We enjoyed playing badminton this past saturday with some young men, even though only two came... classic kids not wanting to tell us they were busy.. instead of letting us know beforehand that they had school on saturday, they decided to let us come to their houses and then they told us they couldnt come... school on saturday, something ive never had to deal with until Bintulu, but they say it has someting to do with Ramadhan, the month of fasting.
Also we had a bit of a miracle. Theresa girl named Flora who was recently baptized, who is 11, who we usually visit once a week. long story short, her parents were opposed to her learning, but eventually allowed her to be baptized. The parents have since expressed that they are "unable" to learn cuz they are devoted Catholic. Anyways, theyre two sons, 13 and 16 years old, told us this week that they wanted to learn. theyre parents werent there when they said that, but they may have already talked to them. Either way, we are going to start teaching them this week, and we hope that their parents will allow it.
Today, we are having a big district vs district basketball game, and my district is at the disadvantage in skill haha. weve been looking forward to it since we decided to play last week, but it should be fun. So my zone is actually split into two different cities: Miri and Bintulu, they are about a 3 hour bus ride apart. There are 8 elders in Bintulu, split into 4 areas, so there is 1 set in each area. Miri has some sisters and also a set of chinese speaking elders. the zone leaders are in Miri, but are usually come down once a month. They are coming this week actually.
For studies i usually read a chapter from the Book of Mormon, and then read D&C. also usually a little bit from Preach My Gospel. I read today Mosiah 11, where Noah begins to reign, and Abinadi come to preach.
What are the scripture mastery changes?
I think the membership here is 99.5% Iban, so everyone speaks it here. Some more clearly than others, and some having good Malay, some not good at all haha. It is certainly often the case where my grammatical and vocabular Malay is better than the natives. Crazy huh! i am slowly picking up on Iban, I can speak somewhat conversationally, and I dont really study it or have serious desires to learn it, so i'll just casually see how much i can pick up. Its very similar to Malay, so the tough part is finding out which words are the same and which arent. Ya Google wont have Iban haha, but that sentence you translated was a pretty accurate translation.
Its cool that there are sister missionaries in our ward. Bro Ostler would be the BEST ward mission leader! i cant wiat to come home and work with the missionaries!
We will have zone conf in singapore Aug 22. I cant think of anything i need right now, but i know i want some food stuff. like golden griddle syrup or something haha. i'll make a more official list next week. we have an oven at our house, so food possibilities have opened up haha.
Bintulu is a pretty small place. well, spread out but no "big city" like kuching. there area a few concentrated places known as downtown. But there arent really any prominent features or cool things here.. its pretty ghetto in most areas, and there is a large gap between the rich and the poor. kuching is much more even, or the poverty gap is smaller i guess. most of the members live in small, really small wooden houses. but the people here are really awesome and a lot of fun to work with for the most part.
Well, i love you all! have as great week!
Elder Giblette
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