Our Family Service in Kuala Lumpur

Traveling is such an enriching experience. We love learning and growing together as a family as we travel to new places. But we feel like we gain the most when we serve the people of the country we’re visiting. And Kuala Lumpur was no exception! Our family service in Kuala Lumpur was so memorable and special.

After talking to a few people at church about service opportunities in KL, we were able to get connected with someone that volunteered at a Myanmar refugee school. So we made arrangements to serve the students of this humble school.

Our family of 6 arrived at the school in the morning and were introduced to the cute kids! They were about 20 of them and they were all in uniform and sitting quietly on the ground. They had beautiful smiles and bright eyes. We introduced ourselves and then played Duck Duck Goose to break the ice. After we were done playing the lively game, we broke up into two groups.

Cody, Ethan, and Gavin took the older kids. Trevor, Reese, and I took the younger kids. We weren’t really sure what we were supposed to do besides just help in the classroom. But once we got there and had our groups assigned to us, we learned that we had to teach them for the next 2 hours! So, we just winged it. I taught the younger group body parts in English and sang Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. We did some simple math problems on the board using fruit as the teaching tool. I read them books. We taught them a church song called “If You Chance to Meet a Frown”. Reese donated her coloring book so the kids could all have a page to color and they loved it! Cody had some lesson plans to work from and taught the older kids math. He also taught them some Spanish and they thought that was the coolest!

It was so fun to see our kids interact with the students. They were brave and got right in. We loved getting to know the teacher and hearing her story. She runs this very humble school and loves her students. She gets up early every morning to prepare them lunch and they all eat a huge bowl of noodles together. They pray over their meal before they eat. It’s like they’re one big family. It was so sweet to see the teamwork and kindness of the kids.It was such a great experience being able to teach, play, and interact with these special kids. It was the highlight of our time in Kuala Lumpur and we loved serving them!