The Final Week

Hello everyone!

I'm a bit sad to say that this will probably be my last update from Malaysia. As expected, the last two weeks have flown by extremely fast. In less than a week I'll be on my way home. I find myself trying to slow down and enjoy each moment while I'm here, savoring it like a slice of rich cheesecake I know will soon be gone. The last two weeks have been a great time for me to really savor this country and all it has to offer. I've developed such strong friendships while I've been here that it will be difficult to leave them and fly back home to the other side of the world. I pray that sometime in the near future He may open up opportunities for me to return.

In the last two weeks the students have all been very busy with coursework and the UM convocation. Convocation is a HUGE deal here! It is a far bigger celebration than anything I've seen in the states and the whole campus transforms into a giant marketplace to accomodate the crowds of people who come to support their graduates. The whole thing lasts an entire week and during that time the whole campus is abuzz with excitement. The festive atmosphere has provided me with some great opportunities to meet with students and encourage them in their faith. Though my role on campus has shifted to a more encouragement and mentoring role of students rather than an outreach role, I still feel like there has been plenty of work to keep me busy.

This week UM has had a one-week vacation from classes for the Mid-term break. Most of the students went to their respective home-towns to visit their family. I took the opportunity to travel with Kai Sin and Wen Shiow, two of the students with our group, to Singapore for a few days. The trip was really fun and we were so thrilled to have to opportunity to visit Ivy at the National University of Singapore (whom we met all the way back at the beginning of the trip at the training program in June). Singapore is a charming port city with nice clean streets and many modern amenities. Yet, that said, I was relieved to come back to KL and enjoy the more rustic and culturally rich atmosphere afforded by this world-class city, which, at times seems to be cut right out of the jungle.

I'm not sure what God has for me for the next few days up until I leave next Wednesday but I'm convinced he has still has great plans for me for the next five days. Here are some fresh prayer requests as I prepare to leave. Thank you so much for all your faithful prayer support of me and this ministry. I'm growing increasingly aware of how much your prayer has been crucial to the team and my success here in Malaysia.

Prayer Requests:
1.) Please pray that students would remain well grounded in their disciplines and faith after I leave and that none of them would fall away when the worries of life grow up and try to choke them.
2.) Please pray that the students who are meeting with other students would stay encouraged and motivated to continue to pass on what they have learned
3.) Please pray that God would reveal soon what the next step is for me on my path towards pursuing Him.
4.) Please pray for a quick culture-shock/jet-lag recovery as I return home to the States.
5.) Please join me in thanking God for his abundant provision on this trip. He has blessed me with more than enough funding to remain here for the last three weeks.
6.) Please also join me in praising God for the marvelous work he has done in the lives of these students over the last 10 weeks and for his great plans for them and for their campus.

A New Chapter Begins!!!

Some of you may be a bit surprised as you drop by the blog today to notice a new entry. For those of you who still regularly check the blog I thank you dearly for your faithfulness! It takes a rare commitment to invest so much for so many weeks with so little return for your efforts. This I must confess is the result of my own neglect and for that I must apologize. I am only recently coming to realize how vital your continued prayer support is to the ongoing work here. And how can you pray for us over here when you have no idea what to pray for?!!! Although I’m sure much of the readership has dropped off now that the rest of the team is home I still pray for the continued faithfulness of you who still remember that the work here in Malaysia is ongoing, with or without a whole American team to support it. In light of the American team leaving, we need your prayer now more than ever! I hope to update more frequently in the next few weeks so that you can be more accurately appraised of our prayer needs.

As I have alluded to in the previous paragraph, the CU Navs Malaysia adventure has finished its course for most of the team members. Brendan and Kyle left two Mondays ago and the rest of the team followed this last Sunday. I (Tim) have decided to remain here for another three weeks to continue to help the ministry in any way that I can. This decision was both very simple and very hard for me. In one sense I feel definitely ready to go home and see my friends and family again. If you asked me if I really WANT to stay for another three weeks I would have to honestly say no. However, that said, I think after seven weeks here in Malaysia I am just beginning to push against the formidable psychological line between being here for “just a trip” and “living here”. Had I left with the rest of the team on Sunday I think I would have not yet broken through this barrier. In the next three weeks I think I probably will. That is the part of the decision that makes it hard, knowing that I must face this barrier. The easy part of the decision is that I definitely feel like the Lrd has asked me to stay. Given this knowledge, I have a great sense of peace in my heart that He is with me and that he has a definite purpose for my time.

