Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 11/7/2010
I am now currently in my last month of ministry for the World Race. MOLDOVA!!!!I
I can not believe how fast this year has gone by. It has been challenging, rewarding, exciting, stressful, eye opening and life changing.
I have worked at christian camps in New Zealand
i have dug ditches in Australia
I have worked in a squatter community in the Philippines where I found some of the most loving friends
I have lived in the jungles of Malaysia
I have worked in the leper colonies and Red light districts of Thailand
I have been touched by orphans in Kenya
I have seen God work through street evangelism and lived in a tribe in Tanzania
I have sang with the children of Uganda
I have seen the affects of the soviet union in the Ukraine
I have played with the beautiful Gypsy children of Macedonia
and now I am hanging out with the youth and teaching english in Moldova.
Thank you to all those who have supported me with money, prayers, encouragement and preparation.
I still need $460 in my support account to be fully funded. If you would like to help me complete my financial support for the World Race it would be greatly appreciated. I love you all and thank you so much again for EVERYTHING!!!
See you in 2 weeks!!!!!
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 10/25/2010
While in the Ukraine last month we were supposed to teach in the schools about all of our World Race adventures. We made it there 2 times and then the government stepped in and kicked us out. They threatened to deport us if they caught us doing any other type of ministry. We tried many different things but no one would take us because of the close government watch we had. So our ministry was to the Beautiful family we stayed with. We would pick plums, help cook, clean the house and paint a playground. We loved our Ukrainian family, but we also had a lot of down time and very limited ministry. We were sad to leave but excited and hopeful about our ministry in Macedonia
 
Saying that.........
our month in Macedonia is not what we expected it to be.
We have been working with a young man named Orhan, who is starting up a ministry for Roma street children called "Childrens Hope." We have participated in meetings, observed Roma communities from afar and watched movies on poverty. All of the hands-on Ministry we were hoping to have was once again limited and many of us have felt useless and frustrated with all the spare time we have had over the past 2 months.
Yesterday we took up a money collection to buy clothes and shoes for people in the Roma (A.K.A gypsy) communities. We then bought the clothes and went to the community to distribute what we had purchased. I went in with the mindset of "this is just going to be another day of not getting to interact and actually minister to these people." We all had low expectations.
But then we realized that our ministry this month was based around just this ONE DAY!!!
When we first arrived they seemed very angry and we did not feel wanted. Then after watching a lot of yelling in a language we can not understand and large hand gestures and pointing (at us)...we were unexpectedly invited to sit and drink coffee. We sat on buckets covered with a piece of cardboard while the children tried to teach a game that involved 2 balls on a string ( a much harder toy to master then we thought). They brought us turkish coffee and laughed at us while we tried to play with their children's toy. Half of our team ministered to a few of the men ( who were muslim) and had discussions from the bible. Simone, Emily and I went off with the kids to pet horses and goats, sing songs, have relay races and try to communicate by using our hands (something we have mastered this year). The children were beautiful, full of smiles and showed us great kindness.
Before we left we were invited into one of their homes, made of cardboard and plastic bags for diner. These people have NOTHING and yet they are offering us the only diner they have. When they insisted we all sat on the ground to eat a delicious meal of bread and stew praying to ourselves that they would be blesed back 10 fold. One of the little boys then brought SImone and I perfume and gave it to us as a gift.
I only spent 2-3 hours with these people and they touched my heart. It was more hard to leave them than it was to leave some people after working with them for a month. Their hospitality and friendship humbled us. Even though we only got to spend little time with these people they will never be forgotten.
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 10/12/2010
ok....so I nknow I am not a good blogger...at all.
This blog was created by John Blair. He did an Awesome job and everything is so true. ENJOY. I will attempt to blog soon
YOU KNOW YOUR A WORLD RACER WHEN...
you have your passport number memorized
You have more than one type of currency
in your wallet.
You
know what it's like to be packed in a van or bus with all your stuff.
You're excited to use your tent because
you can have your own space.
You get excited when you get to use a
toilet that flushes, and you've learned to always carry toilet paper with you.
