Hey, sorry there's no pictures this week, but I'm emailing you from Changi Airport, greatest airport in the world!

Anyway, this last week has been very great, very uplifting, and overall awesome. 

Just some updates on people.

When we met with Ingang, it was a relatively short visit as she had to leave soon to work. It was a good chance though to get to know her husband, Pasil, better, and thank him again for saving our bicycles (see following story). We talked to him about the World Cup, which is huge here (President Mains specifically said yesterday not to watch it, so we'll stop).

Acui is doing great. Kenyang and his family are now working toward a baptisimal date of July 12th, and Acui is helping a ton to make that happen. She's on testmonial fire right now, and she's so excited to help her friends it's almost ridiculous.

Last Monday we had a family night at Bro. Gaadong's house, almost 40 minutes by car from our house. Elder and Sister Beus took me, Elder Sutherland, Elder Bester, and Elder Hobbs all in the back seat of his car out there, as all of us had been invited.

It's also been kind of crazy with Madeline. The long and short of it was that when she was at kampung for Gawai, she had taken Sister Ela's kids and her own daughters to a Bomo (witch doctor) when they all got sick. Sister Ela was not happy and left early, which was why she was able to get to Acui's baptism. Now Sister Madeline's entire family is sick, and her husband might have Dengue Fever. After Church this last Sunday, she asked us for a Priesthood Blessing for her and also her oldest daughter. It was a very spiritual experience, and it mostly just mentioned giving her strength and health for her role as a mother.

Also, I had the pleasure of going on Splits twice this week. Wednesday was with Elders Baranov and Misa, our beloved Zone Leaders. Elder Misa and I had a crazy Miracle happen as we were going to our area. Here's the story:

So we were out in Kampung Seruan Jaya, Ingang's Kampung, and had met several people around town. We walked and talked and had a overly plesant time. As we were walking over the road on the side of a hill, Elder Misa turned to me and said, "Hey, isn't that the tree where our bikes were locked?" We ran down to find nothing but a cut bike lock hanging on the tree, To Elder Misa's benefit, the first thing he said was to pray. We bowed our heads and asked for guidance, then started to mobilize the kampung. We went searching for a while and ran into Sister Floria's kids, who said another prayer with us.

As we were searching near the local Futsol court, one of Sister Floria's kids ran up to tell us that they found one of the bicycles. We ran down the hill to see Pasil standing there with Trek, my fixie. We asked where he found it and he led us back to his house where the other one was. He said that as soon as he had heard that the bikes were stolen, he had went up the local hill next to the kampung where, apparently, the 'kampung mafia' always takes stolen material until the heat blows over.

To be continued, I need to switch computers..The Coolest part of that story was before, when we had gone to visit Ingang. Her youngest daughter had just gotten out of the Hospital from an astma(?), and we asked if she would want a priesthood blessing. She agreed, and also asked for one for herself. Hers said that she, if she endured her current hardships, would be baptised in Jesus's true church one day, and would also be successful in helping her husband start to build an interest in the gospel so that he would join her there. I believe the events later that day were in direct answer to that prayer.

 

ANYWAY, I was also able to go on splits with Elder Berger in their area, which went really well. We spent a lot of the day preparing their new appartment for being moved into, and also visited some cool less actives. The best part though is that anything I've mentioned before has been completely resolved, through the power and grace of God. There were a lot of cool experiences with that being resolved this week.

 

Then, we left for Zone Conference early Monday morning, and are about to fly back to Sibu. I'll write more about the Spiritual parts in my written letter, but I did get a mountain of letters from you guys and a package! Thank you so much, I love you! The topic for Zone Conference was teaching and living Repentance, and there were a lot of awesome Spiritual experiences there. The saddest part is that Elder Wayment goes home next week, but in his dying testimony he told a joke about a monk reading the pure, unadulturated Bible in Heaven and later St. Peter finds him crying because it said 'celebrate', not 'celebate'. It won't be the same without that guy. We did end it last night with an Epic Scriptural Rap Battle that we had to write our selves in 30 minutes, and it was awesome. I got videos of those.

