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!

He told us he's listening to us because he wants to come closer to God.

There's no way this was only a week. It felt like two years ago I was emailing you guys last.

Hello Family! Thank you so much for the overflowing love and support I've felt this week! You're the greatest!

The Beach Party was extremely fun. Pics coming. It was a great time, and it suprises me now that it wasn't the highlight of the week.

Remember the Kampung we found? Well we met with the people there. Sis. Raca got all her less-active friends and we all met in one house. They all expressed desires to go to church, but they haven't come for almost ten years. Apparently the bus that goes to the church stopped running, and the missionaries lost track of them somehow a long time ago. One of the women had a 14 year old daughter that we're going to start teaching for Baptism this week! So Awesome!

This Friday we had the great opportunity to go to Kutching for the Christmas Conference, where I got the BIGGEST PACKAGE OF ANYONE THERE! Thank you so much for the raw love I felt from that! We're going to be re-enacting How The Grinch Stole Christmas for the Christmas Party this weekend. I'll be the Narrator.

Better then that though was the 9 letters I received! Thank you so much! They really warmed my heart to hear your news. It seems what Dear Elder does is put all the letters from one entire week in one envelope and send it overseas all at once, because the latest date I got your letters from was Dec. 1st. Written Replies to those will be coming!

ALSO BE PREPARED FOR A MASSIVE BOX! LATE CHRISTMAS GIFT! PROBABLY A COUPLE MONTHS IN COMING!

After we got mail we had a wonderful conference. The Mains's are some of the greatest people. We all were very spiritually touched by everything. We got to create humanitarian kits, I was the Angel in the Nativity, and we watched the 1st Pres. Christmas Conference!

Sunday we got to meet with a Relative of Sis. Katrina, name of James. He was a very prepared man that Sis. Katrina gave a Book Of Mormon to, and he told us he's listening to us because he wants to come closer to God. He speaks English, but can't read it, so he uses the Malay B.O.M. He wants to come to church every Sunday and discuss the B.O.M. afterwards.

The Other exciting thing is that we have been getting home late every night we didn't have a previous engagement going carolling with the branch. We go to every members home. jam as many people as possible inside, sing 2 songs, Pres. Langgie or Bro. Saban (1st Councillor) share a Christmas Message, and we pray, then all caravan to the next one. They feed us a ton and it's so much fun, but tiring and late. Worth it though.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! ENJOY THE PICS!

LOVE YOU ALL MORE THEN I CAN EXPRESS!

-Elder Christensen

 Elder Sessions, MTC Companion

THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN HAVE BEEN OPENED THIS WEEK!

Mom Note:  He will be receiving his physical mail on the 20th.  The Dear Elder service will be printed at the mission home and will be waiting for him.  If anyone wants to email a note TO US, we will pay to get it to him by the 19th.  This will be his mail for Christmas and probably three weeks afterward. Thank you Thank you!  We can send 3 pages for $1.10 so we will combine the notes and get them out. He has specifically asked for an update of what is going on in your life and your spiritual experiences. We would be SO GRATEFUL!  Merry Christmas! Thank you for loving and praying for this boy and for all of the missionaries!  On to the Letter…

Internet's slow today, bear with me here.

Missionary Life:
1 Whole Missionary (perfect mental health not guaranteed)
3 cups Insanity, stir well
1 cup of Hard Work
2 Heaping Tablespoons of Joy
1 Daily Dose of Humor

Mix well in the Bowl of the Spirit, serve liberally. Serving Size: One Week.

Hello Family! This week has been one full of insight and miracles so lets get this train wreck a' rollin'!

Pictures this week: (We didn’t actually get the pictures, but this is a list of what they would have been J.
Elder W and the turtle we ate
Elder Santa Kong
Sting Ray for Dinner
Sister's Baptism
Me Arm Wrestling Christopher
Auxiliary Meeting (bet ya can't guess what we're planning for)
Chinese Christmas Party