 
You have a Chaco/Teva/Flip Flop tan on
your feet, and your feet can be so dirty no amount of washing gets
them clean.
You can wear the same outfit for days
at a time and no one cares.
Taking a shower becomes an
as-really-needed basis.
You can find the best American food and
WiFi place in any city.
You have Facebook friends from around
the world.
You spend a good amount of time in
prayer when traveling in Africa or Asia, and you've almost forgotten what side
of the road we drive on in America.
The
words "feedback" "prefer" "Muzungu" and phrases "are you ok?" "should
we talk about it" and "How are you? How are you?" and "You pray, you
speak" can never leave or forsake you.
You wonder why no one is staring at you anymore like a celebrity after leaving Africa
You
don't get scared anymore when cars and trucks are flying by you on the
side of the road really close and any type of transportation speeding
is just normal to you.
Four countries in one day (Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines)
Alone time means listening to your Ipod
and pretending to be alone.
You've discovered the head lamp is one
of the best inventions ever.
You spend way too
much money on Cokes because they are cold.
You've embraced peanut butter or
Nutella as the most economical and essential food, and you learn that
peanut butter is a little different in every country.
Hearing roosters
crow at all hours of the night and day is normal.
You never really
know what's going on, and you've perfected the act of hurry up and wait.
You've become used to carrying all your stuff in one heavy and over-sized backpack.
You're
asked by people, "What are you doing? Where are you going? Who are you
with?" and all you can say for the 1,000th time that day is "I don't
know" and "Beats me! I'm just going with the flow!"
You see and do
things you never before thought possible.
When you stop and think about it, you
say "Is this really my life because this is so amazing?
- Your least favorite animal is the rooster. Or
goat or the winged, dengue carrying spawns of Satan
otherwise known as Mosquitos. You have no idea how much I hate those
things.
- Driving on the left side of the road has become normal.
- You carry a
headlamp with you at all times.
- You have more
than three currencies in your purse.
-People wearing calculator watches aren't made fun of. (John Jones!!)
-You have become very good at calculating exchange rates in your head.
-You can't remember the last time you had a hot shower.
-When you become livid or blow up because someone is trying rip you off the equivalent of like 25 cents American.
- Everyone notices
when you have a new item of clothing.
And literally 9 jazillion people ask you at different times that day, "Is that new?"
- When you're not
tenting, you always have at least 3 roommates and sometimes 50. This same amount of people will
inevitably share the one bathroom
- You have no
problem using the toilet with the bathroom door open, one person in the
shower, and three people standing around the sink. (Or you are used to pouring sweat while taking a dump. Thank you Dwarka Sector 8, India!)
-You have actually sweated while taking a shower. (Cambodia/Thailand)
-You crave internet like a bad addiction.
-At any given point of the day you see a man peeing on the side of the road.
- You look for the
trash can when you enter the bathroom stall, because it has become the norm
for you to dispose your toilet paper in the trashcan.
- You have no problem taking a dump on the side of the road.
- It's hard to
remember what there is to eat besides rice. Rice makes up 90% of your diet and in
some countries they don't think that you have eaten a meal if you haven't
had your rice.
- You have
attempted to speak 10 languages over the past year. This often leads to being very good at
explaining things with your movements or trying to talk louder. (Or English to English translation - well Fodor at least!)
- 4 countries, 3
continents, 3 days - completely normal.
-You wear the same thing 3-4 days in a row.
- You see a rat or
cockroach scurrying through a house, yet
you carry on as if it were completely normal.
- You have learned
not to ask questions when the water and the electricity shut off - it
happens at least once a day in some countries, sometimes for several days
at a time.
- Random people ask
to take pictures with you...all the time! Or approach you for random conversation. Or stare at you doing normal things like sitting and talking or eating.
- In the middle of
dinner, you stop and ask what country you're in.
- You are competent
at taking a shower from a bucket of water.
- You have learned
the art of washing your laundry by hand.
-You often look at your body and say something like....."Man, that's a wierd looking bump, rash, bruise, bite etc....."
- You carry a roll
of toilet paper in your purse because most bathrooms lack that luxury.