 

I love you so much! It's crazy to me to ponder the significance of 'knowing' the Gospel is true, because I KNOW it is! It is the greatest source of Joy and the greatest gift to mankind, especially the wonderful gift of Repentance. That's why we're told over and over again to preach nothing but Repentance to this people in D&C.

 

I love you! -Elder Christensen

Well. 

I'll have to go day by day this week.

So last Monday, Siew Yong, a Member from the Chinese branch took us out to a Buddhist Temple. It was a massive one, and it was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time just taking a ton of pictures, but it was really enjoyable. Siew Yong is a really nice guy.

That night we had a fantastic family night at Acui's house. Bro. Kong and Elder's Bester and Hobbs also came, and it went really well. After taking turns sharing scriptures, we played a really fun game called 'Hai Su Ka'. Acui almost died laughing.

Tuesday was a fun little treat. The Beus's requested to host District Meeting at their house, and invited the Sibu Jaya Elders to come up with Elder and Sister Marteeny. Elder and Sister Marteeny finished their missions this last week, so after a very productive District Meeting we had an amazing lunch with Enchilada's and REAL CHEESE! What a Joy Incarnate was that meal, though it almost put us in a food coma. I did get to purchase some Sarawak Proselyting Slippers though, some rubber things for cheap that are easy to slip on and off for any quick runs we need to do, as we never wear shoes in people's houses.

That night we went again to Acui's house, this time with Elder's Baranov and Misa for Acui's baptismal interview. We had a fun little time during that, and she PASSED! The only thing she was a little shaky on was the Restoration, but we had a review lesson later for that. She's awesome.

Wednesday all of our appointments fell through, so we spent a lot of time contacting in a place called Sungai Merah. The funniest part of that all was when we were heading back for Acui we stopped for Ramley Burgers at a local Muslim food stall. Almost instantly the Heavens opened, and the rain came down and the floods came and the winds blew. They let us sit on their front porch for about 40 minutes while eating Ramley Burgers and Mi Goreng until the rain died down.

We then met with Acui, mostly getting her information for her Baptismal record. Meanwhile I taught why Nephi was writing on plates, as Kenyang was questioning that.

Thursday was our Permai Jaya day, which meant we biked out to Permai Jaya and stayed there all day long. Ingang was doing great as usual. She has such a strong testimony of the Gospel, and the only thing keeping her back is no transport to church. She seems pretty confident that she will have it soon though.

The next person we met with there was Sister Floria, the less active that moved there from Batu Kawa, Kutching. For the first time her Husband was there too, as he was back from Song for a while (he works there). We had a great lesson where we shared the stories of 1st Nephi 3 and Esther, discussing Courage and following the commandments. It was a really fun lesson, although two of their daughters had the Chicken Pox.

We then found a bunch of kids playing Bola-Kampung. We joined them until Jerry came home.

Jerry was actually late from work, but his kids let us in. He has a twenty-something son named Harris that we had never met, but he was a very nice kid. Very receptive. When Jerry came, we shared the same lesson as Floria for a lack of time. He is reading a ton apparently, and although he does not yet have a desire to be baptized  due to his Roman Catholic heritage, he read about 20 chapter of 1st Nephi in the last week and enjoyed it. He comprehends and remembers very well what he reads. 

Friday I went on splits with Elder Baer, the Chinese Elder. We had a great time together and a great day. We ended up meeting with Winnie, the Chinese girl that follows Acui and friends to everything, and he taught her in Chinese for a while. We also met with a less active in their area, a very nice old man. It went very well apparently.

Saturday we went over to the Beus's house to prepare the Baptismal program for that night. Mysteriously though, Elder Sutherland's tire went flat while we were doing that. Elder Beus then volunteered to take us down to Permai to meet Sister Ingang, as she had asked us to come back that day. We found when we got there that her daughters, Celesty and Natasha, were there with their fried Menin. The all had been reading, so we spent our lesson discussing 1st Nephi chapter 1. It's interesting, but you can basically teach all the doctrines of the Restoration with that one chapter.

That night was the Baptism! Acui had asked me to do it. It went well, and was beautiful. 

