Malaysia conference & sightseeing! // Day 7-9
- Anna
- Oct 29, 2017
- 4 min read
Day 7 - Friday, October 27
Our day began with a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, bananas, Milo drink, and kaya toast. We had a meaningful devotion lead by Dr. Moon and reflected upon entitlement vs. example. It was a really good reminder to exchange my thoughts and refocus them to Him over me. We had several meetings with the local conference team, including facility and schedule walk-through. There were many details that had to be sorted out, but thankfully the church was very gracious and accommodating. Since the YCC program (the age group I am leading) doesn't begin until the evening, I spent the Friday day time to plan, finish prep work, and setting up rooms with my Student Instructor assistants. It was particularly challenging adapting the activities and material -- not only to be used for 52 students, but also to be culturally appropriate. Touring the facility, however, we had another difficulty - the room for our YCC track was very small. Thankfully, it had Air-Con, but it could probably only fit 30 students comfortably in the room. This meant we had to adapt our program even more so, since I had been planning for five small groups in the room. Our Friday night EXPO was a success! There were so many people!!!! The energy and enthusiasm of both the leaders and the attendees was truly wonderful to see. Many people registered to attend the main conference on Saturday just from coming to the Expo! During the Expo time, I lead a separate Expo program just for the 6-10 year olds. Though we were expecting around fifty students, we got around thirty. We lead activities that taught concepts of 1 Timothy 4:12 - speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. We planned for all five components, but we only got through two of the games! Following the Expo activities, there was a closing program. The amount of people packed into the auditorium still blows my mind, and more so when I think of all the seeds planted towards expanding more for His Kingdom!
Day 8 - Saturday, October 28
I had kaya toast and bee-hun noodles for breakfast, then quickly jumped into assisting with check-in and registration for the conference. We had 52 YCC students, and around 321 total attendees. Wow! Not too much into leading the YCC track, I soon became full of distress. The kids were inattentive and became uncontrollable. The loud students became too loud and overbearing. The quieter ones stayed silent and complained of boredom. Activities that we had planned soon had to be tossed out the window, as all the students were so active that they needed games that were fast-paced, energizing, and involved movement. And they still needed to prepare for presentations for the closing program! Around noon, a leader came in to check-in on us. Another leader prayed with us in the hallway, as we shared how much chaos was happening in the room. After lunch break, we were able to have the support of more leaders in the room and also split some of the students to another room with a leader. I stayed in the original room with some students. Amazingly, the students started clinging to our instructions and actually following them. We were able to change up some of the games, and the students had a lot of fun with them while still participating and playing. There were cute giggles and laughter! It was amazing and exciting to see the transformation that took place! I am grateful that His grace is made perfect in our weakness, and also for the prayerful support of others. The whole conference has been a wild ride beyond my comfort zone, and so much to learn and grow, but it has made me rely on God when things fall out of our hands. I couldn't have made it through the day without His strength alone. I am so thankful for the little moments of joy and laughter that made it all worth it in the end.
After the conference, we went with the East Asia Student Instructors and the Malaysia ICC chapter onto a rented bus into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's federal capital. We walked around the city and saw the musical fountain, a light show with music. We also got to see the Twin Towers. It was so cool to see them in the night! We had a lovely evening bonding with others, having fun together, and sharing cultures.
Day 9 - Sunday, October 29
Today we left our host homes in Malaysia to head back to Singapore! We stopped at a rest stop to have a quick breakfast. I had laksa, noodles in spicy soup. Later, I had nasi lamak with fried chicken for lunch. We drove a few hours into Singapore, then passed through immigration and customs. We arrived in Singapore in the evening, and met with our new host families. I had a nice dinner of Dim-Sum with my host family, and now settled in at my host home.
Tomorrow we go sightseeing!
Commentaires