I have now begun my fourth month of ministry on the World Race. Time is flying by! We spent our first week in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur for debrief. Debrief is a time where my whole squad comes together for a week of rest. Our squad coaches, Dan and Karen Shogren, come in from the States. We held worship and teaching sessions with them and our squad leaders throughout the week. This also gave us plenty of time to explore the city. We saw the Petronas Towers, Batu Caves, Little India, and, after much searching, the National Monument.
Kuala Lumpur was somewhat of a culture shock after being in Cambodia. KL feels like a major city in the U.S! We rode the free public buses everyday which happened to have some of the best free wifi I have ever used. We went to the movies and saw “Frozen.” The theater was located in the nicest mall I have ever shopped at which also happened to have the largest Christmas display I have probably ever seen in my life! Definitely did not feel like Asia at all.
But it was still Asia. Over 60% of the population of the country is Muslim. We already stick out in Asia for simply being American now we are even more of a peculiar sight since we are not Muslim. The malls all have boutiques that sell only head scarves and burkas. From our hostel roof, we could see the national mosque of Malaysia and a Hindu temple. Our last night there we had a worship session on this rooftop. What a freeing experience being able to worship in the shadows of these magnificent buildings.
Our ministry this month is in a small town in the north. Our hosts are some of the only Christians that they know of in their small town. They love hosting racers nearly every month out of the year because that is who primarily helps keep the ministry running. They even have a house that is designated for racers to stay in. My team is paired up with Team Peculiar Treasures for the month. We are excited about getting to spend time with these six women!
One program here is a preschool where three other girls and I are getting to assist this month. The children that come through this school represent many nationalities including Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Nigeria, and Sudan. Some of these children’s parents have fled to Malaysia from hostile environments. Malaysia is definitely a unique melting pot!
We are also getting to help with character building classes. Since it is illegal to evangelize to Muslims, we are hosting classes that “build character.” We still teach Biblical principles and even tell Bible stories just changing the names so we cannot be accused of breaking the law. We also have several Christmas programs planned for the month. Muslims and Hindus are open to hearing about Jesus at Christmas time since he is the reason we even have the holiday. I cannot wait to see who comes to our events and how we get to interact with them.
Though we are able to be here and minister in discreet ways, danger is still very real for our hosts. Pray that those who seek to shut their operations down are silenced and that God continues to grow the ministry that is already at work here.
