January 26, 2011

Good news. The rain has let up a little, the floods are down a little, but Malaysia still smells bad.

How are you?!
Today Sister Wong spent our P-day biking all over downtown Miri. It's crazy how little of Miri we see. Our area is just around the river so we rarely get to see much of the shops and such. We had a good time looking at the the handicraft stores here. There is a lot to see, and a lot to buy, and a lot of people working on me to buy their products. It's cuz I'm white. I walk into a little Iban handicraft store and the owner immediately see's Cha-Ching! And then they find out I speak the language and they go beserk. Always a good time. I will miss everyone loving me so much when I leave this country haha.
I'm sitting in the noisy gamer-room/internet cafe, looking out the window, and seeing the angry clouds rolling in. It has definitely been dryer but when 5:00pm rolls around, there are no promises. Where does all this rain come from??? Maybe the ocean a few steps away is the source...just maybe...
Well lets see this week has been fun I think. Over Christmas and New Years Miri took a hit as far as the work goes and we haven't quite gotten back up to the way we were. Not sure why. We can't find people as fast as we drop em. The other day Sister Wong and I got drop-kicked hard core by a family we thought was excellent. They are the parents and sister of another family that was baptized a while back. They told us they wanted to learn and be baptized, then they didn't, then they did again, now they don't; I can't take this roller coaster of emotions!!! The latest is they are already registered to be baptized in their other church known only to the Island of Borneo. They aren't even baptized! just registered to be baptized. The lady told me the last time we saw her, "I'm sorry, I believe it is true, I want to follow, but we are already registered to be baptized in the other church". My thoughts: "Well.... can't you just...UN-register?" I thought about saying to her the next time I saw her, "Hey! I called your pastor and it's all taken care of. You're un-registered now! Isn't that great? You're welcome." But maybe that isn't such a good idea. The good news is, Sister Wong in attempting to call this lady again, accidentally got a hold of one of her sons. Sister Wong said she was sorry she had the wrong number but then asked the guy, "so...do YOU wanna learn?" He said "sure". Boo-Yah. That's why my daughter is the best. She has done this before, she is a pro at getting new investigators by calling wrong numbers. So the other day we met, Osaka, his brother Robert, the lady-who-didn't-want's sons. Maybe they will be good examples to her. It's sad, Sister Wong and I have no trouble at all getting young, single men between the age of 17 and 35 to want to learn. Why is that? I just don't know.... I couldn't possibly put my finger on it.... I swear we are innocent.
Teaching these boys was a joy. One of them has actually learned before, but he was embarrassed because he couldn't read. Honey that ain't nothin new. They actually talked and responded to questions and asked questions. I love teaching people who are smarter than a piece of wood. It doesn't happen very often. But it's only been one lesson so I'll try not to get my hopes up too much. Or maybe I should keep them up.... Does high hopes equal high faith?? Not sure on that one.
We also got a referral from a family in the branch. They are the poster family of the LDS church in Miri. Everyone loves them, and they are all beautiful people. The husband and wife say they have been praying for years that their older son would have a change of heart and desire to learn about the gospel. Just last week I guess he called his father up and said he wanted to learn. Sister Barama, the mom, was telling me that she couldn't believe it when he told them. After so many years her prayers are answered. Unfortunately he works off shore so he is gone for 4 weeks, then home for 2. Slowly but surely though he will learn. I am excited for their family. Like the father mother and all the kids, this son did not escape the beauty they all possess. He was so handsome and quite a joy to teach actually... :-).
On Sunday last, we were invited over to one of our recent converts house to meet many of their extended family. This couple has been very excited about missionary work and especially excited to have us teach their family. However, when we arrived it was quite apparent that it was a trap. As much as we have tried to tell these recent converts of ours that they need to ask their family if they want to meet us first, they think it a better idea to invite us both over at the same time without telling them. "It will be like a surprise!" they said. It sure was a surprise. When we walked in I saw a few eyes roll haha. Oh well. It all turned out ok and we actually had a very nice lesson about the church and families. In fact at the end and after we invited them to church on Sunday one of the brother in-laws said, "you know, it's been a really long time, I mean a REALLY long time since I have been to church. What you have said is great. I think I'll go attend my church this Sunday" Great, we reactivated him into his old church. I guess you could consider that a step up maybe...
We'll see how it goes.
Thanks for all the emails!
I sure love you guys!
I'm gonna go buy groceries now
sister viehweg

January 18, 2011

Please don't tell me its raining! please oh please oh please. I need snow. I'll die without it. I really will.

