Author: Grace Mally

Witnessing Stories

Hey, will you get my shoe?

The other night while Sarah and I were raking the leaves in our yard, three boys came walking down the street. They were in their early teens and were trying to act cool. It crossed my mind that maybe I should witness to them, but I wasn’t sure if I should stop them as they were walking.
About a half hour later, Sarah and I decided to go running since the weather was so nice. As we walked through the nearby park headed toward the trail, guess who was there by the merry-go-round? The same three boys.

As I was wondering again whether I should witness to them, one of them called to me.
“Hey, will you go get me my shoe? It’s over there!” he said, pointing to the soccer field.
“Sure,” I said and brought him his shoe.
“I’m lazy,” he said.
His friends laughed at him. “That’s so weird you just ask a stranger like that to get your shoe.”
“Ok,” I said, “since I got your shoe for you, will you answer a question for me?”
“Sure,” he replied.
“It’s actually a series of questions,” I told him.
He and his friends looked at me curiously, glad for some entertainment. (Sarah and I enjoy talking with young teenagers because we can be straight forward with them and they don’t get offended.)
“Do you consider yourself to be a good person?” I asked.
One said “yes”, another said “no”, and the third said “sometimes.”
“So have you ever lied?” I questioned.
“Yes,” they all answered.
“Have you ever stolen anything?” I asked.
“Yes,” said two of them.
“No,” said the other.
“YES YOU HAVE!” his friends corrected him.
“So if you’ve lied, what does that make you?” I asked.
“A liar” they replied.
“And if you’ve stolen something, what does that make you?”
“A stealer,” one guy said.
“A THIEF,” the other guy corrected him.
We laughed.
“Ok, have you ever been disrespectful to your parents?” I continued, smiling.
“Oh yeah,” they all answered emphatically.
“And have you ever been angry with your brother?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah,” they answered with a tone of voice like, that was a no brainer.
“Ok,” I said, “Those are all from the 10 commandments—the law God gave us. So let’s say you get hit by a car today, and stand before God, and he asks you why He should let you into Heaven. What would you say?”
“I’m an atheist,” said one kid.
“Ok, well, I’m asking the questions to your friends,” I told him.
“I don’t like questions like that!” his friend, Reese, said. “If I stood before God….He’d probably squish me!”
“So what would you say?” we asked.
“Uh…” Reese responded, “I’ll make You cookies!”
“So if you were standing before God,” we clarified, you’d say, “‘Here, I made you cookies!”
“Yep!” he joked.
“So,” we continued, “if you were standing before a judge because you had murdered someone, the judge couldn’t just let you go because you were sorry, could he? He wouldn’t be a good judge if he did that! And he wouldn’t let you go because you make him cookies either…”

Although initially they were just all acting silly, Reese began listening and becoming more serious, so we continued.

“Let’s say you had a fine of $1,000,000 and you couldn’t pay it. Then imagine that a stranger just walks up, pulls out his wallet, and pays your fine. What would your response be to that person?

“I’d be like, shocked. And I’d probably cry,” Reese answered.
“And would you take the gift?”
He quickly nodded and said he would.
I explained how that is exactly what Jesus did for us. I told them that most people know that Jesus died on the cross, but they don’t really understand why.

One of the boys said, “This is really funny because my church just taught this exact thing last Sunday.”

“Hmm…maybe God’s trying to get through to you,” I remarked.

“So I have another question,” I told them.
“If you had a chance to ask God one question, what would it be?”
They all began to talk at once.
“How is it that God, like, never started? I mean, wasn’t he ever born? It’s so weird, like, he doesn’t have a birthday?”
“Well, if you could fully understand Him, he wouldn’t be much of a God would he?” we said and explained a little about what infinity means.
“How do you know God is really really big? Maybe he’s really small!” he said, squinting and forming an inch between his thumb and finger.
“Well, it’s interesting you say that,” I mentioned, “because God did choose to become small when he became a man.”
“How do you know God was a man and not a woman?” another kid asked.
“Uh, because he called Himself a he and God doesn’t lie,” we said.
“How do you know the Bible is true? And was it written by God? Or, wasn’t it written by the disciples?”
We explained that God wrote it through the disciples. Sarah told them some facts about how the Bible was written over 1,500 years on 3 continents, in 3 languages, yet it all fits perfectly together. We also mentioned prophecies, etc.

