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Reflections about Malaysia (Part 1?)

Reflections about Malaysia

I was praying earlier and I asked God to show me and teach me things I need to realize about Malaysia for reflection purposes and see what it really meant. I’ve been unsettled lately trying to force the dust down because something just didn’t seem right. There were too many things that happened on the trip, good and bad, that’s been distracting me from learning my lessons. He then answered me that why are you trying to make it so special and set apart from your life? Is your life back to “normal” now?

I realized that the life of a christian is always the same, it is constant and your pace should be always set. Your heart should be always searching in hunger and thirst for more of God. Just because you went to another country, set aside some time to do things in a more special way, does not mean that you will learn more things or be more “christian”. You can be a christian anywhere at anytime, the faith that we have is unchanging, the faithfulness of God never changes. And the harvest in Matthew 9 should and will always be plentiful, it shouldn’t be defined by numbers, but that one lost sheep should always be grieved over. Our mission is ever clear.

Things that happened in Malaysia could just as well happen here in Roanoke, VA. Just because we dressed up, mic’d up, told people to gather, doesn’t imply that God will work more powerfully, He is always the same God, ever powerful, ever loving, ever the same.

It’s when we use our human hearts and minds to understand this God is when we get frustrated and disappointed. For us, making things special adds more glory to an event, a relationship, a life. For God, he’s always sovereign, always the same no matter what we do. It’s about Him, not about anything we try to attempt.

With that said, the Malaysia worship tour was a success to me, it was personally challenging, I learnt things that I did not expect to, lost and gained character, wisdom and skills. It was another platform to see how God will use our lives for something even greater in the future. What an amazing experience to see God move and work! It has been life changing and defining.

I challenge you however to not live your lives by how many mission trips you’ve been on, how many times you’ve shared your faith, whatever worship experiences you’ve had, people you’ve met. But live your lives in a constant passion for knowing God deeply, chase after him all the days of your lives relentlessly, trust in His sovereignty and bow at His feet when our hearts attempt to worship the almighty God.

Colin

Updates from the edge of the world! Seriously.

Apa Khabar! (How are you?)

It feels good to have internet. finally!

We are in Tawau, Sabah, Borneo at the moment, home of Colin Ross Mukri. We are all pretty exhausted from this last week, as everything was go-g0-go. First we visited and worshipped with the students of INTI and Nilai College both on campus and off. Then we went back to Cheras for the Connexion Conference. This conference is annually held for the students who are connected with the “connexion ministries” in each of the main campuses around Malaysia. We had worked with the majority of the students who came to the conference as we worshipped with them early on in the trip. It was nice to be reconnected with the friends we’d made through our travels. It made us feel “at home” even thousands of miles away from family. The conference drained us out so much but it was amazing to see people from everywhere worshipping together, connected through the bond that Christ’s family has.

The band led worship for a number of sets during the two days of the conference. It was a pretty hectic time, but the team came together and God really used this ministry to impact a number of people there. We know of two friends, we made in our time here, who came to know Christ during the conference.  We are sure there were many more who came closer or were even introduced to Jesus Christ during those days. We are so thankful to have been a part of such an amazing outreach for the youth of Malaysia.

After making it home soon after midnight the last night of the conference, preparations were made for Colin to lead worship at Nilai, his old university’s church. After one of many amazing lunches, we headed to Tawau (after yet another plane delay, of course).

And here we are, our small team of seven chilling out on the small-ish island of Borneo. Our time here has nearly come to an end, but we are making every moment last. The food beats all: fried bananas, fresh fruit drinks, chicken butt, spicy chicken rice (one of Justen’s top 5′s), wild boar, sour sop (drink that apparently is equal to a large number of chemotherapies…if only America knew!), giant prawns, chinese medicine, teh ice (milk tea), oysters (with extra poop – hahah Whitney!), frog legs (or pigeon feet), sting ray, spicy peanut butter, and the many different types of coffee (probably the main reason Gabe never sleeps). We haven’t only been eating though as every night we have gone into the jungle to work in the churches there. As a team we worship with them, teach them things we know about God, and try to build relationship despite the language barrier. It has been amazing! There are so many stories of how it has been so far, but we’ll let those come with time and hopefully a time when this post isn’t so long you’ve gotten tired of scrolling down. So, as for now, selamat malam (goodnight) and I hope you will hear from us sooner than before.

