A pillar church for Southeast Asia
SINGAPORE — Growing up in this high-tech, fast-paced financial hub of…
Angels of Southeast Asia
A fall down a Malaysian hill results in a mountain of compassion and care.
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SEREMBAN, MALAYSIA — “Hospitality” sometimes includes a trip to the hospital.
I learned that much during my visit to this Southeast Asian city, about an hour south of Kuala Lumpur. I experienced care, concern, respect and love from so many brothers and sisters in Christ after I had the kind of accident that, up until now, I’ve only heard other international travelers talk about.
I was covering a four-day retreat for ministers and ministry leaders, especially those who care for orphaned and abandoned children. Steve Shaner, board chair for Agape Asia, invited me to attend. I met dedicated believers who serve the “least of these” — as Jesus says in Matthew 25:40 — from China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar and Mongolia.
The retreat was a model of congregational cooperation, with the Pasir Panjang Church of Christ in Singapore coordinating and the Seremban Church of Christ hosting.
Thomas Teng, a member of the Seremban church, invited me on a Friday evening hike.
“He’s in his 60s, so how tough could it be?” I asked myself. Later, I learned that Thomas’ nickname is Mountain Goat.
I reached the church building just as Thomas was pulling away in his truck. He honked, I jumped in, and we headed for the trail.
My friends from China and Singapore use ropes to begin the challenging climb to the top of Kepayang “Hill.” For me, this was the first indication that I had bitten off more than I could chew, climbing-wise.
It wasn’t hiking so much as it was climbing. Thomas led me, a family from China and a guy from Singapore up a winding set of switchbacks that required ropes and (for me) a lot of prayer. I was an unkempt mess of sweat and dirt as I finally dragged myself to the summit of what I assumed was a mighty Malaysian mountain.
At the very top was a sign that read “Kepayang Hill.”
At the top of Kepayang Hill, I posed for this photo. At the time, I thought my troubles were over. I was blissfully unaware of the big break that would come my way a few minutes later.
The trail down was supposed to be easier. Nonetheless, I stepped on some loose rocks, and my left foot flew out from under me. My right leg buckled — not at an awkward angle or anything, but I knew something was wrong. It hurt terribly to walk. I stumbled off the trail and onto a bench.
A passerby named Alice became the first of many angels who would help me in the days to come. She massaged my ankle, lent me her walking stick and accompanied us on the agonizing walk back to Thomas’ truck. My brother from Singapore bought me bottled water and Nescafé — essentials for an invalid, as I saw it — and helped me back to my hotel room.
Alice, left, was one of the first of many angels I would encounter in Southeast Asia. She wasn’t a part of our group — just a passerby who saw I needed help.
I iced down my ankle overnight, but the pain remained intense when I put weight on it. I messaged the retreat group on WhatsApp and told them I couldn’t join them for the tour of historic Malacca, and I might need to see a doctor. Betty Chukka from India gave me her shoulder to lean on as I limped to the restaurant where everyone was eating breakfast. Tan Beng Chuan, one of the ministers at Pasir Panjang, was there and had set up a ride to the hospital.
Betty Chukka helped me limp along after my injury and checked up on multiple times. This is us just before Sunday worship with the Seremban Church of Christ.
Minutes later, Seremban church member Julia Cheah pulled up and helped me into her car. Julia had worked at the facility, now known as CMH Specialist Hospital, and knew a bunch of the folks there. She had already set up a visit with the ER doc, who sent me for X-rays. The polite tech told me, “You have a fracture.” Thankfully, the orthopedic surgeon was in and could see me.
Julia and Beng Chuan sat with me in the waiting room as the reality of my situation crept in. If only I’d arrived at the church building a few seconds later, I lamented. I would have missed the truck, and none of this would have happened. Now I was halfway around the world from home with a broken leg — and nearly 20 hours of flight time to get home. And, after that, I was taking my family to Disneyland.
This was my view from a wheelchair in the waiting area of the CMH Specialist Hospital in Seremban. Tan Beng Chuan, left, waited with me. He’s a minister for the Pasir Panjang Church of Christ in Singapore and a longtime friend.
