By De Necker van Schalkwyk on Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Category: De Necker van Schalkwyk

Malaysia & Thailand in Faith (Part 1)

Hey guys
Sorry for the late update.  A combination of writer’s block, lack of internet access and laziness.
We are currently in Auckland, NZ and having an amazing time on all levels.  You will however have to wait for my next blog to read about that.  This blog is about our Malay and Thai adventures. That is exactly what it was, an adventure from beginning to end.  Our stay in India the previous month was pretty stable concerning food, accommodation and ministry, but April was the total opposite.  Apart from our flights in and out of Kuala Lumpur (well... not even that... clarity later) and an address that Anthony had of a pastor somewhere in the Malaysian jungle, we had no clue.  This was going to be a faith journey and God would have to provide like only He can as our budget was very tight (R60/day for food, accommodation and transport... for 5 full grown men).
As I mentioned in my previous blog, we got to see the Malaysian F1 GP and a bit of KL before leaving for Langkap, the place that we had the address of.
On our way there, hitch-hiking (our primary form of transport), we were walking through the village of Bidor after sunset.  An old man stopped Anthony and myself to ask where we were from and what we were up to.  After telling him our plans, he warned us that it was too dangerous to hike to Langkap after dark.  We assured him that we have done this before and knew what we were doing before we continued walking.  I did however feel that the old man was sent to warn us and informed Anthony of this.  He suggested we pray and asked God for confirmation if He wanted us to stay in Bidor for the night.  Sure enough, not far down the same road another man stopped us and gave us the same warning.  He then offered to take us the rest of the way (40km) and then changed his mind and booked us into a hotel and fed us as well.  What a miracle.
Now this man was not a Christian, he was Punjabi Sikh (those Indian people that wear the cloth wrapped around their heads).  My question was: “If this man, who is not a believer, knows how to help his neighbour, why do us believers not do the same?”  Mr Singh was definitely our “good Samaritan.”
In Langkap we were hosted by Pastor Silvanos Tan, a Chinese man who has been ministering to the Orang Asli tribes in the Malaysian jungle for the past 30 years.  We learnt so much from him about living in faith.  Here we ministered to the people of the church every night of the week.  A truly blessed time and we were sad to leave after 6 days, but were also excited to see what else God had in store for us.
From Langkap it was 2 bus trips (one long and one short), one lift and a ferry and we were on Langkawi Island off the West coast of Malaysia near the Thai border.  Although we had word to go there, we didn’t find any ministry points here, but it was a time of rest in paradise and we as a team could surface for some air before heading into the next part of our journey.

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