Last Post From Malaysia!

We're down to the final days here in Kota Kinabalu! Monday, , and today we spent with the kids here at the daycare/tutoring at the corps youth center. Basically, our time with them has been like this: We help them with basic math and English all morning, get take out for lunch from some place around here, and then play games/watch a movie all afternoon until 4:30 when they go home. They are so much fun, but also full of energy! There are 6 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon, but it takes all of us to keep up with them! Today was our last day with them, so we took them to a park and played there for a while as a treat.

On Tuesday we went to Mount Kinabalu ( the tallest mountain in Malaysia) and hiked trails and went to the hot springs. There was one trail that was actually a canopy walk - like a catwalk through the canopy level of the rainforest. We didn't see much wildlife, but it was a fun experience!

I forgot to mention this: Last week we went to the high school that Captain Mehing works at as a counselor and spent time with the special needs kids and a group that she councils. Even though we only spent a couple of hours there, we had a lot of fun getting to know the kids and came away with a lot of friends and good memories.

This may be the last time I get to write on the blog (at least the last time from Malaysia), so let me say a few things abnout this summer: Our team has worked really well together, and I think we've been doing a good job with everyone helping out whenever anything needed to be done. Perhaps we haven't done many "work projects" - painting, etc. - but since we are the first service team they've had here (if not for ever, at least for a long time), it's been an experiment on both our side and our hosts' to see what we could do and what needed to be done. I think the most important thing we've done this summer is build relationships with the people here. We've made friends everywhere we've gone and hopefully left a good impression on everyone we've met. It's been a good summer!

We've been blessed overall with good health for the majority of this summer, but today was different. Annie, Ben, and Vicki all have food poisoning. Please pray for their quick recovery and the continued health of the rest of us, especially as we'll have a long trip home in a few days, but don't worry! They've been to the clinic and have medicine, and hopefully after taking today off to rest they'll be feeling more like themselves tomorrow.

We miss everyone back at home and can't wait to see you (and the other teams!) in a few days!

We will also miss Malaysia!

Lauren