Wow, I can’t believe that my time in Malaysia has already come to the end. I’m just so thankful for the so many connections I have made with everybody here. Even though some days were hard and I didn’t think they would ever end, they did and God used those hard days to grow my faith and figure out what helped me cope best with stress. Those days just proved to me that there are people who genuinely care about me and want to see me thrive. Through the easy days when it was easy to trust in God and I didn’t think about Him, He always managed to find someway to reach out and grab my attention. This whole experience was a learning journey, since all thirty-four lived in the same room had to share two bathrooms that doubled as showers, eat bread everyday for breakfast and snack; you had to learn how to express your feelings of stress or annoyance with maybe someone not washing their dish or leaving toast and jelly on the counter for the ants to swarm. And I’m so very thankful that we had this experience because I truly believe it changed our squad for the better and it helped us to learn things we wouldn’t have if we didn’t share one very small space. I am eager to move on to Thailand and have more ministry time and connect with my team more. However, I will miss the friends I have made on other teams. Sometimes during this ministry I felt like I was doing a lot especially since we were only doing three hours of ministry three days a week and then maybe some random ministry that we heard of last minute and went to. But even though I didn’t feel like I was doing anything, people around us in the church have kept saying over and over again how much this means to them and what a difference we are making. And I have to keep reminding myself that part of what I’m doing is planting seeds and I probably wouldn’t see the fruit of the seeds and that’s part of the mission which is sometimes hard.
Friday we went to the food court and of course I got my noodles and then 7 up just because. There is also a shop called Just Bread where I spend a good part of my budget on little pastry’s, breads, drinks and then cheese tarts which I’ve developed an unhealthy addiction too. 😂 Then we had team time and Ava and Lexi took us to a mall where I hadn’t been to before and we got to do Karaoke which was just so much fun and then Alleah and I found a little Photo Booth and we took pictures and I just had so much fun! Then of course to finish off the day we had church. Saturday I got to have a fun little date with Gabi who is genuinely one of the nicest people ever and take a nap because the next morning we had to wake up very early. Sunday morning was the filming of our music video! We had to wake up at 5 am which was pretty easy for me to get up because I couldn’t fall asleep which was maybe nerves. However when we got to the filming site the sun was already in the sky and most definitely beating down on us with very little shade but it was so gorgeous. Each part of the dance only took us a couple of takes to get but since it was so hot each dance was so exhausting and took a lot out of all of us and since I’m very dehydrated it was not a fun time but with a lot of water breaks and some shade I made it through and I’m so excited to see the results. I think one of the best parts of the dance is that we made up most of the moves and it turned out pretty good. Monday we started our last day of school, sadly however my girl wasn’t there because she was sick and even though I was very sad it gave me the opportunity to do a devotional which I hadn’t done in a while and it was very refreshing. Then we had team time and after that I got to take a nap and was knocked out for about four hours. After that I heard there was soccer and I was very excited because we hadn’t played last week. So around eight we left to go to a church for a little thanksgiving feast and after that we went to go play soccer! We played from 10 pm to 1 am and it was so much fun because a lot more people came. After soccer we got to go to a restaurant called Texas Chicken and I got some really good rolls and some chicken because I was very hungry and even though we were out until 3 am it was some of the most fun I’ve had while in Malaysia. Tuesday it was just a little hard to get up in the morning because I had gone to bed pretty late but my little girl had come back and we went over some school for the first part of the day and then we did some water color together and then we ended the school day with some positive reinforcements. Then it was lunch and then team time, after than I went to go do my laundry with Gabi and we went to a little laundry mat next to the food court that was pretty cheap and we had a really good conversation about different random things. After laundry we rushed back to the church to fill out our visas so that we can actually get into Thailand. After that we had dinner and I went to bed. Wednesday was the last day of school so after doing just one lesson in grammar I let her pick out what she wanted to do and she wanted to do more grammar and I was just a little surprised but we did two more lessons of grammar. After that we did some watercolor and drawing, then it was break time; after break I asked her again what she wanted to do fully expecting more water color but to my surprise again she want to do math so I pulled up some math questions and we did 10 word problems. And I’m just so beyond proud of this girl because a couple of weeks ago she would just stare at me confused and say she doesn’t understand but now after thinking about it for a minute she figured out most of the questions by herself and at that moment I knew what it was like to have a child that you are over the moon with. That school day ended but thankfully I got to see her one more time today. But after school there was team time again which I lead and it was so much less stressful than I made it out to be and then after that I took another nap because sleep is healing. Then that night all of us went to one big house church where we had some really good food and fruit(which I crave everyday) and then after dinner we had a little fireworks show. Today we got to go the village to see our kids for the last time and we got to play some fun games and eat some yummy food. I also caught a chick after chasing it for a while and I was very proud of myself. But when the time came for us to leave it was bitter sweet and there was a lot of tears. I told myself I wasn’t going to cry and I didn’t when I said goodbye to her reminding her that she is a beautiful, lovely and smart girl. And for the first time she gave me a hug on her own accord. But while standing there after saying goodbye waiting for everyone else it finally hit me that I’m probably not ever going to see this little girl that I had grown so attached to again and I in fact did start crying because I’m going to miss her so so much. Right after saying goodbye we had to go to another lunch thing with all the pastors and that was a pretty chill event. After that we headed back to the church. We will have team time later today and then a little squad worship. Friday I got to sleep in and around 12 we left to the food court and I had Wan Than Mee for the last time. After that we headed back to the church and had our team time. After that I mentally prepared myself for church that night because I would be giving a sermon. And when the time came I thought I did a pretty decent job. I also went to Texas Chicken so I’m was up until 230 am. The next day was a free/adventure day but we had to be back by 730 pm to start cleaning. I decided to just stay and relax. After cleaning I got to play Among Us with some of my friends and we played until 2am. Since we had to wake up at four I just decided to stay up the rest of the night. The next morning we cleaned up all of our stuff the sanctuary and headed to Thailand.
A devotional that I did that stuck with me this week was He Calls us by name. Isaiah 43:1b, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” We shouldn’t hesitate when God calls us to do something, thinking he called someone else. Because He calls US by NAME! We also shouldn’t worry about God making the wrong plans for us because He is an all knowing God. “For we are Gods’ handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which Go prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10. We want to be at a point in our lives when we want Jesse solely and we trust his plans.
Something that you can pray from is that when we travel everyone can stay safe and that there is no complications with travel plans. Cheese Tarts that we so so yummy👌 My little girl!!
Thank you for sharing all these unique experiences – I was struck how you have been able to use your love of painting to bring joy and connecting through watercolor in this relationship with your new friend you were tutoring. How beautiful!
When I read your blog i feel like I can hear you speaking. What a difference you have made for your little gal. Praying daily for you and love you Katriya!
Praying for you Katriya. It is beautiful to hear your thoughts and processing. You are taking in so much….and you preached a sermon!! That is incredible. He is Faithful and True! You are a beautiful testimony of His love.
The two parts I love the best about this blog are: “Even though some days were hard and I didn’t think they would ever end, they did and God used those hard days to grow my faith and figure out what helped me cope best with stress.”
and
“Because He calls US by NAME! We also shouldn’t worry about God making the wrong plans for us because He is an all knowing God.”
Thank you Kat!