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| Our team at one of the jungle villages right outside Penang, Malaysia |
Malaysia was a very rewarding time of serving the local churches and ministries in Georgetown and the surrounding towns. We had the opportunity to do various ministries such as volunteering 3 days a week at the local homeless shelter, Kawan Center. YWAM Penang started this ministry years ago to give the homeless men and women in Georgetown a safe place to receive breakfast, lunch, a place to sleep, showers, and laundry. While we were there we were able to cook and serve the meals, paint a room, sit and minister with them, listen to their stories and share about Jesus!
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| Natalie & Naomi leading worship at Kawan Centre |
Malaysia is a very confusing place culturally and spiritually. Penang is literally a melting bowl of many cultures and religions including Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and other "spiritual wanderers". The people groups are extremely diverse from the Chinese, Malay, and Indian -- to all of the tourists and refugees from surrounding countries. In Malaysia there are 2 governments: there is the civil government for anyone who is not of Malay decent, the second is the Shirrah Law for all who are a Malay, as they are then automatically a Muslim. Once you are a Muslim you can legally never stop being a Muslim, and it is illegal to evangelise to a Muslim or else you will be arrested. This, of course, made street evangelism a bit of a challenge for our team, however, we were still able to evangelise a lot in the streets of Georgetown, talking to and praying for at least a hundred people! We didn't see many people immediately accept Jesus, however, many were open and listened and even let us pray for them in the name of Jesus! I know that many seeds were planted and that God is at work in the people there.
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| Our team with the amazing family that hosted us - Peter, Puspa, Getsy and Gloria |
The other ministries we were involved with was leading worship and sharing testimonies and sermons in local churches and christian gatherings. We got to be apart of the Penang House of Prayer as well, leading worship with them and attending their night services of worship and intercession twice a week. This was an amazing opportunity for our team as it allowed us to spend more time with the Lord in order to hear Him speak and be continually refilled with His Spirit in order to go back out and pour out.
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| Playing games with the children at LifeBridge School |
LifeBridge School was one of my personal favourite ministries; it is a school run by Christian believers for refugee children whom the government doesn’t recognise. For this ministry, we were involved in as we were able to spend time with the children at the school, playing games, and teaching. It was amazing to be able to spend time with the children and share God’s love with them!
There were challenges during the outreach, as we unfortunately had to say goodbye to two of our DTS students who had to return home to America before the outreach was complete. It was difficult for all of us, however, God’s grace is sufficient during every season, He is always good and He is always faithful.
Overall, it was a good outreach where we were able to share God's love and preach His message! We saw the Lord at work in the lives of so many people we met and different ministries we got to work alongside. To God be the glory forever!
