March 16, 2010

Hey Dad, good to hear from you and the fam. I got your letter in time, no worries.

You're letters are flattering, Im not as good a missionary as you think I am. This week proves that... you have good ones and then you have not so good ones I guess.

Hey on Sunday we had Branch Conference and some District leaders came to our branch. I met one who read my name tag (we wear them in the church) and got very excited. He said an Elder Viehweg baptized him some 20 years ago in Australia. There must be more Viehwegs out there than we realize. I remember at my calling job I would get the question all the time "do you know the viehwegs in California, in texas, in Alpine, in Virginia, etc." They are everywhere.

I just found out I'm going to Singapore next week. wahoo vacation baby. Just kidding. Sister Lim and I will leave tuesday get back wednesday. Which probably means our numbers aren't going to look very good next week either, missing three days and all. super. Have to get the chop though. I'm sure your package has been sitting in Singapore for a while, but no one has made a trip there recently. I'll pick it up when I go next week. You guys are the best in the world.

Guess what, in my phone a have a number saved as Desperate Muslim. ya. Last wednesday after finishing emailing you this random number called as we were walking. It was a guy who was Muslim, but didn't want to be anymore. He desperately asked eto help him change to Christianity. I told him there was nothing I could do because of the laws here, gave him the church website and told him good luck. He started begging saying "Please PLEASE, save my life, save my life!" over and over again, along with "you're American, you are white peoples, you have all the power, you can do anything" which was flattering of course haha, but really there was nothing I could do. I said I was sorry, tried to make him understand, but he wouldn't stop crying so I had to hang up. He has called daily since. The wierd thing is I have no idea how he got our number. I asked him and all he would tell me was "God gave it to me". Kind of weird...

Some good news: We have been teaching a guy named Oven and he is scheduled to be baptized next sunday. In our lesson the other day he told us ever since he has started learning and coming to church he feels different. I asked him to explain. In our last lesson we taught about the 10 commandments and the "no lying" commandment really got him thinking. He told us in his work he has to lie everyday, everyone does it, they lie to sell their product. He thought about it the whole week and feels different now. He told us he now feels like he can make something of his life, because of all the changes he has recently made (smoking, coffee, lying, etc.) It was cool to hear him try and put into words the difference he has already begun to feel. He has hope for what his life can be now.

We finally found a time to meet with Sandy, a lady I met on the train. While teaching her we discovered that she has some pretty interesting views about the Atonment and Jesus Christ. She 100% believes that Christ did not want to die, that he did not plan to die. She believes that God had to change his plan because Jesus was killed, that he didn't plan for that. We tried to explain that the Atonement was part of God's plan all along and that it had to happen; she said I was wrong haha. She told us in the Bible, from things Christ says, that He did not want to die. I don't know what Bible she is reading but I thought in the Bible it showed all over that Christ knew he was going to die... interesting. She also 100% believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, just from reading the pamphlet, we had not even taught it to her yet. I thought that was pretty remarkable. She told us she already knew about the Mormon church because she never missed a show of Donny and Marie Osmond, or the Osmonds, I don't know what it's called. Anyway she loved that show. We shall see how it all turns out.

So dad, the heading of your short email read "just so you know I'm thin" (or something similar) on the computer and I thought, what is that some kind of joke from my email the other week saying I'm getting fat, is he trying to rub it in that he is not? Then I realized it was supposed to say "thinking" but was cut off. hahah

Life out home sounds super busy as always. I hope you are having fun. I love you!

sis v

March 9, 2010

Good to hear from you this week dad. Last, week you were missed :-). but youre right, i have great siblings and friends who write. You guys are the best. Thanks for thinking to send that email about the earthquake in Chile. It really is amazing isn't it. I actually had already read it. We were invited to dinner at an ex-pats house on Sunday and they read it to us. It is amazing how fast things travel through the internet.

I'm sorry to hear so many illnesses back home, that hurts my heart. i hope everything ends up ok. You are all in my prayers daily. Cuz I luvs ya so much! I love reading about how cold it is. It excites me. I had a deam the other night where it was cold and i had to put on a sweater, it was awesome. I woke up wrapped in my blanket that usually sits at the end of the bed, sweating...