- You have ridden
more modes of transportation than you ever knew existed.
- You have learned
to adapt to anything.
- A 10 hour bus ride is a light travel day.
-You have a lot of crap that takes up a lot of room.
-You devour everything like a swarm of locusts. Especially toilet paper, water, food etc...
- You find a favorite restaurant and just dominate/abuse it as
an entire squad for the entire month you are there. Especially if it
has wireless internet. (Ex: Hotel Princessa, Yellow Rose of Texas, Tuesdays, Rustic Tavern, The Coffee place in India, Corner 33)
-If you hear the phrases "Speak Life" or "Rise Up" one more time you will snap!
-You actually get exited about eating Mcdonalds.
-You know a goat sounds eerily like a crying human being (Kenya!!).
-Girls outnumber guys like 47 to 1.
-You watched an animal killed in the morning then ate it for lunch that same day.
-You can't remember the last time you were alone.
-You don't remember what it's like to not sweat all the time.
-You either hate or love Thai massages.
-Any tourist type day is a reason to take like 3,000 pictures. And usually the main thing you enjoyed
-You have fallen asleep listening to a lion roar.
-You contract a new disease that you have never heard of before.
-You have to take a cold shower before you can fall asleep.
-You have watched more Soccer then you thought humanly possible.
-You have seen your bus cause tidal waves that have destroyed people's houses.
-You understand worship at some churches can last hours. Or it
is a cardio-vascular workout. Or your hands actually chap/peal b/c you
have clapped so much (Tanzania)
-You dread the thought of packing up all your crap again.
-Your Therma-rest is your most treasured possession in life.
-Milk always tastes at least a little bit funky.
-You have forgotten what it's like to have full and/or normal health.
-Your comfortable with eating 1 or 2 or maybe no actual meals in a day or have two lunches in a matter of one hour.
-You have eaten breakfast rolls harder then cement.
- Your main topic of
conversation at dinner is the current solidity of your bowel movement.
Arriving Home
If they come to your house, its perfectly normal to hear...
"Can I drink this water?"
"So, is it cool to flush the TP here...?"
"There wasn't a name on it, so I used it. Hope that's ok."
"Hey do you care if I borrow your toothbrush, I left mine at home."
Routine behaviors that might raise an eyebrow, but are perfectly normal ...
Excessive
trips to the free refill counter, accompanied with lots of slurping and
an excited "Ok, really, last trip...I promise. This is so much fun!!"
Instead of folding clothes into drawers, they are rolled tightly, military style (and MIGHT be stored in ziploc bags too)
Every month, clothes are tossed out, with the simple explanation of "It weighs too much. Get rid of it!!"
Constant blogging.
Guzzling gallons of iced tea at record pace.
Bargaining with the store clerks at Wal-Mart.
The offer to do your logistics for the family vacation.
The inability to stay in one place very long.
Gleeful laughing and clapping at the sight of a clothes dryer.
The insistence that another international trip must be planned quickly because "I still have 3 blank pages in my passport!"
Hand-sanitizing.
They're really not kidding when they say...
"Sorry, officer... I really didn't realize 10 people in one car was such a problem."
"Who wants to climb that waterfall and jump off with me?"
"How much will you pay me to eat this bug?"
"I haven't showered in, like, 3 days. I just didn't think about it."
"There's one brownie left. Let's arm-wrestle for it."
"That looks so gross. Let's taste it!"
Be patient when they say...
"$10 ?! I'm not paying that. In China, its only $2."
"When I was in the Philippines...."
"Oh my gosh, when we were in Swaziland..."
"Well, in Cambodia..."
"Ha, that's nothing. When we were in Thailand..."
"Yeah...when I was on the World Race..."
"Plan? No. Let's just figure it out when we get there."
You'll notice they're very resourceful...
"Refried beans? Spaghetti noodles? Spinach?...Yeah, I can definitely make a meal with this."
"Just squish in!! Last time, we fit 10 people in one of these."
"Want me to ask those random people to give us a ride?"
"Toilet paper? Yeah, sure. I have a roll in my pocket."