Random Update: yes, we’re still alive

July 21st

The Malaysia team is complete! Gabriel Roberto Hernandez finally made it to this side of the globe. As was to be expected though he didn’t make it without just a small bit of struggle. We didn’t expect any less with the luck we had on our way over. And with only a few hours to recupurate we already have him leading some songs at our promo concert tonight. The band has been performing promos almost every night since we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. We are hoping the excitement of these promos will make more and more people want to come to the conference in just a few days.

Update: We didn’t have internet for a few days so I’m posting the above stuff a little late, but we are doing the first day of the conference tonight at 7:30. Keep us in your prayers!

The Island of Penang, MWT ::Part One::

Friday, July 16^th

While visiting a Taoist temple earlier this week, a friend who was taking us on yet another “food tour” around Penang (we’re not complaining), explained to us about his past experiences with this religion. He turned his life over to Christ years ago, but he says he can still remember praying in the same way as the people around us.  It was nothing like we’d ever seen, as these people didn’t seem driven by love or desire to seek their gods.  Instead they would go through the motions with looks of fear on their faces.  It was moments like this and through interactions with the people of Penang that we began to learn about our “audience”. Realizing where Christianity stands in the eyes of the community would be crucial to how we try to share and present the Gospel in the upcoming weeks.

So as we sit in the airport here in KL with our week in Penang coming to an end, we look back on what we’ve learned about the roots of Malaysia.  Since Penang is one of the main tourist attractions/ spiritual sanctums of Malaysia, it’s been a perfect start for our tour.  On the 13^th, we met with the college group of Hillside Baptist, a church that’s been doing an awesome job in impacting the lives of college students here. We also taught about missions and basically just spent time learning from the people there, listening, and helping through what we have been fortunate to learn in the past.

Our biggest event (on the 14^th) was when we hosted a “coffeehouse” type gathering for college students at Li Xin Baptist, a local church here founded by Chinese believers.  The night started with a few songs and then Colin talked about his life in America. He did an AH-mazing job as he sang and spoke the gospel to a group of about 20 or more.  He made sure they knew it’s NOT where you are, what circumstances, who you are with, what you are doing or where you’re from.  Your identity is in Christ and He sustains that through His Glory and magnificence.

I leave this post on that note, because it’s deep…. and because our ride is here.

Talk to you soon!

Experiencing Penang – Heath and Justen

The adventures of Friday:
This day was designed for recovery from jet lag.
After getting some much needed sleep the guys woke up and, being such bold adventurers with no sense of fear, grabbed a bus ride to Queensbay Mall for our first experience in culture overseas

. This mall was the biggest mall I have ever seen. It was four floors and had everything you would ever want. Like, everything. Forever 21, KFC, Quicksilver, Kenny Rogers, TGI Fridays…everything!!! It would take all day to walk through and go to every shop and restaurant. We were starving by the time we arrived to the mall that we settled for KFC, then we found out that there was a whole floor with food places. America Fail. We had been trying to get a hold of Whitney and Hannah all morning with no luck, and we were kids freaking out because we had no idea how to get a hold of them but we turned around w

hile in the mall and there they were with one of our new friends. She’s awesome. And, by her own confession, completely crazy. We walked around the mall with them again, and almost saw a movie but then we realized we had to pick that slacker Colin up from the airport. Slacker.

We all waited at our friend Diana’s house with our other awesome new friend Julie while Hannah went to pick the slacker up from the airport. The website engrishfunny.com may have been involved.

Finally, at a glorious hour somewhere around 5:30, Mr. Colin Mukri arrived. And there was much rejoicing.

Then, dinner on the beach!! Good spicy food. I love food. Food food food food food. Penang = food. And I like food.
There may have been an incident involving 8 people in a tiny subcompact car. There would be no way of knowing.

