Malaysia has helped me see so many ups and downs, and for me, a place that became the setting of so many stories that changed my life forever. It’s hard to explain how deeply this place has touched my heart. Through every high and low, God revealed His genuine, unconditional love in ways that I could have never anticipated. Writing this, I feel like I’m about to throw up everything that happened onto the page—raw and unfiltered. Hopefully, I’ll piece it together later. For now, Let’s start at the beginning, but first, a prayer.
Father God,
I come before You humbly, overwhelmed by the goodness You’ve shown me. Thank You for the moments of beauty and grace You’ve allowed me to see and experience. I pray for every person reading this—that You bless them, open their eyes to the world through the same lens You’ve given me, and let them feel Your presence and love. Use me, Lord. Speak through me. I know I am undeserving of Your love, but You continue to pour it out abundantly. Touch every heart and show them the power of Your goodness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
We’ve just finished the first month of the Race, and yet I feel like I’ve both lived here in Malaysia for two weeks and two years at the same time. It feels like just yesterday we flew into Kuala Lumpur International Airport and met our host, Pastor Thomas—PT, as we call him. What a guy. His love for people and faith in the Lord is unmatched. After a grueling 28-hour travel day, I was beyond ready to sleep. But instead of the bed I was imagining, we had a six-hour bus ride ahead of us. Are you kidding me? But there we were, furthering our journey through Malaysia.
We eventually arrived at what would become our home: a one-room church where all 34 of us would sleep on the floor. I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that. At that moment, things got real. I was nearly 10,000 miles from home, surrounded by people I had only known for six weeks. Yet, somehow, these people already felt like family. God is crazy in the ways he works. I know so confidently this is exactly where God wants me to be, but that didn’t make the reality of it any less overwhelming or any less amazing.
Our ministry was teaching English to Muslim refugee children. To be honest, I was nervous. On the first day, we were told to spend time with the kids, play games, and connect with them. Then we’d each pick a child to teach. I already had my heart set on one boy in particular. I prayed about it and was very confident God wanted me to teach him. But then it was decided the kids would pick us. My heart sank. As the kids lined up to choose, I stood there, nervous, watching them make their way down the line. When the boy I’d prayed about reached his turn, he started at the far end, shaking his head at each person he passed. Then he got to me. He looked up, grabbed my hand, and said, “Teacher.” I can’t describe the peace I felt in that moment. God had orchestrated it all.
From that day on, I taught him Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings. He was shy at first, but over time, he opened up. Despite the language barrier, we grew close. After school, we’d play Free Fire, a mobile game, which became our bonding time and, honestly, my much-needed video game fix. One day, he and some of his friends invited some of us to his village. When we got there we played soccer. Me and some of the guys got extremely humbled, when this 9-year-old kid and his friends destroyed us. It was like watching 5 Ronaldo’s playing with a bunch of preschoolers.
After soccer, we went into my kid’s house and his mom welcomed us in the most hospitably loving ways ever. She gave us so many different types of fruit and these lychee drinks. She welcomed us to stay and watch the Manchester United game that wouldn’t end till around 1:30 am. She was honestly the best. We sat around laughing and dancing to so many different songs playing this shuffleboard-esque game that to this day I have no idea how to play. Despite the language barrier, It was just so evident the Lord was moving through just the smiles, laughter and pure joy.
Later into the night, my kid calls for me excited to show me his family’s chicken coop. He took me outside jumping up and down as we walked to the coop. When we got to the coop he showed me all the chickens they had, and then he asked which chicken I liked. I pointed at the cutest one. He smiled ear to ear and said, “We eat.” Moments later, the chicken was in the kitchen screaming bloody murder, until Instantly silence struck. I looked in to see the chicken being defeathered, and his mom cooking it into the best-fried chicken I’ve ever had.
Beyond teaching, our days were filled with a mix of ministry and spontaneity. We helped out at healing and deliverance services at a Chinese church, worked on last-minute sermons, and even participated in several cultural events. For instance, we joined a Hindu light festival, which turned out to be a talent show. We performed a skit about Jesus’ birth and got to share the gospel afterward. We attended an Indian wedding, where we danced, ate incredible food, and celebrated God’s goodness. One of the most random, and memorable, experiences was filming a professional dance video. Our host casually asked if we had all black outfits (we didn’t). So, he took us to a market to buy clothes. Two weeks later, we found ourselves marching with drums, learning choreography on the fly at 11 p.m. By 2 a.m., we wrapped up, only to wake up at 4 a.m. to film as Roman soldiers in a quarry.
With barely any sleep, Brandon, Jackson, Carter (who had volunteered to help) and I waited for our turn, finding creative ways to kill time—pushing boulders off a mountain, skipping stones, throwing sticks and eventually just sitting in boredom after repeatedly being told to stop. We then nailed our parts. obviously. In 36 hours, we had filmed an entire music video, set to release by Christmas hopefully.
Adventure days (Saturday) were equally wild. On one of the most interesting Saturdays, we decided to hike Mount Jerai, expecting just a 5-6 mile round trip. Within minutes, we were crossing rivers, traversing ravines on bamboo bridges, and scaling cliffs using ropes. Then came the leeches. Apparently, they live on dirt as well as water. Who knew? Not us… Countless leech ambushes were experienced throughout our hike. These things would shoot off the ground like a spring and latch onto your ankle. If you were lucky enough for them to miss you. You best make sure you check your shoes. There were a couple of times I looked down and there were at least 8 leeches on the side of my shoes. Ever so slowly creeping towards my ankles.
So, what started as a fun hike turned into a grueling 10-mile journey to the summit. Once we reached the summit, we encountered a few intimidating signs. How did we know they were intimidating signs despite being in a different language you may ask? That would be accredited to the painting of the military man holding a hostage with an AK in his hands. So as guys do, we ignored these warning signs. No military was going to stop us from reaching the top of this mountain we had been endeavoring for the last 8 hours. We pressed on until a gate finally stopped us. Exhausted, we found a spot to sit down, make some PB&J eat some chips and desperately called our host for help. He sent a driver, but the driver was unable to come to us because of the military base, So we had to hike six more miles down the road to meet him, until we finally made it to the “evac” point. By the time we got back, we were starving, sore, exhausted and cramping beyond belief,
But I wouldn’t trade that day for anything.
Malaysia has been filled with moments like this—unexpected, challenging, and beautiful. It’s taught me more about love than I ever thought possible. I’ve seen how Jesus transcends every language barrier. His love doesn’t need words; it’s shown in actions, smiles, and the way we treat one another. I’ve gained friendships I’ll cherish forever—church connections from Chinese, and Indian congregations, a bond with my Free Fire duo who so dearly has my heart, and a deep love for the kids I got to lead games to and be alongside every Monday Tuesday Wednesday.
Malaysia will always hold a special place in my heart. This is month three of a nine-month journey, and already, the Lord has been so faithful. He’s shown me that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life: follow His call, serve His people, and love as He loves.
Malaysia, you are the beginning of it all.
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