And now finally for the update portion: How is the work here coming?! In a word? Wonderfully!!! I feel like the last seven weeks have had a profound impact on the group of people we have been helping. People are really beginning to take up the mantle of the work and invest in it. I now am getting great opportunities to coach rather than do everything and let the students watch. We have at least 4-5 solid new recruits to the ministry with the possibility of many more since the outer network of contacts has widely expanded in the last few weeks. Although the work has made tremendous progress in the last few weeks, there is still MUCH to do. There are precious few people to help the students continue to grow in their walk with the Lrd. The workers are very few!

Now that the team has left I’m noticing a morale drop among the students we’ve been helping. I’ve been trying to gently encourage them to stick with the disciplines and continue to get their life from the Book. That said, they need your continued prayer now more than ever!!! Please especially pray for Kaisin, Kelvin, Esther, and Wen Shiow since they have a heavy burden as the students in the ministry who are really stepping up and taking charge.

As for me, the loneliness has not quite hit me yet. God has blessed me with a lot of wonderful opportunities to continue his work. The night the rest of the team left I was able to join in a student initiated bible reading with two freshmen. The night went very well and I think the freshmen are really excited about learning more about the Lrd. There is a lot more work to do now that I am the only one here and so God has been blessing me with much work! This weekend we are planning a short day trip to Malacca with some new students to the ministry. We’re praying for some great discussion during the trip. I feel so blessed to have a great community of believers here who have welcomed me without reservation into their midst. How can I be lonely with such great brothers and sisters here to support me in addition to the Great Friend, Brother, and Father? Thanks for all your continued prayer!

Prayer requests:

1.) Please pray that the students would continue in their disciplines and build their foundations and roots in the Word
2.) Please pray that our network of contacts would be expanded in the next three weeks and even more people would be recruited to the ministry
3.) Please pray for L. His seed fell among the rocky soil. Please pray that it would find its way to good soil!
4.) Please pray for my continued stamina and that I would continue to rest in the Lrd’s strength
5.) Please pray that He would quickly correct me when I stray.
6.) Please ask Him to grant me wisdom and discernment in where to invest my time for the next three weeks and what strategy is best.
8.) Please pray that the students spirits would soar and that the community would bind together stronger now that the American team has left.
7.) Please pray for Kaisin, Kelvin, Esther, and Wen Shiow that He would continue to strengthen them and reveal himself to them and that they might become leaders ready to carry on their knowledge to the next generation.

The Last Two Weeks in Review

Hey everyone, Cynthia here. Tim asked me to write a quick update about what all has been going on here the last few weeks in Malaysia. After our first week of events on campus, we were able to meet over 100 students and collect contact information from at least 80 of them. Though this was a major success in our eyes, it also meant a lot of work for the following week. We immediately got to work splitting up the list and trying to meet up with people on a more individual basis to see where they were spiritually. Although all of us began the task with much enthusiasm, we soon realized that plans don’t always turn out the way we expect them to. Despite our efforts to meet with people one on one, many of us were unable to get any kind of response from our contacts. We soon realized things work very differently here in Malaysia. After a bit of trial and error, we learned to meet with students in small groups and developed some methods on how best to reach out to them. A lot of us went through periods of both encouragement and discouragement, .but in the end we were all able to come together to support one another and put our trust in the One who has everything under control. We are still waiting to see a lot of the fruit of our labor, but we have no doubt that He has us here for a reason and that His plan is so much greater than our own! Despite the hard work, we have also been finding time to hang out and have fun. Here is a list of some of the things we have been up to: birthday parties (Kyle and some of the Malaysian girls), movies (including the new Harry Potter), hanging out at the beach (some of the guys took a one day vacation), going to KLCC (downtown KL where the Petronas towers are located), sleepovers (during which the girls totally pranked the guys although I’m sure they will deny it), cave exploring (which turned out to be a whole day event), and hanging out at the night markets (tons of cheap food and fun stuff to buy). Sorry again for not updating you earlier, but I hope this gives you a little better idea of what we have been up to. With only one week to go, we have a ton of work still to be done, please keep us in your thoughts!

