Week 14

Sorry I'm sending this later than usual, but we just got back from Singapore today, so this is the first time I've really had time. We were going to do it in Singapore, but the internet places there rarely have Chinese character capabilities, which my companion needs.

Anyway, last week, we got appointments set up with some people from Myanmar who had been dropped before on the phone, so that was nice. Unfortunately we were unable to teach them this week.

The next day, we went to district meeting which was far away, but it was great, especially since the Howells, the couple who's place we did it at, are super cool. And they made us food!

One interesting thing is that some buildings here have floors 3A and 13A, etc. to replace 4 and 14 since 4 sounds like death in Chinese.

There are a bunch of missionaries here who have been out even less than I have already. They are from the English speaking generation.

I got my first taste of door knocking, which is a bit scary and unproductive, but it was fun. We called a bunch of people from potential investigator sheets that go back way long ago, and some of them even said they'd come to church! One interesting thing was that my companion and I both read the same passage of scriptures, studying different things. I guess it was important for our companionship!

I think I should tell you a bit more about Elder Chong, because he's great. He's from Sitiawan (or however you spell it), and he's been out nearly a year. Before his mission, he was a baker, so he's the go-to guy for great meals. I'm a lucky elder. He's very humble and hardworking, and I love being his companion!

On Wednesday, we read the analogy about fishermen in Preach my Gospel, where you can go out fishing but really only have your net out a couple hours, or you can go out and have it out the whole time. I really liked that one. We went across town to get Chinese Book of Mormons, but unfortunately there were only two, so hopefully we can find more soon. We taught a cool member, who's just amazing. That night, we ran into someone interested that we couldn't teach, but he was a really cool guy and it was fun to talk to him.

Thursday, we did some weekly planning, but then had to leave to teach a couple lessons deep into our area with the sisters. The first one didn't happen, but the second one was at a member's house, and it went great. Elder Chong gave her a baptismal date and she's ready to be baptized. Afterwards, they fed us pizza. One had hot sauce instead of tomato sauce and little anchovie things on it. It was pretty good. We agreed to fast together, too. We also visited an investigator of the sisters who is super cool from India, and we got a bit of food there. There's also ice cream flavored soda here which is really interesting.

Friday, we mostly just passed out Book of Mormons, since our one appointment fell through. We passed them to some really cool Nigerians. Later that night, we had some great steamed buns from a street vendor, and he says he'll come to church sometime.

Saturday was also good. In training, we watch the District a lot, so we watched a ton. And then we got naan for cheap for lunch, which was delicious. We knocked doors again, which just hasn't worked out for us yet. We then had two lessons planned, but weird things happened and we only taught one, but we met the other investigator who seems super cool. Ice Milo is also a really good drink, by the way.

On Sunday, we had combined church with the KL branch because of electricity problems at our building, and I met lots of cool people. It was really fun, and they had food after, but we were fasting with our investigator. We were led by that super awesome member from above to places with lots of Chinese people, and I got a few Book of Mormons out, but the areas weren't really in our area. We stopped at a touristy place and it started raining really hard. IT was cool. We unfortunately waited somewhere for an investigator for a long time, and he was also waiting there, but we didn't know each other, so that didn't happen. We got home and had delicious chicken nuggets and a sweet corn twinkie like thing.

Zone conference was all super fun! Our taxi driver filled up gas while the car was running and the car stalled on the highway, but we made it to the airport and then to Singapore no problem. The Chinese Elders are in the process of moving, and some transfers have happened there, but it was good to see my former companions, as well as Elder Sheranian. We watched the Work of Salvation broadcast, and I am in it a tiny bit. On the real day of Zone conference, Tuesday, we learned from the Assistants, the mission president, and his wife, and it was all great. Our mission is getting many new people in the next few months. Also, the Malay Book of Mormon recently came out, so we got pictures with that. Everyone is super excited about it. We had good pizza and then ice cream for dinner. The ice cream place has a challenge that one day I want to attempt. We had a good zone meeting, I ate some weird octopus and prawn ball things, and then we went home. This morning, we got up and came back to KL! So that's the last week plus.

Love, GE ZL