MALAYSIA

By the time you receive this post in your inbox, we will be flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean to California. This post serves more as an update as I reflect on the past year in Malaysia. We will be in our US home for about six months until the end of September, with our sights set on moving to Korea by October 1. I will continue to post my weekly blog during our stay in the US. Again, thank you for reading.

Ruthie asked me, “What symbol would describe your one-year experience in Malaysia?” Ruthie and Joey, with their two adult children from the Philippines, visited us last week as our last guests in Malaysia. I could not answer her right away. My wife and I told her we would need time to ponder the question. Unfortunately, while they were here, I did not get to respond to her and Joey, both leaders and pastors of a significant church network in the Philippines,

Anointing oil would be my answer. We came to Malaysia believing God had anointed us to come to this land. It was a matter of obedience born out of love. We knew God was calling us to broader Asia, with Malaysia as our temporary base. As such, we were to “test” our calling during our one-year stay in Malaysia. It was a test of faith, as I called this “grandest adventure” of our life. After receiving the call from God to “forget your people and your father’s household” (Psalm 45:10) in 2019, this unfolding journey was never a straight line, but the call (and the One who called us) was our north star that we never lost sight of.

As I have written before, there is much to appreciate about Malaysia as our base. From the affordable cost of living and ease of international travel to safety and strong infrastructure, we have found Malaysia to be an ideal spot. I also value the warmer climate as I age. The spectacle of lightning and thunder, followed by a brief “gut-cleansing” downpour, will be cherished memories as well. With the reasons above, it is not difficult to envision ourselves spending one or two months each year here and in the surrounding region in the future.

Last year, we were in Korea three times, three separate trips to the Philippines and Singapore, and also Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam once. There was an invitation to Thailand, which we could not fit into the schedule. The most encouraging fruit of our time in Malaysia is that there is a strong sense of communities in Singapore and the Philippines, obviously including Korea, with more to come. These are growing relationships, and sharing similar values, postures, and outlooks in life. In my opinion, they represent a new way of being and living in this world that is radical, generous, and inviting to all around them. And I know I have a role to play.

Without demanding from God, I intuitively understand that my contribution involves the integration of contemplation and action. Knowing that God does not waste anything, my thirty-five years in the evangelical missions enterprise will remain significant. However, the approach to engagement will be dramatically different from previous ones. Furthermore, it involves laying down and providing foundations not only for this (or present) generation of leaders and influencers but more for the next generations. 

A few days ago, I took a slow, contemplative walk around the neighborhood we called home for the previous year, absorbing and reflecting on our time. After the walk, I promptly captured the experience in a poem, almost sealing it in a time capsule. Before clearing out of our Malaysia “home,” we engaged in a ritual of leaving, visiting each room and space thanking God for small and big miracles and blessings.

On our last night in Malaysia, we spent our last evening with our community. Having agreed to commission us to Korea, we broke bread and celebrated what God has done in our midst, sharing numerous and specific moments of grace and joys of being together. Earlier, I asked them if I could anoint them with oil. They replied with a hearty yes. Before Ruthie and Joey left for the Philippines, they gave us a bottle of anointing oil from Jerusalem after hearing about our commissioning evening.

We came after being anointed. And we will move on to the next chapter after another set of anointing.