“Well, I don’t understand, like, how Judaism and, like, the other religions, well, how they all like, I mean…and then Hindus—they’re so different.”

“Yes, there are a lot of different religions, but we know they can’t all be true because they say very different things. And one thing about Christianity that’s different from all the other religions is that Jesus rose from the dead. Buddha and Mohammed and other religious leaders died.”
“Buddha is cool!” one kid said.
We talked a little more about Buddha and then they said they had to go.
I gave them each a 10 commandments coin. (Btw, coins work great for carrying in your pocket. I used to carry tracts in my pocket but they’d always get wrinkled.)
We told them to go to the website www.needgod.com and do the little survey on there.

No matter how silly they were, these kids also had real questions. They needed answers. It’s a lie that people don’t want to talk about spiritual things. People out there have questions! And they enjoy the excitement of talking to someone about their questions.

On our way back from running, they were still there, along with 2 girls.
Should we just walk by or should we say something else to them? I wondered.
“Hey, ask your questions to her!” Reese called, pointing to a girl.
“No, please don’t, it’s getting annoying,” the atheist kid said.
“Can she have one of the silver thingies?” Reese asked.
“Sure, I’ll go get one and bring it down”, I told them.
“Thank you!!”

I went to my house and came back with several more tracts. I did a little IQ quiz with the girl that then led into the gospel. She seemed to be interested and she thanked me.
I brought an athiest quiz down for the boy who claimed to be an atheist and asked if he wanted it.
He didn’t.
“YES HE DOES!” Reese said and made him take it.
I left them all with a few more coins, and thanked God for opening the door by causing Reese to ask me to get his shoe.

It really encourages me to realize that this is all something God does. He prepares hearts, puts us in the right place at the right time, opens doors (in unusual ways sometimes!), guides conversations, and then causes seeds to be watered and grow. Please pray that these young people would seek after God.

Bright Lights Local Group/Bright Lights Office

Reports from Home

We are making progress on the new Bright Lights office / ministry building! Changes have been slow because it keeps getting put “on hold” while we are out of town, but we have seen the Lord provide and answer prayer in countless ways. Here’s what it looks like right now.


We are excited about our carpet tiles, which will be installed soon!


No, it’s not a big pizza party…


We’re so grateful for our good friend, Dave Fuller, who will be laying our carpet.


Here’s Toni (one of our most faithful helpers 🙂 ) sanding the floor after we hammered down hundreds of staples that were left from the previous carpet and tile.


Stephen and my dad, fixing pipes.


The other day Stephen installed 30 outlets and light switches.

After arriving home from Singapore, we were grateful for chance to catch up with correspondence, organization, sleep, etc. To be honest, we’re still not caught up with everything that got neglected during the busy summer and fall. We’re grateful for the help of many who volunteer for Bright Lights, especially Nickie, who spends two days a week at the Bright Lights office–otherwise it would be difficult to stay on top of things.

We were excited to receive 10 Bright Lights Leaders applications when we arrived home from SE Asia–raising the number of Bright Lights groups to 277. Two more groups have also recently started in Malaysia. PTL!

At our local Bright Lights group here in Cedar Rapids last week, the older girls watched a “Rebelution” video upstairs while Sarah taught a lesson to the younger girls about “by their fruits ye shall know them.” She talked about the importance of bearing true fruit with a desire to please the Lord, not impress other people. Sarah did an activity where she had volunteers close their eyes and guess what kind of fruit they were tasting.


Her volunteers don’t look too excited…. lol… (Sarah used some rather unusual fruits)


But it was sure funny for everyone else!


On a more personal note…here I am with my cousin making supper at our grandparents’ house. Stephanie and I have quite a bit in common, and unfortunately that includes being messy cooks. (It got worse than what you see here…) By the time we were finished, my grandpa commented that in the 40 some years he’s lived there, he had never seen his kitchen so messy. We assured him we’d clean up. 🙂

Family News

More Reports

Normally, we do just about everything as a family. Not last month!



While we were in the jungle, Stephen was on the mountains…



Since Stephen was in Colorado for a photography job, he decided to climb Flat Top mountain again while he was there.

When he was 1/4 mile from the top a snow/thunder storm hit the mountain. But you know how photographers are — they always have to stick around long enough to get a few more good pictures.



Stephen made it to the top, and in much less time than when we climbed it as a family 10 years ago!



