Life in Malaysia!

Hello!

The past twenty days have been full of many fun adventures and learning experiences with my Lord and Savior. Please have patience with me as this post may be a little long. :)

Several times a week we travel into the city where we have been building relationships. We spend most of our time there getting to know individuals who work at the shops in the mall or those who have shops in the streets that cater more towards tourists. There is a beautiful river alongside the highway and since it is fairly cheap to cross some of us discovered a village on the other side.
The village is a breath of fresh air compared to the bustling city. It is more of a local area so not white people walk through this beautiful area. The people are very welcoming, and two other girls and I have begun building relationships there. Yesterday, we took a guy with us and went to visit some friends we had made. People can be fairly shy, so we went armed with little candies that brought smiles to the faces of young and old alike. An older lady invited us into her home, fed us lunch, and was insistent that we return. She lives alone yet she had food prepared as if she knew we were coming. She kept calling her daughter who spoke English and handing the phone over to us!
After departing from the house of this lovely woman, we went to visit our friends. They were overjoyed to see us again, and we had a great time with them as well. It was a great afternoon, and it was so cool to see the joy that God brought to the faces of the people we were able to meet, even if it was just through a candy.

This last weekend my whole team of two leaders and seven students were able to take a road trip to a village where we spent two days and two nights. We shared in the church, played with the children, learned to make some traditional snacks, and were able to work on the new church building/home for the pastor's family that they are slowly building. It was great to spend time getting to know more amazing people in this beautiful country!

God has been teaching me so much, and is helping me see His heart for the people we meet. It has been challenging, but so worth it to follow Him! He has been continually reminding me of how He sees me and to find my identity in Him alone.

Please pray for my team and I as we look forward to the last three weeks of our time here:
Pray that God would help us focus on the here and now, rather than get sidetracked with the future and soon returning to Australia.
Pray that we would be in tune with His spirit and let Him guide us as we prepare to enter more villages in this next week.
Pray for good health, energy, and good attitudes!
Pray that we would continually desire more and more of His presence in our lives.
Pray for my brother, Matt, as he prepares to travel here from Thailand to visit. Please pray for our time together as we have not seen each other in over a year and have less than five days to catch up. I thank God for this opportunity to see my brother again!

Thank you for reading and for all your prayers. I would not be in Malaysia without your support. May God bless you!

In Malaysia!

Hello from Kuching, Malaysia!

All the money came through for me to be able to come on outreach with my team. Sorry for not updating sooner.

We have been here for three amazing weeks and have five more to go. The people here are lovely and we have been having an amazing time building relationships and trying all sorts of different foods. Both Chinese and Malay people live here, making for an interesting blend in belief systems ranging from; Hindi, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and animism.

It has been such a joy to get to know the lovely people here. We have been able to help serve by cleaning yards, helping around the house where we are staying, selling layer cakes (kek lapis) for a sweet little lady, letting them show us around and feed us, and helping to put up a net for a single mother at her farm.

God has been teaching me so much and been moving in amazing ways. He has protected us, given us favor, provided finances, given so many open doors, and still had time to teach me sone important lessons.

I love following after my Lord and Father. He is continually reminding me to place him first, to listen to his voice, to trust in his unfailing love, and to be patient to see where he is leading me.

Please pray for me and the other eight members of our team as we:
Seek God for our time here
Build relationships with the friends we have made and the ones we will meet
Good health (some have been struggling with colds and stomach aches)
And motivation as we are surrounded by the distractions of being a tourist and just letting the time pass.

Thank you so much for reading and for all your prayers. I will try to post more and with more detail.

God bless!