So fam, how are you? y'all seem to be chuggin along. Dad thanks for the email. You always have such cool things to share, it makes it seem like home life is so exciting. Is that the case? Because right now I am starting to get the feeling that it isn't going to be.

Weather update: it was been a torrential downpour here in Miri for the past five days. I have never seen so much rain in my life. And it hasn't stopped, not once. I think monsoon season is here.... Everything is flooded, everything. The other day we were biking on roads where the water was high enough to cover half our bike tires. With every pedal stroke our feet plunged into the water, disappearing to about mid calf. It was kind of like riding a paddle boat, kinda cool. But also very nasty because, like I have mentioned before, many of the houses sit over the river on stilts, their toilets (holes in the floor) dump into the river, the river rises and covers the streets, the river looks like Willy Wonka's river of chocolate but smells of death, and we wade through it. Oh so sick. I keep expecting to see floaties but then I think to myself, I don't think Sarawakians know what it's like to have a solid stool... I sure forgot what's its like.... There is definately something in the water. I probably shouldn't have written that. Too much info?

For those who don't have houses on high enough stilts, their houses are flooded. Poor Sister Tungalim and Brother Essau have about six inches of water sitting in their house. Luckily they have a little up stairs where they sleep. They only have benches so when we go visit them there are still places to sit, just our feet are in the water. The mosquitos are insane. The funniest thing is that I realized their wooden planks for flooring aren't nailed down. I never knew til now. Since the river has come in most of the planks started rising with the water level. You step inside, the floor sinks, you take another step and the floor you last stepped on rises again. So interesting. They have a great attitude. We waded up to their house and they were all excited to see us, they brought out the candles and made us hot chocolate. Then they had us take pictures of them standing in their flooded living room, laughing and sporting the peace sign, just so they could remember. No attempts can be made to clean up the house until the river goes down....and since the rain has yet to stop, who knows when that will be. The locals say back in the day it never would flood but ever since they started cutting down the rain forest for palm oil plantations the rivers have been filling up with sediment or dirt run off, result: flooding.

It's all making it quite difficult to get people to church or go anywhere. On top of their deathly fear of rain, we have rivers as roads. They have water attacking them from the ground and the sky. It all makes life kind of exciting though.

Seriously so much rain.

It's kind of embarrassing when we show up to people's houses totally soaked. They probably think we're crazy. Actually there is no question they think we are crazy. Here, if it is raining everyone is sick. Once the clouds open the sickness comes. I personally think it is all mental but what do I know. When we go to homes all wet they always tell us we are going to get sick and die. I always reply back that white people don't get sick, ever. haha sometimes they believe me, most of the time they laugh and say "you lie" or something. But then I always go on to say, "no really, when it rains I don't get sick, ever" It's totally mental. That or the fact that white people pop pills like it's their day job. Here, when people have a headache or stomach ache they are out for the week. In our culture you down a pill, drink some nasty syrup or something and you're off again no time to rest. I think that's a main reason for my frustrations here. When people say they are sick and cannot do anything, can't leave the house for anything I think to myself, "soooo what about that?" Everyone is sick, deal with it. I have no empathy, that's something I need to work on.

Right now I am at the Senior sister's apartment using their computer. Sister Wong went to Singapore for a chop. I'm alllllllll alooooonnnnee wahahaha. jk. As sister wong was getting out of the car at the airport this morning she said to Sister Lowe, "let me know how much I owe you for babysitting when I get back" I need a babysitter; it's kind of rediculous when you think about it.

Mission tour was great. Elder Pratt and his wife were wonderful. We got trained a lot on qualifying for the spirit. There is so much to do just to get the Spirit it's amazing to me we EVER have it. But somehow, we do something right and it comes every once in a while. They also got after us about building the kingdom, instead of just baptizing. We just have to be better, better teachers, better examples, better spiritual guides, better explainers, better committers, it's a little daunting.

