An amazing month had by all

Our Malaysian adventure has well and truly come to its end. :(

My favourite building with a camel on it in KL

Nicky, Wiggy and I arrived back in the UK on Monday afternoon after a short delay in KL and a lengthy flight. Whilst Rob and Alice have made their way over to Australia for a two week break.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading our updates from the trip. We're looking forward to seeing many of you soon and sharing with you about all the things we've been up to.

Signing off,
Team KL

Our last few days in KL

Hello,

We can't quite believe it's Thursday already and we're in the last few days of our trip. Here's what's been going on so far this week.

On Monday three ladies from SMACC 2 kindly took us down south to the UNESCO world heritage city of Melacca. The city which had been ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British over four centuries had left a distinctive European feel. We visited the ruins of St Paul's church and a museum before tasting Melacca's speciality at lunch, Chicken Rice Balls. In the afternoon we mooched around a few souvenir shops and visited Christ Church Melacca.


After a nice day out of KL, Tuesday was back to work preparing talks and bible studies. In the evening Wiggy led a Christianity Explored leaders' training session and Gareth and I attended the final study session on 'Just for Starters'. We spent time thinking about what it meant to 'Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person' Colossians 4:6.

Wednesday was another day spent studying, with an extended lunchtime break to visit a Taoist and a Hindu Temple. Nothing much took us by surprise. The Taoist Temple had a strong aroma of incense and a few different shrines. The Hindu Temple felt a bit like a museum with lots of different figures. As you can see in the picture, it was very clean and ornate!

This morning was my first go at leading a bible session at one of the schools for Chin Refugees. In the first part of the session I taught from Romans 13:1-7, explaining that all authority has been instituted by God and so we are to submit to authority in every context to avoid punishment and because we know we ought to. I knew this would be a sensitive topic and I found it difficult to teach, not being able to fully comprehend the hardships they and their families have been through because of bad authorities. The session on the second part of the chapter went well as we learnt that it is by loving one another that we fulfil the law, and that we should be motivated to do this as we see the Day of our Saviour's return getting nearer!

Thanks for reading. That's all for now :)

Nicky.

Blog update 6 - One week left!

Hi everyone,

It turns out we've been here for 4 weeks now. Our time in Malaysia has seemingly flown by, but with only one week to go we're certainly not without anything to do. Anyway, here's what we've been up to since Alice so kindly updated the blog on Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly spent at the cathedral, preparing for the rest of the week to come. Wiggy was busy working for the home-group on Wednesday evening that he's been leading over the past few weeks. This week the group was looking through John 6:41-71. On Wednesday afternoon Alice and Nicky attending a Girls Brigade event, where Alice was speaking; the majority of the girls who attend are not actually professing Christians and so it was a great opportunity for many of them to hear the good news of the gospel. That evening Rob spoke at the prayer and praise service that the cathedral had invited him to.

Nicky, Alice and I attended the Chin refugee schools again on Thursday morning and afternoon. This week Alice was leading the teaching on Romans 12:3-21, where we learn that we are to be humble, and not proud, as we serve one another in the body of the church, and to be loving to those around us. Rob and Paul also had the exciting privilege of leading the weekly bible overview class on Thursday evening, as Andrew is on holiday. They were covering the New Testament book of Luke, and seeing how the Old Testament promises are all fulfilled in Jesus.

On Friday morning Nicky and I headed over to Shal home for the weekly Bible study session with the adults that live there. This week was my turn to prepare and lead the study on Romans 14, in which we hear from the apostle Paul that as brothers and sisters trusting in Christ we are not judge or stumble one another but are to welcome and build one another up in the faith that we share, knowing that it is God who is the ultimate judge.

Romans 14:10-12:

¹⁰Why do you pass judgement on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God; ¹¹for it is written,

   "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
   and every tongue shall confess to God."
 ¹²So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Saturday brought a chance to spend some quality time with lots of members of the church. Rob, Alice and Nicky joined the ACA congregation for a morning picnic in one of the few parks in KL. Wiggy and I spent the morning playing futsal (indoor football) with some of the members of the SMACC1 congregation. We both were very happy to do some exercise after nearly month without any, and you'll be glad to hear our team won.

Today, Alice and Wiggy were both leading Kids Church lessons on the last section of Genesis. Rob was once again doing a triple preaching stint following on in John 6 from last week. And we were joined by our very own Mr. Charles Reid, who made a flying visit from Singapore for the morning service.

John 6:40:

⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

Thanks for reading, check back soon for updates on our last week here.

