The Efforts this Week

We went door knocking this week, and it wasn't that effective. Here is how door knocking works in Malaysia. We knock on their gate with our key, and hopefully there gate is make of a certain kind of steel that I can identify easily now, which rings pretty well. Sometimes we have to yell over a barking dog. Most people who answer stay inside the gate, sometimes stay inside the house and just stick their head out the door. Rarely do we have anyone who lets us in. The biggest problem with door knocking is that few people open the door or answer.

Well, something interesting happened this week. Yesterday, as we were in our home doing some studies after church, and our landlord showed up. I have never met him before, but he came unannounced and told us that our two year contract for our house was ending in 4 days, and he was wondering what we were going to do about that. We were unaware of that fact because all of our housing is taken care of through the mission office in Singapore. We called Singapore and they asked us a couple questions, like when we have to move out. We have two weeks to move out. They also told us to go with the Landlord to check out the other houses that he was offering that were available (apparently, unlike the one we are currently living in) Our Landlord has offered us two houses, one of which still has occupants in it. Our Landlord says this is no problem... We have informed Singapore and we will let them decide. There is a good chance that we won't go with either of the houses offered. 

One miracle that we saw this week was that as we were looking for a few Less Actives this week, who haven't been contacted for at least the whole time my companion has been here (7 months), we met with the parents of one who used to live in the house where we visited. We were able to talk about the missionaries who came before with the parents (they hadn't seen missionaries in many years), as well as get an updated phone number, for their daughter who is a member of our church.

I have realized recently, that being grateful helps us to recognize the blessings of God. When we recognize these blessings we are often filled with the spirit, and experience gratitude, peace, and a reassurance that God is a part of our lives. When I feel this reassurance, I am happy.

Sincerely

Elder Allen

Good Week

This week we spent a lot of time contacting, and we talked to a lot of people. We were able to spend some time contacting in pretty good spot for finding Chinese people. It is a big field(park) located in downtown Sibu, in probably the nicest part of the city. We were able to able to capture people's interest through using things that were a bit more captivating. We handed out cards, and let people look at them while we explained them. It went pretty well. 

I am emailing on Tuesday again due to technical difficulties here in Sibu again. I was going to email yesterday, when I was told that the internet was down in Sibu. Therefore, we got permission, and are now able to email today. 

We met with one of our investigators a couple times this week. He is part of the Methodist church here, and he has had many questions about what our church believes. I have found that a great resource for identifying what we believe as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which differs from other churches, is found in the Articles of Faith. These inspired articles identify what the Prophet Joseph Smith revealed from God to help us identify how we can know the truth of the church, through the differences (if you can't identify the differences, it will be hard to distinguish the truth from the other options).

Well, the week was good, and like I said, we talked to many people about the restored gospel. Some were interested and wanted to meet again, and others were not. We were also able to visit a lot of our members. We have a pretty diverse branch here. I am not sure if I mentioned this last week, but we have a couple here in our branch that are from Ukraine, and the only language the speak that other people around here speak is English. There are some language barriers here in this branch, seeing as how we have few members who can speak both Chinese, and English. The other members that we visited this week include one of our members who drives a taxi, another who has been part of the branch for as long has there have been members here in Sibu really. These people are the pioneers of the church here in this part of Malaysia, and some have obviously been prepared to become the leaders of the church here.

Well, that is all that I really have time for... see you next week!

Elder Allen

Miracles That The Lord Provided

...sorry I wasn't on yesterday. We emailed later, but there were some problems (website wide) with the emailing system and so we were not able to. We got permission to email right now...

Hello, the topic for this week comes from the the fact that we saw some small miracles this week although we spent most of our week traveling. We were able to run into someone after a lesson with one of our investigators this week during the little bit of time we had between appointments. He agreed to meet with us, and we have an appointment with him in a couple days. It is cool to see the Lord providing for us, even when we have only a little bit of time in our week. 

We flew to Zone Conference in Singapore on Wednesday, and then flew back to Sibu on Friday. It is always fun to get to see a big group of other missionaries, Zone conference here (and probably everywhere in the world) is full of training (starting on the evening we arrive, and continuing throughout the next day), and interviews, as well as homemade food that can be found no where else for those who live in this area (Mexican food).

Going to Singapore is equivalent to my Companion Elder Tan going home (native Singaporean). It is great serving with someone from Singapore here in Sibu. We get to notice the subtle differences in our English, I get to learn from someone who knows the language well (and this area: he has been here for 6 months), as well as learning from him for how he deals with, and adapts to the culture here. I can't remember if I shared this earlier, but I have actually met Elder Tan's parents- before I met him actually, in Singapore when I served in his ward . I have been inside his house, and eaten with his family. 

There was a thought shared in Zone conference that struck me. In it I learned that sacrifice, and consecration are not the same thing. They are related, but consecration involves us giving up our will to God, and our motivations and desires. This is a quest that I, and we all are on.

Sincerely,

Elder Allen

[Mary's note: I don't think all of his pictures came through.]  Pictures: Singapore, Pics of the District, and then the Zone. P-day activities. We didn't go golfing, we just went to look. Also we went to a cool temple  (supposedly the largest complex in Southeast Asia. A random mother and daughter asked to take a picture with us. ​​​​​​​​​​​

And a few pictures from Facebook of their Zone Conference dinner.