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 7/12/2010
My Month In Kenya
Kenya was a really good month. We were blessed to have AMAZING contacts (Ben and Christine..AKA mama). They always made sure we were comfortable, well fed and relaxed. At breakfast and diner we all got to sit around the table with them and it always felt like family time together.
For the first week we did construction to build a church. We shoveled, mixed cement, shoveled, carried bricks, shoveled, layed bricks and shoveled some more. We got to talk to some really cool guys and start to see the building come together. Even though it was hard work it was actually a real fun time.
  For the remainder of the time we got to spend a lot of time at Gilgal high school/orphanage. We spent a lot of time getting to know the students and their stories. I think they were more of an encouragement to me then I was able to be to them. Many of them had heartbreaking stories but continued to have faith in God and a positive attitude
.
We also got the chance to evangelize in slum areas
 
At the end of our month we decided to make an american meal for our contacts and all of the people that helped cook and clean for us. We made them cheeseburgers, french fries and brownies. It wasn't an easy task because cooking in an african kitchen is much differnt from what we are used to. It ended with us cooking over coals in the backyard. The brownies were more of just batter but in the world race chocolate is chocolate! It was the first time for any of our new friends had tried hamburgers or brownies...weird huh? Half of them enjoyed it and the other half didn't really want anything to do with it. It was humerous to watch their confused faces when we put the burger on bread with lettuce, tomato and ketchup together.
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 6/24/2010
Ok so I haven't blogged in a while.
Let me fill you all in on why.
Last month I was in Thailand. It was a
month of everything that could have went wrong did. A
month of sickness, tears, frustrations, homesickness and
claustrophobia.
For the first half of the month we were
in Bangkok working in a leper colony. Also for the first half of the
month I was sick in bed. Having to stay back by myself in a boring
room all the time made me feel really homesick. I wanted nothing more
than to be home. After 10 days of sickness I finally went to the
hospital. They told me I had bacteria in my intestines (result of
food poisoning that went bad) and bad dehydration. They kept me
overnight in the hospital with an IV in my arm. When I woke up the
next morning there was a show outside of my 14 story hospital
room...BOMBS! We turned on the TV and got to watch what was going on
in the news right outside my window.
For the whole month of Thailand I could
not get money. My bank put a hold on my card because of all the fraud
going on in Thailand. I tried about 6 different banks and none of
them could help me either. So it was a month of always asking
team mates to buy me things and pay for food/transportation...and a
month of having long tabs of debt to pay off.
For the second half of the month we
were in Pattaya. We had to fit 9 girls in a VERY small room. We slept
3 to a bed on a box-spring mattress. In Pattaya we did red light
ministry. It was really hard to talk to a young girl and then watch
her get bought by a man 3 times her age. Since I was sick in Bangkok
I never got to do my laundry before we left for Pattaya. EVERYTHING
was dirty. I tried to wash it at the place we stayed at in
Pattaya...the washer broke down on me leaving me with wet soapy
clothes and no dryer. Because it was so humid outside my clothes were
still wet 3 days later.
My internet NEVER worked. Everyone's internet would work and as soon as they would let me use their
computer...the internet would stop. I just wanted to talk to home.
I thought that Thailand was going to be
one of those months that just sucked and I would learn nothing from.
WRONG. The problem all along was me. It was my attitude towards
things and my stubbornness. I didn't want to be cheerful through all
my trials, I didn't want to go to God to give me strength, I didn't
even want to be on the race anymore. When it was finally time to
leave Thailand and fly to Kenya I was so happy to get out of that
country. Once in Kenya God really hit me hard. I was not going to be
able to go through the rest of the race letting my frustrations get
in the way and I certainly wasn't going to get through the race on
my own strength. I finally threw my selfishness aside and went to God
for help (DUH..what I knew I should have done all along). I didn't
like who I was in Thailand. The world race has a habit of bringing
out the worst in me. It is like a constant state of brokenness...a
constant process that causes me to realize something I don't like
about myself and allowing God fix it. God said "so what are you
going to do about it? You know what you don't like about yourself when
your frustrated, how are you going to fix it?" I couldn't let my
frustrations get the best of me anymore. I couldn't let anything
affect my walk with God or cause me to stumble and shut down. I don't
have to do things on my own because God is there when you need him
and even when you don't.