Sister Lim is good. She is hilarious. She says the funniest things. You should see the two of us try to kill a cockroach. It's embarrassing. I think there is a nest in our house somewhere. When sister lim sees a roach she screams and runs away, then i start screaming, and we jump on chairs or beds to get off the floor. That sad part is we want it dead but we really don't want to kill it, or come anywhere close to it. Last time sister lim rolled up a poster and started wacking at it but each time she missed by a foot because she didn't want to get close to it to actually hit it. haha she screamed throughout the experience. man it was funny. we are pathetic. She is also an incredibly fast walker. She is pretty tall for an asian and has long strides. I jog to keep up. She always wants to pass people in front of us who are walking slow. With out fail, every time she wants to pass someone she whispers to me "overtake OVERTAKE". It makes me laugh. she speaks english very well but she says things no one ever says, it's correct english, but who really says "overtake"? i love it.

Right now we are teaching a bunch of Chinese men: Kho, wong, Kong, and paul haha. They are great. Last week was Kong's first time fasting. He thought he was going to die. Throughout church he kept asking me how I was doing, as if I was going to faint or pass out any minute. He was genuinly worried, probably because he felt like he was going to. Kong has really been stretched since he was baptized. He gets picked on to say the prayer all the time and he takes it like a champ. I know he is scared to pray but he is doing so well! His prayers are adorable; like a three year old.

Paul is cool too. He is the one who left a letter in the church mailbox. He loves what we teach. He is really good about bringing friends to introduce to us too. He always shows up with someone; and they are always young girls who work at a hair salon or are going to beauty school... It's kind of wierd. Paul is 30+, no front teeth, and kind of a goober. but he has a lot of really hott beauty school friends. hmmmm.

We had a neat experience teaching Kho yesterday. He is a friend of Jonathans (a branch member baptized about 6 months ago). We sat down to teach him and he had a lot of really different ideas and questions. He viewed the commandments as more of guidelines and thought the path to heaven was a highway instead of a straight and narrow path (only to name a few). We taught him and he had an objection to everything and tonz of random questions. BUT, we had the spirit with us and were able to give him a solid indisputable answer to everything he threw at us. It was awesome. He would say something with the face of "try and dodge that comment i dare you" and we would have a simple reply that couldn't be argued, every time. When I would respond to things he said, he would sit there quietly for a bit and say "i never thought of it that way"; at least until he thought of something else to argue. I'll be honest, it felt awesome to know that with the spirit, I would have an answer for everything. That's how awesome this gospel is! At that moment, I was completely confident there wasn't a question he could ask that I couldn't explain. I wish I felt that confident all the time. I have definitely had lessons before where they asked questions I didn't really know how to answer. but not this time. When I gave him answers he would tell me I was very good at explaining things and answering questions. It wasn't me, that is for sure, but it rocked just the same.

Late last night we had another small neat experience. We have been teaching this adorable Tamil lady named Vasugi. She has been a joy to teach. She goes to institute, sings in the branch choir, comes to church, it's only a matter of time... But lately she has been really busy. We were going to meet with her on Thursday but the other day she told us she was busy. THe only other night she could meet was Wed and we were busy that night. So, later we decided to move some things around and make time to see her tonight (wed). I called her last night and she picked up the phone saying "oh sister v I was just praying that you would call! I was praying to the God for guidance and direction and that you would call!" It is cool being the answer to a prayer, I am very grateful for a God that looks out for us individually and knows exactly what we need. He's the best.

I sure love you all. thanks for the emails!

sis v

Mar 2, 2010

Hello.
Dad I didn't know your book was in the stages of being published! that is so exciting. I can't wait to read it.
MYLDSMAIL had a face-lift and is now running through gmail. haleluja. But that means they changed my account on me. It is now jessica.viehweg@myldsmail.net. All of the emails sent to my other address will be sent to this one though, so they say, so no worries.
This week I celebrated my six month birthday can you believe it. Happy six months to me. Not that I am counting down or anything... whatever, I think every missionary counts down, it can't be helped.
This week has been ok. The exciting news for the week was Mr Kong's baptism. At church the next day the Elder's quorum Pres approached me and demanded to know why everyone was calling him Mr Kong instead of Brother Kong. I hadn't realized that it was kind of weird that we were calling him Mr. That's just what he has insisted on us calling him for the last four months, it will be hard to change that habit. It is weird to think that I met him after only being in Kuala Lumpur for 6 days. I cannot decide if the time has flown by or if it has inched along slowly, both descriptions seem true. Mr Kong has been so easy to get fellowshipped. I wish all of our recent converts had as many friends in the branch as he does. He will talk to anyone for forever. Sometimes it is draining because he talks and talks and taaaaaalks. But, he will approach anyone and instantly he thinks they are good friends. There have been a couple times where we have seen one of our investigators standing apart from everyone else at church or at a baptism and we send Mr Kong over to talk to them. We say, "Mr Kong, that man over there is new go talk to him" and off he goes, with the ability to make conversation for hours. It's great.

