Miri, Sawarak, Malaysia

Mom!

Traditional Iban Family
 Umm, anyone lose their head?

     I made it to Miri!  I left Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and flew across the ocean to Miri which is on a different island.  It was basically a two and a half hour flight before we landed in a really small airport.  This area is amazing and there is soo much potential.  The Ibans are very kind and entertaining.  They all build their houses (longhouses) over the river.  The Iban people are really small. They are about five feet tall and weigh 100 pounds, so they don't build the floors in their houses to be very sturdy.  When I go to their huts, I have to crawl or squat to get around. I feel like a giant! My companion is a pretty big guy, so we are always scared that every step he takes will be his last.  One of these days my companion, along with the rest of us, will end up falling into the river.  Luckily it hasn't happened yet! 

     I ate duck tongue this week--it actually wasn't that terrible.  It was just really, really salty.  I am pretty pumped because one of the members here catches Biawak (the land crocodiles) and he told us that the next time he catches one he will call us and we can have a feast.  So soon I'll get to eat my first Biawak.

     I gave my first talk in Malay the other day, it was pretty scary.  When the branch president first ask me to talk, he told me to give just a small message.  Then on the way to church, I got a text that said, "boleh 10 minute?"  I freaked!  I can give a talk in Malay if I write it down and practice all the vocabulary, but I can't give a talk right off the top of my head.  When I got up in church, I just rambled on for like five minutes and then sat down.  I must have done okay because if my Malay was bad, all the locals would have laughed at me and no one did--so that is a good sign! 

     I have really been studing my Malay and my Iban really hard.  We are still waiting for the Book of Mormon to come out in Malay.  Right now, all we have is an Indonesian Book of Mormon which is pretty dang close, but I don't like to read it because then I will use Indonesian words and all the locals will laugh.  I was thinking the other day that I can pretty much fluently speak Malay and Indonesian.  I'm working on my Iban and I know three words in Chinese and Tamil.  So I now know six languages and none of them are useful except "Gong Xi Fa Chi" which means "give me money" in Chinese.  Everyone says it during Chinese New Year and because we are white and can say "Gong Xi Fa Chi", everyone laughs at us and gives us money! 

     Love you mom!!

Elder Madsen