Mission: Malaysia: June 2006

Here are a few pictures from the party. Video coming soon.

The first party was a smashing success! As many of you know, after previously being on an LST team with Jesse Troxler, I have proclaimed a burn ban for any parties I am involved with. Never again will any LST team I'm a part of burn things at their parties, nor will they be spending any of the party budget on pyrotechnics. So we had a tea party! It was very low-key, gave everyone time to fellowship, and did not require us to set any trash cans on fire (ask Jesse sometime.)

I was very impressed with my team's creative efforts for this party. Loraine ran a British tea station, complete with cucumber sandwiches and shortbread, and she taught the readers about British afternoon tea time. Eric ran an African rooibos tea station, in which he gave us a very impressive history lesson on African tea (thank you, Google.) I ran a Southern sweet tea station in which I taught the readers to talk with a Southern twang and let them try some butter cookies (since chicken fried steak wasn't available.) And of course, Brad/TehChOcOlate ran a Chinese tea station, in which the readers got to sit on the floor around a Chinese-style table and listen to Brad expound upon all the many health benefits of drinking Chinese tea. One of church members here let us borrow some of her beautiful teaware and I am just thankful we didn't break any of it.=)

The goal of the parties is to allow the church members to mingle with the readers and to show the readers that Christians can have fun. I would definitely say those goals were accomplished tonight! We will be giving parties every week and hopefully as the readers become more comfortable with us, more of them will want to come to the parties.

I also wanted to say how thankful I am for my team today, as I have been feeling sick and they have had to do more than their fair share of party preparation. I knew that even when I was sick and needed to rest that the party planning was in good hands. Brad prepared the teas and planned the talks, Loraine really went the extra mile with food preparation and party set-up, and Eric ended up making several trips to the store at the last minute to buy items. It is a privilege to serve alongside these guys. (And I am feeling much better tonight!)

I'm certain that Eric will put up some of his extensive photography soon!

The church building is becoming more and more like our home. We went on our first grocery outing two days back. Now, grocery stores in Malaysia are similar, but still different, from their American couterparts. Imagine Kroger's, but with fish heads and fried chicken feet on sale today. We got all sorts of good stuff: cereal, spaghetti, a pineapple, etc. We've already cooked and eaten half the spaghetti. It's nice not having to leave to get lunch. Oh, and guess what? The church had a meeting last night. Turned out they were also surprising Ravi with cake et al since his birthday was the next day. And the best part? They got Domino's pizza! And the even better part? There's leftovers! It may not mean much to you guys, but it just feels more like home when there's pizza in the fridge. ^_^

Tomorrow is our first party. We'll be giving our readers a taste of teas from around the world: African Rooibos, British, Chinese Oolong, and, of course, Southern sweet tea.

And while I'm posting, here's a few pictures:

These people need better English!

At the KL Butterfly Garden, we find a pond full of turtles. Brad is, yet again, captivated.

Here we have a monkey eating a can. Not alot else. Just a quick view of the rock wall in Batu Caves. The last monkey looks like it's coming for Brad.

Brad wants me to pet the chicken. Neither I nor the chicken seem too excited about that. Brad seems to think lots of things are cute.

Isaac gives us some warnings about the monkeys in Batu caves. This part of the cave had a large opening above with vegetation growing all around. Very cool.

This just in.

Team Malaysia reaches all time statistic high.

Reader turnout peaks at 122.22%.

Just as my teammates were winding down for the evening, two of our lovely readers who were on the waiting list showed up. There had been some miscommunication. They had been expecting a call this week to inform them of their reading time, instead of next week.

Mer and Brad gamely jumped into action. Having two empty spots at eight o'clock, they whisked the girls in and had a lively conversation hour with the two of them. As our recorder, Eric did the math and concluded that adding in two people where there were none results in us having 122.22% of our readers come to the sessions.

It just goes to show that you never know when a miscommunication can spike your stats.

Wow, my teammates have become rather prolific in their blogging. I better hurry to catch up! For those who are suspicious, it is definitely true that Brad's long-held secret affection for blogging is starting to come out. Crazy! Watch out; next thing you know, he'll be starting up a "cars are good" campaign!

I just wanted to share a few thoughts I keep having about home. Even though I have loved every minute of our Malaysia trip and have been blessed with good health and wonderful support while I am here, every day I encounter reminders that I am not home. Some days it's the unique-tasting food (to state it optimistically.) Other days it's the cold showers. Sometimes it's my inability to communicate with people because of the language differences. Other times it just looks different: the cars are driving on the "wrong" side of the road, the people dress differently, the terrain and the buildings look different. I don't have to look far to remember I am not home.

