Letter #73 - Week of 24 June 2009 - Very Slow Week

Hello,

Well, this last week was very slow. We didn't get out of the house much. On Saturday, Elder Hall had an appointment with the doctor, who told him he was healing well but needed to continue to take things easy. for a while. I'll admit, I've struggled a lot over the past week. You would think it would be nice to have a little time to get physically rested. You would think you would be itching to get back out to work even harder. The opposite is true. But I know this is a test every bit as much as any other missionary work would be. I've just got to continue to work hard and use time the best I can figure out how to.

Cathleene is absolutely loving life right now. She's taking to the gospel amazingly. She's been following the word of wisdom ever since we mentioned it. She prays and studies the scriptures and loves it. She is looking for ways to get her daughters interested in the church right now, and will be trying to hold family scripture study and prayer every day. Actually, her oldest daughter has been reading from the Book of Mormon (at first she tried to do it secretly, but Cathleene noticed the bookmark kept going missing). The other two daughters are Hindu, but have been warming up to Christianity lately, and might be interested in coming to church. I sure hope so. The branch structure is amazing here, especially the youth, so they would really feel comfortable.

The members have continued to show their kindness toward us, in unprecedented ways. Sister Loh has been calling at least 3 times a day to give Elder Hall tips on recovering from surgery that she learns throughout the day. She has also bought a couple cans of meal replacement drink powder, as well as some chinese herbal fish oil to drink. Sister Chris arranged on Monday for someone to bring us lunch and dinner every day this week. They are so wonderful.

I don't know if I ever told you about Isaac, so here goes. One day during the week we were having all the trouble with the bikes, Elder Hall got a flat tire in a residential section of the city, where we weren't sure where we could get it fixed. We found our way to a phone and were in the process of calling Elder and Sister Spanos, when someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me not to worry about it. He introduced himself as Isaac, someone who had learned from the Elders in the past and had helped them a lot. He said he was driving down the road, saw a couple of bikes abandoned, knew it was the Elders and knew that we had some sort of problem. He started searching for us, and luckily found us very quickly. Then he helped us get to a bike shop, gave us phone number, and sent us away.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. We taught him once or twice (and also wasted a few hours waiting to teach him when he didn't come once or twice), and were pretty much done teaching him, considering he was interested in moving to nearby Butterworth for a job as an engineer with Honda. Anyway, he came to sacrament meeting the day we were in the hospital, and came for a couple more lessons here at the church. He wants to be baptized, and has seen the blessings of following what we say. He described a really peaceful feeling he felt in the church that he has never felt in any other place. Isaac also said that a job offer he has fasted and prayed for has finally come through. He's not sure which job to take. He still has the Honda offer in Butterworth, but now he also has the chance to work in the immigration office here in Ipoh. We didn't give him advice on the matter, told him to pray and choose himself, but I know I could use a friend in the immigration office.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #72 - Week of 17 June 2009 - Emergency Surgery

Hello,

Well, definitely the most significant event of the week for us happened on Saturday. On Thursday and Friday, Elder Hall had some bloating and discomfort during the afternoons. Being in a tropical environment, and drinking and eating from the places we do, I'm really shocked that doesn't happen a lot more often. Anyway, finally on Saturday afternoon, we didn't have a single appointment scheduled all the way until the night, so I figured that was a convenient time to go see the doctor so we could get the antibiotics and worm pills and get on with things. We've got this super nice specialist hospital right next to our house. It's got a small hospital, as well as lots of clinics with the specialist doctors. The gastrointestinal guy wasn't in, so they told us to go down to the ER to have them look at us. After a wait, Elder Hall went in and came out very quickly. The doctor wanted a specialist to come down and see him. 30 minutes later, he got called back in. After about 5 minutes, he came out smiling. I asked what the problem was, and he said "Appendix. They're admitting me for surgery tonight." The nurse asked us how much time we wanted before the surgery. I was more than a little surprised. I thought it through, and asked for 2 hours. Thankfully, due to lots of Elders in this area being sick in the past, the mission already had a letter addressed to the hospital guaranteeing payment for things like that, so all we had to do was hand them a letter, give them my information, and then we could go home and inform the mission president and Elder and Sister Spanos. The Spanos's also had a miraculously rare day free of appointments, so they could come and wait with me during the surgery. Elder Hall asked me to give him a blessing before his surgery, which I did. Then we went back to the hospital. Before the surgery, I kept singing a line from a hymn "Repent and be baptized, and have your sins remitted." I wanted to get it stuck in Elder Hall's head, so that when he was under the influence of the anesthetic and other drugs, that would be the first line out of his mouth to the doctors and nurses.

