The story of one couple's ministry of love

When I went to Miss Moey Yoke Lai, CEO of Methodist College Kuala Lumpur, to offer my home and family to host students from out-of-town, I thought of this ministry as a means of blessing others for the blessings I had received. Instead, in God’s wonderful ways, I found myself more blest by the encounters with these students and their families than anything else.
 
I still remember the anxiety and fear that gripped me back in 2002 when my daughter announced to my husband and me that she has chosen to study in Los Angeles, California. Like any parent, I was worried. I imagined the countless scenarios of things that might happen when I released my little girl to that big, big, world out there and so, so far away from home.
 
Nevertheless, children, as much as we would love to keep them in our nest forever, have to grow up and face this world on their own. With a heavy heart but united in prayer, we committed our daughter into the sole care of our Heavenly Father, trusting that while we, as her mortal parents can only do so much, her Heavenly Father would hold her close in His everlasting care.
 
And He did.

From the moment she touched down in January 2003 till she left in October 2006, my daughter was blest with wonderful friends and families who took her into their homes, introduced her to their families and culture, and welcomed her into their lives as if she were their own child. They took my daughter out for meals, included her on trips and celebrations with their family and friends, lent her a helping hand whenever she needed it, and opened their homes freely to her whenever she wanted to have a family around.

It was the love that these strangers 7000 miles away showed to my family and me, and the great provision of our Heavenly Father, that inspired me to give something back to the students who come to the big city of Kuala Lumpur and to their families who must feel like I did those years back.
 
That was how this ministry of hosting outstation students came about for my husband and me. Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it a ministry but more like an extension of the love we have received.
 
Fostering Methodist College Students
Since early this year, Miss Moey has placed seven Methodist College students under my care. Most of them are from Sibu, and all of them lovely bright young people.
 
Each week, my husband and I would take them to Church and lunch after that. In addition, we also welcome them to join us for dinner and meals whenever they long for home-cooked food. We are also more than happy for them to join our family for any festive celebrations if they happen to not return to their hometowns. In short, we hope to be their family for them.
 
However, in our experience as a host family for the past year, we find we have been more blest than we are being a blessing to the students.
 
It is such a joy to see these bright young people turning from being shy and anxious when they first arrive, to being people who are outgoing, ambitious and full of potential months later.
 
It is also such a joy and blessing to receive love and gratefulness in return, from the students and their families. It was a very, very rewarding experience for us when we met the students’ parents, to see the look of relief and gratefulness in their faces — the very same feelings we felt for everyone who had taken care of my daughter when she was so far away.
 
This ministry is still relatively unknown. As city dwellers, we often forget about the thousands of out-of-town people who come into our city for jobs, education, for better opportunities. We often don’t realize or even notice their need.
 
My husband and I don’t consider this as a host family ministry as much as a ministry of love. What started out as wanting to return the blessing we had received has instead become a circle of love that began with the families in America, to my family here in Kuala Lumpur, and hopefully to the families of our host children, as we are all enveloped in one family in the everlasting arms of our Heavenly Father.
 
(Mr. and Mrs. Loh Kiat Loon worship at the Wesley Methodist Church, Kuala Lumpur)