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.