Why?

The purposes of my taking this trip, so far as I know them, are as follows:

1. to practically support the SIL Group in Malaysia this summer,

2. to show my, and your, my supporters’, commitment to their efforts to spread the gospel,

3. To broaden my cultural perspective and gain insight into the many ways people worship and experience God through spending time with Malaysian followers of the Way,- and hopefully to share this insight with you to help us all enrich our understanding of God-

4. to see if Bible Translation, and or Language Development is something I could commit a significant, and profession portion of my life to,

5. To follow in and practice obedience to Christ as I through prayer, thought and conversation with many of you have determined he desires for me to go to Malaysia this summer.

Tunku Abdul Rahman Park

There is a nice Marine Park near to KK consisting of 5 Islands. The following is the Tourism Office's description.
"The marine park is a cluster of islands comprising Pulau Gaya, Pulau Sapi, Pulau Manukan, Pulau Mamutik and Pulau Sulug, all only 10 - 20 minute speedboat ride from the city of Kota Kinabalu. The five islands of the Marine Park are characterized by shallow waters, sumptuous coral gardens and all boast splendid white sandy beaches.
The reefs lie in shallow waters with little current making it an ideal location for novice divers, however, the diverse and sometimes rare marine creatures also make it an interesting dive location for experienced divers and underwater photographers."
Accessed 30 July 2009 at <http://www.sabahtourism.com/sabah-malaysian-borneo/en/destination/83/>

It's a quite enjoyable place to spend a day and take in the sun, go snorkeling, swimming and just relax. As I noticed it seems a lot of people come half way around the world to read a book. This place probably fits a lot of people's ideas of an Island paradise and the islands are fairly well preserved and the beaches consist of naturally eroded, coral sand, the kind they import to other places.

On Sapi the Monitor lizards and Wild Bearded Pigs seem to thrive they are quite tame and feed off of the scraps people leave around. I observed one pig climbing onto a trash can and removing the lid to access its preferred food source. In the past monkeys used to reside there, but they became a nuisance to tourists and were removed from the island. They liked to take bags and food, and were definitely anything but shy.

Surrounding the Islands are several Coral reefs teeming with aquatic life. I got the chance to snorkel and later SCUBA dive among these reefs and saw amazing beauty and life in the fish, corals and invertebrates. I found Nemo and a lot of friends. I'm really thankful for the chance to enjoy these islands and see a great portion of what hides in their vicinity.

Kibbabaig

I spent the last three days working on turfing and constructing a play area for a “learning center” in a small village built around a noodle factory. I worked with students from D.A.R.E. a program from the University of Dundee, Scotland. They are also here in Sabah for the summer doing a variety of service projects. We had a lot of fun and, as you may see in the pictures, constructed a nice small play set for the students to enjoy.

The children served by this learning center mostly have parents who work at the Noodle factory for extended shifts. Many of the children don’t have appropriate paperwork to enroll in the Public Schools and this learning center serves to help provide preschool education and continue to educate older children so they can enter school when they receive the appropriate papers.


A local church provides and oversees most of the schools needs, so they coordinated our time working here and connected us to contractors and suppliers to assist in the work. This outreach encouraged me greatly to see the Body working to build up the community around it.

I enjoyed interacting with the children, one day we helped provide some activities for the school time. We sang some songs, learned some songs, although some of the Malay ones sounded quite similar to children's tunes I remember. We played a version of "Duck, Duck, Goose." In this version the person walking around caries a stuffed animal/ball and quietly sets it behind another person. That person now needs to notice and pick up the item and then throw it at the person who set it down. No Tagging.

The heat while working was almost as bad as Batang Ai at the beginning of my trip, but being more adjusted to everything helped, and on the last day it rained, cooling everything down. Working with other people has a way of making everything a bit more bearable, and we even recruited some child labor- don't worry, it wasn't for self-profit, they sort of volunteered, and they're benefitting from it too.


I hope the Kibabaig community enjoys their new play area and also that the new play area enriches their learning. I will wonder what becomes of it, but be entirely unable to check up on it's status.

Quarantine

One of my friends here has tested positive for H1N1, and now I’m under house quarantine until Tomorrow. This interrupted my plans to travel today, but I should be able to present the official letter, to MAS- Malaysian Airlines- and travel on Friday.


This simply reminds me of the power of sickness and the fear accompanying it. Sickness can put the world in fear and stop our daily routine so simply, even a disease with a low fatality rate. There is wisdom in preventing its spread, it’s just a reminder of our limitedness. All is in God’s hands let us trust and worry not.