But isn't that how we're supposed to feel everyday, never being fully satisfied with what this world has to offer and always remembering that a better day is coming? Are we ever really supposed to feel like we're "home" as long as we live on earth? Maybe some of the feelings I'm experiencing on this trip are the same kinds of feelings Jesus felt when He left Heaven to come to earth. Yes, my earthly home may be in the United States, but my real Home is in Heaven. How wonderful that God is using this trip to remind me of that!

We have over 70 reading sessions scheduled for this week. Please pray for these readers, that they would meet their friend Jesus, and come to see where their real Home is!

God bless you all. Your prayers are making a difference!
Love, Mer

We go check out the Batu Caves. The entrance is guarded by fierce monkeys and about 270 stairs. Brad seems to like monkeys.

There was a song we sang in Singapore at Pasir Panjang COC last Sunday that struck me as particularly beautiful in both word and music. I didn't remember hearing it before, but wanted to share it.

Because He Lives:

God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still, the calm assurance,
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.

And then one day, I'll cross that river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain;
And then as death gives way to vict'ry,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He reigns.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Hey all, I've heard that there was a problem with the comment system, that only Blogger users could comment. We've fixed the problem now. Anybody can coment!

We've just finished (or are still having) our last info meeting. We knew that everyone who came tonight would have to be put on a waiting list, so if we had too many, we wouldn't be able to read with everyone. Suprisingly, very few showed up, so we'll probably get to read with everyone who wants to read! More to come soon.

Finally! Still pictures for those without a super-fast internet. Take a look:

We take a quick tour of Wangsa Maju Church of Christ and note points of interest such as the auditorium, the conference room, and our new roommate "Gecki."

It is way past time for us to hit the sack here on the other side of the world, but before we go to sleep I thought I'd post a copy of the e-mail I sent to LST a few minutes ago. It should keep everyone updated and we will put up some pictures and stories from the information meeting tomorrow:

Our team held 2 information meetings today at the church building here in Kuala Lumpur (since the building is rather small), and we signed up 63 readers. Eric has 15 readers; Brad, Loraine and I each have 16. This is defintely an answer to prayer because we did not have to turn anyone down today as we feared. We prayed earnestly that God would make it obvious to us which people to read with and we feel like the fact that He sent us the perfect number today is an awesome answer to prayer!

Another information meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night. The church is expecting about 20 readers at this meeting, and we are planning to explain the situation to them and place all of them on the waiting list. Please pray that these readers will understand the situation and that we will be able to handle them with grace.

As far as team dynamics, I can't brag on the team enough. Such a truly fun and flexible group! The church here has been wonderful. Almost the entire congregation turned out for the information meeting. They were a big help with welcoming and registration and even prepared refreshments for the readers. I've never seen a church so pumped up about LST!

We are so excited to start reading! We are all glowing tonight from the positive experience we had today. So awesome! Thank you for all your support. We can definitely feel that we are being prayed for.

Love, Meredith

The team takes a cable car trip to the island of Sentosa. We're treated to some audio commentary along the way. Brad feels tranquil.

Brad gives a quick account of what's happening in Singapore. We're next to Clarke Quay just before our trip down te river. Everyone else is pretty quiet.

Team-Malaysia-Adamo takes a sleeper train to Singapore. Meredith seems to be having trouble sitting up in her bed, and Loraine points out Brad's safety violations.

Our travels are over. They were thorough and exhaustive, much like our media coverage of it all (only a small portion of those have been uploaded to the blog). There are still a couple of gems waiting for their debut. We covered an island, two cities, and a country. That's impressive, if I do say so myself.

Meredith reported very eloquently the grace that we've encountered while we've been here. It has been literally at every turn. I have felt that as one church member offered their service, others were just waiting in line to provide us with some other act of love. I can't thank everyone enough.

True to form, the Wangsa Maju church has pitched in and gathered 148 readers for us. I am praying that God will support us through the next few days, because I know it's not this girl that has the strength. That being said, I want to thank my team members and everyone who has given their support. I couldn't do it without you, either.

God Bless.

