Selamat Christmas!

Mom! 

     I’m glad you liked your birthday present.  The lady who made the bracelet said that the beads mean power and beauty so queens mostly wear them.  Since you rule the house with an iron fist,  I think it fits you well!!  I didn’t know if Meg would like the purse I got her for Christmas.  It took me a while to pick it out!  I hope she likes it--this lady made it by hand!

      I loved Skyping the family!  Everyone pretty much seems the same!    Mom, the last words I heard you say when I hung up was, "They better not throw him in jail; I’ll get my passport ready."  I just started cracking up--hahaha. Don't worry mom, the police here have fake guns and I am way faster than they are, so I can out run them!  I probably wouldn’t be able to show my face outside for at least six months though, because I am the only orang putih (white man) in Melaka.

Elder Madsen, Elder Johnson and friend

     The sisters made us a really good Christmas dinner and then after dinner we went to an Indian ladies house.  She made us homemade fried chicken and roti.   It was the second time on my mission that I had to tell my companion to pull over because I thought I was going to throw up. The Indian ladies just kept piling the food on my plate and even though I begged them to stop, they wouldn’t.  I really do miss BBQ so much; there is no such thing in Malaysia. I would kill someone for some ribs or brisket. The closest thing they have in Melaka is chicken feet.

     This past week has been pretty eventful!  Christmas was really fun, of course.   Then on Wednesday, we met a huge Tamil family and we went over to teach them. They were really accepting and it was going really well until a 5 year old boy walked right in front of me, looked me in the eye, and then pooped on the floor right in front of me.  Of course, I instantly started gagging uncontrollably--it just ruined the lesson! But after everything was cleaned up, the family committed to read about the Book of Mormon and pray about it. So we will see how that goes!  On Thursday,  I was in the jungle teaching at the Tamil kampung again and this time those jungle dogs were vicious. I was flying through the jungle on my bike and one dog jumped in front of me and I hit it!  The dog was okay, it just ran away, but then three more dogs came out of nowhere. One jumped on me and bit my leg.  I let out my most intimidating yell and the dogs all ran away, but it was crazy!  The bite didn’t break through to my skin, but for some reason I have a weird rash on my leg.   I hate going through that jungle!!  Those dogs just wait for us and then they pounce!

       Friday was just a plain, rough day... The water at our house was having problems and so my companion went up stairs to try and fix it.   All of the sudden, I heard a scream and what sounded like a waterfall in our house. I sprinted up stairs and found my companion lying spread eagle on the floor with water shooting out of a broken pipe on the wall.  I sprinted and turned the water off, but the damage was already done.  We had to call the plumber to come fix it.  I was already in a bad mood when we left the house; so, I started riding madly into town, hit a speed bump and just totally ate it. I was so mad! AND then to top it all off, that night while we were eating durians at a member’s house, someone stole Elder Johnson’s bike! As soon as we walked outside and I saw that his bike was gone, I got on my bike and rode straight to the Portuguese Settlement.  They are the worst people alive; all they ever do is get drunk and steal stuff.  I knew it was them, so I rode over to the Settlement.  These drunk guys started cussing, throwing stuff at me, and saying stuff about white people and Americans.  They knew that I was there to look for the bike they stole, so they all got pretty confrontational.   It was like the whole Settlement was ready to kill me!!  I decided to just get back on my bike and ride away; however, I did tell them that I was going to call the police, but I know that the cops won’t do anything. I hate to say it, but that bike is gone--long gone. I am just glad they didn’t steal my bike! 

      Besides the water and the bike incident, this week has been really good!   We met a lot of new people and newly baptized Brother Tan is doing really well--so overall, a pretty solid week!!  I love you mom and Happy Birthday!! I will let you know when I get my package from Singapore!! 

Elder Madsen