Letter #47 - Week of 31 Dec 2008 - First Week in Kota Kinabalu

Hello family,

Greetings from my first P-Day in KK (after being transferred).

The last week has been awesome. There is so much I'd like to tell you, but I'll have to summarize really quick.

I'll start with my favorite thing I did all week, and that was to visit Jaimi on Sunday night for the last time. I don't know if I told you, but Juarak was in from the village last week, so she was there. The appointment was wonderful. The three naughty children were all sleeping, so it was very quiet and peaceful. Elder Stone and I taught Juarak about the qualifications for the Celestial Kingdom, especially about the temple endowment and eternal marriage. Her eyes got brighter and brighter as we taught and testified of the blessings of the temple. I am so happy with Jaime. She's active in the church, coming every sunday. She shares the Gospel with her family and has brought several family members to church. She is faithful in her calling in the primary. She studies the scriptures and prays every day. The only obvious outward result (beside the yet future fruits) of my 10 months of labor and effort in Sandakan is Jaimi and her children, and I'm completely okay with that. I'm thankful I could participate in introducing her to the Restored Gospel.

My transfer was stressful. I didn't spend all that much time thinking about what I packed, so I knew I was going to forget things. When I was at the airport, I started to realize a few of the things I forgot. I forgot to take my pictures down on the wall, I forgot to take my alarm clock. I forgot shaving cream. Right after I checked in, I realized something that I wasn't sure if I forgot, and that's what really worried me. I didn't know where my ATM card was. I set my bag down and searched through my carryon several times. It wasn't there (Elder Morrey and Elder Stone found it back at the apartment later and the zone leaders will pick it up from them when they go on exchanges next week- that's not the point of the story). Well, in my hurry to try to find my card, I misplaced my boarding pass. Yikes. Luckily, I was still with the Morreys and Elder Stone, so they helped me go through my carryon again and find it. So I said goodbye, went in and sat outside the gate. I had another look through my bag for my card. After a few minutes, I gave up, thinking it was probably back at the house. But yet again, I lost my boarding pass. This time, I panicked. After 5 minutes of frantic searching, it was no where to be found. The announcement for boarding came. The passengers got on. I explained that I had lost my boarding pass, and they told me to take my time and look. Five more minutes, they finally just gave up with me, checked the computer and my passport, and let me on. I was grateful to Heavenly Father for that. I could have been stuck in Sandakan for a while.

Tell Grampy and Nana Bev and Grandma thanks for the money.

As it turns out, the zone leaders kind of divided the area here. They geographically divided the area in terms of who gets which members for referrals. Other than that, though, we can go anywhere in the city. However, they did not give us any investigators. We are starting from scratch. This week was a bad time for that. The zone leaders went on exchanges in Tawau on Tuesday, so they couldn't be here long to show me around. So on Monday, we went to a less active and a couple of recent converts. Two of the recent converts invited her cousin Sylvia over so we could teach her. I'm excited for her.

Elder Compton couldn't get a flight here until Tuesday, so yesterday morning, I had to go to the senior couple's house for a couple hours, then go pick up Elder Compton, then come back, eat, get settled. Elder Ni arranged for a young man to show us around some more (I didn't get to see much on Monday). Well, I called the young man, and he was sick. So, I decided to just go finding in a city I had been in one day. It was one of the most fun days of finding I've had so far. We met a lot of humble, good people that I'm excited to teach. Most of them are Kadazans. I love Kadazans. They're my favorite. I'm going to have a blast here in KK.

Speaking of Kadazan, and speaking of speaking, I have looked before (although I admit I haven't looked very much- just one book store) for a Kadazan/Dusun dictionary or grammer book or something. Could you look on the internet to see if you could find a kadazandusun-malay or to english dictionary? I would love to learn a little of that language. If you could find one, it'll probably originate from here in KK, so go ahead and have it sent straight to me. Or maybe if you just find a store or something that I could find one just tell me about it.

Elder Compton is a good guy. He is from Mesa Arizona. He's only been out about 2 months from the MTC. He was part of the first group that was trained in Indonesian in the MTC (that came to Malaysia). He has been itching to be able to speak malay. He's pretty good. I'm going to enjoy working with him. I think he's in for an experience. His last area was Butterworth, in West Malaysia. It was also a big city, but a tiny branch. Actually, it isn't even a branch yet. It's just a group. Only 15 people.

Love,
Elder Muffler

2nd email sent half hour later:

I forgot to tell you about the funniest thing that happened last week.
The Hiews had us over for dinner last week. I told them I would be working in Penampang (that's the suburb of KK that my area consists of), and they were so excited, because Sister Hiew was born and raised in Penampang and has lots of family and friends there. She wanted to give me some referrals, but didn't know the addresses, so she'll tell Elder Stone some time in the future.

One of the Hiews was absent from dinner. Grace. They told us that until the results of her final school tests are out in March, she'll be living and working in KK. It just so happens that she's working in the grocery store across the street from our apartment where the elders always go. Strange coincidence.

It's all good, though, I want to teach the aunt she's living with. I'll see if I can go find her later today.

Sorry I haven't taken any pictures yet. Next week.

-Elder Muffler

Birthday Pictures

Our family has a tradition of holding up fingers showing our age on our birthdays. Here is a picture of Elder Muffler posing for his birthday picture. He decided he only needed to take one and we could "multiply it", so we are displaying it twice. He turned 20 on Christmas Day!

Letter #46 - Week of 24 Dec 2008 - Christmas - Getting Transferred to Kota Kinabalu

Hello family,

I know I just talked to you, but we had a few minutes, so I'll write an email to say a few more things that I didn't get to say.

The Morreys got us some chocolate and a t-shirt and tie today. We went with them to visit a couple of people who weren't home. Then, we went to the open house of one of the members. I got talking to a lady there who has 22 brothers and sisters, with the same mother and father. I thought Elder Stone had a lot at 10.

I want to share a few thoughts about a topic I've been thinking a lot about lately, humility. Preach My Gospel has a good definition of humility, something to the effect that humility is a recognition of the blessings that come from God and it includes gratitude for those blessings. I've been thinking a lot about how, as you are truly humble and recognize your blessings, you will desire to work harder and be better and do more so that you show your gratitude to Heavenly Father. Humility results in the confidence that you can do anything the Lord asks, because you know the Lord will provide a way to do the commandments He gives you. So often, confidence is associated with pride. I've come to the conclusion that confidence in yourself is pride. Confidence in the Lord is the epitome of humility. When you are humble, you accept that others have a lot to teach you. You accept that the Lord knows best. Alma 5:26-29 ask a few excellent questions "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameeless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? ... Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy?" Envy. There's a vice that's difficult to break. It's so easy to see others with their numerous talents, their charisma, their looks, their intelligence, the opportunities they have, and wish you were in their shoes. But humility will lead you to accept the will of the Lord, accept yourself with your weaknesses, and be grateful for the multitude of blessings you have, that other people probably have reason to envy. Envy is similar to telling the Lord "Although I know you know all things, I think I know better than you in this case, and I deserve what he has."

Humility leads to power. "Nevertheless, they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifyin and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts to God." Remember that we are instructed to "be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive." (Helaman 7:23) As we celebrate Christmas and commemorate the birth of the perfect example of humility, let us remember Him who descended from His throne on high to be born in a stable, visited by the meek and lowly shepherds, who was despised and rejected of men, who was "led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father. (Mosiah 15:7)

Sincerely,
Elder Muffler





We spoke on the phone with Elder Muffler on Christmas Eve (Christmas Day and his birthday Sandakan Time). Andrew and Christina and Jackson were here and able to get on the phone with us.

Elder Muffler is doing great. He is a little sad in that he is getting transferred on Monday, Dec 29th. But, he is looking forward to his new adventure in Kota Kinabalu, where his Zone Leaders live. The Zone Leaders are currently the only missionaries in KK, so they will once again split the area with Elder Muffler and his new companion. His new companion is Elder Compton from Mesa Arizona, who has been on his mission about 5 months, and has been serving in West Malaysia.

He still did not receive the Christmas Package we sent to him. So, we will have to send another one.

He said time has gone really quickly on his mission. Most of the people that he has been involved with baptizing have moved from the area, and the attendance at church meetings has been decreasing. They've been trying to work with the less actives to get referrals, etc.

In January, Elder Muffler will attend an area conference in Kuching, in southern East Malaysia.

He is overall in very good spirits and doing well.

Letter #45 - Week of 17 Dec 2008 - Staying in Sandakan

Hello,

I will indeed be in Sandakan for Christmas. Elder Stone and I talked about it this morning, and I think what would work best for us and what I would like the most is for you to call 10 AM Christmas morning our time, like you suggested. Elder Stone will do his call at 8:30 or so.

Well, we've had a grand old time this last week. A lot of things are going really well. Our biggest problem this last week was that too many people are leaving for the holidays.

Jose and Esperanza are still very excited about church. They came again this past sunday, with a little less fanfare, but they still had an excellent experience. Jose showed up in a white shirt and tie. He looked spiffy. We talked to them last Wednesday, and they should be going to KK to get their Identity cards and citizenship or permenant residence status or whatever, and they agreed to be married in January after that, but they should be set to be baptized on February 7. Jose is still struggling with the word of wisdom, but he has reduced his smoking big time from the last time we talked to him: down from 4 packs a day to 4 sticks. He agreed to quit by the new year.

No sign of the package as of last Friday.

I'm really glad I get to spend more time in Sandakan. Elder Stone is the greatest companion. I'd imagine we'll be very good friends at BYU and probably for a long time after.