The first week on campus!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long delay between updates. In America everything is instant. We want our information instantly at our fingertips. Here in Malaysia though, the locals enjoy a slower pace of life. I suppose it’s rubbing off on me a little! :) Enjoy the new pictures!

Our first week on campus went extremely well! We were so pleased by how faithful He has been to us! This first week was all about meeting people and forming relationships. At times it was difficult to walk up to random people and initiate conversations. Now looking back though, I’m glad we persevered. We have gotten to know so many wonderful people this way! The whole goal of this week was to contact as many people as possible and help get them plugged in with the Navs through large events. Planning the logistics of the large events was challenging at times. Many of us students (or former students as the case may be) have begun to appreciate in a much greater capacity all the work our full-time campus Nav staff do for us!!!

This week we had two sports nights, a movie night, an American food night, and a day trip to Kuala Selangor to see some amazing fireflies! The American food night, organized and cooked for by Kyle, Doug, and Cynthia was a raging success. We had 85-100 people show up to our little house and enjoy BBQ chicken, chili cheese dogs, potato salad, chips, soda, brownies, and a whole desert bar! We were so grateful to our community friends who stopped by to help clean up and serve simply so that we could be free to continue to develop friendships. The community has given us so much support! We can always count on them to be ready to serve us by organizing rides for day-trips, helping serve food, or even helping us clean up our house!

Yesterday we had a day trip to Kuala Selangor to see the fireflies. We expected only 5 to 10 people but somehow around 50 people came out of the woodwork! As more students signed up, more volunteer drivers came forward! How faithfully He has supported us! We had an amazing time seeing the fireflies. First we had an excellent sea-food dinner by a river that feeds into the Strait of Malacca. Next we went to a nearby river and took little boat rides. The small green fireflies twinkled and lit up the trees around the river like Christmas lights! Meanwhile, lightning and thunder flashed in the dark and distant night sky! We all had a great time and we think the students enjoyed themselves as well.

With such an amazing first week we can hardly believe that we still have two more!

On a more personal note (though I’m sure my thoughts are echoed in the hearts of the entire team), I’m really beginning to understand for the first time how few in number the laborers are in proportion to the amount of work to be done! He wasn’t joking when he said we have to ask the Master of the Harvest to send out laborers into His field.

Prayer Requests:
1.) There is so much to be thankful for! Please thank and Praise Him for his faithfulness
2.) That the next two weeks would be fruitful in plugging new people into the ministry and that those who get plugged in would make that all important decision.
3.) That the current students we are investing in would have faithful and available mentors to help equip them in their walk.
4.) That the current students would learn to pass on what they've learned to their friends who don't believe and that they would invest in the next generation of believers.
5.) That Brian would be able to quickly adjust and jump right into the work here, though he just joined us yesterday.
6.) That the Master of the Harvest would send more laborers into his field.

-Tim

Mini Vacation and Campus!

Piggybacking off of Tiana’s idea, I’ve made a new list of accomplishments:

Ben: Ben had tea with a stranger at the train station.
Kyle: Ate a whole sack of oatmeal
Brendan: Learned the secret of walking on water at the resort
Doug: Went for a very refreshing run. He just didn’t realize it would be a spectator sport!
Tim: Got juggled in a barrel on the feet of a Chinese acrobat
Tiana: Encouraged the girls to take Psalm 119:62 literally in the boy’s room at midnight. (Yes, the boy’s retaliated appropriately)
Lydia: Helped pick out flowers for Keng Yin that apparently is a symbol of death.
Cynthia: Got stung multiple times by a huge jungle insect.

