KL: Man In The Street

Man in the Street
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We have had two days of rest in the hotel. The boys have been able to play on the hotel’s internet and watch TV. I’ve had some quiet time and have gobbled up a couple of the books Barbie brought me. We decided today we would venture out into the city. Our cab driver had told us that Times Square was the place to go (shopping, movies and even an indoor roller coaster) and it was within walking distance of our hotel so we headed that way.

I must share that spiritually I am drained. I have come to learn the signs of my own spiritual drought and when I recognize those signs I know it is time to replenish for I have nothing left inside….I need a refilling of the Spirit.

The city was interesting and busy. As we walked, we suddenly passed a beggar. He legs were maimed and I didn’t have it in me to even look at him. We passed him and then Hatcher stopped. He didn’t have to say anything, because I knew too we had to give the man something. We dug into our pockets and pulled out a couple of remigetts (Malaysian currency). I also dug for a Malaysian tract. Hatcher walked back and gave the items to the man. “Mom, I think he was happy to get the tract.” Hatcher said. I was relieved we hadn’t passed him by. Soon we saw another and again gave.

As we walked the last block to Times Square, the number of people walking with us grew. I looked ahead and saw something in the street. My heart lurched and my soul started to cry out to the Lord, “God, please don’t let that be a person.” I kept repeating that in my head, but God was not answering my plea.

In my life I have seen many hurt and wounded people. I have hugged children laden with lice, kissed the hand of a man who was covered in scabs and held and prayed for a woman with leprosy. Yet, this sight before me now was one I could not handle. I don’t know that words can begin to give you a picture of how it felt in my heart. This was a man who was lying on the side of the street. His leg was displaced from his hip and stuck out to the side, he had a large open wound on his leg and many wounds in various stages of healing. He was very thin and barely clothed. His arms and legs were all wounded and frozen in certain positions. Most disturbing of all, he was lying face down. His mouth was pressed against the road. My insides were panicking….I wondered if he had fallen and no one had stopped to help him. I walked towards him to check on him. Inside I wanted to run in the opposite direction. He was conscious and then I saw the cup in his hand. He could not move his body but he could bang the cup against the road. Inside the cup were a variety of bills. I reached in my pocket and gave him everything that was in it, then walked away.

The boys followed close behind. We walked up a short set of stairs to the entryway of Times Square. I immediately saw large advertisements for beautiful clothes and name brand watches. The advertisements and the vast materialism that lay before me made me want to vomit and I wondered if I could walk through this building. I had to stop and lean against the wall. The boys gathered around me and I grabbed the first one I could and began to weep.

I wept for the man. I wept for this country. I wept for the people who walked by him. I wept for the family member who must take him there regularly in order to get financial help to care for him. Then I wept for me, that I couldn’t touch him, speak to him, pray for him or even look at him. I felt I had let the Lord down. I had allowed my own fear, hurt, pain, whatever it was to stop me from showing the love of God to him.
I will not be the same since this event. I will forever wonder if I was his chance for healing or salvation and I missed the opportunity. The image of this man will forever be etched on my mind. I cry now as I write this.
Later I prayed and asked God why I couldn’t reach out to this man. I don’t know the answer and don’t feel like God has given me one, but I do know that I was not “prayed up”. I know by the Word that in our weakness God is made strong (2 Corinthians 12:9)….I wonder if I had reached out in faith (in the weakened state I was in) if God would have moved with great strength. I’ve seen God do it before, yet I didn’t give Him a chance this time. I see in hindsight I was more focused on my needs than his, yet how much greater his needs were than mine.

I have prayed for this man and I have repented to the Lord for my weakness. I have prayed that God will send another who is stronger.
Please pray for him too…God knows his name.

New friends we met in Malaysia…please pray that God will speak to their hearts.

Kuala Lumpur

July 28, 2008
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This country and city are so very different than what I expected. The official religion here is Islam. It is a very diverse group of people and several natives have said the country prides itself on welcoming all religions.

Kuala Lumpur has the largest buildings in the world…the Petronas Twin Towers. They are striking and I remember seeing them on TV for the 2000 New Year Celebration.

One of these building houses an opera house and a huge mall. We visited the children's museum inside the building and it was terrific.

Friends we met in the museum…everybody wants a pic with us. :-)

Our taxi driver from the airport to our hotel was a delight and gave us the history of Malaysia as well as many other parts of the world…he was like an encyclopedia and we thoroughly enjoyed our ride with him.

We made friends at the Starbucks in town. These guys were very friendly and we were able to share the Gospel with them.

Two of them said they were Christians and a third was Buddhist.

Please pray for them.

God touches hearts

Monday, July 7, 2008
Another small village in India

God touches hearts
By: Gloria Gault Geary

I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. I believe that everything is a part of God’s plan. I also am beginning to understand that when God uses us to bless others He also blesses us in some way.

