Pictures

Elder Brown who just finished his mission came to visit Bintulu. his parents and sister "p[icked him up" from the mission

Elder Robbins

Beautiful Bintulu

Picz

Nothin like fried chicken head.. the brains had a dryish texture. not much meat overall.

all those who were baptised. the chinese lookin kid is Justin, the two girls from left to right are Sylvia and Anglela. the guy next to E Laycock is Bro Mambang, father and grandfather to the girls

a member who got ahold of my camera haha..Kelvin

elder Robbins

New Comp

So this week E Laycock left and has arrived home, and E Robbins came in. He is a pretty new elder. same group as E Hirschi, but he has seen a lot more of the mission than most elders already haha. since coming in, he has been transferred every transfer, so this is already his fourth area! He doesnt seem to be a problem elder or anything, I guess Pres Mains and the Lord cant figure out where to keep him haha. Anyways hes from New Orleans, so its cool to have a comp NOT from Utah haha. (although ive only had two of those so far) Anyways hes a pretty small in stature guy, and is very artistically minded. He has had some interesting experiences that he has shared with me, and overall a very unique and interesting person. We get along just fine so thats all i can really ask for haha. He has served a total of 3 months in Malay speaking areas, but just came from KL, an english area. So he has a lot of work to do on his Malay, but hopefully he can stay in this area for a while and get his language skills solidified. I kind of take this as my second chance to train a young guy in his language, as E Hirschi struggled and continues to struggle. The members seem to be a bit disappointed though haha.. they must have gotten used to two elders who had good language. oh well.

So in business news, I had an interview with Pres ains, and he is not sure if i will be released on the 16th Jan, or the 27 Feb. he says it depends on how many missionaries come in on the jan transfer. may need to keep an elder for an extra transfer in order to keep the numbers even. i told him im fine with either. It would be pretty cool to finish in my birthday, and i'd be a rare missionary who has 3 birthdays as a missionary. Anyways, thats that.

This week we had District Conference for the Bintulu District, and Elder Larry Wilson of the general 70 came to be here. Elder Chan from Kuala Lumpur, an Area 70, also came. I had the great privilege and opportunity of translating for Elder Wilson several times. It really made me think about the great challenge it can be to make sure everyone "receives the Gospel in their own tongue" but i think i did ok and afterwards received many compliments form the members. (this doesnt help my ego as i already feel i may have the best Malay among all the elders in the mission..) 

Most of the messages were about how we can build our testimony through the basic things. praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church EACH week. several of the members gave very impressive and informative talks. Its always reassuring to me when members can speak to their fellow members, and become examples to their peers. there's an unavoidable disconnect when a white guy they've never met before comes for two days, and his messages are translated by another white guy... haha but overall i think it was a very good conference!

So last week, Puyang was NOT baptized dad. but this week we reset her baptismal date for the 31st of August. She is a sweet older lady, who has a member sister. She loves visiting and learning with us, but often has trouble remembering what we teach. As much as we wouldve liked to see her baptized last week, i think it is good that she will take more time. i explained this to her and she agreed.  

This week I hope to familiarize E Robbins with our area and investigators, and he says that he likes it here so far. Its really a great area to be in, especially as a young missionary. because we are able to fill our days with teaching appointments and visiting members. since ive been here I havent done ANY door knocking or that kind of tracting. All the new investigators ive found have been through members.

Im so glad Kellen and Hayden are going to the boundary waters! when i went i had a complete BLAST. definitely the best high adventure of my life!

Girls camp sounded like it was fun mom. i wont be surprised if M and D take some convertible trip this week. it seems like nowadays thats all you guys do haha.

Thats cool that there is a new Temple film. I do miss the temple quite a bit, and I will never again feel to say it is too far away after having been here. I guess I remember most of it, but its hard to say haha.

So crazy about all the people I know serving missions, especially from Burnsville Ward alone! funny about the plaques, guess its time to move the old timers out...

not much else to say i guess. Love you all!

Elder Giblette

Baptisms!

The pictures of you guys in Rexburg were fantstic! i didnt really recognize the place where kellen and kenz were standing.. close to the cafeteria? when i was there they were making some big changes/additions to a couple places on campus, i imagine theyre finished by now and look really nice. Im glad you went to pizza pie cafe, its the best haha. i would kill for unlimited pizza. no matter how poor the quality. i hope you remembered me and ate a few slices in my name :) 

so ya i totally spaced on my package haha, but im sure whatever you put in there will be perfect. i wont worry about asking for anything else haha

So today and tomorrow are E Laycocks last days in Malaysia as an Elder, its been a blast serving with him and this past week we've had a few going away parties for him, where we are heftily fed. love it. it would be awesome for me to finish here cuz i would have already been here six months, and the members would really love me and throw me some big parties as well haha. theres a decent chance it could happen. I think i'll definitely stay here for at lest one more transfer cycle though.