Hymn#72

Sunday, church went well as usual. We did have an investigator we haven't been able to get a hold of for several weeks randomly call us and walk to church, if you guys remember Randy, he's a nice construction worker from Indonesia. Afterwards though, Elder Misa felt sick, so we stayed home with him while Elder Baranov went out to Rantau Panjang with a member. Elder Sutherland and I talked a lot and got a lot done though, it was a good day overall.

Then it's today.

This Gospel is TRUE! I feel it with every fiber of my being and I only want to share it better!

Love you so much!

-Elder Christensen

Well, this has been one heck of a week. 2 flat tires, one lost bike light, and a myriad of other occurrences.

Here we go.

First some stuff that happened. Last Monday night we had a family night at a less active's house, a certain Sister Daugn who is a very sweet old lady that the only reason she can't come to church is that her family won't take her. The Beus's were able to come, along with Brother Kong and his wife, and we had a great time sharing scriptures and testimonies. Sister Daugn, in her testimony, stated that even though her kids aren't following her, she knows what she is doing is right and that is enough for her. It was extremely touching, and "she is a very special soul". - Elder Beus

Tuesday was District meeting, and Lawren from branch 1 asked to follow us. It turned kind of rough though, because after lunch at McDonalds he wanted to print some pictures. On the way home from that, it started raining, and combined with his bike being very heavy and slow, it took almost an hour to get home. We still were able to get to teach Acui that night though, and also go to Seminary afterwords at the Beus's house.

Wednesday and Thursday were a real treat, as we had the Main's and A.P.'s come to visit! We had weekly planning as well, but it was real nice to have another interview with president. It's only the 2nd I've had on my mission so far. It really was a pleasure and an honor, and the next chapter in P.M.G. we will be studying this month is Chapter 4. We taught Acui and Friends both nights.

Friday we were able to go out to Permai and meet with that one random kid whose name we didn't know! His name is Skolony, and he is a very bright and educated young man. He even speaks some english, and is very good at reading the Book of Mormon. He does lack in transport easily to church though. Then we had another surprise when we found out that Sister Floria, a less active also without transport, is actually his cousin! Afterwards we were able to meet with Ingang. She is still doing well, though she informed us that she will be taking up a job that will make it almost impossible for the next couple months to meet with her, but that afterwards she should have transport to church. 

Saturday we spent some time just calling all the members in our area as requested to do so by President Balley, to tell them all to come to church although Gawai was still going on. Apparently the last day for May was the big day of Gawai. We also met Acui that night as well.

Saturday only 20 people showed up for Fast and Testimony meeting. 5 of them were our investigators. We taught them a lesson at the church afterwards, reviewing the four major commandments that we need to follow from the Baptismal Interview questions.

We were going to do their Inverviews on Tuesday this week, then that afternoon this happened.

After coming home to finish our studies, we called people to find that all of our appointments had fallen through. It also started raining out of nowhere, so we waited for almost an hour more until it died down somewhat again. We decided to go out contacting around Acui's neighborhood, so we went walking around there. We didn't have much happen, though we did contact a nice Chinese mathematics instructor. When we were walking by there house, they pulled up in the car of their friend, a Muslim named Abdullah of all things, who had apparently brought all of them to a kampung for a Gawai party. Kenyang was barely sober, while Dundong was barely concious. Acui was there calling them to repentance, saying that she had warned them. Apparently this 'friend' just showed up and told them all to come. Lena and Senia were fine. Acui is the only one that should still be interviewed this week though.

That night was hard. I had to really see what we had been doing and how good their comprehension was. It was difficult to experience that, but as I was praying I felt the Spirit open my perspective to an Eternal view. I realized that if they were baptised in this week or in a couple it didn't really matter too much. I also realized that it could be an extremely valuable experience to really see what repentance was like for them, especially as they had yet to really do so. The last thing that I also realized was that it is probably much better for them to be baptised after Gawai, so they have time to grow a testimony for a year before it.

I learned a lot more what it actually means to have faith in God's timing and wisdom.

-Elder Christensen