Well, after emailing last week Christopher and Davidson asked us to come over for family night, so of course we did. They had a turtle they wanted to eat, and when we arrived they said they had no idea how to cook or kill it. They asked us to do both. It involved a plier, hammer, stove and lots of onions, but we made some pretty delicious Chicken-Turtle Soup. Christopher's daughter accidentally called me 'sister' (in English) since the sisters had taught them, and the rest of the night Christopher called Sisters Elders and Elders Sisters. Good Times.
Anyway, cool stuff this week. We didn't have as much going on this week compared to before (thank goodness), so we decided to try and find some more less actives and investigators. Elder W had found some old hand written records, which elaborated on some Less Actives addresses which only said 'Krokop' in the ward directory. They said they lived in a Kampung that we’d never heard of and nobody had worked in for several years, which was very unusual. So between the Penan's, a Baptismal Interview, English Class, Eating at Pasar Malam and preparing for the Chinese Christmas Party last night and the Zone Activity today, we went contacting in Krokop 7. We literally knocked at every door on the street and asked everybody if they knew these people, nobody had heard of them. It also took about three days of contacting and research. At the end of the 3rd day, we went by these mechanic shops at the end of the street and asked the workers there. The boss only spoke Chinese, but told us to talk to one of his clients about to drive away. We did, and he said they were in the Kampung across the road. We had been there several times, and there was no kampung. We decided to look one more time. In-between a Car Wash and a Private school there was a very narrow dirt road, barely noticeable. We went down in and found an ENTIRE KAMPUNG extending out over the river that we had never seen before. It was truly a miracle, and the Lord worked in a very mysterious way to get us there. We found a less active woman who had married a nonmember and her family has a potential of 3 investigators or so, and they accepted a return appointment for Tuesday!
Saturday night the Sisters had a baptism. All was well except when the power went out for about 20 minutes. Fun times. Afterwards I arm wrestled Christopher.
Sunday we were able to meet Pres. Atos, Pres. Langgie's Father and Branch Mission leader for the first time. He's been in Kutching forever, and we'll be able to meet with him soon. Also, Sis. Katrina brought one of her relatives, James, who's interested in the church. He went around introducing himself to everyone and said he wants to come to church every week. We meet him tonight at Sis. Katrina's Family Home Evening.
Summary: THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN HAVE BEEN OPENED THIS WEEK!
Love you all! I'll get letters and the Christmas Package this week at the Christmas Conference in Kutching!

He also said in a sibling letter: I've had SO MANY Spiritual Experiences! I couldn’t list them all. All the time we have to rely on the spirit to guide us, the strongest one this week was when we found the Kampung.
We asked him how Stingray tasted, and how he knows what is safe to eat and he said: Stingray was really good, sort of like hyper condensed chicken with a better, fishier flavor. Haven't had any problems yet, mostly just bless it before and don't be stupid.
He is also singing O Holy Night in church next week!

Remember last week? Thought that was insane? Well buckle up because this week was much more fun if you catch my drift.

Monday you already heard about last week basically. We also had a baptismal interview that night.

Tuesday was the only relatively normal day this week, with a great lesson with the Penan family (thank you for your prayers for them).

Wednesday is when things started to get a little out of whack. Elder W had an appointment, and there was a trip to McDonalds as a last hurrah for Elder Snyder, who is getting transferred to the newly created Bintulu Zone as Zone Leader! We're sad to see him go, but happy at the same time. That night was English Class, which we've been contacting for and has become our main tool for potential investigators.

Thursday we dropped Elder Snyder off at the bus stop, got lost twice in the heaviest rain I've seen since we've got here.  We had a baptismal interview that night.

Friday we MOVED! TO JINHOLD! It's a really nice maid-serviced apartment meant for 2 people that we're now fitting in 4, because we now have 2 new Chinese Elders, Elder Kong and Elder Chan, who came because (drum-roll) we are getting Miri 3rd Branch starting in January! Elders Fletcher and Mitchel's Efforts have paid off and they are now opening a Chinese/English Group. We also had a baptismal interview that night.

Saturday was the 1st day in 4 that we got our complete studies in, and spent the rest of that day helping the new Elders get acquainted with the area. Elder Kong is a fantastic cook and he made us lunch and dinner. That night, we had a Triple Baptism! 3 more priesthood holders! Christopher and Davidson are two of the coolest guys ever, and the other guy was named Bro. Eye.

Sunday morning we went out to wake up the Kampungs. On the way to Kampung Api, Elder W’s bike's rear tire finally died for good. We walked the rest of the way to Kampung Api to visit Bro. Hitam. He was mysteriously happier then we've seen him ever. We found out HIS GRANDCHILDREN ARE BACK! Thank you for the prayers on his behalf! Someone had seen them walking around somewhere, called the police because they recognized them, and they were brought home (They're names are Samuel and Emmanual, 6 and 2). He was so happy he brought them, himself, and his wife to church (and us). But, he left a little early without us knowing, so we had to catch a bus to Kampung Api. Though during church, we confered the priesthood on the Recent Converts. I was able to confer Davidson, completely awesome gift of tongues experience. The bus was an hour late dropped us off at the same place that the tire had died, so we walked that path again. And who did we run into again but Christopher and Davidson! They walked with us for a while, that was fun. We then went to Darrell's house, which was near Bro. Hitam (who wasn't home). We then spent about 4 hours trying everything we could to patch the bike, but eventually we had to borrow Darrell's bike. It was raining, Elder W didn't have brakes, and it wasn't his bike, so it took about 45 minutes to get home. I sang hymns. It was fun.

This morning we went and switched bikes, replaced the tire after walking to the shop, and then Christopher and Davidson had invited us to go fishing on the beach! It's so beautiful there, looks like Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It was a nice break after this week.

Love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!

-Elder Christensen

Prayers:

Bro. Day (Help us to meet with him when he's sober)

Penans 

 This is Sister Allen, Coy's seminary teacher!

 New Apartment..with maid service!