I feel like a lot of things have fell through this week. That gets frustrating. We have been teaching this man named Dambar and he has been great. He is from Nepal and is Hindu. He believes everything we teach him and knows it to be true. The problem is he has a wife in Nepal who says if he joins Christainity she wont let him come back. He wants to explain everything to her and he feels once he does she will understand. But she won't listen to him over the phone. So, his plan is to return to Nepal, explain things to his wife, move his family to Kathmandu (where the LDS branch is in Nepal) and be baptized as one big happy family. This is all great but he isn't going back to Nepal until 10 months from now. So far away! But we can't really ask him to be baptized now and ruin his marriage. There doesn't seem to be anything we can do. Dambar doesn't feel the sense of urgency that we missionaries feel. He is ok with coming to church, continueing to learn, and maybe getting baptized next year. He asked us if we could go to Nepal after we are finished in Malaysia to teach his wife and his entire home town. Oh how I would love to. Maybe I will go someday, around age 50-60, with my husband, as a senior couple. Nepal should be open by then :-)

We are kind of trying to find more local people to teach. It has been really draining this past week trying to answer questions like "What about when I go home? The church is 10 hours from my home" or "nobody in my town accepts Christianity"

We are excited about a man named Purna. Yet again, from Nepal. But he is really excited to be baptized. He has wanted to be baptized for a couple months now but had a job where he worked very far away from the church. He just quit his job and came back to KL, he is now living with Nanda. He wants to return to Nepal soon but we want to help him be batpized before he does. He is actually the pastor of a church he set up in Nepal. He asked us if it would be ok if he returns to nepal and teaches his church about The Book of Mormon and has everyone convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. uh ya that shouldn't be a problem purna...

The church isn't really growing rapidly in KL because we baptize so many foreigners and they return to their home countries. I hope they stay active when they go back, I worry that they don't.

This week I have had a pretty nasty cold, (same like you shannon!) Which is crazy because it is so hot outside. I usually only got colds in the winter time, it feels wierd to feel sick like this in the summer. I think what made it bad was yesterday. It rained like nothing i have ever seen yesterday. And we were outside, downtown, caught in the middle of it. The streets were rivers and we were soaked completely. By skirt felt like it weighed fifty pounds. Right after we got all wet we had an appointment to teach a guy and we met him in a mall. The mall was air conditioned so we froze in our wet clothes. That was the first time I really wanted to jump in a hot tub since being in Malaysia. Even though it was still way hot outside I remained cold until we got home that night. Not fun. Now everymorning when the Elders call they accuse me of sleeping during studies because my voice constantly sounds like I just woke up haha.

Hope everything at home is going super. Today we are going out to Chili's because one of the Elders is being transfered. It should be fun, but soooo expensive. American restaurants are crazy expensive. But, it's how he wanted to spend his last p-day so whatev.

Love you guys.
sis v

Feb 23, 2010 - Pictures!

Here's just a few pictures of Jess. Elder Nelson came and toured her mission so she got to meet him and his wife! That was probably incredible! I'll try to see if I can get a few more pictures put on here.