Love you guys like always. you're in my prayers. be good

sister viehweg

January 11, 2011

Hello Hello.
I'll have you know, Brittany and Macsen, that I made pumpkin roll with the cans of smashed pumpkin you sent me and it was heavenly. Sister Wong had never tried pumpkin roll before and she was addicted. I've never seen a roll disappear so fast. She's Asian which means she is a family of non-bakers. Tragic. It was goooooooood. I didn't make a pie because the price of shortening here is rediculous, and plus I like the roll better. So thank you thank you thank you. I'll probably be making some more real soon with the rest of it, as soon as I can save up to buy more cream cheese (it's a little on the pricey side).
For Christmas for Sister Wong I brought back some Japanese curry seasoning from Singapore on one of my VISA trips. We made it on Sunday and it was heavenly. My future family better love curry because that is all I am going to make ever. Also Brittany, the two candles you sent me are both almost gone; partly because we burn them all the time, and partly because i knocked one over while burning the other day. Wax was everywhere, what a mess; our Area Book smells wonderful... They make our apartment smell awesome.
So, how is it going in America?
We just got back from hiking Lambir again today. I believe I might have told you about hiking it before. Good news is, we didn't get lost this time, and I escaped getting bit by leeches again. Other Elders were not so lucky. I brought salt. Yes, when I whipped it out at the trail head and salted my legs, socks, and shoes, they did indeed make fun of me. And again throughout the hike as I would sprinkle my sock line here and there they would make fun of me. But who didn't get any bites? Me. And who got bit? the Elders. And who later asked if they could barrow the salt I brought? The Elders. We had an awesome time hiking. Although we managed to get through the hike with no rain, it might as well have, seeing how wet we all were. We each had our own personal rain going on. We sweat so much.
This week has been going good. We were informed on the new yearly mission wide goals this week; and I'm stressed. I hate numbers, but they make us get our rear in gear; or at least in more gear, since it already was in gear to begin with. Oh man just thinking about the new goals makes me tired.
Next week we have mission tour. Elder Pratt is coming, and I'm embarrassed to say I don't know who that is.... But it should be good. The area 4 hours south of us, Bintulu, are all busing up and all of Sabah is coming too. There are four sisters serving in Sabah so we are excited to have them stay with us for the night. party. Sister Goodwin is one of those sisters, from my MTC threesome; I always get excited meeting up with her in Singapore for our short trips and such. She's the best. There will be a lot of missionaries and it should be fun.
Chinese New Year is a live and underway. It's not until the 3 and 4 of Feb but it may as well be tomorrow. The red and gold is everywhere.
Our investigators are dropping like flies. One day they want, the next day they don't. I have tried not to write in my journal and frustrations I may have because I usually end up regretting what I write. Let's just say this week, I haven't been writing in my journal very much. Our lack of committed people on top of all the new goals we were just given makes for one very stressful senior companion. But that's ok, what's a mission without stress?
If I have learned anything on my mission it is to not trust what anyone says no matter what. Not really, but that is how I feel this week. The lies keep coming. Life goes on though. We are going to spend some times trying to find families because all the single men we have been teaching just aren't working. They definitely are not in it for the right reasons; they just want a white girl to be their friend, the punks.
Sister Lowe just bought us a blender! She is so nice. We have been going smoothie crazy. My favorite combination has been pinapple, guava, papaya, peach yogurt, and banana. All fresh fruit from the market stands. Oh baby it is good.
Hey I gotta run. Gotta still write president. See you later!
Love you all
Sister Viehweg

January 5, 2011

Wow, what a good description about Edgar's passing Dad. I remember meeting him a number of times. That is way way neat that he had such an impact on people even in the last days of his life. Although I am sorry you had to go to so many funerals; those are hard. It sounds like you guys had a wonderful holiday. Picturing everyone sitting around watching movies or playing games is so so...fun. Actually dad this is the year of the RABBIT; Which just so happens to be MY YEAR. They come every twelve years and my 24th year I just so happen to be spending among the Chinese. Hooray for the year of the rabbit, Gong Xi Fa Cai! or however you spell it. I have come to love Chinese New Year, it is so fun, with such good food, and amazing red and gold decorations. I love it. So for all you Rabbits out there, Live it up this year! Ya, I know, rabbit is a lame animal. Sister Wong was born the year of the Dragon, how cool is that? But at least I wasn't born year of the cow, how sucky would that be. Count my many blessings.

