Nov 23, 2014 - Incredible week!

hey, I am on, but I'm finishing the UBC stuff so might not write too much.

sorry, e-mailing can be such a pain sometimes, so much to do in so little time. Is there any questions from the family :P

WE HAD 9 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH!!!! :)

This was probably the most miraculous week of my mission, we had so many lessons, had so much success, and it was all just God's will, we just stayed humble, worked hard and got to work.

Sorry I get snappy when I e-mail, e-mailing stresses me out every week, so sometimes, some questions irk me, but most the time I'm good. There are a lot of weeks where I wish that there was just 7 days a week of work...

Incredible week, the district exceeded almost all the goals, we were able to see a lot of miracles this week.

Also couple other miracles I saw this week. My convert in Kuching (R) was able to get new work (he was pretty much a slave at his last job... as in he was a slave) with the branch president of Kota Sentosa! He's already finished the Book of Mormon, and when he goes back to Indonesia, he is going to live in Jakarta so he can still go to church!

Also J from Sibu called me yesterday to say thanks for finding him in Sibu. (in case you've forgotten who he is) he was the LA who we found at a birthday party, smoking, who said in English that he was a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints. He is being set apart as the Sibu 2 Young Men's President, getting the Melchizedek Priesthood next month, and currently going out to find less actives and bringing them back!

Also there was a convert of mine in Kuching (had been baptized, never got the gift of the holy ghost) (10 years old now) who just got sealed to her family last week! So that was also incredibly exciting!

2 brothers who I worked with in Kuching just got the MP and one of them just married Brother C's Daughter.

in the same group trip to the temple was a family that was less active in Kota Sentosa (he was the branch mission leader) and he went to another branch when he was active again, and just got sealed!

Anyways I gotta go!

Nov 16, 2014 - Good week in JB

Sounds like Canada is being cold : P unfortunate if you live there, it's currently 30 degrees with 70% humidity :P

I'm out every day, almost all day :P

Go Stamps! I didn't even know that it was playoffs (thanks for keeping me in the loop)

Well done Padoch! That is really impressive, I'm glad that he got to play with them. (Abe Jr Football, won city championships)

Luke don't be that guy. Don't wimp out and play v-ball instead of football.

Troy is so old! (And katie...)

I have Christmas stuff to send... the problem is that a member in Sibu Jaya was making it... so I have to wait for everything to get to me... so might not be arriving on time... haha oops

anyways I'm on, finally had an interview with President Yesterday! (I haven't since Kuching...) Had a cool week, I'm really tired 'cause the other companionship wasn't ready for reporting, so I had to stay up and report with the ZL... so I'm about ready to fall asleep on the keyboard.

Tell Jordan to look up Proverbs 21:19

look how interesting the scriptures are!

My week was good because... I don't know, we work hard, everyday is long and tiring, but for some reason at the end of the day, it was awesome. Little miracles everyday, meeting prepared people. I had an awesome interview with President Mains, that was nice, haven't had a conversation with him since May.

I am really liking the house, I've got 3 awesome friends living with me, who all want to work hard, by far the most obedient, and as a result, the happiest I've been on my mission. I'm having a good week cause we're going hard haha.

You should remind dad, that he's my dad, and there is probably at least 10 minutes in his week to e-mail his son on a mission :P I know he's busy, but there are other people, who are busy, who e-mail me every week...

also Mom, Johor is very large, lots of hills, my area is 15km away from my house, lots of Islams, we go and find Ibans who work in the factories here, or who work in Singapore and live in JB

Gotta go!

Elder Bester

 

Nov 9, 2014 - 1st week in JB

Hello!

Johor is defs a change from Mukah haha, so many more people it is ridiculous... however we can't teach 60% of the people here... 3 in every 5 people are Muslim.

The branch here is as Elder Capener called it "all the Sarawak all-stars" the Ibans from East who want a better life and move to Johor for work. It's similar to language Elders in North America, they just find the people who are scattered.