The training program officially ended last Wednesday. Since then we have had a good rest punctuated by intense periods of work. After the training program we were given 3 days of vacation at a different resort nearby. The resort was very nice. It was high up in the hills and surrounded by tropical rainforest. All 8 of us fit into one apartment rental. Before we arrived Keng Yin took us grocery shopping. We survived for 3 days on instant noodles, eggs, and crackers! The resort was a little bit like Disney world. It had a whole French village and a Japanese Tea Garden. A shuttle service took us from place to place in this giant complex. The resort was beautiful! Each morning we woke up to a cacophony of monkeys hooting and howling. Although our time there was very restful we also got a lot of logistics and administrative work done. The first night we returned to Petaling Jaya we hit the ground running! We were up until 3 am one night preparing for a meeting that we presented to our friends about the training program.

The house we are staying at is getting quite crowded! Brian joins us later this week and another Malaysian roommate has joined us. With so many housemates, Keng Yin has graciously offered to let Cynthia, Lydia, and Tiana stay with her. They will be staying in an apartment below Keng Yin’s that she hopes to eventually rent to new students once we leave. Keng Yin lives a few blocks away from the house where the guys are staying.

Yesterday we went to the campus for the first time! All of us were a bit nervous about what it would look like for such out-of-place looking Americans to meet new Malaysian students. Trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible, we split up into pairs or threes and went to various cafeterias on campus. It turns out our fears were unfounded. The students here are so friendly and welcoming! We were able to meet many different people and invite them to the various activities we have planned for the first week. Today we were also on campus meeting new students. The Malaysian students with the ministry have been partnering with us fully and have been showing us around and initiating new relationships as well. We get to and from campus using taxis or our friends drive us.

There might not be many pictures for awhile! It’s a little too conspicuous to bring my camera to campus.

Prayer Requests:
1.) Please pray that many students would get plugged in through the American Food Night on Thursday night.
2.) Please pray that we would meet many freshmen (called Freshies here J )
3.) Please pray that we would meet more males who can be equipped for leadership
4.) Praise God for the continued support of our friends and supporters here!
5.) Please pray for continued ease getting onto campus through the gate though we are not students
6.) Please pray that each of us would have great wisdom in our speech. That we would only speak when prompted and that our mouth would close when prompted.

Genting Highlands, Praise and more

Hi everyone! This is Tiana signing in. I’ve made a list of accomplishments for each team member. Enjoy!

Ben: broke a chair
Brendan: figured out girls secret code
Doug: Broke a different chair. Spit gum into Kyle’s mouth on a ride at Genting
Tim: Beat Brendan at treading water
Kyle: Caught gum in his mouth on a ride
Cynthia: Broke a different chair
Lydia: Made friends with some cats
Tiana: Broke a couch

Moral of the story? Americans are hard on furniture!!!

So here at the training program we’ve been very busy. In groups we made posters (painted cloths) about Isaiah 43:18-21, 44:1-5, and 49:6. Each group illustrated the verses in their own unique way, but all groups shared some key elements: desolation, a river bringing new life, and the sun. These represent how even though we turn away from God for our own desolation, He will renew us and give us new life. The sun represents how God is always there and He helps us grow.

Tim, filling in for Tiana: Our (Tiana's and Kyle's) team is composed mostly of non-christians: Pei Yin, Wei Shan, and Ivy. Although Ivy left a few days ago, we feel she left with a much greater understanding of the Bible and who God is. In her place, Wei Shan arrived a few days ago despite strong parental opposition. We feel she is really growing and very close to accepting Christ! Praise God! We’re also happy to report that Pei Yin called her parents yesterday and talked about being a Christian. She said her parents said ok and so “She do”. We are happy to embrace her as a new sister in Christ!!!!


Lydia: Hi everyone! This is Lydia!