Jaimi's daughter, who is living in Johor Baru (right across the border from Singapore) apparently lost her job, and will be coming to live here with her mother next Tuesday. Jaimi told us she'll come to church for sure, and she wants us to come teach her next week. I'm excited to meet more of Jaimi's family.

We had an awesome appointment with a less active family, the Albarto's, last night. They live in a little wooden house built on stilts by the shore. They're Filipinos. The husband works as a mechanic and the wife sews dresses in the house. They have probably 8 children, one of which is severely handicapped and sits in a wheelchair from LDS Charities. We shared a scripture with them yesterday, and tried to get to know them better. They're such humble, amazing people. The husband shared some experiences about how Heavenly Father has kept him safe and healthy, which he attributes to reading the Book of Mormon and praying. The wife told us about how family prayer has helped their family get through hard times. They said the reason they don't come to church is that they often don't have the money to ride the bus. They said there are some times they have had the money when they were just lazy, but they promised to try harder. After the wife told about family prayer, she also said that she and the children used to gather around Marc Anthony II (the boy in the wheelchair) and sing him hymns, but they lost their hymnbook. Before we left, we sang him "Silent Night." That didn't seem to affect him much. Then his mother told us his favorite hymn is "I am a Child of God." While we sang that, he started making noises and smiling and shaking his head. He loved it.

We met Alice's children for the first time last week. She has 2 sons, ages 16 and 15, and a daughter that is 12. She really wants them to learn from us, because they haven't gone to church in a long time. Of course, they're all teenagers, and act as such. We've now taught them twice, though, and the oldest one seems very interested. The middle one is a punk. I can't tell whether he's just playing, or he really doesn't care. Last night, about halfway through our lesson on the plan of salvation, he disappeared into another room, then 5 minutes later I looked up, and he had a can of air freshener that he was spraying over the candle on the top of his grandfather's Buddhist alter.

Those sons were really good yesterday. Alice said she was very busy yesterday, and she wanted us to call her sons to see if they would be okay with meeting us. I called one of them (it must have been the oldest- I couldn't really tell though), and he said he would love to learn from us at that time. Well, when 7:00 rolled around, we were waiting outside their neighborhood for a member to help us teach, and they came strolling home from the bus stop. They said they were just coming back from the internet cafe. I was so happy that they came back for no other reason than to learn from us.

Elder Stone and I have a lot we want to do today. I want a set of dumbbells (I kept putting it off, thinking I didn't want to just buy some and then get transferred, but now I don't care anymore), and we want to buy a volleyball so we can play with the youth on Saturday afternoons from now on, then we want to head out to a grocery store a few miles away so we can get some real ice cream (usually the ice cream here is dehydrated milk solids mixed with palm oil: it just doesn't taste the same) for Christmas. Elder Stone also wants to play a board game, so we'll see what they have at a toy store here.

I tried a new food last week that I am addicted to. It's a kind of chinese roll called pau. They take bread dough, and stuff it with meat and vegetables (really, every restaurant makes them different), then steam them. They are amazing. And cheap.

Well, better go.

Talk to you next week, 10 am Sandakan time. If there are any problems, I'll call about 10:15 to see what's up.

Sincerely,
Elder Muffler

Letter #44 - Week of 10 Dec 2008 - "I already entered Islam"

Hello,

This week has been fantastic as usual. Doing missionary work in KK for a couple of days was fun, especially since Elder Pace doesn't have a full range of vocabulary yet (he's only been in East Malaysia maybe a month or so). I'm impressed with how well he can communicate with so little experience. But I still got to do a lot of the talking. It was fun.

It was really nice to come back, though, as it always is. Unfortunately, a lot of our investigators are out of town because of the 2nd Hari Raya, which took place on monday. There were a few people that were here, though, so it was all good. Keng Shun has been very sick lately, so we haven't been able to meet him.

I don't know if I ever told you, but Douglas has been avoiding us lately. He hasn't been picking up his phone when we call from our home phone, and whenever we use a different phone, he has hung up immediately upon hearing my voice. I asked President Skelton about what to do, and he said almost certainly Douglas "did something naughty" that he didn't want us to find out about, so the solution is just meeting him for long enough to spit out what the problem is. He said we should "accost" him, perhaps right outside his place of work. He said that surely won't be the last time I'll accost somebody in my life of church service. So that's what we did. We decided to go down to his work sleeping quarters at 4:30, so surely we could either meet him in the quarters or at least as he was on the way to work at 5. I was really nervous and fearing the worst as we got off the bus and walked past the abandoned movie theater on the way to his decaying cement apartment building on the shore. Elder Stone and I stepped aside into the trees for a minute to say a prayer. We pleaded that Douglas's heart would be softened such that he would openly and honestly state his problem so we could work through it and he could continue in his conversion. We walked up the dark stairs that smelled of urine and rotting fish and huddled around the door to his apartment. We knocked, ready to shove a foot in the door the second it was opened. Before long, we heard the jingle of keys inside the door, and Douglas stood before us shirtless, with a reserved smile. "Douglas! We've been trying to call you for so long! It's good to see our friend again. Is there a problem that you didn't want to talk to us?"

"Yeah," he said. "I already..." Now, over the last few weeks, I had tried to prepare my mind for every possible problem. Working in a club, surely the most likely problem was that he finally caved in and drank alcohol. That would have been simple. Tell him don't do it again, and move on. Perhaps he had met oppostion by family or friends, and he decided that following this new church wasn't what he wanted to do. All we needed to do was remind him of what he knew to be true. I certainly didn't expect what came next. "I already entered Islam. I got married to my Muslim girlfriend last week." That was the most permanent decision he could have made. We stood in unbelief. We can't do anything more with him.

Our branch had a great Christmas party on Friday. I say it was great, but I know most of the branch was disappointed. Apparently, the Christmas party usually fetches every member on the role. There were only a handful there, although probably half of them were new members, investigators, or less actives.

Send my thanks to Grandma and Aunt Jenny for the Christmas package. The candy all made it fine, but a mouse or something got to the jerkey before the package got to me, so I couldn't eat it. She wanted me to eat a Burger King burger in honor of Grampa. As for Burger Kings in Malaysia, there used to be one in KK, but it closed down a few months ago. I'll make sure to use some of the money to get a burger in Singapore. All the other elders always go to Carls Junior while there.

I'm surprised how much Christmas decorations and such there is around town, with so few Christians. The last 2 restaurants we've gone to have had Christmas music playing. The one last night just had the hymns. They were all instrumental, though.

So, where's Andrew headed after December? He's graduating, isn't he?

I did recieve my envelopes with my certificates in them, and I sent one set to Singapore this morning. I haven't yet recieved a Christmas package from you. The transfer won't be happening until the 22nd, and I might not get transferred anyway, so it won't be an issue.

We've been really pushing to spend a lot more time with the members, and it has made missionary work a lot more enjoyable, not only because of the increased success we're starting to have, but because of the love we're feeling for these wonderful people.

Sorry for the breakage. I had to copy it from notebook. Long story.

It's good to hear that Joshua has decided to serve a mission. It's the greatest experience in the world.

It's weird. I'm 20 in 2 weeks.

Glad to hear the Sand Creek basketball team is doing good.

I've got a lot to say about Jose and Esperanza, but I'll surely have a lot more to say after we meet them again tonight. They came to church on sunday without anyone inviting them, and they're helping us teach their friends. I'll say more next week.

For now, goodbye,
Elder Muffler

Picture from Zone Conference in Kota Kinabalu (KK) - Elder Ogden, Elder Niederhauser, Elder Herbst, Elder Pace, Elder Stone, Elder Houston, Elder Perrot, and Elder Muffler

Letter #43 - Week of 3 Dec 2008 - Elder Muffler is "in Roses" with regard to Sandakan

NOTE: We DID finally receive an email for 27 Nov and posted it for that date. You can navigate to it on the left by clicking on "November".

Hello,

Right now I'm emailing from a kind of dimly lit place with bright green walls in KK. I'm wearing a Chelsea football club shirt that is soaked with sweat. We played futsol today. It was very fun, especially since we only had 8 missionaries. As such, there was a lot more running and a lot less skill involved, which worked well for a bunch of Americans that can't control a ball with their feet.

My interview with President Skelton was really awesome today. Well, they're always good, but today was especially uplifting. He had a lot of compliments and encouragement to give me. At the beginning, as usual, he asked how I was, and as usual I gave him a 2 or 3 word answer, maybe "Very good." He waited, then said "That's it? Well, that was a quick interview." Then he started to ask about the area. I told him something about the work being more successful, to which he replied "So I've heard." He told me how pleased he was with what Elder Stone and I were doing, then said he noticed a new glow in me, something that has developed every time he saw me. He told me I seemed more talkative, more confident. Then he gave me a charge: I need to carry that confidence to wherever else I might go. If I end up anywhere else, he said I need to waste no time waiting to observe and learn, that I need to stand up right away and talk to people. I took that to mean I might be going somewhere soon. I didn't ask at the time, which I kind of regret now. I'm sure he would have told me.

I just turned to talk to Elder Stone about our interviews. We always get a kick out of what President Skelton says. Elder Stone said that President Skelton said about me "Elder Muffler is in roses with regards to Sandakan" or something like that. Oh, President Skelton.