Looking out of my apartment I can see Singapore, which is weird because I've never been so close to Singapore. There is a decent mix of bidayuh and iban in the branch, so they just use Malay in church (which is nice, although my Iban is coming along now, so I can still understand church in Iban.)

We are a 15km bike ride away from our area, there are only 4 malay elders for all of the province of johor.. so our area is pretty big... we have some members and investigators closer, but most of our work is far away.

Elder Spurrier is super dope, this is his 3rd transfer in the mission, so he just finished training, it is a lot of fun serving with him, he has been in JB his whole mission, so he knows it pretty well.

Johor is so big, the actual "city of JB" is 0.4 million, but the Johor Area is 1.3 million (roughly the same as Calgary's "General area")

It took me 27 hours to get from Mukah to Johor... and RM270... so I have to get that reimbursed haha. I went to Sibu the night before (because there was no bus that could get to sibu in the morning for my flight) flew to KL and then took a bus to JB... and then a taxi to where we actually live... all in all 27 hours not in my area.

So are you and Elder Spurrier in your own apartment? Do you get to do stuff with other elders and/or sisters on PDay?

We live with Elder Egbert (my old ZL in Kuching) and Elder Capener (was in my district in Kuching) There are no Sisters in JB, I have no idea what we do for p-days cause I've had one so far... and I'm still emailing.

What is your branch like, big or small?

branch=small

singapore ward=big for Malaysia, small for back home.

Everything compared to back home is small :P

I'm excited that you still get to speak malay. I've always wondered, when it's just you and your companion, do you speak English or malay?

When I'm with my companion I speak mixed and broken english.

and school weekend is friday and saturday so no kids can come to church.

also, low on time so I will upload pics next week

bye! Jumpa Lagi!

Transfer news - Johor Bahru - Nov 2, 2014

Responses to emails:

Told him that Luke wore the crayon costume this year

The crayon costume is the best... but what did Padoch wear if Luke had the crayon haha.

And about a presentation at work

Well good luck at work! That sounds exciting, just in time for you to go back to full time work! :D

Sent a link to a church video

"Am I allowed to watch it" (Already did...) it's on LDS.Org...  I didn't watch the 4 missionary one yet (also lds.org...)

And mentioned that we are waiting for Jordan to get his braces off, so he can submit papers for a mission

You can serve with braces... can't you?  Has Jordan got his patriarchal blessing yet? And did you get my answers from the missionaries yet?

Also Mom and Dad, could you guys like... tell me your conversion stories... cause I know nothing about your conversions.

Also Mom, could you send me some of my resumes/ submissions for the Highschool awards? Just to review for the UBC application, I'm gonna ask President Mains to be one of my references.

Also should have transfer news... eventually...

Katie's questions:

What is it like in Malaysia?

Malaysia is hot, and really Muslim :P but things are going great, I'm really loving Malaysia, especially Sarawak :)

What are some crazy things you have eaten?

Chicken Butt. (Snake, Iguana... IDK almost everything (except alligator, because in Iban tradition, if you eat Alligator, later another alligator will eat someone in your family))

I can't believe that it is less than a year before you come home.

I tell myself that I still have 18 months left, because I don't want to go home yet! :P

How many baptisms have you had.

After last Saturday I have had 11

I Just got transfered :O

I'm going to Johor Baru in the Malay branch (only Malay branch in West Malaysia...)

ANOTHER 3 MONTH AREA

I'm ok with it, haha, cause I'm gonna go hard in JB, still a lot of Ibans. I can keep calling people etc.

I'm DL again, with Elder Spurier

 

Pics this week!

Pictures out in Dalat a member from the Kuching International branch came to Mukah, and we went to his home in Dalat (even smaller town than Mukah)

Abandoned house

Former investigator (who hopefully gets baptized this year)

Old Lady who I taught in Sibu (friend of Sis K... turns out they are related) and met her at her long house!

Baptism!

Playing bola

other pics...

 

Is that the font? Is that as much as you can fill it?

 

ya... and it is tiny :P