And this is my favorite picture. I don’t know how he got those elk to line up like that. 🙂

Witnessing Stories

Adventures on the Plane

A new Japanese friend of ours was amazingly scheduled to be on the same flight as us from Singapore to Japan. Since he had just returned from a trip to China (working with house churches) we were anxious to hear about it and see pictures. Unfortunately, the plane was packed and his seat was in the front while we were sitting in the way back. So I prayed that somehow we’d still be able to see his pictures…



…and we found a creative solution. 🙂 I sat on Danielle’s lap, he took my seat, and we were all be able to enjoy the slide show. We were encouraged and educated by his detailed report.

God didn’t answer our prayer of missing our next flight so we could tour Tokyo 🙂 ….but that’s ok. Maybe another time.

We boarded our next plane from Tokyo to Minnesota. We were a little disappointed that our seats were split up.

I’m often surprised by the person the Lord provides to witness to on the plane. This time it was a young Asian guy with spiky hair and tattoos. He had the window seat, I had the aisle seat, and my friend Nickie was in between us.
He probably doesn’t even speak English, I thought.
“Hello” Nickie said as we sat down.
“Hello” he said.
“Where are you from?” she asked.
“Philippines”

After talking with him for a while we found out that he lives in Minnesota, works a nightshift at Target, is a UFC fighter, and his parents attend a Baptist Church.

We talked with him for about 30 minutes or so, just getting acquainted.

“So I have a question,” I said, trying to bring the conversation to something more substantial, “In schools in the Philippines, do they teach evolution, creation, or both?”

“I went to a Christian school, so they kind of taught Creation but then basically let you choose for yourself what you want to believe. I don’t really think or worry about it,” he said.

“Well, I don’t worry about it either,” I replied, “in the sense of ‘trying to figure it out’ because I already know what I believe; but I do think the topic is very important. For one thing, it helps us to understand why people act the way they do. If people believe there’s no God, then there’s no right and wrong, and no accountability. People can do whatever they want! For example, what’s wrong with abortion, if we’re just animals anyway?”

He responded with interest, and began to ask questions.

“So, how do you know the difference between all the religions?” he asked.

We smiled.
“Well, there’s many people today who say that it doesn’t matter which religion you follow—we’re all worshipping the same god,” we said, “But there’s no way that could be true. Christianity is so different from all the other religions. For one thing, it’s the only one with a risen Savior. Mohammed, Buddha, and other leaders died and were buried, but Jesus rose from the dead and is alive now.”

Nickie added, “And it’s the only religion that even has a Savior. Other religions just have leaders.”

“Christianity is also the only religion that has a cure for sin,” I continued, and explained how Jesus took our punishment on the cross. “And it’s also the only religion that’s not a ‘do it yourself’ religion,” I emphasized. “Most people in this world are trying to be good enough to go to Heaven.”
Gelix agreed.
“But” I said, “Christianity is the only religion that says ‘hey, we can’t do this on our own. There’s no way we could meet up to God’s perfect standard.’ So the only way we know we’re going to Heaven is because God made a way to save us.”

He seemed both surprised and interested in our answers.

Side Note: Just one week earlier I had read a little gospel tract entitled, “Are All Religions Really the Same?” That tract provided me with the fresh thoughts I needed to share with Gelix at that moment. Isn’t it neat how God equips us? He doesn’t lead us into a situation without providing the words for us to say. He’s so good.

Gelix continued to ask questions. We discussed many things including life purpose, the power of spiritual warfare in this world and the danger of polluting influences in our lives.

Then he said, “I think I should start going to church again.”

We supported that idea 🙂 and since I have some friends who live near him, I got his e-mail and I’m going to try to hook him up with a good church in his area.

Gelix had lots of questions. Maybe he didn’t feel comfortable talking to his friends or family about them. However, “strangers” on a plane whom he’d never see again were a different story. I’m so glad we became friends with him and were able to have this talk. Please pray that he’d run from darkness into the Light.

It seems that often when I’m witnessing to someone, they tell me about a Christian relative they have. It causes me to wonder, Could it be that our conversation is an answer to the prayers of their Christian relative?

About 8 rows behind me my dad had been talking with a young couple about Creation Science and homeschooling. Although they weren’t Christians, they seemed very interested in what he was saying.