I'm really worried about Douglas. A couple of weeks ago, he was doing great. He had paid his tithing, and gave us a referral, and was set to recieve the priesthood. The last we heard from him was maybe on a Friday 3 or so weeks ago, and he promised to come to church on Sunday. Since then, however, we have not been able to talk to him. When I try to call him from our home phone, he won't pick up. I tried calling him from a pay phone a few days ago, and he picked up, without answering, and upon hearing my voice, hung up. I tried again yesterday with the Morreys' cell phone, this time waiting for him to say something. After waiting for 5 seconds or so, he said hello, and I greeted him like always "Hello Douglas!" and he hung up. Attempts to reach him at the place he stays during the week haven't worked. I have no clue what might have happened. It seemed like he had such a good relationship with us. I can't think of anything that would cause him to not only want to come to church, but to completely cut contact with us.

Wow. December already. I can totally tell the difference in weather here. It's probably a degree cooler than usual. Just kidding. There's no difference. There's never been a difference and there never will be a difference. The only thing that ever changes is that during the winter months it rains more frequently, maybe 2 or 3 times a week more than it would during the other months of the year. But it's pretty funny. Everyone gets sick this time of year, and they all blame it on the change of seasons.

Ng Keng Shun is doing awesome. We met him on friday night and read Alma 7 together with him to teach him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and let him feel the Spirit while we read. He also came to church on sunday, but had to leave after sacrament meeting due to a medicine he was taking or something. Alice also came to sacrament meeting. She is totally awesome: very humble and friendly and ready to learn. We finally had a Book of Mormon to give to her on Sunday, so now I expect she'll really take off.

Hani ended up going back to her kampung this last week, but will return this coming week.

I don't remember if I told you about Mary last week. Last Saturday night, we got stuck with nothing to do. We had an appointment to meet with a less active, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we lost our transportation, so we had to cancel it. It was about 7:00 at night. That's the absolute worst time for contacting, because everybody just got home from work and is busy eating dinner or doing something else with their family. But we were out of options, in an area that had the absolutely least effective kind of housing: shop blocks. I have never found a single person to teach in that kind of shop block. But of course, I wouldn't be telling you all of that if I couldn't report that we did indeed find a little Indonesian maid by the name of Mary. We invited her to church for the next morning. So 14 hours later, we rode the bus with her to church. Simple as that. We haven't been able to contact her in the last few days, though, and she didn't come to church again.

Well, that's about all for today. I'm doing very well. I'm going to go find some ice cream now. Sorry this email was kind of less than spiritual. I just wrote a couple of days. I suppose I could share a scripture then. I read a couple of days ago 3 Nephi 5:3. "Therefore they did forsake all their sins, and their abominations, and their whoredoms, and did serve God with all diligence day and night." As members of the only true Church on the earth, we are under the obligation to serve Him with all diligence day and night. What a privelege! You and I can spend every moment doing our best to invite others to come to Christ, to reduce the sorrow that is in the world, to make the world a better place. I know I'm not to that stage, where I'm serving with all diligence day and night. But I know how I'm moving to that direction. It's the little things. It's reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day. It's paying attention to those around me to know concerning their needs, then trying to help them however I can. We can all do the same.

Sincerely,
Elder Muffler

Letter #42 - Week of 26 Nov 2008 - Late Letter about Thanksgiving in Sandakan

Well, last week I thought I sent this, but apparently I sent it to "muffler@msn.com", which thankfully doesn't exist. (Received on 1 December, I changed the date to be Nov 27, 2008)

So here you go from last week:

Hello,

Well, this is a little different. I'm emailing right now from the Morreys. I had about a half an hour worth of email written up a few hours ago, then the power went out, so that was the end of that. In that email, I told you about how because of Thanksgiving, President Skelton gave us a Thursday P-Day (and he gave us the full day off, as opposed to going out in the evening like a usual P-day; we'll be going to a less active regardless tonight.) Anyway, we just had a delicious meal. It's amazing what Sister Morrey did with the ingredients and recipes she had available. We had oven baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls made from scratch, fruit salad, bird nest drink (I couldn't stand not having a little Malaysian touch in the dinner. I bought a can ofbird nest drink with real bird nest). We're about to have a delicious looking pumpkin pie. I forgot what Sister Morrey called it. It had some french name. It's like a pumpkin cream pie. It looks delicious.

Well, this last week has been very awesome. Good news about Hani. She won't be going back to her village for December like we previously thought, so she will still be here. She is doing great. She is a very anxious learner, taking notes during our lessons and always ready with her Book of Mormon in which she highlights the verses she likes the most. She'll be a great addition to the branch. I'm not sure when she'll be baptized. We'll talk to her about it on Saturday. She's been busy this week entertaining her husband's family.

Keng Shun and Alice are also doing very well. We had an awesome appointment with them last night. We brought Choon Sun, our old Chinese elder's quorum president. He and Keng Shun hit it off talking in Cantonese about the old days in Sandakan. It turns out Keng Shun knows Choon Sun's father and sister. You see, back in the 50's, Keng Shun was a professional soccer player, paid mostly to play the English navymen who would come into Sandakan harbor. He played soccer with Choon Sun's father. Keng Shun is very open to our teaching. His biggest problem is that he's nearly blind, so reading just isn't an option. He told us last night that some time ago, he was looking back on his life, and thinking about his life as a Buddhist, and decided he wanted to search for the religion that was right. He started accepting the invitations of many of his friends to go to the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Charismatic, and Jehovah's Witnesses churches, but he has yet to feel that any of them is really the right one for him. He told us he fully intends to attend our meetings as much as he can over the next few months and observe and learn from us, so that he can make a proper choice as to whether this is the right choice. He told us all of this in response to our talking about baptism, and when it was all said and done, he did agree to prepare to be baptized January 31, although we assured him if he didn't feel he was ready then, he was under no obligation to us to keep that exact date. I think he'll be ready sooner than that with that attitude. I wish everybody was as open minded and open hearted as Keng Shun. I am confident that anyone who approaches our teachings sincerely seeking to know whether they are true or not will come to the conviction that what we teach is indeed true, that the Church of Jesus Christ and its priesthood authority has been restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that we have recieved additional scripture to fortify our understanding of the Bible and give us a more full understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Plan of Salvation, and that we are led by a prophet who lives and continues to recieve revelation from God.

Alice is also doing well. She expressed concern over her daughters, ages 16, 15, and 12. She's worried about the influence of their friends. She said something like "When I talk, they don't listen, but when their friends, or someone like you talk to them, they'll listen." I'm glad she trusts us to be able to reach them. Hopefully, we'll be able to get them to come to church and make some good friends there.

That was just an interesting appointment we had. We brought a member who talked casually to the investigator in Cantonese. We then taught the Chinese Buddhist man in english a lesson on prayer, then we taught the Indonesian Christian lady in malay a lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel. I just can't see that happening in many other missions: teaching two people together who speak different languages, are from different families, have different religious backgrounds and very different needs.

Rosemarie's parents aren't doing so great. Her father Roberto came to church on sunday. That was excellent. He pulled us aside after church, and told us he had something to tell us. He said something like "I had a dream last night. In my dream, a man told me 'Roberto, it's good to believe in Jesus, but you're old and your legs hurt. There's no need for you to go to church. You've been baptized in the Catholic church, and there's no need to change churches." I'm not sure why he came to church after that, but he did. I think he was either lying about the dream, or he knew the dream wasn't telling him the truth, but the real conclusion he was telling us was that he doesn't want to change churches. He was born a Catholic and he'll die a Catholic, no matter what anyone tells him. It's important to believe in Jesus, that's all. That philosophy really bothers me. It keeps so many people captive here.

I think I will like the Christmas night here, Christmas morning there option the best for my call home. I'll tell you in a few weeks. It should be the same as mother's day: I can call a day early or a day later if I desire. I do hope to spend Christmas in Sandakan for one reason. There's not so much of a risk of members feeding you meals all day (there just aren't so many members as other places). Malaysians and Filipinos both are really hospitable and love feeding the missionaries. My zone leader Elder Niederhauser described Christmas in his first area. They started going to members houses in the morning, and just started eating one meal after another. After his 8th meal, he was so full he threw up, but he was really happy, because he felt like a million bucks and could start eating again. I'll have to remember that trick. I don't need to employ it today. Elder Stone and I usually for exercise run up and down a hill for about 15 minutes right outside our house. But today we decided to get up a little earlier and run somewhere. We ran a little less than 3 miles I reckon, and it felt so good to just go run somewhere to run for longer than usual. It also made me super hungry, so it wasn't a problem to put down so many of the rolls. They weren't quite like your rolls mom, but they were good.

Rose from the internet cafe is still a little intimidated by us. We didn't ask her about the pamphlet we gave. I thought we would be going back later today. Oh well, we'll talk to her some time.

Going to Burger King with Grampa ... "I said I wanted LOTS of onions, not BIG onions !!!"

Poor Elder Stone. He twisted his ankle this morning and he's limping a little.

Sister Morrey put the Christmas music on. Fun stuff.

Brandon's such a good letter writer. I'm doing good if I can get him a letter once a month. I'll try to be that good when I'm at home and he's out.

Oh, by the way selamat petang- good afternoon ; anakku- my son ; yang- that is; terbaik- the greatest (the prefix ter sometimes is used to mean accidentally, or with no one causing the action, but in this case, it means the most, and baik means good) Well, I guess that's all. Next week, we have zone conference, so I'll talk to you again on Monday from KK.

Yang Benar,
Elder Muffler

Letter #41 - Week of 19 Nov 2008 - Missionary Work Getting Better

Hello family,

Things are really starting to get exciting here as a missionary in Sandakan. For the last 6 weeks ago, we have really been in a dead spot. I'm glad I could still be here to work through this.