I personally feel quite well, and it’s been 5 days since my exposure, so I should be okay. The time of quarantine does give me an unexpected break, so I hope to use that well.

Bako NP

Today we went to Bako National Park. The park lies on a peninsula that extends north-east of Kuching into the South China Sea. I found it very beautiful and really enjoyed hiking a swimming, and going on a boat out of the river mouth along the peninsula to reach the park headquarters.


Mangroves grow very wall in the coastal estuary and there are quite a variety of animals and plants in the area. In face we even saw a few Proboscis monkeys climbing among the trees. Along the hike there at many points it seemed pitcher plant vines overtook almost all the other vegetation.


We arrived to the peninsula through a boat dock and hiked a 5.6 km circuit to a secluded beach. Most of the hike follows a path several hundred meters above the sea, which provides excellent views along the coast, and also meaning the beach lied in between high rocky rises providing protection from wind and too strong of surf.


The beach was about 100 meters long and the slope into the ocean was moderate allowing plenty of variety of water depth to swim and walk in. A stream fed into the ocean right through the beach, probably why this little section was so much lower than the surrounding rock formations. It wound up through the sand and into the jungle. Near to the ocean sand gobies jumped around at anyone’s step into the stream. I really enjoyed seeing the small little fish move about by flicking their bodies. For fish they can make surprisingly agile and quick movements across the sand bars.


After returning to the park HQ we found the tide had receded such that the shore line was now about 50 meters from the boat dock where we had arrived. In order to get to our boat we had to wade out through the surf and climb into it from the water. I guess they had warned us that we would get our feet wet.


I really enjoyed the park hiking through the jungle, swimming in the cool water at the really beautiful beach and boat rides are just really fun.

Pictures The First

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A Government Building in Bidayuh Style

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Father's Day Gathering(Roses and Willy)

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At the entrance to the Cave

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View back on the Cave

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Working on the wall

There are more pictures up at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/towels/sets/72157620375726270/

By What Authority?

Today we are checking in Matthew 21, and looking at the passage where Jesus’ authority is questioned.

“ And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’” Matthew 21:23 ESV

There seems to be a need for the authority to do something, whether that authority comes from a person, a “natural right”, a position or God.

The question of authority and power comes again in verse 25 the issue of the origin of the baptism of John, or that is the authority of John’s baptism. Within the checking the question arose as to whether the words used talked of power in the sense of physical ability to baptize or spiritual authority and power by which baptism possesses meaning.

I observe in this discussion a contrast which easily applies to my life. Do I act out of my own ability only, or do I act with authority behind me to give value to what I do. My abilities are weak, and though I may be able to accomplish something in a certain worldly sense. Only what God empowers will last, grow and bear fruit. My own “power” cannot create such a success, rather I must rely on the authority behind me to make anything I do last.

So I pray that I may follow the right paths and act in a manner which I know God authorizes and will support. I pray that all God’s people may also consider the nature of their actions and seek to act similarly.

EYM Camp Reflections

The last week I took part in a youth camp from a church in Kuching. We left Monday, June 8th, and returned Thursday, June 11th. The camp was shorter than any I’d done before, but much more packed. Camp focused tightly with a theme on prayer. I enjoyed the camp a lot.

Some Differences

I’d like to note some of the differences between the camps I’d been to before and this one. This camp had a couple of sessions with Louie, who was the speaker, each day. The camps I’ve been to before have typically had one session each night. I think this additional session took the place of skills classes, or English lessons that I’d known at previous camps.

Instead of cabins groups were determined ahead of time of mixed guys and girls, and given names of popular cartoons- that is in this part of the world- Doremon, Transformers, Saber Rider and others. The only one I had ever heard of was Transformers. Individuals were placed in rooms of four which were determined the day camp began, and had nothing to do with groups. This was quite different for me as in my experience one’s cabin determines one’s group.
I really liked having a discussion time with the group after each session. These discussions allowed for processing and interacting more with Louie’s topics. Even as a facilitator, “Adult Advisor”, of discussion in my group, I came to understand more about prayer and what had been said from these times and I hope others also benefitted from it.

The camp awoke early and began with some light exercise in the form of a game. I think this helped to wake everyone up and begin the day with energy rather than allowing sleepiness to linger too long. This benefitted the morning activities a lot in helping people to engage in the devotion time following more than if they had just woken, and also giving them the energy to continue on good naturedly with breakfast and the morning session.