After a while he switched places with Sarah (who was in another part of the plane). Continuing the conversation, Sarah learned that they run a T-shirt shop on the beach together, call themselves non-religious, and love to surf. One had grown up Mennonite, and the other Mormon. Both had turned away because of hypocritical people they knew in the faith.

I joined the conversation about this time and stood next to their row, enjoying my little stretch break.

“So what do you believe happens when you die?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t like to think about death,” the girl said, “it’s sad.”
“I think you just die and that’s it” the guy said. “But I think religion is a really good thing,” he continued, “It can draw people together and cause them to develop good morals…”

“Well, it can be a good thing or a bad thing,” Sarah responded. “People do good things because of religion, but religion also has caused divisions, wars, and people have done horrible things over the years– all in the name of religion.”

He probably wasn’t expecting that response. Sarah explained, “I don’t call what I have a ‘religion’ but rather, a relationship with the Creator. Many who say they are Christians don’t really know God—they are just following rules.”

“It seems like you guys are really living for what you believe,” he said.

“Well, if you truly believe in life after death then it makes sense to live with that in view,” Sarah said.
He could see that.
“My philosophy,” he told us, “is to do as much good as I can in my life and if I come to the end and it wasn’t good enough—well, at least it was a good system.”

I went back and sat down but noticed that Sarah continued to talk with them for about an hour or so. I hear that it was a really good talk. It’s fun meeting new friends. They like to travel so we are hoping they’ll come visit us sometime when they come through Iowa.

I fell asleep and was awakened by a girl holding a sleeping baby. It was Nickie. “Grace, can you move over so I can sit down?” she asked. Apparently a young mother from Korea was having trouble keeping her 5-month-old quiet and was grateful for Nickie’s help.



Nickie mentioned what an open door it was to be holding a baby. As she stood rocking the baby, people would just walk up and start talking to her.

My mom also made a friend on the plane. She got acquainted with the Chinese mother sitting next to her and learned that she had 2 young kids. We gave her a Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends book and 2 Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends Coloring Books for her kids. She was so appreciative and began reading the book right away.

We got off the plane with lots of new friends — and we were grateful to God for splitting up our seats on the flight.

The mother of the baby was a Christian and since she had a 9 hour layover in Minneapolis with nothing to do, we invited her to stick with us for the 5 hours that we would be there. We enjoyed getting to know her and learning more about Korea.

Miscellaneous

Fireproof Movie

Our family saw the movie FireProof this week, and we highly recommend it — for teens as well as adults. If you’ve already seen it, I’d recommend babysitting for other parents so that they can see it too.

Not only is “Fireproof” making a huge impact in the Christian community, it is also capturing the attention of the secular world. ABC World News gave a report this evening on the amazing success of this low-budget Christian film made in no-where Georgia. (And what a great day for it to be highlighted on ABC! So many people were watching the news today because of everything else that’s going on in this country.)

ABC News states,
“You can almost picture the Hollywood studio execs scratching their heads. A film that was made for $500,000, relied more on word of mouth than television and print ads, and is headlined by an actor best known for a 1980s television show, opens at No. 4 in the country and rakes in $6.8 million in ticket sales.”

The world marvels at how such a low budget film could be making such a huge impact, but it’s no surprise to us as Christians. We know that it’s the way our God works! He loves to take the efforts of the small and unlikely and use them in amazing ways for His purposes. This way, He gets all the glory.

Paul said to the Corinthians,
“…God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-31)

We’re also encouraged by the great testimony Kirk Cameron displayed by upholding his commitment to not kiss anyone but his wife—even in acting. (His real wife, Chelsea, was a stand-in during the kiss.) See the story here.

Radiant Purity Conferences/Singapore and Malaysia

Singapore Radiant Purity Conference


…Our last conference here in Singapore and Malaysia! The conference went smooth (PTL!), and we were encouraged by the response of the attendees. The whole idea of an alternative to dating was new to many.


These are the girls in my discussion group. We discussed many topics such as the importance of saving your whole heart for one man, how to keep your mind pure, accepting the way God created you, honoring/communicating with parents, modesty, how to deal with crushes in the right way, etc.


We all enjoyed a time of sharing Saturday evening after the conference. Each leader shared encouraging reports from the discussional group she led. And, of course, we had many laughs…


We are so grateful for our “team” in SE Asia. Pictured above are some of the girls (and moms) who helped lead the conferences this year. It’s not possible to do Bright Lights conferneces without young ladies to lead the small group times, but God provided this team of godly young ladies in SE Asia who filled this role. They rose to each challenge that was thrown at them and did a wonderful job.

