Our last day in Penang, Malaysia.
Before you scroll down and see that is blog is too long to read the majority of it is a story by our leader of an unexpected event that happened one day while serving at Kawan, it's pretty awesome I encourage you to read it.
As we wrap up our time here nothing is more precious then knowing we made a difference. Knowing that God smiles on the work we've done here and is proud of us and having that prayed over us almost brought me to tears. Sometimes when you don't see the fruit of your actions and how much you have impacted people until you hear it from God. As the YWAM base here prayed over us and sent us on our way, Nick one of the people who prayed over us just told us that God was proud of us and it made all the difference. Now I will no longer look back at this time by what I thought were unmet expectations, but rather the fact that we have been a blessing to all the believers here. That is one of the biggest keys to short term missions I think is to encourage everyone here to keep givin'er. Being filled with the fire that they are I'm excited to hear what this place is like in 5 years. I expect it will be much different.
With our team much more focused and diving into fasting and prayer we are prepping for the journey to Turkey. Everyone one of us has engaged in fasting in the past week. We have our hearts and our minds refocused/refocusing on the Lord. We are realizing that Turkey is gonna be an intense adventure and if we want to be difference makers there we need to pray first and then be ready to go out. I personally am really expecting to meet with God in big ways during my time of fasting. Like Moses and the burning bush. I've been learning so much and I can't wait to head to Turkey and see how God moves through our team.
As we've continued on in our ministries here, sports ministries, Kawan a place for homeless people to get food, a nap, a shower and a place to hang out, and the door of hope time has just flown by. We won't forget the wonderful people we've met or some of the stories and adventures to tell. God bless Malaysia. There is one particular story that was pretty intense. This is Stephen's story of what happened on a wednesday at Kawan:
Written By Stephen Wood
ok where to begin where to begin... So yesterday at Kawan, a man named david came in completely drunk. He was wobbling around and just not stable. about ten minutes after being there, he has already annoyed some of the other people that were there and was not listening to Ben the leader guy. Ben tells david to leave but instead david calms down and says he will go sleep. There are mattresses up stairs for them to use so he went up there. he only slept for about 30 minutes so he didn't lose any affects of the alcohol. anyways I had just come down from another part of the house to see a small fight break out in front of the house. I ran out in time to see a hammer fly from a guys hand (lets call this guy Jobin as i don't know his name). Edd, a guy we work with grabbed Jobin and Ben was holding David. I ran after the hammer so that neither of them would get ahold of it again. i quickly learned that Jobin didn't like David and David didn't like Jobin. Jobin had not hit David with the hammer at all Thank you Jesus! so we sent them on their separate ways but David, being drunk, followed Jobin... i dont know why. i said to Edd and Ben they are gonna fight again but they said "its not our problem off of the property" thats fair but ridiculous i thought. anyways i walked to the corner to watch as Jobin turned around and started coming back... everyone else was at the door to Kawan and couldn't see. at this point David and Jobin where about ten feet from each other i turned to Edd and Ben and said "they are going to fight again should I break it up" they responded with no its not our business. i looked back just in time to see Jobin catch David in the neck with a screw driver. Shocked i said to Ben and Edd "David just got stabbed"... at this point hammer in hand i am determined to go and stop this. so i start toward the fight and as i look back to fight i see Jobin stab David again in the chest and then Jobin takes off... David turns around and says call an ambulance... at this point Edd is right behind me and he tells Ben to call. Edd and I help David, covered in blood, back to the Kawan centre and lay him down on a mattress. When he was laying there he said he could breath. it was because the stab in the chest punctured his lung we believe. he was a bloody mess he was dirty and smelly and sweaty and worst of all BLOODY! i didnt know what to do i was repulsed by it. i didn't feel love for this man at all... he was a stupid drunk man in need of love and i couldn't do it... i was mad at myself. this is what i was here to do! love the unlovable. why was this such a struggle? My mind instantly went to Jesus, these were the people he loved... so i told myself this is where the "training" ends and the reality of loving, really loving, the needy starts! so i did i changed my mind and held his hand when he asked for it and rubed his sweaty head when he asked me to. I got his blood and sweat on me but i figured it was where i was supposed to be. I knew he wouldn't die from the hole in his chest and neck but it was weird being there. i was lost in thought for a long time. Then the ambulance came and took him away. i dont know when i will see him again or if i even will see him again. but i wont forget it....
Thanks for reading
Love you guys,
Brendan
