Letter #101 - Week of 6 Jan 2010 - Fun week

Hello,

This was a very fun week overall.

Last Thursday, we had the AP's over for exchanges. I really pity them. They spend at least half of their time travelling. They rolled into Penang at 2:00 AM on Thursday. We had a fun day after that. After reporting, we had lunch with Maem, who just loved seeing Elder Stone again. Then we went over to Butterworth to check out a site for a new chapel. They are considering buying the 7th floor of an office building. It is in a perfect location, right next to the bus terminal and ferry. That bus terminal will get you not only anywhere in Butterworth, but also anywhere in West Malaysia, or Thailand. The only drawback is that the ceilings are kind of low. But it is built for Asians, so it should be fine.

After that, Elder Stone and I went to teach Pei Lin. She was even happier to see Elder Stone than Maem was. After talking to her about the struggles she has had with choosing to believe in God, and finding something that will give her purpose in life, she decided definitely she wants to be baptized. So she will be baptized on the coming Sunday after church. She is really excited for it. She's been investigating for about 6 months and knows this is the only thing that will bring her happiness. It's been awesome to see her recognize that and make a final decision.

After that, we didn't have time for much else, because Elder Stone's tire exploded. I don't know how else to describe it. I heard a noise like a gunshot, and he couldn't go any further. That put us in a really bad spot, because we were probably a 30 minute bike ride from home, and there was a traffic jam all the way from there to the place we were (we were really close to the Penang bridge. Fortunately, the Japanese family who lives above us offered to help. We called to tell them we would be late, but they insisted that they could bring their car, throw the bikes in the back, and bring us home. Brother Imai found a nice way around the traffic and got us home quickly. And then they gave us cheesecake. That family is such an awesome example of what I want my family to be. They are just 100 % awesome. As I was sitting in their home on Sunday night, I was again really impressed. Brother Imai was sitting to my right, with eyelids drooping from a long day of going to church and being a clerk and coming home and being a father. The baby in his arms, 10 months old, was anything but tired. He was having the time of his life. In front of me was Tina, their Cambodian maid. Behind her are pictures and crafts the younger children made at school recently. As I have thought about it, I think anyone who regularly spent time in that home couldn't help but join the church. Anyone would want the feeling in the Imai home in their own. We found out last week that they have early morning scripture study and prayer with all 6 of those enthusiastic children. I don't think they had to tell us. Something about being around them: you know already.

Oh, and then for New Year's Eve: Elder Stone had forgot his bag on the bus, and the only way to get it back was to wait for it to come back to Penang at 2 in the morning. So, since they had to stay up anyway, they invited us to join us for a bit. I told Elder Troxel I would get ice cream and we could have big sundaes with all the candy from Christmas, but I didn't get the chance with the craziness with the tire. But we did have instant pudding. So I made pudding, and we stayed up until midnight talking about what'll be happening next New Years. Crazy. Really kind of sad. We thought about going down to a big New Years celebration they had in town. They were trying to break the world record in most people doing a line dance. You know I'd be all over that.

We'll be going fishing today.

Can you start asking around to see if anyone has a job for me for the few months I'll be at home? I looked on the internet. I'll start school the last week of April.

Elder Shipp's health still has not improved. Spending all that time at home cleaning and resting, it has given me the chance to think more about my mission and what will happen when it ends. Yesterday, I thought a lot about what I want to do for a career. I guess I'm not so set on being a doctor like I used to be. I'm definitely geared toward biology and the medical field. But I guess I might be just as happy as a research scientist or a college professor as a doctor. But the nice thing is, I can do any of those things with the same degree, and I will be able to learn what I really want to do as I take the classes for my degree.

Love,
Elder Muffler