Penang leaves Distant Islands in awe of God

What an amazing journey it has been so far. We cannot believe that we have less than three months left of travelling. God keeps guiding our steps amd keeps blowing our minds by His perfect plan and will. Here is a short summary of what every team member experienced in the Island of Penang in Malaysia.

Arthur
Arthur is not with us at the moment. His passport got stolen about a month ago in Yogyakarta – Indonesia and so he had to get a temporary passport. He had to travel to Jakarta to apply for a new passport and to get a temporary passport, which he got. When we flew out of Indonesia to Malaysia, they didn’t want to let him out of the country, because they said that he didn’t have the right stamps. He then had to stay behind and first get the stamps at the immigration office and then only was he able to fly and meet us in Malaysia. When we flew back to Indonesia, Arthur flew with us, but when we arrived here in Indonesia and bought our Visas on arrival, they said that there is no way that they can let Arthur into the country with a temporary passport. So Arthur got deported back to Malaysia and he is now spending time there with the people from YWAM. So please pray for Arthur and his passport and the whole situation. As soon as he is with us again, I will ask him to write a summary paragraph and a blog on his whole experience.

 Ashleigh
Penang! What a divine setup. =) We had no idea what God had planned for us when we stepped off that airport shuttle bus... but wow did it all fall into place quickly. Spending our time in Malaysia with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) was such a blessing. =) We had the opportunity of getting involved in their already setup ministry points from preparing food for the homeless to working in a coffee shop – we had a diverse schedule. =) This gave us many different areas of reaching people. It was all really encouraging for me and spending time with other YWAM missionaries gave us such a lovely picture of what an obedient path with Christ looks like practically. =)
Penang Island is an exciting place with many people from all over the world either visiting or living there. It was great to be a part of that and experience more of Gods will. =)

Albie
Malaysia was a ‘God time’ for me... I felt very close to God and I heard God’s voice very clearly concerning my future. I am still waiting for more confirmations from God. It was during times of deep worship that I heard God’s voice so clearly. We joined many prayer and worship nights at the Penang House of Prayer. We had a full program during the eighteen days we spent in Penang. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we helped out at the Kawan house for the homeless. We helped with the preparation of food, distribution of clothes and talking to the homeless. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we helped at the Adventist hospital in Penang to raise funds for the Cancer association and the children’s heart fund. Saturdays and Sundays we attended and participated in church services.

All this came out of a God set appointment with the YWAM base in Penang. We went to Penang without any plans on where we would stay. The bus dropped us off in the middle of George Town. We then decided to go out in groups and search for cheap accommodation. Just before we dispersed a tall white guy approached us and asked what we were doing there. We told him and he then told us that he was from YWAM and that they are used to receiving teams like us. This sounded all too familiar. As he took us into their office I realized that is was exactly the place where God led me and my fellow team mates in 2010 on our Luke 10 journey. I was overwhelmed!!!

God is faitfull!

Albie le Grange

Marlene
Äll in good time...

 Ecclesiastes 3:1

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

Through this year God has showed me the perfection of His plan, how we all are weaved into it, and how His will is perfect. During our time in Malaysia God also showed me how His timing is perfect.

The perfect timing of a YWAM leader, meeting us in the street and leading us to YWAM.

The perfect timing that an Indian Pastor had no other team scheduled for the time we were there.

The perfect timing of God sending an old South African, with an amazing testimony and Spiritual gifts from God, over our path to prophesy over us and speak into our lives.

The perfect timing of God providing financially in a time where we didn’t have a budged for 2 weeks and didn’t even know how we were going to afford accommodation.

We pray for breakthrough, we pray for revelations, we pray for divine appointments. We must understand that it is in God’s plan and God’s will that we will learn more about Him and grow deeper in understanding Him.  Together with that we must also learn to trust God’s timing, and trust the result of our prayers into God’s perfect timing.

Ecclesiastes 3: 11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Gerrie
Our visit to Penang came as quite a surprise as we didn’t initially intend on going there.  Because of the political situation in Papua New Guinea and some Indonesian visa issues, we were in a sense forced to fly to Penang to then later re-enter Indonesia...and what a pleasant surprise Penang turned out to be! The ministry opportunities in Penang are endless and, even though Penang is a very dark place spiritually, there is also a lot of light!  I can definitely see a bright future for Global Challenge’s involvement in ministry on the island.

The way that God moved our team, the way we were MIRACULOUSLY discovered by the YWAM people on the street, the way that accommodation and food were provided for us supernaturally, all of these things just re-affirmed God’s absolute control of our team and also our lives.  I discovered that God is truly in control and truly God!  During this time God taught me a lot about the authority and the power He gave each one of us as His children and members of His army – we just have to accept the fact God made us dangerous spiritual beings, able to fight and win every spiritual battle that comes our way, and then we have to walk in that power!  God’s victory is also our victory – what a privilege!