On Thursday, a young Filipino man named Ednel referred us to his friend Rose, who happens to be the girl who works at the internet cafe that missionaries in Sandakan have been going to for who knows how long. I always assumed she was Muslim. Nope. She's a Filipino Christian. After we found that out, we decided we would try to come on Thursday to talk to her. We got all ready for it, then came to the building, and I said to Elder Stone "Wait a minute, how are we going to do this? This is going to be aqward." He said "I was just thinking the same thing." So we thought a minute, and decided we would just start talking about Ednel, and tell her that we would like to meet together with him to have Gospel sharing (I don't know why Filipinos like that term, but they always use it). So we climbed the staircase and stepped in. Upon seeing us, Rose looked around at all the computers as usual, and found two computers together (she knows the missionary rule). Then both Elder Stone and I started talking at the same time "No, no, no." We stopped to let the other person speak, and I finally ended up talking "Namamu Rose, kan?" "Your name is Rose right?" Her eyes got about twice as big with suspicion and nervousness. "Yeah, why?" "Well, last night we were talking to your friend Ednel. He's a member of our church. He said you were also Christian, right?" "Yeah ..." We then shared a short message, and invited her to meet with us, which she declined, I think more out of shock than anything else. We'll ask her in a few minutes if she read the pamphlet we gave her, and maybe try again.

Hola mi son? How about, "Selamat patang, anakku yang terbaik."

We met the greatest guy last week. We had found three people in an area last week that agreed to meet us again. One of them was a 20 something Kadazan Roman Catholic man, another an 18 year old Indonesian maid, and finally a 60+ year old almost blind Chinese Buddhist man. Now, if we had to make a decision based on probability of which was most likely to go anywhere, it would be the Kadazan guy first, then the maid, then far behind would be that old blind Chinese guy. But that's the problem with making quick judgements: things just don't work out like you'd expect. As it was, the Kadazan guy told us to not come back, the maid told us her boss got angry with her so she doesn't get time to meet with us, but that old Chinese guy invited us right in and listened very sincerely to what we had to say. His name is Ng Keng Shun. We found out he went to a Catholic school when he was young, so he is at least aware of some of the Biblical teachings, however diluted or distorted he may have recieved them. He expressed a great willingness to learn, but frustration that he couldn't read any of the things we gave him. We invited him to church, but he didn't give us a solid commitment. Almost at the last moment, I remembered that we had a baptismal service the night after we met him. We invited him to that, and he said okay. Of course, he didn't know the way and would have a very hard time finding it by himself in the dark, so we offered the help of a member to come get him. After this, we were talking about prayer, when a woman drove up. He told us it was his maid, that she is Christian. She came in, and very uncharacteristicly to rich people with maids, he asked her to sit down for a minute and talk with his friends. We were all for that. We told her about the Restoration of the Gospel, and she didn't seem particularly interested. Then, Keng Shun said "Hey! I'll be going to a baptism tomorrow night at their church. Do you want to come with me?" She wasn't sure at the time.

When Saturday rolled around, we were faced with a dillema on who we could ask for help to bring Keng Shun to the baptism. The 1st counsellor in the branch presidency, Alex Voo (a former Buddhist himself) would have been perfect, but he was busy. Thankfully, we now have the help of a very awesome member by the name of Andrew Yap. Brother Yap was Sandakan's second branch president (we're now on number 4) who has spent the last 3 or so years in Mesa, Arizona, and is currently just waiting on a fiancee visa to go back, get married, then live the rest of his life in the U.S. While here, he is not working and doesn't have much to do, so last week when we talked to him, he essentially offered any kind of help any time (which he has fulfilled very well so far, including buying us lunch at pizza hut today). Andrew Yap makes me laugh. In reality, he's a 40 year old Malaysian, but he acts like a 20 something from Arizona. He describes himself as a banana: yellow on the outside, white on the inside. He can be ridiculous sometimes, but he was more than willing to put off dinner with his family to help us out. Sure enough, both Keng Shun and Alice came to Juarak's baptism. I'll get pictures sent some time.

Hani is still doing awesome. She came to church on sunday and loved it. But she had some sad news for us. Her parents, who she hasn't seen for 9 years, wanted to take her back to her village from this last week until Christmas. Luckily, they haven't come yet, but who knows how much longer she'll be here. She expressed her disappointment at not being able to be baptized this month. We told her we could choose another date in January and she said "Yeah, but that's so far away." It's true. Maybe she'll be able to stay long enough to be baptized before all the opposition from her family sets in, though. I hope she doesn't go to her village and cave under all the pressure which she will surely face.

Our zone leaders came yesterday for exchanges. That is always very fun. I don't know if I ever told you, but one of my zone leaders now is Elder Pace, who was in my MTC group. He was with me yesterday. It was very good to see him and talk to him again. I feel kind of sorry for him, though. This is his first malay speaking area. He has been working on learning malay every day, but it's not the same in english areas.

December 1-5 will be kind of crazy. We'll be having zone conference on the 1st and 2nd in KK. Elder Stone and Elder and Sister Morrey will then be going on a visa run on the 3rd through the 5th, as will Elder Niederhauser, so I'll be with Elder Pace in KK for those days. Last night, it sounded like one of the Elders from Tawau will also be going at that time. I'm not sure which one, but it's possible I'll be with Elder Pace and Elder Ogden, both of whom I was in the MTC with. That would be so awesome.

It sounds like President Skelton usually switches our P-Day to Thursday so we can celebrate Thanksgiving. We'll find out next week.

Sorry I don't have pictures this week. They just slipped my mind.

We had a missionary return to the Sandakan branch yesterday (it was kind of lame- there was no one except his sister to pick him up). He was serving in the Phillipines. He called us up this morning and offered to come with us whenever we could use him. I'll try to take him up on that tomorrow morning. A returned missionary will be awesome to have in the branch.

I don't know if I ever told you, but Elder Van Wagenen and I have had a little competition going on. When I first got here, he sent me a post card.

I just had to one up him, so I sent him a 4 page double-sided letter. He responded by sending me a tie. Well, I've been thinking long and hard about how I might get him, and then last week when I was at the grocery store last week, I found just the thing. I got him good. I saw cornees, Malaysian corn and milk flavored hard candy. As we say it here in Sabah "Habisbah." It's over. Finished.

I was really impressed by a verse I read this week from the Book of Mormon.
It's Alma 50:1 (I think. The computer's being slow and I can't load it
now) " "I was thinking about how Moroni, even though things were going all right, continued to make preparations for war. He didn't ever stop working. If Moroni was a missionary, I think he would start working hard every morning at 7:00 when the alarm clock went off, not at 12:00 when he left the apartment. He would continue to work until 11:00, not until 9:30 when he came home. Since I've been with Elder Stone, I've learned so much about the importance of all the little things we do before we go out and after we come back. I've learned that personal revelation comes to those who seek it, the the Lord is more than willing to tell me how I can be a better missionary or what I can do to help my investigators, if only I am willing to diligently seek that revelation through diligent scripture study and planning every day. I've learned that because of the intense satanic opposition to my every action as a missionary, if I do not actively seek to make good plans and do everything I can to ensure those plans come to pass, I cannot expect anything to happen. Moroni understood that he could not slack off, and he has provided a great example to me, and I hope everyone else. You may not be a missionary and be expected to devote every second to the Lord, but be assured that you can and should be anxiously engaged in the work of the Lord, and are entitled to His help as you try to do your duty, whatever that may be.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #40 - Week of 12 Nov 2008 - "Come Meet" with you , not "Come Eat" with you and learning to Bamboo Dance

Hello,
Thanks for getting that stuff in the mail.

Send my congratulations to Elder LeBaron. Brazil. Wow.

This was an awesome week. I have a lot to talk about. I forgot that I told you about the Kenyan. I came close to having the chance this week. We were sitting on a bus going to downtown, when we stopped in the front of a shopping center that had a hotel. A young black man got onto the bus, and after glancing around for a minute, sat down next to me. I was really curious who he was. The bus boy came to collect the money from him, and he said he wanted to go to town, but he pronounced it more like "tone". The bus boy didn't understand him, but the Chinese guy behind us clarified. It took me a couple of miles before I could figure out how to start talking to him. I asked him if he stayed in Sandakn, and he said no, he was just visiting. He had excellent english. It turns out he was the physical therapist for the Kenyan national rugby team, in town with the team for a tournament on the weekend. Of course, I shared a little about the church, and gave him a pamphlet with the web site. He promised to read it.

Oh, happy birthday Dad!

I can't remember if I ever told you about Hani. One day, we followed the Morreys to a less active member they had visited a few times who had started coming back to church. The wife told us there was someone down the street who might be interested in meeting with us. We met her for the second time last Friday. She's excellent. She hasn't been to church since she's been married. She has kind of a strict husband, though. While the husband is working in a lumber camp hours away, she can what she wants during the day, but has to be in the house at night. He's okay with her going to the church, but not the children. She's very interested in the church, though. She's been reading from the Book of Mormon (we saw that she highlighted some verses: the only other investigator that I saw read that closely was Jaimi). We set a baptism date for the 29th, but she hasn't come to church yet, so that will probably be moved back.

I think I have sweated more today than in the rest of my life. The power was off when we went to bed last night, so I didn't have the chance to turn the air conditioning on (it's happened before, but every other time the power was off, we turned on the air conditioning before the power went off, so that when the power came on, so did the air conditioning; that didn't work last night). It was just a hot, uncomfortable night. Then after that, I went running, and it just seems to be a day I'm sweating more than normal. My shirt is soaked right now.

