My Time in Malaysia

Hey guys. As I’m nearing the end of my time at Malaysia, I wanted to give you an update of my time in Malaysia, the ministries I have been involved with, some testimonies, and how you guys can pray for me.

With that said, Malaysia has been a different country from Thailand in several ways. The biggest one is Malaysia is largely a Muslim country whereas Thailand was largely a Buddhist country. Secondly the area we are staying in is not a tourist area so we stand out in Malaysia a lot more than we did in Thailand. Next, while the climates are similar, the air is so much cleaner in Malaysia than where we were staying in Thailand. This made it easier to breathe and not have a daily morning sore throat. Additionally, there have been more ministry opportunities in Malaysia than there were in Thailand.

As to the ministry opportunities in Malaysia, we partnered with a church called Bethel Assembly Church with our host being Pastor Thomas. Our main ministry has been helping teach English, math, and science to Myanmar refugee kids who do not have public schooling opportunities. In addition to that, we have been doing house visits once or twice a week where we worship, share testimonies, share the Word, and pray for people. Additionally, we have been helping with a boy brigade for middle school kids where we teach Bible stories and play games with them. Next, we have been helping with a cafe as part of a church program meant to help special need adults. Lastly, we got connected with YWAM and helped with a college ministry outreach sharing about what Easter is about and later helped facilitate a church service another day.

Next, I’ll share some testimonies. One testimony occurred at a house visit on Wednesday. For this house visit, I prayed beforehand if I should share the Word and if so what to share about. I then felt God lead me to write a sermon about love. After doing that, at the house visit, people on our squad and another World Race squad were randomly paired. As a group when we were talking about what we were to preach on, 3 of us said we felt like God wanted us to talk about love. We all had notes and some of our notes were the same. Through this, I was given the opportunity to share the Word and God really helped me during this time. Afterwards, some members of the team talked to someone from the house and was able to lead the person to Christ! I was thankful for that.

Another testimony I’ll share is our connection with YWAM. When we were in Thailand, my team was at a coffee shop and got asked by a couple next to us if we were YWAMers. We told them we weren’t YWAMers but were World Racers. After talking and telling them we were going to Malaysia next, they connected me with a YWAMer from Malaysia that happened to be only an hour away from where we were staying in Malaysia. That said, we were able to coordinate 2 events to partner with. For the college ministry, it was a cultural event to share about what Easter is. Many who attended were international students from China studying in Malaysia. I was given the opportunity to share what Easter is about and why Jesus’ death and resurrection is so important to our faith. The next event was an outreach to Hokkien people at a homeless shelter. When there, I was able to share a testimony of how God healed me in the past from an injury and our team was able to help minister with worship and with sharing the Word. I’m thankful that from a “random” encounter in Thailand, our group was able to minister in various ways in Malaysia.

Lastly, as part of the boy’s brigade ministry, there was one of our students Zach who was dealing with ADHD and I believe other mental things. He would often make noises and be disrespectful and cause disruptions during our time in class. Finally, our team decided to come together and pray for Zach and strategized in how to love him and help him. I believe it was 2 weeks later, randomly Zach said he wanted to say something to everyone, and he said he wanted to apologize to everyone for being mean and doing bad things. He said he wanted to be everyone’s friend and a good boy. His repentant heart was evident as his heart changed that week and the next, and his mom at home said he was acting much better. Praise God for a repentant heart!

That said, Malaysia has been an amazing experience. I would appreciate you keep the following in prayer/ pray for them as you read them below:

1. That God would grow the seeds that we sowed in Malaysia and continue moving through Pastor Thomas and the other ministries we were involved in.
2. That my health would be restored specifically with my vagus nerve to be restored, for peace over my body, and for anything else which is causing my health issues. There has not been a day in Malaysia that I haven’t had vertigo/ dizziness, and I still am struggling with insomnia. I have been seeing some breakthrough with my sleep, but prayers it continues to be better and sustained. It has really made me have to rely on the Lord extra.
3. For God to help us as we begin to transition to the Philippines. That we would have good ministry opportunities that produce fruit. That God would help us as we transition teams and as I get a new role.

Thanks guys and next to the Philippians which I leave for around May 16!