needed to be done was falling on the wife and we all knew she was feeling overwhelmed. I quickly realized that this month would be different than any other, because this month our main focus was ministering to our host family and to each other. We made it a top priority to spend as much time as we could with the kids and with out realizing it, we all started to build stronger relationships with each other. For the first time on the Race I felt like my team was a family.
Because of the conservative Muslim state we were working in, we weren’t able to share our faith as openly as we’ve been able to in the past. That came with it’s own challenges, but in the end God opened so many doors for ministry. And opportunity to just love on people and pray for them, even if they didn’t know that’s what we were doing.
Overall month 8 in Malaysia was my of my favorite months on the Race. I’m so thankful for the wisdom that our hosts poured out upon us (even though they were so busy with their own lives); for the joy that I saw and learned from their children; for the patients I learned when teaching English to 11 year olds who think they know everything ??; for the love that I received from my team; for the opportunity to not only homeschool, but to teach about the Lewis and Clark expedition, which is a huge part of the history of my hometown and for the grace, and faithfulness of God to have brought me this far.
I just want to say thank you to those of you who have helped me make it this far. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: your prayers and support mean more than you know. It’s a great feeling knowing that I have an army of prayer warriors backing me up back at home. I couldn’t be doing any of this without you.
