MALAYSIA!!!

Welcome to Malaysia! 

Hey everyone! Me and my squad have been here for about two and a half weeks now! We had a pretty easy 36 hour travel day!! No long layovers or missed flights, praise God! 🙌🏼

The first week we were here, we didn’t do any structured ministry- but we got to explore a little bit of the city we live in! We got to do “ATL” days… which just means Ask The Lord what we should do and who we should talk to that day! 

Then the second week we started working at a school, getting to know the children and then started teaching them math and English!! The kids age range is  7-14 years old! Every one of the kids gets a teacher (world racer) and that teacher sticks with them throughout our whole time here!! All of the kids are so great and  I absolutely adore my girl!! She is so sweet and very smart, she knows a lot of English and is always jumping at the opportunity to learn more!! All of the kids are so sweet and full of energy, and I am so grateful for the time we get to spend with all of them!! 

Monday – Wednesday we work at the school with these kids, then Thursday we go to the park with them to do Zoomba classes and games! Both school and days at the park are in the mornings and we are always done by noon! We come back to base for lunch and then we spend time with our teams! Then after a while we have dinner! 

Every night the church that we stay at has a service, and once a week my team will lead that church service! Another day of the week we will have house church (church at someone’s house) and we might lead that as well!! Leading can be sharing a testimony, a message or leading worship… or do all three! 

Then on Fridays we have church in the morning with our squad and then go out to do our laundry!! We get to do our laundry by an Asian food market, and we eat lunch there till our laundry is done!!

But every Friday night is the biggest church night of the week!! Everyone gets all pretty, hair done, makeup done, and us girls get to wear the traditional Indian dress and pant combo! I personally love Friday night church because it’s so fun and the worship is always fire. 🔥 

Saturday is our adventure day/ ATL day, we can go to the beach, a coffee shop, roller skating, or whatever we feel called to do that day!! Saturday evenings we do sports ministry! Then Sundays are our day of rest- our sabbath if you will. 😌

Let me give you a quick picture of the people groups that live in Malaysia.

There are three main groups of people, we have 1. Muslims, 2. Indian, 3. Chinese, with Muslims being the majority of the country!! My squad is staying with an Indian host, which means we are invited into traditions and customs of an Indian Christian! AHHH I am so honored and excited to be part of the traditional dances and celebrations we are doing!! 😝

For example, my squad has been learning a traditional dance to perform on Christmas Eve, and us girls are wearing Saree’s and jewelry to wear on Christmas Eve! Another thing they do here is tambourine dance as a form of worship (some people might see worship with flags, and they do that too), but we have also been invited into classes for tambourine dancing!! A few of our girls performed last Friday night at church! 

We have been doing a lot of other random things like, people who have no musical talent learning 4 different instruments, and Christmas caroling at midnight. Malaysia is not a real place, it can’t be this interesting and beautiful and cool. How can a place like this exist?? It’s so crazy and fun! 😆

Another thing about Malaysia is that it has a nightlife like no other- when we do sports ministry, our sport doesn’t start until midnight, and after we finish, our squad goes to McDonald’s, or Texas Chicken and stay until 2-3 in the morning!! The crazy thing about this is that McDonald’s is full even then, families and groups of people are still out and about, hanging out in the parking lot, in the restaurants. It’s the whole culture, everyone and their mother is out. It’s so fun and so cool to see! 

I am obsessed with this place, the environment (which is warm/ tropical) 🌴the people (who are so kind and caring)🤗, and the FOOD (which is my favorite kind of food)!! 🍲

I have been learning a lot with the Lord through getting little sleep, and being busy with lots of little things. The Lord is teaching me how to prioritize my relationship with him. He is also teaching me how I can look more like Jesus in the little things- how I talk to my student, how I get to know the families at house church, what I do in my free time. Even how I treat my squad mates, and how I can be more intentional with them! 

I have been wrestling with the Lord a lot lately, in my beliefs and the way I viewed God in the past compared to how I do now. But he’s been patient with me through this struggle, and has been helping me understand that it is okay to wrestle with Him. It gives me better understanding of his character and who he is, trying to better understand Him is never a bad thing. If anything I think it will help strengthen our relationship! ❤️

That’s just something to pray about!! 

I have other prayer requests too!!

<ol “=””>

• I would love prayer over my sleep! Living and sleeping shoulder to shoulder with 24 girls on the cement has been hard on my back and shoulders. I have been using a leaders sleeping pad because mine popped (praise God for Braden).  But, I have been having back spasms and pain in my shoulders because of sleep. 
• I am also in need of prayer for finances! Praise the living God that I am fully funded‼️but, there are some unexpected expenses that aren’t covered by AIM, such as the uniforms we have to wear for Christmas caroling, transportation, the Sarees we wear for Christmas, a few meals here and there, and LAUNDRY!! 

Wow that is a lot for all those who read my blogs!! 😛

Know that I am so so grateful to be here and so grateful for this opportunity to travel the nations while spreading the LOVE of the Father!! Praise God for Malaysia, I am more than blessed to be here!! 🫶🏻

Love you all, ttyl ✌🏻