Sorry it got so cold to ski, what a tragedy. Doesn't seem possible that the weather can really get that cold. Here in Miri we celebrated New Year with a Branch party at the church that was a total disaster. I didn't think party planning was rocket science but for people here, it might as well be. There was a bunch of delicious curry dishes layed out for display right when you walk in, but they decided to first usher everyone into the chapel and sit while each and every person with a calling in the branch made a speech. Then they started showing some of the DVD made from youth conference, which nobody cared to see except for the youth. Sister Lowe had about enough and asked the lady who seemed to be in charge what the deal was, people were hungry! The RS pres said, "Well last year we ate first and then after the food everyone left and didn't stay to have any fun; so this year we are making people have fun first before they can eat." Right..... so..... That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. The party was started at 6:00pm and by 8pm everyone was still in the chapel bored out of their mind. Finally at 830pm we ate, but by that time almost everyone had gone home. As people were leaving Sister Wong was trying to get them to stay but my thoughts were, "let 'em go, this party blows, I'm embarrassed to make them stay". You see, the key is to get people having fun WHILE they eat. Is that so hard? Oh it was embarrassing; especially since we talked up the party to all of our recent converts and got them all to come. All of them left before getting any food. I'm just the missionary though, not the party planner, not my deal. And maybe it is just my past of fabulous Christmas/New Years parties that made this one blow so bad, maybe the locals thought nothing of it and had a great time..... doubt it.

Want to know something funny. It's been the holdiays right? And we have been fed a lot and been invited to people’s houses a lot, and poor Sister Wong is putting on a little bit of weight. It's just what happens to sister missionaries in this mission. I personally haven't noticed it but everyone we meet comments about her weight gain. Poor girl. I got it too when I first arrived. The interesting thing is though, after they point out that she has gained weight they compliment her on how good she looks, and how much cuter she is now that she has gained a little. They even have said, "Sister Wong soon you will be beautiful like Sister V, look how big she is". What a compliment..... It shows how messed up our society is and how freaked out everyone is about getting fat. The people here love it, they think it's beautiful. We were talking with a man and wife the other day trying to get them to come to church and he kept saying he only had a motorcycle, how could he bring his wife? We told him to double up and have her sit behind. He laughed and said about his wife standing right next to him, "you see my wife? She's fat! The moto won't hold." She wife just tipped her head back and laughed. Wow, couldn't believe her husband would insult her like that; but she didn't mind, afterall, it was true. To them saying someone is fat is just like saying someone is tall, it's just an observation. Weird people.

I think the theme for this past week is God Works in Mysterious Ways. I don't think I have time to write about all the roundabout ways God has blessed our missionary efforts this week. It's been in really, REALLY mysterious ways; like ways that seem everything is going wrong until the very very very end.

EXAMPLE: A good portion of our Recent Converts have gone back to the bottle. They drink more now than they EVER did before they were baptized. No matter what we did we couldn't get them to remember their coventants, or care about them. It felt horrible. I thought to myself, "they're worse off now than they were before they met us and learned. Wasn't it better for them to just sin in ignorance?" uhhh it stunk. It got so bad that they started causing a disturbance in the area they lived. We went to their house one day only to find they had run because everyone in that area hated them. They jumped cities. They didn't even say goodbye to us. It hurt. BUUUUTTTT, the family that moved into their old house is a family we have been trying to work with for a very very long time now. Before, this family of four kids lived in a house full of Muslim bachelors and it was impossible teaching conditions. The father of this family wanted nothing to do with us, and the wife was so shy she would only follow her husband. We helped this family move and now they are in a home of their own. The father came up to us and told us he wanted to learn. I was so shocked simply because he did not like us at all before. He said he didn't want to be the way he was anymore, which was a total drunk. I think it had to do with all the trouble he saw his friends (our recent converts) get into because of alcohol. I thank heaven their poor example of the church didn't affect him for the worse. We are teaching the family now. The wife is thrilled we are helping her husband stop smoking and drinking. She is also thrilled we are helping her 11 year old son stop smoking and drinking....how disfunctional. It's good there was a rainbow at the end of our recent converts tragic storm.