Baptism!

Well there was a baptism, I just wasn't there for it. I will include the pictures from my companion, and the other Elder who was actually here in Sibu right before me. We switched places. Elder Florence, my previous companion, baptized our investigator Sister Catherine last Monday (on her birthday per to her request), and she got confirmed yesterday at Church.

Last week, I had my first exchange with Malay-speaking Elders in a Malay-speaking area (only geographically covering half of my area, but is distinguished rather by the people we search for and talk to) which entailed us visiting a few of their members, and teaching them in Malay. Most of the Iban (Malay speaking members over here) members here don't speak much English, or any English at all. So I just mostly smiled and nodded while they taught a lesson (there were three of us Elders all combined). 

While on the Exchange with the Malay Elders, we went to a park near the center of Sibu to contact and meet one of their investigators. There were thousands of people there (mostly Chinese so that was good for me). The event was the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival (or Moon cake festival if you know it by that). There were lots of lights displays, and a lot of people who were lighting off the "floating lights" or the flying lanterns there. It was really cool.

After contacting a lot this week, the times where we found success where in our unplanned opportunities to talk to people about the gospel. We talked to one girl who was here for about a week and a half, and then heading to Singapore where she studies. We were able to meet with her before she left, and will pass her information to the Sisters in Singapore. 

We were running low on batteries for our gate opener to our house, and so on Friday we had to stop by a convenience store to buy the small battery to replace the dead one in our remote. While we were there, I noticed a man standing near the outside of the store, and so I started talking to him. He agreed to meet with us, and we met with him the next day. We shared with him the message of the restoration, and despite having some long questions that we could have answered quicker, it went well. We are scheduled to meet him tomorrow, and he will be our first and only real investigator since we passed what few we had to the Chinese Sisters who entered the area.

Conference was really good,  See you next week.

Sincerely,

Elder Allen​​​

More about Nathan's mission in an email to his Mom:

I was in Singapore when someone mentioned Elder Merkely. I told them that he was related to me. The Elder I was talking to mentioned that Elder Merkely had said something about me when I came into the mission. So he was aware of me as well. I just asked my zone leader here, a native from East Malaysia who has served his whole mission in East as well if he knew and Elder Merkley. He says that he knew him well. 

Elder Tan is my new companion. I actually served in his Ward (while he was on a mission) in Singapore.

And in an email to his Dad:

Elder Tan and I are the only pair of Chinese Elders here. There were two sets of Sisters (one Malay, and one Chinese) that were added to this area when I came in to Sibu. The first time Sibu has had sisters in 7 years. 

Fun Fact, Elder Dwiggins [Bill works with his Dad] and I are going bowling together today. I am actually sitting across from him right now. He speaks Malay, and so is with the four other Malay Elders (there is a 3 sum) in the other house. They live about 10 minutes away, but we see them a lot for District meeting, P-day, and exchanges that Elder Tan holds. 

Pics: bike riding, some of our members with non- floating lanterns at FHE​​​​​​​​

Catherine's Baptism is Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia with Elder Sholes and Elder Florence (Nathan's previous companion).

Sibu

I received multiple emails asking more about where I am serving now, and what it is like. I am serving in a city called Sibu (See - boo), which is a pretty small city here, but perhaps not too much smaller than other cities here in east Malaysia. I am sorry I neglected to send this information out last week. I am in the Sibu zone, and there is another district of missionaries about a half hour drive (?) away from us serving in a place called Sibu Jaya. The racial make up of my area is remarkably different than it has been on any other time of my mission. West Malaysia is full of Indians, mostly from Southern India, and is mixed with the Malay people (all Muslim) and Chinese people. East Malaysia, at least Sibu, has almost 0 Indians (I haven't seen any yet) a mix of Chinese people, and then Ibans... as well as a few Malay people. I definitely have seen less Malay people here, but that may just be because they congregate in areas that we don't go to very often. 

Surprisingly, most the people here are Christian (among both Chinese and Iban), and the Methodist church as a very strong hold over here. There are other churches that have a dominant presence here as well such as the catholic church. The Iban people here, who are the natives of Borneo and mainly speak Malay or Iban (a closely related language, with many Malay- speaking elders here learning both while on their mission), are almost all Christian. They have a strong faith, and typically, they seem to be more open to the gospel (with Malay-speaking Elders baptizing more people on average). Of the three branches that go to the Church here (and we have a big, nice church), two are Malay speaking, and one is Chinese.

Well, I am running out of time here, but I will tell you more about the Chinese branch (my branch). Our ward is made up mostly of Chinese people, as well as the Senior Couple who attends (they don't speak Chinese) and a Ukranian Couple here who speak pretty good English, but 0 Malay or Chinese. Most of our Chinese Speakers can't speak English, and our English speakers here can't speak Chinese or Malay. We have about 20 people who come to sacrament meeting, and we are working on getting our classes to work a little better here in second and third hour. We have a good group of members over here though, and they seem very nice. 

I just got here, and our teaching pool is about 0, so we will be finding a lot over the next little bit. We don't have much support from the branch seeing as we don't have many members, and those who are members are busy. 

Sister Catherine has here baptism today! I will miss being in Butterworth, where here baptism will be taking place.

Sincerely

Elder Allen

Picture of his church and information about his branch from lds.org