Hi there,

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog - the past week has been rather hectic, so there is lots to catch up on!

Last weekend we went up to Penang (an island off the north west coast of peninsular malaysia) to go to the anglican young adults conference.  Rob was giving three talks at the conference, all about the centrality of the gospel.  We were really encouraged to remember that being a Christian is all about trusting in Christ crucified for our sins - it was amazing to think again that Jesus, God's King, came to earth to die an undeserved death to bring forgiveness to whoever trusts in Him.

The journey up to Penang was quite eventful... We had borrowed a car to drive the 5 hour journey.  After a few disagreements with the Sat Nav we negotiated our way out of KL and headed north.  Sadly after about an hour or so on the motorway, the brakes decided that they had had enough... Fortunately we managed to head safely into a service station, and got to experience the Malaysian version of the AA!  This will add to all our list of life experiences, as the car was winched onto a truck, and then we all had to climb into the car to make the journey to a local garage!  Definitely a surreal experience!  A few hours later the car was fixed and we managed to head and arrived, very late and very tired to our hotel in Penang.  Having experienced Malaysian Christian conferences, we are now sure that camping in the Lake District on church weekends away is just not the same!  Our hotel was on a white, sandy beach, kitted out with several dining areas, swimming pool and conference facilities!  All in all a very nice place to spend a weekend!

The rest of the week was spent back in KL, getting involved in everything that was going on.  A particular highlight was going to the refugee schools on Thursday.  Gareth and Nicky were teaching a lesson from Romans chapter 12, thinking about how we should worship God with all of our lives because of the mercy He has shown to us.  It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of the children, even living in such difficult situations.  They were so attentive and eager to learn, it was such a challenge to see how much we take for granted.

On the Saturday night there was also a guest night, where Rob was giving a talk.  There were over 100 people there, and lots of people from St Mary's had brought along friends who wanted to find out about what Christians believe.  The theme of the evening was 'First things first,' thinking about what our priorities in life are.  Rob clearly explained from the Bible that Jesus shows us that we have all failed to live up to God's priorities, and yet if we trust in Jesus we can be restored to right relationship with our Heavenly Father and Creator.  We also had fun playing silly ice breaker games, including a table challenge to build the highest tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows!

Sunday was a jam packed day, as we moved from the 10.30, to the 2pm to the 5pm services at SMACC, with Rob preaching at each one (an exhausting task!)  then we headed to the Myanmar refugee Christian fellowship in the evening, where Paul was preaching, through an interpreter.  They meet in a run down tower block, sitting on the floor crowded in a small room with no air conditioning (so a pretty sweaty affair!)  Yet again as we sang songs (with us attempting to follow the Chin words!) and prayed together and remembered the wonderful future that awaits God's people, it was a real joy to remember that we are all family in Christ.  We all came away so aware of the fragility of this world, and yet the true value and hope that there is in knowing Christ.  As you can imagine, we fell into bed thoroughly exhausted!

Monday came around as a well appreciated day off!  We bravely ventured out in the car again, and headed inland to an elephant sanctuary.  The drive took us through amazing scenery, of dense jungle everywhere.  Even the steep hills and cliffs are covered in thick forest.  Armed with cans of mosquito repellent we arrived at our destination, and spent an amazing few hours 'up close and personal' with elephants!  We got to feed them, ride on them and even swim in the river with the baby elephants having a bath!  Despite the coach load of other tourists that had somehow found their way there, it was a great day out!  It was then topped off by seeing the latest Harry Potter film in the evening - at a bargain 13 ringitts (about £2.50!)

Sorry for the lengthy post - we will try to update a bit more regularly from now on!

Bye for now!

Alice

A picture update for all our fans

We're off to Penang Island on Friday until Monday for a youth conference that Rob will be speaking about Colossians at, so we'll be out of touch for a few days.

Much love,
Team KL

The end of our first week!

Our first week in Malaysia is drawing to a close, and it has been absolutely amazing. It’s been very busy but packed with many things that I hope we’ll all remember for a long time. 

KLCC from our street.

Carrying on from where I left off a few days ago, here is what we’ve all been up to (loads!):

Wiggy and I had the privilege of joining Marianne and two other members of the congregation, Sam and Ivy, as they visited a mentally disabled home called Shal home. Marianne is a lady, who works incredibly hard for the church reaching out to many people with the good news of Jesus, and is a great encouragement to many. Sam and Marianne regularly visit the people at the home and share the Bible with them in a very interactive way. We had chance to join them and take part in some acting, which was hilarious for the both of us and hopefully for everyone else too.