EXAMPLE 2: Last week we worked really hard to find a lot of new people to teach. Our efforts were blessed and we did indeed find many who said we could come back. Unfortunately, last night when we went back to each of these homes, all three of them had stood us up. One house was completely black and locked. Another house had all the lights and generators on, people inside, but they wouldn't answer the door. As we walked away we could see people peeking out the windows. How mature are we??? And the third just simply said they didn't want anymore. It was about 8pm at night and I was bummed. Luckily my little junior has a spirit no one can get down (I swear that's why they put juniors and seniors together. Either they are so happy all the time because they are clueless as to what is going on, or they really do have an amazing excitement for work regardless what happens). We were near a house of a lady we had met many weeks ago that nothing really came of. We saw that her lights were on so Sister Wong said "let's go chat with her" Personally, I wasn't too excited but off we went. Upat is her name, she was sitting on the porch with her three grandsons. It didn't take long for one of her grandsons to find out we were from a church. He said, "great! I have been looking for a church to join!" My thoughts: "Seriously?" Oh I have so much to learn as a missionary and I only have two months left to learn it. Then, a little while later her son came home. Her son was totally smashed and it was hysterical watching him try to walk up the crooked boardwalk. He sat down and talked with us for a while and he was the funniest drunk I have ever met (and I've met a million here). Although he was drunk, he told us that he had read the entire Restoration pamphlet we had given his mom, and had been searching everywhere for a Book of Mormon. Sister Wong reached into her bag and pulled one out saying, "oh you mean this book?", handing it too him. He was so happy. I don't know what it will be like teaching him when he is sober, we shall see, but his mom did say that when he is sober he really is a smart boy and has a desire to learn.

Nothing may come of these two people we met last night, but I still know it was Heavenly Father's way of blessing us for hard work. I remember hearing stories like this, or "the last house at the end of a very long dark neighborhood street" kind of stories in the MTC thinking, ya right that's totally a made up story; I've heard the gist of that story a million times. I've learned though, that the reason I may have heard a story similar to it so many times is because every missionary, probably in every mission, has an experience like this one. An experience where they are tired, frustrated, mad, and at the point of giving up, but they don't, and then God blesses them. Now that I think about it, it has happened to me over and over again. Oh how much He loves His missionaries. It's good to be one.

I love you all. I know it's all true. No doubt in my mind

Sister viehweg

December 21, 2010

Merry Christmas Family!

I hope everyone maded it home safely despite the storms. Oh the blessed snow storms. How jealous I am.

Business first, I beleive we are about 15 hours apart so call me at 5:00pm-5:30pm your time and it will be around 8:00-8:30am Christmas morning here. Thanks your guys. You're the best. I've been debating whether or not to tell you this but I guess I will, we have been given permission to Skype or use any other form of web video cam to talk to our families on Christmas, but I don't want to. Don't hate me, but with it getting closer to 2 months left I don't think I can handle it. For sure,your voices are going to trunk me outa my mind enough.... :-). So, that said, I'll be awaiting your call.

This week I flew to singapore for my very last VISA chop. They flew me in Monday morning and I was back in Miri Tuesday night about 5:00pm. It was a very quick trip, but I still had time to see my favorite person, Yong Yong. (Also known as the late Sister Lim, my old companion). We met up in Singapore and went to dinner. She took me to a great Japanese restaurant. It was so hard to call her Yong Yong. I kep calling her sister Lim all night long. It was so so so so good to see her again. Now that her mission is over she is working for Micron in Singapore and serving as the Ward Young Women's President; which she says is way harder than missionary work. Sister Lim looks so good. I couldn't believe it. This mission truly turns girls frumpy. Not that Sister Lim was ugly but seeing her Singapore was like seeing a totally different person. Her torn skirts and faded button up tops were traded for black skinnies and an adorable top. The mud-stained back pack was replaced with a huge white leather purse. And the farmer tan that comes from being in the not sun all day was gone; she was looking as pale and beautiful as ever. She definitely fit in with all the beautiful Singaporians. It's wierd how people love the pale here, my mindset has even changed. Every time I look at my dark arms I think, oh how sad, if only they were pale again. I'm sure that will change once I get back into American society.

It was great to spend the night with her. Also with us was Sister Goodwin and Wing, my old MTC companions, coming in for their last chop too. We had a good time. Singpapore during Christmas time is incredible. The decorations are awesome. This city is truly amazing. I love Singapore.

Now back in Miri I feel like I'm kinda in a final stretch. After talking with the Assistants in Singapore for a while about numbers I have realized that Sister Wong and I have been blessed with a lot of success. I really don't want it to stop. When I got back we talked and I expressed my desires to work hard until the very very end. I have seen a lot of missionaries slack the last few months and I really don't want that to be me. So, we set some goals and we are going to rock Miri. I love love love being a missionary.

Christmas in this culture is interesting. It's going to be a little like Hari Raya I think. Everyone, has an open house and everyone visits everyone. I think I already mentioned this. So all day long we are going from house to house to house. We're going to visit everybody. And I am sure they are all going to want us to eat, and I know I am going to be so sick by the end of the day. Missionaries who served in sarawak last christmas have said they threw up a couple times on Christmas. Everybody loves to feed the missionaries. It is really messing up my attempts to diet that last few months before home. I can't resist their pleas, and if I say no they look so very sad that I won't eat their food. Oh well.

