so weird to think that another school year is sarting, but this time i'll be home before its over. sounds like normal school preperation stuff as well. 

We had a slow week this week. It was Hari Raya, or the end of Rhamadan, so the biggest holiday in Malaysia bar none. In Bintulu though, and Sarawak in general, there arent many muslims, so the celebrations werent anything big or special, but everywhere else in malaysia ws robly pretty crazy. they get really strict about the fasting over in west malaysia, here not so much. but as a result, many memebers were out of town, as well as investigators being either ut of town, busy with overtime shifts, or in the hospital. also, the keyboartd im using is quite terrible, os bear with me. despite many people being unavailable to meet, we were able to have a couple good lessons with some of our new investigators joshua and sylvester. they are 14 and 16 yr old bros. their younger sister was baptized in feb,  may have told you a little bit about them already. anyway, they have a very very limite knowledge of Christianity, and we have had to go very slow, and teach the most basic principles. like who God is. its fun to teach such simple things, and ths past week i got to hear their first prayers.. EVER! i thin that is when i feel the Spirit the most.. someones first prayer. if they understand wht they are ding, then they are usually very slow, quiet, and its great to see the most basic desires of their hearts. they are set to be baptized at the end of september. 

one of our investigators, lucyana, went to a YSA conference in Sabah. we havent had a chance o talk to her yet, but she probly had a great time. so because of the great exodus of hari raya, our day at church was a bit of an adventure, and a reminder of how young, inexdperienced, and sometimes downright unprepared the members here are. we arrived at the church at 8:30, and waited until about 9:10 until the 2nd counselo arrived with his builing keys. (sacrament starts at 9) setting up took about 20 mins, so around 9:40 we finally started sacrament. our branch pres wasnt in town ,and apparently ddnt tell anyone.. i was called to give a talk, chosen as he announced the speakers haha. Its not that i mind giving an impromptu talk, its just..disappointing sometimes to see such faithful people fail to come prepared to church. i have yet to find a qway to instill the fact that curch is not an end-of-the-week deal, but it should be the central focus of their lives. of course this is a problem everywhere, but its one thing when a minority of the membership doesnt really care about church, and another thing when EVERYone feels that way haha. im not complaining, but just expressing my feelings abuot how young this church still is, despite it being here for about 15 years.

i cant belive i didnt write about this earlier, but with the last transfer, E Trotters group finished. so thats why i have a picture of that E Brown, he was in trotters group. (youll remember that trotter was my trainer)  

So although Robbins is from New Orleans, he doesnt really have an accent at all. but yes dad, he does have some pretty cazy stories haha. Robbins mothers side is guatamalean, and his fathers side is syrian, so he has a pretty interesting mixture of blood. many people here think he is from like pakistan, or that area. even though he has very white skin.. his facial features are pretty middle eastern though. he is a very intersting person and we get along well and share many similar interests, including a love for creating video/editing video, and various artistic things. 

i dont really have trouble speaking english actually. but i will often think of malay before i think of english. there are also several words/phrases that i want english to adopt haha. I have definitely seen that because of my study of Malay, my understanding of english has increased, and i have an infinite appreciation for having grown up in America. ecause virtually everywhere either speaks english, or wants to. americans cant realize how universal english is until they travel to differnet places. 

For Hayden: Dude, you should keep playing football. it will be fun and you will get into such good shape! i know its hard, but its totally worth it. its also really hard to sacrifice the time, but the video games will still be there when you finsih. i promise. and remember, you da man hazey. haha (thats my impersonation of dad) 

welp, zone conference is next week, so thats gonna be great, after this one, i'll only have one more!

love you all

Elder Giblette