When my fingers turned to steel: a sidenote by Justen Hyland-
Ok. When we were getting out of the car, I was getting out on the passenger side and my hand was in the frame of the car as I was trying to get out. Whitney, not realizing that my hand was there (no hard feelings Whitney! Full forgiveness) closed the door and all four fingers on my left hand got smashed. Being the electric guitar player for this trip, I was rather alarmed at this prospect.
But what’s weird is…my hand is COMPLETELY fine!! Not even bruised! I think the Lord actually protected my hand. There’s not really any other explanation. COOL!!!

Then we had our first big meeting together, talking about what we’re going to be doing this week and this month. God is going to do amazing things here!

Sorry I’m so long winded. But I’m sure some of you like the details! At least I hope so. I’ll keep pretending that you do.

Comment! Let us know you actually read these so we can feel useful!

The 5AM Update – Justen

Hey everyone! It is 5:15 AM local time here in Penang. We have arrived at the place where we’re going to be staying for the first part of the trip, and Colin will be joining us in about 12 hours.

A combination of jet lag, crazy airport/airplane sleeping, and no pillows or blankets (my own fault for not bringing them. I’ll probably buy some later today) caused me to wake up at 4ish after having gone to bed around 10:30. Trey and Heath have both also woken up, and now we’re going to try to go back to sleep. We had some sweet Indian food last night! so far it has agreed well with our stomachs. so thats good. haha. We’ll see if that continues.

Whitney and Hannah are at a different house for the girls, and we don’t really know what they’re up to yet cause I don’t think they have internet access. But we’ll all be meeting up today to welcome our fearless leader, Mr. Colin Mukri *applause*

So, by 5 something PM local time today, everyone will finally be here, and we will all be together!

(sidenote- our time zone is exactly 12 hours ahead of EST, which most of you in the U.S. are in) So if its 5:00 there, its the other 5:00 here. That is a free nugget of information! You’re welcome!

Back to sleep now…

Half the Team in Malaysia!

Justen, Whitney, Hannah and I (Heath) have made it to Malaysia! Justen left for Hong Kong at 11:50pm and the rest of us followed at 1:40 am L.A. time. Trey is five hours behind us and is worried that he won’t make the flight. Colin flew out at 1:50am today from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. He will arrive in Penang tomorrow! We have already seen God move in so many ways and have also seen the enemy try to stir up trouble. We are very lacking in sleep but tomorrow will be a restful day. With Colin arriving late be in prayer for us because Sunday Whitney, Justen and I will be leading without Colin. Or maybe with Colin, depending on how his jet lag gets to him. We still know that God is in control and He will be leading.

-Heath

The tour has STARTED! – Justen’s point of view

This is an unauthorized blog post. muahahahah! Nobody can stop me!

anyway, it has begun! I am now 38 hours in my air travel! I type this at 6:56AM local time. 3 flights down, 2 to  go! I am currently at the airport in Hong Kong awaiting my flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I love sleeping in chairs at airports. Being at LAX for 12 hours was the best! So much better than beds and pillows. Have fun there, Colin

*sidenote to all future overseas travelers- The people who work at LAX at the international building for Cathay Pacific are hilarious. Well, at least this one guy. He told Trey and I all kinds of interesting things about his life, cussing up a storm and talking about very scandalous things that he has done in Malaysia. Oh dear. I had no idea how to respond. But he got colin hooked up with his rebooking! (which, legally, he was not required to do. So mad props to this dude)

most of the rest of the team will be landing momentarily (I hope) but as of now, I am winning the race to malaysia! hahaha…forgive my stupidity…I am very tired. It’s weird being the only person that I know on this entire continent!

Some updates:

Colin is totally a slacker. He decided he didn’t want to catch the plane to L.A. so he had to stay behind in Cincinnati, Ohio (I was born there!) and he’s at LAX as we speak waiting for his flight, which leaves at 1:40AM, L.A. time. Really, it was the storm that delayed his flight that made him have to stay behind. He’s a good fella. Pray for his safe arrival, and for the rest of us to not be too lost without him! He is sort of our only connection to the country… so we’ll see how this goes. ADVENTURE!!!! Please pray for us!