This letter is short, but I'll talk to you all on Christmas. If its going to be a conference call get everyone else on first before me, last year was a little confusing.

Love you guys

Merry christmas

sister viehweg

December 14, 2010

Hey guys,

How's home? How are finals?...suckers. Just kidding. I'm sure all is going well. It's hot here.

No email from you this week dad but if you could let me know about christmas next week that would be so great, just so I know if I need to go out and buy a phone card or something. My number is 016 920 0463, don't remember what the country code for malaysia is. Last time macsen seemed to have it all figured out. My comp says you can use Google phone for 4cents a minute...

Malaysia is great. We went caroling last night with members from the branch. It wasn't the typical caroling I'm use to but it was fun. A bunch of cars full of members would show up at people's homes, everyone would cram inside the tiny home, we would sing, pray, and then sing again, and then they would give us drinks and crackers. Whoever was in charge I assume was calling people ahead and telling them about 20 people were coming, because the drinks and refreshments were ready and waiting for us. I thought we were going to knock sing and leave, like normal, but that's not the Iban way. Every time you go ANYWHERE, you must drink. It actually felt like Christmas.

Family I want to tell you about an important skill I've learned while serving this mission; a skill that I am certain will stay with me for the rest of my life. That skill is............ riding a bike with no hands. Ya, it's awesome. I've been practicing. I originally started practicing because my back would hurt just a little bit from being hunched over for so long. When you can ride without hands you can sit straight up. Ah man it's the best thing ever. I'm so proud of myself. It's truly changed the feeling of my mission.

Let's see what other news....

We're teaching some great people right now. But with each of these great persons comes a lot of drama. I swear, if you teach young single people, you're not as much a missionary as you are therapist. For reals. Everyone has problems. I guess i should be thrilled to help.

One guy called us three times one night at 1:00am. I woke up to the first two rings but there was no way I was going to answer because I was tired! Between 11:00pm and 7:00am is MY TIME. On the third ring though, I felt bad and answered. He was freaking out because he thought his baptism was the night before and he had slept through it. Everytime we meet him (3 times a week) we remind him his baptism is Dec 18, and everytime he doesn't remember. I guess I shouldn't have been suprised he forgot, yet again. I wasn't too thrilled to get a phone call that late. People here have no sense of scheduling whatsoever.

I feel really happy. We are keeping busy, which is good. This week a lot of the people we are teaching will be baptized and I'm excited. Now we just have to go out and find more... The other week we found a really cute family, but only a few days after we met and taught them they moved to the Elder's area. We referred them to the Elders, and they are getting baptized at the end of the month. We're sad we had to pass them but we are glad that it is all working out. I feel like I give more referrals than I get...I guess it doesn't matter who teaches as long as people get taught.

This week on Sunday was quite a scene. We met a guy that said he would come to church this past week and he is pretty cool. He's got a red mowhawk, earings, and more tatoos than you could imagine. But he was interested in learning. On Sunday he showed up at church with a brother and two friends with him. They all looked just as "sumsang" (gangster) as he did. There they were, sitting on the very middle row of the chapel, sticking out like sore thumbs, with me sitting next to them. Oh man it was a picture. They looked so funny. I'd tell them to wear different clothes other than their skinny jeans or huge baggy shorts and trucker hats but they don't have any other clothes. Maybe for christmas we'll go buy them some white shirts of something. The red mowhawks were the best. Before Sunday Joseph and Presley (2 of them) asked, pointing to their hair, if they would be allowed at church. I told them their hair was definitely strange, which made them laugh, but of course they were welcome at church. They have agreed to be baptized next month.

It's an interesting situation because we originally met their dad who really wanted us to come and teach his wife and kids. When we went back though the father said to teach only them, not him. He says he's "not ready yet". It's interesting that he says "yet" as if he already knows his conversion is inevitable, he just is putting it off :-).

I think the church should have a slogan, "If you're not Mormon, don't worry, you will be"

School has been out for all the kids since November so the neighborhood streets are full of them. Something really popular that all the kids love to do here is fly kites. They make their own kites and the sky is full of them. We bike down the neighborhood streets and there are hundreds of kids, flying hundreds of kites. It looks fun. They fly them all day long. Sister Wong and I want to get some but we haven't had much time to do so.