Feb 23, 2010

Hey dad.
Yes don't ever delete anything sent from Scott or Tobi Sanders. They are an
ex-pat couple here and he is serving in our branch presidency. They are
wonderful! I love this couple so much. I imagine them to be what senior
couple missionaries would be, if we had senior couples here. They help us
so much - my parents away from home. that was really nice of them to send
you pictures.
Yes, Elder Nelson came to visit our mission and he was in KL with his wife
yesterday. I have been meaning to tell you he was coming, we have known for
quite some time. I guess it slipped my mind. It was awesome to spend the
morning with him. We had a special meeting with him and his wife along with
the Asia area president. Just the missionaries from West Malaysia were in
this meeting, so there wer e 26 of us, which included the three senior
couples serving in W. Malaysia. It's always awesome to be in the presence
of an apostle. When he spoke to us he said very rarely does he remember
mission calls he has assigned, but he remembered very distinctly assigning
the calls of two missionaries in the room. Now, I was totally certian he
was looking right at me when he said that. But talking to the other
missionaries afterwards, they were also certain they were the ones haha. It
doesn't really matter who it was, it was cool to have the reminder that an
apostle of the Lord is the one who receives revelation on where we should
go. (But I was wearig the same shirt I wore for my mission picture I sent
in with my papers... just kidding) He had lunch with us also and sitting at
our table was President and Sister Clark, Elder and sister Nelson, and
Sister lim and I. It was a little terrifying. Elder Nelson was actually
pretty quiet. His wife did most of the talking. I love her, she was so
wonderful to talk to.
Later that night they had a meeting for all the members in the area. It was
at one of the hotels here. I tried so hard to get some of our recent
converts to come listen to Elder Nelson but they are all slaves to their
work and couldn't get time off. Mr Kong came though. He thought it was
pretty cool, he got to shake Elder Nelson's hand! What a way to begin your
new life as a church member. Mr Kong is getting baptized this Saturday.

Today for P-day we went to Genting Highlands, which is a resort on the
"mountain" here in Malaysia. We went with three people from the branch and
they warned us to bring sweaters because it is cold there. I brought one,
confident that I was NOT going to need it. And I was right. The locals
were shivering, and I felt like it was 70F. It was wonderful! That is the
coldest I have felt in a long time. There wasnt a river of sweat running
down my back for once. It was nice to spend the day up there.

Yesterday I got some sad news from my beloved Prem. He has been working a
lot so we have not taught him in a while. We have taught his wife Maya a
lot though and she is really progressing, also their housemate Dambar is
really progressing also. Prem has been the strong one this whole time so we
were happy about the progress we were making with the other two. The other
day though, Prem sent me a text message saying he was not going to come to
church anymore and that he had decided to get baptized in their old Born
Again church because there are more members in Nepal and it is more
established. That message hurt. He is keeping the baptism date we set for
him, just changing churches. We haven't met with him yet since he messaged
us, that was only yesterday. He obviously missed the concept of authority
in the church. Authority is everything, and when they don't get the
importance, they don't understand. I hope we can help him to see this. It
is so hard for some of these Nepali people that we have met. They want to
be Christian, but most of them are planning on returning to Nepal, and when
they hear that the only tiny branch in Nepal is 6 hours from where they
live, they decide to follow a different church. This has happened numerous
times to us. Elder Nelson had a QandA session for us missionaries and one
of the couples asked if the church was ever going to become a dominant force
here. Elder Nelson said, and brought it up a couple times after that, that
our numbers would always be few. This is not enticing to many of these
Nepali people. They don't like the fact that when they go home they will be
the only Christain of LDS member in their hometown. We start teaching many
people and they really like what we teach, but when they start thinking
about life when they return to nepal, its not as exciting for them. It is
so hard to be a Pioneer. I am really nervous about what is going to happen
with Prem and Maya. Whatever they do, I am certain they will do it
together. So if prem leaves, maya is gone too. We are just going to have
to really explain the Priesthood to them, it is so hard to get people to
realized the significance of this. I hope we can help them.
FAmily, let me tell you a story about what happens to an American girl with
bad genes who is forced to eat rice everday. She gets huge. It is
horrible. I am running more than I ever have in my life and we walk all
day, and my cheeks are still getting bigger and bigger. Asians eat so much
fried food, ugh. oh well.
Anyway, it sounds like everything is wonderful at home. That is sweet Deb
is doing Mrs Idaho again. Shannon tells me your her lacrosse coach dad.
Just another thing to add to your resume. I'm impressed. You do it all.
Thank you for all the emails. you guys are the best.
sis v.

Feb 16, 2010

wow california sounds wonderful dad. It always sounds like you are have
such a great time when you go to california. Someday I expect you will
never return. For me, a good vacation would be finding some really really
cold weather. That sounds nice.
Judging from some of the sibs' letters, they went crazy while the rents were
away... Just kidding not true.
Today we went to the Zoo! It was fun. My feet are killing me.
I have come to notice something about malaysians when they speak English.
They don't quite understand that when greeting someone, there is an exchange
that must occur. Often, when I pass someone on the street or anywhere, they
will say, or rather yell at me, "HELLO-HOW-ARE-YOU-FINE!" Like word vomit
in my face. They leave me with nothing to say back. I usually just smile
and wave because they have already said everything, they left me with
nothing. Ya, they don't understand there has to be an exchange of
greetings. It makes me laugh every time.
Family I am so jealous of the winter olympics. If I had remembered they
were going on right now I would have delayed by mission. :-) I am very sad.

