Sorry I'm not responding to much,the Internet isn't good today. Just had to re-set the Internet.

Anyway, Hello Everyone! Life here has been frankly hard this week for a variety of reasons, but it's all ending up a big blessing of how God loves us.

I say it's been hard for a couple reasons, mostly that just about all of our appointments kept canceling. A huge reason for that was the massive amount of rain we've had, which due to superstition, the Ibans all believe will make them sick. I think it must have a crazy placebo effect, as they all DID! A ton of people were sick this week at many different times, for no other reason then the rain. Also, it's been really cold. Pres. Langgie said that the cold winter winds are blowing down from China, and Vietnam already has Snow. There's been a chance of Snow in Malaysia! That would be insane!

Anyway, checking up on people. This is also the Prayer list. So we weren't able to meet with the Kampung Krokop people at all. We even waited an hour outside the Kampung because we had no idea where they were. They've been working insane overtime because of the upcoming Chinese New year, then they went to their sister in law's house. They also don't have a phone, so we never told them they now have a ride to Church!

Nicolas, Peter, and Aloi are amazing, and we did meet this last Wednesday. Unfortunately, we were told their parents don't want us meeting with them. We did set up an idea to meet with them, but their parents live 'far away' and aren't always there. So we will call periodically until we can and explain our purpose. Peter thanked God for sending 'His servants' in the closing prayer.

James wasn't able to come to church this week, as he is a fruit farmer and it was harvest season. He is so excited about everything though, and loves to learn. He apologized for not being able to come.

One the Highlights of this week though, yesterday we were able to bless Bro. Day. Pres. Langgie came with us, and he annointed with Griffin blessing. As soon as the blessing started, he stared crying and shaking. The spirit was super strong. Then, with the blessing ended, Pres. Langgie told him that we will set the date for his Baptism. We will work with him every day til then, starting tonight.

Also, the 5 baptisimal interviews were this last Wednesday. The gift of tongues is real. I was able to understand everything, and they could understand me perfectly. And afterwards, my Malay has gotten expotentially better. God has truly blessed me in the language this week.

Thank you for your love and prayers.

-Elder Christensen

This week has been a week of wonder and work indeed.
Hello wonderful family! Thank you all so much for your prayers and constant support! It helps our wonderful members, and me so much!
This week being Transfer week, we spent just about all of our days visiting members and taking pictures with them before Elder W got transferred to Kutching, incoming flood of pics, enjoy, I wish I could label each one, but you'll have to ask who's who (sorry).
Anyway, that took most of our week up till Thursday, when Elder W left and Elder Griffin replaced him. Elder Griffin is a fantastic guy and another one of our Utah homeboys! We've already bonded very well, as we have many of the same interests such as music, fantasy, books, movies, and a lot of other nerdy things I never thought I'd think about till I returned from my mission.
Transfers changed a lot of things in our area, besides Elder Griffin, as Sis. Anderson is now training a nice greenie by the name of Sis. Bickmore, and Sis. Trottier has a new companion named Sis. Taylor. Also, I took Elder W's role of District Leader, so pray for me, as I have to do 5 baptismal interviews this Wednesday!
Now for some cool stories.
Thursday Night after getting settled and weekly planning, we met with Sis. Lado. We had a great lesson with her, and she told us that now as she has her Driver's License she will drive herself to church (she's been less active as long as I've been here). So awesome!
Friday we had some awesome miracles happen. We were able to place a B.O.M. when we went to lunch by complete divine intervention to a nice Buddhist who ended up paying for our food! Nice contact for Kong and Chan. We also met with some active members who live in Krokop, who ended up not only knowing Sis. Raca and Sis. Masiori in Kampung Krokop but were friends with them when they went to church! They said they could give a ride if needed also!
Saturday we tried to visit the Kampung Krokop people to tell them the good news, but they had left to their older sister's house or something. So we tried to find some other less actives, and we ran into a man who asked who we were. I said my name and he misheard it, so he replied "Oh, you guys are Christians!" He was too and invited us in since it was raining (per usual). His name was Nicolas and we met with him, his brother Peter, and their friend Anoi who randomly wandered in. We taught the entire first lesson and gave them all a B.O.M. and set up a return appointment for Tuesday. They are super prepared and we both agreed it was a golden contact.
That night we had a welcome dinner for the new senior couple, Elder and Sister Riser. They bore their testimonies and it was really awesome, but the best part was that James came, and he brought his wife Evelyn! We'd never met her before, but she was a very nice lady. They all started fellow-shipping with the members, and the food was delicious.
Sunday was very busy for us, as we tried one more time to meet the K.Krokop people to tell them the good news, but they weren't back yet. The highlight was our lesson with James. He started it with prayer to show that he'd been practicing all week, and it was beautiful. He prayed in Iban. He's read all the way to 1st Nefi 14 and says he's getting better at understanding it. We helped to answer his questions of what words meant, but Sis, Katrina helped a ton. She basically went off and taught the entire lesson. He told us and wants to become clean. That led perfectly into Baptism. He didn't want to set a date yet, but he said he would when he knows it's true, and committed to continue reading, but also to pray morning and night and before he reads. It was one of the best lessons I've ever had.
The Work is True because Christ Lives! I know that!
The Penans are back safe and sound, we are gonna meet this week again! Thank you for your prayers!