Linel
The first time I came to Penang was back in my days of working on the ship, so it involved the typical touristy stuff.  You know, shopping, feeding monkeys in the botanical gardens and visiting some of the temples.  If I have to compare it to our 18 days in Penang now, as the say in Thailand, it was same same, but different.  Same in the sense that there was food, temples and shopping involved, but the purpose behind it was completely different.  We helped cook for and fed hundreds of street people; prayer walked a lot through the streets filled with temples and helped out at a second-hand shop.  This time around, I enjoyed Penang a lot more than the first time, simply because God was the central reason for us being there.  What a privilege!

God spoke to me a lot about the importance of surrendering my flesh and giving all control over to Him, because He does know best.  I realized that in my life, surrendering to Christ is not a lifestyle yet, I still have to choose to do it.  This means that I'm complete dependant on God for living in victory!  Apart from Him, I can do nothing!  This is such a freeing thought for me.

Kim
My list of Best-Countries-To-Visit just gets longer with every new country we visit. So here are a few reasons why I love Penang and it is on top of that list.

- There is a big mix of cultures in Penang.

- It has got a lovely heritage which has the result of beautiful Colonial Dutch architecture and a very rich culture.

- Penang has parts with lush greenery and national parks.

- There is delicious food and a great variety of it.- It is pretty easy to get around, safe and tourist friendly. English is spoken by most people.

- There are a lot of hidden coffee shops,  antique shops and art galleries.

- Penang has an awesome Christian community and lots of ministry opportunities and programs to join.

- There are also a lot of unbelievers, so a big need for evangelism and I could really see evidence of how God is working in Penang.

- I experienced a lot of personal growth, I found inspiration and got excited about what God is planning for my future.

So to summarise this summary, if God calls me to this beautiful and busy island, I will go without a doubt.

Marielle
Penang was an amazing experience. I loved all the wonderful and different ministry opportunities that we had. I loved all the people that we met and I was really encouraged by all of them. I think the biggest thing that God came to teach me here is about not only having faith, but having selfless faith.

When your faith becomes selfless faith, it is so much more powerful. When you are able to remove yourself from a situation, then it makes it easier to put your faith and hope in Christ. When we say that our hope is in Christ, it should be in Him and Him alone, meaning that you do not hope in some sort of outcome, but that you keep your hope in Him, no matter what  the outcome might be. That is selfless faith. We often say that our faith is in God but when we pray about a certain situation and the outcome is not what we wanted or expected it to be, then we feel let down. When we pray we shouldn’t just be asking God for what we want and how we want it. We should only present the problem to Him and then tell him that whatever His plan is to deal with this and whatever the outcome of that might be, will be good for us. We shouldn’t just have faith in God for wanting Him to fix a certain problem the way that we want it. His solutions might not make sense to you and it might not at that moment seem like the best outcome, but God always knows best.

If you can pray to God about something and imagine the worst possible outcome of the situation and then tell God that even if that happens, you will still trust and hope in Him, then your faith is selfless. You remove your ideas and plans and you just hold on to that which you have in Christ. If you have selfless faith, then our faith can never be shaken, because there is no human element in it. The enemy places doubt in us, by using our own plans and desires against us. But if you have no other hope in anything else but Jesus, then He cannot bring doubt into what you believe.

We need Your Support

We really appreciate all the prayers and support! Thank you so much! Please continue praying for our team. We are currently back in Indonesia, where we will spend one week in Bali then one week in Lombok and then another week in Bali, before we fly to Singapore and then to the Phillipines. Pray that God will guide us and prepare us for everything that lies ahead. Also pray for His anointing, so that we will be equipped by His Spirit for whatever crosses our path.

We also need you to please pray for our finances, so that God will provide the money that we need for our journey ahead. We need to raise a lot of funds for the time that we will spend in the Phillipines, because we will help them with a project there to build a safe playground, so that the children do not have to play on the very hard Coral.

If you would like to contribute and help us by giving some financial support, we would really appreciate it. Here are the banking account details:

Account name: GCX-One Year 9206958383

ABSA

Branch: 31 Da Gamma road, Jeffreys Bay, 6330, South Africa

Branch code: 334515

Reference: DISTANT ISLANDS

Swift Code (for international payments): ABSAZAJJ

We hope that you are enjoying the journey with us. We pray that God will bless you on your own journey with Him.

Love always!

Distant Islands team