Letter #29 - Week of 27 Aug 2008 - Farewell Feast at Ahman's for Elder Howes

Hello family,

Sounds like an exciting week back home.

Thanks to Grampy and Nana Bev for the email of encouragement. That really helps.

Thanks also to Brandon for your letter.

You spoke at a fireside for an hour? Craziness.

Send congratulations to Nicole for me. Poor Freddy ...

Well, last week continued to be more successful after Wednesday. We ended up with a zone record for new investigators. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were all very crazy. Almost all of our new investigators showed up for their first appointments with us. And they all brought friends. For those who didn't show, we ended up running across people we lost contact with but are still very interested. Like, for example, on Saturday night, we were stuck in a somewhat isolated flat complex which we had already knocked up and down and our appointment there fell through. After trying a few other people we knew were there, we still had no luck. We started talking to some of the Muslim kids there, thinking of something to do for the hour before our taxi would bring us home. We asked them if they knew of any Christians in that building. They pointed out the two families we had already known about and tried that night. Then one of them said there was a Christian on the bottom floor. Even some of his friends didn't believe him. But true to his word, we met Prescilly, a woman who is very interested in a book of scripture with a story similar to her own: she, like Lehi, has sons who are rebellious, and she doesn't know what to do. She is very open to us coming back.

Let's see, I don't remember if I told you about Jessica last week. I think I did. She's a 19 year old girl that was school mates with one of the missionaries who's now in Melacca. Well, we went to her house on Monday. At the beginning of our lesson, we asked her if she read from the pamphlet or the book of Mormon we had given her. She said she had, but hadn't yet finished the pamphlet and only read a little from the Book of Mormon. As we started to share the story of Joseph Smith, though, a very interesting thing happened. I would start a sentence, then Jessica would finish it. I would start another sentence, and Jessica again would finish it. I'm not quite sure why she told us she hadn't finished the pamphlet (perhaps she meant only the Book of Mormon), but when we asked her again about it, she said she read it over and over again. She told us that she really related to the story of Joseph Smith, that she is very confused about which church she should join. Then, she started talking to us in english. She told us she wants to join our church, but she knows her mother is very opposed to us. The mother had scolded her for letting us in, and threw a few bitter comments at us before we began our lesson. We encouraged her to talk it over with her mother and join despite what her mother says. We'll say what happens there.

Ahman had us over for dinner on Sunday to be sure he had Elder Howes over before he leaves. Ahman had this big feast prepared. There is some sort of Islamic holiday going on, so he invited us to see the prayer they offered, then eat. It was pretty interesting. The Imam and all the males sat in a circle in his living room. someone brought the Imam some incense and a prayer book, then the Imam started reciting the prayer. Ahman told us they weren't that strict, that we could talk and take pictures during it. The prayer was offered in Arabic (which I now realize I understand a little of. Nearly all the religious words we used are borrowed from Arabic) For most of the prayer, everyone just sat there, but there were a couple of times when they made signals with their hands, and other times they would wipe their faces. Then, at the end, everybody shook hands, and we all ate. It was good food.

I'm feeling pretty sick today. I think it's just a cold or flu.

It's moon cake festival time. Moon cakes are little cakes about the size of a baseball made of lotus seeds. I just bought one, and haven't yet eaten it. I got regular old lotus seed flavor, but they have a lot of other flavors I might get around to trying, like double egg yolk, red bean, and green salted seaweed. I saw a dragonfruit one today. That would be delicioius.

Everything's going very well,
Love,
Elder Muffler

Here is a picture of Elder Muffler, Ah Peng, Jamie and her daughter, and Elder Howes at the bapism of Jamie and Ah Peng.

Letter #28 - Week of 20 Aug 2008 - Are you the Mormons?

Hello,

This last week was fantastic. I was really happy to get back to Sandakan and get back to work.

Donnis has a big challenge with the word of wisdom right now. When we first taught it to the family, they were all very excited about it, because they thought it would provide the motivation for him to stop drinking alcohol. His drinking has obviously affected the family. He is still struggling with that, but I think he is determined and sees the need to stop. However, both Donnis and his wife Julia fail to see the need to stop drinking coffee and tea. Either they don't really believe it's a commandment from God, or they don't want to stop, or they don't think they can. We're not sure yet. But we are working very hard to get them comitted to stop the difficult habit of drinking coffee. So far, that hasn't been much of a struggle for most investigators, because here in Malaysia, there are several other hot beverages that people like to drink and would be willing to substitute for coffee. Donnis knows that there is no substitute for him, and he is not yet willing to give it up. I think he can and will, though, and hope he will be baptized on September 20th (the saturday before Elder Howes leaves).