The rest of our travels look like this- We are getting a flight from Hong Kong to KL, then from KL to Penang, where we will be for the first week or so of the tour. It’s happening, friends! Somewhere over the pacific ocean it hit me. This is happening, we’re diving in, and there’s no going back. I can’t wait to see how God moves this month!

Thank you all for your love and support! It means so much to us!

Keep your eye out for more updates very soon!

Also, you should all follow Justen ontwitter.com/justenhyland for little blurbs about our travels throughout the days!

We Need Your Help!

Hey guys, we are 6 days away from the tour and God is already doing big things, he’s provided for us daily in ways we can’t imagine, everyday there just seems to be help that comes from out of nowhere!

With that, we are now challenged again and I’m convicted to take on the challenge and push forward the Gospel of Jesus. Here’s the situation: Originally, the tour would consist of sermons and messages in the middle of our sets and our speaker was Trey Judson. Due to a series of unfortunate events, lost of loved ones and school debt, he decided not to come and focus on the tasks at hand. Trey has come to the point where he feels like he has been called to the mission at hand.  He feels like that if it is meant for him to go the money will come in.  Right now however, we are left with $1291 from donations that we have received from the past couple weeks plus some money that the team members were willing to cut from their own budgets. Trey on the other hand, has $400 raised from before so we are trying to make it possible for him to go. A ticket to Malaysia costs $2098 so we need need your help.

In short, with $400 more, we can share Jesus Christ even more effectively with a message of grace and freedom in Christ (our message for the tour) We have been raising money for the past 6 months and we have tasted how God can provide. We can do this!

If you wish to donate NOW, give me a call at 407 342 3911.

For an online donation, just click on our link on the website! It will go to our paypal account.

Colin.

Thoughts Before the Trip – Justen

Have you ever watched food get completely destroyed in a blender? Like, its just sitting there at first. Maybe its some strawberries or bananas. Just chillin being normal food. and then….BOOOM! Somebody flips a switch and suddenly everything the food thought it was gets ground into a million little pieces, and it will never be the same.

Well, thats what my thoughts are like right now, and I think that is what my life is going to be like after coming home from Malaysia. I’m not sure what exactly to expect, but I have never been more excited for anything in my life and I know I will never be the same. Six days left now.

I’ve been watching youtube videos reading about Malaysia on the internet like a madman for the past few days. It’s almost all I can think about. I am so excited to finally just GO out on faith and give God my hands and see what He can do with them. I am excited to be uncomfortable. I am excited to see God work in powerful and life-changing ways for us and everyone we come into contact with.

I am in awe of how God has provided for me so far for this trip. Plane tickets aren’t cheap. On the same day that I finally had enough money to buy my ticket from L.A. to Kuala Lumpur a couple weeks ago, I got a phone call from my grandpa saying that he wanted to pay for my plane tickets from Dayton, Ohio (where I live) to L.A. and back. Praise God!

I can’t wait to see what God does on this trip. Keep us all in your prayers. I still need a couple hundred dollars, but I am trusting God to provide that money just like He provided everything else we need to go on this trip!

I’m not really sure how to organize my thoughts here. Probably because I never organize my thoughts. I am just excited to step foot on that plane and throw myself into a completely new environment where I have to get to trust God completely with everything, even down to where I sleep and what I eat. I am excited to sing praise to my God with people from all over the world, getting a glimpse of Heaven where every tribe, tongue, and nation will join together to praise His name.

To sum it all up…..I’m EXCITED!

We are walking into this trip crippled. We prepared as best we could, but some things still didn’t work out. Personal reasons kept some of our band members from being able to come.We don’t have the full band we thought we would have. We don’t have a drummer or a piano player. But you know what we do have? We have the God who provides. We have the God who uses broken people who couldn’t accomplish anything on their own to change the world.

And if our God is for us, then what could ever stop us?