Sad Goodbye to Elder Sutherland! Welcome Elder Beliang!

Hello family!

This week was indeed pretty crazy, so much so that my letter writing will be very specific this week! Need to get the best stuff in!

It was a very sad couple days letting go of Elder Sutherland. It was full of member visits, packing, hugs and tears (mostly by me), until he was gone. Elder Smith also came to replace Elder Misa, he seems like a great guy so far. However, my greenie didn't come in until the next day late afternoon, and I did not go to Singapore to pick him up as there was a major immigration problem with Sabah this last transfer. I don't want to go into too much detail, but Elder Sutherland's assignment was changed from K.K., Sabah to Bintulu, Sarawak and there might be another transfer this week. 

Elder Beliang arrived safely though! I must be either the luckiest trainer or the worst trainer in the world because he was incredibly prepared. He is an amazing Elder from Kuching, and has been in the church about 9 years. He's 21, and has been doing a lot of work with the Elders before, so the only things that he needed to really learn was the goal concept and the missionary schedule. Elder Beliang is in a special situation though, as he hasn't yet gone to the M.T.C. He will be leaving Oct 22nd to go there for two weeks in the Philippines, and I don't know what I'll be doing for those two weeks.

We have been having a great couple days though, Merang's family has been doing great. Their Baptismal date was moved to the 18th as before it was the same week as General Conference. Things continue to be going well though for them all.

We had a cool sequence of events occur. We were biking home, I felt impressed to stop by the David's door and drop by only for a second. We knocked, nobody was home. We continued, only to have my back tire randomly go flat in the middle of an intersection. We walked for a bit to see a car  that had driven off the road, with a nice looking Chinese family standing next to it. We stopped to see if there was anything we could do to help. The dad didn't give us the time of day, but talking to the mother the Spirit discerned for us that she had heard lies about us at church. I said that we were as much a Christian church as anyone else, and she was surprised to hear we worshiped Jesus. I gave her a card with the Chinese Elder's number, and told her to call if she had any questions.

We finally met again with David this week. They are doing good, we reviewed the Joseph Smith story and focused on Priesthood, and David asked us to come back this Wednesday and bless his wife, Siti. We asked Brother Entalai, a less active that lives a few doors down to help us, and he said that he could. Accordingly, he came to church the next day!

Speaking of Church, Kelvinson and Ignatius were able to come! On a random thought, I asked Merang if they could simply sit in the back of his truck while they drove to church (they live within easy walking distance). He said they could, and also that they could come every week if they so wished! It was so great, they have been so eager to come for such a long time.

Now it's today! Love you all so much!

-Elder Christensen

Hello wonderful family! Patiently waiting for Transfers is killing me here.

This last week was absolutely wonderful. Most of it was taken in three days of Zone Conference down in delicious Singapore, and we had an amazing time. I wish I could just send you a transcript of the whole thing, but President Mains is definitely an inspired man!

The package had arrived fine, but we had some troubles with our airlines with the effect that we were not allowed to bring checked luggage. We had been staying with the Chinese Elders there, so I ended up giving them all the Butterfingers that we couldn't eat or take home (thanks for the Doctor Who stuff by the way, wasn't expecting that. I carry a Sonic Screwdriver now :-).

The only other big news is people! Senia was baptized by her father this last week, and in the last few weeks the effect of the Atonement has been very evident in their lives and personalities.

We have a new Senior Couple here in Sibu, Elder and Sister Bodell. This is their first mission, and they seem to be doing great so far.

Also, Merang continues to do well. This last weekend he quit smoking and his family is on track to be baptized in about 2 weeks. Please continue to pray for him! We had a great lesson this last Saturday, where we changed our original lesson plan when Doo Abun, the mother, said she had been reading the Liahona about the temple and "just wanted to go there"! They are so spiritually in tune it is almost ridiculous.

Sorry it's a shorter letter, but we will be meeting lots of people again this week for sure! Love you all!

-Elder Christensen

Transfer News: Coy will stay in Sibu and train a new greenie!  He is so happy to stay, very sad to let Elder Sutherland go.  

So, do you know that Malaysia doesn't have speed limits? It still seems to work pretty well.

Hello family! I'd be lying if I said that this week was one of the better ones, but miracles did indeed occur (as they always do). It was definitely a

more of a humbling week, where many appointments fell through, many hardships came, many things were not as good as they could have been (or seemed to usually be), but as in all of those things, many things were learned and ways to improve were presented.

Here's a quick rundown of the most significant events.

Zone Meeting was awesome this last Tuesday, Elders Misa and Jackson were great as they reiterated many of the things that Elder Allen, the head of the church missionary department, had said at the last M.L.C. He had basically, in many ways, called the entire mission to repentance. Which was much needed. It was great, and all the missionaries have been going through some growing pains this week with many new standards of excellence, but to the credit of our District, we have been pulling through and succeeding pretty well.

I randomly got a gash in my tire (somehow), but I apparently rode on it fine to Permai Jaya and back. An Angel must have been helping somehow.

Sickness struck for a little but for me this last Thursday, but was easily fended off with oranges and soy milk.

Saturday was a massive get-together social from all branches, to say farewell to our wonderful Elder and Sister Beus, and to welcome new Senior Couple, Elder and Sister Bodell. The reaction of the branch was amazing to see, extremely heartfelt.

Among other things, Janggu came to church and stayed all three hours this week! It was so great to see him there and so many people were happy to see him as well! Entalai also came, although he was able to stay for Sacrament only (which was extremely reverent).

Merang's family is doing great. We met with them after church, and we discussed their baptismal date. Merang told us that he believes in this church 100%, and only wants his faith to grow sufficient enough to reflect that.

David's family wasn't able to come to church, as his wife's sibling entered the Hospital.

Jerry is still doing well, but we can't really tell what kind of desire or progression he wants to make or is making. The family is still being blessed though.

Today we were late to emailing because we had a Zone Trip to Kapit, a little river town about three hours of travel from our house. We left at 5 this morning, with the purpose being to meet some members that live out there (not yet enough for a group). It was a fun place, quite beautiful, and a very fun time that took all day.

One other miracle: while we were there, we ran into a man that we hadn't seen since that time a while ago that we gave the blessing to the dying lady at Bukit Aup. He had told us if we ever came to  Kapit to contact him, but we had lost his number. Lo and behold he was at the central market when we walked by, it was awesome. He said we could meet him in Sibu on Friday.

Well, Zone Conference is coming up! Love you all!

-Elder Christensen