Today is the 7th anniversary of the death of my husband. I don’t dread this date like I used to. I accept it as a day to thank God for the time I had with my husband and also to thank Him that I know my husband is in Heaven. This year it was also a time to see how far God has brought my family. I awoke early in the morning and realized the date. I spent time with the Lord and feel back asleep, I did not think about the anniversary again until I was in the middle of my talk to a group of widows.


As I began talking God prompted me to tell them the story of how He spoke to me that morning Bill died. As I began to share the story I remembered it was the anniversary and shared that with them too. After we shared the Gospel with them we prayed over them. There was a woman who requested prayer whose husband had died within the last year. She has two girls and her mother has leprosy and she is also sick. The minute she and I touched hands she broke down crying. One of our team members was praying aloud over her. The widow cried and began praying aloud too. Of course we could not understand what she was saying, but I knew she was pouring out her heart to God. I also knew that was exactly what she needed to do and I knew God was reaching down into her heart to give her healing. It touched my heart that God would use my story to touch these women half a world away and I began crying too. We cried and prayed together. Soon the team stopped praying out loud and just let her cry and pray as we quietly prayed around her. It was a precious time for all of us.

It was interesting to me that on the morning of Bill’s death, God would have me speaking to a group of very young (early to mid-teens) widows here in India. I felt blessed to be with these young women whose struggles are more than I have ever imagined having. It is very possible that is the reason God put me with these women today. If I would ever think to fall into self pity about the fact that my husband has died I need only to think of these young women. They are more on their own than I have ever been. My church, my family and my friends gathered around me to support me enormously after Bill died. These women have few to none who have surrounded them. I have the peace of knowing my husband is in Heaven and one day I will see him again. They often do not.

There were 10 students and 3 past students there for the meeting, Eight of them accepted Christ after we spoke. God was there with us and He was speaking to hearts. We gave them Bibles and they were truly thrilled to receive one.

Please pray for these precious young widows. Pray for God to draw them near to Him and use them to be a witness to others. Pray for provision for them and this ministry.

The Medical Clinic

Chilakallu Village, India

This year the ministry has opened a medical clinic for the local citizens.

The cost to the community is minimal (approximately 2 rupees for 2-4 visits) and has proven a great way to minister and share the love of Jesus.

We visited the facility which is right outside the compound.

They see about 30-40 patients a day.

There is one doctor (thanks to a Canadian mission team who raised the funds to pay his salary for one year) and several nurses and nurse helpers. Because it is a small community the women will often make visits to homes to encourage those who need to come in to the clinic.

The clinic is bright and cheery and very clean looking. We heard a little about their ministry and how they have seen what a blessing it is to the community.

We laid hands on each of them and prayed for God to pour out His healing touch on each of them.

Visiting The Children of India

Tuesday July 1, 2008
Chilakallu Village, India

Today we are finally getting on track with the time change. The first big event this morning was that Harrison got invited to go see the local monkey. There are many different animals and bugs here that the boys are enjoying seeing. Wild monkeys are all over the place and suddenly show up in trees above us.

We spent time with the boys from the orphanage in the morning and shared the Gospel with them using the salvation bracelets and soccer ball. They were quick learners. My boys stayed there and played with the soccer ball and match box cars with the local boys. I rarely saw them the rest of the day.

Visiting the Widows

Visiting the Widows
Chillakalu Village, India

I must admit that this is one ministry I have really looked forward to being a part of.

Being a widow myself, I always feel an immediate connection with other widows, especially younger widows. And when I first learned of their program here, my heart leapt with joy at the thought of coming and seeing this first hand.

First you need a little background on the Hindu faith and widows. It has been a custom in this culture that if a husband dies, then the widow would be burned to death with her husband’s body. The Hindu faith taught that this would move the family 14 steps closer to nirvana. This practice was officially outlawed almost a century ago. The practice continued long after that and to this day there are still some widows who die along with their husbands. Because of this custom, widows who lived were considered outcast and often not helped by family members. Widows receive little sympathy in this culture.

In order to minister to these widows, IPCC has created a sewing school. The widows take 5 months of sewing lessons. When they graduate they are given a sewing machine, table, chair, material and all they need to start a sewing business so they can support themselves. There are two classes on the compound and several others locally.

When I walked into the first class, it was all I could do not to burst into tears. They were all standing at their sewing machines to honor me coming to visit them. As I looked around the room I was overwhelmed by their youth. I never asked their age, but there were many there in their mid-teens. Even Reid noticed their youth and asked me how old they had to be to get married.

The widow on the left accepted Christ after we shared the Gospel with the women.

We gathered around in a circle and I shared with them about us and our mission call. We shared the Gospel and they each got salvation bracelets. This would be our first of several visits with this group.

We were blessed to have one widow pray to receive Christ that day.