Big Feet and Ants

MOM

     No way—I can’t believe all the snow that Kansas City has been getting!! They cancelled church!  I am so jealous! I forgot how it feels to be cold! Haha, the stair car!  (I wrote Elder Madsen that while on a recent trip to Phoenix, every time I saw an airport stair car I thought of him.  It’s reminiscent of our days watching Arrested Development on Netflix – Martha.) Whenever I have to ride my bike long distances, I day dream about random episodes from Netflix and I just crack up--but, before I know it , BOOM, I'm there, so it keeps me entertained. 

     This week was we had Elder Gong of the Seventy come and talk to us along with Elder Subandriyo, the Area Seventy from Indonesia.  Elder Subandriyo is amazing!  He can speak Malay, so he talked to us in Malay and taught us different sayings that were very funny. Elder Gong trained us on how to teach the Atonement.  It was really, really powerful!  When he walks into the room, you know that there is something special about him. We had Q&A time with him and someone asked him what it meant to be a special witness of Christ.  Elder Gong said that being a “special witness” means knowing for a "surety" that Christ lives and that as special witnesses of Christ, the Apostles can testify of Him to all nations and tongues. Then Elder Gong said that there are "experiences too sacred to speak."  COME ON, we all know what that means and that is so awesome! 

     Transfers are coming up this week and GUESS WHAT?....I am now a Trainer/District Leader! I am going to fly to Singapore this week to pick up my greenie.  I am pretty nervous because my Malay is not up to par, but I’m sure I’ll be fine.  Speaking of going to Singapore, can I have some extra money?  Last time I was in Singapore, I found a place that guarantees that they have the cheapest stuff in Singapore.  If you find a product of theirs that is cheaper anywhere else, you can bring in the receipt and they will refund your money!  This place has all sorts of American brands...like pop tarts, mouth wash, etc!  I fly to Singapore either Tuesday or Wednesday, so it you could add money to my account, I can pick up some things while I am there! 

     I always laugh at myself for how much of a bum I have become. For instance, one of the senior couples saw me eating a fresh picked fruit, but there were ants all over it. (There are over 1000 species of ants here and every fruit is covered with them).  So, of course, I just brush the ants off and eat the fruit.  I thought that the senior couple was going to have a heart attack!   I also found out this week that my feet are too big to be Malaysian.  We went bowling with the Elders quorum the other night and when I told the shoe rental guy that I needed a 10 1/2 shoe, he informed me that they didn’t carry shoes that big. They only carry shoes up to a size 10!  They looked at me like I was a freak of nature!!  

     That is very cool that you and Chris saw a video about the long houses in Miri.  The Ibans (the native tribal people) love to live in their long houses by the water. I really don’t know why they like to live there because they are super, super scared of alligators. You never tell an Iban that you have eaten alligator meat because the Ibans believe alligators can sense if you have eaten their friends and they will find you and kill you! 

     Megan didn’t write me this week!! OMG, that means one of two things.  She has either killed herself or she has a boyfriend. Let’s pray for number two!! 

I miss you tonz momma and love you!!
Elder Madsen

A Little Break!!

Mom!

     This week we got a well needed break! We went to Singapore for zone conference and it was amazing!! I ate Hardee's and shhh--don't tell dad--but I bought a Monster drink just for old times sake. (Don't worry Elder, your secret is safe with me! - Martha)  But don't worry mom, I totally am not addicted.  That was my first Monster drink in like. . .awhile.  Zone Conference was really great!  I loved seeing all my friends. My companion gave his "dying testimony"-- his last testimony in ZC before going home. He's sooo ready to leave!! 

     We didn't have transfers this week.  I had the dates wrong because transfers are still a week and a half  away.  Since Sabbah (East Malaysia is divided into two parts Sarawak and Sabbah--I am in Sarawak) is having major terrorist problems, they denied entrance to every single white person trying to get back into Sabbah.  So now we can only send local missionaries into Sabbah.  That will probably mean that there will be a lot more transfers coming up in Miri.  