I feel like ever since I have been in
Kenya I have had a brand new attitude about things. Yes, things still
went wrong..I lost my favorite necklace, my internet still didn't work,
I thought I lost my shoes, but none of it mattered. As soon as I
started relying on God's strength and not my own my attitude
completely changed. Thank Jesus for his grace and patience!
I guess Thailand wasn't a complete
disaster after all. No, I would never want to relive the month I had
because honestly I was miserable. But I do dwell on how horrible it
was because God used it for good. He taught me a valuable lesson that
will carry on for the rest of my life. Sometimes there are trials but
there is always a light at the end if you let God use the for good.
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 4/28/2010
You Know Your In The Malaysian Jungle When...
-
1. Roosters start crowing at 2AM
-
2. You get a leech while bathing in the river (Miranda)
-
3. All the men go running into the jungle with spears to catch a wild boar
-
4. 20 geckos climb your walls at night time
-
5. You see your teamate go into the bushes with just a chair frame and you know its to poop with (Matt)
-
6. You never feel dry because you sweat so bad
-
7. You Wake up with s swollen face and rash all over your body and don't know why (Lauren)
-
8. You Have chickens run into your "bedroom" and jump into your bags
-
9. You Eat flowers and bark off trees
-
10.You can swing off vines into the river
-
11.You see a 2 year old using a machette as a toy
-
12.You wash your clothes and bathe at the same time
-
13.Diner consists of fish, chicken, duck, board or turtle and ALWAYS rice.
-
14.You get pinched by a scorpian during group worship (Lauren)
-
15.Your head itches and you don't know if its from dirt, dandruff or bugs
-
16.You see a family of 5 on 1 motorcycle
-
17.You start communicating with grunts and hand gestures because ther is no translator
-
18.A 62 year old man is sitll having babies
-
19.Using a fork seems foreign because you eat everything with your hands
-
20.The ants and centipedes are the size of texas
-
21.You run out of water and start drinking from the stream...hoping you will be OK
-
22. Bamboo can be used for anything and everything
-
23.Your lips swell up for days from eating raw mango (Miranda and Karen)
-
24.A 47 year old has 13 children and 27 grandsons
-
25.You have to teach english even though they can't understand what directions you are trying to give them
-
26. Your bathroom is 5 steps outside of your "home"...AKA...the tree line
-
27.You dont wash your hair for 5 days straight
-
28. 90degrees feels like a cool day
-
29.The men only acknowledge you after you go logging with them
-
30. You have to clean your nolgene with bleach because it starts to smell like a fish bowl
-
31. You can either choose the head or tail of the fish they serve
-
32. Kids watch you from all angles while you bathe
-
33. 5 year old girls carry around their 3 day old sister everywhere
-
34. Spilling things doesn't matter because you can just sweep everything through the bamboo floors
-
35. You have to chase your soap down the river everyday
-
36. You feel like your teeth are going to fall out from all the sugar in your drinks
-
37. Your legs look like you have chicken poz but its just mosquito bites.
-
38. You pull a fish spine out of your mouth and havn't eaten any fish
-
39.Hanging a mosquitio net makes you feel like a princess in a palace
-
40.You have to take a 15 minute uphill walk just to get to the begining of your work day
-
41.Babies get dropped in your lap and then pee on you
-
42.Slap-jack is the only way to interact with the pastor
-
43.You don't where deodarant just to keep the mosquitoes away.
-
44. You look down at your bowl and realize there are small fish heads all through your vegetables
-
45. You let a 14 year old boy drive you on his motorcycle while wearing a sarong, no helmet and no shoes.
-
46.Walk through a rubber tree forest
-
47.Let someone pierce your ear with a needle and string (caleb)
-
48. Watch children climb a vine like they are half monkey
-
49. Put garlic in your water to keep mosquitoes away
- 50. After you leave the jungle the first thing you do is find some oreos and icecream and soda.
