3.20.2012

apa khabar ibu and ayah dan adik lelaki?! hopefully I remember to get all the info in today, but more importantly next week as it may conatin vital info haha.

Anyways, firstly thanks for the package! simply amazing! everyone loved the yoyos and they're always suprised to get anything, let alone a yoyo(even though i explicitly said not too hahah) and some candy. they love you so much haha!I just sent a bunch of letters yesterday so hopefully you get it tomorrow? ya about the Malay basics, as soon as i sealed the envelope I thought about a bunch more practical stuff haha. like yes is "ya" (like German- ask Kellen) and no is "tidak" or "bukan" but bukan has a little more specific uses.

As always I love the Dear Elders. I loved the note Sis. Stratman sent. I hope you read it. Awesome. She basically just told me how much she loved and appreciated me and told me some of her favorite scriptures and mission experiences. but I wanted to ask you for the Stratman's home address :D Oh ya and I don't know how I spaced this, but I think like the thrid week I was here the Greenhaughls sent me a package with a journal and candy in it! So sweet. I sent them a letter but next time you talk to Kumi be sure to thank her for me.

 We CANNOT wiat to leave! So many other districts we've become friends with have left in the past few weeks, and we're kind of "alone" here now. Elder Thee in my district is friends with a missionary who got reassigned to Fresno, Cal to wait for his visa. anyways he has been in the field for about a month and he jsut came back to the MTC last night and is going to leave for Samoa (original calling) on Thursday. He was telling us about how much better the field is haha! we seriously can't wait.

Thank you for everything! will have banyak information next week!!!!

Elder Giblette

3.13.2012

Oh my sweet mother! I truly love your efforts in trying to use Malay words haha. I dont know about "sulung" I'm guessing you found that to be "elder", but we actually haven't learned a word for that and I'm pretty sure that we just stay with "elder" haha. sulung probly refers to a physically older person haha. the word for dictionary is kamus, but yes i did receive it I think last tuesday, right after I emailed you and said I hadn't received it haha. So hopefully you haven't been too worried about it this past week. It's the Collins one and it comes highly recommended! so good pick! I love how small it is and compared to other kamus we have it is much clearer. I guess you could call me "anak", but that's technically the term for children in general. Maybe go with putera (whcih means prince, or Holy Son) hahaha no don't use that...that's what we use to refer to Jesus Christ as His Son haha. I guess I would be your anak-lelaki (Child which a boy) if you haven't figured it out yet, Ibu means mother, and Ayah means dad (Bapa is more like father). So we pray to "Bapa kami di Syurga" (Father our in Heaven) I think that's one of the coolest parts of speaking, praying. I feel pretty confident that I'll basically be a fluant prayer when I leave the MTC! and as always i'm constantly amazed at my speaking abilities thus far. Truly there is no other place, no other purpose, and no other way in which someone could learn a language this fast. Our ratio of Gospel vocab to normal vocab is probly around 90 to 10 haha. In lessons, we are quite comfortable, but in normal everday speaking, we seem to have to look up words every other sentence. Most of that you can really only learn over there anyway our cikgu (teachers) say. Also i don't know what "anak muda Pahlawan" is supposed to mean haha.

We ahve not yet received our travel plans, but maybe this week! I almost don't want to get them yet because a missionary's focus inevidibly (spell check that) goes down the toilet once travel plans are received haha. Buty of course I can't wait to get out of the "Spiritual Prison" (just came up with that one) We are pretty sure our total flight/travel/layover will be in the realm of 24 HOURS! AYAH! Elder Reid in my district's dad works in the missionary travel department and the story seems to be that we will go to L.A. and then  go straight to Hong Kong, and then to Singapore, but nobody knows for sure! We're pretty sure we will leave the 2nd, but nothing for sure until we get travel plans.

 haha the time change hit us pretty hard actually. everyone could tell that they lost an hour of precious precious sleep. I think I have gained somewhere in the house of 10 lbs. but I'm not sure cause I didn'y exactly know my weight coming in, and the scale in the gym seem pretty unreliable to me. I am definitely tired of the food haha and certainly ready for what sounds like amazing food in Malaysia.

Welp, I'm outta time! I love you all so much and mom I LOVE the Dear Elders each day. FYI: Saturday at midday is the last time we get mail each weekend, so the weekend DearElders come Mondaty night. Keep em comin haha, I know I'll miss em. Dad, always grateful to read about the outside world haha and love reading your words of wisdom!

Banyak Kasih!

Elder Giblette

3.6.2012

Halo keluarge saya! Saya harap kamu semua hidup baik sekerang! (difficult to say what i was trying to say haha) I've come to find that the hardest part of Malay is that rarely do things we say and the ways we say them in English mean the same thing in Malay. As for the Malay you have used so far mom, about 50/50 haha. I sent a letter yesterday that says this, but when you said "saya cinta awal" (or something liek that) you were saying that you love me with a romantic kind of love hahaha! the word you should use for love is "syang". and the word you can always use for "you" is "kamu".
So i took a video on Sunday (actually a couple) and sent my card with the letter I sent yesterday. Hopefully it doesnt get crushed in the mail haha. i have another card, but it's only a half gig... so just send it back quickly. the letter has further info about that. I wanted to share something awesome I learned about thevery first chapter of the BofM this week. Just in the first 12 verses, we can see a pattern for how the Book of Mormon will be. v. 1: families v.3: keeping a journal v.4: Prophets v.5: Prayer v.6: prophesy v.8: visions v.9: Jesus Christ v.10: Apostles v.11: Scripture and v.12: the Spirit. I think it is so cool how much we learn about how the Lord works from the FIRST 12 verses! Also we learned a lot about the parallel of prophets' experiences throughout the BofM, including Joseph Smith. Both Lehi and Joseph Smith: have a question they cannot find the answer to, they both pray and receive an answer in the form of a vision, they both are charged with important work to do, and they are both harshly ridiculed for what they teach and testify of.
I'm pretty sure I ahve said this about three times already, but Elder Holland spoke to us last week and it was AMAZING. Also the British singer Alex Boye spoke to us on Sunday, but that's for another time haha. Elder Holland, among many other things, said that he "could not care less about whether we ever receive the book of Lehi because the start to the BofM we do have is already so amazing" and he went on to say "It's hard to imagine a better beginning to such an incredible book" The Book of Mormon truly is the word of God. There is simply no other book in the word that can compare to it. It has a completely unique ability to cause us to feel the Spirit and to gain answers to our problems. I am out of time, but I will write a letter this week and hopefully remember to write about this haha.
Elder Giblette
Oh ya i got my pants fixed, i have not gotten the big dictionary, but I am doing okay :)