     Even though we kind of had a week off, we were still able to get in a couple of days of good work! One of the member's drains on the outside of his house was clogged.  It was probably clogged due to the twenty yards of dirt blocking his drain!!   So we put on our flip-flops--every Malaysian does work in flip-flops, there is no such thing as work boots--and went to work. We spent two separate weekends with picks destroying the land and then shoveling the dirt into a wheelbarrow.  We then wheelbarrowed the dirt to his neighbor's house who wants to use the dirt for something. Every time that I  wheelbarrowed the dirt over to the neighbor, he would greet me with a coconut in his left hand and a huge machete in his right.  He'd cut off the top of a coconut, give it to me, and say rehat  (rest); so, I would sit there and drink the air kelapa (coconut water).  By the end of the day, I was so sick! I think that I drank and ate like 6 coconuts! But I also realized that day how Malaysian I really am.  I was sitting there covered in mud and dirt, wearing my flip-flops, and drinking a fresh coconut that had just been cut.  I was like "Wow, I am pretty much a local now!" 

     This week, we also taught our part-member family (the husband who is being baptized at the end of the month and has the sons that are in jail).  We taught them about tithing and fast offerings. We told them that when you pay tithing and fast offerings, God will open up the windows of heaven, just like it says in the scriptures. Their youngest son--who is 13, but looks like he is 5--is just hilarious! The next day, we had a meeting with the Branch President and we were discussing the branch goals (baptisms, church attendance, etc).   The youngest son came running in the room, gave the Branch President his tithing, and then ran back outside. I think he took the "open the windows of heaven" a little too literally!  Lets see...oh, and I ate Stingray this week...not bad, not bad at all.


     You're already working on my birthday box?  I can get a lot of stuff over here, but here is my list so far...Insanity, candy (no gum), teeth whiting strips (my teeth are still beautiful, but their tooth paste here is mediocre at best), Cholulu Hot Sauce, popcorn, and a framed picture of the family! That's all that I can think of now!! 

     I miss you guys!!  I miss my bedroom sooo much!! I miss nice comfortable carpet!! The don't have carpet in Malaysia, it's all tile, concrete, or dirt!  I have yet to step foot on carpet!!  Love you momma! It is only like a month and some change left before we get to Skype!!!

Elder Madsen

Trials

Mom,

 

      We traded areas with the Sisters this week and then they turned around and also opened up a new area.  (Last week the Sisters were receiving death threats, so the mission president had Elder Madsen and his companion change areas with the sister missionaries.)  Mom, I have never seen Hell, but I imagine it is a lot like what I have seen this past week. This week has been the most humbling experience of my entire life, not to mention the hardest. The people in this area are less than receptive.  The people are the Ibans that don't live in the villages but have moved to the city into ghetto apartments. All they do every night is burn fires in the streets, practice black magic, get drunk, and then they fight each other. On my very first day in this area, on my very  first step that I took, a car rolled by and a kid spit on me.  All that I caught in Malay was that he said he was going to kill me. For some reason they really, really don't like white people. They spit, yell, cuss, and throw things. I don't want to judge...but they are pretty much the worst people alive. 

 

     We are teaching this one family though, and they are doing really good. His wife and his kids are members, but the husband and his sisters that live with them are not members.  The husband is progressing fast and is getting baptized in 2 weeks.  But, something happened in this family.  The three oldest sons were arrested for murder this week and apparently they are guilty. While we were teaching the husband, his wife stopped us and asked, "Can you receive forgiveness for murder after your baptized?"  We just sat in silence thinking of what to say even though I think we all knew what we were thinking.  We just explained that with cases like this, only God knows the true situation.  The wife just broke down and cried. We got up and hugged her and she just bawled in our shoulders. I thought to myself of how selfish I really am--to think that my life is hard; to think I have trials in my life. No matter what happens out here I'll be able to come home to the best family in the world, live in a house these people have never dreamed of, and move on with my life. These people have trials that I don't think I could ever endure and yet they stay faithful and don't give up hope. I've thought a lot about their situation this past week and it has truly changed my life.  Yesterday as I was just struggling with everything in this new area, I asked one of the Chinese Elders for a blessing.  He told me exactly what I needed to hear even though he didn't even know what was bothering me.  In the blessing, he said that God is giving me these trials to learn patience and that soon he will remove them.  He told me that I am never to forget how much Heavenly Father loves me and how much my family loves me and is praying for me.  He also said that I am never to forget the power of prayer. That blessing really changed my whole outlook on things and I felt a lot better! So even with these crazy people, I just have to keep pushing through and have faith that good things will come of it. Maybe I wasn't sent here to change their lives, but I was sent here so that they could change mine.

