An entire EPIC week!

My first thought about the blog today was, "It's been probably two or three days since I blogged, perhaps I should update things." Well, it has been an entire 7 days since my last update!!! This week will hopefully allow more regular updates, especially with the hotel having free wi-fi and an internet lounge all set up :-)

Monday we started our CI in Penang, Malaysia. We set up in the morning and that evening we opened the 2010 Penang CI with a bang, getting the teams all good to go for the week. All the other days revolved around getting ready for CI, teaching CI, trying to find time to sleep, and talking to my team leader (also my roomate last week). Victor Peh has been awesome to room with, and his spiritual insights were both motivating and inspiring!!! We had a great time sharing a space last week, and spent several nights staying up very late, discussing life purposes and goals and the things of God. It was truly one of my favorite things about this trip so far.

Throughout the week we tried to go do different special things, like visiting an orphanage in Penang. That was quite the experience. Let me explain exactly why...

Some of our kids came from this poor part of town called "Rifle Range." It is the poorest, dirtiest, most dingy part of the entire island. The neat part about visiting this orphanage was that two of the children on my team were from the Rifle Range, and I saw them at the orphanage. The team joined the kids for an awesome time of playing, singing, jumping around, a skit, and a prayer (but we were not allowed to say anything about Jesus - you can be put in jail for trying to witness to Muslims in Malaysia, and it was an Islamic institution I believe). Showing Christ's love to the children and staff was so enjoyable!

Our team this last week was interesting. Our kids were terribly quiet - I am looking forward to taming children who are wild, especially after two weeks of calm kids! :-D near the end of the week the kids started to be a little more out-going, and for part of the last night and the entire last day we combined our team with another. The kids drew off of each others' energy and both teams benefitted from the combination!!!

On Thursday morning, our team sat down to have a serious talk. The original plan was to go on a scavenger/treasure hunt all over Penang, but as we gathered together, the entire team agreed to spend time with God instead of enjoying a treasure hunt. So we all walked to the beach and spent time along the boardwalk, each of us getting into God's Word and spending time in prayer. After that, several of our team members opened up, and ever since then our team has been so much closer.

Another cool thing was our Friday, our day off for the week :-) Taking a brand new bus to the world's only museum and preserve for live butterflies, we spent the entire day touring, shopping and enjoying the culture and sights of Penang. It was totally awesome!!! We first stopped at this place called "Sam's Batik House" and there I did a lot of shopping. (Just wait until you hear of how hard I bartered!). There was one shirt I wanted to get that had an original price of $120 RM. But that is wayyyy too much to pay for ONE piece of clothing! That translates to about $35 in US currency. By the time I finished, the price was $65 RM and I had a very nice shirt :-)

From there we went to the Museum and Live Preserve place (not sure of the name), and saw all the butterflies, reptiles and bugs that they had there. It was top of the line and very beautiful. After about an hour and a half we left there and drove further up the coast to a place where we spent the afternoon taking pictures on the beach, eating and walking around town. When we first arrived, it started to rain! :-/ But soon it was over and we were able to continue enjoying our time there :-) There was this really creepy guy who ran the watersports there, and he was making eyes at all the girls. Needless to say, us guys were watching him pretty good. But when the group huddled up on the beach and everyone was together.... I collected shells.

That was such a fun day... I really enjoyed spending time with the team, shopping in the different towns (we drove so much that I have no clue where all we went), and having a day to relax. I did miss Victor being there though - he stayed back at the hotel to pray and seek God, to make sure that he was doing everything he could to lead our team the way God wants him to. What an example of Christ-like love and dedication to excellence!!! I cannot say enough good about our incredible team leaders, Victor and Eunice Peh. They are totally on fire for God, completely dedicated to HIS work, and they lead with a contagious zeal. It is truly an honor to serve under and with them. They call themselves "willing rascals!" :-D

Something you learn over here is culturally polite traditions. For example, eat EVERYTHING on your plate. The most difficult thing I've eaten so far was not just bad-looking, but it smelled bad too. It was a plate with rice, vegatables, and chicken joints. Not like a leg or a meatless wing, but joints! They tasted and smelled like mud from a barnyard. Disgusting. But hey, its protein and I got it down :-)
Another great food we tried this last week was a fruit called "Durian." It tastes like a rotten sweet onion, and the smell is even worse. Oh, and guess what... Penang is having a DURIAN FESTIVAL!!!! apparently, its a local delicacy. I'd take it over the chicken ;-)

On Saturday we had the a few skits, and those were very enjoyable! The first one was the story of Esther, and I got to be Haman. :-) With the black marker on my face, glasses, and a deep scary voice (the girls on the team were freaked out), it went well and I had lots of fun with that role! :-D The second skit was where Victor and I showed the kids how it is important to be a real Christian on the inside and on the outside, and when we ate the "mud" from the inside of the cantelopes, they truly flipped out :-) Totally awesome.

The most wearing and difficult part of Saturday was right before we were supposed to go to Parent Presentation. There is this one boy named Benjamin, and he threw an absolute tantrum before we were supposed to go upstairs. So much so, that I volunteered to stay back with him while everyone else went to show off the week's work to the parents. Well. It was an experience :-) He bit, kicked, flailed, screamed, cried, twisted, writhed, threw my glasses on the floor, spit up phlegm several times, and by the time 50 mintutes went by, I was dripping sweat. I am pretty sure that the spit on my face was not mine either.. lol! Finally, his team leader came back from the Parent Presentation, and I was able to have a few moments of respite before the final skits.

Today, we left the hotel at 6 am, and drove to the airport. We flew to Singapore this morning and spent the afternoon resting and then went to church this evening.

Another thing - on Saturday, we had these black things in our rice... it was Chinese fungus. But I'm not sick though, so its all good. :-) Also, after the CI was over and things were cleaned up, we were taken to a 5 star club where we had a buffet dinner with lasagna, lamb, salad (something we don't see much of over here, if ever), a large fruit bar, and desserts like bread pudding and flan. Incredible. and after we finished eating, we all went to the beach (right outside the back door of this place) and waded in the waves! I caught a crab and picked it up... and grabbed his leg with my teeth. Manly moment. *takes a bow* :-D :-D


So, those are my highlights from the last week! I look forward to letting you all know what God does in the days ahead :-) Keep praying that God prepares the hearts of the kids, but that He will also transform the hearts of our team members - its about the kids, but we want to experience change also! I hope none of us go home unchanged :-)

I'm a team leader with Marie Peh as my assistant - pray that we do well this week! :-)

Love you all!
Gladly serving Christ,
Lewis