Newsletter #9

Malaysian Care

Everyone has pluses and minuses, 

it's how you put them into the equation that makes a difference. 

~Dalinda Powell

As I have received HIV/AIDS training, I was able to go on a ministry day in Port Klang, Malaysia to visit a halfway-house/rehabilitation centre for ex-drug addicts, ex-prison convicts and current HIV+ men. We were a team of 5 women sent and had been told to prepare for practical work followed by lunch and a time of sharing and worship with the guys.

It turns out they had expected men and the practical work was tearing down a brick wall, building a new one and doing some painting. They refused to allow the women to work and thought quickly on their feet, asking us to decorate one of the men's rooms, to cover water damage on the walls. We felt a little useless doing paper crafts, knowing that they needed help elsewhere and we were prepared to help, but they refused to let us.

One of the men, Klart, supported himself financially by creating and selling beautiful hand-made cards. He showed us some of his work and gave us full use of his supplies to decorate the room which was one he shared with another guy. Seeing what he had made inspired us for what he might like in his room and together we came up with some decorations. 

We felt a little useless doing this, however to see the joy on Klart's face at the end made it all worthwhile. He was a very special man. His testimony was that he had lived on the street and was HIV+ when the workers of Malaysian Care found him and offered him a home. Through their love and care, he got back on his feet and fell in love with Christ. He prayed every morning and every evening for a month that he might be healed. Although he is still HIV+ and is living with AIDS, Klart has not had any problems with his health and is still alive 10 years later, something that is a miracle for his situation.

Klart works constantly to bring others joy. The cards he makes are always for other people and he has never gotten anything for himself, so the fact that 4 of us spent a few hours carefully making something that we thought he would like and putting effort into it, especially for him really made him feel loved and cared for. It was wonderful to see how God could use such a small and to us, inconsequential thing, to really touch somebody's life.

After lunch, we had a time of worship with the men and performed a drama for them about God's love. With their pasts, many had done things they were ashamed of and the world and their consciences were telling them they were stupid, unworthy of love, that they didn't deserve anything good. Our drama shared with them that there is nothing anyone can do to make God not love us. 

We have a God of grace. Justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve but grace is getting what we do not deserve. While visiting and ministering on the ship earlier this year, published Christian author Stuart Briscoe told us a story of he and his son. His son had not done what he was asked and told lies about it. Stuart found out about it and took his son aside for a talk. "What do you deserve as a result of your actions", he asked. "I deserve to be grounded", replied his son. "That's justice", Stuart informed him. "Now, you know what you have done, that it was wrong and what you deserve, but I'm not going to punish you. That's mercy". Instead, the two went out for ice cream and some father/son bonding time. "I don't deserve this", said his son. "That's grace", replied Stuart.

That was what this drama taught and we followed it with an illustration of folding a piece of paper while sharing the gospel story. In the end after folding and ripping, a cross is made and the left over pieces of paper can be used to spell love, life and hell. We taught the men how to do this for themselves and as well as a time of bonding with them, it was special to see understanding come to some of those who had not previously understood the love that Christ has for them. 

We finished a wonderful day with some of the men sharing their testimonies of what their life was like, and how the love of God has transformed their lives into who they are today. Then before we left, they filled out some prayer cards of what they'd like prayer for. These men showed true selflessness when asking first for the health of their families above themselves and it was a great reminder that because of God, men who would otherwise be still on the streets, in prison or dead have life and a future, with dreams that can come true.

Newsletter #8

Penang church team

Our advertisement outside the church

As you can see, the ladies all have their heads covered -
can you spot the blue head covering and the blue shirt?
That's me and Blair on my right.

For a church team in Penang, Malaysia I was sent with Blair (Australia) and David (USA) to Burma Rd Gospel Hall, a brethren church. We were invited to do some songs, share a testimony and lead the Sunday school. We had been warned in advance that the women usually cover their heads and although the church didn't require me to as a visitor, the ship had recommended that I should do it as a sign of respect, anyway. We were invited to join the main service before the Sunday school.      

When I lived in Tasmania in 2008 I'd been a part of an open Brethren church which was quite modern. The first Sunday of each Monday was 'as the Lord leads' for the worship where nothing was planned in advance and as the Spirit led, people would stand to request a song which we would then sing, but women were allowed to share and no head covering was required.

Of course there is also the closed Brethren which have been in the news and are more sect-like, however the Burma Rd Gospel Hall was just a beautiful fellowship. They were a mix between traditional and modern. The women did wear a head covering only during the service, and the worship part of the service only the men stood to request songs then all would rise to sing. The men might also stand to share a thought or read some scripture, but it was all done according to the Spirit. If nobody felt any leadings to say or sing anything, then we simply waited in silence. It was such a beautiful time for me, where I could clearly feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and there was a calming peacefulness in the room.

