29 January 2017
This is the first time I have totalled the days until Matt gets home but we're at 157.....just saying....and also just saying that I'M SO EXCITED!!
Enjoying his day off!
Monsoon season!!
missing those blue eyes!!
sucha goofball!!
cute kids, cute puppies!!!
Hey folks,
This was a great week. Wow. There are some great new people we are working with. One is ---. He is a sweet heart. He was taught by the sister missionaries for a little and then they passed him to us. He is a stud. He wants to keep learning more and more and because he has such a huge desire to learn, we can see how easily, even the deeper teachings, are just absorbed right into him. He is a sponge. We taught him a few times this week and as we teach him, he just figured it out and says the words as they come out of our mouths. We have even brought him around with us to help us in other appointments. He is great.
Another family is ------- They are great. A little about their story, I was looking through the "former investigators" section of our area book and saw their name. No phone number but an address. They had been taught one time. I had a distinct feeling about that one. I felt that we should try to find it. So, I wrote it down in my planner and then more or less forgot about it. After a week or so, I remembered about the name, and threw it in the schedule for the next day. It was exchanges that day and I went out with Elder H. So we went ( this was a few weeks ago) and we found the house in the early afternoon. No one was home. We marked it off our list and left. We went on with our day and didn't think much more about it. Later, on the way to another appointment, we found a woman walking down the street with a big load of bags she was trying to balance. So we called our appointment just to make sure it was still on, and what do you know, they cancelled it. So we helped the woman with her bags. We walked with her for about 30 minutes and it was starting to get dark and we were almost to this woman's house as I realized that we were passing the house we tried to find earlier. Still no one home. We walked all the way to the woman's house and dropped her off, her husband was actually a member of the church, they have no phone, no car, and long time haven't come to church. Decided to try to meet another day. So headed back the way we came to get to the main road and what do you know, cun cun ( don't know how to translate that into english) we passed that house again, a family was walking into it. We stopped and talked with them and they invited us in. This is ----------. It was a miracle how it worked out us finding them. So their side of the story, they met the sisters quite a few years ago. -------- wasn't open at that time to learning. Just a day or two before we found them, that changed when -------------- got on their moto with their son. Here, whenever families do that, the kids usually put their feet in the front basket of the moto and sit in front. Their son always did that but one day, he decided he wanted to sit in between the two of them. Amazing he got this inspiration because they got in an accident that day. Both -------------- were thrown off the moto in someway but their son was protected and stayed in one place. Only got a little bump on his shoulder. It was a miracle and -------- said because of that, he really wants to know more about God and how he works because he said he "now knows that He is there". WHOA! That was crazy. So they are learning and it is amazing. Sweet family.
Another family is BP. We have been meeting with them for a while now. The dad's name is T. The family has very small background of any religion. Some have some exposure to Christianity but not a ton. They are very humble. Their daughter, J, is 14 and has been reading the Book of Mormon. One night, she texted us saying she could hear angels singing and she was writing the words. She sang the song with her friend the other day and it was very tribal and beautiful. They are teaching it to us. I love that family.
Anyway more into things of the week, I went on exchanges with Elder G, one of the district leaders in Miri. He's a great Elder from Sibu! One of the native Iban missionaries here. He's a stud. It's getting into monsoon season I think so it's been raining a ton. It's really fun riding in the rain but that night, we were in a big round-a-bout and while I was going through, a car that was speeding on the inside lane, came and cut across two lanes of traffic so he could take the exit and in the midst of that, hit me on my bike. After a year and a half of my trusty steed taking me kilometer upon kilometer of Bintulu, Kuching, Johor Baharu and Miri, I finally had to put her down. Meaning my bike is wrecked. Thank goodness though because of the rain earlier in the day, the road was way slick and I just slid on the slick pavement and not get cheese grated by the nice dry asphalt.
That was a really good exchange though. i learned a ton.
This past week was Chinese New Year. Wow. Someone could've been shot at anytime in the last three days and no one would think twice because of the millions of fire works and fire crackers going off. Midnight Friday night, I woke with a start to have it look like noon day out side and sound like the middle of D-Day because of the fireworks. It's way nice to have holidays because it gives you something more to talk about with people so that was a huge bonus for Chinese New Year for us.
Whoa even to add to this, The missionary daily schedule is changed a long with the reported numbers we report in every week. Now we only report 4 numbers each week. Baptized, Investigators on date, Investigators at sacrament meeting, and new investigators. Also now, our Preparation day starts earlier so that is why I can send this email out so early. Our daily schedules give us extra time to sleep at night or to exercise for up to an hour instead of 30 minutes. ( recently we've been waking up a bit early with permission to go running at a park near here. It's been sick)
Love you all,
Love,
