Hey friends,
It’s been a while since my last update! I’ve now been living in Malaysia since January, and it’s been quite the adventure. I’ve had a lot of awesome opportunities that I’m excited to catch you up on, including working with the Discipleship Training School here, teaching on a Bible school in Vietnam, and continuing my own education in Biblical studies. I also have a packed ministry schedule in the coming few weeks that I would love prayer for. Let’s dive in!
Malaysia
I’ve been to Southeast Asia a few times, but this is my first time actually living here! Moving to a new country is always an adventure, but it’s not without its challenges. The learning curve is often in small things, like figuring out where to find groceries or how to use local transport. At the same time, there’s a lot of small adventures, like trying new foods and getting to learn about local holidays and festivals.
The transition here definitely took some time and energy (and my nature loving soul has struggled with living in the inner city), but it’s gone well. My previous experiences of living abroad have thankfully minimized the culture shock, which is a blessing!
DTS
I hit the ground running on arrival here in Malaysia and jumped straight into working with a multi-generational Discipleship Training School (DTS). This is the third DTS I’ve staffed, and it had a fantastic group of very missions oriented students. The group was an interesting mix of young adults and families with children. Counting staff, our school included Americans, Norwegians, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Koreans, Germans, and a semi-Canadian (myself), which was a fun cultural blend.
I was asked specifically to work with the young adult students, which was a blast. I one-on-one mentored one of the American students and regularly caught up with a few of the other guys.
I also led a small group that met weekly to process through lectures and pray together. It’s always a blessing to meet with young people who are passionately pursuing Jesus, and I really enjoyed getting to be a part of their journeys.
Towards the end of the lecture phase I also taught a couple of one hour seminars. The first focused on the mission of God and our response and heart posture as missionaries. The second focused on cross-cultural communication, which is one of my personal favourite topics to teach.
The students are now completing missions outreaches in Thailand and Cambodia as the final portion of their DTS. I’ll be visiting them soon for a pastoral care visit, which I’m excited for (more on that later).
Vietnam Bible School
About a month ago, I was given the unexpected opportunity to teach on a Discipleship Bible School in Vietnam! They’d had a teacher drop out for their third week and needed someone on short notice to fill the gap. I’d taught that week before at a DBS in New Zealand, so two weeks later I hopped on a flight to Vietnam. Teaching via translation in a new country and culture was a huge learning experience for me, but the week went really well.
I was consistently impressed by the questions that the students asked. I taught on the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Psalms, and it was awesome to see the students engaging in a deep way with the material. They had a genuine hunger to learn and to understand the Bible better.
During that week I also got to join several worship sessions, share my testimony at a local youth group, and enjoy amazing food and fellowship at community meals. I left feeling greatly encouraged by the ways that God is working through believers in Vietnam.
Studying
A significant portion of my time here has been focused on studying. Teaching is one of the things that the Lord has most clearly called me to, but it’s not something I take lightly. As I step more into teaching on Bible schools (like the trip I just took to Vietnam), I also want to make sure that I’m deeply equipped and prepared for this work.
The Biblical studies course I’ve taken here has brought me through some fantastic material, including books on Biblical background and context, intertestamental history, dictionaries of theology, and even ancient texts by historians such as Josephus and Eusebius. It’s been amazing prep for future teaching.
What’s Next?
Early tomorrow morning I’m heading out on my next adventure! Over the coming few weeks I’ll be visiting our DTS outreach teams in Thailand and Cambodia. Both teams have been hard at work, and a colleague and I will be going out to check in on them, provide pastoral care, and debrief the experiences of the teams so far. I’ve received this kind of pastoral visit while outreach leading and it was an incredible blessing. My hope is that my colleague and I will be able to equally bless our missionaries who are in the field!
After that I’ll be returning to Malaysia for a few days to collect my possessions before I bid Southeast Asia farewell for now. I’ll be back in North America for the summer, doing a mixture of ministry (working with a church plant in Ottawa), connecting with family and supporters, and trying to take a bit of much needed rest. Once life settles down a little bit I intend to send out a special newsletter with updates on my plans for the future, so stay tuned for that!
As always, thank you for taking the time to read these updates! It’s an incredible blessing to be able to partner with you in the work that I do.
~ Jonathan
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