Our time of suffering came in Malaysia. As I write this blog, I’m not quite sure what to tell you or why I’m even sharing this. But if we share the good and you – our parents, friends and supporters, can rejoice with us, we should also be able to share the not so good and you should be able to pray with us.
Arriving in Malaysia with the money of only two people, meant we had a 16 Ringgit per day, per person budget appose to the 30 Ringgit per day, per person we were suppose to have. This sent the Yellow Team into turmoil. I don’t think we knew how to handle it, or really handled it at all. We were upset and either avoided the issue at a stage. Luckily before the end of the week, we had the money of 2 more and therefore had a manageable budget.
Then came Malaysia Challenge. This must have been one of the most challenging times for all
of us. We were required to find accommodation and complete tasks over the weekend, on Sunday afternoon at 14:00 Sulene would sent us the final tasks and meeting point. The weekend was horrible! We set off not at all feeling like running up and down Kuala Lumpur, not ready to handle the heat and very easily frustrated with having to walk everywhere! As a team we had a few misunderstandings, miscommunications and misbehaviours. We were annoyed and irritated. At no point did we face it – we later figured out that we’re all really good at avoiding conflict.
Came Sunday we attended a church service at Living Waters Church, this lifted our spirits! During the youth service we got the opportunity to share some of our experiences and they prayed for us, which was an overwhelming experience. We were motivated and ready for a challenge for the first time during our challenge! It just goes to show that with the joy of the Lord you can do anything! If only we had gotten over
ourselves a bit earlier and had gone to sit at God’s feet right from the beginning, the whole experience might have been different!
When we received the e-mail at 14:00 we were more ready than ever. We did everything really fast and were determined to win this one. We arrived at the meeting point first – even before Sulene... Again arriving first doesn’t ever mean winning, especially not in GCX! Our final task involved taking photos of landmark buildings, bordering the KLCC park and presenting them in the right order. First team to do this, wins. After being sent around and around and around again we finally finished third. Because of lost time due to circumstances beyond our control (i.e. Sulene and Ben not being on their posts) we finished first, tied with the Red Team. They however won the Malaysia Challenge, thanks to their very creative photos!
Taking from this experience what we can to, in future, avoid misunderstanding,
miscommunication and misbehaviour; we’ve learnt a lot and believe that even the bad times can be good if you make them. Yellow Team is glad to report that even after such a trying time we can all still say that we dearly love one another!
Currently the GCX team is ministering in Malaysia and Thailand. Yellow Team got split up for these few weeks – Wes, Margot and Zyl is in Malaysia, while Tjaart and Jana are working hard in Thailand. To know more about each respective ministry and yellow-er please check out our personal blogs!
Until next time yellow says “Thanks for the prayers, keep them coming and HAVE A SLICE OF CUSTARD CRUMMBLE CAKE AND HOW MANY TEASPOONS OF SUNSHINE DO YOU TAKE????”