I don't know if I ever told you about Jonathon's dream. If I did, forgive me. I'm telling it again. We've been visting him a lot lately, so I've been thinking about it a lot more than when I first heard about it. One Saturday night, Jonathon had a dream. In the dream, he was talking to a man whom he did not recognize. Jonathon asked the man who he was, and was told that he was Jonathon's mother's grandfather. The man congratulated Jonathon on finding the true church, then told Jonathon, "Tell your mother I want to be baptized." We're helping them get their family history together so that can happen. I'm excited for them. Rosemarie has been coming to church the past couple of weeks, and Jonathon said his parents are on good terms again. We'll be meeting Rosemarie's father next week and teaching him.

Elder Stone and I were discussing a phenomenon we've noticed, and while doing so, I realized a big mistake we have made that has led to this phenomenon. Here's the phenomenon: it seems that whenever we try to meet with long time members to ask for referrals, they feel obligated to feed us. In fact, it seems like that's all they expect or want of the visit. Past missionaries may have had an influence on that, but there still must be something we can do to change that. What are we saying wrong? We tell them 'We would like to come meet with you on Wednesday.", not "We would like to come eat with you on Wednesday." That's when it clicked. come meet. come eat. It sounds the same. That explains so much.

We had a branch activity last week. The youth showed us how to do a bamboo dance. It was way cool. I didn't have my camera, but Elder Morrey did, and I can steal pictures from him some time this week.

We met a very, very interesting new investigator this last week named Ulysses. The morning before we met him, I read about Alma contending with Korihor in Alma 30. That just happened to be where I was in the book of Mormon. I knew that it would be helpful, but I didn't know how closely Ulysses resembled Korihor. He's in his 50's. The first return appointment with him was quite difficult. He asked a lot of questions, some sincere, some just contentious. When he was young, he was active in the Catholic church along with his family. His cousin started to have spiritual phenomenons. She used to talk with a spirit. He and a few of the other cousins didn't believe her until one day when they were gathered together, and they all started hearing a voice that they knew couldn't be coming from anywhere else. However, the voice was talking in a language that only one of the cousins could understand, Latin. The one that understood translated for them. The spirit told them that, while belief in Jesus Christ is good and right, that was all that is needed. They were specifically told not to go to church, to pray, or to read sacred books like the Bible. So Ulysses followed that counsel. Most of the first appointment with him was spent trying to convince him that those three things are the most important things he can do at this point.

Ulysses was much different by the second lesson. He had a little arguing to do, but mostly he just listened as we taught about the Plan of Salvation. He expressed how his family is the most important thing to him, and the real reason he doesn't go to church anymore is that when he went to church when he was young, he felt something very special inside, something that fulfilled him. He said that during the few times he has been to church since he got married over 30 years ago, he felt nothing. We promised him that he would feel something special if he came to our church, and I think he is starting to believe us. It's been really cool to see how, as we boldly and firmly testify of truth, he has changed.

Things are going pretty good here.

Talk to you later,

Elder Muffler

Letter #39 - Week of 5 Nov 2008 - Visa Run and Lifting Weights with Polynesian Rugby Player

Hello,

This last week... I don't remember this last week too well. Coming to Singapore is frustrating. I always forget things. Let's see. We've got a lot of new investigators that look promising. A couple of weeks ago, we had gone door to door in a flat complex for policeman. We had met the wife of one, and tried going back to meet the husband. When we were going there, a tall man stopped us and angrily said "What are you doing here? You cannot be in here doing your business." We told him the name and address of the woman we met. He told us we weren't allowed on the premises, that we needed to register our visit with the office. That's funny, because we had been there several days without problem. We had actually been questioned by a policeman in the surrounding neighborhood, who we later saw in the complex. He just pointed out where all the Christians were. I don't know what that guy's deal was, but I'm pretty sure he just wanted to intimidate us to make us leave. Later we asked the guy we met (his name is Matthew, and he was excellent. I thought his wife was pretty uninterested, but he's really open to us coming), and he agreed. he said we have every right to be going wherever we want, that there's a reason we didn't see any signs forbidding us from entering.

Jaimi's mother is still doing very well. She should be all set for her baptism on the 15th. She actually came to church this past sunday without Jaimi. She fits right into the branch. She is like our only old lady. She goes around shaking everyone's hands and giving the ladies a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She's a sweet old lady and is so happy all the time.

I had a new fruit yesterday morning. Most elders in the mission say that their two favorite fruits are mangosteen and soursop. I've had a little mangosteen before, but I got a bunch yesterday (come to find out most were rotten- but the rest were delicious). Tuesday was the first time I had soursop. It's a very interesting fruit. The taste is pretty unique- like a kiwi, but not. The consistency is something between a pumpkin and a banana, just a lot more juicy. I liked it okay. I'm sure I'll like it the more I try it: that's what they all say.

We came to the Little India of Singapore for lunch today. It was the first time I had real Indian food (at least, Singapore's India food is closer than Malaysia's). It was way good. Not as spicy as I would have liked it, but the curry was very thick with tomatoes. It was nice.

My whole body is sore now. Last night, me and another Elder serving in East Malaysia stayed with the Singapore zone leaders. One of them, Elder Taiamoni, is a Polynesian from New Zealand who I am almost certain is a rugby player. He's a really fun guy. He asked me to get up early with him to go to the gym, because his companion prefers sleep. I was more than happy to go. I didn't think much of it at the time, but that's just another unique thing that I can check off the list of cool life experiences: lift weights with a polynesian rugby player. Maybe next visa run I'll go running with a Kenyan.

Yesterday was a really good learning experience for me. I was on exchanges with the zone leaders, and got to tag along to meet 2 investigators. I'm so amazed how different the people are here. They're so much more complex. Their concerns are deep. As Elder Taiamoni said yesterday "Malaysians only have like three concerns: 'Kopi- susah', 'Tiada Kubur', and 'Sudah dibaptislah." If they read the Book of Mormon and come to church, they will almost certainly be baptized. They're wonderfully humble and sincere people. The investigators we met with yesterday were asking questions that were extremely difficult to handle about post-life judgement and about satan using feelings to manipulate people. You just don't get deep doctrinal questions like that in East Malaysia. If they choose to act, they'll progress toward baptism. They don't get thrown when they don't have every loose end tied down. It was a good experience, though. I love researching questions like that.

Yesterday was a pretty funny day. There are 5 elders on visa runs now, so the senior couple that runs the mission office came to the airport to pick us all up. We all went to the mission office together. We all knew we had to change without ironing our shirts. Thankfully, I had my garment bag, so my shirt was crisp. but everyone else's looked terrible. One of the Elders said "Hey- do you think anyone can tell we're East Malaysian missionaries right now?" We all laughed, because we knew it was true.

Yesterday, before all our appointments and what not, we did an awesome service project. The zone leaders took all the elders on a visa run (plus a few others from Singapore) and went to a senior home and sang hymns to ancient Chinese people sitting in wheelchairs. They liked it a lot.

I've heard Obama won. Is it true he was raised in Indonesia? Maybe he knows some bahasa, so one day we can meet and talk in my mission language.

Has Steven LeBaron gotten his mission call yet?

I love those free burritos.

60 degrees on Halloween? Holy smokes! I don't think it was ever above zero when I went.

The plane ride to KK yesterday was interesting. The airport was absolutely packed when we got there. We had policemen escort us from the ticket counter through security. I'm still not sure what's up. All I know is that there were a bunch of Malays dressed in white on my plane that got in a back way, so I'm guessing they're doing their pilgrimage to Mecca, and all their friends dressed up and came to the airport to see them off. I can't imagine that being the cause of all those people and police being there, though. I reckon maybe the prime minister was coming to Sandakan. I don't know.

Brandon has been sending me letters almost every week since he's been at BYU-Idaho. Those are the best. They're way uplifting. You can just tell he's getting stronger and stronger every week. He's in his elder's quroum presidency with a couple of returned missionaries. He's been through some fun times and some challenging times in the BYU-Idaho environment. I can't wait until he goes on his mission. He'll do wonders.

All is well in Sandakan.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #38 - Week of 29 Oct 2008 - Zone Conference

Hello,

This last week was pretty good.

I'm writing from Kota Kinabalu right now. Today has been a sobering day. My interview with President Skelton and leadership training with our zone leaders have really made me think about things a lot.

Last Wednesday was awesome. Well, it didn't seem so awesome at first. We had made a couple of appointments with less active members, counting on the fact that the Morreys would be available to drive us (they live very far apart from each other and from us). Well, we called both of the members ahead of time; one was very excited to meet with us, while we didn't get an answer from the other one. Later in the day, I put together a mental list of all the things we could try: we needed to find something to do at a time that was very difficult to have a productive activity. Before I started making phone calls, I said a prayer that we would be led to the person we needed to meet that night. Of course, the member I called could not meet with us. I decided to visit Jaimi, although I can't say why. I think it was just the easy way out, really.

When we got to Jaimi's, what a coincidence! Her mother was there. She apparently was just visiting Jaimi to help with the children, and might be here for a long time. She told us that in her village, the Anglican church is very far, and she was happy that this church was so close to her daughter. Jaimi had explained something about the Book of Mormon and our church to her. She wasted no time in talking about baptism. She said she had been baptized in the Anglican church, and she showed us how with her hands. Then she said she was old and couldn't be baptized by immersion. We proceeded to share a simple lesson on the foundation of the Church. Juarak (that's Jaimi's mother's name) is just a pleasant old lady. After just about every sentence we said, she would say "that's wonderful", or"I believe that". Well, needless to say, we misunderstood what she was saying earlier about baptism. She was requesting baptism by immersion, and asked "Is that okay? Can I do that?" Hopefully, she'll be baptized on the 15th of November.

