Coming home...really??

Hello!!

I am writing this blog on a different half of the world than others past. Yes, I am back in the States!

For those who have been praying for me and supporting me, I can't thank you enough for doing what I cannot do for myself. This trip has done a roundhouse kick to my perspective of the global body of Christ...Ah but I digress.

The end of the trip was absolutely stupendous! After leaving Pay Fong, which was hard for all of us, we spent some time as a team processing the experiences we had been through. We played badminton with some friends of ours, and it was really fun and extremely challenging. Friday night, we got to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympic games in real time since Melaka is in the same time zone as Bejiing. If you missed it, well you missed out, 'cause it was pretty dang incredible. During the procession, we cheered hard for Malaysia and harder for the good 'ole USA.

We had a lot of fun on Saturday getting to hang out with a bunch of our good friends over food and Taboo. Starting to say goodbye was no fun, but had to happen... Sunday we led worship for the last time in Melaka, and the service was great. All of the adults in the church that had helped and encouraged us were there, and we were able to spend some time with them too.

That night, we had a "last meal" and got to pray with all our friends. It was definitely bittersweet, because these were our brothers and sisters. I dearly love them now, and miss them very much. Be praying for the student movement in Malaysia; they are the ones fighting the good fight in a place so much harder than the States. We have no idea how good we have it here...

Monday, we drove up to Kuala Lumpur and met with a good friend of ours for lunch. Then we got on the plane and peaced out of Malaysia...

After 20+ hours of flights, here I am in fabulous Kentucky. Like I said before, thanks for praying for me if you did.

As I started thinking about songs to describe this trip, lots came to mind, but this one struck a chord with me about all those we left behind that still are seeking for truth and who need the Love we've got in our lives. It's by a group called Run Kid Run, and the song's called "Captives Come Home". Check out this link if you want to listen. The lyrics are below:

"Now you're lost but found,

The sinking sand has pulled you in and brought you down.

Struggle that's beyond yourself,

Don't you know you gotta get up, get up and find a way back home...

So hold on tight, let's go,

And leave behind false sense of hope.

Where creeping shadows call your name...

As I'm waiting for the world to end,

I'm clinging on to oxygen,

I'm pulling captives by the hand,

Come home, come home

Come home...

Words come and go,

But how will your actions unfold?

Your character will be shown when lights go down now

Creeping shadows call your name (creeping shadows),

Posession is their claim,

Now turn it around, turn it around...

As I'm waiting for the world to end

I'm clinging on to oxygen

I'm pulling captives by the hand

Come home, come home

The world is falling faster

Falling so take this step and leap

To bring you over from the other side

I'm waiting for the world to end

I'm clinging on to oxygen

Pulling captives by the hand

Come home, come home

There's something inside that box you close

That only opens when your life explodes

On the other side, come home

Explodes, on the other side, come home,

Come home

Come home

Come home

Come home

COME HOME..."

Peace,

Ross

31 and counting...get excited

Wow, what a week and a half...
I could finish this post right now with this statement: God is really, really, really, really, big!

But I figure you probably want to know what happened over here, so here it goes:

Last Thursday, we left the school for the bus station and met our good friend Job. He's pretty much the coolest guy in Melaka and our resident bassist! So we got on a bus and headed to Kuala Lumpur, the capitol of Malaysia. Once we arrived, we went to our hotel, the Sun Inn, which was directly next to the Sunway Mall. This thing was HUGE! Maybe one of the biggest malls I've ever been in, aside from Suntec City in Singapore. We decided to go out and see the city, so Job took us through the train station. We stopped and got off in Petaling, which turns out to be like ghetto-ville. So we got back on the train and went to Petaling Street, which was an outdoor knock-off market. Lots of real-fake Rolexs, shoes, sunglasses, etc. After that little adventure, we went to KLCC, the mall under the Twin Towers. We hung out there for a little while and then made our way back to Sun Inn for some food. The public transport was a lot of fun and very efficient. KL is such a sprawled out city, and it was cool to see all parts of it.

Friday, we met with David and Beau, who were leading worship at the student conference we were going to be playing at. It's been so cool to see how God has used relationships established years ago to bring about this one weekend. The conference went great! The speaker, Clayton, was really cool, and getting to play with David and Beau was a lot of fun. And better than that, 31 students put their faith in Jesus on Saturday night!! That was so freaking awesome.

Sunday was cool too! We led worship at a church in KL, and then we headed back to the Sunway mall to get ready for Passion. That's right, the Passion movement is on a world tour and made a stop in KL Sunday night! The night was incredible, with Chris Tomlin and Charlie Hall leading worship and Louie Giglio giving a short message. Getting to worship with 3,000+ other Christians from all over Malaysia and the world was absolutely nuts!! God is doing huge, big big things in this country.



Probably another post to follow very soon, since Thursday was our last day at Pay Fong...
Til then, peace and love for you!

- Ross