Letter #21 - Week of 2 Jul 2008 - Goodbye Feasts and letter from Grandma Bunny

Hello,

This week was pretty good.

I'll start by answering the questions. Elder Howes is from one of those towns near Provo. I don't know the name of it. He has been on his mission 1 year and 9 months. His release date is on or around the 22nd of September. He's a very experienced, smart missionary that has a lot to offer me, a lot that I can learn from. He is nearly the polar opposite from Elder Dhillon, though. Elder Dhillon was very methodic. Just about everything about him was lawyer-like. He helped me a lot with my people skills, and my leadership skills. Elder Howes, on the other hand, is helping me refine what I teach a lot more than how I teach it. He'll be good for me.

Last week was a pretty sad week with the investigators. We had a lot of people tell us to not come back, whether explicitly, or by avoiding us when we came. There is one bright spot, though, and I'll tell you about that in a minute.

Let me tell you, I had a lot to eat last week. The custom of saying goodbye to someone you care about or respect a lot is that you make a feast for them. Consequently, both taxi drivers we regularly use had us over for dinner in their homes. I had been to Ahman's house before. Ahman's family is so great. They're just so... pure. I have no doubt where they'll be in the next life. They treat us like angels. We also went to Jad's house. That was the first time I had been in his home. He has a pretty nice home. He lives in an apartment above shops. He has three young children: a 9 year old and 6 year old boy, and a 3 year old girl. They were so funny when we came over. They're very shy, even though we've met them before. When we came, they were all sprawled out on the couches in the living room/dining room (which was very big). But the minute we entered the door they were in a clump in the corner of the room.

We had 4 investigators at church on sunday. 1 of them was brand new. One of the less active young women brought him, but kind of left him on his own when he got to sacrament meeting. Normally, Elder Dhillon would have talked to him, and shared the story of Joseph Smith with him, and all, while I stood and smiled. Not this time. Elder Dhillon, for better or for worse, left me to struggle to speak with him. I asked him a lot of questions, and I didn't understand a whole lot he said back to me. I explained the Restoration of the Gospel. I'm not sure how much he understood, but I know for sure he understood that I was happy that he came, and he is welcome to come back every week. I hope to see him more, even though I had such a hard time communicating with him.

Elder Howes and I visited Misdi last night. The changes that have happened in Misdi since his baptism have been amazing. I think he had been taught the same lessons over and over again for a little less than a year before his baptism, but we were still struggling to help him to understand right before his baptism. Last night, he was helping to teach the lesson to his friend (whom Misdi brought to church). When we visited Misdi when I first got here, we would visit Misdi, and his friends Maeslina and Bidarah and Dulailah and Robby. They were always timid and quiet. They would rarely look at us during the lessons, preferring instead to look at the floor. When we asked who wanted to say the prayer, no one would volunteer. no one would say anything. But now- it's amazing! We say we want to have a prayer, and Misdi assigns someone to do it. When we want to read a scripture, Misdi (who previously struggled to read out loud) will read it boldly and without error. There's just a glow around him. It's amazing what that simple ordinance can do to simple people.

Misdi's friend, Jessryn, accepted the baptism date of July 26. I'm a little worried about him making that, because he smokes. But once again, I think Misdi can be instrumental in helping him. Misdi missed several baptism dates because of smoking problems. He told us last night that he figured out it was easy for him to quit smoking after he decided to gradually stop: he smoked 5 cigarettes a day one week, then 4 the next, then 3 the next, and so on. He told Jessryn, and Jessryn agreed to try to stop.

I got a strange letter from Grandma Bunny, who lives in Salt Lake City. It was addressed to the MTC mailbox 248 some time ago, with an unreadable first name, last name Muff. So I guess they finally decided it was to me. Well, I opened it up, and it was Grandma Bunny's letter to all her grandsons and other relatives on mission, including Elder Jordan Huff, who is in the Phillipines right now.

I also got a letter from Kalab. He's going to be a great missionary.

I'm glad Michael is doing well. It's tough learning a language.

So Ben, what are you doing at the golf course? I hope you get to do bunkers like Tim and me used to do. That was the best. We had so much fun doing bunkers.

Well, I have to go. Things are great in Sandakan.

Sincerely,
Elder Muffler