On Sunday Muskan and Aite gave the opening and closing prayers for sacrament
meeting. They were excellent. Muskan went up to the pulpit (he speaks
hardly any English) and starts by saying, "Hello, I am Muskan, I don't speak
English..." This made many people in the audience (missionaries, kiran, and
branch pres) a little nervous, we thought he was going to continue and give
a talk; we thought maybe he didn't understand that he was supposed to say a
prayer. BUT, he continued "...I don't speak English, so I pray in Nepali"
And off he went. It was a long, long, loooooooong prayer. By the end
nobody was closing their eyes and people were even talking to each other. I
look up while he is "praying" and he is staring at the ceiling, hands at his
sides, just talking. Who knows what he said. I had to cover my mouth and
hunch over in my seat to hide my shaking laughter. It was so funny, to open
my eyes and see him up there staring at the ceiling praying, for about three
minutes.
Other news: Farooq was interviewed for baptism yesterday, he passed. I
knew he would. So unless something drastic happens he will be baptized on
Saturday. After his baptism he wants to change his name to Frank. I
personally like Farooq better but it is pretty common to change your name,
symbolizing the start of a new life. Farooq's son moved here last week and
Farooq wants us to teach him. He also called his daughters in Pakistan
while we were teaching him and had me talk to them on his phone. They were
cute, they didn't really understand anything I said, and I felt like I was
talking really slow. After I gave the phone back to Farooq he wanted me to
tell him how good their English was. He always proudly talks about how well
his kids speak English. I tole him they spoke very very well - even though
they couldn't understand me, he is such a proud father. I am happy his son
is here to see him get baptized.

Mr. Kong is also making wonderful progress. Last week we taught him about
the Word of Wisdom and at first he was doubtful he could follow it. But, we
called him a few days after to see how he was doing and he hasn't touched
the stuff since we taught the lesson. It's been almost two weeks and he is
still going strong. He is amazing. He will be baptized next week and he is
so excited. He tells everyone at church when it is and has even asked
people to give talks - he has been to a few baptisms, he knows how it works.
Remember the fat fish chips he gave us a while ago? He brought us some
again. This time, with Sister Lim, there was slightly a different reaction.
He brought them out of his bag and she screamed ,"I love these!!" Must be
an asian thing.

Prem and Maya are also doing wonderfully! Have I mentioned that they are a
beautiful couple. Prem is so so handsom and Maya is gorgeous. I love them.
In my last letter I mentioned how they weren't quite ready for baptism.
Well this has changed, I knew it would. We taught them on Friday again, and
while we were teaching I was thinking to myself, "how am I going to bring up
baptism again?" Before I thought of a good way to bring it up Prem pipes
up, "so still can baptism end of month yes?" I thought, "awesome". He
wants to be baptized with Maya so we explained that Maya had to committ to
come to church on Sundays before she could be baptized - she had not been
coming. Prem replied, "I hate her job anyway, she will come". It is
wonderful when we have the spouse on our side. So on Sunday sure enough,
Prem and Maya both came. I was so so happy. Prem's English is pretty good
but Maya can't really speak it at all. It is fun to see Prem explain the
concepts we teach to his wife, they eat it right up.

Today on the train to the zoo I met a wonderful lady. We were talking with
some members who came with us and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned
around and a women asked me, "are you from a church group?" I answered yes.
She asked which one. I told her. She asked if we were missionaries, I said
yes. She told me she wanted to learn more about our church and she wanted
to come to church on Sunday. Whoa. That doesn't happen everyday. How
simple. I gave her our card and pamphlet about the restoration, got her
phone number, and we will be meeting with her later in the week. I talked
to her for the rest of the train ride and then parted ways as we went to the
zoo. I am excited. We'll see how it goes...

Love you fam!
sis v

Feb 9, 2010

Hey guys, good to hear from y'all this week. It sounds like life at home is
going to good. You guys are busy busy bzzzzzzy. Same here. At least we
try to be.