I should still be in Sandakan for that. We all thought I would be transferred next Monday, but it looks like I'll be here at least through the middle of December. Well, not here. Sandakan. One of my zone leaders, Elder Niederhauser, was in his first area for a year, so we had a talk about it. He said he knows it's very hard, especially with somewhere as small as Sandakan, but I just need to forget about it.

I finally got my ballot, but I think it was too late. I didn't get it until Friday. I tried sending it on Saturday, hoping maybe it would get there on time.

That's too bad about Leroy (that's the corrola's name). I hope his bum gets fixed up fine.


I'll be heading on my visa run to Singapore next week.

For the Harvard questions, I remember I got really flustered when I had to evaluate myself. I would advise the student to prepare something about their strengths and weaknesses, their hobbies, some of the books they have read (and be prepared to have an in depth discussion on the book: I think that's one of the most important things. If you can confidently and intelligently discuss a book you have recently read, you're in. If you're like me, and were so unprepared for the interview and flustered that you ended up giving the name of a book you haven't read, you will have a bad interview). I would say above all, be prepared to talk about yourself in a true sense. Don't try to cater to Harvard (or whatever school). They don't want a model student, and they don't want a fake student. They want individuals.

It's fun to be with other missionaries. I think I told you about one of our assistants, Elder Houston. He is hilarious. The word I would describe him with is big. Everything about him is big. He was a soldier that did a tour in Iraq, and he's about 250 pounds, and just confident as anything.

Elder Stone was feeling sick on Friday night and Saturday. We went to the doctor and he had a crazy low blood pressure: 90 over fifty something. He's always had pretty low blood pressure, but never that low. The doctor suspects a couple of different problems. He probably just had a cold this week, but he thinks Elder Stone also has intestinal worms, so he's on worm medication, iron suppliments, and antibiotics. Hopefully,he gets better soon.

As I watched one of the sessions of conference again the past week, Elder Bednar's words really hit me. Our prayers become so much more meaningful when we pray always: when our prayers become continual by, for example, choosing something we need to work on or do better and praying for that in the morning, then focusing our day on accomplishing that, praying and reporting on it at night, and doing it all again the next day. Our prayers shouldn't be isolated events. They should be continually linked to one another.

Thanks for the pictures, and I hope everyone is doing well.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #37 - Week of 22 Oct 2008 - 2 more baptisms

Hey family,

Things are good this week. Well, I'm feeling better anyway. Thursday afternoon, I calmed down and got back to normal. It was strange before that: I couldn't concentrate very well or anything. I was getting ready to see a doctor, but then it went away.

Well, the weekend was awesome. Saturday morning, we watched conference, then ate, then had Douglas's baptism, then had conference again. It was a day missionaries dream of. Because of conference, though, he won't be confirmed until the coming Sunday.

We found an awesome dessert cafe this past week. Actually, I knew about it for a while, but I didn't try it until this past week. The Morreys took us to it. They had amazing cake and ice cream (I suspect it might be real ice cream- not milk solids and hydrogenated palm oil). I thought it was really expensive, but we found out it was not, so we decided to make that a regular P-Day tradition.

Juni and his family came to the Saturday afternoon session of conference. They were really intrigued by the chance to hear from a prophet (it's kind of lame that they came to the only session he didn't speak), and I think they enjoyed it. Well, I'm not really sure if they enjoyed it. We stopped by on Monday, and Julia wouldn't come out of the kitchen to see us. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but looking back, whenever Julia doesn't want to see us, I should know something is up. Juni wasted no time in telling us he discussed things with the pastor at UPC, and coffee was the most important thing to him, so he decided to be baptized in the church that let him still drink coffee. Sad day.

I suppose missionary work wouldn't be worth anything if you didn't suffer some casualties. A sentence from Jeffrey R. Holland is never far from my mind: "Salvation is not a cheap experience."

With that, we're kind of left with no one to teach right now. It's not a very comfortable time. But we're doing our best, and only stand to wonder what good may come.

Conference was so... I don't know the word. Good. It was so good. President Monson's plea for members to pray for those areas of the world where missionary work is not fully operative hit home. We're here among the Muslims and just a hop away from China.

Then there was Elder Wirthlin's counsel to laugh at frustrating times, President Uchdorf's message of hope, and President Eyring's reassurance that a difficult assignment is evidence of God's trust, and President Monson's hope for everyone to enjoy the journey, and don't always focus on the nonexistent future day when everything will be easy. It all seemed applicable to me. Elder Stone said it well "That was really nice of them to design priesthood session for me; I hope you enjoyed it also."

We'll have zone conference next monday, so I'll be writing then from KK.

I think my favorite part of the week, aside from Douglas's baptism and general conference, was family home evening with Jaimi and her children on monday. We went to their house to teach her how to hold family home evening. At the time, she happened to have her niece Marta there (she's Bebe's daughter- the one that came to Jaimi's baptism and really loves the church, along with her husband, but they're both out in the kampung (village); she's the same one who had malaria and we gave her a blessing in the hospital). Also, Marta's mother in law Marina was there. We had never met her before. Well, we started with a prayer. Jaimi asked Marina to give it. Marina gave a very eloquent prayer, which told us she was highly involved in her church. We continued to teach a little about eternal marriage and the importance of family, then had a game and a lesson. Jaimi's children were the most behaved I had ever seen them. They actually sat down and paid attention for the length of the lesson, and they almost made it the whole time without fighting or climbing up the pole in the middle of the room or throwing the blocks we brought for the game. Almost. The children are children, and I wouldn't want them to sit still for too long. That's no fun. For the lesson, we shared the message of the restoration to the visitors.

During the closing prayer, a thought came to my mind: There is no setting I would rather introduce someone to the church in than Jaimi's first family home evening. I felt the Spirit there, and think everyone else felt the same. Jaimi is the ideal portrait of a recent convert for this simple fact: she is doing her best to be better. She is no scriptorian. Her knowledge is limited. She isn't ready to be the relief society president or do any other big thing. But she's sure ready to be an assistant in primary, which she does faithfully. Her family isn't picture perfect, but the children are just a little better every week. She was such a good support to her sister in helping her stop smoking so she could be baptized (let alone the fact that she introduced her sister to the church in the first place). She has told me she wants to share the gospel with everyone, and that's very obvious when she brings family to church whenever they are in town.

Send my regards to Brother Randall. I don't think he was my Deacon's quorum advisor- it seems like he was there when I was either a teacher, or maybe even a priest. I really don't remember that well, though.

Well, that's all for this week.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Here is a picture of Elder Stone, Douglas, and Elder Muffler at Douglas's baptism:



Here is a picture of Elder Stone, Bibi, Jaime, and Elder Muffler at Bibi's baptism:

Letter #36 - Week of 15 Oct 2008 - Bibi got Baptized

Hello family,

My ballot has not yet come.

This has been a good week. We went to meet Jaimi and Bibi last Wednesday. We kind of focused on Jaimi the whole time, teaching her about family history. Near the end of the appointment, I asked Bibi about her smoking. She said she had already stopped for longer than 2 weeks. We said maybe we could move up her baptism a little sooner. She told us she needed to go back to her village on Friday, but she'd be back after a week or so. We were talking it through, trying to figure out how long she would be back for and what not, when I finally just decided we could have her baptism that Saturday- it wouldn't cause any big problems, just a lot of work calling people. So that's what happened. She got baptized on Saturday, confirmed on Sunday, and now she's back in her village tending her rice paddy. She gave an awesome testimony after her baptism, talking about how we met her because she got in that car accident, and how from the very first day, she was planning to go back "besok, besok, besok, dan tidak terjadi": tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, but it never happened. She said it was maybe the hand of God stopping her from going back so she could be baptized.

The zone leaders came yesterday. We actually got a new zone leader who is almost finished with his mission. Our former zone leader, Elder Perrot, is going to be the assistant to the President. Sad day. He gave us such good advice. Elder Stone used to live with Elder Perrot before they came to Sabah, so we both know what a great guy he is. A lot of the times during our companionship study, we'll be talking about a problem, and draw upon the advice of Elder Perrot, like "Elder Perrot once told me the same thing happened to him, and this is what he did ..." Elder Niederhauser came with me yesterday to have Douglas's baptism interview.

Douglas is just getting better. I'm not sure if I got around to it last week, but paying tithing is a concern for Douglas, whose work as a DJ, though relatively high paying, is still not more than sufficient to support his parents and siblings. Now, I don't know the reason behind it, but I do know that Douglas worked extra late Saturday night and gave up his free day on Monday so he could have some overtime. We can only guess he is working more in anticipation of paying tithing. he's so good. I was scared during the interview: they were in the room for a very long time. But no problems, he's all set. And he chose me to do the baptizing, and confirmation (I know he doesn't actually have a choice in confirmation: that's up to the branch president, but President Niun always let's us choose)

Naturally, with so many "free thinkers" around whose money is their god, we hear a thing or two about the U.S. economy. Not too much. We just hear that it's bad. Their god fails them.

Our mission is really hurting for missionaries right now. We've had several missionaries leave with none to replace them. My zone is down to six missionaries right now. We (Elder Stone and I) figure it might be the smallest missionary zone in the world.

It'll be exciting hearing from President Dahlquist. That's pretty neato.

