Here ya go, yet another letter. Are you guys getting sick of these? I feel like I have written so many. I remember getting missionary emails back in the other life I had before this one and they would sit in my INBOX for weeks until finally i just deleted them (I know, I'm ashamed). I hope my letters don't bore you too much.
First things first, Happy Birthday Shannon tomorrow! - And anyone else you has a birthday around this time happy birthday to them too. I think 6 out of the 8 elders in this district have birthdays in Sept, must be a good month. (not as good as May though, that is for certain)
I got news that Britt and Brent got packed and on their way. That's exciting. I also got news that Shannon and Bryson have cell phones now? That's frightening, how'd ya swindle Dad into getting you one of those?
So you want to hear how my week went? It went swell. Moses and Payah and Amelia were baptized on Saturday. That makes for one complete family, cha ching! I'm so so so so happy. Saturday was a bit of a stress though. The baptismal font at the church buidling decided to die. Apparently it never drained from the baptism the week before, and since the water is not clean, it became a swamp while sitting there for a week. I thought the water looked green on a good day, but after sitting a week, oh nightmare. It was sludge at the bottom. The branch President from Branch 1 and 2 and the chinese group leader were all there trying to figure out what to do, along with the district Presidency, and one very incompetent "plumber?" - I don't think we can really call him a plumber. The pump to drain the font is broken, and no plumber in town knows how to fix it because plumbing in Sarawak consists of a bucket, a scoop, and a hole in the ground. Sister Wong and I thought to poor chlorine bleach in the water just so it would be safe, but Elder Dass quickly talked us out of it. He pointed out that all the algea would indeed die, but in so doing would turn brown instead of green. Better to have a lake-looking baptismal font that one that appears to be filled poo. In the end, we baptized everyone in it anyway. Did they care? Not a lick. These people dont care what the water looks like, they just want to be baptized. It helps that they have nothing to compare it too (the whole time I'm thinking of the perfectly clean, heated water of the fonts back home).
After being baptized we always invite the brand new members to share their testimonies before closing the baptismal service. Moses' testimony made me want to cry. He talked about how at first he didn't like the church, he didn't want to learn. But he said slowly the Book of Mormon changed his heart. That book has power, it truly is amazing. He also said the fact that we have a prophet alive changed his heart. "No other church has that!" he said. He also said the sister missionaries coming into his home and teaching his family changed his heart. I am grateful for the sisters that first started teaching him before I arrived. It was great to see all five of his daughters and his wife there, the three that were already baptized, the oldest being baptized with her parents, and the 3 yr old cheering them on.
I'd also like to share about Dhelany. Dhelany is the sister of our investigator Rhodeller. He introduced us to her and her husband the other week. Dhelany is 17, her husband is 18 (but he acts like he is 10, he's hysterical). We have been teaching Dhelany for two weeks now but just yesterday she truly opened up and we had the sweetest lesson. We went to teach her when it was just her and her husband at home so we could really focus on helping them; usually Rhodeller and his friend are there when we teach and they demand attention. We asked Dhelany if she had been reading and praying and she said a little. We asked her how she felt when she read and prayed and at first she said she felt just normal; but after a few more questions she opened up and started explaining about how when she read from the Book of Mormon she wasn't as angry as she usually is, she feels better, she feels happier, etc. We pointed out to her that these were feelings from the Spirit. We had been urging her and her husband to read and pray so they would recieve an answer about whether or not it was true. We asked her if she thought it was true and she asked, "how will I know? what is the answer like?" We simply pointed out to her that those feelings she had while reading and prayer were her answer. I told her I thought she already had received her answer. Haha after I said that her eyes got big and she said, "really? I thought God was supposed to come and talk to me like he did Joseph Smith!" I laughed and said, "although that would be awesome, an answer like the one you got is just as good."
She got pretty excited and started asking all sorts of questions like, "how do I know if I sin? I already follow the word of wisdom so what other sins are there?". You see, whenever we teach Rhodeller and Jonny we focus on the Word of Wisdom because that is their main issue. But Dhelany already follows, she didn't know what other sins there were. Originally we planned to teach about The Gospel of Jesus Christ, about faith, repentence, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end, but we aborted that idea and decided to teach the ten commandments instead. She wanted to know what other commandments there were, so we gave em to her! She is catholic but had never heard of any of the ten commandments before. How can that be! She understands now, more of what she needs to do to overcome her sins, which are very different than those of her brother. Unfortunately this story does not end happily. At the end of the lesson she told us they are all moving. They aren't moving far, infact they are moving closer to the church, but they are moving into the Elder's area. NOOOOOOOO. We have to pass them to the Elders. So, we are losing 3 investigators. So sad. Really, i'm sure it will all end happily, i just wont be involved anymore, I hate that. Especially since we just barely got her to open up to us. why why WHY? oh well. the work goes on.
Hope all is well in the blessed US of A!
loves
sis viehweg
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