After I got some good pictures of Elder Hall in his hospital gown and cap, they whisked him away for his surgery. It was during the surgery that I found out from President Skelton I needed to stay in the hospital room that night if at all possible. I kind of anticipated that, but didn't really expect it.

Elder Hall's surgery was quick. By the time we saw him again, he was already awake, although still under the influence, so to speak. He wasn't preaching to the nurses, though. I got to see his appendix. Beautiful. The doctor said he has an extra long appendix, about 6 inches (the average is 3), and that rather than being in the normal place on the side, it was in the front, right under the abs. After that, it was a long, long night. They brought me a lawn chair and blanket, but I was up most of the night with Elder Hall. We obviously didn't get the chance to go to church on Sunday. An investigator named Isaac came to visit us after sacrament meeting was finished with us. Also, a member named Sister Mae, who stays in the U.S. but visits here a couple months every year, came. She brought us dove dark chocolate and a couple of big mangoes. Elder Hall still didn't want much to eat, but it was very nice of her. Later, after sunday school and priesthood were finished, we had probably 15 members and invesigators come. A recent convert young man blessed the sacrament for us. Sister Loh was also there. We had joked before the surgery happened that Sister Loh would come, that she would scold Elder Hall for waiting so long and not coming to the hospital sooner and for somehow causing his appendix to be infected or extra big. We also speculated that she would bring Suguna and tell us to teach her while she went and did something. And, well, that's almost exactly how it went down. Of course, Elder Hall was in no condition to teach, so I shared a scripture and finished with that.

It was really a nice experience to have the sacrament brought to us. All too often, I take the sacrament for granted. I forget that taking the sacrament is the renewal of a covenant, every bit as significant (and perhaps even a bit more) as the baptism ordinance. As it was, though, it was wonderful to be able to take my thoughts out of that beige space of boredom to something higher. I know that, as the prophets have taught, seriously taking the sacrament allows us to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost more fully. I was reading this week in the New Testament Institute Student Manual, where it was pointed out that the reason for this is that the Holy Ghost is a God, no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, and so when action is taken to make us more clean, we can be sure to feel the Holy Ghost more.

It was fun to be able to talk to the Malay nurses. We don't get the chance to talk to actual Malays much. I really liked the older lady from the cafeteria, who instead of using the word "I", used the word Auntie. She said "Auntie doesn't like eating spicy food." Because there are a couple of handsome white guys, that spoke malay, we drew a lot of attention among the staff. One of the girls asked when our free day was and asked if we wanted to go somewhere with her. Ai-yo.

Elder Hall's recovery has been a lot slower than I expected it to be. We really have to take it easy. He can still barely walk around. After all, he did have a hole cut in his abdominal muscles, and those muscles are used for almost any sort of movement. Poor guy. On top of that, he had diarrhea yesterday and says he has a sore throat today. He won't be able to ride a bike for a month. President Skelton told him to just take it easy. So we'll be out of commission for a while. Yesterday, we did make it to the church and taught a couple of investigators there. It was really hard on Elder Hall to go downstairs to the car, so that is about all we'll be able to do for a while.

The members have been very kind during this whole ordeal. They have called and visited frequently. Sister Chris has brought a ton of food. On Monday morning, I had a choice that really makes me think my tastes have changed. I had the option of Sister Spanos bringing me cereal and fruit and such, or Sister Chris would bring me McDonalds breakfast or breakfast from any restaurant. Without hesitation, I asked for pau, steamed Chinese buns. She thought that was really funny, but she already knew I love pau, and so that's what she got me. I enjoyed them thoroughly.
I have been gaining plenty of weight lately. When Elder Perrot came last week, he pointed out that he could see it in my face. I'm getting a double chin. I can either decide to start eating less, eat what the members give and be unhappy about it, or eat what the members give and be grateful for it. I'll choose the latter. Eat, drink, and be merry, and worry about it later.

