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

Hello wonderful people!

Transfer weeks are always memorable for a plethora of reasons. This one was no different.

We spent several days this week just going around to members to say good bye to Elder Parker. With his naturally friendly personality, he had made many friends, so we had many bittersweet experiences. Apparently Acui still calls him up every so-often now that he's gone.

Anyway though, Elder Sutherland is an amazing missionary from the great country of Provo Utah. He's been out almost 15 months now, and so far we have hit it off very well. We are actually very similar in the ways we think, so it's going swimmingly.

Elder Sutherland flew in Thursday night at 10 pm, while Elder Parker bused to Bintulu at 10 am. So for basically the entire day I followed Elders Baranov and Misa. We went out to a pretty Kampung-y area called Sentosa and had a blast. We also met with a returned missionary from Kota Kinabalu (in Sabah) named Michael Song who apparently still goes around doing missionary work, having served in our mission. He was there visiting some family. He was a really cool guy though, and also came to church with us on Sunday.

Speaking of Church, Acui and friends continue to progress fantastically. We went to our usual 9:30 branch council meeting, and when we were already in President Balley's office, Elder Bues came up to say that Acui and friends had already arrived. Sacrament was the most reverent it's ever been. We  had three confirmations that day, all member child baptisms from the night before.

That night before we had come to help get ready for those baptisms, but got dragged into Branch 1's Gawai party. It was fun, but not to brag or anything, but our's was better. Food was good as always though.

Sunday night we also met with Acui and Friends and taught Baptism as part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They'll be baptised in two weeks, so we were asking them how the felt about their testimonies and if the church was true, and Lena replied "Of Course it's true Elders, why wouldn't it be?" They are so amazing it almost kills me.

What also was cool is that Elder Baranov and Elder Sutherland were both Elder Bester's trainers, who moved into the other house when Elder Wilson moved. Big ol' family reunion.

And that's really it for the week. Weird.

Anyway, I am very excited with my new calling as District Leader, and the more I think about it the more ready I feel. I know I can do a lot of good while I'm here. The Lord is with me and the work keeps moving forward!

-Elder Christensen