Comings and Goings

Mom, 

     Yea, it was sad to see Lezter go, but we found a really good investigator this week—she is the new wife of a member. When we first met with her, she was very skeptical and just wanted to argue with us.  She brought up the argument that "the Catholic church is the oldest living Christian church; so, therefore the Catholic church is true!" You can only imagine how fast I destroyed that argument. She did actually have an understanding that the LDS Church professes to be the same church that Christ led from the time of Adam and Eve.  But, she still was kinda skeptical, until on Sunday we showed her the Restoration video and she cried!! BOOM, she is getting baptized on Christmas. That movie is a lifesaver!

     Our area is doing very, very well. Now, I just have to figure out how to help the other areas in the zone do well. The problem is that we don't always have enough work to keep all the missionaries busy.  Every branch in the whole mission has two companionships, even though some of the branches have very small areas. In those small branches there isn't a lot of work for two elders to do, so imagine what it is like when they have four elders. Neither of them have work!! That makes for some discouraged missionaries, but we are trying to motivate them.

     The mission is taking its toll on me; hopefully, I’ll get my second wind soon. But, lately my body just aches and hurts all the time. I am almost always sick, but I just gotta keep pushing through. I remember Kameron Kavanaugh telling me that for the last six months of his mission, he was the same way. He gradually got more and more tired until the day he left. When he got home, he basically slept for three solid days!!!

     OH, I almost forgot! There is this Indian place right by our house that sells Roti Susu.  Roti Susu is the flat bread I was telling you about. 

Roti Susu

Susu means milk, so it’s this flat bread with sweetened condensed milk in it.....it is AMAZING. On Saturday, we ate there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have been there so much that we became friends with one of the workers and now we have a return appointment to teach him at his house!! Haha! I have another funny story, but it is kinda gross. We were in a village the other day and as we were talking to this member outside of her house, we saw a 13 or 14-year-old kid run by us.  He looked like he was hobbling and like he was in a lot of pain. In Malay, the member yelled, "Idiot boy, stop running! Later it will be swollen!" Then she looked at us and said a word that I have never heard before and I like to think that my Malay is pretty good. It wasn't until I asked my native companion on the way home what that word meant.  He started laughing and said, "It means 'circumcised'!"

     I hope Kristen is still doing okay and I’ll keep praying for Chris. When you send me my package, can you send a BUNCH of Christmas cards? Like 50, for real. . .the Branch would LOVE it. They love seeing pictures of the white families and they would keep it forever.

     Okay, I love ya mom and thanks for everything!!

Elder Madsen

Mom

     It’s crazy how fast time is going!  All the sisters in my MTC group gave their "dying" testimonies at our zone conference. (It is their last conference before they go home, so this is their last time to bear their testimony at a zone conference.) I have a zone conference in February and then one more in May and then, BOOM, I am home!

     Lezter is doing well! He stopped smoking and we plan to baptize him on Saturday. We are wayy pumped about that!

     DANG, the Independence Mission there is getting huge. There is talk of a mission split here. We now have 150+ missionaries, but when I first got here we only had 88 missionaries—it’s doubled!! Haha MOM—you can’t remember where I am???  I have been in Kuching for almost 5 months now!! Come on!! Here is a run down of the places I have served:

1.  Melaka (West Malaysia) - 5 months

2. Miri (Sarawak, East Malaysia) - 3 months

                                                

3. Sibu (Sarawak, East Malaysia) – 6 weeks 

                                             

4. Sentosa, Kuching (Sarawak, East Malaysia) - 6 weeks

5. Batu Kawa, Kuching (Sarawak, East Malaysia) - 3 months

     I have served almost my entire mission in Sarawak, which is the poorest area in Malaysia and has all of the tribes like the Ibans.

     All the Elders like to compare themselves to see whose Malay is better. My Malay is one of the best in my group, BUT they call it “trash” Malay because I learned to speak Malay from the Ibans who speak “dirty” Malay. The Ibans don’t pronounce or conjugate verbs; therefore, I have yet to serve in Sabah where all of the tourists go. (Sabah has really nice beaches!) In Sabah, Malay is their first language so it’s nice, pure Malay--not the dirty Malay that the tribes speak. But, I really do love Sarawak and never want to leave!

I love you mom and thanks for everything!

Elder Madsen

MOM!!

    I am feeling a lot better; the Chinese coals helped a lot!! I don’t think I can ever eat KFC ever again, which is kind of a bummer because KFC is the most popular restaurant in all of Malaysia! Lezter was telling me that even in his kampong, which is in the middle of the jungle, they have a KFC!! I have never been to a place that didn’t have KFC. But, yea I am happy that I am feeling better.

     This week was the famous Indian holiday Deepavali and since my companion is Indian, I of course was forced to celebrate. Yea, I got a lot of weird looks walking around in a huge Indian white gown and speaking Tamil to my companion. 

     L is doing wayy good. He gave his testimony in church and literally people were cracking up. He talked about how his girl friend took him to church and told him that this is the actual Church of Jesus, and L said, “Well of course I believed her--it has His name on the building!” But, his girl friend has moved out of his house and he is only smoking half a stick a day, so we are still working hard with him. Yea, keep praying for him. On Sunday, I had the biggest headache ever and I wanted to drink water and eat so bad, but I thought this is probably how L feels when he doesn’t smoke, so I am going to endure for him!!

     It is way true about that talk you told me about. The one thing that I have learned on my mission is how to deal with trials. This new Chindian (half Indian and half Chinese) sister missionary, who is from KL, asked for a blessing because she was stressed.  As I gave her a blessing, I felt impressed to say that this mission is meant to test you in every aspect so that you can become who God knows you can be. A great talk is the one by Elder Christofferson about the currant bush! Have you heard that one?? He related the story that Hugh B Brown told about how he had to cut down his currant bush so that it would grow back and bear fruit. He said as he cut down the bush he saw a tear come from it and felt like the bush was saying, "How could you do this to me, I was so big and tall--now all the trees will laugh at me. I thought you loved me.”  The Gardner said, "I do love you and I know what I want you to be." A while later the bush grew back to be a huge current bush that was full of fruit. Elder Brown then related the story of his currant bush to a time when he was in the British Canadian army. Elder Brown said he was denied a promotion to a General because he was LDS. Elder Brown said that he went home, threw his hat down, shook his fist at God, and said, "How could you do this to me, I thought you loved me!!" And then he heard a voice say, "I do love you and I know what I want you to be!" God has a plan for all of us and He knows what he wants us to be!!

     Your story about the kids in Primary made me laugh. The adults who teach the kids here just cane the students when they are bad. The District President’s wife has bigger biceps than me and she is also an English teacher. One time this Chinese girl called her a bad word in Chinese and the President’s wife literally beat her up!

    

     I have been with the Ibans for almost a year now! I do have some side-effects though, for instance on the side of my feet I have these HUGE knobs. Apparently they come from sitting cross-legged with out any shoes on.  And, my fingers are stained from eating curry with my hands.

     I talked with Elder Petersen who just went home. He said he is better now, but for the first couple days he was in culture shock. It will be sooo wierd coming home, like sooo weird. Here when you have visitors in your house, you all sit in a circle on the ground cross-legged (you don’t show people the bottom of your feet) and the host MUST bring out some kind of drink and cracker. They MUST feed you, even if they are dirt poor. If they don’t have anything in the house, they will go to the river and get you water. I think that the hardest thing for me to overcome when I get home will be to not eat with my hands!! It is sooo much better that way!! Trust me!!

    But I love you mom!! Hope all is well!

Elder Madsen