I don't really know where to start. I don't feel like anything really out
of the ordinary has happened.
Wait, i take it back. I thought of some things.
Sunday this week was wonderful! I love fast and testimony meeting here in
the Kuala Lumpur Branch. The majority of the members are the first in the
their families and very recent. It is awesome to here them get up and share
simple testimonies of what they know to be true. They are always so
heart-felt, spiritual, and those that share always sound terrified haha. I
love it. Sunday was also awesome because Nanda was sustained as a Branch
Missionary. His first calling! He was happy. He has been asking about
this calling for a while. Naveen also got called as a Branch Missionary.
These two men are wonderful. I'm excited. They have already been helping
us missionaries so much, now it's all made official i guess.

Also on Sunday Aite, Muskan, and Som all got interviewed to receive the
Priesthood. Kiran and Nanda served as translators in their interview with
the Branch President since their English is not so great. I couldn't be
more happy. These boys are awesome.

This week Som brought one of his friends to teach. His name is Om. I don't
know if I have mentioned him yet but we have taught him once before. He is
a nice guy and seems genuinely curious about Christianity. We are really
working on getting him to come to church. That is the most important thing.
If they don't come to church, they can't really progress. Om also informed
us while we were teaching him that he had changed his name... to "oven"...??
No idea why. Oven? I mean really. Sister Lim laughed so hard when he said
that. She thought it was hysterical; after he said his new name she turned
to Nanda and asked,"and who are you? Rice -cooker?". I think she laughed
for a good 20 minutes. And she laughed during her closing prayer when she
tried to mention "oven's" name in the prayer. Nanda wasn't too happy about
that haha. Sister Lim thinks the oddest things are hysterical. I love it.


I can't remember if I have mentioned Paul Kan yet. Paul Kan is the Chinese
guy who left a note in the church mailbox saying "Hi, I am interested in
your church, my name is Paul Kan" with two phone numbers to call. We never
check the mail at church. The other week I decided to check it and found
the note. We have taught him a couple times already and he is amazing. He
joined Jehovah's Witness before but decided he didn't like anything about
that church. Everything we teach him he accepts. It is so easy. It's
weird almost. We invited him to be baptized yesterday and gave him a date
to work towards. About three weeks from now (we would probably do it sooner
but he has to attend church more). His response to that was, "so far away?"
We have only taught him three times now. He wanted to pay us for his "Bible
classes"; we told him no need. And again when we asked him to be baptized
he asked us if he should pay to have the font filled or pay for the
services. He always wants to pay haha. Hopefully this means teaching him
tithing in the future wont be too big of an issue. He also has his friends
come too. And he gets mad at them when they don't come, it's funny. Their
names are Wendy and Kenny. Kenny couldn't come the other day and Paul,
returning from talking with him on the phone, tells us Kenny can't come but
not to worry, he already yelled at him for us haha. Wendy has come every
time. She is Chinese also and doesn't speak that great of Englsih; so after
we teach something, Sister Lim teaches it once more in Chinese. Wendy is
great, she called us before we left to teach them the other day to remind
us to bring her a Book of Mormon in Chinese, we didn't have one with us at
our last lesson. So at least she is interested in reading it.

After teaching Paul and Wendy yesterday we went to teach Prem, Maya, and
Dambar - Nanda's friends. I love these people, they are adorable. We also
invited them to be baptized in our lesson last night and their response was,
"so soon?" haha. Totally different than Paul, and we have been teaching
them longer than we have Paul. It just shows that everyone is different and
progresses at their own pace. I think it is very rare to find someone as
prepared as Paul, someone who loves and accepts everything and knows it is
true the minute it leaves our mouths. I'm not worried that Prem, Maya and
Dambar declined baptism at all. At least it got them thinking about as
something they should be working towards.

Natalie: lately it has been so so so so hot. I am constantly sweaty. I
step out of the house and instantly I am wet from sweat. It's awesome :-).
It has not rained in a long time. Until yesterday that is... Yesterday the
rain was insane. The roads were like rivers. Sister Lim and I were walking
down the road and wave after wave from the cars drenched us. Sister Lim was
screaming. I thought it was pretty funny. We got to the church to teach
and there wasn't a dry spot on our clothing. Such is life in Malaysia. So
glad you wrote me.

Shannon: your teacher sounds awesome. loved the description. I love pink!
haha. Don't let your eyebrows get to bushy. What is Pace?

Danielle: get buff girl.

