Malaysia!

Last week we went to Malaysia on a visa run or visa chop as they call it here, sounds quite violent. A brother in Thai Bethel who was in Malaysia until last year, very lovingly, made arrangements with brothers in his old congregation. Timon and Simone took such good care of us, driving all the way out to the airport to pick us up and taking us out for delicious Indian food. They drove us all the way to Melaka to visit Bethel on Ice Cream Thursday! They know the way to girls hearts :) Bethel is quite different it is set up in a residential neighborhood and occupies several homes. Each building contains a department and then the other floor has a few rooms so no building is left unattended at night. We met Roy and Rebecca, who used to serve in DR, they were reassigned shortly after I arrived. After touring bethel and having lunch there, we headed into the old part of Melaka to see the Portuguese remnants and market street. We also had some funky shave ice type of dessert with beans inside and green gelatinous spaghetti topping... We had a fantastic time with Simone who is an absolute sweety! She even took us swimming Sunday afternoon! So essentially, we were spoiled rotten!

A couple in DR told me they were thinking
of moving to Malaysia, when I told them my plans for Thailand. I thought Malaysia? What's there? Well the first thing that struck us upon arriving to Malaysia was how lush it is. There are palm tree groves spanning for miles. Even in the city itself we wandered verdant parks where monkeys abounded. Thailand is also quite green but as we've only been in the Capital we haven't had a chance to be in the thick of it yet, unless we count the waterfalls and elaborate ponds in malls here.

We also noted that Malay is written in roman letters and quite a few people understand English with a Malay twist. Why did we move to Thailand? But most of all we were enamored by the fabulous Indian food and Timon and Simone made sure we had Naan, Tandoori chicken, Curry, Mango Lhasa and Roti, until we popped. We tried this Banana leaf meal where they spoon on a variety of things, throw on a big pile of rice and you dig in with your hands. Every time we went to take a picture Simone would say they haven't finished yet. Then they well refill your leaf, as often as you wish, we barely made it through round one. I'm going to need a roomy Sari if we are going to eat like this. On Sunday we went out for Chinese food with the Chinese group and we actually couldn't stand after lunch.
We just sat there reeling. And there is no portion control, everyone just ladles more food on your plate like you clearly have two empty legs you can fill... Why is it all our blog entries center around food? And service, of course. At this rate I will have to rename the blog the to preaching gluttony chronicles :)
So on to the ministry. The ministry is great! The situation is a little different since the work is still restricted like in so many Muslim countries. So we actually have to skip all Malay houses because we cannot preach to Muslims. You feel kind of guilty, skipping over them and ignoring them in the ministry. But Jehovah has his ways. In the meantime we are allowed to preach to the Tamil and Chinese Malay. It's quite interesting because there are three markedly different cultures and religions in the country. And they all remain separate and maintain their way of life. The magazines also have a different look... can you spot what's missing? These are Malay magazines, because the WT is banned.
Our territory was mostly Tamil and we met many older women who spoke little English but readily accepted the Truth tract in Tamil. One woman had difficulty understanding English but when he daughter translated which question she wished to know the answer to, she offhandedly chose the first one. When we shower her that the answers were inside she quickly pointed to the question about the dead and her eyes sparkled as she excitedly tried to extract the Tamil explanation from us. Because neither of us could explain in Tamil, we promised to bring a Tamil speaking sister the next time. "When?" she demanded. "Tomorrow I am not at home," she had her daughter tell us. But she wanted us to return as soon as possible. So arrangements were made for two days later. It will be exciting to hear where that goes. Later in the week we went on Simone's English Bible Study with two young Tamil girls, it was a highlight of the trip.
That and the unforgettable experience of having a fish pedicure... Simone told us it was like a little massage, you stick your feet in the tank and all the little fish come and nibble the dead skin on your feet away. Well it took 7 minutes to get our feet into the tank, screaming and giggling like little girls. Then another bit to manage to not whip them out. They would all swarm to the top of the water their little mouths straining to get to our feet, hovering above the water. They go bananas when you actually get your foot in there and it tickles like no tomorrow... Most stressful massage I've ever had :) It was quite interesting. Of course after walking so much we probably need a good 24 hours in the tank.

We also met up with my friend Jen who used to be in DR. She serves in Sign, in KL and things are really hopping, as new literature is just now starting to come out in Malay sign! We saw some sights together. Including the famous KL towers, that were enshrouded in the mist and the Batu caves that have a Hindi shrine in them.

There were tons of monkeys, including one that became quite enamored with Christina's toes... and some others who stole people's beverages and food when they weren't paying attention. Check out the statues muffin top :) I was born in the wrong place and time.

After a full day of sightseeing we went to here Timon's talk in the English hall in KL and had Indian food with David, Jen, Timon, Simon, sister's from their hall and Sharon and Martin. Small world, Sharon and Martin know Kemi a sister who was in my hall in DR for a couple months and did impromptu Kreyol classes with at my house. Any how Sharon and Martin were heading home for BSCC in Ireland after serving 19 years in Malaysia, how cool!! Good things come to those who wait :) Martin is hysterical. He was asking us about Thailand and Thai and how we don't speak it yet. And he says, "Oh that's so nice you must feel so useful and needed..." TOUCHE. Hit us where it hurts, Martin, hit us where it hurts. We had an amazing time with them! By the end of the week we were wondering why we weren't in Malaysia too! Easier visa and language, better food...

On our last day we headed to the Political Capital which is just offices and the Prime Minister's house. But they have a beautiful botanical garden and some lovely buildings. It was the perfect ending to our trip.