During the weekend, the church had a district conference held in Kota Kinabalu. We did not attend, but most members made the sacrifices to get on an 8 hour bus ride and go. Because the branch was in KK, we did not have church services on sunday morning. Knowing some members might have forgotten (and hoping some investigators might not know and come anyway), we went and waited outside the church building around the time sacrament meeting normally starts. After waiting for about a half hour, we decided that since we were in the area, we would stop by Jaimi's house, give her a hymnbook, and maybe have a little lesson and a hymn. As is usually the case on Sunday, she had some visitors that we were glad to go in and greet. It didn't take long to notice the reason why these visitors were in town. lying on Jaime's only mattress in the middle of the floor was an older woman with bloody bandages covering the side of her face and a sling around her arm. Jaimi explained that her older sister, Bibi, had been crossing the road when she got hit by a car. Jaime showed us the X-rays (I was so glad to see x-rays, because then I knew she had been treated by a real doctor). It was easy to see a broken clavicle and a shoulder sprain, and I'm not sure what else might have happened to her skull. We can only guess that the incident happened far away in their home village, and Bibi was in town so she had access to good medical care and her sister to provide comfort. I'm sure she hadn't anticipated having representatives of Jesus Christ available to her, but once she saw us she asked if we could perform some sort of prayer for her. I anointed Bibi, and Elder Howes sealed the anointing and offered a blessing. Being able to administer to the sick is very special to me. It reminds me of the Savior's charge

Later on Sunday, we went searching out Christians in a water village. I'm not sure I've described water villages yet. The reason they build them is unclear to me: I suppose land is scarce and beach is abundant. For whatever reason, they place big hunks of cements out in shallow water, and build houses held up by stilts over the ocean, with wooden bridges connecting them. Some water villages are very sturdy and organized into nice rows with clean, strait bridges. Others, like the one we visited, make me a little worried that a couple of heavy Americans will fall through if we step in the wrong spot.

Anyway, we were walking around asking where the Christians lived. After two bridges without a single Christian, we finally found someone who gave us directions to go to the end of a bridge. The woman we talked to warned us of the Christian lady's dogs, who are "pandai gigit" i.e., used to biting, or like to bite. We decided to brave it. I laughed when I saw the dogs. I've seen bigger rats. In my house. Okay, maybe not in my house, but right outside. The dogs were barking like crazy, and it didn't take long for the owner to come out. She looked grumpy. "Are you the mormons?" "Yeah." "I don't want. ... Didn't your leaders get arrested in America a few months ago?" Then we had to explain the difference between our church and the fundamentalists. The longer we talked, the more open and kind she became toward us. When we first introduced our message to her, she said she had already recieved a Book of Mormon, which she gladly allowed her sister in law to take. We continued to share our message, but she interrupted us, and told her how different we were than the other orang putih's that came a year earlier. They had come and told her that her church was wrong and that she had to join our church. We apologized for the behavior of the former missionary that served here (we have already heard stories about him from potential investigators, investigators, missionaries, and members), and she seemed very pleased. She then changed her story about the Book of Mormon. Her sister in law took it against her will. She really wanted to read it. We told her we'd be happy to bring another copy, and she told us we could come back any time.

On Monday, we did return. Mema Acu was there, and she was kind of snobby again. She told us she really wasn't all that interested, but continued to listen and talk to us for a while. However, her daughter was also there. Unlike her mother, Jessica was very open and agreed with everything we had to teach. When we explained how the Book of Mormon and Bible do not compete with each other, but really help each other to teach the full Gospel, Mema Acu still did not quite understand. Jessica taught her more clearly and powerfully than I had ever heard that doctrine taught before. I was impressed, and very excited. Jessica is very interested. She explained that she has always been interested in reading the Book of Mormon ever since her friend, now Elder Semana serving in West Malaysia, left behind his college scholarship to preach for some church. We were very blessed to meet Jessica the time we did. We caught her on her only free day at one of the few times she is available. Heavenly Father tends to put us in the path of those who are ready to recieve us.

We've had quite a successful week. We found more new investigators on Monday and Tuesday than we had in the whole previous month.

My language is starting to get pretty good. On Monday night, Elder Howes called one of our taxi drivers to pick us up the next day. A little later, while Elder Howes was in the shower, Ahman called back. He said he wanted to speak to me, and make sure he had the directions right, because I speak more clear.
Things are going very well here. I have had a happy week, and am getting happier as days go by.

I hope everyone is doing well.

I can see Ben as a camera man. You should film Cross country Ben- the film guy that was with us got to travel all over Colorado.

