This post is a bit late considering Thanksgiving was Thursday, but it's never too late to be thankful for something.
It all started on Tuesday when Ellie showed up at work. I'm not sure if I ever told all of the blog readers the whole story, so I guess I need to back up even further than Tuesday.
HMMM…let’s see…how far back should I start? At the beginning? Ok…
Let's go back to the summer of 2010. I had just returned back to work after a week at church camp. We had a big meeting that morning and they announced that ‘today was the last day to let your manager know if you are interested in going to Kuala Lumpur to help train.’ I went straight back to my desk, texted Gary and sent an email to my manager letting him know I was interested. The text I sent Gary said something like, ‘Wanna live in Malaysia for 6 months?’ He texted back ‘we could talk about when I got home.’ I was so prepared with my pro/con list when I walked in the door to find him lying on the couch. I closed the door, dropped my bags and got ready to present my case when he interrupted me with a hearty, “LET’S DO IT!!” We jumped and down and were so excited!! Of course then came the not-so-fun part of getting prepared and actually getting picked to go. I ordered my passport right before they upped the price, which only meant disaster and a long wait. I was finally pulled into the meeting with the manager and she offered me a 2 month span, but that just wasn’t good enough for me. I asked if I could go for the 6 months. Her face instantly went to shock and she asked if I was serious. She said she would have to get the approvals through, but she didn’t see why not. She then proceeded to ask several other people to go for the 2 months and the torch finally landed on Ellie. She left a few weeks before I did and was obviously there when I got there. She is a super fun girl to hang out with and has been traveling out of the country for years with her family. She isn’t new to long plane flights or hanging out in different cultures, so naturally when our team in the US was faced with having someone stay in Malaysia for 18 months she was the first one that popped in their heads. Gary, Jonathan and I were home for 2 weeks when she packed her bags to stay for the long-term.
Back to current day…
She came into the office on Tuesday and I asked her all about Malaysia. She said she liked it, her apartment, the people, but she just wasn’t happy. She has had some family members come and visit her, but it really hit her when her cousin was there and called her out. She told her she didn’t seem happy. That’s when Ellie realized that she wasn’t. She had a meeting with the ‘big’ manager when he was in KL to let him know that she would either have to quit or they would have to shorten her contract. I was completely shocked when she was telling me all of this. They ended up shortening her contract by 5 months and she will be home for sure at the end of March. She was able to come home for 2 weeks for Thanksgiving and that is why she was here (plus her boyfriend works with us). I was telling Jimmy, my car pool buddy, all about this and as soon as I was done with the story the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘Is she a Christian?’ Now, I’m not completely sure of Ellie’s spiritual beliefs, but I do know that she didn’t attend church the while we were in Malaysia together. My eyes lit up when Jimmy asked that question. I seriously hadn’t even thought about it, but the only ‘family’ she has over there are the people she works with, whereas when we were there we had our church family. That does make a huge difference. I have no doubt that I would miss my family if I was away from them for 18 months, but being surrounded by other Christians makes things like that so much easier.
I am so thankful that I can go anywhere in the world and feel at ‘home’ because of the family that God has given me. It is something most people don’t have and I took it completely for granted while in Malaysia. I love all you guys at the Wangsa Maju church and we miss you very much!!! You truly are and will always be part of our family!!
Love,
Kimberly (and Gary)
It all started on Tuesday when Ellie showed up at work. I'm not sure if I ever told all of the blog readers the whole story, so I guess I need to back up even further than Tuesday.
HMMM…let’s see…how far back should I start? At the beginning? Ok…
Let's go back to the summer of 2010. I had just returned back to work after a week at church camp. We had a big meeting that morning and they announced that ‘today was the last day to let your manager know if you are interested in going to Kuala Lumpur to help train.’ I went straight back to my desk, texted Gary and sent an email to my manager letting him know I was interested. The text I sent Gary said something like, ‘Wanna live in Malaysia for 6 months?’ He texted back ‘we could talk about when I got home.’ I was so prepared with my pro/con list when I walked in the door to find him lying on the couch. I closed the door, dropped my bags and got ready to present my case when he interrupted me with a hearty, “LET’S DO IT!!” We jumped and down and were so excited!! Of course then came the not-so-fun part of getting prepared and actually getting picked to go. I ordered my passport right before they upped the price, which only meant disaster and a long wait. I was finally pulled into the meeting with the manager and she offered me a 2 month span, but that just wasn’t good enough for me. I asked if I could go for the 6 months. Her face instantly went to shock and she asked if I was serious. She said she would have to get the approvals through, but she didn’t see why not. She then proceeded to ask several other people to go for the 2 months and the torch finally landed on Ellie. She left a few weeks before I did and was obviously there when I got there. She is a super fun girl to hang out with and has been traveling out of the country for years with her family. She isn’t new to long plane flights or hanging out in different cultures, so naturally when our team in the US was faced with having someone stay in Malaysia for 18 months she was the first one that popped in their heads. Gary, Jonathan and I were home for 2 weeks when she packed her bags to stay for the long-term.
Back to current day…
She came into the office on Tuesday and I asked her all about Malaysia. She said she liked it, her apartment, the people, but she just wasn’t happy. She has had some family members come and visit her, but it really hit her when her cousin was there and called her out. She told her she didn’t seem happy. That’s when Ellie realized that she wasn’t. She had a meeting with the ‘big’ manager when he was in KL to let him know that she would either have to quit or they would have to shorten her contract. I was completely shocked when she was telling me all of this. They ended up shortening her contract by 5 months and she will be home for sure at the end of March. She was able to come home for 2 weeks for Thanksgiving and that is why she was here (plus her boyfriend works with us). I was telling Jimmy, my car pool buddy, all about this and as soon as I was done with the story the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘Is she a Christian?’ Now, I’m not completely sure of Ellie’s spiritual beliefs, but I do know that she didn’t attend church the while we were in Malaysia together. My eyes lit up when Jimmy asked that question. I seriously hadn’t even thought about it, but the only ‘family’ she has over there are the people she works with, whereas when we were there we had our church family. That does make a huge difference. I have no doubt that I would miss my family if I was away from them for 18 months, but being surrounded by other Christians makes things like that so much easier.
I am so thankful that I can go anywhere in the world and feel at ‘home’ because of the family that God has given me. It is something most people don’t have and I took it completely for granted while in Malaysia. I love all you guys at the Wangsa Maju church and we miss you very much!!! You truly are and will always be part of our family!!
Love,
Kimberly (and Gary)
1 comment:
So very true. No matter where you are in the world, you are sure to find a church within a short distance or atleast Christian believers. : ) I am not sure where I would be without mine!! So glad you were able to make that lasting connection while you were there!
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