Hello my beloved blog!!
Sorry I’ve been mia since I got to Sungai Petani, Malaysia. This is a crazy country in terms of ministry! I have a lot less time than I did in Swaziland. Night life in Malaysia is also CRAZY; we’re up so late almost every night for ministry (or just for fun lol) so I’m also just really tired all the time! And when I’m not tutoring Rohingya Refugee kids, visiting their villages, doing Christmas caroling and Tamborine dancing ministry, I’m going to a neighboring Island (Penang) for adventure days and visiting beaches and rock climbing! Definitely would recommend (life with the Lord is such an adventure!!)
Anyway, its very different from Swaziland (much busier, city, life, etc.) but I really do love it here, even with its difficulties. Something else I’ve been working on is some college essays for CU Boulder scholarship applications!
I tried to reuse the college essays I wrote last may when I was applying (because the questions are very similar), but even though I only wrote these essays like four months ago they just didn’t seem authentic to me anymore; they were great essays I just feel like I’ve changed so much already that reusing them wouldn’t really be me.
So I rewrote one of them and talked a lot about my experience on the World Race. I think it turned out really well so I figured I’d share it on my blog too! since it dose encapsulate pretty well how I’ve felt about Malaysia ministry (and a bit of Swazi too!).
So here’s just a bit of my newly made college essay:
Teaching Rohingya refugee children (and relearning their 5th grade curriculum) is a humbling joy. Seeing a pre-teen muslim work out long multiplication, times tables become hard for her as they were for me. Reciting the alphabet, I see my younger students’ strength in memorizing, and her weakness in comprehension. I don’t just teach these kids. I get to see them; learning how they learn, what they need.
The relationship between teacher and student requires understanding on both sides. As a teacher, I must learn as well as teaching; someone who seeks to understand.
Before teaching in Malaysia, I did Swaziland care point ministry. House visits with liSwatis, gardening at Ngonini carepoint, praying over a dementia ridden stranger; it might sound strange without understanding my faith, but the Lord reveals parables to me in all of it. Stories with depth, lessons, and life-giving meaning.
(World Race Blog: elliehampton.theworldrace.org)
Teaching, writing, and Jesus.
That’s what I’ve grown to love in the past four months.
Does that mean I’ll pursue a teaching degree? Not sure.
Will I minor in creative writing? Probably.
But I know that only through my passions will I discover who I want to be. So, I will continue to grow into who I want to be, through the pursuit of who I am today.
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