The other day I saw a leaf fall and it got me so excited. Then I realized it fell only because it was dead, and not because the season was changing. Oh well, it was still awesome.

This letter was a little spacy. sorry

until next week

loves

sister viehweg

December 9, 2010

Glad to hear you got flight plans, britt would NOT stop buggin about it :-). Just kiddin britt. I got no such email, but I did get a call from the office this week telling me they sent them out to you. Fantastic. Now lets forget about it..... not likely. The ward chirstmas party you described sounds wonderful. Way to go Shannon and Bryson! The stars of the show.

While I'm thinking about this, how do you all want to work the call on Christmas this year? The past two calls we've had issues, but macsen seemed to have a good system last time around.... Also I usually talked to you on you're holiday, but since christmas is Saturday this year that would be a sunday for me and Sunday mornings can be quite busy rounding up all the investigators and getting them to church. Will you be around Christmas eve evening? I guess I would always get up earlier on Sunday no biggy. Let me know.

Oh, your letter makes me yearn for snow. I did a taste cold all last night, though not the kind I like. We were in Kuching this week and traveld back last night. We left Kuching at 9:00pm last night and arrived at Miri at 11:00am this morning. What a miserable night. The AC was on full and we froze in that bus. Air conditioning is such an uncommon luxury here that when they do have, they don't know how to control. I guess I got what I was wishing for, cold cold cold. I don't know why our Zone Leaders bought tickets to travel all night. I guess they wanted to get back to our area as fast as we could but I am beat right now. All night long I watched all the Elders, all 18 of them, passed out on their seats, sound asleep wondering why I couldn't sleep. I can't sleep on buses that are freezing. I'm pretty tired right now, but what else is new?

Kuching was fun, We had two full days of training and then interviews in the evening. I wish I got to see more of the city than just the inside of the 5th floor shop lot chapel they rent; but sight seeing wasn't the purpose of our trip I guess. From the windows, Kuching looks like a beautiful city. It is a whole lot bigger than Miri and it has peculiar shaped hills throughout. It's not totally flat.

I have loved these training meetings because we get to be together with a bunch of missionaries. It's always so fun to see the Elders and Sisters from my MTC group. There was one Elder from my original MTC group that went home only after a few days in the MTC. But he is back now and serving in Miri. He got here 3 weeks ago and it was so cool to see him again. I'm glad he made it back.

I don't have much to talk about since we spent so much time in training this week. Last Saturday Jantai, his wife Eda and their son Venna were all baptized. The baptism went very smoothly I thought. They were all very excited. They picked Elder Evanson to baptize him because A. they wanted a white man to baptize them, and B. They saw him baptize someone else the other week and liked the volume of his voice. The locals are pretty timid baptizers but Elder Evanson dunks em good. Maybe I should have encouraged them more to pick a ward member but oh well, Elder Evanson was flattered. Their little girl Viviana was shouting, laughing, and clapping every time someone went under the water. She thought it was so funny. She is 2 years old. This is the family that said their next daughter is going to be named Viehweg; Their kids will be Venna, Viviana, and Viehweg....poor child. I tried to talk them into maybe Vie instead but I dunno. I have to laugh every time they tell me.

I hope you are all loving this Chirstmas season. I little girl (11 years old) was talking to me the other day when we were at their house about Santa Clause. She said, "In America you guys have Santa Clause right? And he visits every girl and boy" I said, "right". Then she said, "Santa doesn't come to the kids in Malaysia, only the kids in America". That made me stop and think for a minute. I remember hearing as a kid Santa makes time to visit every single kid in the whole word in one night. The kids here hear a different story,that Santa only visits the kids in America. It makes me think about Christmas differently.

I love the holidays. Here for Christmas people travel from house to house of friends and family all day for the few days before and after Christmas, eating all the way. It's like everybody is having an open house. I'm not sure how it works because it seems that if everbody went calling on other homes, nobody would be home. We'll see how it all plays out.

We are loving the people we teach right now, and yes, we have managed to find a few girls to teach too. If only we could keep all the new members, the church would be huge here. They fall so fast, partly because the church is so new here they don't know what to do with all the new members. Ah growing pains.

love you guys

see you later

sis v

December 1, 2010

woohoo Christmas came early this year baby! Thanks for the package family!! It arrived Nov 29. I believe that is seven days only, from what the stamp on the box said. When did you send it? I'm impressed, the post here isn't half bad. So for all of you who are thinking you want to send me something (I know there is a lot of you...) the address is

Lot 2827 Jalan Berembang 7

Pujut 7-B

98000 Miri, Sarawak

East Malaysia

Mail gets there so fast!