I led the Sunday School after the main service

As Blair was feeling ill and David was from the new PST and this was his first church team, I led the Sunday school where everyone was there from 3 - 90 years old. Some of the youth came forward to play 2 keyboards and guitars alongside me and they were brilliant musicians. We had alot of fun leading worship together while the congregation joined in, some of the little ones even feeling free to dance.

I know quite a few kids songs that use actions, as the children usually have fun doing this and it helps to break the ice.

People standing for a time of worship and the little one dancing
along in the middle - so cute!

Some of the songs had actions

We introduced our countries and the kids had fun acting
like kangaroos!

My favourite part was getting Blair and David to do the actions, too!

a game - called 'portside, starboard'. The kids enjoy it and get to know a bit of ships life: ie how left = port side and right = starboard!

Interview time!

 

Not knowing where the children were in regards to having made a decision for themselves about Christ, I shared the 'wordless book'. This is a book of 5 coloured pages made of felt. The gold page is used to share about how God made men and the wonderful relationship God had with Adam and Eve. The black page stands for sin, and we share about the ruptured relationship between man and God and how sin came into the world. The red page stands for the blood of Jesus, and I shared about who Jesus was, why He came to the earth and how He died so that we might be able to have a restored relationship with God. The green page symbolises this new life we have in Christ.

Wanting to involve everyone in the activity and test levels of understanding and to get the adults interested too, I went around the room interview style, with my microphone. Nobody knew who I'd jump to next or what question would be asked, but I basically led them through the gospel story again, but this time the adults and teens were telling the story in their own words and sharing what it meant to them. 

We had a wonderful time with these people and fellowship afterwards at lunch. It's always one of my favourite things to be able to see how no matter where we live, what our culture is our the denomination, that we all worship the same God, in spirit and in truth - we are one in the body of Christ. 

Newsletter #7

Newsletter #6

Galle, Sri Lanka

Welcome to the beach in Galle!

Prayer walk around Galle Fort. We were 
given several tasks/challenges - this 
one was to  capture in 1 photograph 
the verse: "God is the same yesterday, 
today and forever".
We were portraying 'time' on a clock...

As we walked to the next part, we were to pick up rubbish
with our awesome orange gloves.

The next challenge was to write 'Logos Hope' 
using only natural objects, and nothing that 
we brought with us from the ship.

One church team I was sent with 4 others to a small church in the town of Matara, 2hrs away from the ship. I was leading the church team on our last day in Galle and was asked to preach on healing. There were many factors and problems in putting the team together, organising meetings (5 very different and opposing schedules can make organising ship meetings difficult), lack of notice, lack of time, lack of experience and the 'Sri Lanka factor' - no matter what you organise, the plans will be changed and most likely delayed.

However God, by His grace, put it all together and the end result was something only He could have done. The last minute addition of someone giving a testimony that was partially healing but mostly salvation went perfectly with the theme God gave me of "healing/miracles as a signpost directing people towards salvation and building of faith and not an end unto themselves", the pastor being 1hr late to pick us up with the bus gave us the chance to finally have a full team meeting, the 35 instead of 85 people congregation we were told to expect meant we were able to have the pastor translate for each person their needs and pray for each one individually.

This is the quaint streets around 
the Galle Fort area.

View from Galle Fort during the day

I gave a tour to Fathima (the girl in red on the left) and her mother
on the ship and so the next afternoon she invited me to their place
for afternoon tea. It was lovely to meet them and spend time.
Fathima and I are still in touch - she sent me a birthday card this month!

There was a beautiful beach nearby, by the name of 'Unawatuna'.

The same afternoon I had spent a few hours on our visitor deck and was approached by a man named Kaundike. We started talking and he enquired how he could join the ship. I explained that we were all Christians and you needed to be a Christian in order to join the ship then asked about his beliefs. He shared he was Buddhist but believed in Jesus too, after all Christianity and Buddhism are similar, right? We discussed this for over an hour, both sharing about our beliefs and I was able to give testimony to the living God and really impress that God has an individual plan for each of our lives and I can see the results of Him in my life. This was a big distinction from Kaundike’s belief that Buddha simply wrote a manual for living then left and is now in ‘nirvana’. 

Our conversation ended with me challenging him to ask Jesus to prove Himself and if He is real, to reveal Himself in Kaundike’s life. He agreed and we prayed together then he asked for my email, saying he would let me know when something happened. That night when I checked my emails, Kaundike had written: “Tell me the way to your God”. I wrote back and he has since given his life to Christ and I am discipling him via email. I've sent him a Bible and will talk to the Galle line-up team to try and connect him with a local church. Kaundike shared that his mother was also interested in the Bible and he's been reading it with her - it is always great when families are united by Christ. 

At a ship family dinner at Unawatuna Beach 
with my little sister Tessa (South Africa).

A 30min walk along the shore led to the city - we met a few guys
who showed us their boats.

Sailing away from Galle, watching the port get smaller with Lucie.

Our last view of Galle Fort at sunset as we sailed away.