Food for Thought

hi

     i don't know what to write this week.  it might be short.  that is tragic about the utes.  oh well. life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone...ahem sorry.  a puppy!? i always wanted a puppy. i see how it is.  tell grandma i say hello and wish her well.  how cold is it?  man it is so hot here.  i am sitting inside and my back is just all sweaty.  it never changes here.  ha ha its either hot, or hot with rain.  i miss the good ol fast and testimony meetings.  i thought the stowers were moving a long time ago?  did you tell elder cherrington about me?  i wish i could meet him.  he sounds really nice. a volcano in indonesia huh?  we are still untouched in malaysia.  always safe. 

     well i got transferred... ha no just kidding.  i'm still in sandakan.  don't worry i'll be here a while.  i think that i will probably just be here for the full 2 years.  but seriously.  i really like it here but its time for a change.  i want to leave.  i like the people and the language is really good here. but you can only handle the same annoying branch members for so long.  i need something new.  a few people will be transferred next week but the next big transfer is in december.  i'll let you know if anything every happens.

     so the news of the week is that we had another baptism!  whooa baby! rock on sandakan.

Junatan, Elder Garret, Jessica, Mary Jean, Ling Ling,Trevor

Jessica's family was baptized.  three people got baptized.  jessica, her 11 year old daughter mary jean and an 8 year old Ling Ling.  she has four other kids that are younger than eight and are all awesome.  she also has a 12 year old but he hasn't really come to church yet. and the husband is in the works.  the goal is that the 12 year old son and the husband get baptized on the same day in a few weeks.  these guys are the cousin referral from a less active family of our branch.  the week before we went to singapore in august there was that one funeral.  i don't know if you remember me telling you about how i helped dedicate that grave.  well the first day elder garrett was in sandakan we met this family for a post funeral traditional thing.  we've been teaching them ever since.  they are really awesome.  they live out on a water kampung(village).  pretty darn poor.  very very smart.  i think i told you about the little girl Ling Ling already.  like 2 months ago she said the closing prayer in one of our meetings.  it was so good and so cute.  oh man it melts your heart.  actually mom, monday we visited them and mary jean prayed specifically that you would be healthy.  it was thoughtful.  the baptism went well.  

Junatan, Jessica, Mary Jean, Ling Ling, Trevor

we had their cousin junatan baptize the mom and i baptized the two girls.  i'll be honest, they love me.  ha ha they are just so funny.  we really like them.  maybe i'll send you a picture.  so that puts the total up to 17 i believe, of people i've baptized.  i've just been so blessed to meet all these people.  we are having another baptism this weekend. oh yeah! rock on sandakan.

     these last few days have been not so good as far as food goes.  it really is more of a burden than anything to eat.  i'm sick of the same thing every day.  i'm sick of rice 2 times a day every day.  i like the food but its just monotonous.  the only thing that keeps me going is the burger stands at night and kfc's cheesy wedges.  every p-day we go and get kfc.  i get the same thing every week.  the zinger combo with strawberry miranda and another large cheesy wedge.  its good.  but like i said, these last few weeks haven't been so good.  we were fed some gross stuff.  it started on sunday.  every sunday we eat at the wielands for lunch and have a meeting.  usually its alright.  its not near as good as mom's food.  she always tries "new" stuff.  this last sunday we had steamed fish and steamed chicken and rice and steamed gross malaysian sweet potato and pumpkin.  and she gave us this nasty drink.  it was berdongdong or something.  i'd never heard of it.  it was a thick drink.  it was just blended and it had all this stringy junk.  i basically had to chew my "fruit juice".  that night we went to visit a recent convert.  they fed us even though we said "no no we're just here to say hello, we already ate".  they fed us rice (of course) with burned lean chicken and hard pork.  ha ha i of course ate it with a smile.  and last, we're fed noodles pretty often.  last night we had them again.  it was nasty.  i never have liked their noodles.  ha ha i can't describe it but its no good.  i seriously want to puke sometimes when i eat the noodles.  i just put on a bunch of chili sauce or drink a lot of juice.  so that's the three experiences in the last three days.  now don't get me wrong, i'm thankful that the wielands cook for us, and i'm thankful that our recent converts give us some of their scanty supply, but its nasty.  ha ha of course i'll keep eating it but its only getting worse.  usually after one of them feeds us we go and find a burger stand.  i'd be a gonner without those romli burgers.

     well sorry but that's about it for this week.  no huge spiritual experiences.  no huge new news.  just same old same old.  i'm still alive. i've had the flu lately but its not so bad.  just a headache and runny nose.  next week we go to singapore for a visa run!  that'll be a nice break. i can't believe i've already been with elder garrett for 3 months.  these last three months flew by.  things are going good here.  i love the work and i love the people.  the language is great.  i'll email you next week from the big city. sampai minggu depan!

elder petersen