merry christmas!
man i don't even know where to begin this email. a lot happened this week. the biggest thing would have to be that on friday morning i got a call from the zone leaders that i was being transferred....to singapore.... i had mixed feelings for sure. i was happy to finally move, i was disappointed to go to singapore where i couldn't speak malay, i was really sad to leave my recent converts, and my future companion was not looking good. shoot.
so friday saturday sunday and monday we went to many people's houses. we went and saw all of my recent converts, we saw most members, we went to a buddhist temple, we ate at all of our favorite places and went to all of our good investigators. so it was pretty busy.
i never thought i would be so emotional for a transfer but i tell you what, it was tough.
the hardest one was to say goodbye to Ning and his family. they were basically like family to me. i met them clear back in june and have been really good friends ever since. almost all of our other baptisms and success have stemmed off of them and their referrals. when i told them i was going it was tough not to cry. i just tried to tell them thanks and how much fun i had with them and how much malay i learned from them and how much they've strengthened the branch. i was really crying. ha ha embarassing. that was on friday. on saturday rayne called. she's the oldest daughter, like 17. she was crying. ha ha she's like why do you have to go and all this stuff. i don't think she ever 'liked me' like had a crush on me but she was dying. then i talked to rinijah, like 10. she was crying. they said there mom was crying too so i talked to her. ha ha they were all crying. i asked if the boys were crying and they said no but they're sad. so they talked me into coming over to their house for one more evening.
sunday was pretty tough too. we, i got up and bore my testimony. all the members make fun of you if you cry so i didn't really cry. but i couldn't look at rayne or rinijah cause i knew it would make me sad. ha ha. dang, well looking back on it i don't know why i was so sad. i can't tell you how much they've helped me and the branch. it just can't be measured. also i've just really really seen their faith grow you know? man being in one area for so long just really kills you. you get too attatched to these people. but i guess that's a good problem to have. on sunday we ate at three different houses. sister doris cooked so good for us. i'll send you a picture. her family was so good to us. on monday we ate dinner at two houses. gotta love the members.
recap of sandakan: i loved it!!!! oh man it's gotta be the best area in the mission. the worst part about it is that there are only two elders so it gets boring and you can't cover so much of the city. it was so fun. me and elder carter worked hard and me and elder garrett reaped the rewards. we had a lot of fun. what a great place to start the mission. really good people, really good malay, really good experiences.
so now i sit in the big city. on tuesday i got to travel all day alone. wow that was sweet. i got to the mission office around 6:30 pm. elder dass met me there. he's my knew comp. his name is pronounced like doss, ryhmes with boss. he was born in KL. he's indian. he lived in england for a while. that's all i know. his malay is of course really good and his english is good and he speaks tamil. anyway i met him at the mission office and we had to go out because we had a dinner appointment. he seemed pretty cool actually. he's pretty nice. he speaks malay a lot so i don't think i'll forget it all. he seems like he works hard. and he doesn't seem to strict on the rules. i could see it going both ways but i'm going to be positive. well our dinner was so good. we cover the expatriate ward. so if any white people live in singapore they go to our ward. its cool. that means we get a lot of dinner appointments. oh yeah! also that means christmas will be good. also this is the best time of year to be in singapore, there are christmas decorations everywhere and right now i'm listening to mariah carey christmas music in the mall. also chinese new year is right around the corner. its huge in singapore. i'm pretty excited. so singapore is looking good. i'm hopeful. i don't want to be here for 7 months but i don't think i'll have a choice. its a far cry from sandakan east malaysia. but i think i'll like it. plus there's like 8 elders here. that's good.
today we went to the singapore zoo. it was a lot of fun. i don't really know my schedule for the next little while. i will let you know next week when i will call you. probably monday the 27th here so that'll be sunday night there. i have to check with elder dass. i hope you are having fun at home. an elder's family came here to pick him up. the skanchy's. they might email you. they went to the zoo with us. it made me miss you guys. ha ha we've had fun at the zoo before like in seattle. anyways i can't wait to talk to you. i hope it snows there..and here. say merry christmas to the ward!
elder petersen
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