Kuching again - Dec 21, 2014

Hey I'm going to skype on the morning of the 26th here, so Christmas night for you all.

Kuching is awesome, I love the branch, I know most of the active members already. There is a family here that just went to the temple, I reactivated them in Kota Sentosa, then they moved to Matang branch (cause they live there...) and they just went to the temple! And now I get to serve with them again!

I got to go to a few members houses in other branches for caroling (haven't seen anyone from Sentosa yet...) but that was cool to get to see members again!

Opposite end of Kuching, like South Calgary, and North Calgary.

Anyways, its been a good week, moving around a ton, my mission has cost the church a fortune :P

Jumpa Lagi,

Elder Bester

Did you have a Christmas program in sacrament meeting?

No we didn't, but we have been doing carolling.

I gave a talk Yesterday on strengthening faith, that was really good, I enjoyed it (I got told about it Saturday night :P)

Dad's lame :P No pictures from Japan!?

So, we sent some pictures

I appreciate that the first picture Dad uploaded was food :P

also, I wanted to challenge dad officially, to a 100M freestyle race when I come home. I won't have swam for 2 years, so it gives him a chance.

Dad says how about a 50?

Nope, Dad well need to work if he wants to beat me in the 100, in the 50 he won't have the same motivation. If it's a 50 he'll procrastinate and I'll beat him by 10 seconds :P

If he gets to work, he could put up a fight in 8 months.

Know what's sad? even without swimming, I'll probably be able to beat all my times when I come home... (except maybe the breast stroke times...)

And sis reeves read your blog and told me today that if someone gets to pick you up from your mission it should be me, which I agree with. But it might be fun to go back, like the summer after, just need to figure out how to pay for it.

remember that it's a way different culture, so if you come, you'll have to endure some things :P

 

I see a mission hasn't changed you as much as I thought! Still trash talking

the change has been in different aspects of my life :P

but for reals though, I think I could beat a lot of my times because my body is stronger... my upper body is better, and my legs are used all day for biking... I think I could beat my freestyle, fly, and back times... just not Breast Stroke... cause I was way good.. and I had technique... that I've probably lost

Anyways Im going!
Jumpa Lagi!
Elder Bester

 

Transfer news - Dec 14, 2014

I'm glad the house is all decorated! That's exciting! You should send some pictures of the house!

We had our Christmas conference this last week in Singapore! (I almost didn't get back into Malaysia because the guy at immigration didn't like how many stamps my passport has, and he said I need to get documents from the church... (but I got in :) )

 I got to be a Shepherd... (not too exciting, they just ask some Elders to sing and be a shepherd... but last year I didn't do anything so that was fun.)

I'm sending home some stuff for Christmas today... so who knows when it will go to Calgary, I have everything in my backpack right now, and I'm gonna go over to a store, find a box, wrap the box, and send it home!

I am living with a bunch of Americans (#mywholefreakingmission) so we play a lot of basketball, I touched the rim with both hands! and I can grab rim! when I was in Mukah I was too fat and I couldn't touch rim any more, so I'm in good shape again.

I haven't played street hockey yet, I've only played a bit of mini sticks, but I mess around with them sometimes. I win a lot at soccer, but mostly kids here play footsal, which is like smaller soccer (I think it's better)

I always find it funny when people complain about Christmas songs and Christmas trees back home, yet in a Muslim country there are Christmas trees in every store, and last year almost every day in Kuching I heard the Boney M Christmas Album playing in stores (How weird to hear that in Malaysia) I've also heard it a couple times in Johor.

I think it's funny that in 'religiously free North America' we have to have "winter concerts" and can't have "Christmas concerst" but in Malaysia muslim kids celebrate Christmas.

anyways :P

Jumpa Lagi!
Elder Brent Bester

 

so my pictures... (the last few weeks that I haven't sent them...) btw still waiting for transfer news

There is a malay kite (we went to the kite museum)

American thanksgiving.

A poorly worded english sigh

(Red building) stake center in Singapore

(white building) Pasir Panjang building in Singapore (also a church)

fyi there are 3 churches in Singapore, and I have only seen 2... but the stake center has 3 chapels, 2nd floor, 4th floor, and one in the mission offices behind the stake center

Chinese guy juggling in Singapore, he was freaking good

More Singapore.

Elder Lallemant from Quebec (English speaking)

Elder Pun (Vancouver) Elder Lallemant (Montreal) Elder Bester... (I hope you knew that one...) (Calgary)

Elder & Sister Boyter, last zone conference, they went home last friday, they were the senior couple in Kuching when I first got to the mission.

I just got transferred to Kuching... Matang branch!

This is so weird! I was only here for 6 weeks!!!! What the heck!

 

Still a malay speaking branch, or maybe you don't know anything about it yet?

 

I helped a family from that branch go to the temple. I know a lot about that branch. It's the opposite side of Kuching though.

I'm with Elder Sessions from my mtc group!

Elder Harr is in Kuching, Elder Chang is in Kuching, Elder Poppelton is in Kuching, Elder Christenen, all from my MTC group

Dec 8 2014 - Testimony

What did you do for PDay?

I called some of my Recent Converts in Mukah, that was way exciting! They are all doing way good :) So that was a good start to the day.

We went caroling yesterday with the branch, that was awesome, exactly what our area needed! We have a baptism coming up on the 27th, she is the niece of one of the councellors in the branch presidency, (10 years old) her parents aren't members (yet... :) ) but she wants to be baptized, so that's way cool

http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529

I'm sure you've seen this already, but this is my little message I have for now.

I've been reading a lot of the teachings of Christ over the last year, and I'm particularly drawn to his life in this month. My message, or testimony, that I have for this week, is that Jesus is the Christ, and he did suffer for every single one of us.

I haven't experienced a lot of this world, at an age of barely 19, there is still much I have to learn, and a lot I need to grow.

But.

There is one thing I do know. I do know, that Christ was born and raised for all of us, he lived a perfect life for all of us, he atoned for all of us, and he was resurrected, so that we all can return to our heavenly Father.

In short, I'm young, and very small in this world, but there is one thing I know, and that thing is that Jesus is the Christ, and through him my weakness can be made strong (See Ether 12:23,26-27)

Also, just a thought, cause I'm coming home in 8+months, if someone wanted to come and tour my mission with me, that would be way cool

yay! ok well I gotta go! I love you all, and I'm excited for Christmas!

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