Oh, and for Kathy:
Thanks for the email. I have had mangosteen. Many missionaries consider it the best fruit here. It's season starts in September, so I'll tell more how much I like it then. I only had a little taste, and I thought it was pretty good, but we'll see if I get addicted to it like many missionaries, including my companion, are. It's supposed to have a lot of crazy health benefits and uses, but I think everyone really likes its rich flavor.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #27 - Week of 13 Aug 2008 - Salami in Singapore and Confirmation of Jamie and Ah Peng

Hello,

I am writing this email from a convenience store that also happens to be an internet cafe in the middle of Little India, Singapore.

Singapore has been deluxe. Yesterday I ate salami. Salami! Hungarian salami. It was so delicious. And I ate it on wheat bread. And I drank pomogranate juice with it. That was an excellent meal. Last night, I ate from a Japanese stall at a food court. It was an awful lot like a meal at yakitori, except the chicken doesn't come on a stick, and it just so happened that the only utensils around were chopsticks. So now, I've realized chopsticks aren't so difficult to pick up things with.

I also had some huge korean pears. I love those things. They're just so big and sweet.

I took out Grandma's money, and I'll probably use it today on some good ice cream, and some souvenirs around Little India. I used some of it to buy Indonesian hymn books to give to our new converts.

I did know the olympics started already. They're playing on televisions all over the place.

Elder Howes is indeed with me for his last visa run. We were supposed to go on exchanges, but the zone leaders here did not arrange things properly (I don't blame them- they've got a lot on their plate this week due to temporary transfers, several visa runs, and some elders going home), so we kind of went out by ourselves. I say kind of because we didn't get a whole lot of anything accomplished. A lot of pointless walking around trying to figure out what to do. Oh well. Last night, we were in a very cramped apartment. They did not have any extra beds, so we were on couches, and they didn't have any blankets or anything, so it was an uncomfortable night. I didn't sleep well at all. I don't have it so bad, though. Elder Howes was in the same situation, only he is also sick. I will be happy to get back to Sandakan, though.

Donnis and Julia are still doing very well. We haven't seen Zeezrom since. The one drawback with their family this week was that Donnis had to work on Sunday morning, and there was some miscommunication, so Julia and the family did not realize we could pick them up to bring them to church, so they went to the church across the street from the house, and were gone when we showed up in Brother Hiew's truck. Their family is so great, though. Julia asked us to help her husband get over his drinking problem, so we taught them about the word of wisdom. When we taught that as a commandment from God, Nenek started pumping her fist in the air. I think that was the first time I've ever had an investigator cheer us on like that. They really like having us over. On Sunday night, we were on the way out the door when Julia stopped us and said "Wait a minute. When are you coming back?" Because of a busy Monday schedule and the visa run, we weren't quite sure when we could come back. Julia continued "Tomorrow? Can you come back tomorrow?" We worked things out so we could go back on monday. Then, again, the same thing happened. We told them we were going to Singapore for a few days, but still, on the way out they asked "Are you coming back tomorrow?" We set an appointment to go back on Friday night.

Jamie and Ah Peng did get baptized on Saturday. Before the baptismal service, I'll admit, I wasn't quite sure that our teachings had really sunk in yet. During the baptismal interview, she asked (although we had already taught her) if it was okay to be baptized even though she had been baptized in the Anglican church. At the baptism service, though, all my doubts went away during her testimony at the end of the service. The first thing she said was "I am very happy today that I was able to be baptized into the True Church of Jesus Christ. I'm thankful the Elders came to teach me about it."

I performed the confirmations of both Jamie and Ah Peng on Sunday. That was a great privilege.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #26 - Week of 6 Aug 2008 - Alma and Amulek and Being an Answer to a Prayer

Hello,

This was also a fast week for me. There was something I was dreading about today. I don't like the idea that a fourth of my mission is already gone, that I can't have it back.

This week was much more of a roller coaster than last week. I suppose it started on Thursday. The week previous, we had found a lot of new people and set up appointments for Thursday. Of all those, only 1 ended up coming through. We called Donnis Thursday morning, and he was quite enthusiastic about having us come. We got a member set up, and later went to the appointment. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we found ourselves with an hour of time after one of the people we were supposed to teach had apparently already moved. So, after attempting to contact all the other people in that flat complex (I think I've told you about flat complexes before. They're large cement buildings with low-cost apartments), we concluded the best thing to do was just start our lesson a half hour early. We arrived, and Donnis graciously welcomed us in. Present at the time were his wife and daughters. We asked if it would be okay to start the lesson right away, but they said they wanted to wait for somebody. After ten minutes, a young man of 15 years and an old lady arrived. We asked if there was anyone else, and they told us they still wanted to wait for someone. At 8:00 on the dot, another younger man, whom I would guess was 30, entered, shook our hands, and sat down.