Macsen: loved the story about the Asians skiing. Hysterical. If you see
Connor again tell him "hi"

Man I love you guys. You all are so supportive. Did I tell you that sister
Mccurdy would always ask to read my letters because she hated the ones her
family sent her. They were always getting upset at her for something. She
especially like reading Shannons :-). Hope you don't mind shannon. So
thank you thank you for being so awesome.

sister v

Feb 2, 2010

Hey guys. how are you?

Life in Kl has been pretty sweet. The city is covered in red and gold
decorations for Chinese New Year. It is really pretty. I don't really know
much about this holiday but it is a pretty big deal. One tradition
definately rocks. all the married people give all the single people red
envelopes stuffed with money. Maybe I will score one.

Big news of the week was that Janak, Nanda's friend, and Muskan, Kiran's
friend, got baptized. Nanda baptized Janak, and Kiran baptized Muskan. It
was awesome. Nanda was pretty nervous I think. Getting him to agree to
baptize Janak took so much coaxing and convincing. We have been asking him
to do it ever since we started teaching his friends about two months ago.
At first he flat out refused. He refused every time we brought it up, and
he was pretty firm about it. Last week I stopped bringing it up because he
started getting a little upset every time I did. We were having our last
lesson with Janak a couple days before his baptism and I told Janak that
Kiran would be baptizing him. Nanda smiled really big and said, "oh thank
you sister" - he was happy I wasn't bugging him anymore about it. But, I
had to ask one last time so I added, "unless you want Nanda to...." Janak
shrugged his shoulders and didn't really care but Nanda said, "ok if sister
wants, if janak wants, it's ok". I was shocked. He didn't even put up an
argument. We have been trying to get him to do this forever! It was really
really cool to see them use their priesthood.

We are continuing to teach Farooq in his little guard hut. Last time we
taught him we set a date for him to be baptized. He is very excited. He
says he cannot wait to start a new life. It is always a funny experience
teaching Farooq. He is a security guard for a big construction site for
some condos being built. All the construction workers think it is the
craziest thing when we show up and sit in the shack and teach Farooq. One
random Indian guy even ran to the store and brought us back drinks because
he said in culture you can't invite people over without giving them drinks.


We also began teaching three more of Nanda's friends. Prem, Maya (husband
and wife) and Dambar. It is crazy to finally meet and teach a Nepali women,
I didn't know they existed... She is adorable. Unfortunately, she doesn't
read Hindi or English. So there is no way for her to really read the Book
of Mormon. We gave her a Hindi copy anyway and she said she would try to
figure it out. Nepalese and Hindi speaking are very similar, their writing
is different though. Her husband Prem is a dream. He loves church. They
have two kids at boarding school in Nepal right now. He asked for the
church's address in Nepal so he could send their kids to the church there.
He and Maya were going to be baptized into the Baptist church a couple of
months ago but decided not to at the last minute, "it just didn't feel
right". I am glad :-).

Naveen brought a friend for us to teach last night. It excites me so much
that Naveen is already sharing the gospel with friends. His friend's name
is Amarjit, he is from Punjab also. Amarjit joined Christianity a couple
months ago but doesn't go to church because all the different teachings in
all the different churches confuse him. Hmmmm, I think we can help this
guy... He said he will come to church on Sunday and we are seeing him again
on Friday. His English is not very good but he understands a lot and Naveen
helps with translating, so it works.

Hey I love you guys. Sure miss you.
I love america

sister v

Jan 27, 2010

Hey hey.
I didn't write yesterday because I was picking up my new companion from the
Airport. Sister Mccurdy was sent to Miri, Sarawak, East Malaysia to finish
the remaining three months of her mission. Her dream has been to go to East
Malaysia so I am happy for her. So far she has only served in Singapore and
KL. Her flight was at 11:50am so we took a taxi, I sent her off, and then
waited for Sister Lim to arrive at 1:30pm. BY MYSELF! Ya, it was insane.
I walked around the airport for about two hours all alone. How glorious. I
was surprised when the Elders told me that is what they wanted me to do.
Honestly, it was really boring. I just sat there studying Malay words and
got something to eat.
Sister Lim is from Kuching Sarawak, East Malaysia. She is Chinese
Malaysian and joined the church while working in Singapore a couple years
ago. She is cute, I love her accent. She is quiet but not becuase she is
shy. I introduced her to Nanda Som and Janak yesterday and she taught them
with me. Nanda was skeptical last week when I told him a chinese sister was
coming to take Sister Mccurdy's place. He seems to have it in his head that
only a white person knows enough to teach the gospel. I am pretty sure
Sister Lim won him over though. I think she is an amazing teacher. And he
was happy that she can speak Malay. I am really excited about the things we
can do together. I am hoping she will help my improve my language skills.
So, I am here in KL for another transfer. I am happy though, I would be
very sad to leave these boys.