Sister Cathleene is doing fantastic. As a side note on Friday, after we had taught our lesson, Elder Hall felt impressed to mention the word of wisdom. She said she knew smoking was wrong and fully intended to quit, but didn't feel anything but surprise about coffee and tea. When she came to the church to be taught last night, she said she has completely stopped drinking coffee and tea. She came to church on sunday, and is doing just as awesome as ever. I think she'll be ready for baptism very soon.

I remember when I first got to the mission, the Elders who we were staying with would always imitate the voices of members, of other missionaries, of people that sold them things or worked at restaurants, of people they had only met once. I noticed they were just really good at imitating other people's way of talking. I thought that was their being naturally talented, but I've noticed lately I've been developing the skill as well. I think I do a pretty good impression of the Indian nurse pretty well. I've been cooking for Elder Hall and making him vitamin fortified hot chocolate (there is an inspired Australian brand of hot chocolate called Milo. It's pretty much the most amazing drink ever).

For the time that Elder Hall isn't on a bike (after he can walk again), we'll probably rely on the Spanos's, the members, and taxi's. I'm glad this mission is relatively liberal on expenses. When it comes between taking a taxi to go teach somebody about the most important thing they'll ever hear, or saving the few dollars it would take, we pay the few dollars, which the mission readily reimburses.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #71 - Week of 10 June 2009 - Interesting Referrals

This was a very eventful week.

Sunday night, we contacted two very interesting referrals. Since I have been here, we have been regularly visiting an older Indian member named Sister Margeret. This past week, when we stopped by to say hello and share a scripture, a friend of hers was in front of the house, taking flowers from her tree which she intended to use later at the Hindu temple. She was in a hurry, but agreed to meeting us later and learning about Jesus Christ. She gave the number of her husband and set a time to meet. Well, when the appointment rolled around, she was nowhere to be found, but the husband Elan did end up coming. After exchanging the usual introductions, he told us why he had come, what he was looking for in what we offer. He is employed as a truck/bus driver, and about 2 years ago, he got caught up in an incident where he ended up being convicted guilty of harboring illegal immigrants. He claims he is innocent, and it has caused him and his family a lot of anguish. He still has his last appeal pending later this month, to reverse the punishment of 8 months in prison. In addition to that, his 5 year old daughter recently caught a fever which they suspect is dengue. After offering the message we offer all people on Sunday, we returned to give the daughter a blessing on Monday. After blessing her, the father requested a blessing of healing for the other children as well, as well as a blessing of comfort for himself. Then Sister Margret wanted one. That was excellent.

Later on Sunday night, we met a man who, as it turns out, is a doctor, a general practicioner working near KL who was educated in the Ukraine and is fluent in Russian. He is very nice, and surprisingly humble and open.

I think I mentioned Cathleene last week. We went back on Friday to teach her again. She said she had read a chapter from the Book of Mormon but didn't understand it at all. So we read together with her. We taught her again on Monday, and it was so different. She said she prayed about the Book of Mormon, and knew that it was true, and from the time she started praying about the Book of Mormon, she understands the words she reads perfectly. She read several chapters, and was obviously happy at the prospect of baptism into the true Church of Jesus Christ.

That's great about Brady going to Peru. All I really know about Peru is from my biology teacher at BYU. He went on his mission to Peru and is doing all sorts of research about this grain that grows well in Peru called Quinoa or something like that. I don't think a day went by that he didn't mention quinoa. He also told about a really cool town in Peru, which is one of the dryest places on earth. There are these plants there that look like rocks but have roots that strech like 40 feet to the nearest underground river. I don't know why you or Brady would want to know about that, but it sure felt good to tell.

After we finish emailing, the branch will have a big potluck lunch in tribute of Elder Perrett, who is finishing his mission but got to stop by Ipoh one last time, and also Melvin Kumar, who is leaving for the MTC (and then back to the Singapore mission) on Friday.