Guess what? We are HOME now! It feels wonderful. More reports and pictures from the trip coming soon!

Singapore and Malaysia

Mystery Tea



This afternoon we all got together here in Singapore to plan and pray for our last conference– a Radiant Purity Conference. It starts in about 12 hours. I am excited and anticipating the Lord to do great things. Please pray that the Lord’s hand would be at work and that everyone would have perseverance to continue! Some on our team are sick and need prayer.

Since I’ve been battling a cough, the other night my mom gave me this strange dark brown tea. I sipped it and was going to finish it later, but Sarah said I was supposed to drink it while it was warm. I wasn’t too thrilled, but I just gulped it all down.

It wasn’t until the next day that they told me what the tea was made out of…



Following the instructions of one of the Asian mothers here, my mom boiled big black beetles (above) together with leaves for a half hour. Then she drained the beetles and gave it to me warm to drink. It’s “traditional Chinese medicine”.

Well, I’m happy to report that I’m all better now and feeling great. As Stephen reminded me, “It must have been the bugs.” 🙂

Singapore and Malaysia

In Kuala Lumpur


Since there was so much traffic when we arrived in KL, the bus driver apparently couldn’t park the bus in the bus station. So we all just got off in the middle of the road. We had an interesting time crossing the street! On this side of the world, cars have the right-of-way, not people.

We have a lot of extra stuff because of all the supplies, skit props, etc. we bring along the conferences. Thankfully Mr. Teh had already sent some of our stuff ahead of us with others, otherwise I don’t know what we would have done.


I sat in on Christine’s small group for a while. She did a great job she did communicating to her girls the awesome vision of truly being strong for the Lord in our teen years and how it’s a privelege to be a part of His army.

We are excited at how the Lord is raising up a godly team of young ladies here. Some have started Bright Lights groups already and others are making plans to. We have to leave and go home soon, but these girls are carrying on the work. Please pray for them as there are always many obstacles.

One morning some mothers arranged a picnic in the park. My dad shared a few thoughts from the Word with us and shared 3 important “F’s” of the Christian life: “Flee, Follow and Fight”.


So many beautiful tropical flowers…


We had many traditional and delicious Chinese meals. The octopus, squid, large prawns, and frog meat made this meal especially… memorable. Good thing we have so many friends who graciously tell us what is in each dish. 🙂


Me and my little guy


Packing up to travel back to Singapore. Everywhere we go we travel with our family, our team of 5 American leaders, our team of about 10-15 Asian leaders, and Mr. Teh, our organizer/host. Sometimes it gets a little confusing with so many people and so much luggage. Good thing Mr. Teh is so organized!

Singapore and Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The last week we’ve been in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where by God’s grace we were able to hold another two Bright Lights conferences. The first one, a Strong in the Lord conference, was 3 evenings (Tues, Wed, Thurs) and the Radiant Purity conference was Saturday. Friday was a day of seeking the Lord and fellowship with our group of leaders. Each one was special and went well. Thanks for your prayers.

Because of full schedules, limited online access, and trying to get over a cough, I haven’t been able to post as much as I wanted to. I think I’ll have to do some catching up now!

We are now back in Singapore and our next conference is this Saturday.

Singapore and Malaysia

Bright Lights Conference in Malacca, Malaysia


Last Thursday through Saturday was the Christian homeschool conference in Malacca. While the parents were in sessions, we had a lot of fun with the girls! We did a Bright Lights conference, but it was new material–not our standard Strong in the Lord conference. (We did that one 3 years ago, the first time we were here.)


Our leaders did an incredible job leading their small groups! The Lord has really raised up a neat group of young ladies here.


The girls responded very well to our session on presenting the gospel. They were so excited to receive the tracts I gave them, and many kept coming back to get more from me. Please pray that these young ladies would truly be bright lights in this part of the world!


Speaking to the parents


“Jungle Jane”, in an Australian accent, taught the girls about how every kind of wild beast can be tamed…..


…but no one can tame the power of the tongue!

Skits were so much fun at this conference because the girls laugh so much. They sing really loud, too. It’s fun working with a group that is so responsive. 🙂