Letter #47 - Week of 31 Dec 2008 - First Week in Kota Kinabalu

Hello family,

Greetings from my first P-Day in KK (after being transferred).

The last week has been awesome. There is so much I'd like to tell you, but I'll have to summarize really quick.

I'll start with my favorite thing I did all week, and that was to visit Jaimi on Sunday night for the last time. I don't know if I told you, but Juarak was in from the village last week, so she was there. The appointment was wonderful. The three naughty children were all sleeping, so it was very quiet and peaceful. Elder Stone and I taught Juarak about the qualifications for the Celestial Kingdom, especially about the temple endowment and eternal marriage. Her eyes got brighter and brighter as we taught and testified of the blessings of the temple. I am so happy with Jaime. She's active in the church, coming every sunday. She shares the Gospel with her family and has brought several family members to church. She is faithful in her calling in the primary. She studies the scriptures and prays every day. The only obvious outward result (beside the yet future fruits) of my 10 months of labor and effort in Sandakan is Jaimi and her children, and I'm completely okay with that. I'm thankful I could participate in introducing her to the Restored Gospel.

My transfer was stressful. I didn't spend all that much time thinking about what I packed, so I knew I was going to forget things. When I was at the airport, I started to realize a few of the things I forgot. I forgot to take my pictures down on the wall, I forgot to take my alarm clock. I forgot shaving cream. Right after I checked in, I realized something that I wasn't sure if I forgot, and that's what really worried me. I didn't know where my ATM card was. I set my bag down and searched through my carryon several times. It wasn't there (Elder Morrey and Elder Stone found it back at the apartment later and the zone leaders will pick it up from them when they go on exchanges next week- that's not the point of the story). Well, in my hurry to try to find my card, I misplaced my boarding pass. Yikes. Luckily, I was still with the Morreys and Elder Stone, so they helped me go through my carryon again and find it. So I said goodbye, went in and sat outside the gate. I had another look through my bag for my card. After a few minutes, I gave up, thinking it was probably back at the house. But yet again, I lost my boarding pass. This time, I panicked. After 5 minutes of frantic searching, it was no where to be found. The announcement for boarding came. The passengers got on. I explained that I had lost my boarding pass, and they told me to take my time and look. Five more minutes, they finally just gave up with me, checked the computer and my passport, and let me on. I was grateful to Heavenly Father for that. I could have been stuck in Sandakan for a while.

Tell Grampy and Nana Bev and Grandma thanks for the money.

As it turns out, the zone leaders kind of divided the area here. They geographically divided the area in terms of who gets which members for referrals. Other than that, though, we can go anywhere in the city. However, they did not give us any investigators. We are starting from scratch. This week was a bad time for that. The zone leaders went on exchanges in Tawau on Tuesday, so they couldn't be here long to show me around. So on Monday, we went to a less active and a couple of recent converts. Two of the recent converts invited her cousin Sylvia over so we could teach her. I'm excited for her.

Elder Compton couldn't get a flight here until Tuesday, so yesterday morning, I had to go to the senior couple's house for a couple hours, then go pick up Elder Compton, then come back, eat, get settled. Elder Ni arranged for a young man to show us around some more (I didn't get to see much on Monday). Well, I called the young man, and he was sick. So, I decided to just go finding in a city I had been in one day. It was one of the most fun days of finding I've had so far. We met a lot of humble, good people that I'm excited to teach. Most of them are Kadazans. I love Kadazans. They're my favorite. I'm going to have a blast here in KK.

Speaking of Kadazan, and speaking of speaking, I have looked before (although I admit I haven't looked very much- just one book store) for a Kadazan/Dusun dictionary or grammer book or something. Could you look on the internet to see if you could find a kadazandusun-malay or to english dictionary? I would love to learn a little of that language. If you could find one, it'll probably originate from here in KK, so go ahead and have it sent straight to me. Or maybe if you just find a store or something that I could find one just tell me about it.

Elder Compton is a good guy. He is from Mesa Arizona. He's only been out about 2 months from the MTC. He was part of the first group that was trained in Indonesian in the MTC (that came to Malaysia). He has been itching to be able to speak malay. He's pretty good. I'm going to enjoy working with him. I think he's in for an experience. His last area was Butterworth, in West Malaysia. It was also a big city, but a tiny branch. Actually, it isn't even a branch yet. It's just a group. Only 15 people.

