Feb 22, 2011 - This is the LAST one! She come's home a week from today!

Dear Family.
To begin this letter I'd like to start off with a quote by my Zone Leader given today. "Sister, enjoy this day, for next week you go to the land of infinite P-days". Amen to that! We had a great day but I'll get to that later. First I want to comment on a few things you all wrote.
Dad, glad the surgery went well. Keep poppin those pills, I expect you to be nice a loopy at all times. Are you sure you can't go skiing?? Please Deb, plleeeeeeeaaaase??? I'm glad you got it all out of the way though. I watched the link about you all being on the news and such. OH MY GOSH EVERYONE LOOKS SO DIFFERENT. I should NOT have watched that. It totally freaked me out. I'm gonna die. I can't come home. I can't handle this kind of change!!!!! I watched in silence because the sounds isn't working on this computer but still... holy moly. I can't do this.
Back to me. Today was great. I told all the missionaries here they HAD to spend my last P-day at the beach, no buts. It was great. Sister Lowe brought pastries, curry puffs, pamellos and guava juice for all of us. The four Elders living over in the Pujut House "made" me a good-by-pie too. They are so nice. They didn't make it they bought it, but they'll deny that to the death. They even dumped it in a pie tin that was too big for it, saying "it shrunk when we cooked it". Silly elders. They did have a good-bye message written on it that was hysterical though. I'd tell you what it said but you wouldn't understand it. It feels nice to be loved. When they gave it to me all the Elders sang "Happy Death Day Sister Viehweg" (happy birthday song) How thoughtful eh?
At the beach we played volleyball. We made our own net and it was awesome. I found two long wooden branches we used for poles and then Elder Tabiar the Sabahn found this vine plant we were able to use to make the net. We even tethered the two poles to the ground with the vine. It was a legit net, it was awesome. We went in the morning at about 8 so it wasn't too hot yet.
This week has been the best ever. Sister Lowe's companion had to have surgery in Singapore so she has been gone for the past week and a half. She had pollups in her nose or something, the surgery was simple enough but the fact that she was on coumadin for her heart made things difficult. They didn't want to stick on a plane back to Malaysia. She will be there for yet another week. Because she has been gone I have been following Sister Lowe to a lot of her appointments helping her out. I have been her interpreter for the past few days. The Senior sisters teach all the recent-convert lessons so I have been having a blast. I get to follow her around to see and teach all the new members that I love, in my area AND the elders area. It's been so fun. Sister Wong and Lor have done a great job flying solo too. Tomorrow through the end of the week President and his wife are coming to Miri for District Conference and a man from Salt Lake is coming to interview people here about being able to translate the Book of Mormon into Malay, so Sister Lowe will be quite busy with them. I'll be going back to be with Sister Wong and Lor for the end of it. Should be fun. I have soooooooo many people I need to see!! I don't know how I am going to fit it all in. The problem is everyone wants me to come the last day before I leave. It would be fine to space it all out throughout the week but no no, they won't have it.

Talk about having out of control feelings all the time! I don't wanna leave, but then I do, but then I don't, but then I do. It's cutting off years of my life. I feel like since this is my last email home I should be saying things very meaningful and inspirational about all that I've experienced and learned but my mind is spastic right now. It's been great....that's all I got.
Our recent convert's husband passed away last week. She was older, 60s, but her husband was 90+! You wouldn't know it though. They say it's because he is a Bomo aka medicine man. Those with that kind of black magic don't age, so they say. This was the cutest guy in the world I loved him. He always said he was waiting for the rest of his family to join the church before he would. A good portion of the family has already, but he didn't make it. Wonder what he's thinking now. Experiencing an Iban funeral has got to be one of the most interesting things I've experienced thus far on my mission. SOOOOO much tradition and cultural things so different from my own. The festivities seem to last for days and days and days. Ok, I shouldn't really say festivities...the mourning. I kind of expected to see a lot of wailing and loud banging but it was exactly the opposite. For three days everyone from everywhere gathers at the home and sits there. They just sit and sit and sit some more. Each night we would go and sit with them, if we didn't it would have been incredibly rude I think. Each night when we showed up we would find the home, a farely large home, filled wall to wall with no walking space of people sitting of the mats on the floor. Just sitting there, drinking hot chocolote, and eating crackers. The third day when we went everyone was looking very very tired. We found out they weren't allowed to sleep either! They sat all day, and then they sat all night! He died on Wednesday and they buried him on Friday. For those three days his casket lay open in their living room....no wonder they didn't sleep. The family asked the missionaries to go to their house early on Friday to offer the family prayer before going to the cemetary. All the Elders came with and they ended up being the ones to carry the casket. Naturally the Ibans would have them do it, they're all six foot and huge. Elder Tabiar was asked to dedicate the grave. He was so nervous but did a great job. He studied his white handbook on how-to all the way to the cemetary (30min). Elder Tabiar is a very new missionary from Sabah, he is so cute, he hardly speaks any English but lives in a house of all white Elders. He is picking up a lot of slang from those bozo Elders and its so funny. Bah, I'll tell you about all this funeral stuff when I see you.