When we first arrived in Kuala Lumpur, we were met at the train station by Brother Stephen. Stephen greeted us warmly and immediately insisted on buying lunch for us, hosting us at his house, and helping us plan trips to various attractions. Once he got us to his house, his wife Eileen set to work getting us the best accomdations in the house. She gave us her all. Brother Stephen drove us to see the Aggies For Christ at the youth camp after he found out my brother was there, and later that day drove us to his home province of Melaka to give us a tour. Stephen and Eileen took us to see monkeys and fireflies and to get a traditional Chinese dinner. All the while they insisted on serving us in every way. After a couple of days of this kind of service, you could imagine what happened to us. We began feeling guilty. We were costing Stephen and Eileen a lot of money and effort, and we could probably see most of these sites on our own. We had the money and the ability to travel by ourselves, so I told Stephen and Eileen that we were very appreciative of their help, but we hated to be troubling them. At this, Stephen's face glowed. As Brad would later say, the care and concern in Stephen's eyes are evidence that he has been deeply rescued and lives life by the power of the Holy Spirit. "You are not troubling us. You are our family. I want to be like the New Testament Christians in Acts, where it says they shared everything they had. Everything we have is yours," Stephen said. Immediately I understood. Stephen and Eileen had experienced Grace and they wanted to share it with us. Our role was to accept their hospitality and by our actions and humility to show them grace as well. We would repay them by showing others the same grace they showed us.

Throughout our stay, we have run into several special people like Stephen and Eileen. While visiting Singapore this weekend, we were taken in by the Pasir Pajang church as if we were their own. At first their acts of kindness towards us seemed too outlandish for us to accept, but we saw Christ in their acts of mercy and understood how important it was to accept and enjoy their fellowship.

As I've been processing these thoughts the past couple of days, it has reminded me so much of our relationship to God. God lavishes all kinds of undeserved spiritual gifts upon us, but how hard it often is for us to accept them! Sometimes we feel too guilty to accept them and other times we would rather do things our own way, but God longs to fellowship with us. When we experience this kind of grace from Him, how could we help but lavish it on those around us?

I think the thing that has amazed me most about the church here is how well they understand grace, and how well they show it. But then again, grace often flourishes under fire and in many ways the church here is under fire, being a small and sometimes persecuted minority. God is flourishing His small, but faithful remnant here in Malaysia.

Today we did a lot of planning and had a long meeting with our lead host, Ravi. We will hold our information meeting tomorrow. There are presently 148 people scheduled to come to the info meeting, but we only have 65-ish slots! Please pray that God will work in this situation, that He would send us the readers that are most ready to hear the Word, and that we will be able to handle the students who are turned down with grace.

Brad gives us a taste of China's dim sum. In my opinion, it loos like alien eggs. Tastes good, but Brad is very hush-hush whenever we ask him what's in it. Oh, and there's lots of tea.

In the heart of Kuala Lumpur, our team has made it to the skybridge connecting the two Patronus towers. This time it's Loraine who seems to be a bit nervous. Brad does some crazy camera-ing.

This is Brad, not Loraine.

For my first post, I would just like to thank everyone who is supporting us and praying for us. Since we've arrived, I've come to see by the day how important our mission is. Not only is Wangsa Maju a new church actively seeking the lost, but we're the first LST team to work in Malaysia. On top of that, the church here has done some very time and money-consuming advertising for us. They sent teams walking around to recruit, made posters, distributed bookmarks, placed an ad, etc. It seems that everyone has pitched in. They don't know much about LST, but they are so excited about having us because of what they've heard in the Asia Mission Forum that we feel extra pressure to really let God have us and work through us. We're all hoping for great results, and with people stateside and in our church here who have put so much investment into this, the burden is heavy on our shoulders to do this perfectly. That will involve alot of serious humility, because we will have to be totally surrendered to God for him to work through us as powerfully as we hope for.

I would also like to add that the team dynamic is excellent. As we've backpacked together and spent about every minute together, we've grown closer in love and not gotten on each others' nerves (or if I'm on theirs, they're not telling me :)

More from me later. I have nothing but good things to say about the church members here, especially Steven Shee and his wife, who have taken care of us and shared good talks with us.

-Brad

Hey guys! Here's a post to assure you that everyone is still doing well. We've had a blast this week!

Malaysia is a really interesting blend of eastern and western culture. In many ways, it seems to be the melting pot of Asia with a very big Chinese and Indian population in addition to the indigenous Malays. So much yummy Chinese and Indian food is found here! There are some strong British undertones that date back to the time Malaysia was a British-occupied colony, perhaps the most evident being that English seems to be pretty widely known and spoken. Most of the restaurants we've visited will have menus written in 3 or 4 different languages. The university that is near our church here has a very big Chinese population, so most of our readers are Chinese.

Earlier this week we went to the island of Penang and had some wonderful group bonding time. Brad got us lost for a while in a Malaysian jungle, which was very un-funny at the time, but now that everyone is unlost and okay, is becoming slightly funny. (Actually Brad would like to put in a correction: He was not lost. He simply took a very interesting-looking detour on the hiking trail and it didn't end up going where he thought it would.) Last night we rode back to Kuala Lumpur on a sleeper train. What is a sleeper train you ask? Well, think about crawling into the overhead storage compartment of an airplane (only on a train) and spending the night there and you'll get the right idea.