Love,
Elder Muffler

2nd email sent half hour later:

I forgot to tell you about the funniest thing that happened last week.
The Hiews had us over for dinner last week. I told them I would be working in Penampang (that's the suburb of KK that my area consists of), and they were so excited, because Sister Hiew was born and raised in Penampang and has lots of family and friends there. She wanted to give me some referrals, but didn't know the addresses, so she'll tell Elder Stone some time in the future.

One of the Hiews was absent from dinner. Grace. They told us that until the results of her final school tests are out in March, she'll be living and working in KK. It just so happens that she's working in the grocery store across the street from our apartment where the elders always go. Strange coincidence.

It's all good, though, I want to teach the aunt she's living with. I'll see if I can go find her later today.

Sorry I haven't taken any pictures yet. Next week.

-Elder Muffler

Birthday Pictures

Our family has a tradition of holding up fingers showing our age on our birthdays. Here is a picture of Elder Muffler posing for his birthday picture. He decided he only needed to take one and we could "multiply it", so we are displaying it twice. He turned 20 on Christmas Day!

Letter #46 - Week of 24 Dec 2008 - Christmas - Getting Transferred to Kota Kinabalu

Hello family,

I know I just talked to you, but we had a few minutes, so I'll write an email to say a few more things that I didn't get to say.

The Morreys got us some chocolate and a t-shirt and tie today. We went with them to visit a couple of people who weren't home. Then, we went to the open house of one of the members. I got talking to a lady there who has 22 brothers and sisters, with the same mother and father. I thought Elder Stone had a lot at 10.

I want to share a few thoughts about a topic I've been thinking a lot about lately, humility. Preach My Gospel has a good definition of humility, something to the effect that humility is a recognition of the blessings that come from God and it includes gratitude for those blessings. I've been thinking a lot about how, as you are truly humble and recognize your blessings, you will desire to work harder and be better and do more so that you show your gratitude to Heavenly Father. Humility results in the confidence that you can do anything the Lord asks, because you know the Lord will provide a way to do the commandments He gives you. So often, confidence is associated with pride. I've come to the conclusion that confidence in yourself is pride. Confidence in the Lord is the epitome of humility. When you are humble, you accept that others have a lot to teach you. You accept that the Lord knows best. Alma 5:26-29 ask a few excellent questions "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameeless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? ... Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy?" Envy. There's a vice that's difficult to break. It's so easy to see others with their numerous talents, their charisma, their looks, their intelligence, the opportunities they have, and wish you were in their shoes. But humility will lead you to accept the will of the Lord, accept yourself with your weaknesses, and be grateful for the multitude of blessings you have, that other people probably have reason to envy. Envy is similar to telling the Lord "Although I know you know all things, I think I know better than you in this case, and I deserve what he has."

Humility leads to power. "Nevertheless, they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifyin and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts to God." Remember that we are instructed to "be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive." (Helaman 7:23) As we celebrate Christmas and commemorate the birth of the perfect example of humility, let us remember Him who descended from His throne on high to be born in a stable, visited by the meek and lowly shepherds, who was despised and rejected of men, who was "led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father. (Mosiah 15:7)

Sincerely,
Elder Muffler





We spoke on the phone with Elder Muffler on Christmas Eve (Christmas Day and his birthday Sandakan Time). Andrew and Christina and Jackson were here and able to get on the phone with us.

Elder Muffler is doing great. He is a little sad in that he is getting transferred on Monday, Dec 29th. But, he is looking forward to his new adventure in Kota Kinabalu, where his Zone Leaders live. The Zone Leaders are currently the only missionaries in KK, so they will once again split the area with Elder Muffler and his new companion. His new companion is Elder Compton from Mesa Arizona, who has been on his mission about 5 months, and has been serving in West Malaysia.

He still did not receive the Christmas Package we sent to him. So, we will have to send another one.

He said time has gone really quickly on his mission. Most of the people that he has been involved with baptizing have moved from the area, and the attendance at church meetings has been decreasing. They've been trying to work with the less actives to get referrals, etc.

In January, Elder Muffler will attend an area conference in Kuching, in southern East Malaysia.

He is overall in very good spirits and doing well.

Letter #45 - Week of 17 Dec 2008 - Staying in Sandakan

Hello,

I will indeed be in Sandakan for Christmas. Elder Stone and I talked about it this morning, and I think what would work best for us and what I would like the most is for you to call 10 AM Christmas morning our time, like you suggested. Elder Stone will do his call at 8:30 or so.

Well, we've had a grand old time this last week. A lot of things are going really well. Our biggest problem this last week was that too many people are leaving for the holidays.

