September 14, 2010

Hey Dad,

No worries about not writing. Lucky for me, our family is big, so I always get at least one email every week. You all are the best. Dad it sounds like you had an excellent birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. One year older, and oh so much wiser too. It sounds like you and Deb have a lot of exciting things starting up with work and everything. I hope it all goes well. That is tight Dan went off to the Navy, I remember him always talking about it. I forgot it was football season. Dad when you wrote about Football in your email I thought, "why is he writing about football its the middle of the summer?" wrong. Its not summer anymore is it. It all sounds exciting. I hope the year turns out well.

Hey that's so awesome you found Bro Doxey, or he found you. I love them! His daughter and son-in-law in the KL branch are so cool, as is he of course. They made us Japanese curry all the time. I remember having a conversation with him about how you and he both served in Sapporo.

It was a good week in Malaysia. Over the weekend was Hari Raya, which was cool. It's the holiday that marks the end of the month of fasting for the Muslims. All the Mulsims were dressed up in the traditional clothing all weekend, and went around visiting everyone all weekend. It was cool to see. For this holiday it is tradition for friends and family to visit their Muslim friends home and eat. We got to follow some branch members on some of these visits just for fun and it was cool. It was the first time I have ever been in a Malayu's home. They fed us delicious curry and rice and some wierd cakes. As we were leaving they insisted on getting a picture with us because they thought it was so funny two Americans came to visit their home on Hari Raya - so they said. That all happened around lunch time.

Later that night we followed Tungalim and her kids around to visit their Malayu friends. It was kind of like a progressive dinner. We went from house to house sitting and eating. Except the food wasn't a dinner, it was candy, cookies, sugar, sugar, and more sugar. I felt so sick. Every home we went to they would give us some sugar drink and then put dozens of bowls in front of us filled with Malay treats. It was fun. It was cool to be apart of the Malay culture for once. I always feel so separated from the Malays because they are never involved in our work. The fire works seem to have been going off non-stop since Friday.

There is good news on Rusillapetra, ya i know, weird name. We have been frustrated because she has to watch her younger brothers on Sundays and is not able to bring them to church right? She said that things had changed and that her father was willing to watch the boys but really, nothing has changed. She still hasn't been able to come. We have been fasting for her and we feel things are looking up. She is so much more dedicated to learning than she was a few months ago when we first started teaching her. She is really excited when we come over now, and she is more open towards us. Her little brothers like us too now. When we first started teaching her they were terrified of us and would hide. Now, when we come they know to fold their arms and close their eyes to get ready to pray. It's cute.

Another miracle happened with Rusilla the other day. She has a cousin we have been trying to get to know better, but the cousin really didn't want anything to do with us. We would try to talk with her and she wouldn't even look at us, she would stare at a tree and try and act like we weren't there...so weird. We kind of gave up on trying to teach her. However, yesterday we went to see Rusilla and she was so happy. She said that her cousin had told her she wanted to come to church with her on Sunday, and because her cousin wanted to come, her aunt (the cousins mother) was supportive of it, and because the aunt said it was a good idea, the aunt told Rusilla's father, and somehow conviced Rusilla's father it was good for them to go to church, so now Rusilla's father agrees with the aunt and will watch the kids on Sunday, hopefully. We don't know what changed the cousin's mind. Maybe it was yesterday when we told the back of her head we hoped it could come to church this week....i dunno. I'm happy though.

Let me tell you about Jonny. We have been teaching a boy named Rhodeller for a while and the other day he introduced us to his friend Jonny. Jonny is Roman Catholic, but one day saw that Rhodeller was reading from the Book of Mormon and realized that he had the same book. He was curious about this book they both had so Rhodeller invited him to learn from us too. I love it when investigators act as missionaries. The first time we met Jonny he came with his English copy of the Book of Mormon, it was old and it looked like he had had it for a long time. We asked Jonny where he got his copy of the Book of Mormon and he told us that his Catholic priest had given it to him in Sibu, a town farther south. He said the priest had given out quite a few copies to members there.... very interesting. He liked the book and is excited to learn more. It's been a little difficult teaching him though because he has the belief that all churches are right, no churches are wrong, it doesn't matter how you worship as long as your heart is good. He is coming around though. It just think it is so interesting how he was led to missionaries...

The Primary president has asked me to come in the last hour of church these past few Sundays to play the keyboard for the kids singing time. I am more than willing because, in all honesty, Primary is way more fun that Relief Society. I don't feel bad about it either because we have no female investigators, so it's not like a really need to be there right? That's my justification. I love hearing malaysians sing, they slurr the notes all over the place, it's adorable. Whats even better? Hearing Malaysian kids sing. I sit there at the keyboard and pretty much cry haha. I'm such a baby. But they are so cute!

Anyway, that's all for now I think. Guess what, my hair is getting longer. But the cut is still so awkward from the hack-job I got in KL. I guess it's ok though because I have to wear it in a pony tail everyday because of the helmet. I got work from sister Wong that they changed the dress code for the Sisters while she was in the MTC. Everything is ok to wear, and their skirts don't have to be mid-calf anymore, they just have to cover the knee when sitting. And you can wear accessories and hair stuff! There is definitely a new face to the sister missionary. She didn't even have to wear nylons in the MTC, they totally did away with that rule. I'm glad too, I felt bad for all the sisters who had to serve in missons that required nylons; its a form of torture. The things she brought are so much cuter than mine. Oh well. They are all going to get ruined anyway, if they aren't already...

love you all

sis viehweg