I can't believe you made gingerbread cookies to send me. How did you know that was what I missed most last year? K maybe not the most, but they were missed. I probably told you last year of something. And Halelujah for new clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The senior sisters were a little upset when wripped open the box right when they gave it to me. They said, "what are you doing! you have to wait til Chirstmas!" No way I don't. The label said clothes, so it's gettin opened now. I love the dark blue shirt, I think I shall wear it everyday for the next three months. Deb your the best. Thanks for the mascara, the ones from last Christmas just ran out this week. What luck. I'm sure people think I'm vain for still wearing make-up, no one here wears it, but with clothes as stained as mine, and hair as frizzy as mine, I gotta look cute some how.

This week has been great. Karen's baptism went fabulously on Saturday. We asked Moses, our recent convert with the 6 daughters, to baptize them. At first he said no he wasn't ready, but as we talked with him he decided that he wanted to. Oh boy he was nervous. It was cute. Little Teo had to be baptized twice because her hand didn't go in, but that is pretty standard around these parts. Baptisms, they don't have to look pretty....:-). After the baptism the Senior Sisters wanted to take Karen and her kids out to eat. The kids were pretty pumped. We ordered a dinner to go for the Dad, who didn't come, in attempt to soften his heart. I think prayers are the only way to help this family. Thanks for being willing. The senior sisters wanted to help them too, but we have to remember we are missionaries, not social workers. They are in the hands of the branch, they are in good hands.

This weekend Jantai, Eda and their son Venna are getting baptized. I am really excited. This family has been a long time coming. Venna is 8 years old and adorable. We were teaching him about baptism the other day to help him understand better. We showed him pictures of someone being baptized. After looking at the pictures he said he did NOT want to be baptized. He started talking to his mom in Iban and suddenly she started laughing so hard. She told us Venna thought in the picture the man was getting ready to hit the little kid on the head. You know how the priesthood holder raises his arm to the square....Venna thought it was a wind-up for a big smack. Haha no wonder he didn't want. We clarified and eased his fears. Oh it was funny. Jantai is going on his fourth job now since we started teaching him. He keeps trying to find a job that gives him off days on Sundays. It hasn't been easy but he has a lot of faith. Hopefully this most recent job will be the one, he says the hours should work out for him to be able to come to church. Work on Sundays is such a trial here. Satan really knew what he was doing when he gave people the idea that they HAD to work of sunday or they wouldn't make any money. It's one of our biggest, if not the biggest, obastacles.

Interesting that so much importance is placed on chuch attendance. Member can be following every other commandment but if they aren't coming to church on Sundays they are labled in-active. It's interesting that if a member wasn't keeping one of the other commandments but was still coming to church every Sunday they would still be active members. Makes yoy realize how important church is. When they don't come to church, they start to fall. How sad it is, how often it happens.

People, I got my first cum (chume*) the other day. Let me explain. Parents, or grandparents, instead of kissing their kids or grandkids will put their nose close to their head or neck and take a huge sniff. It is equivalent to kiss from a parent in our culture. It's kind of strange. I don't think I have ever seen a parent kiss their baby, they just sniff em. Anyway, we were at Bonnie's house and Bonnie's day loves me. I think it's because after learning from us his son doesn't drink or smoke anymore, this makes him happy. As we were leaving Bennet, the dad, put his nose to my neck and took a big sniff. It freaked me out. But then I realized it was a cum, kinda like how a grandpa would give you a kiss on the cheek. It was funny.

We found out Ahwei, Karen's daughter, use to have a smoking problem. She's seven. Teo teases her a lot about how she use to smoke and it hurts her feelings and makes her cry. How like an older sister, to tease em til they cry. It is so weird to hear the words, "Ya, but I already quit smoking!" coming out of the mouth of a 7 year old.

I think that's about all I have to say.

Somehow we still manage to find new investigators in an area I swear as been worked over thousands of times. People are being prepared all the time. It's cool to witness, but also frustrating to witness those who are not yet prepared.

Next we are going to Kuching! wahoo! I hope you all have an awesome December! It's such a magical month. Pray that there will still be snow in MARCH so I can go skiing.

Loves

sis v