 
Leech (Miranda) Bad Rash (Lauren)
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 4/26/2010
My Filipino Friends Forever
I never thought I would be able to love people as much as I loved the filipinos. I was with them for one month and my heart loved in a way I never knew possible. There is no way to describe it except to say that it truely was God's love coming through me.
Last month in the Philippines I made true friends. Friends that showed me more kindness and love than most people ever had.. They lived in Lower Manggahan-a squader community that we worked at all month. The first day we walked into Lower Manggahan my thoughts were of how dirty, smelly, and foreign the place was. The houses were made of wood, tin, cloth and other random materials. Trash lined the dirt paths and hundreds of kids ran around EVERYWHERE. They would run and jump on you like you were thier own, personal, human jungle gym. I quickly learned to love this community and see it for its true beauty. Now it has become my home. A home that I love and long to be back at someday.
Darriel, Joas, Apple, Rommel, Eliza, Richard, Naiomi, and Ivy (all around the age of 19) accepted me into their friend group. Even though I was the outsider, the foreigner, the American...they didn't treat me any different. I felt as if we had been friends for a long time. I never felt like there was a cultural differnce between us...all that mattered was that we enjoyed our time together and would have a lot of fun.
We went to the community for our scheduled morning bible studies and afternoon feedings...but I also spent all of my free time there as well. Not because I had to but because I wanted to and looked forward to spending more time with our new friends. Night times were always the best time of day (probably because the little kids were asleep so it allowed us to spend more in-depth time with them). We hung out at the basketball court to play guitar, dance, sing karaoke, talk and just hang out.
Joas is an amazing dancer and moves his body like I have never seen. He taught us a dance to the song "insomnia" that we tried to perfect. It was fun to learn and watch him laugh at us because he was so much better than we were.
We got the chance to take our friends to a waterfall. We spent the whole day just swimming, jumping of cliffs, talking and relaxing. It was one of the best days of the whole month.
The last 3 nights in the Philippines we decided to sleep in the Lower Manggahan community. We layed out sheets on the basketball court they brought us pillows to sleep on. I wanted to soak in as much time as I had left so I literally did not sleep for the last 3 days we were there (made for an easier sleep on our travel day for Malaysia J ).
Leaving the Phlippines was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I could have stayed there for the rest of my race time and been perfectly content with it. This made me start off Malaysia with not the best of attitudes. I didn't know how I would ever love anyone else like I loved my filipino friends. I didn't know how a month could get any better than the one I just had. I had left my heart in the Philippines and did not how to transfer it to Malaysia.
I am now at the end of my month in Malaysia. After a lot of prayer I was able to finally get my heart to be here. Yes, I still miss my filipino friends and think about them all of the time, but I love the Malay people as well. I feel like God is showing me how to love ALL his people with a supernatural love. Hopefully the supernatural becomes natural and loving people with God's love is just an everyday normal for me.
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 4/14/2010
I have been living in the Malaysian Jungle with team Malachi for 1 week now.
• It is VERY HOT and I sweat all day long
• Bathroom time= You walk outside of where we are staying...shout that you are going to the bathroom (because everyone and their mother can watch you if they wanted too)...walk 5 steps to the tree line...find a stick...dig a hole...squat and go. Usually you are surrounded by chickens.
• Bathing- You have to walk into the jungle and down a long, big, steep, dirt hill. Most of the time I end up "snowbaording" down the dirt and end up on my butt. Then you walk through a bunch of tall grass and cross a wobbly bambo bridge. Now your at the river...once again, everyone and their mother can watch you bathe so you have to remain fully clothed. Sometimes the girls even follow us down and just sit and watch us bathe. A few days ago I looked down at my leg and discovered that Yes...there were leeches. I have never had a leech before so I didn't really know what to do. All the other girls on my team screamed and ran in circles. Karen tried to pull it off but it just stayed stuck to my leg. Eventually I grabbed it with 2 hands and pulled real hard. It stretched out real far like a gummy worm and then finally came off and flung across the river...hitting Lauren in the leg. This caused a whole new commotion of screaming and running in circles. An unforgettable bonding time for team 12:18 girls.