On friday we went to the Genting Highlands theme park, about an hour north of KL and very close to where we are staying for the summer training program. Probably the biggest highlight was the gondola ride up to and down from the park. Kelvin told us that it is the fastes skyway in the world and the largest in southeast asia. It runs over several jungle peaks, at times only about 10 feet above the canopy and at others over 40! For the most part we stayed together, trying several rides and archery but in the end we split up into little groups. Some people did bumper boats (very fun!) and some got ice cream while sharing quiet times. When we left on the gondola there was a big white cloud surrounding the entire park and for a few minutes we couldn’t see anything but white. Then it cleared up and we were able to see the tress, the white clouds racing along the peaks, and the Genting park, perched high on the top of the mountain. Beautiful!

Tim: Prayer requests:
1.) As the summer training program finishes up, please pray for maximum impact in the lives of the students
2.) Please pray for wisdom in how to reach the campus for the next four weeks. We’re not sure if it will look like an English class, basketball camp, or just stopping people on campus and sharing Christ with them. Maybe some combination of all of these things
3.) Please pray that no one would leave this training program unchanged
4.) Please keep Ivy and Wei Shan (Way SHAWN) in your prayers that they would come to know Christ
5.) Please keep Pei Yin (PAY IN) in your prayers that the Lord would direct her and transform her in her new relationship with Him
6.) Please pray for Lance and Cindy, two Malaysian students who are struggling in their walk with Jesus and who did not attend the training program
7.) Praise God for our continued health and cool weather!!

The Training Program Begins!

Hello Everyone! This is Kyle!

To the Dads, Happy Father’s Day! We love you!

Malaysia’s still sweet! We are now in Bukit Tinggi (“High Hill”) at the Student Training Program. So far we’ve heard from several key speakers. Keng Yin (Our host here in Malaysia) has planned it to the dot (excellent job!). We are split up into 4 groups for cleaning and washing dishes and bible study. Tiana and I are with Ivy and Pei Yin and I got to see Tiana show them the Bridge and they are looking at the cross so pray for the Lord to do big things there! But so far we’ve played ultimate Frisbee, football, futbol, and got to see Brendan sing in Chinese! (Yes, we got it on video!)

For morning exercises Yling taught us some wushu (a form of martial arts) and we taught them wrestling this morning (both equally as fun to watch). Keng Yin nominated Ben to be discipline master so everyone would be on time. He has a whistle and a gong and we think he might be enjoying his role a little too much! :). Last night another college ministry came over for a malay dinner and to sing praise songs. Worshiping with them was awesome!!! The training program has been about opening the flood gates and we cannot wait to go back to campus. Be praying for strong desires to serve God and to know Him. Today I taught a workshop on the hand illustration which will help us understand why we must hear, read, study, memorize, and meditate on scripture. Also please pray for Ivy and Pei Yin that they would put their hope in God and that our relationships with each other would strengthen. Thank God that Tim and Tiana’s bags finally arrived safely on Friday and for new friends.

We are enjoying teaching the Malaysian’s American slang. So far we’ve taught them “Bummer dude!”, “Sweet!”, and “That’s tight!”. Brendan also taught them the fist pound as a greeting. “Where do the dogs go? To the pound!”

-Kyle

We're Here!

Hello from Malaysia!

After 21 hours of plane travel and 27 hours of total travel we were definitely pleased to land in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. All of us made it safe and sound and on time. Tianna and I were unpleasantly and really not so surprised to find out that our luggage didn’t make it past LA. For now we’re coping with one change of clothes and borrowed materials from our hosts and fellow travelers. Our luggage should arrive tomorrow. We find it more than a little ironic that Tianna and I were the ones who most advocated rechecking our bags in LA. Unfortunately there wasn’t time so we weren’t able to. Oh well, these things are to be expected on such trips! :)

Malaysia is HOT!!!! The heat and humidity is really surprising and affects every aspect of life here. Yesterday was 88 but with 100% humidity it really feels like 120. Things start early and go late because that is when the temperature is most bearable. The house we are staying at does not have air conditioning. It’s a three bedroom house we share with two Malaysian Navigators and university students: Kiasin and Kelvin. It’s in a small suburb of Kuala Lumpur called Petaling Jaya. The squat toilet was a little bit of a surprise but there’s a western style one upstairs. The boys share a room and the girls share a room. All the bedrooms are on the upper level with a small balcony. The living room is our favorite place to hang out because it is cool and has a giant ceiling fan! The nights here are pleasant except the giant swarm of mosquitos that attack every dawn and dusk. Avoiding getting bitten is impossible. It’s all about mitigating the damage! Thankfully our bedroom window has a screen and a plug-in mosquito repellent.

