Mom!

     You don't need to worry about violence here.  Sandakan hasn't had too much trouble with the Filipino terrorism; it was mostly in Tawau, which is a little bit farther out than us. However, the police here are always cracking down on illegal Filipinos.  They set up roadblocks at random places and then pull everyone off the bus and check them. If they catch you in the country illegally and you don't pay them 500 RM on the spot, they will just throw you in jail--no questions asked.  Like one guy, who is a RM, was caught by the police. They just took all his money and his belongings and threw him in prison for 8 months.  Then, they just threw him back out on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back. The police also always target this one super ghetto Filipino village (all their houses are like wood shacks).  At like 7 pm, they will cut the power, so that the town is pitch black, and then they will start raiding houses and stores looking for them.  So our area is a little scary, but not for us missionaries--we are fine--just for the members here!!

      The other night my companion and I were walking home and all of the sudden we hear a guy yell in Malay, "Hey, you two--Come here, Come!"  He was half running, half hobbling over to us, so I grabbed my companion and started backing up. I was like, "Wait man, this guy is gonna rob us--be careful!"  So, we kept backing up and yelling at him, asking him what he wanted, but he kept telling us to come here.  Finally, we edged ourselves over close to him and asked him what was wrong and the poor old man was lost!  He was like 80 and was totally out of it!! He told us that he was from KK and he wanted to meet his son.  I asked him where his son lived and he said mile 2, which was a solid 3 second drive from where we were, so I just pointed him in the right direction and said, "Uncle, it is right in front of your face!" but, he just kept saying no. I called Jason and gave the phone to the old guy, but they had basically the same conversation that we just had! So the old guy gave me the phone back and Jason starts yelling at me, "Don't give your phone to random drunk guys on the street!!" But, he really wasn't drunk--he sounded drunk--but he wasn't.  He was just really, really old. SO, finally we got his son's number and called him. We were in mile 2 1/2....his son lived in mile 8!! The old man wasn't even close!! Finally, we got the old man to his son's home; it feels good to help people!!

Love ya mom and miss ya!

Elder Madsen