Jose and Esperanza are still very excited about church. They came again this past sunday, with a little less fanfare, but they still had an excellent experience. Jose showed up in a white shirt and tie. He looked spiffy. We talked to them last Wednesday, and they should be going to KK to get their Identity cards and citizenship or permenant residence status or whatever, and they agreed to be married in January after that, but they should be set to be baptized on February 7. Jose is still struggling with the word of wisdom, but he has reduced his smoking big time from the last time we talked to him: down from 4 packs a day to 4 sticks. He agreed to quit by the new year.

No sign of the package as of last Friday.

I'm really glad I get to spend more time in Sandakan. Elder Stone is the greatest companion. I'd imagine we'll be very good friends at BYU and probably for a long time after.

Jaimi's daughter, who is living in Johor Baru (right across the border from Singapore) apparently lost her job, and will be coming to live here with her mother next Tuesday. Jaimi told us she'll come to church for sure, and she wants us to come teach her next week. I'm excited to meet more of Jaimi's family.

We had an awesome appointment with a less active family, the Albarto's, last night. They live in a little wooden house built on stilts by the shore. They're Filipinos. The husband works as a mechanic and the wife sews dresses in the house. They have probably 8 children, one of which is severely handicapped and sits in a wheelchair from LDS Charities. We shared a scripture with them yesterday, and tried to get to know them better. They're such humble, amazing people. The husband shared some experiences about how Heavenly Father has kept him safe and healthy, which he attributes to reading the Book of Mormon and praying. The wife told us about how family prayer has helped their family get through hard times. They said the reason they don't come to church is that they often don't have the money to ride the bus. They said there are some times they have had the money when they were just lazy, but they promised to try harder. After the wife told about family prayer, she also said that she and the children used to gather around Marc Anthony II (the boy in the wheelchair) and sing him hymns, but they lost their hymnbook. Before we left, we sang him "Silent Night." That didn't seem to affect him much. Then his mother told us his favorite hymn is "I am a Child of God." While we sang that, he started making noises and smiling and shaking his head. He loved it.

We met Alice's children for the first time last week. She has 2 sons, ages 16 and 15, and a daughter that is 12. She really wants them to learn from us, because they haven't gone to church in a long time. Of course, they're all teenagers, and act as such. We've now taught them twice, though, and the oldest one seems very interested. The middle one is a punk. I can't tell whether he's just playing, or he really doesn't care. Last night, about halfway through our lesson on the plan of salvation, he disappeared into another room, then 5 minutes later I looked up, and he had a can of air freshener that he was spraying over the candle on the top of his grandfather's Buddhist alter.

Those sons were really good yesterday. Alice said she was very busy yesterday, and she wanted us to call her sons to see if they would be okay with meeting us. I called one of them (it must have been the oldest- I couldn't really tell though), and he said he would love to learn from us at that time. Well, when 7:00 rolled around, we were waiting outside their neighborhood for a member to help us teach, and they came strolling home from the bus stop. They said they were just coming back from the internet cafe. I was so happy that they came back for no other reason than to learn from us.

Elder Stone and I have a lot we want to do today. I want a set of dumbbells (I kept putting it off, thinking I didn't want to just buy some and then get transferred, but now I don't care anymore), and we want to buy a volleyball so we can play with the youth on Saturday afternoons from now on, then we want to head out to a grocery store a few miles away so we can get some real ice cream (usually the ice cream here is dehydrated milk solids mixed with palm oil: it just doesn't taste the same) for Christmas. Elder Stone also wants to play a board game, so we'll see what they have at a toy store here.

I tried a new food last week that I am addicted to. It's a kind of chinese roll called pau. They take bread dough, and stuff it with meat and vegetables (really, every restaurant makes them different), then steam them. They are amazing. And cheap.

Well, better go.

Talk to you next week, 10 am Sandakan time. If there are any problems, I'll call about 10:15 to see what's up.

Sincerely,
Elder Muffler

Letter #44 - Week of 10 Dec 2008 - "I already entered Islam"

Hello,

This week has been fantastic as usual. Doing missionary work in KK for a couple of days was fun, especially since Elder Pace doesn't have a full range of vocabulary yet (he's only been in East Malaysia maybe a month or so). I'm impressed with how well he can communicate with so little experience. But I still got to do a lot of the talking. It was fun.