Sensing my depression, Julia phoned our mutual friend Dennis Cady, a former missionary to Malaysia. Days earlier, on the island of Nias in Indonesia, I had seen the hotel where Dennis stayed while he did relief work after the 2004 tsunami. As a terrible earthquake shook Nias, he jumped out of a hotel window, fracturing something (or several somethings). From his home in Wichita Falls, Texas, Dennis commiserated with me and kindly informed me that, just perhaps, I wasn’t as young as I was when I started traveling for The Christian Chronicle back in 2001. I laughed and felt better.
My fractured right leg.
The surgeon, Dr. Maidin Bin Sarman, took a look at the X-ray and said, “Whoa!” It’s definitely gonna hurt, he told me, and it’s going to take a while to heal. But the fracture was high enough on the tibia that there shouldn’t be a need for surgery, nor even a cast or a boot. (My doctor in Oklahoma later confirmed all of this.)
I was relieved — and pleasantly surprised when the charges for the consults and X-rays came in at just under $60 U.S. I would have racked up that much in copays in the States.
Dr. Maidin Bin Sarman took good care of me.
Julia and Beng Chuan took me to get crutches. There was no parking at the pharmacy, so the techs (whom Julia also knew) met us in the middle of the street to adjust them to my height. Julia, who teaches English, had to rearrange her schedule to help me. She treated us to a lunch of Indian cuisine before driving me back to my hotel.
Kenneth Gong welcomes visitors during Sunday worship in Seremban, Malaysia.
The next day, Sunday, I worshiped alongside my brothers and sisters from across Southeast Asia, and I thanked them for their prayers. I had to miss the afternoon tour of Kuala Lumpur, but a couple kindly brought me back some candy and a refrigerator magnet of the Petronas Twin Towers.
Using his two working legs, Steve Shaner got this awe-inspiring photo of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
On Monday I joined the group from Pasir Panjang for the bus ride to Singapore. John Lim, one of the church’s ministers and a longtime friend, gave me a tour of the church’s refurbished building. John’s parents took us out for pizza and dropped me off at the Moulmein Church of Christ, which I had last visited just before the demolition of the church’s old building in 2015. Another longtime minister friend, Mit Vikraman, gave me a tour of Moulmein’s new facility. I had dinner with a group of good friends who worship at Moulmein. One of the church’s members, Sung Kok, drives for Grab, a Southeast Asia version of Uber. He took me to the airport and made sure I got a wheelchair.
John Lim and I have run into each other unexpectedly on multiple continents over the years. We met at the Pasir Panjang Church of Christ in Singapore in 2015. We saw each other again in Cambodia at the Angkor of Faith youth mission the next year. In 2018 I was worshiping with the Glyfada Church of Christ in Athens, Greece, when he showed up with his fellow Harding University students who were participating in the school’s semester abroad program. In 2019, I was covering Keith Lancaster’s Worship Leader Institute in Madison, Tenn. “We’ve even got a student here from Singapore,” Keith told me. “Lemme guess, John Lim,” I said. Here we are in 2024 eating pizza with John’s parents. My crutches are against the wall.
I’m still in pain, and I mourn the loss of mobility. It will take months for things to get better, the doctors tell me. Perhaps I can use this time to focus on the importance of accepting hospitality — letting others do for me what I can’t do for myself.
That’s a tough lesson. I spend so much of my energy in pain avoidance or reduction, and I pride myself on my perceived self-sufficiency. But this is all futility and mythology. We’re all dependent upon the unearned grace we receive from our Father. And perhaps, just perhaps, my multiple encounters with the many angels of Southeast Asia will teach me that.
I was blessed to have dinner with some good friends at the Moulmein Church of Christ. From left are Dave Hogan, Chan Kim Kai, Tommy Chia, me, Mit Vikraman and Edwin Choy.
Here I am with a group of Christians from Singapore and Malaysia after Sunday evening worship. Since I was unable to take a tour of Kuala Lumpur, I accompanied these folks to a new facility overseen by the Seremban Church of Christ. The new meeting place, dedicated in 2020, is located in a development called Seremban 2. Members of the Seremban church use the facility for Sunday night worship and hope to launch the work as a church plant, the Sendayan Church of Christ, in the years to come.
ERIK TRYGGESTAD is President and CEO of The Christian Chronicle. Contact [email protected], and follow him on X at @eriktryggestad.
