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:

Letter #31 - Week of 10 Sep 2008 - Propeller Plane

Hello family,

This was a very good week.

The internet is being kind of frustrating now, so I hope this gets to you today. I certainly haven't been able to read any of the emails I was sent.

It was good to come back from KK last week. We got to fly on a little propeller plane with maybe 30 seats. It was surprisingly nice. I liked it way better than a jet. It was just way more smooth, and take off and landing were barely noticeable.

Donnis and his family are still making progress. He had to work on sunday, so they didn't come to church. We visited him on sunday night. After asking him to give the opening prayer and listening to his excuse that he needs to still do some practice and learn a little better before he offers a prayer in front of us. His adorable 7 year old daughter is starting to do everything like him- gives us the same excuses and everything. Elder Howes got the same prompting I did, and we gave him a rather blunt talk about the absolute need for him to be the example in his family- that if he doesn't put effort into learning and changing, his family isn't going anywhere either. We expressed our love for him, and encouraged him to fulfill his family duties by being a good example. He responded so well to it. He gave the closing prayer, and told us with conviction that he is going to practice before we meet again. They're such a nice family.

Okay, I finally got to open emails. Thanks for the family history, Grampy. That's really exciting to read.

It sounds like Ben's having an exciting life. I think it would be fun to run a camera for a tv.

Elder Morrey does give us news from the US every now and then, so I knew at least who the vice presidential candidates were. He and Sister Morrey are big BYU fans, so they have told me about the wins.

Elder Howes leaves on the 21st of September, so I should be getting a new companion that same day.

I was feeling pretty healthy last week, but then Saturday I started feeling sick again, and last night I didn't sleep well, so everything got worse. We went to a doctor today (Sister Skelton, the mission president's wife, usually encourages going even though we all know what the doctor is going to tell us). He said it's just a virus- a cold or flu, and that I should take antibiotics (just in case it's strep), tylenol, and rest. I'm feeling pretty good now that the medicine kicked in.

I've just been really happy over the last few days. There are so many little things that make me happy, like when Jaimi's 2 year old daughter Mui-Mui hides behind my chair and pokes me in the back throughout our appointments, or when Donnis's sister in law pumps her fist in the air when we teach something she likes. I love being in Malaysia. I love the climate. I love the scenery. I love the food. You know, my tastes in food are constantly changing- I went from a spaghetti lover to a curry lover, but spaghetti or curry, you can always tell what I ate by looking at my shirt.

Yang benar,
Elder Muffler

Letter #30 - Week of 3 Sep - Request for everyone

Hey family,

I'm writing this from Kota Kinabalu right now. A mixture of perspiration and precipitation is dropping off of me and onto the leather couch I'm sitting on now.

We played futsol again for our zone activity. It was very fun. When we were about halfway through, we noticed a tourist couple watching us play. Elder Perrot, our zone leader, invited them to play with us. They were from England, and they were ridiculously good, especially the wife. Apparently, the wife got an offer to play in some womens professional league in the U.S. She was on my team.

Where to start, where to start. First, I'd like to thank Aunt Kathy for her story about Grammy and Nanny. She was one step ahead of me. I was thinking a lot about the people here and how they were introduced to the church and how they got a testimony of the Restored Gospel and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have a request for everyone that reads this. Will you please write me an email or a letter or something and tell me how you were introduced to the Church and how you gained a testimony that it was the true Church? I understand you're busy: write it when you have the time. But remember, if you don't give yourself a timeline, it probably won't be done. I'm particularly interested in the pioneers in my family: Grandma, Grammy, and whoever it was in Grampy's lineage.

So, this week. This was a very exiting week. Of the many new people we have found, naturally, there are many that are very ready to accept the Gospel. We met with Jusslay on Thursday. Actually, it was kind of a fluke that we met him. The man I thought was named Jusslay wasn't there, nor was his wife. I completely forgot about the other man who lived across the bridge whom we taught together with the other family. Luckily, Elder Howes remembered the man who we later found out was the real Jusslay. When we taught him, he told us he had come to the church at 7:00 AM on sunday morning, and since there was no one there, he went to his own church. We assured him if he went a little later, there would be people there, and told him we would come by to walk with him to church. The issue with him, as it is with many of the most golden investigators, is that he was planning on returning to his kampung (village). Then he told us the surprise. He was only going there for a week. He really lives in Sandakan. He should be getting baptized on October 4.

Another investigator, Yohannes, lives a few bridges away from Jusslay. Yohannes is an older Indonesian man who works as a security guard. Like many Timors, he is staunchly Roman Catholic, but unlike many Timors, he is willing to consider all that we are offering him. We invited him to be baptized, but he assured us he must pray about it first. We invited him to come to church, and he agreed on the circumstance that he got back from his job as a night security guard early enough.

True to our word and his, we met Jusslay sunday morning to walk to church. After that, we took Jusslay over to Yohannes's house. Heaven smiled on Yohannes, and he was back unusually early from work and was perfectly willing to come to church. We were in a bit of the hurry, and wanted to drop by one more family, so Elder Howes and I decided to leave those two together for a few minutes. When we left, they were kind of quiet. When we came back, we couldn't sneak another word in their conversation. As far as we could tell, they were best friends. They talked and laughed the whole way to church. But while we were walking with them, we were in a bit of a precidament. We were set to get to the church maybe 5 minutes before church. We had forgotten to remind somebody to go pick up Donnis and his family. Donnis had a free day and seemed very intent on bringing his family to church, but there was just no easy way to do so. He said the daughters had cried when they walked to the branch activity a month ago. I was even more concerned when I got to the church building only a few mintues before sacrament meeting was set to start and saw only one car there, as well as a taxi leaving which signalled that Tiga Dawi had come. I burst into the church, seeking to find some way to get that family to church. My eyes looked first to the front of the church, where the owner of the car, the only branch presidency member present at the time, was seated. I couldn't ask him to leave so close to sacrament meeting. Then, I looked to the left, where I saw Donnis and his family already seated. The taxi wasn't Tiga Dawi's - it was Donnis's. As if that wasn't enough, seated right behind Donnis was Jonathon Tiga, along with a face I didn't recognize. Last week, Jonathon told us about how much he wants to be a missionary. On Sunday, Jonathon got a little practice by bringing one of his schoolmates to church.

Jamie's sister Bibi is developing more and more faith the more we teach. At first, she was interested only in the secular benefits the church might provide her. She's starting to pursue the spiritual, and gain a testimony.
Moon cakes... I don't think anyone ought to be envious of me for having tried a moon cake. It wasn't terrible. It just wasn't very good. Lotus paste is a kind of tasteless, more fibrous peanut butter.

Thanks for all your support and prayers,
Love, Elder Muffler