It was really nice to come back, though, as it always is. Unfortunately, a lot of our investigators are out of town because of the 2nd Hari Raya, which took place on monday. There were a few people that were here, though, so it was all good. Keng Shun has been very sick lately, so we haven't been able to meet him.

I don't know if I ever told you, but Douglas has been avoiding us lately. He hasn't been picking up his phone when we call from our home phone, and whenever we use a different phone, he has hung up immediately upon hearing my voice. I asked President Skelton about what to do, and he said almost certainly Douglas "did something naughty" that he didn't want us to find out about, so the solution is just meeting him for long enough to spit out what the problem is. He said we should "accost" him, perhaps right outside his place of work. He said that surely won't be the last time I'll accost somebody in my life of church service. So that's what we did. We decided to go down to his work sleeping quarters at 4:30, so surely we could either meet him in the quarters or at least as he was on the way to work at 5. I was really nervous and fearing the worst as we got off the bus and walked past the abandoned movie theater on the way to his decaying cement apartment building on the shore. Elder Stone and I stepped aside into the trees for a minute to say a prayer. We pleaded that Douglas's heart would be softened such that he would openly and honestly state his problem so we could work through it and he could continue in his conversion. We walked up the dark stairs that smelled of urine and rotting fish and huddled around the door to his apartment. We knocked, ready to shove a foot in the door the second it was opened. Before long, we heard the jingle of keys inside the door, and Douglas stood before us shirtless, with a reserved smile. "Douglas! We've been trying to call you for so long! It's good to see our friend again. Is there a problem that you didn't want to talk to us?"

"Yeah," he said. "I already..." Now, over the last few weeks, I had tried to prepare my mind for every possible problem. Working in a club, surely the most likely problem was that he finally caved in and drank alcohol. That would have been simple. Tell him don't do it again, and move on. Perhaps he had met oppostion by family or friends, and he decided that following this new church wasn't what he wanted to do. All we needed to do was remind him of what he knew to be true. I certainly didn't expect what came next. "I already entered Islam. I got married to my Muslim girlfriend last week." That was the most permanent decision he could have made. We stood in unbelief. We can't do anything more with him.

Our branch had a great Christmas party on Friday. I say it was great, but I know most of the branch was disappointed. Apparently, the Christmas party usually fetches every member on the role. There were only a handful there, although probably half of them were new members, investigators, or less actives.

Send my thanks to Grandma and Aunt Jenny for the Christmas package. The candy all made it fine, but a mouse or something got to the jerkey before the package got to me, so I couldn't eat it. She wanted me to eat a Burger King burger in honor of Grampa. As for Burger Kings in Malaysia, there used to be one in KK, but it closed down a few months ago. I'll make sure to use some of the money to get a burger in Singapore. All the other elders always go to Carls Junior while there.

I'm surprised how much Christmas decorations and such there is around town, with so few Christians. The last 2 restaurants we've gone to have had Christmas music playing. The one last night just had the hymns. They were all instrumental, though.

So, where's Andrew headed after December? He's graduating, isn't he?

I did recieve my envelopes with my certificates in them, and I sent one set to Singapore this morning. I haven't yet recieved a Christmas package from you. The transfer won't be happening until the 22nd, and I might not get transferred anyway, so it won't be an issue.

We've been really pushing to spend a lot more time with the members, and it has made missionary work a lot more enjoyable, not only because of the increased success we're starting to have, but because of the love we're feeling for these wonderful people.

Sorry for the breakage. I had to copy it from notebook. Long story.

It's good to hear that Joshua has decided to serve a mission. It's the greatest experience in the world.

It's weird. I'm 20 in 2 weeks.

Glad to hear the Sand Creek basketball team is doing good.

I've got a lot to say about Jose and Esperanza, but I'll surely have a lot more to say after we meet them again tonight. They came to church on sunday without anyone inviting them, and they're helping us teach their friends. I'll say more next week.

For now, goodbye,
Elder Muffler

Picture from Zone Conference in Kota Kinabalu (KK) - Elder Ogden, Elder Niederhauser, Elder Herbst, Elder Pace, Elder Stone, Elder Houston, Elder Perrot, and Elder Muffler

Letter #43 - Week of 3 Dec 2008 - Elder Muffler is "in Roses" with regard to Sandakan

NOTE: We DID finally receive an email for 27 Nov and posted it for that date. You can navigate to it on the left by clicking on "November".

Hello,

Right now I'm emailing from a kind of dimly lit place with bright green walls in KK. I'm wearing a Chelsea football club shirt that is soaked with sweat. We played futsol today. It was very fun, especially since we only had 8 missionaries. As such, there was a lot more running and a lot less skill involved, which worked well for a bunch of Americans that can't control a ball with their feet.

