Journal 9/10/2012
Wow.
This has been such a long travel day. But I praise God that we all made it safely.
Saturday 9/8/2012
3:25 central time we left Chicago for Hong Kong.
Add 13 hours ahead of central time and a 16 hour flight and we made it to Hong Kong their time around 8:00 Sunday evening. We had a 5 hour layover and then boarded a plane at 1:00 am Monday morning to arrive in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 5:30 am.
As soon as we landed we all figured out what we would be doing as far as what bus and train station we all needed to get to depending on the team we are on and where in Malaysia we were going. Lucky for my team our travel day has ended and we were just supposed to get from the airport to the bus station by train. By the time we went through customs, immigration and got our belongings it was about 7:30 am. We then took a 20 minute train ride to the bus station to meet our contact Edwin to start off our ministry. Edwin told us at this time he would see us in about an hour from then. A little about our ministry we are supposed to do is work with Tamil Methodist Church in Kuala Lumpur and help plant churches all over Malaysia and help with youth groups. That was basically all we were told. Now let me back up a minute. In Malaysia when they say they will be there in about an hour they really mean 2- 2 1/2 hours. Good thing to remember.
We did finally meet Edwin and it was great. He was so outgoing and excited to have a World Race team join him. But, there were some set backs. 1) He did not realize we were coming this early and had no where for us to stay and 2) He has a lot of groups coming in to help his church. Whoops! The thing about expectations on the World Race came in hand right about now. So, what are we going to do? Well, we came to the PODs hostel for the night and got our stuff settled in. It is a very welcoming place about three stories about some buildings on one of the main streets. My team of 7 are in a big room with bunk beds and other back packers from all over the world in here as well. I had only seen movies about these types of scenarios in a movie about this type of setting but never thought I would be in one. Everything is about to get real. The pastor told us to take the rest of the day off and look around the city. We did not want to go to far so we planned on going to some sites in our area. He told us to be back at the hostel by 7:00 to meet another contact we would be working with in the jungles. Ok sounds great. We can do that. Remember when I was telling you about Malaysian time? Well about 2:00 Edwin calls us to say the pastor is down the street walking to the hostel to meet with us. I thought it was 7:00… Confused yet? So am I. We are doing everything on their watch and I am confused about their watch. Welcome to the World Race Day 1.
We met the guy and he told us that he is doing construction in the jungle on a church. The boys are definitely going and 2 other girls. So what will the other 3 of us do? Well, across the street from our hostel are many business such as restaurants, massage places, barber shops and convenient stores. You name it and it is across the street. Something happens in behind the scenes at these places that is heartbreaking. About 300 girls we are have been told are prostituted out of these stores. As I sit and write this blog I am watching through the window down to the main street of these places. I have seen movies that look exactly like this but now I am in it and I can see it with my own eyes. I have this great opportunity to talk to these girls and share a love they have never felt before. I am truly excited and blessed if this ministry works out for us.
Backing up a little bit to how our team spent the rest of the day after meeting the jungle pastor. We finally were able to go out so we chose a restaurant that was pretty small but looked pretty nice to eat in so we gave it a go. I had a veggie soup and it was noting like it is in the states. It had bell peppers, onions carrots and cauliflower with broth. It was interesting. Did I mention it is about 100 degrees outside and it is humid? So I am not quite sure why I am eating soup. We also went to visit the national mosque for muslims and had to wear the appropriate attire. It was interesting and a beautiful place to be but not who I want to be worshipping. We were all exhausted so we came back and took a 3 hour nap which led to this blog.
So excited to start the day!! God Bless ya'll!!
