Machete's and Reunions

hey fam bamily

 

     not to make you feel guilty or anything because i know you probably have a good reason but dad this is the first week on my mission that you did not email me.  wow this is so weird.  seriously it feels like i'm missing something.  it sounds like everything is going really good back home though.  nice oskar you the man!  i can't believe you are 12 and i can't believe you will be passing the sacrament.  crazy.  nice mollie i never did comment but that is so cool that you are on NAL.  it was a blast.  ha ha i remember some kids making fun of me but it's just because they were too dumb to make the team.  ha ha.  i wish i did it before i was in 9th grade.  who is the coach?  well it still sounds like the world is in chaos.  cool.

Two girls from our KK branch 23 & 19 yrs old...short :)

     well this last week was just awesome.  wednesday after p-day me and hawkins left the greenies here and hopped on a plane to kuching sarawak.  i finally made it baby!!  sarawak is like the holy land of our mission.  it is a huge part of the mission.  that is like all christian and they baptize like crazy.  it is where all the tribal people and jungle trekking is.  everyone wants to serve there but if you don't start out there you don't really get in.  it was nice to say i set foot there but to tell you the truth sabah is way better!  we just had a bunch of meetings there all day so i didn't really see the real sarawak.  it was good training.

     we had a really good week of finding new investigators.  we are always so happy when we actually meet up with someone again that we've contacted.  it really is exhilarating to teach someone the gospel.  i don't really want to go in to everyone but i'll let you know if any of them progress past the first appointment.

A few of Jessica's Kids...sooo cute

     we met a lot of crazy people this week.  first was this old chinese lady.  as the four of us walked past her she just stopped looked up at me and in english said "wow long boy!"  ha ha the greenies were laughing so so hard.  next was when we were waiting for a bus.  it was a little later and we were waiting for a rare bus.  a guy in a truck pulled up and offered us a ride.  he seemed a little crazy so i asked him if he was drunk.  he said no in a drunk manner.  ha ha we took the ride.  he was in fact crazy.  but we got home safely and avoided giving him our home address and emails even though he relentlessly asked.  ha ha last was a white guy at the night market.  we were waiting for our ramli burger to cook and he walked up and said hi.  he was possibly taller than me.  he was australian and seemed nice.  actually he asked if we were mormons.  looking back he kept putting us down.  he told us that he was fluent in malay but never spoke it.  in the end i tried to offer him a restoration pamphlet but he said "no i can't accept any literature i'm a jehovah's witness"  that explains it.  he was weird.  i wish we had more time to talk with him so i could really test his malay and see what he believed doctrinally because i just don't know.  we met those three crazy people all in one day.  ha ha weird.

Sunset over Sandakan

     alright last but certainly not least....i went back to sandakan!!!!!!  yeah baby!  oh man it was so awesome.  so nostalgic.  we went there for exchanges and it was a blast.  we just got back.  the ride to and from was terrible.  we took a six hour bus ride each way on a winding, winding one lane road.  it's the only road they've got.  i am so trunky for sandakan right now.  the highlights were seeing the chin family, elder chin as well, going to the bistro on the harbor front, seeing jason villaflores,  just staying in the house again, and of course visiting Ning's family.  

Elder Brown at the house we were building in the Jungle

tues morning we helped jason with some hard work.  we went out into the jungle and used machetes to chop down trees so that he could make his house.  then they floated them up a filthy river to the house site.  pretty crazy.  way tiring. 

 

The Ning Family -Ning, Jasli, Tingak, Rinijah, Ronny, Rayne, & Rainah

tuesday night me and elder browne went to the ning's!!  it was so sweet.  they were so funny.  they gave me a few gifts.  jasli is now 12 and has the priesthood.  his voice totally got deeper.  ha ha he is so funny.  i finally beat him in a game that we always played.  they made us so much food and forced us to eat it all.  at first it was good but it was way too much.  the mom tingak is way nicer than ever.  she is so cool.  they are my first converts and the strongest.  everybody but the dad is still really active and now a main part of the small branch.  it just makes me way happy.

     well i love it out here guys.  the mission can get tough but it is so so worth it.  i love teaching the gospel.  i wish more people listened and i wish i was a better teacher but i am so grateful for those that i have met.  i'm telling you spencer, oskar, you've got to serve a mission.  it shouldn't even be a question.  i love you guys so much and i am so so happy that our whole family is active in the church.  that is very rare here but you can see that the few full active families are so happy.  i know that this is God's church and that it really can bring us eternal happiness.  i love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

 

elder petersen