Ben's face looks so different.. He's grown up a lot.

Satan has had much more fun with the bicycles, and not just with the tubes. It pretty much robbed the rest of our last p-day, as well as a few hours yesterday.

Things are well here.

Love,
Elder Muffler

Letter #70 - Week of 3 June 2009 - Bicycle Air Tubes must be under the domain of Satan

Hello,

From different parts of the scriptures we learn that there are some places or objects associated with God, and others with the devil. Surely we all know temples and churches are associated with God. Perhaps less commonly known is that the waters are under the power of the devil in these latter-days. (D&C 61). The sign of the dove signifies God, the serpent signifies the devil. Well, I've come to realize there are significant extra-scriptural applications to this idea. Experience has taught me that mutton curry, air conditioning, and haggar brand slacks must have divine influence in them. Street dogs, fax machines, and bicycle air tubes must be under the domain of the other guy. I have learned much about bicycle air tubes during the last week. Those watching us most carefully during the past week might think Elder Hall and I really enjoy taking time out of our day to pull over to the side of the road, flip over the bikes, and spend time slowly figuring out how to change the tube of air. It has happened 4 times. You would be proud. I fixed my own today (granted, Elder Hall helped significantly, and if it hadn't been so obviously difficult I would have rode off once with the chain disconnected and another time without brakes).

Suguna is better than ever. "The show of [her] countenance doth witness against [her]" The woman that used to give us blank, emotionless stares now smiles so easily and often when we are together. She still hasn't drinken alcohol for the past week and a half. The one problem she continues to struggle with is a widespread herbal hallucinagen called beetle leaf. She has gone down from eating it 30 times a day to just 3. Yesterday, when we were teaching her, her youngest daughter woke up crying. Strange as it may sound, it marked a very significant change to see Suguna welcome that daughter with a hug and set her on her lap. Suguna has also introduced one of her nieces to us. Angely is a 10 year old girl who lost her parents and lives together with her grandmother and other relatives. The grandmother asked that Suguna bring Angely to church along with Suguna's son of the same age, Michael. Hopefully, they'll both be ready by the date we have chosen, the 27th of this month.

Elder Hall and I have been really working well together. His enthusiasm is inspiring. I now realize that so many times I have written off some efforts as being naive, when I should have realized that I simply lacked faith. For example, on Sunday, Elder Hall and I were getting ready to go home after an appointment fell through. We've both made a concerted effort to not travel anywhere to quickly, to stop and share the Gospel along the way as much as we can. Elder Hall stopped and talked to a little Indian kid I thought couldn't be more than 10. He immediately asked if we could come by some other day. I told Elder Hall I thought it would be foolish to set a return appointment with a 10 year old without any sort of parental involvement. So he proceeded to ask for the father's phone number. As it turned out, I have met Julian (that boy's father) before. Elder Shipp and I ate in his restaurant. We set a return appointment, which Julian and his wife (who are both Methodists) were well prepared for and it was a good lesson all around.

We're babysitting a Mandarin-speaking Elder who is from another area in our zone. His companion went to Singapore for a visa run, and because there is no couple or other missionaries where he is serving, he gets to come with us for a couple of days. His name is Elder Robison. He is a lot of fun, plus really useful with the Chinese people.

Yesterday, we had the funniest prayer experience I have had yet on my mission. It's the only time I've ever not been able to hold in laughter during a prayer. We were riding around contacting people who were outside of their homes, when we started talking to an old Chinese lady who lives alone and was so anxious for company. After she gave us cold juice and it became clear she didn't want to learn about Jesus Christ or the church, we got ready to go, and suggested we could have a prayer. Elder Hall offered the prayer, which was something like this "Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the kindness of this woman to us. Please bless her and all of her family with health and prosperity" I DON'T HAVE A FAMILY!, she said in a way none of us could have missed the meaning. Right in the middle of the prayer. It still makes me chuckle thinking about it.

Let's see, what else. Time is flying here in Ipoh. 6 weeks already.

Love,
Elder Muffler