We began our lesson. During the opening prayer, I remember saying my own silent prayer. I pled that we could teach with power, that my tongue would be loosed, and that I could say whatever Heavenly Father wanted me to say.

Sure enough, we taught with power. Our lesson was guided by the Spirit. I know for sure my portions of the lesson were much clearer than I had ever practiced or been able to speak before. It was such a great lesson. I couldn't imagine anything going wrong.

Then the 30 year old began asking questions. At first they were innocent, trivial. It seemed like he sincerely wanted to know. "Who is God?" "Are God and Jesus the same?" But then, after giving him simple answers, his demeanor changed. He rattled off a sharp response, citing a verse from the Bible. That made me very sad. Besides disrupting the family from feeling the Spirit, I became aware of the fact that this was their preacher. Elder Howes, after spending a few minutes trying to answer the objections, turned it into an important teaching moment. "You see that we can use the Bible so differently. This is why we need to have the Book of Mormon." We both bore our testimonies and concluded the lesson. As we were preparing to leave, we expected the pastor to tell us not to come back. Contrary to our expectations, we set an appointment for Sunday, which the family, along with Mr. Pastor, agreed to. We were impressed. We also invited the family to come to a branch activity on Friday.

We visited the family Friday afternoon, without the influence of our little friend, to whom I gave the nickname of Zeezrom (In the Book of Mormon, Zeezrom is a lawyer who tries to trick Alma and Amulek into denying the faith, but he ends up joining the church and going on a mission. I read out loud from Alma 12, substituting Elder Howes's name for Alma, and my name for Amulek). We went there, and luckily, Donnis was not working, so he invited us in to teach his family. We taught about prayer. The night before, Zeezrom offered the closing prayer, and it was a scary thing. It was more like a chant. He spoke loudly and harshly and repeated himself several times. We taught about how bad of an example that was, and to our surprise, the family agreed with us. I was still scared Zeezrom was going to take them away from us, but we continued to have hopes for them. We again invited them to come to the branch activity, and explained how to walk to the church (which is quite a walk, especially when they have Nenek (grandma) with them).

Immediately before the activity, we had a fun appointment with Jamie. We watched the Restoration DVD. Then we walked to the church. When we got to the church, the first thing I saw through the window was Donnis. I don't think I could have smiled any bigger. Donnis brought his wife and daughters, as well as Nenek, and Rajis (the 15 year old young man). We found out that night that Zeezrom is actually a relative, that they go to different churches and have very different beliefs. They should be baptized on the 6th of September.

Well, maybe not Rajis. Rajis is fascinating to me. He has a very intelligent demeanor about him, but he is very quiet and tries to hide it. I can tell he has a lot of the same beliefs as his brother Zeezrom, but unlike Zeezrom, Rajis loves asking questions and talking with us. I can tell by how he stares at the ground during his appointments that he is listening intently but is still not sure whether to believe us or not.

Unfortunately, Donnis had to work at the last minute on Sunday, so the family did not come to church. However, we did bring Brother and Sister Hiew and their children to visit them on Sunday night. That was the ideal teaching situation. You should have seen it. Julia (Donnis's wife) sat in the corner with Sister Doris and talked the whole time (it was about the lesson, so it was all right). Donnis, Brother Hiew, and the children sat to our left and paid good attention. Grace (Brother Hiew's 17 year old daughter) and Rajis were on a love seat to our right. It was a good lesson. They are just such a humble family.

We learned a little of the Kadazan language this week. That's one of the biggest tribes here in Sabah. Brother Hiew is a Kadazan, as is Donnis, and a few of the other members in our branch.

I'm short on time today...

This next week, I'll be writing from Singapore. I'm going on a visa run.

Jamie and her son Ah Peng will be baptized on Saturday.

We had one other appointment I'd like to tell you about as fast as I can. We met a Filipino lady named Edna last week. She promised to come to church on Sunday, but when we stopped by to walk with her, she had work duties around her house. On monday, we began a lesson, and I think we hadn't even taught anything yet- we asked a couple of questions, then she began crying. She said she has been having many, many problems, and she had been praying for help from God, and then we showed up.

I wonder how many times in my life I have been an answer to someone else's prayer. Knowing that is one of the best feelings in the world. To think that Heavenly Father could bless someone with comfort and peace and joy through me! It is so important that we serve each other. You never know whose prayer you might be an answer to.

Love,
Elder Muffler