The food here is excellent! We eat mostly at Chinese outdoor restaurants. The food is good and extremely cheap. I think for all 8 of us it cost only like $15 USD to eat lunch today.

We’ve been keeping busy today after waking up pretty much recovered from our jet-lag by preparing for the summer training program. We’ve been putting together workshops and getting things organized. Tomorrow we leave for a small town in the countryside east of KL called Bentong. Here we have rented two apartments where we will run the summer training program. Things will definitely be cramped for the next few weeks. The rooms will truly be asian style with wall to wall mattresses! On the up side, we expect Bentong to be a little bit cooler since it’s at a higher elevation.

Keng Yin, who is the navigator staff member in charge of the ministry we are assisting is amazing! She has been so nice picking us up from the airport and helping us get settled into our home for the next seven weeks. The other Nav students have also been amazing! They take us out to eat, they help us shop, go to the ATM, everything! They are excellent hosts. I have a new appreciation for the difficulties of foreign exchange students in America.

That’s it for now! Stay tuned! We have one 3G wireless card for our use so we’ll try keep regular blog updates as we have time. Unfortunately due to low speed of our internet, we won't be able to regularly upload pictures! Sorry! We'll do our best.

Prayer requests:
1.) Please pray that mine and Tianna’s bags arrive safely and timely!
2.) Please pray for our continued health and security (no problems yet!)
3.) Please pray that the Lord would work through this training program and use it to enrich the student’s walk with God in radical new ways
4.) Please pray for the students who are experiencing resistance from parents allowing them to come to the program. Please pray for the softening of their hearts and for the softening of those students who are resisting coming.
5.) Please pray for divine appointments, wisdom, and discernment in interacting with the local community.
6.) Please thank God for our safe arrival, and for his abundant support of every aspect of this trip. It is truly resting securely in his capable hands!!!!!


Tim

The Trip Begins! (On Monday....)

Hello Everyone!


Thanks for visiting the first blog entry for the CU Navs six-week trip to Malaysia! As some of you may know, we will be leaving for Malaysia on Monday June 15th at 9:47pm and will arrive in Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital, at 1:00 pm on Wednesday June 17th. (FYI- Kuala Lumpur is 14 hours ahead of Denver time.)

For the next six weeks we will be assisting a local collegiate Navigators ministry in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is largely a blend of three different ethnic groups: the muslim Malays which make up the majority of the population, the Malaysian Chinese, and the Malaysian East Indian. Although Islam is by far the most practiced religion, Buddhists and Christians do have religious freedom if they do not belong to the Malay ethnic group. About 9% of Malaysia's population are Christian.

The local ministry we will be assisting is mostly made up of Malaysian Chinese students. Most of the students in the ministry are relatively new Christians. For the first two weeks of the trip we will help run a "Summer Training Program" for these students. This will consist of running workshops and Bible studies designed to help the students enrich their relationship with God. After the two week program is completed we hope to continue to disciple the students as their semester begins. Also during this time we will be teaching English classes to university students.

Our team is composed of 2 CU Nav Staff members (Ben and Brian), 1 college grad (09! WOOT!) (Tim), 3 CU men (Kyle: sophomore, Brendan: Junior, Doug: Sophmore), and 3 CU women (Cynthia: Junior, Lydia: Senior, Tianna: Junior). We will be staying in a rented 3 bedroom house across the street from campus that will have regular internet access. Hopefully we will have many opportunities to provide updates. Although I (Tim) created this blog, I am hoping the team and I can share the burden of providing updates. I will be regularly uploading pictures during the trip which you can access via the slideshow on the right-hand side.

Tim