Well, that's all for the day. I'm feeling kind of stressed this week. I hope it goes away soon.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #35 - Week of 8 Oct 2008 - Fire and Brimstone Preacher

Hello,

This last week went very fast. Time is flying. I still feel new. Maybe that comes from still being in the same place I started. I'm not sure. Sunday afternoon, one verse from my scripture study stood out to me. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

As for Juni, well, he didn't come to church on sunday. We visited him on Sunday night and brought our branch president and his wife. When we were walking up to his apartment, I saw that Juni's cousin Christopher was waiting, apparently for us. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but looking back it's very obvious. When we entered and sat down, Juni told us that the whole family had gone to the United Pentecostal church that morning, and the pastor from the church wanted to come have a talk with us. If there is one thing I hate as a missionary, it is meeting pastors. That is the worst thing in the world, in my mind. There is nothing I enjoy about meeting with them. So that made me uncomfortable. I remember slouching in my chair, my heart beating faster, knowing it was going to be a long night.

Mr. Pastor was nice when he walked in. They always are. He was breathing heavy, and made a joke to Juni about climbing so many stairs. He introduced himself to us and said a few kind words in perfect english. Then, after he asked Juni to move from his seat so he could sit, he squared his muscular shoulders to us, clapped his hands and said "Okay! Let's do it in 20 minutes." I groaned to myself "what do you want to do in 20 minutes?" He continued. "You don't need an hour for the Bible. 20 minutes should be enough." He started to discourse to us, but I, simultaneously with Elder Stone, stopped him and asked that we had a prayer first. Of course, he was happy with that idea. Sister Ruth (the branch president's wife) asked Juni who he would like to say the prayer. I wish she hadn't said anything. We needed that prayer very badly. We needed the Spirit with us, and I knew well that Juni would grant the pastor the privelege of praying. And thus he did. The Pastor chanted with a loud, powerful voice "O Lord Jesus, We thank thee Lord, O Lord because we have thy word O gracious Lord and we are freed O Lord ..." You get the idea of what that did for bringing the Spirit. After every sentence the pastor would say, Christopher would chime in "yes Lord." After that, we offered to have a prayer of our own, which we did.

Mr. Pastor claimed he wanted to listen to our message. He maybe gave us 2 minutes before blasting us. I wish I had a film of that exchange. This pastor was extremely intelligent and highly skilled in his craft. He spoke with force and speed that I have never before heard. He got out in 1 hour things that I couldn't say in 4. He spilled out his whole religious philosophy, as well as everything he could identify with our church to be wrong according to his teachings. He spoke of fire and brimstone and the fact that either he or we were going there, and quite frankly, he wasn't. His techniques were designed to agitate us to contention.

Meanwhile, we stayed calm. We listened. When Mr. Pastor would ask a question and give us a few seconds, we would answer. Bit by bit, we got our message across. As soon as I got the time, I looked him in the eye and said "I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, and the authority from Jesus Christ has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith." I think I saw him hesitate for half a second before he went on with his tirade. I have tried to imagine what it was like for Juni and his family to watch the pastor provoke the missionaries for two hours in a language they didn't understand.

By the time the circus was all through, I had a very bad headache. His words left me unsettled the whole next day. But what really bothered me from the whole escapade was that Juni was being led astray by this man that showed absolutely no respect for him. My heart ached.

Tuesday afternoon, we went back to Juni. We wanted to go there and pretend like nothing happened, but at the same time fully expecting that after we had left, Mr. Pastor got in a few more words against us that would lead to Juni not learning any more. We walked in like normal, sat down like normal, and after a normal prayer we asked our normal question about Juni's coffee drinking. We had an awesome appointment with them. They expressed their desire to get baptized, and apologized that Christopher's pastor had come and tried to fight with us. In fact, I think Julia was more excited than ever for her baptism. She expressed how the day before, she hadn't felt really good, but then while reading the Book of Mormon she felt a lot of peace. By some of the questions, it seemed very clear the Pastor had a long talk with Juni and Julia, and it seems Juni was negatively affected, while Julia only got stronger. But the truth of God is bound to sink into them sooner or later, and it better be sooner, cause I don't know how much longer I've got in Sandakan.

Douglas has me a little worried. He actually fell through for an appointment yesterday. He hasn't ever fallen through on anything. We'll get that figured out before long, hopefully.

Jaimi's older sister Bibi didn't go back to their village after all. It seems like she'll be here long enough to be baptized, if not much longer. The only thing holding her back right now is that she is still falling into the habit of smoking. She stopped for a few days, and was feeling good, then out of sheer habit she smoked again. She said the cigerette gave her a headache.

Congratulations to Andrew and Christina on the baby. He is awfully cute.

Well, that's that.
Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #34 - Week of 1 Oct 2008 - Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Selamat Hari Raya,

Well, today is Hari Raya Aidilfitri, the day after the fasting month of the Muslims. People all over the place are dressed in traditional Malay clothing today, and most of the restaurants and a lot of the stores are closed, and people are just really happy.

Hari Raya is fun and all, but it was lame last night when all 4 of the people we tried to meet with were out of town. We brought a member with us all around, and it was kind of frustrating. After they all fell through, though, Brother Voo brought us out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. He ordered everything for us in Chinese, so we didn't know what we were getting till they brought it out. I've finally gotten to the point that I've tried most of the food, or at least something similar, so I wasn't too worried. We had crab and corn soup, and fish mixed with vegetables, and a meat I didn't recognize. Brother Voo had a hard time explaining what it was. "You know kancil?" Kancil. There's a popular car model named the Kancil. "Like the car?" "Yeah, same word as the car. It's an animal. It's like ... You know kambing?" "Yeah, we know kambing- it's lamb." "Lamb, yeah. It's like lamb, only with horns like this" and he made the shape of long, straight horns. I had my dictionary with me, so I looked it up before I ate it. It's mouse deer- this sort of primitive deer indeginous to Borneo. I found out today its meat is considered a delicacy. I agree.

Juni and his family didn't come to church on sunday. We visited them on Sunday night. Something seemed different about them. Julia was quiet and mostly just stared at the ground. We started to read together a chapter from the Book of Mormon. Not long after we started, I reminded them that the day they had agreed to be baptized had already passed, and asked them when they thought they would be ready for baptism. I was met by blank looks. "You still want to be baptized, right?" Julia muttered something with a sad look on her face. "What was that, Julia?" She didn't answer. We decided to continue reading. After we finished the chapter, we asked "Why didn't you come to church today? You can be honest. Was it because you couldn't, or because you didn't want to?" After the third time assuring them they could be honest, Julia finally opened up to us. "We didn't want to go because so much was in english, and we don't know any english." That's a legitimate concern. Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-lingual country. Members of our branch have at least 5 different mother tongues, and with the maximum availability of church materials in english, it's little wonder that members prefer to speak english. We reassured them that we will have someone at their side translating whenever they come back, and they seemed pleased. Then Julia had another confession. "I haven't drunk coffee for 3 days already" She hadn't before shown any signs of wanting to stop. It was so excellent. Hopefully, she'll pull her husband along, and they'll be baptized before long. Their goal right now is the first of November.

I was worried about Douglas after Elder Howes left. Douglas was very attached to Elder Howes. I was worried that some things were going to come up and Douglas was going to give up on the church. When sacrament meeting started, he was not present. I saw him enter later, though. He asked me "Muffeh, did you think I not going to come?" "Yeah, Douglas, I was worried about you." Then he gave me the best line I've ever heard out of an investigator. "When have I broken a promise to you?" Wow. He hasn't yet. We asked him if he wanted to move his baptism up until this week, but he said he doesn't feel ready yet. He's scheduled for the 18th of this month.

We had a crazy hurricane-like storm on Friday night. I don't have time to go through the whole story, but I was in a concrete building at the time trees were falling and roofs were flying, but I did get to run through the river/road to get to the member's home 100 meters away and have a branch missionary coordination meeting. Both Elder Stone and I fell in the rain gutter, which was completely indistinguishable by sight from the other water. If you can find out anything about that storm, especially how much water fell in that hour, I'd like to hear that.

I hope everything goes well with Christina's baby. That's exciting.

Oh, Ben ... Doherty football games... going to the Roy's house ... Anything more I should know?

If you ever see any more of my high school friends, give them my email address, or take their address, or something. I'd love to hear from Steven Carson or Beth. If you ever see them or their relatives, see if you can't get an address for me so I can write them. Also, do you know anything about how James Nealy is doing with his headaches, or what he's up to these days?

We went to the Rainforest Discovery Center again with the Morreys today. I wanted to go for sure one more time before I leave Sandakan, and I'm not sure how much longer that will be.

Elder Stone and I get along very well. We see eye to eye on a lot of things. We spent over an hour last night talking about cross country, and Elder Howes, and BYU. It was good.

So, sounds like Nebraska is having a typical year this year. Nice that Sand Creek's doing well. Elder Morrey tells me BYU is ranked top 10. Craziness.

I'm excited for Elder LeBaron. I can really imagine him serving in Germany. I'm sure he'll make an awesome missionary wherever he is called. I've been meaning to send him a letter for a long time, but I just have been too busy.

Send my thanks to Brandon for his 3 letters. They were excellent. I'll reply before long.

Sister Van-Wagenen sent me a letter that I recieved today. If you see her, tell her thank you.

Well, I should probably get going. I feel very rushed this evening. This is the first time I have ever done my email this late on a normal P-Day. We're going to go right after this to visit Juni.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter#33 - Week of 24 Sep 2008 - New Companion

Hello,

This has been a very good week so far. My stress level has been higher with being a senior companion and district leader, but after the initial shock of getting a new companion and all, everything is beginning to settle down.

