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