Malaysia: Week 1

Even though we have great access to the internet here, we haven't really had time in the past few days to go online and update. So here's what's been happening:

Saturday Night: 5:00-7:00 we did the youth program at the Ipoh Corps

Sunday: We led Sunday School - some songs, a skit, and Kelsey did the lesson on Noah's Ark. In the Holiness Meeting we led praise and worship, and Lindsey gave her testimony and sang. Captain Augustine preached - he's very enthusiastic, adding hallelujah's and amen's throughout his sermon. In the afternoon we went to the Old Folks' Home and sat through their meeting - we sang God is Able and Josh gave his testimony. We spent a bit of time with the residents. We had the rest of the evening off, so we went to the mall to the movie theater. Some of us watched X-Men 3 while others watched Cars. We also successfully took taxis home.

Monday: Day off! The captains took us to Cameron Highlands, a really mountainous area - the views were amazing! We went to a rose garden and a butterfly garden, and had tea at a tea plantation.

Tuesday: We visited a really poor area and took food packets to teh residents. It was only Capt. Augustine's second time there, so our main focus was making friends. One family was better off than their neighbors, and before we left they gave us lunch (spicy noodles & fried chicken). Two of the boys at the Children's Home were taken from that area, and it was so sad to see the conditions they had been living in. In the evening the girls did a program at the Children's Home and the guys did a program at the Boys' Home - both went really well.

Wednesday: We spent the morning cleaning out the area above the thrift store. They're planning to use it as a shelter for women. It was so dusty that for a while it felt like we were just moving the dirt around, but in the end we made some good improvement. And in the afternoon....we went to the spa! Capt. Ruth knows an inexpensive, good place, and we all got some sort of treatment - facials, nails & hair done, massages, or milk baths. It was great!

Well, that's all for now. We're spending the next couple of days with the Old Folks, as they're called, so that should be fun!

Lauren