Here's an update on the team: Loraine is keeping herself busy laughing at Brad and Eric's antics and eating lots of yummy Indian food. Many in Malaysia seem to be attracted to her, most notably the Malaysian mosquitos. She has received over 50 mosquito bites since arriving here, earning her the title of yummiest team member. Eric is busy taking many pictures that he will post as soon as get our technology in order. He enjoyed the sleeper train so much that he has decided to have his next birthday party on a sleeper train. You're all invited!Brad has forgotten that he is an American and has taken on an Asian identity (but what's new.) He says: "Hello to all my friends! I is in Malaysia and I is sooooooooo happy! But I miss all my friends so they should come to seeing me in Malaysia and bring me a pop tart." Mer is having the time of her life soaking in the culture. Presently the team is debating whether to nickname her Butterscotch, Wheels, or Fireball. Don't ask.

There you have it! We love all of you and are so grateful for your support. We are looking forward to starting the LST work soon!

Note: this was written a good two days ago... we had to run before I got it posted, but here's what you would've read two days ago:

Hey guys! Looks like it's my turn to post. The name's Eric, and you can consider me the team member that likes to hear everyone laugh and is up for whatever. Here's an update on our travels:

On Monday we all met up in Gallatin for one last American meal before heading out to the great unknown. We got to the Nashville airport and were seen off by Justin and the folks (and sister). After a group prayer, we headed out through security, bidding Tennessee goodbye. We had a bit of waiting, but managed to pass the time by whatever means were available (pooling our pocket change to buy a six-pack of gum). The flight was comparatively short. Within four hours we were on the West coast of America in the LA airport. Here's about where jetlag started becoming noticeable. Our flight wasn't until about midnight Pacific time, which is fairly late for Eastern and Central. As we waited for the call to board, we had a good laugh on how there were so many levels: first was 1st class, then business (at this point we started joking about even more levels), then ruby sapphire and emerald clubs (at this point we laughed harder about the fact that we were right). We decided we were somewhere around the "talc" level, maybe "limestone." We boarded our second flight on time. Over the course of the flight, we were treated to all the benefits of intercontinental travel: dinner, breakfast, and, get this, complimentary socks. Seriously.

I'm fairly sure we got some sleep in there, but I can't be certain. Now, things have gotten pretty weird as far as keeping time goes. Since we passed the international date line, we've completely lost June 6th. Never had it. On the plus side, we'll be getting a second August 1st in a few weeks.
Sometime early that next morning, we arrived at Hong Kong. Our layover wasn't nearly as long as the one in LA, so we only had time to comment on how messed up our sleep schedules were. Loraine did provide us with some laughs, however, as she seems to be the most heavily hit with jetlag.

Finally, Kuala Lumpur. We landed sometime around noon. After passing through customs and more security, we exchanged a bit of money for the local currency (Malaysian fives have a hole in them!). We bought tickets for the train and got in touch with our local missionary contact. He got in touch with (unsure of spelling, so going with American equivalent) Steven who met us at the other end of the railroad. He's a really great guy.

He's taken us in for the night, and is even taking us sightseeing soon! He and his wife have shown some serious Malaysian hospitality. She's a linguist, so Brad and her have been going back and forth about Asian languages.

All in all, things are going great. We haven't had a single delay since we started, and I've nearly finished reading my book (Don Miller's an awesome writer). And here you are, reading this as if it's happening so far away, like on the other side of the world, and it is. But I'm only using that as a metaphor. What I'm saying is, don't go reading this thinking you aren't having any effect. Alot of you guys supported us financially in getting over here to begin with, and alot of you guys supported us with encouragement. And it doesn't end with us getting here. No way. Even now, keep praying for us! Never underestimate the power of prayer. Here's what you might want to keep in mind: safety (that's been a big worry of all our parents...) and our readers.

Well, tomorrow's the day of departure! It will be 27 hours of transit time (we certainly hope it's not more than that!) I just wanted to take a minute to tell you how supported I've felt today by all the kind words and promises of prayer support I was given. The Laurel family was awesome today--I even had a couple of people give me notes with blessings and hand-written prayers. I've also gotten several encouraging e-mails and I found two sweet prayers written on blogs today for our team (here and here.) I just want to let all of you know that you are just as much a part of our work as we are and I can already tell that your encouragement and prayers will sustain us while we are there. As I sit down to read the gospel with people who have never heard it before in a couple of weeks, I will tell them about what a privilege it is to be a part of the Family of God and I will be thinking of many of your faces when I do! Have a blessed week!

Mission: Malaysia

Friday, June 30, 2006

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Monday, June 26, 2006

Friday, June 23, 2006

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Monday, June 05, 2006

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