Man guys it really has been a pleasure talking with all of you everyweek for the past 18 months. I know for a fact that most of you hear from me more often in Malaysia than you ever did while I was home. That's pretty sad. It's hard to have it all end. I have loved it so so so so so so soooooo much. Im seriously being wripped in half.
Thanks for all the support and love coming from the States each week. You are all the best. I love you. See you Wednesday
peace out for good,
SISTER JESSICA VIEHWEG

February 15, 2011

Hello Everyone,

Happy Valentines Day!! For the past 20-ish years I've had a pretty insignificant valentines day so why change that now?? Just another day. Just kidding I really like Valentines Day, lots of pink! But people here don't celebrate it. The only reason they know about it is because of white people and movies. But, I did get a few members wish be "Selamat Hari KuKasihi" or "Happy I love you Day" It was cute that they even remembered or knew about it.
On Sunday we were at one of our recent converts house teaching and we told them that Valentines day was on the 14th. Sister Wong told them they needed to go on a date or do something special for it. We went back a few days later and found out they had sent their kids over to the Grandma's for a sleepover and spent the night just the two of them. When we saw them again Ida, the wife, said," ya, it's like we are just married again! no kids". I think it was healthy for them. Husbands and wives don't ever act like they enjoy each other here. It's the weirdest thing, I'm sure I've mentioned it before.
The morning of the 14th we had a knock on our door and found three valentines day cards laying there waiting for us that read, "happy valentines day lunch is on me! - sister lowe" I love sister lowe. She reminds me a lot of mom, always looking for an excuse to celebrate something. Around 12:00pm she showed up at our house with lunch. It was awesome. She brought fixings to make sandwiches like one you could get at a deli, complete with Doritos. Oh it's been awhile since I've eaten Doritos. She's the best. That's about the extent of our celebration. It's sounds like you all had a fun time. that's good.

Sister Lor is great. Nobody here knows what Hmong is. Everyone just thinks Mongolian. She's been teaching us a little bit of her language and it is insane. I believe there are 8 tones. Man I thought learning a bit of Chinese with Sister Lim was hard, but that language only had 4 tones or something. It's crazy. Yesterday we were knocking a lot and I think because Sister Lor was with us we had beginners luck. Everyone invited us in. After the fourth house of drinking hot chocolate Sister Lor said, "this is really fun!" My thoughts were, "ya...it is fun isn't it?" Sometimes I get caught up in things and forget to just sit back and think, "man, missionary work is a lot of fun" Because it is, it really is. Thanks for the reminder Sister Lor.
I feel a little bad for Sister Lor because she is stuck with two companions who love to talk. She hardly gets a word in on the lessons, which she is totally fine with. But we need to be better about giving her a chance to say something. She's kind of become the designated testify-er. She doesn't quite feel comfortable teaching she says, so after we teach a principle we turn to her and tell her to testify. She does a good job.

