Almost Halfway!

This week has been pretty normal as far as being a missionary goes. accomplishments, disappointments, and the like. One investigator who isnt able to read, and who has been meeting with elders for a while now has made good progression this week. We went on exchanges with the ZLs and they had an appointment with him (Niga) apparently one of our really good members has spoken with Niga and Niga expressed confidence in being able to kick his smoking habit and be baptized on the 24th of Feb. This member also told us that he is confident Niga can be baptized, and that he is sure he can help him quit smoking. So im not sure how this came about, but I hope that it will be as awesome as it all sounds. 

Our biggest struggles as far as work goes is turning potential investigators into investigators, and also getting our investigators to church.but we just keep trucking haha

The next time I email you I will have been out for over a year! I'm sure I will enter the time warp haha. not only has the past year flown by, but when speaking in different terms, it feels like im about done. So in this mission because we have groups of elders coming in about every 3 months, we also have large groups leaving every three months. So the next group to leave is in May, about 19 guys. then after that is E Trotter's group, then my current copms group, then MY group. I guess it doesnt sound that fast when i explain it to you haha, but thinking about it in those terms makes me feel like it will be over like next month haha. so ya i maybe that gives you a small glimpse into the minds of us elders. not that all we think about is going home, but it is often a talked about topic. (although there are some elders who talk of nothing but the desire to go home, unfortunately) one elder has a good idea though. there are 138 sections in D&C, so he is going to start reading from section 138, one section/day, backwards till section one. he will start that once he has 138 days left on his mission. i thought it was a very "spiritual" way to count down the days haha. I may do that, who knows. 

speaking of reading scriptures. one of the goals I set for myself was to read/finish reading the standard works. I am almost doen with the New Testament, and am already in Helaman in the BofM. I am at 1 Kings int eh Old Testament, and have not yet started D&C. So i figured that since i'm already mostly through the standard works, I'd make sure I finish them before I start any of the books over again. I know It wont take me very long (relatively) and I am most excited to read D&C. Before my mission, i could probly count on one hand the number of chapters ive read form the Bible... and reading the New Testament has been a very surprising and rewarding experience. 

Another cool thing this week was that a member from Tawau called me with some awesome news! first a little background: she is about 40, her husband has since passed away, but she has a very good job and spends all the time she can with elders. Anyways, she called me and told me that she had talked to Pres Mains and will be going on a mission THIS year! i think she will just become a normal sister missionary in this mission, but im not really sure what her status will be. Her name is Tina and im sure ive mentioned her before from my Tawau days. 

yes i do miss the snow! im sorry you guys are experiencing a less than favorable haha. but yes i will be excited and quite cold to be back into the land of winter! it is still the rainy season here, but not nearly as rainy as Sitiawan. 

thats all for now, folks

love

Elder Giblette

dan sebagainya...

google translate does a pretty good job of translating that, not sure how i would express it in Englsih. i think thats the biggest affect Malay has had on my English. not that i forget english, but its just easier to say little phrases and things in Malay haha.

so this week has been pretty good. we exceeded our goal of new investigators, which was way sweet, with 6 new. we met more than that, but they can only count as a new investigator once they accept a specific return appointment. we have some pretty good things in the works, and hopefully they pan out. one appointment fell through that i was really hoping would happen. a member from the Enlgish speaking branch has a childhood friend who lives in our area, and Sunday night he came out to go to the appointment with us, the guys name is peter. both us and this member had confirmed with Peter on sunday, but it didnt end up happening. the member guessed it was because Peter is probly scared of change, or was just nervous or something. Anyways we had met him earlier in the week and i still have a good feeling about him. there are a couple other people who are on date to be baptised, but its likely those dates will be pushed back to march. Anyways, things are good and i have basically felt like this area has a lot of potential since i got here.

umm E reid's accent is a bit annoying. but its okay. its very close to a british accent. i think im afraid that i'll start saying things like him haha. today we went bowling and i learned how to curve the ball. i scored 140 one game. its a lot more fun haha. one of the elders did it, and its a lot simpler than i thought it would be.

YA I'LL BE OUT A YEAR NEXT WEEK! as far as traditions, i know some elders have burned clothes, i'd heard of the tie snipping thing in the MTC. i dont know if i'll do anything haha. it'll probly just go by like a normal day. but i do think i'll enter a time warp and my mission will REALLY start to fly by. thats what ive heard happens anyways haha.

sorry but i dont have a lot of time to describe our area haha... we live like 30 mins outside of Kuching. its called Kota Samarahan, but i think we live like in between Kuching and Samarahan (according to google maps) we live like across the street from the second biggest university in malaysia, but there isnt really anything here haha. youd think you would have like a college town or something, but nope. just malaysia... haha

thats all for this week i guess.

