Our First Guests

I know this is a little late in getting posted.....I need to learn to prioritize my time in Malaysia better.  The first week in our house in Malaysia we housed 6 college aged girls from the US. They were all from Carolina....YEAH....I am a Carolina fan! They were a joy and delight to have in our house and infused our house with excitement and life!  They were part of a team of 30 who came from our home church in Durham, NC....The Summit.  They were here to help us connect with students to invite to The ConneXion Conference that our team has hosted for the last 3 years in Kuala Lumpur.  In 2009 we came as part of the group from the Summit to help with the ConneXion Conference.  As a result of that trip we are now living in KL working with University students every day.  The girls did not have luxurious accommodations.  The 6 of them shared a bathroom and slept on mattresses on the floor; 3 to a room.  They were good sports about it.  They did a lot of ground work for us in getting onto the university campuses and local hangout areas. They were up early every morning and we did not see them again until later in the evening.  The group we had was led by Sarah Herzog and I was very impressed with her leadership.  The group is part of The Institute that the Summit holds every summer.  Instead of these students having “fun” or lazing around they are immersed in God’s Word; reading assigned books, writing papers and memorizing Scripture.  This trip was part of that curriculum.  They stay in host homes during their time in the Institute.  So I guess you could say we were a host home for the Institute during the time they stayed with us in Malaysia.  There were, also, 4 boys who stayed within 10 minute walking distance from us in a guest house and 6 who stayed somewhat close in another house hosted by a neighboring church.  All in all I believe there were approximately 20 college age students interspersed through out KL to help connect with university students here to invite them to the ConneXion Conference.

3 girls slept in this room
2 on air mattresses

3 girls slept in here and
yes, we did provide sheets

the bathroom 6 girls shared

This is the group!  Whitney, Angela, Sara, Lydia, Anna and Jessica.  While the boys were getting involved in a soccer game with some of the university students, the girls were cheering them on......well, not at this particular moment!

The boys in action...well sort of.  The guys they played definitely were not first time players!  However, our guys held their own and blended quite well with the teams.

You can see Dennis, not the soccer player, makes friends everywhere he goes.  He plopped right down with a local group who keeps an eye on the neighborhood and made friends right away.

After soccer we went across the street to the local KFC.....and then on to try some local fruit....DURIAN....not well received by any in the group who tasted it. We did have at least one brave soul in the group who was willing to try it as

the smell precedes the tasting which puts some off right away.  The taste is not as bad as the smell but it does have a mild oniony taste which doesn’t sit well with some.  Not a favorite of many!!!

A local fruit:  DURIAN

One lone brave soul willing to taste it

Next post will include highlights from the ConneXion Conference