Since Sis. Anderson went to Singapore for New Missionary Training, I received my Mom's wonderful New Years Letter! Thank you so much, it really warmed my heart.

Prayer List: James
Penan Clan
Bro. Day
Nicolas, Peter, and Anoi
Bro. Hitam was too sick to go to church this week, still feeling sakit sikit.
The Kampung Krokop people to be able to go to church.-Elder Christensen

 New Companion!

Guess What? I could buy the Hobbit 2 on DVD for 6 Ringit here if I was into that sort of thing.

Hello Family and Everyone Else! It's so good to start emailing and read your words and see your smiling faces! This week has been one of the most jam-packed, informative, testimony building, happiest and hardest weeks of my life. Lets get started!

This last Monday we had a Family Night with Darrel. When we got there, we met his step-dad, who apparently is not a member! We turned the lesson to him and gave him a B.O.M. After the lesson we had the great pleasure of helping Darrel with his Mission Papers! He couldn't read them in English. On the way back home we were talking about members here, and we realized that Robert, Darrel, and Davidson are all going on missions, with a high chance of serving in their own country. If they do, we will likely serve with them! That would be so awesome!

Tuesday we had a few funny things happen. We ended up sitting in the Church with Elder Shuetz (going on Zone Leader splits with us) for a couple hours because somebody needed to be with some contractors fixing the air con in the Primary room. During their lunch break we went and taught Robert a new member lesson. When we returned, they took a couple hours more before we went to have dinner at S.C.R. (Singapore Chicken Rice). Unfortunately, the Restaurant was being completely run by Partimers and our food didn't come for almost and hour, then we had to go home.

The Next 3 days was Zone Conference! It was so cool and we were able to do a lot of cool things (don't worry, we still placed book of mormons). We had a traveling 70, Elder Larry Wilson, come and instruct us. He gave excellent help on how to better use the B.O.M. in our teaching, but one of the coolest parts was almost a half hour of questions and answers about anything. We had some rumors cleared up, here they are:

-In a part of West Malaysia, the King had declared the Islam Authorities could now claim copyright on the word 'Allah'. Any Bible that used that had to be burned. This included all Indonesian B.O.M.'s and Triple Combinations. But don't worry, the only Christian Literature left in the area is the Malaysian B.O.M. which uses the word 'Tuhan'. When I got back, I read in D&C about the 116 pages. The Lord will Always Triumph over Satan. 

-Johor Baru officially changed its weekend to Friday and Saturday, which through the state out of whack, in service to the Muslims. The Church is waiting to see if it holds out, since the banks haven't changed. Interesting implications.

-"There will be temples in Singapore and Malaysia because the Lord wants Temples there." (quote)

Friday was completely taken up in flying back and weekly planning.

Saturday and Sunday was a great example of how Satan is trying to stop the work. Our appointment with the Kampung Krokop people fell through, and James was sick and couldn't come to church (he's fine now), we had super awful rain, and some of our other appointments fell through, but we still had one cool experience.

We met with Bro. Day again for the first time in a long time, he was drunk, but we agreed to come back Tuesday and give him a priesthood blessing. Oh yeah, Prayer List:

Bro. Day!

The Penans are apparently flooded in their native kampung and that's why they haven't yet returned.

Darrel's dad (Sandi)

Bro. Hitam hasn't come to Church for a while.

Sorry I was late today! We went to a Crocodile Farm and my camera died when we got there.

Love you all! -Elder Christensen

Dear Beautiful People

This week has been one of wonders and advancement for us humble servants of the Lord in Miri.

First things first, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS! They have been felt this week in so many ways.

This Tuesday was the Branch Christmas/ New Years party. Elders Mitchell and Fletcher did an excellent job of planning, and we had a great turnout with both Food and People. Missionaries are required by Malaysian Law to eat til they are sick at social functions.

The Missionaries themselves also performed a surprisingly-actually-pulled-off version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas that I was put in charge of. Elder Shuetz makes a suprisingly good Grinch. He would yell out all the Grinch's lines in Malay after I read them in English.

