Oh my goodness the Hillspring Christmas I forgot about that...
Christmas is brutal for missionaries because everyone is
busy and there are parties and activities so we lose a lot of time and I'm
excited for it to finally be over so that we can be more effective again.
and wow! no trip to the hospital!
We set our distance record for biking yesterday at 66km...
it was sedikit jahu (really hard?)... but it was worth it.
it's hard work out here, but
it's a lot of fun also. It's really tiring though :P
eventually I'm gonna stop by
this big sports store and buy a rugby ball :P but still haven't done that :P
Some days p-days are the worst
:P it's been a lot of shopping... but never really for stuff that I want/need
to get, and that has been kinda annoying cause it's felt like a bunch of wasted
p-days.
anyways, I'm excited to skype
you guys!!!
talk to you on wednesday... or tuesday i think for you guys,
tuesday night?
Jumpa Lagi
Elder Bester
Elder Bester
Troy: Hi Brent, are you having a good time in
Malaysia? Did you have a good time today? Do you have Christmas there?
Dad: What's Christmas like there?
Mom: shoes yet?
Dad: you should go Christmas carolling with a bunch of
missionaries and hand out treats.
Troy: today Bro Laughlin gave me a Detroit t shirt, it says
Datsyuk on it. Do you know what number he is?
Dad: go carolling at a mall
Troy: what's your favorite hockey player?
Katie: I am reading Mockingjay and I'm over half done.
Troy I'm having a good time in
Malaysia. Today was kinda boring so far, but I still have a long time left :P
and yes we have christamas.
Dad christmas is all about
Jesus
mom, nope. still have the pair
I'm wearing... and going to get some at a store that the missionaries all get
them at maybe... hard to find white people sizes.
Dad, we go out with our branch
and see less active members, and then they all still don't come to church :P
we can't do things like random caroling cause we are in a
Muslim country
Troy I have no idea what number he is
dad, no
Troy, Iginla
Katie, I still haven't read the first oneTroy: are you going to send me a really cool present? Like a monster truck?
I'm not sending any presents cause I haven't got any yet :p and I don't have money :P And I send letters :P
p-days have been really lame
recently, and we were gonna go to a crocodile farm, but we couldn't because of one of the sister
missionaries in our branch
Christmas has just killed our numbers, and I'm really
excited for it to be over so we can do more work again, cause it's been
caroling and branch parties, and meeting all the missionaries and a lot of time
that would have been better spent if Christmas wasn't right now
so the big mission theme out here is that the field is
white, and that we aren't here to plant seeds
and we don't do much contacting, we work with members,
because member referrals are the highest success rate, and there are so many
less actives in Malaysia that they take up a lot of our time
also there is no home teaching
program here, and we are starting it... so it isn't like being back home, the
missionary things that they do at home I think (from what I saw) were both
ineffective there and if they were applied here.
the area we are in has no completely active families, one is
active but it's a single father and his daughters, and one is active except
that the mother and father have been taking turns deciding to not go to church
I would like to finally
do something on p-day :P and really want to buy a rugby ball and still
haven't
if you're having a bad day you need to go strengthen the
members because this is a branch. These branches aren't like wards back home.
it is like 1830 here
Would you be able to play rugby? Do people there play rugby?
people play rugby here. and you can play touch, or just
throw the ball, or just have a rugby ball.
I know pretty much every active
and inactive member :P
the thing is, in Canada, a
branch still is in a stake, and there are people who know what they are doing.
The city of Kuching has only sent out 6 missionaries in its history and one of
them is serving right now. So there aren't many people who really know what
they are doing...
Rugby is decently big in
Canada, it's about the same in Malaysia.
They play a lot of badminton, soccer, and everyone does
track
Stayed on your bike ok this week?
I didn't get knocked off last week cause Heavenly Father was looking out
for me lah
i stayed on my bike :P
Any comments on Jordan's great bball skills? He played one
on one with Dad yesterday, which was funny to watch. Dad still has some skills
and much longer reach than Jordan, but Jordan can outrun Dad.
dad has the skill of being able
to push jordan around due to being twice his size :P
also I could beat dad 1v1 cause
all dad can do is post around, and he can't out beat Elder Bester ;)
Also the Iban name tag language picture (with the 2 tags)
was one of the only reasons I ordered the 2nd tag :P
Dad is wondering if
we could maybe set up a fund here that members could contribute to, to help
people to go to the temple there. Like, if you know of a family that we could
all help to go.
I'm not allowed to set up things like that, white handbook
lah
it's called the one trip temple vist thingy :P that you put in
other on tithing slips and just specify malaysia
it was announced at a general conference a while ago, the
one trip temple fund, and a lot of members already use it.
No funny stories this week?
on sunday we forgot our phone in our suit jackets (we keep
them at the church in the branch presidents office) but we had to get it... but
don't have a key to his office... and we didn't have a phone... so we broke
into his office :P
it's been a good week, but
rather long and a little unproductive... and it's just cause it is christmas :P
I had to talk in church :P so it is my 3rd time speaking in
sacrament meeting... and my companion still hasn't yet!
hmm what else, i still haven't
had pop or ice cream because D is stoping coffee... oh ya and we are going
to have to give D to the Kuching International branch... :/ which is
unfortunate because that branch is really hurting Kuching... and it has all the
educated members (they speak english there) so it is just going to build that
branch meanwhile it could help sentosa.
Sentosa is pretty good, like in Kuching there is one really
strong Malay (Batu Kawa) then the International, and then us, and we are
decently functional, and have quite a few priesthood... the other 3 branches
are hurting though
oh ya, so we had to drop one investigator, one went back to
indonesia for christmas, and we have to give donna to another branch, and we
have one other investigator who is progressing :P so it has been a little
different :P
Why are there 6
branches instead of all together? is it because of distance?
distance. no one has transport here. it is the biggest
freaking problem ever. like there are around 3-4 cars in our branch.
also there are about 40-70 people who go to each branch, but
300+ on the records in each branch because of all the inactives
and they are trying to build a stake, and you can't do that
with 2 wards...
remember that most of Sarawak
is 3rd world, although Kuching isn't... but it deffs isn't first...
also my area is just outside of Kuching... and most the
members live in shacks
H (the indonesia guy)
texted us merry christmas :) he is great i love him :P
anyways merry christmas!
saya akan cakap bersama kamu
semua pada hari natal!!!
Saya sayang kamu! harap kamu
semua ada seronok! Selalu belajar supaya kamu boleh menjadi pandai macam saya!
What did you speak about it church?
and I talked about christmas lah and doing missionary work.
because I'm a missionay lah, and it is almost christmas
lah
Do you ever have days without rain? Do you worry about floods?
yes we have days without rain, we live in an appartment
building... so no, however we have to walk through flooded water a lot. Sarawak
is the province in east malaysia, and Kuching is the capital of sarawak I don't
really want to leave Sarawak unless I go to sabah, because (for example) in KL
they speak English, so you don't learn as much Malay, and if i ever go to west
or singapore I am never speaking english with my companion and im gonna tell
him i was adopted by ibans.
also boleh is a good malay word, it means can like saya
boleh, i can.
i bought new white board markers!
everyone and their dog invited
us for christmas :P im gonna get fat :P
Ok jumpa Lagi!
Elder Bester
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