Letter #11 Week of 23 April 2008 - DHL Driver and Wongs' Preacher

Hello family,

Sorry this is coming to you late. There was a problem yesterday with the email system, so our zone leaders gave us permission to come back today and do our emails. I am happy that it worked today, though.

I've got another story about the Wongs I will share in a minute.

Elder Dhillon and I are the only missionaries in our district right now. I looked over the list of all the missionaries in our mission, and I realized a few things: all the other missionaries that came in with me are in districts where there are other young missionaries. Also, my whole zone only has 8 missionaries right now (all of our couples got kicked out), so there are some districts that have more missionaries than my zone has. So yes, it is lonely here. But it's all good. Elder Dhillon and I are becoming good friends, so we're having fun together here. Just us and the orangutans.

This last week, we baptized Tiga and Rosemarie. At the baptism, our package guy from our favorite shipping company, DHL, came. The Baczuks sent a ton of stuff through them and always talked to him about our church, so he decided to come to the baptism. He is a very busy man, but he was able to finish work just a few minutes before the baptism. When he came, we took him on a tour of the church. He is a very enthusiastic man, and he was amazed at the beautiful pictures of the temples. He speaks english very well, so I sat next to him throughout the baptism service and explained things to him. While we were having refreshments, one of the members was talking to him. After the baptism service, Steven enthusiastically told us about how much he felt loved in the church, about how friendly everyone was to him. He told Elder Baczuk a few days later that he could really see a change in the faces of Tiga and Rosemary after they were baptized.

I'm excited about Steven Chin. He is a very busy man, so we won't be able to teach him all the time, but he should be coming to church from now on, and I think he'll get baptized before long.

Rosemarie chose me to do her confirmation on Sunday. She understands some english, so I was able to do that. I think being able to perform priesthood blessings are the most special experiences I have had since I've come on my mission. I really find it amazing how when you are giving a blessing, the words flow so easily, and you can really feel as though you are speaking on the Lord's behalf. After sacrament meeting, I was also able to bless one of the young women in our branch, who is sick.

West Malaysia is drastically different than East Malaysia. Elder Dhillon said that even he got culture shock coming here. Even the capital of our state, Kota Kinabulu, is cleaner and nicer than Sandakan. I'm not sure whether or not I told you, but my zone leaders told me a few weeks ago that they were kind of scared for me when they knew I was coming here, because as a new missionary, I would be coming to an area that is the poorest in the mission, where I would have a native companion, where there would not likely be many investigators who spoke english, and where the closest other young missionaries would be 200 miles away. But I don't care now, I love it here. I'm kind of sad. Next week, I have to start using my 3rd planner, so that means I'm already 12 weeks into my mission. Time goes by much too quickly.
I can finally teach the Joseph Smith story and have people kind of understand me. I still haven't been able to get a return appointment with anyone from contacting, but I'm working on it.

I haven't yet gotten my scriptures, but that's just because I haven't been to the post office. Usually, the branch president checks the P.O. Box on Saturday, and he will bring the package to church on sunday.

Can you email me some pictures of Tyler? The only pictures I got to see were the ones of him at the hospital.

Congratulate Andrew and Christina on the soon to be baby boy. Actually, I guess you'll read this yourself, so Congratulations, Andrew! I don't know about Daily. What kind of name is that? Daily. Jackson. I guess you like cities, like Jackson and Boston, so why not try Sandakan?

So, the story about the Wongs. We went there later in the week we watched conference. When we drove up, we noticed that only one of the children was there. When she saw us, she walked upstairs, and out came 2 men dressed in collared shirts and slacks. They came down to greet us. One of them talked to Elder Dhillon in malay. I didn't understand all he said, but I understood he was the reverend from the church across the street. When I first realized this, I'll admit, I was a little scared. That quickly faded, though. From the time I was 8 years old, I had progressed further in the kingdom of God than that reverend may ever go. When I was 12 years old, I held infinitely more authority than he does as a reverend. And now, as a missionary, I enjoy my commission to preach the Restored Gospel, and a prophet of God has said of me "We invite all to heed his message." The reverend, on the other hand, has a piece of paper that says he studied the Bible. I noticed he was looking awfully skinny. Donations were probably hard to come by. He told us that we needed to stop teaching those children and telling them his church was wrong. He got their father, who is a bhuddist, to come out and reluctantly agree that we need to stop coming.

I have to get going.
Love,
Elder Muffler