The leaders filled each day with many activities such as quiet times, sessions, tournament games, and etc. Thus the days were actually quite filled and didn’t have as much free time as often is allowed in the other camps I have done. This took some adjustment, but I think it was good at motivating me as I was unfortunately quite tired for much of the camp. I think it allows for a lot to happen in a focused manner through a few days.

All of these differences contributed to a unique camp experience, in addition to the unique and hilarious people who came alongside me. I thought the camp went very well, and I got to know a lot of the people at SIB Kuching, the church where I’ll be attending over the next few weeks. It has given me a great foundation to start my time in Malaysia and also more insight into the variety of ways camp can go.

Some Learning

What I learned about passion attached to prayer really impacts me as even now I am still reflecting on it and learning more. Throughout scripture. How God wants to hear our cries, how often people would plead with God with tears and sackcloth. Fasting and weeping as they passionately committed themselves to their petitions to the Father. I began to realize the physical and emotional state with which the great prayers sought God. Jesus wept to the point of bleeding. In Psalm 55 David describes the emotional state in which he cries at as one of “anguish” and “terror.” Trembling besets him and he “[cries] out in distress…”

In addition to this I learned more about prayer, and about Malaysian schools. The schools here are broken into forms- much like our grades. Secondary school has 5 forms and begins at age 12 and finishes at age 17, although an optional form 6 exists. They are taught in Malay and English, and it seems the language of choice is English. With this there isn’t much option for foreign languages- the only one offered is Chinese.

For those going to college on government scholarships they must wait to get a letter telling them where they will go. Much different from the US where one chooses a college and then sees what scholarships they might offer him. Also here the equivalent test to the SAT/ACT may only be taken once, in contrast to the idea that some may take the test 5 or 6 times in hopes of getting a better score.

These are just a few of the things I learned, but I won’t weary you with all the various little information that I gleaned from this time.

A Beginning

Tommorrow will truly begin my work with SIL. This week I'll stay with Willy, a translator, and accompany him to his translation work in a Bidayuh Kampung, or village. Seeing the tranlation work in progress excites me, although they are "proofing" the translation this week so it'll not be the same as a typical translating week. Nonetheless I'm very eager to begin to see how this work will transpire. I'll also hopefully be able to see the school where I will hopefully do some construction projects.
This week will see a daily commute from where Willy lives in Kuching to the kampung. It will take about 30 minutes, so it really isn't very far away. Kuching as it grows engulfs some of the surrounding kampungs and thus many traditional villages are located near the city.
In the eveningings I'll be doing some preparation work for my time in Kota Kinabalu. Willy will be introducing me to the dictionary software that Didi, the man I'll help later, uses. I hope this learning experience will also begin to give me insight into some of the linguistical aspects of translation and language development.
So to sum it all up it seems tomorrow will be a sort of beginning to what brought me to Malaysia, and I excitedly look forward to it.

Guess What I'm doing this summer

I am excited to write about the opportunity I have this summer to be able to assist SIL in Malaysia. I have been praying, and considering various options and I feel guided to pursue this direction. I want to ask you all for your prayers, that God would guide me in this endeavor and use it to benefit the efforts of SIL, the people of Malaysia and to grow myself.

I will be working through Louis Rose, an SIL associate I am connected to via Hope EFC in Albuquerque. My purpose in going to Malaysia is to learn about and also act on my passion for the Bible and sharing it with all people.

There are 141 different languages in Malaysia, 28 with parts of the Bible. I will be able to further the work done there by completing several tasks that have been put off including organizing the SIL research library, and helping to make facility improvements at a native language school run by SIL.

In addition to these tasks I will be involved with a youth camp from the city of Kuching, help a pastor to learn to format various materials into a publishable state, and assisting a Malaysian who is beginning a dictionary for the Labok Kinabatangan language group, a first step in a translation project.

To accomplish these tasks I will travel to Kuching, on the Island of Borneo from Albuquerque on June 3^rd. I will stay with Louis, work with the youth camp, assist the pastor and work at the school in this area. Then I will travel to Kota Kinabalu, the location of the regional SIL office, and work on the library and other tasks, while staying with a Malaysian host family, and also be working with Didi, the lexicographer. I will end my time there with a group retreat for all of SIL in Malaysia August 1^st and 2^nd and then I will return home.

I thank you all for your prayers and am excited to continue to inform you about what happens through this opportunity.