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
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