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It is one thing right after another here in Malaysia. Since we have been here, the other four guys in my room and I have become great friends. Adrian and Jared, both Chinese, are from Kuala Lampur. Joy, who is Indian, is from a town called Jawi in mainland Penang about 30 minutes away. John, the oldest and probably funniest out of all of us, is from Chennai, India. He is a 36 year old pastor at home and a really great evangelist. As a matter of fact, on one of our outreaches, Jared and I walked around struggling to find people to have a good conversation with. After the outreach was all said and done John said "How was it?" This was said in very heavily accented English since Tamil was John's first language. We replied, "It was good we talked to a couple of younger guys in little India, how about you?" He quickly said, "Three were introduced to Christ and received salvation tonite!" We were speechless and in awe. I'll get back to John later...

Tonight we went to a basement for our outreach. A basement of a parking garage where Nepali migrants live in a walk-in closet. The room was about 20'x8' and there were about 15 men living in this one room. They invited us in and were so happy to share their home with us. We hung out for a couple of hours and I have never felt so stupid in my life. I urge every one of you back home to have your children, if you have children of course, to learn other languages. There were Hindi, Nepali (which is similar to Hindi), Bahasa, and Tamil conversation taking place all around me. I sat there and scratched my head like a stupid American and Preta, a 20 year old Nepali migrant taught me how to count to 5. I was helpless. It was so much fun though. These guys were so accepting of us and so willing to sit down and make us a part of their family. It made me really excited about the potential of going to Nepal, which I find out for sure tomorrow. Devendra and Ramaiah, a newly married Nepali couple, sacrificed their honeymoon to come down here to Malaysia and minister to these migrants who are very much alone in their work. They have each other and that is all.

Now back to John. Since the beginning of this whole ordeal all of us in the room have taken note of John's peculiar sleeping habits. Often he wakes up in the middle of the night in a frenzy and runs out of the room or shouts at one of us. Usually, if he begins shouting, I calmly wake him up and make sure he is okay. After some reassurance and some prayer from his bunk (which is next to mine), he goes back to sleep and it is hit or miss whether it will happen again. It was seemingly comical to us a couple times but then when we realized that it was a consistent problem we were a bit concerned. One or two of the fellows were a bit bothered and had been frightened a couple of times so they took it to the leadership here. After many conversations with John they found out the story...

This 36 year old man, that I compare to a large swivel-headed teddy bear, is a pastor in his hometown in Chennai, India. His father died when he was just a year old so he grew up a child of a single parent home and his mother raised him in the Bible. His family was not wealthy and he couldn't get a "proper" education but after much service and growth in the church he was put in charge of sister church. He delivers the gospel with a passion that is easily seen by anyone around, however, some of the men from his home believe he is inferior and not deserving of the position he was given. For 15 years he has been in a constant struggle with these men. He lives his life in fear on a constant basis. On multiple occasions they have broken in and severely beaten him with rods and fists, they have made threats against his life, and have even set him up and had him arrested. He told me holding back tears today that they frequently ask him for help with their ministry, because they are fellow "christians," and he helps them despite his hurting. He told me that he loved the men that do this to him. Right now, I am holding back tears writing this. This, so far, is the most beautiful statement I have heard from another human being since I have been alive. Not many Christians in America, at least not my age, have had a chance to meet someone who is beaten, jailed, and threatened by his colleagues. How this man has kept the faith living in a dark country, alone, being persecuted by fellow "christians" is something I have asked myself over and over again. I am wondering if you or I would have what it takes to have the same attitude as my friend John does. Think about John and pray that his situation will get better. Pray for his heart because, at surface level, you would never know he was hurting. He is one of the happiest guys I have ever met. I would really appreciate it if you remembered him for me.