Som was baptized on Friday. This makes me so so happy. Som was having a
hard time during the weeks leading up to his baptism. His family said he
would be dead to them if he joined Christianity. Naturally, this made him
very sad and worried. He kept asking Nanda how he did it, how he left his
family for church. Nanda would tell him, just wait until after your
baptism, then you will see. I guess Som was also having terrible nightmares
that were really scaring him. Poor guy, he never looked happy.
BUT, he showed up on friday ready to be baptized. Actually he was a
half hour late, which about gave me a heart attack. The change in Som was
instantaneous. All these men are different after they are baptized, but
none as much as Som. He was grinning from ear to ear, laughing, telling
jokes, speaking a ton of English that I didn't know was possible. It's
awesome. Nanda and Som are besties and when Som came out of the water Nanda
was so happy too; he snapped his fingers and said, "I love this one!".
Then, again in church on Sunday, I was sitting by Nanda when Some was
confirmed and he whispered "I am so happy" to me. I am glad these men are
feeling how wonderful it is to share the gospel with a friend.
This week Som brought a friend of his for us to teach. He has been
baptized 4 days and he is already a missionary. I love it.

Nanda found out the other day that I was a year younger than him and it
shocked his world I think. We were filling out a baptism record and I told
him my birthday. He yelled, "WHAT!" and made me say it over and over
again. haha I hope he can still respect me.

Kiran is filling out his mission papers! He is soooo nervous and it is
adorable. He always says, "but sisters, I don't knows how answer questions,
I don't know how to tell what is a good thing, what is a bad thing" I keep
telling him he will learn. I cannot wait for him to get his call. I
secretly hope he goes to the states because he is in love with "AMERICA!"
But I have a feeling he will stay over in this part of the world because she
speaks hindi, napali, pakistani, and malay. We shall see.

Farooq has quit smoking! That is the biggest news of the week. He had
worked his way down to one a day and when we stopped by the other day he
said he was finished with smoking. He does it no more. I was thrilled. I
am sure it is so hard to change an entire lifestyle. I am always so amazed.

Dad I will look into finding a way to tape/record these men's stories and
experiences. I think it is a wonderful idea. Some of them have been
through so much it is shocking. I feel really blessed to be around so many
wonderful people. Their faith amazes me. I don't know why I was called to
serve in such an amazing mission, I don't feel like I deserve the amazing
success we have been having. People here are just ready, us missionaries
hardly have anything to do with it. And I tell you what, when, not if but
when, a mission opens in Nepal, those missionaries are going to have their
hands full.
We took Nanda and Kiran to dinner at one of the Ex-pats homes on Monday.
They are the Sanders, from Utah, and she is working here at the US embassy.
He is retired from the FBI. They are wonderful!!! I love this couple so
much, they are my family away from home. And all of our recent converts
love them too. When we invited Nanda to come with us he was so happy. He
said he loves this couple so much and when he is with them he feels like he
is with his own parents. Nanda asked us to ask Brother Sanders if he would
be his Godfather, that's how much he loves him. I am so grateful for them,
they are always willing to help teach and invite people to their home.
While we were at the Sanders Nanda got a call from a friend of his. He
came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "my friend, he
want to go to church and take baptism". I replied, "now??" He nodded.
haha. I had to explain to Nanda that there are lessons we need to teach
before one can be baptized. So we are meeting with this man on Monday, Im
excited. He is also from Nepal. Like I said, people here are just ready. I
feel so blessed to be a part of it. I am learning a lot of Nepalese. I can
say "I am so so happy" "have you already eaten" "yes I have eaten" (since
that is the greeting here) and words like "prophet, heavenly father, jesus,
prayer, can" . It's fun. Nanda and Kiran love it when I speak Nepalese,
they think it is hysterical. But, they do tell me that I sound Nepali when
I speak it, which means my immatation of their accent is pretty good. Be
impressed family.

I love you guys. Thank you so so much for the letters. I feel very
spoiled. You are the best.

sis v

Also, the other week when I wrote congrats to brysons date, I meant
danielle, I must have been thinking of bryson making a fool of himself while
typing.