Everyone, this letter is lame because this is computer is lame. I typed a nice lengthy email home but when I went to press SEND it all decided to freeze. The last auto save was 30 min. ago. I don't have time to retype. Sorry, you get what you get. I hate cyber cafes!
see ya later
sister viehweg

February 8, 2011

All is safe in Malaysia right now. The events in Indonesia are news to me. How is everything in the States? Tranquil as usual? :-)

I have to tell you about the fireworks! Last week I wrote about how it was Chinese New Years Eve and that the fireworks would soon be going off right? did they ever. It is said that the Chinese invented fireworks, fact or not, they made it plain and clear that night. The works started at 11:50pm that night and went non-stop for a hour and a half. Almost every single chinese house had a show like the ones you see at the public park on July 4. It was insane. We opened up our window to watch it all thinking it would be just one show off in the distance. No no. There were 10 shows going on at the same time in my feild of vision. I didn't know which way to look. And when one stopped another began. Our neighbors two doors down had their own show. These fireworks were huge, like the big ones! Right over our heads, I thought it was going to burn Miri. It was awesome. The interesting thing is everyone says they are illegal here. Sure didn't look like it. I'm told they buy them from people straight from China, black market or something. Who knows. Sister Wong started filming but ran out of memory because, like I said, AN HOUR AND A HALF PEOPLE. That night was definitely the biggest, but then the following nights after were about the same. Where are they getting all these fireworks?

Chinese New Year lasts 15 days and it is a holiday of Open Houses. We were invited to a few and they were interesting. Nothing like any Open House I have been to. When you walk in, the host welcomes you and then leads you to some remote couch, table or corner of the house and leaves you there all alone. (Chinese houses are like normal houses, not wooden huts) Then they come back every once in a while to bring you food, or drink, and to talk a bit, and then they are off again. No mingling at all. At first I thought, they know who we are, missionaries, and they don't want us talking to their friends. But it was explained to me later that the host doesn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable; so they keep groups all by themselves thus saving them the awful experience of getting to know someone and trying to make conversation with someone you don't already know. So interesting. I was excited to talk and meet these people but they put me at a gazebo way in the back of their yard in the corner. As the host led us there we past various parties at different hide-outs, if you will, of the house. So wierd. That's the way they do though...

Want to hear the latest on the funny names? For the longest time I thought this kid's name was Maxwell. That's what it sounded like to me whenever he said his name, or someone else said his name. Not so. The other day we were decorating balloons for someone's birthday (sister wong received the balloons in a package) and the so-called Maxwell wrote his name on the balloon. His name is Niksuil, like Nik-soo-il. What the heck.....? Stick with Maxwell buddy. I had a good laugh when I saw the spelling, no way would I have ever got that name just by listening to is spoken.

Want to hear the biggest news of the week???? I mean BIG.

I'm gonna be a MOMMY....again. Can you believe it. What are they thinking making me a mom again in my old age. My condition is terminal, I'm dying! But here I am, getting another child. She arrives from the US today actually. Sister Wong and I are flying to Singapore this afternoon at 4 to get her. We will have a bit of training and such with President while we are there, a welcome dinner and then we will bring her home on Friday. I didn't think I would be going to Singapore again for another 3 weeks. What a pleasant surprise. We are told she is Mong but born in America, she's from California.

Sister Wong is freaking out. She realizes that once we finally get Newbie here in Miri I wll only have 2 more weeks. Which means she takes on responsiblity of training and senior companion. She is fully capable, but she doesn't think so. Reminds me of someone back in the day.... me. I keep telling her there is a special spirit of help that comes to you when you take on what you're not ready for. She keeps telling me it hasn't come yet... This poor Newbie, her mom is going to die when she's only two weeks old, leaving her older sister to raise her. They'll be fine. I'm sad though, I'll feel like I'll be missing out. It's fun to hear newbies struggle with the language and members laugh at them and ask, "sister what did she just say? I can't understand her..." Is that evil of me to say? We all go through it...

Hope the newbie is cool. She better be, or else she's no daughter of mine! Just kidding. It's so weird to think she is just barely starting, man that seems like SOOOOOO long ago for me. Come full circle now. I'm sure for you all it has just flown, and it some parts it has flown here too i guess. I'm just pumped I get to go to Singapore again, I love that place, despite how ugly I feel there.

The harrassing has begun. The Elders wont leave me alone about going home. If I am getting homesick it is completely their fault! Ex: "sister, in a few weeks you could be on a date!" "Sister, not too much longer you can watch such and such movie" "Sister, are you going home tomorrow? No? oh I thought it was tomorrow" "sister you are terminal" "sister, you're a dead girl walkin.." "you trunky yet?" "sister are you trunky?" "are you trunky now sister?" "how about now?" and on and on and on..... You try hearing that everyday and not letting it affect your work! it's no easy task. I just answer them with, "Elder, you want a knuckle sandwhich?" I swear they are all more excited for me to go home than I am.