• Food- For breakfast we eat a few crackers, fried dough or fried bananas. Lunch and diner always consist of rice with fish. The fish are just cut in half so you either get a choice of the head of the tail (skin, scales and all) I am not a big fish eater so for me this is not an easy meal to get down. Once in a while they will include some chicken, wild board or ram. Mango,coconut, sugarcane and tapioca make a nice snack sometimes. The time frame between lunch (noon) and diner (9-10pm) is hard for all of us. We all like to eat...so not eating for 9 hours and eating diner so late at night is not easy. During diner we go into the paster's bamboo stilt house and sit around a mat laid out on the floor. We never have any utensils to use so we always use our hands. I love this time of our day...not only because by the time diner comes around I am starving but also because it is like we are one big tribal family.
• Dishes/laundry- Dishes and laundry are done down at the river. So now you not only have to walk up and down the big steep hill but you have to do it while carrying buckets full of clothes or dishes.
• Language- The people of the jungle speak Malay and no english. We did not have a translator here with us this past week so communicating is near impossible. Motions and repetition is the only way to even try. We did teach the pastor how to play slap jack and he caught on pretty fast. We just have to find creative ways to spend time with them without using normal conversation.
• Landscape/environment- The landscape around us is beautiful! There are mountains, banana trees, bamboo, stilt huts, tall grass, lots of chickens, big spiders, lots of lizards,....It might not sound the prettiest but it really is amazing to wake up to everyday. It is one of the environments that gives you a feeling that pictures can't even begin to capture. We sleep in the concrete church that is also used for schooling. Chickens often visit us inside the church and a few lay their eggs in here. Roosters crow all night long and often wake me up a few timse a night. I feel like I am living in the year of 1910.
• People- The people here are BEAUTIFUL. They are alwasy serving us-cooking our meals, sweeping our floor and even lining up our shoes outside. Even though we can't communicate a smile goes a long way. There are many children. The pastor himself has 13 kids and 27 grandchildren. The children are are well behaved and eager to learn.
JOB- Teaching english to the children. We are teaching them the alphabet, letter sounds, how to put words together, numbers and colors. This is not an easy task since we dont have a translator and they dont understand directions you try to give them but they are smart kids and catch on fast.
J
| |
|
Posted in General Posts by Miranda Roy on 4/2/2010
At the end of month 3 our teams have been switched! We will be starting off Malaysia in a new way.
My team lost Susie and gained Emily Young and Karen Wheeless
This is now our team: Matt Herrick, Caleb Dufresne, Simone Grauer, Lauren Sims, Miranda Roy, Emily Young and Karen Wheeless
My previous team was called 12:18. This name was based off of the verse 1 corinthians 12:18 -" But God has placed the parts, each one of them, in the body just as he wanted. " This name was based off of how much we did not like our team at first and had to trust God that we were all placed together for a reason. As the race progressed we all began to see the meaning of our team name and were able to realize why God had put us together.
My new team name is 12:18. Yes you read right...even though we have a changed a little we still have the same name. Except this time it has a complete new meaning. It is now based off of Matthew 12:18 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in whom My soul delights; I will put My spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations."
I was worried at first that it might be hard to accept 2 new people into a group that has already been through so much growing and learning together. We have only been together for a few days but I feel as if we are all molding together really well. I am excited to see what God has in store for us as a new team.
We arrived in Malaysia on March 29th. Our team is staying at the Kuala Lumpur International Church until Sunday. We are doing street evangelism and preparing to do the Easter service for this Sunday. Come Monday morning we will be leaving for the Malaysian Jungle!!! We will be living with the indiginous people for 2 weeks. I don't really know that much except that there are probably no bathrooms, the houses are on stilts and we will probably be eating wild boar and lizards. I will not have internet connection very much this month but will try to keep you updated when I can.
I still have some blogs from the Philippines I will be posting. I did not have a lot of time last month to post them because all of my spare time was spent in the lovely community we were working in with our amazing friends!
| |
|
Next 10 Articles >>
|
|
|