My interview with President Skelton was really awesome today. Well, they're always good, but today was especially uplifting. He had a lot of compliments and encouragement to give me. At the beginning, as usual, he asked how I was, and as usual I gave him a 2 or 3 word answer, maybe "Very good." He waited, then said "That's it? Well, that was a quick interview." Then he started to ask about the area. I told him something about the work being more successful, to which he replied "So I've heard." He told me how pleased he was with what Elder Stone and I were doing, then said he noticed a new glow in me, something that has developed every time he saw me. He told me I seemed more talkative, more confident. Then he gave me a charge: I need to carry that confidence to wherever else I might go. If I end up anywhere else, he said I need to waste no time waiting to observe and learn, that I need to stand up right away and talk to people. I took that to mean I might be going somewhere soon. I didn't ask at the time, which I kind of regret now. I'm sure he would have told me.

I just turned to talk to Elder Stone about our interviews. We always get a kick out of what President Skelton says. Elder Stone said that President Skelton said about me "Elder Muffler is in roses with regards to Sandakan" or something like that. Oh, President Skelton.

I'm really worried about Douglas. A couple of weeks ago, he was doing great. He had paid his tithing, and gave us a referral, and was set to recieve the priesthood. The last we heard from him was maybe on a Friday 3 or so weeks ago, and he promised to come to church on Sunday. Since then, however, we have not been able to talk to him. When I try to call him from our home phone, he won't pick up. I tried calling him from a pay phone a few days ago, and he picked up, without answering, and upon hearing my voice, hung up. I tried again yesterday with the Morreys' cell phone, this time waiting for him to say something. After waiting for 5 seconds or so, he said hello, and I greeted him like always "Hello Douglas!" and he hung up. Attempts to reach him at the place he stays during the week haven't worked. I have no clue what might have happened. It seemed like he had such a good relationship with us. I can't think of anything that would cause him to not only want to come to church, but to completely cut contact with us.

Wow. December already. I can totally tell the difference in weather here. It's probably a degree cooler than usual. Just kidding. There's no difference. There's never been a difference and there never will be a difference. The only thing that ever changes is that during the winter months it rains more frequently, maybe 2 or 3 times a week more than it would during the other months of the year. But it's pretty funny. Everyone gets sick this time of year, and they all blame it on the change of seasons.

Ng Keng Shun is doing awesome. We met him on friday night and read Alma 7 together with him to teach him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and let him feel the Spirit while we read. He also came to church on sunday, but had to leave after sacrament meeting due to a medicine he was taking or something. Alice also came to sacrament meeting. She is totally awesome: very humble and friendly and ready to learn. We finally had a Book of Mormon to give to her on Sunday, so now I expect she'll really take off.

Hani ended up going back to her kampung this last week, but will return this coming week.

I don't remember if I told you about Mary last week. Last Saturday night, we got stuck with nothing to do. We had an appointment to meet with a less active, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we lost our transportation, so we had to cancel it. It was about 7:00 at night. That's the absolute worst time for contacting, because everybody just got home from work and is busy eating dinner or doing something else with their family. But we were out of options, in an area that had the absolutely least effective kind of housing: shop blocks. I have never found a single person to teach in that kind of shop block. But of course, I wouldn't be telling you all of that if I couldn't report that we did indeed find a little Indonesian maid by the name of Mary. We invited her to church for the next morning. So 14 hours later, we rode the bus with her to church. Simple as that. We haven't been able to contact her in the last few days, though, and she didn't come to church again.

Well, that's about all for today. I'm doing very well. I'm going to go find some ice cream now. Sorry this email was kind of less than spiritual. I just wrote a couple of days. I suppose I could share a scripture then. I read a couple of days ago 3 Nephi 5:3. "Therefore they did forsake all their sins, and their abominations, and their whoredoms, and did serve God with all diligence day and night." As members of the only true Church on the earth, we are under the obligation to serve Him with all diligence day and night. What a privelege! You and I can spend every moment doing our best to invite others to come to Christ, to reduce the sorrow that is in the world, to make the world a better place. I know I'm not to that stage, where I'm serving with all diligence day and night. But I know how I'm moving to that direction. It's the little things. It's reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day. It's paying attention to those around me to know concerning their needs, then trying to help them however I can. We can all do the same.

Sincerely,
Elder Muffler