 

      I love you tons Mom and I feel all of your prayers!! Don't worry about me, I've got God on my side! 

 

Elder Madsen

Fourth Week in Miri

MOM!

     Don’t worry, Mom, I am feeling a lot better!!  I still felt pretty weak most of this week; but, no joke, Elder Chong--the Chinese missionary who lives with us--gave me some weird Chinese medicine and some cream to rub on my stomach and it totally worked!! By Friday I was back to normal!! On the subject of weird foods, I finally reached my goal...I ate Biawak! Mission complete—I’m coming home! The Biawak was actually pretty good, just kind of tough and it had some bones in it; but, overall it was good!!  I don’t know if I am ready to try the whole fired fish thing again.  Whenever I look at the fish’s eye balls, it brings back memories of being sick! Speaking of food, we found a grocery store that sells American brands!!  The food there is ten times more expensive than other places, but I decided to get some things and make a home cooked meal on Sunday night. You would have been so proud of me mom--I made us a fancy feast! First, I went to the kampungs and bought a chicken that they had just skinned, so it was super fresh.  I also bought some eggs that were just born.  I cooked the chicken breast, whole grain brown noodles, and some fresh vegies.  Then, I made chicken vegie pasta with the American pasta sauce that I bought.  I topped it all off with a fresh glass of goats milk...okay, so the goats milk was one of the top five grossest things that I’ve ever had, but other than that—the meal was amazing! Rick would love the eggs here! When you buy eggs, they put them in a carton for you and when you open the carton, there is still chicken feathers everywhere--haha. I also found Gatorade! It was in a glass bottle from the Philippines, but it was still pretty good. We also made tacos the other night too, so this week’s makan was the best!

     We had to change our area today because the sister missionaries called the mission president and told him that some guy threatened to kill them.  Death threats are the story of our life around here.  Every missionary knows that you don’t take them seriously because 99% of the death threats come from drunk guys that can’t even remember their threat the next morning.   So now the mission president gave the sisters our good area and gave us the crazy death-threat guy to deal with.  But don’t worry mom,  I know how to deal with these death-threat guys.   I am wayyy faster than my companion.  So if someone comes after us with a knife (no one has guns in Malaysia, like NO ONE--totally illegal), I’ll push my companion down and run!  

     We are getting twenty new missionaries next week.  I am really hoping that I’ll get to train my bff, Elder Stahley, from this new group. (He was in my group at the MTC, but he had really bad back problems,so they sent him home to recuperate.)   He was the one who brought us back Firehouse subs when he had to go to doctor appointments while he was in the MTC. That would be so tight if we could be companions!!

     We baptized Fiolyn on Saturday and it went really well. I had to give a talk on the Roh Kudus (Holy Ghost). It went pretty well!! We also taught a big family this week.  My companion is actually a really good teacher. We taught the family about the Plan of Salvation.  My companion told the story of how he and his mom were converted.  He used to be Muslim and the rest of his family was really mad at them for converting, so the Plan of Salvation gives him hope that someday his family will accept the gospel.  The lesson went really well and the family came to church yesterday.  

     I love you mom and hope everything is going great.  Don’t worry about me.   I am still loving life!

Elder Madsen