That lunchtime we headed across the road to an exclusive restaurant, where some members of the church hold honorary membership, for a truly hands-on dining experience. We ate some incredible food served on banana leaves, by the traditional hands only method. It was rather messy but great fun and very tasty. 

'Tallest flagpole in the world'

The rest of the day consisted of a team training session on the life of the great Athanasius and his struggles to uphold the truth about the Trinity, followed by a Bible study in the Ampang district of the city on the sermon passage for the week.

Saturday brought a welcome morning off after a tiring last few days. In the afternoon, Nicky and I joined the Tertiary (higher education/university) Bible study led by my kind host Brian. We were looking through the final two chapters of the book of Romans at the apostolic ministry of Paul and the great unity and welcome that we as Christians share as Christ welcomed us! At the same time, Wiggy and Alice were visiting a place called Cheshire Home, where Wiggy led an interactive session on John 6 and the Bread of Life.

Sunday was a big day not only because it was my birthday (apparently), but more importantly because there were 4 services we were involved in. In the morning Rob attended the main SMACC1 meeting while the rest of us had a great time helping in the various Kids’ Church groups. We all then went over to Ampang for the ACA service that takes place at 2pm before rushing back to the cathedral for 5pm for the SMACC2 service. Both SMACC services and the ACA service were led by Andrew who was speaking on John 5 and how the Son is given authority, by the Father, to give life and judge the world. 

John 5:24:

²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.

SMACC meeting room. Post-service community dinner.

The service was followed by a community dinner where we had great chance to meet more members of the congregation and share in the many encouragements we have as brothers and sisters saved for eternal life by the blood of Christ. 

The day ended for Nicky, Wiggy and myself, with a late evening visit to the Chin refugee church that takes place in a fairly run-down apartment block somewhere on the outskirts of town. Wiggy was making his preaching debut on Psalms 20 & 21, which is a fantastic achievement, even more so when you consider that every line had to be translated into the Chin language by an interpreter. That night was an incredible experience for all of us and I’ll probably never forget it! It was such an incredible privilege to see these people who meet in such tough conditions but have such zeal and love for the same God we all trust in for our salvation.

The small room where the Chin community meet. It was packed during the meeting.

Today was our day off…yay! We just lazed about in the city most of the day :)

That’s all (I’m tired), night

The first few days...

First of all I'd like to apologise for taking so long to get this first update posted; it's taken longer than expected to find time to do this. In fact I'm currently typing this in the early hours of Saturday morning, having just got back from a classic Malaysian late evening 'supper' (the 3rd cooked meal of the day), somewhere on the streets of KL.

Here's what's happened so far:

We arrived at KL airport after 5pm on Tuesday, tired and confused by the jet lag; not helped by the fact we were served some form of beef stew for what felt like breakfast. A great chap called Ju gave us a lift from the airport into the centre of the city, where we met some of the members of the church team at the apartment of Andrew, the main SMACC minister.

KL Skyline in the distance.

Rob and Alice are staying with Andrew and his family. Nicky is staying with a lady called Shanty, and Wiggy and I are living with a church apprentice called Brian. We are very grateful for the hospitality and welcome we've been given by the members of the church we're met so far. On Wednesday we spent most of the day meeting other members of the SMACC congregation over lunch and dinner. Lots of hands were shook and plenty of food was eaten. And it was great to see in practice the universal unity we all share trusting in Christ for our salvation, and the willingness these guys have to serve His work out here.

We had a couple of hours in the afternoon to wander around the area close to the cathedral building and visit some bustling markets in the Chinatown district (unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me). Kuala Lumpur is a mish-mash of many different ethnic and national groups, and there are many cultural differences in different districts of the city. One thing that doesn't change here though is the temperature; 30C is considered a 'cool' day.

On Thursday we had chance to visit a couple of Chin refugee schools in the morning and evening, where the church helps to teach the Bible to the kids. We spoke to the head teachers of both of the schools and learned much about the hardships of the refugees from Myanmar and their struggles living in KL. But even with the problems of this world, it was great to see the faith these guys had in Christ, looking forward to their future home in heaven. 

Roger from the Chin Student Organisation

In the evening, the girls spent time at a church home group and us three lads went along with Andrew to a Bible overview class he runs in the city. We were looking through Deuteronomy to 1 Samuel, where we see the great need for a true king and saviour for God's people, and how we see this fully resolved in Jesus. 

That's it for this instalment. Check back soon.