Other news, we tried a new contacting approach this week with the Chinese Elders, mall contacting when one of the Chinese goes with a Malaysian. That way we can talk to everyone. We were placing a B.O.M. an hour approximately, it was awesome.

Also, the Kampung Krokop people are amazing! Kong and Chan went with us to talk to a Chinese Daughter-in-law with a Buddhist Background, they'll start meeting with her soon. Also, two more unbaptized people, Edward and Jalayan, should become new investigators this week!

Other exciting news is that James continues to be awesome. We met on Sunday and he's reading the B.O.M. in both Malay and English to increase his comprehension, as his native language is Iban. He's really cool. That day in Sunday School and Priesthood we had lessons on the Plan of Salvation and the Priesthood and he had a lot of questions. He loves to learn and he wants to know more. I could see him baptized within a month.

Pray for the same people this week, also especially the Penans. They returned to Kampung for the holidays and we haven't seen them for a while now, we don't have any way to see when they're coming back.

This week is Zone Conference! Yay! Three days in Singapore!

Love you all! Sending home pics via memory card this week!

-Elder Christensen

Oh Christmas time, OH CHRISTMAS TIME! You'll drive us Elders Crazy!

Hello wonderful people! This week has been the most insane of probably my entire life. Anyone who's served a mission in Malaysia can tell you that Christmas can be a wonderful way to die happy. But don't worry, I'm alright.

Anyway, first things first, IT WAS SO GOOD TO TALK TO YOU ALL THIS WEEK! It doesn't seem possible it was only Wednesday (more like a year ago), but it was awesome and really helped me a lot. The one thing that was really different about how Malaysians celebrate Christmas is that they essentially keep celebrating it until New Years. That's a tradition I could get behind. This week was basically stuffed to the brim with activities and parties, with the Branch Party tomorrow night. 

Now, People! The Penans were in Kampung this week, so we didn't get to meet with them. But we did meet with James after Church again. The lesson went extremely well, we taught the 1st lesson though the 1st vision. The spirit was super strong. Sis. Katrina has been helping us teach him, and she was awesome yesterday. She was even Anti-Prepping him though we didn't ask her to! Afterwards he gave us some delicious Seedless Rambutan. 

We also had a cool miracle Saturday. I was feeling a little case of Heat Exhaustion Friday night, due to us stopping on the beach to plan some things and I didn't bring a full water bottle, I'd though we were going home. The next morning my head hurt somewhat, so Elder Wayment gave me a blessing. He'd said I would have strength for the day and be healed, but I didn't feel better right away. That day we had a combined Christmas Lesson with all the less actives in Kampung Damai (Bro. Day, Sis. Rita, Bro. James and Sis. Ngana). Christopher and Davidson went with us, and it went really well. Afterwards we had some sort of dance practice with a member named Felix for the party tomorrow, but my head still hurt and my balance was off. I went and sat on the couch and read the Ensign. Meanwhile, a 17 year old boy came and sat next to me. He was Felix's cousin, not a member, and we started talking. Apparently he comes to church, but has never received a Book of Mormon. I gave him one, and he was extremely happy. He even said 'Thank You' in English! Apparently he reads the Bible a lot in School. His name was E. Nelson. Immediately after that my head stopped hurting and I was fine. I realized after that if I hadn't felt sick, I wouldn't have been sitting there and met him. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways. 

Love you all so much!

-Elder Christensen

Mom Note: We were able to skype with Elder Christensen at 5 a.m. Sunday morning.  We were blessed with a fantastic connection and could see and hear him perfectly.  IT WAS HEAVEN FOR ME!  BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER!   He looked and sounded great, very up and happy, enjoying it all so much.  He was at his branch President's house on Christmas night for a big party and was able to use his laptop.  We talked about a lot of things.  We learned that proselyting is incredibly inefficient. Half of the homes are Islamic, identified by a particular kind of Christmas type light that they have above their doors and light for a certain holiday, but they leave them up all year. Another large percentage are Buddhist and only speak Chinese.  They too identify their religion with a Buddhist picture or statue.  They really try to work through the members for contacting, they have much better results.  He said everyone identifies their religion with some kind of something on the door. The Mormons put out pass-along cards, or photocopy the front cover of the Book of Mormon and put it up on their walls.  I also thought it was interesting that people go home to their native Kampungs for Christmas.  He said that there will be 200 missionaries with the new missionaries coming, there are only 100 missionaries now, so there is the strongest likelihood that he will be training, as will almost everyone else, after only being there two months, and in the MTC only 6 weeks. I am so grateful for everyone who bows their head in prayer for these missionaries world-wide.  Anyway, he is loving life and doing great, and we are so very grateful for your prayers and interest in his behalf!  

Christopher and Davidson..recent converts!