Hello everyone,
This week has been fantastic! E Loke was just the companion i needed after having a lazy comp, then a crazy comp haha. We get along very well, sarcasm all day everyday. WE even have a similar taste in music, and I've discovered that the music people like is a good indicator of their personality and how well i can get along with them.
So E Loke is from Kuala Lumpur (KL) and he is like a normal person haha. basically KL and a couple other cities are like "above" malaysia standard. He had a car, had friends, a girlfriend, stuff that normal people have haha. not that i liked E Tadius any less, but its cool to have a Malaysian comp that is affluent in society, and has definite plans to go study at BYU Hawaii. This Sunday he cooked chicken curry, but he did it basically "stew-style" and it was so good. and quite simple. so i should be able to cook some curry and other malaysian dishes when i come home.
The work this week has been a bit slow. the guy, Niga, who was supposed to be baptised smoked this past week so we could not baptize him. he has basically been lying to us about his smoking, but i think it was mostly cuz he didnt want to disappoint us, not just so he could get baptized. but luckily he confessed during his interview. so we will continue working with him and I think we will try to have stop smoking a whole month before his baptism. WE also had a good couple of lessons with Franklin and Chen, and they are doing very well. both smart, and they both know that an answer about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon will come from reading and praying. they are on date to be baptized on April 21. we are very excited about them as they are basically our only investigators besides Niga. a lot of door knocking and no fruits, but that ok. we followed one of our members to his home teaching families. it was his first time doing it and he was very nervous. but he was completely natural at it and he said he felt really good about visiting these three less-active families. even though they didnt come to church this week, we reassured him that his visiting was a big deal.
This week we plan on trying to visit a lot of members and finding some less actives. we are going to try to shift our focus to members in an attempt to get referrals. i think because of my time in Sitiawan, i basically just gave up on asking fro referrals, cuz they're werent really any members to ask haha. So there we just sucked it up and knocked doors all day. Here there are plenty of doors to knock, but there are also plenty of members who have friends and family. so I will be learning how to better work with members with E Loke. He's about 6 months into his mission, but he was trained very well and our teaching styles melded quite easily. even from the first lesson we taught together, it was very natural. So yes, all aspects of my new companionship are better than my last one haha.
the grass really is greener on the other side.
So today we are gonna go bowling again, so maybe i can top my high score again. i think tomorrow (my birthday) E Loke and i will enjoy a nice Pizza Hut lunch, so thatll be fun. Also probly go shopping for some new pants, possibly a souvenir. then enjoy a nice FHE with our branch president. many pictures to come. i actually dont think i have a picture of E Reid, let alone one with both of us. Already have a bounteous supply with E Loke cuz last week he bought a superrrrr nice camera, and we have been taking sweet pictures all week haha. also it has like high-speed video capabilities, so we have been having ALOT of fun with that.
So i have some time finally to tell you a bit about Kuching/Samarahan now haha. so Kuching is the capitol city of Sarawak, and is a pretty nice, developed, rich city. basically Kuching is where all the Iban people (and any other "village living" people) who have dreams, motivations, or aspirations of a better life come. So we are usually able to find much more educated people compared to other areas of Sarawak. Samarahan is in a different division of Sarawak, about 40 mins from the downtown of Kuching. On google maps I actually dont think we are near to the area which is designated as "Samarahan," so its a bit tricky to find on google maps. Samarahan is very spread out, and in its infant stages of development. basically a suburban area, but empty haha. there are basically three spots in our area that have shops, restaurants, and housing. so most of our efforts are concentrated on these few spots. Our members are spread out, and most live in kampung (village) areas. We are moving away form these areas cuz they have poor people who cant get themselves to church... its still rainy season. doesnt rain very hard, but usually every day we'll get at least a couple hours or rain. its really just annoying cuz itll be sunny one hour, and then itll be on/off rainy for a few hours. but not a big eal, just normal weather problems haha. as hot as always in beautiful Malaysia haha. We work mostly with Iban people, who make up the majority of native Sarawakians. but there is also a decent amount of Bidayuh people. who are also native Borneo people. they are generally much more educated and faithful as Christians. tougher to baptize, but much better in terms of "quality" members.
I thank you for your loving thoughts and I assure you that I am doing welll. I just sincerely hope that E Reid can kind of figure things out. It doesnt look like he'll be going home. He has since apologized, and I think he is a bit more stable. hopefully nobody gets punched haha. this can kind of count as "that big trial" that you wanted me to have dad. i didnt get lost in the jungle or thrown in jail, but something equally challenging i guess haha. I am very sorry to hear about the Eaves, and of course times like these give us a chance to turn back to the Lord, and to remember that He is in control. They will be in my prayers :)
SOOO exciting about all the missionaries! i cant believe Kari is going to FINLAND!!! thats basically exactly where i wanted to go back when i wanted to choose my mission haha. at least in the MTC, Finnish is considered the most difficult language to learn. So she will have challenges ahead of her, but of course they will be fun and exciting challenges!
I love you all and I am excited to have my LAST birthday as a missionary haha.
Elder Giblette
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