He is closer than we think!

Hi friends!!

Over the last couple of weeks the Lord has taught me so much, and I can’t wait for you guys to get the inside scoop! But first let me catch you up on what I’ve been up to!

The ministry in Malaysia has been plentiful to say the least. Our biggest ministry was working as teachers in a school for Muslim refugees. Each day we taught these students from 9am-12pm, and each and every day I fell more and more in love with these kiddos. Early on, me and my team found ourselves feeling pretty exhausted and frustrated in trying to teach these kids. They are a pretty rowdy bunch, and we were also fighting a language barrier. We were so frustrated because we felt like no matter what we did, they were not learning. And after about a week the Lord gave me some really important insight about this. The truth about these kids is that we have no idea where they come from, and we have no idea what they have been through. What I do know, is that it has been hard. A lot of these kids at 7-14 years old have been through more than myself or any of the other adults I know have ever gone through. Once I started thinking about this some more it became so clear to me that our purpose in that school may not be to see how much English we can get to stick in their brains, but how much love can we show them.  Once me and my team changed our hearts to be focused on loving the kids, everything changed. My heart was open to loving them and seeing them for who they are and what they have been through. Our entire goal became to make sure these kids knew that they were important, smart, valued, and loved. I fell in love with this ministry, and I fell in love with my kids. Leaving them was honestly pretty hard, if you can join me in praying for them that would be incredible 🙂

Below are a few pictures of some of my kiddos at school!

School has been a large part of our ministry here, but Malaysia was rich with opportunity for relationship. The people in Malaysia are incredibly relational, and I had the opportunity to really connect with quite a few people there. One really cool relationship we made was with a Uber driver, when we invited him to come to a movie with us. Him and I stayed in contact, and a couple weeks later we got the opportunity to go and play badminton with our new friend, and his family!

Another relationship we were able to build was with some students that we met through a ministry connection that we made back in Thailand. We had the opportunity to go and present at a cultural event about Easter on a college campus, and I was able to make a couple of friends! A week or so later we had the opportunity to go back and spend the day with our 2 new friends. They were incredible, and now I can officially say if I ever want to visit China I will have a place to stay!

I have had so much fun making new friends in Malaysia!! I have fallen in love with the people, and with the culture. I hope that one day the Lord will grace me with the opportunity to return.

Okay now for the good stuff, and the real stuff, let me tell you what the Lords been teaching me.

To be totally transparent, Malaysia was really hard for me spiritually and emotionally. The Lord has been walking me through some things from my past that have been really difficult. But in my last couple of weeks in Malaysia, I saw breakthrough, and the Lord taught me so much. There were a couple weeks where I was processing a lot having to do with one of my close friends who passed away a few years ago. While I was walking through that, the Lord felt so far from me. It was in a moment where I felt at my lowest that He showed up in such tangible ways. One of my squad leaders sat down and spoke so much truth over me, it was like God Himself was sitting down with me to walk me through what I was dealing with. Later on that same day, I was sitting outside praying and my eyes were glossed over just staring straight ahead. Eventually my eyes came back into focus, and I saw there was a bird sitting on the fence I had been staring at the whole time, but I hadn’t been able to see it because my vision was so blurred. And in that moment I heard the Lord clearly say “I am just this close to you, you just can’t see me right now because your vision is blurred.” It reminded me of something that used to happen to me when I was little. I have always worn glasses, and when I was little I would let them get so dirty, I would never clean them. Until eventually they would get so dirty that my mom would come and take them off my face to clean them up for me. And it wasn’t until she wiped them down and put them back on my face that I realized I had been seeing the world through dirty lenses. I think that sometimes in life, we can get so bogged down by everything that is going on around us. Whether it be the chaos of work, relationships, emotions, or whatever else, it is so easy for our vision to go out of focus. And in those moments sometimes we need God to come take off our glasses and clean them up for us. And thank God, His timing is perfect, and He will always show up right when we need Him.

I have some more fun memories I want to share too!

Here is a photo of me and Sarah in our traditional Indian outfits that we got to wear before we performed a traditional dance in front of the whole church!

We also got to visit Penang Island a few times, which I absolutely adored. I would love to come back to visit Penang! I got to go 4 different times and each time was something different!

I got to see some cutie monkeys up close and personal!

This is the view of the city from the roof of the mall!

And a beautiful view from a rocky beach were we got to have… MEXICAN FOOD!! 🌮

This is a photo of my preaching a message at a homeless shelter on Penang! I got to share a word on God sized problems.

We also got to have a very special Easter as a squad. We were so lucky, the Easter bunny even made it all the way to Malaysia! This picture is me with all of the girls on my squad, I have so much love for these ladies 🙂

We also took an adventure day to go and hike the mountain in Sungai Petani. It was unfortunately pouring rain when we got there, but we decided to hike anyway. But the most awesome thing happened, after about an hour of hiking in the rain, I said to my friends “wouldn’t it be cool if God made the sun come out right when we get to the top of this hike?” And sure enough, we got some beautiful glimpses of the sun at the top, and a rainbow! God is so good

Another ministry that we got to partner with here was a bakery that is run by adults with special needs. They just moved to a new building so we got to help them put up some new paint, and myself and another one of my teammates also got to put together a business plan for them!

So I think that’s a wrap on Malaysia! Next Friday we head to the Philippines, where we are receiving new roles, and we are getting moved on to new teams. I can say that I feel really good about everything that we were able to do in Malaysia, and I am so blessed by everything the Lord taught me here. I would love if you would continue to partner with me in prayer.

Prayer Requests:

• The transition from Malaysia to the Philippines would go smooth, and that we would settle in well to our new ministries.
• Prayers for our students, that Christ would encounter them, and that people would continue to show up in their lives and to pour out unconditional love on them.
• Prayers for my squad mates who are not yet fully funded, that the would see the Lords provision and receive full funding.
• Our squad leaders are leaving us in about a month, and people from my squad will be raised up to take their place. Please pray that the Lords grace and hand will be on our raised leaders, and that our current squad leaders receive all God has for them in their last month with us!

Thank you all for always loving and supporting me. I am so blessed by each of you.

Prayers and blessings,

Amanda