So the baptisms that happened went really well. The lady, Puyang, that we were planning on baptizing was not because the elder who interviewed her did not feel she was ready, but its ok cuz i kind of felt the same way and she is just as willing to learn as she was before. one of the little girls we were teaching, Sylvia,  actually turned out to be 8 haha, so she was baptized but not as a convert. the other little girl, Angela, was baptized along with our champ, Justin. He's 19 and is a pretty solid kid. I did two of the confirmations, and thats always cool. If i end up staying in Bintulu here, the end of my mission will be like the start of my mission. filled with great members and baptisms. so the middle of my mission was filled with trials and tribulations hahaha. it really is different when you plan your days around teaching appointments instead of where you will tract and how you will fill your time. I guess i learned my lesson or the Lord gave up on trying to teaching me how to do that haha. either way, im very happy to be where i am now.

So according to that picture of kellen and kenz, kellen is taller!! true or not true?? dang, im coming home to a family of giants and monsters. whenever i tell people that im the shortest boy in the family, they never believe me haha. monsters... also my pictures of george are always a big hit among the people here haha, they always say hes really big haha, and they love his fur (hair?) the cats here are generally scrawny and boring as far as colors. also almost all of them have stubs for tails.. im told its cuz kids grab their them and twirl them around haha. 

We started teaching one of our members cousins, named Andam. He hasnt been baptized into christianity yet, and he expressed really great desires to do so. saying that he wants to fill his soul, cuz it feels empty. wants to receive the blessings that he has seen others receive. all in all a really solid guy who i am excited to teach! 

today for the last p-day for Laycock and the last p-day before transfers, we're gonna have a bbq with all the missionaries here and then go play badminton. we get transfer news at 12, so i will find out who my new comp is. should be a fun day considering we are going to FHE/party tonight :) 

Love you all!

Elder Giblette

Nuttin special

So this week was pretty good with teaching people. We were able to pick a baptismal date for the two boys that wanted to learn for the end of september, so that will be fun to work with them in the coming weeks and months. Unfortunately though only one of our investigators was able to come to church this week, so that was tough. One of our members brought theyre non-member cousin who is married to a member to church this week, and he seems pretty interested. So this week we have an appointment with him. I feel like our work is really premium right now, because we have people being baptized this week, but we also have a good number of people who are jsut starting to meet with us. They call it "escalator work" where you constantly keep going up; as opposed to elevator work where you bring people to the top but then have to go all the way back down with brand new people. The coolest part is that i dont really feel that we are particularly doing anything to make that happen, but the Lord is really in control instead. Its a great feeling to know that i am trying my best the let the Lord direct the work, as it is His work, not mine.

So Puyang, Justin, Sylvia and Angela are all set to be baptized this week. We changed it to sunday morning before church, so itll be a busy and exciting sunday! We have a couple going away parties for E Laycock, so we will definitely have some fun! This is certainly the best way to end your mission: four-person baptism on your last weekend! 

sorry i dont have much to say this week..

It sounds like you guys are havin fun traveling about. on moms questions: it is incredibly humid here;  we have several air cons in our house; i did not get a camelback; my bike is doing really well, i dont wanna bring it home haha, too small and not that great at all :) 

E Laycock is from Lehi Utah, he went to a couple semesters at UVU before he came out. he reminds me a lot of Carson actually, and we get a long really well. 

i am doing fine on all those things :)

Although i dont always comment on what you guys are doing or the news you share, please know that i appreciate it ALOT ha. Pres Mains comes to Bintulu in two weeks for district conf and i will have a chance to interview with him. thatll be cool. 

What did you get at the Malaysian place?? Satay is a fairly popular food here, i really like it. did you get any? (small amounts of chicken or pork or meat on skewers, BBQ'd, but served with an awesome peanut sauce) did you have that? haha if its not similar to that description its not authentic :D

Love you all!

Elder Giblette

No Subject

So we have had another busy week teaching our investigators. They are all progressing well who have a baptismal date. we decided to take the family who didnt come to church off date because we werent able to see them this week. We will try again this week, but I have a feeling that they just arent really that interested. But ive been wrong before so we keep trying. This week we will be focusing on preparing our people for baptism on the 27th, and i feel pretty confident they will all be baptized. Its the best way to send E Laycock off, he goes to singapore to fly home on the 31st. Hes still workin hard and we are still havin a great time. 

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

Lots o' pics

Laycock and I

Rose (investigator) and her family. Rose is the girl sitting to the left of the guy in the blue shirt.

from left: Sis. Tiffany, E Laycock, Vivianna (Rose' daughter), Rose, Bro Musa, Carolina (Bro Musa's daughter), Bro Gelbert, Me, Sis Ensuna

Sungai Plan chapel, which is the other chapel in Bintulu, we use a different one. nice column right in the middle haha. the chairs are facing backwards in this picture for the party, but the stand is in the background.  

packed 11 youth girls into the senior couples van haha!

me killing laycock ("do not enter" sign)

Sis Eda and Bro Martins sweet family