TBT: Malaysia, July 2015

Country: Malaysia
City: Georgetown, Penang

This was “Manistry Month” so all of the men in the squad lived and served in a community entirely separate from the women.

This was also the month that Exposure participants arrived to work with our squad. These were college-aged individuals that wanted to invest time into an intentional community while also serving the ministries in the country.

We were blessed with having two college girls on our team for the month: Alexis and Amelie. Because our Team Leader was with the guys for “Manistry Month,” Tanja {my jellyfish shenanigan friend} was our Team Leader for the month.

Team Name (for the month): Team Time

Ministry: St. Nicholas Home for the Blind

I had the unique opportunity to work with the Executive Director (E.D.). They caught word that I had previously worked as an Administrative Assistant for a non-profit and worked closely with the E.D. there. The Executive Director gave me the task of researching a type of technology called “Beacon Technology.”

Most days, I would spend time researching, talking to vendors, and ultimately making a decision on the best company and type of beacon.

The Director had the vision to implement beacon technology around the St. Nicholas campus that would enable the individuals suffering from visual impairment to have freedom of mobility throughout the campus. He wanted to adopt this technology on campus with the goal of implementing throughout all of Georgetown. This would provide freedom for this demographic of people to obtain independence in their city. I was completely on board. So, I researched vendors, understood how the technology worked, and ultimately needed to make the final decision. It was an exhilarating experience, as I love to learn how things work. At times it was a bit slow as my ministry was usually computer-based.

I also had the opportunity to work with the individuals in the Home. They found out that I knew how to read music and recruited me to help with a new computer program they were trying to implement for their musically-inclined individuals. If you have seen the movie “Drumline” it is similar to the one that is used when Nick Cannon’s character is playing the drums and the computer translates it into notes on a staff. This program would do that AND would translate the notation to Braille sheet music. Did you know that Braille has sheet music? I didn’t and it was amazing to experience it all. This program was a bit frustrating and because of a missing piece to the computer software, they couldn’t implement this for the service of their individuals.

I also spent my Friday mornings leading worship for their small Anglican congregation. The most fascinating thing I experienced in Malaysia (maybe even the entire Race) was the conglomerate of religions within Malaysian culture. How incredible that Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity (and others) are all present within the country. St. Nicholas is a Christian organization, but welcomes individuals of all religious affiliations into its home. Seeing all of these religions under one “roof” was incredibly interesting to me – it was entirely unique and holds so much potential for ministry. That’s what I love most about Malaysia.

One thing I did not expect this month was for the Lord to re-ignite my heart for music. I grew up playing guitar and experienced a lot of burn out related to it. I’ve always enjoyed listening to music, but it wasn’t until I met Samantha that I started to LOVE music again. Samantha was born with blindness but started playing piano at age 3. She is now in her late teen years, plays beautifully, and wants to be a piano teacher. Her piano playing brought me to tears on multiple occasions.

Within our team, we found ways to have fun together! We laughed together, experienced the Malaysian heat together, and spent some of our evenings going through the Terminator series together. Most of us had never seen these movies before, and we were so excited to spend time together while watching them. We really had so much fun with each other and often pulled pranks.

{Watching Terminator Genisys in the theater}

In the evenings, we lacked A/C, so we often walked the .5 miles to the mall. On off days, we were a 15-minute bus ride to the beach where there was a Starbucks literally on the beach front. We found ways to occupy our time together and really had a lot of fun. Of course, challenges came up as they always do, but our tight-knit team navigated them very well.

{View of the beach from the outdoor Starbucks balcony}

Book I read: Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship
Song on Repeat: “Waste It All” by Kim Walker Smith

Family events this month: Sean, my brother, got engaged!! I had been enthusiastically anticipating it the entire Race and was so excited when it happened! They get married on August 6 {IN 9 DAYS!}.

The month in Malaysia was truly an entirely unique experience and full of so much joy, laughter, anticipation, orange marmalade, rice, fish, Milo drink, journaling, and depth. We really bonded this month and it still has an impact on my relationships with these women. I’m so thankful!

And now for some pictures:

{A snail}