Don't worry though, we still work hard.

Loves yous alls

Sister viehweg

February 1, 2011

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Shannon congrats on ending your impressive basketball career, dad kept me informed. Kristin I met a kid here named Cholo, thought of you. Dad, I hope your shoulder is ok. I'm depressed to hear it hasn't really snowed much since Christmas.

Happy Chinese New Year Eve everybody. It's finally here, and the Chinese New Year Music is going non stop. You probably don't know what that is, I didn't before I came here. Let me try to describe, Chinese New Year music is annoying beyond all reason. Every song sounds the same. You would have to hear to understand I guess. Sister Wong loves it....

We are having a great time trying to find people to teach this week, and time to teach those we already found. You would think that we wouldn't be too affected since this is a holiday for only the Chinese, but not so. You see, the Chinese play the role of the boss, the big guy, the man in charge; the Chinese take the entire week off of work, some even two weeks; therefore, the ibans, the kenya, the kayan, the indo's also have the whole week off of work because the companies close down. Which means they are all going back to kampung. So it's a holiday for everyone to get drunk-- isn't that great!

The fireworks will be going off tonight, I'm looking forward to that. We still have lights out at 11pm but I'm sure the sleep won't come. Last year the fireworks went off all night long. We were excited to celebrate Chinese New Year with a member from the Chinese group here this evening but last night we got word that her neighbor and relative passed away yesterday. Poor girl. It seems like people are dying all time here, I don't say that jokingly. Something in the water....

I got the shock of a lifetime this week, like big time. I'm still spinning. Miracles happen people! Let me tell you about it.

Remember Karen? Karen with the worst situation in the world, who dumpster dives, can't talk right, no job, etc. Remember her husband, the scum of the earth, the drunk? This is crazy... Yesterday, we went to teach Karen and her kids one of their Recent-Convert Lessons but Karen was out hunting for food with two of the kids. Only Teo and the little one Asing were home. We talked with Teo for a bit and decided we would try coming back later to try and catch her mom. As we were talking though Teo randomly offered up, "my dad's been reading the Book of Mormon".... After I got back up off the floor I asked, "What? wait, what??" She said ya her dad's been reading the Book of Mormon for the past few days, he got a job, and he wants to come to church on Sunday but is shy because all his clothes have holes in them. After I picked myself up off the ground, yet again, I asked again, "WHAT!!!" Little 9-year old Teo was getting frustrated and rolled her eyes. She started saying it all over again thinking I just didn't understand her language. Oh I understood alright, I just couldn't believe it. I mean, this is the guy I wished dead a few weeks ago. This is the guy that caused Karen's huge black eye last week. This is the guy Teo told us tried to throw knives at her in a drunken rage. The guy who refused to work. WHAT???

When we came back later that night to teach the family we asked Karen. She started laughing and told us on Saturday she had caught her husband flipping through the BOM, reading here, reading there, stopping to look at the pictures and reading the page next to all the pictures. She said she called Teo over and pointed out that her father was reading the book. They were laughing at him but he didn't know he was being watched. Then Karen said again on Sunday morning her husband was lying there, reading the BOM again. They were getting ready to go to church so Karen walked over to him, told him they had to go and needed the book. Teo says on Monday and again on Tuesday she saw her Dad reading.

I don't want to get my hopes up because this could still mean nothing but I'd say baby steps were being made wouldn't you? We asked Karen about her husband finally getting a job and she just rolled her eyes. She said tomorrow he would be back to drinking and smoking even though he worked that day. I think she too didn't want to get her hopes up. This is all just crazy. Karen did say her husband would come to church but just didn't have any clothes.

We are going to have to be careful how we handle this whole situation, I am still very much afraid of that man. But geez! He's reading the Book of Mormon. That's what it's all about right there.

Mission's must be good things because even if you have weeks and weeks and weeks of nothin, of rejection. One tiny little thing like this, or like someone's first attempt at prayer, or meeting a nice random person on the road, or any other tiny thing, makes it allllllll seem like the best thing you have ever done in your entire life.

Love you guys

sister viehweg