Love

Elder Giblette

Fried Segar Worm. actually quite tasty. but i know an elder who ate one live. cannot. tasted very like meaty, like pork or beef. really weird. the head was crunchy, not enjoyable to chew haha. but the overall taste was surprisingly good. 

this is a sweet government building in Kuching

New Companion is Good!

so, i dont have much time left to email, but i'll get straight to business. in the past four days since my new comp got here, we have already done more work than in the last month with my last comp! haha its been very nice to get back into the swing of talking with people, teaching lessons, and best of, having new investigators come to church!

my new comps name is E Reid. he's from New Zealand. he is a little strange, and generally kind of awkward, but he is willing and wanting to do work. so i dont really care about anything else haha. we've met a few new people, and have kind of established ourselves with the investigators who already have baptismal dates, but havent been visited/talked to in a while. i cant share many details now, but im sure next week i'll have to good stuff to share. its been awesome hearing about your cruise adventures, and i'm glad you guys had a great time! my pre-paid hour of emailing time has flown by and i unfortunately have to close here...

sorry this was so short. enjoy the pictures!

Love

Elder Giblette

Pictures First!

us and the branch presidents family eating dinner for his moms birthday

me trying on a like $400 bike helmet (sweet visor)

Elder harding, who has to go home to get an operation on his back. he was sick with salmonilla a few months back, and Salt Lake is worried he way not have recovered fully/properly. he should be able to come back to the mission after a 2-4 month rehab. if he doesnt come back thatll be NUMBER THREE from my group!

 

me giving my present to branch presidents mom, who had a birthday. a weird thing they do in Malaysia is wait until the party guests have gone home to open their presents... but i got her a wallet. she likes it.

the branch presidents son. pretty smart, knows like 5 languages, but a generally patience-trying child

the senior couple of kuching dancing at our new year's party.

 

Last of 2012

welp, this week has been a lot of things haha. odd, too much food, awesome, boring. So after i called you guys, we hung out at Pres house for most of the day. enjoying food, some small gifts even! then later we went to a couple other members houses and ate more food with them. its one thing in America to eat sweets and delicious western food and everything else, AT YOUR WILL FREE WILL AND PLEASURE. but its a totally other thing to go from house to house all day (one day we went to FIVE houses, but some elders went to EIGHT houses in one day!) eating rice and curry and pig and all other kinds of WEIRD food, but basically forced to do so hahaha. of course we missionaries are always so grateful to be fed, but what these people DO NOT COMPREHEND is that the human body actually has a limit to how much food can go inside... So the end of last week and continuing into this week has seen havoc on my bowels. i mean HAVOC. not sickness or really a great amount of discomfort, but, to put it civilly, many trips to the bathroom. including trips at members houses where the only way to clean is a water spigot and a bucket... but looking back, even that is way better than toilet paper. no joke. i will never use toilet paper again if i dont have to. American needs to get this thing right.

this week, spending Christmas away from home, has really made me realize that the traditions we do as a family each year, no matter how big or small, are what truly make Christmas Christmas. its not that i was sad to be away, I just felt like it didnt really happen haha. especially in 80 degree weather. anyways, ive come to the conclusion that this will simply be a two year period in my life when i dont really have any holidays, at least none that are like the ones i know. But thinking ahead, I will be VERY happy to be coming home in winter. i miss snow and cold, and coats, and hats, so much!

as far as work this week, it has been slow. we cant really make appointments cuz most are gone or busy for the holidays. but we did go door knocking and found an old lady that said we could come back this week. I think once the holiday season comes to a close we will be able to 1) have a regular missionary schedule 2) make appointments with our investigators and 3) do some missionary work haha

not much else to report. Its awesome to hear about all the awesome gifts everyone got! it gives me hope that i might get some cool stuff when i come home too hahaha.

Send pictures!

Elder Giblette

So many pictures!

Some of my favorite pieces at the LEGO exhibit in Singapore. not sure if i've sent the t-rex one yet. oh well if already

Some awesome members from a different branch in Kuching

giving new meaning to the term "power" switches hehe. these turn our chapel ACs on

elder tadius in Singapore with me. as bad as this picture is, its better than the other one i have. nother case of a noob at the camera...

some cologne that i got from a member that i'll never use haha

awesome gag gift that some members got (from other members) they're girl's shirts if you cant tell. sometimes the line between mens and womens clothing gets foggy in Malaysia haha