I Thank God

Whew, time flew!! I’ve been in the Philippines for a little over a week, so I thought I would share about my time in Malaysia. Buckle up; this one is long! I titled this blog I Thank God. As I began to reflect more about what the Lord taught me in Malaysia, it began to make sense. I have such a deep love for this squad and all our loving Father did in Malaysia.

Some of my favorite moments/memories

• One Saturday we hiked up a mountain. On our way there, it started to sprinkle, and by the time we started our hike, there was a steady rain. I was with three of my squadmates: Amanda, Ella, and Areonah. We came to a spot and had to decide right or left. We chose left. We hiked up and got to an overlook spot with a cloudy view of the town. By this time we were soaking wet and uncomfortable, so we started to make our way back down. We ran into another hiker named Sandra who asked us if we were there with a group of other Americans. We said “yes” and chatted for a little bit. After we were done talking, we found out from Sandra that taking a right has a better view and is also the direction the rest of our group went. We started hiking back up again and took a right this time. I was frustrated and wanted to be done, but I kept going. The rain started to slow to a sprinkle again, which made things easier. We got to another overlook spot, and in the sky was a beautiful rainbow. We continued to hike and eventually found the rest of our group. I loved admiring all that was around me, knowing I was looking at God’s creation. (Psalm 19:1)

• On Good Friday, Brice, John, and I went to a small Indian church while the rest of our squad went to our ministry host’s church. During the church service, we each got to share a testimony. Brice and John both had stories they wanted to share. I, on the other hand, had no idea what I was going to share. We all prayed together, and during the prayer the Lord brought up a story from my past. I knew I needed to share it. It was my turn to share, and I was shaking from nervousness. I got up, started talking, and the more I talked, the more confident I became in what I was sharing. I finished talking and was in shock because I could barely remember anything I had just said. I knew I couldn’t remember because it wasn’t my words that were coming from my mouth but the Holy Spirit interceding for me. (Matthew 10:19-20)

• A few days before Easter, Brice, Amanda, and I went shopping for baskets and fun items to put in them for our teams and squad leaders. On Easter morning, we set out the baskets, and everyone had to go find the one that had their name on it. As I stood and watched, I saw smiles of joy, which made my heart so full. We also had the opportunity to give school supplies to refugee children. I saw their faces light up as they opened bags with new erasers, colored pencils, coloring books, pencils, and so many more items. I was reminded of Acts 20:35, which says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

• We took vans to get to anything ministry-related. On occasion we would sing worship songs on our way to wherever we were going. There were also other times during worship together when I would stop singing, pause, and listen to everyone else singing praises to the Lord. There is so much power in being still in His presence. (Psalm 100:1)

• I loved having deep, intentional conversations with my squadmates. During some of these conversations I would catch myself off guard, knowing what I just said wasn’t from me but was the Spirit working in me. When I took the time to pause and be still, I didn’t feel like I was saying nonsense, but the words were what the person needed to hear. How comforting it is to know that even when my flesh says your words are meaningless, the Lord reminds me He is with me. (Luke 12:12)

• We did children’s ministry again, which I explain more below. This time around I got to do more teaching. I felt like the experience was a sweet gift from the Lord. The Lord knows how much I love teaching and being around children. (James 1:17)

Below is an overview of what my time in Malaysia looked like. 

All squad month!!! This meant that all three of our squad teams would be spending our time in Malaysia together. On March 31st we safely arrived in Malaysia after traveling for 55 hours on two buses and taking two trains. We got picked up by our ministry host, who took us to the community center we would be living at. When we got to the center, we were greeted by church members and K Squad (14 girls from a World Race Gap Year who would be partnering with us in ministry).

Lodging: We all stayed in a community center together. In the center, upstairs, there were two medium-sized rooms that had beds and a shared bathroom in between where all the girls slept. Our team stayed in the same room together, and all the other girls from the squad stayed in the other room. The guys slept upstairs in classrooms on the floor with mattress pads. We had air conditioning in all the rooms and showers with running water. It was a blessing to be in a comfortable living situation again.

Food: We had peanut butter toast, oatmeal, cereal, apples, and oranges for breakfast. Lunch and dinner were brought to us in plastic takeout containers. Most of the time we ate rice, a fried egg, vegetables, and some form of fried chicken. Occasionally we would get a noodle dish called Mee-Goreng.

Church: Every Friday evening we would attend an Indian church called Bethel Assembly. Our ministry host, Pastor Thomas (PT), is the main pastor. Worship would last about an hour, followed by a message given by PT in Tamil (their main language). We would occasionally have a translator, and other times PT would summarize what he just spoke in Tamil to English for us. Church would last between three and four hours.

Ministry: Our primary ministry was teaching English to refugee children. Since these children are refugees, they aren’t allowed to go to a Malaysian school, so the only education they are receiving is from Bethel Assembly (our church partner). On Friday mornings we participated in a program called Boy’s Brigade at the community center. Children between the ages of 5 and 15 would come. The easiest way to describe the program is Boy Scouts but Christian. Our squad split up into three different classrooms by our teams, where we taught Bible stories and played games.

House church: For the first few weeks, on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, we took part in house church. We were split up into 3-4 groups, taken to different houses, where we sang worship songs, read scripture and gave a message over it, shared our testimonies, and prayed over the families. We didn’t know if we would be going to a believer’s or non-believer’s house; it was always a surprise. To prepare for house church, we would pray as a group and ask the Lord what we should do. We trusted the Lord that He would give us guidance on what to share. It was sweet to see the Lord’s provision each night.

Adventures: We went to Penang Island to see the ocean, hiked up a mountain with K Squad, and then went back to Penang to explore an area called Penang Hill.

I’ll make another blog with all the photos so you can get more of a glimpse of what life in Malaysia was like.