MICN in KL

A few weeks back Bob and I were able to attend a Missional International Church Network conference in Kuala Lumpur. It was a really good time for us to connect with people who are involved in International Churches in many different countries. Since we're so new to this it was great to talk with people who have been involved with IC's for many years.


One of our sessions in the FREEZING COLD meeting room. Next time we go to a conference I will remember to bring warmer clothes!!


Had to get a picture with all the Canadians!


"NO DURIAN" on the elevator - while we haven't tried it yet, we've been told that durian has a nasty smell and a nasty taste (for some people, anyway). Many places won't allow it because of the lingering odor!

The world famous Petronas Towers in KL - beautiful all lit up at night.

One evening we were treated to a dinner and cultural dance presentation that involved Indian, Chinese and Malay dancing. After the official presentation they asked for 'volunteers' to join them in trying the dancing. Bob and I were both dragged up on stage and Bob's, ahem, 'unorthodox' moves were quite something!   


We all took a tour of the 'Royal Selangor Pewter Company'. It was pretty interesting, actually, and the items that they make are beautiful and well respected around the world.


This woman's job is to put a 'hammered finish' on different products. It's amazing how evenly she can hammer the little divots into the pewter. Can you believe it takes a YEAR to train to do this job? And while it was interesting to watch for a minute or two, a lifetime of doing this is hard to imagine....

Originally when pewter was used in trading, they would use the animal-shaped pewter and break off a leg, or a nose, or a tail, or whatever they needed to pay for their purchase. You can imagine that this was pretty in-exact. So along came the....money tree! Yes, there really is, or was, anyway, such a thing! They could just break off however many 'coins' they needed from the tree to buy whatever they needed. Didn't see any money trees for sale in the gift shop though!



It was a rainy day when we went up to the deck of the Petronas Towers to, but we were still able to see some of the sights.



We were in KL from Monday to Friday a few weeks ago and like I said earlier, it was a great time. On the last day, I even had one woman graciously offer to drive me a grocery store where I was able to find a few things that I haven't found in Penang - whole wheat pasta, real vanilla extract and a few tins of precious International Coffees! It's funny in a kind of pathetic way the things that get me excited!!
Both Bob and I were challenged and stretched through what we learned while we were in KL. Now, onward in the adventure!

From Penang,

Karin for the 4 Thornes

Comments

Writer Dad said…
Just beautiful. I usually need to rely on my wife for the recital of such far off stories.
May 25, 2009 at 11:22 AM
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