My time in Malay Balay has been
everything I thought it would be. It has been so much fun to spend
time with our other four teams. Di and I have been able to observe
and enter into their lives for this month. And surrounding all that
is mountainous terrain in all directions.
There have been two main ministries the
teams have been involved with here in Malay Balay. The first is the
orphanage. The teams sign up to work around the clock shifts to
watch the kids and bring relief to the under-staffed orphanage
workers. They also run a camp on Saturday’s where several hundred
kids come and hear stories, play games and get fed a good meal. I am
very familiar with working at orphanages on my World Race trip. But
I forgot how easy Asian kids are attracted to me. But I don’t want
to inflate myself more then I am. It’s simply because I’m an anomaly
to them. They see me and they see this man who is twice as tall and
ten times as hairy as they’ll ever be. It’s been fun seeing the
various personalities come out here as well. Some people on the
teams love kids and flourish, others don’t do as well but I’ve been
impressed at how willing they are to stretch themselves.
The second portion of work to do here
is manual labor. Several of the guys pitched in and dug stone stairs
into the sides of some hills that the workers climb very often.
Everyone has pitched in to dig a trench around the dining hall to
prevent flooding. And the biggest project of all that people have
really leapt into has been the formation of a regulation size soccer
field on the grounds of the orphanage. They have dug out rocks and
weeds, grated it, harvested the sod and now they are planting the
sod. Certainly a far cry from painting walls.
For me, this has been a fantastic week
of spending time with the rest of my squad. But it has also been a
dangerous week. Here, in the mountains, surrounded by orphans and
tons of manual labor is where I am most comfortable. So it has been
very easy for me to jump head long into helping them with their
ministry and neglect my top priority of looking after the health and
needs of the squad. But that is why it’s Di and I and not just
myself. I am so thankful that I have her with me. The more we lead
together the more we would agree that God put us together to balance
each other out!
Please be in prayer for me and Di as we
are traveling again. Also please remember the teams in Malay Balay.
Especially for their health. They have been working very hard and
have been hit hard with sickness’ of all sorts. Also please pray for
them to find their groove together as teams. It’s very difficult to
be with three other teams on your first month, when you’re trying to
figure out how to live with your team. Kind of like being newly weds
with a room mate. Thank you all so much for your support.