I did get the package. Thank you very much for the CD's and treats. Until I got the package, I kind of forgot about granola bars. I don't know how to explain it to you, I think I was kind of oblivious to the fact that there was such a thing even though I used to eat them almost every day. They are excellent, as is the candy. I haven't yet dug into the parmesean cheese.

Thanks for the money, Grandma. I couldn't find any Kadazan clothing. I don't really know where I could. I could probably go have some tailored for a very high price, but I gave up. Instead, though, Elder Howes and I came across some awesome Malay clothing. Hopefully, I'll be able to send a picture of that. I withdrew all the money to spend, but the whole outfit only cost about 25 dollars.

Congratulations to Ben for the peach fuzz victory.

I hope Christina's baby's birth goes okay.

Douglas is so amazing. He's getting better. I think last week he was still kind of clinging on to us because he liked us as friends and he liked being around us, but now, when we are with him, he just wants to learn as much as he can about the doctrine of the Church, especially the Book of Mormon. On Sunday morning, Elder Howes gave him a call to remind him about church. Douglas said, (in broken english I wish I could imitate better. You'd have to hear it yourself to understand what I mean) "Elder Howes- I have bad news. Last night, at the club, a rich customer came and offered to buy me a drink." I didn't hear what Douglas was saying, but I could see the look of concern on Elder Howes's face. It upset me. "But then, Elder Howes, I told him no. I don't drink. Then he said you drink or else I will leave the club, and I told him no way. Then he got very angry and told my boss, then my boss scolded me, and he scolded me." "Douglas! That's great news!" "Yeah, I guess it is, isn't it?" And all day at church he was telling people about what happened. He managed to keep his job, at least for now. After church, he came to Elder Howes and asked if he could talk to us alone, away from the other people. We said sure, and went to the primary room. After we closed the door, he told us he wanted to have one last prayer with us before Elder Howes leaves. It was so sweet. He thanked Heavenly Father for Elder Howes and me to introduce him to the Gospel, and prayed that Elder Howes would be safe and they would be able to talk to each other in the future.

Douglas was awfully attached to Elder Howes. I was worried about his progress after Elder Howes left. Elder Stone and I visited him on Monday morning, though, and he was more amazing than before. He had at least one question on every principle we had taught him, plus a couple we hadn't. I think he heard about fasting while at church, so he wanted to know how to fast so he could be as obedient as he could as soon as possible. We told him how we don't drink or eat anything every first sunday of the month, then he asked "Is it okay to swallow your saliva?" He was ready to spit every few seconds rather than break a commandment. We'll probably move his baptism date at least a week, and maybe 2 weeks early, to maybe the 4th or 6th of October.

Elder Stone is an excellent missionary. He's really made things pretty easy for me. He's way better at malay than I am, and he is a very gifted and mature missionary in a lot of ways. I am lucky to be companions with him. I've got a lot I can learn. He comes from the same home town as Elder Howes did- Salem, Utah. He started his mission 6 weeks after me. He's the oldest of a family of ten children.

In high school, Elder Stone ran cross country and track, is now attending BYU majoring in Physiology and Developmental Biology and wants to be a general practice physician. Crazy, huh? We go running together every morning now.

On Saturday, we got to visit Jaimi's niece in the hospital. She was in there with what they thought was malaria. We went there to cheer her up and give her a blessing. Going to a malaysian hospital was a unique experience. It makes me grateful for what I've grown up with.

I was really impressed this week as I read over and over again Alma 17:9-11. It's my hope that we all are praying every day for God to show us a way to be an instrument in his hands to the blessing of the lives of others.

Love,
Elder Muffler
Here is a picture of a visit in the water village (from left to right) Laida, Elder Muffler, Jimboy, Julie, Renal, Elder Howes


Here is a picture of Elder Muffler, Douglas, Elder Howes


Here is a picture of Elder Muffler in his new traditional Malay Clothing.


Here is a picture of Elder Howes and Elder Muffler in traditional Malay Clothing.

Letter #32 - Week of 17 Sep 2008 - Attacked by Bats

Hello,

This was a pretty amazing week.

I am feeling mostly better. We kind of took a few days off- we had a few appointments on Wednesday and Thursday but for the most part we stayed home and I slept.

I haven't yet gotten the package. It should be here in the next few days. I'll probably use the money to buy some traditional Kadazan clothing. I was thinking about it yesterday, and I think that's my favorite traditional clothing of any in the mission, but I need to get it before I leave Sandakan, because they're indeginous to Sabah. We're going to town today to look for stuff like that. They have all sorts of awesome sales because it's Ramadan, fasting month for the Muslims.

I forgot to tell you about something last week. One night, after teaching Juni (We found out Donnis's name isn't really Donnis, it's Juni. Apparently, we just couldn't hear correctly the first time, and he never bothered to correct us. When I asked his daughter to write her name down in my planner, she also wrote the other family members' names, including Juni, her father), we planned to visit Jonathon Bin Tiga and his friend Chiong. It was night, and we were walking down a jungle road from the place where Donnis lives to the town area. We met Jonathon and Chiong on the way; they went out for a jog. We were walking along talking and laughing under the clear, starry sky, when we approached a very large tree to the right side of the road. There was very loud screeching coming from the tree. Every few seconds, I saw a dark mass alight from the tree. They were bats. Big ones. I would guess they were probably 4 feet wing span. And there were a lot of them. Well, apparently they were well aware of our approaching their fruit tree, because as we approached the tree, hundreds of bats flew from the right side of the road to the left, directly over our head. That was pretty awesome. So awesome I stared at the sky with my mouth open, marvelling at the wonder of God's creatures. Plop Plop Plop. The black cloud started raining. I closed my mouth, thankfully without tasting any of the processed fruit. I'm glad I had my umbrella with me that day.



I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but I think we met someone even more prepared to recieve the gospel than anyone we've met before. I think I have time for the whole chain of events, so here it goes. One day, we were walking to the church, I'm not sure what for, and a Chinese man approached us, recognizing us as missionaries for the LDS church, and told us about some land he wanted to sell. Somehow, he heard the church was looking for land to build a chapel in Sandakan (which is true). We tried to share a message with him, but he was really only interested in selling land. We told him we weren't the ones in charge of that stuff, so we told him he could stop by the church during sacrament meeting some time and meet the people who were. About a week later, we were exploring the jungle looking for people to teach on an obscure road. While we were doing so, the same man came buy, picked us up, and offered to take us to the area of our next appointment and buy us something to drink (they've got little restaurants all over the place, and it is quite common to sit down and have a cup of hot chocolate or a soda). We took him up on the offer, because he had a Filipino Christian friend with him, and you never know what might become of that. Again, Mr. Loh was only interested in buying land, and it took him some convincing that we had absolutely no control over any money other than our own. We had an 8 year old member being baptized that Saturday, so we invited them to come to the baptism. Well, sure enough, they came. The Filipino man also brought his son, Ching. I was busy attending to other investigators and members that night, but Elder Howes taught Ching and his father, and they seemed pretty interested, so we set an appointment for the following Saturday. We agreed to meet him at a bus stop. We showed up at the bus stop at the agreed time, 2:00 PM, but Ching did not. While we waited, we tried to talk to the people we sat next to. I sat next to an old Chinese man that didn't seem to understand a whole lot of malay or english, so nothing became of that. But Elder Howes contacted a young Chinese man that was fluent in both, and was interested in our message. Again, we agreed with that young man to come back at the same time the next Saturday in the same place.

That young man is the young man of interest. His name is Douglas. When we called to confirm our appointment, he gave us the number 1 sign of legitimate interest- he remembered us, and our appointment, and promised he would come. And come we did. He brought us across the street, and we taught him in a restaurant as we drank. He was fantastic- he was completely attentive, and asked sincere questions. He committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, but he wasn't yet sure about coming to church. He said he would see first. We closed our lesson and told him we had another person to meet and teach (there was actually a misunderstanding the week before between us and Ching, so we were going to teach Ching then). Then, he told us "Well, I don't work for a few more hours. Can I come along?" Absolutely. So he came, and we had an awesome lesson with Ching. The greatest part, though, was that something during that second lesson touched Douglas, and he suddenly very much wanted to come to church. He was begging us to have a member take him in the car or figure out some other way to get him there.

On Sunday morning, he came to church. He was so happy to be there. He went around telling the members how grateful he was that we introduced him to the church. I invited him to be baptized next month, which he agreed to. We met him a couple more times, and he's still doing very well. He's such a cheerful young man. He works as a DJ in a club. If you saw him, I think that's exactly what you would guess he did. He just has the look of a DJ- young, chinese, hair a little long and crazy, but overall a goodlooking appearance. I'll send you a picture before long.

The missionary that will be transferred here next week called last night. It was Elder Stone, Elder Howes's last companion. Elder Howes trained him in Kuching. I've heard some awesome things about him from a couple of different missionaries. I'm excited to be working with him. He's just a little younger than I am- he came out about a month after I did. From what I've heard, he has fantastic malay skills, and he is really bright and cheerful. Elder Howes told me last night there is no one to whom he'd rather leave all the investigators we have now.

I'll be sorry to see Elder Howes leave. He has been a very good companion. He's left me with a lot of the things he's learned through his experience as a missionary. He's a funny guy.

Well, that's about all the time I have left.

I hope you all have a wonderful week,
Elder Muffler

Here is a picture of Juni, Jaelina, Julia, and Nenek in their home: