Week 35

Yep. My eight month mark is this week. Kind of a pretty unimportant mark, but the next time I celebrate a fraction of my mission, it will be my year mark. I don't remember much of what I said last week, but Kapit was awesome and well worth the crazy day. It's kind of the Borneo I expected Borneo to be. Very scenic and tribal. The preparation day before that, we got to go way out to a huge Buddhist temple. That was awesome. I'll try to send pictures. Anyway, this past week has been a good one. Here is the gist of it: *Singapore- We spent three days for Zone Conference in Singapore. It's, as usual, an awesome place. Our first day there, we saw the aquarium, which is the largest in the world (by water volume). It was really fun, but also very expensive. The next night, after Zone Conference, we saw the laser show at Marina Bay. I may have told you before that Elder Hanks and I watched it his first full day there, but we didn't understand where to watch it from, so all we saw was lasers coming from a building, and lots of people. It was lame. But this last time, we watched it from right next to it, and it's actually a kind of movie projected onto a screen of water they shoot into the air, with fire, music, and lasers. It was very cool. After that, we watched a light/music show at the gardens by the bay. The next day, we went to the coolest airport in the world, and went to the sunflower, orchid, and butterfly gardens contained inside. The airport also has free gaming rooms, movies, and sporting even showings. It's way cool. *Zone Conference- Is the best! I feel bad for missions that only travel a few hours by road to get to their Zone Conferences, because ours is so fun. Elder Wilson, of the Asia Area Presidency, came this time. He emphasized having investigators experiencing true conversion by reading the Book of Mormon. Not just reading a bit every day, but feasting upon it, preferably finishing it before baptism. He also described our area (East Malaysia) of the mission by saying "someone has to serve in paradise". Indeed, I am very blessed to be serving in such an exotic and beautiful land. *New investigators- Referrals from less actives, curious friends who have popped into lessons, and random people contacting the other elders have all given us new people to teach. So it's been fun. We may be to the point soon where we will have to cut those who aren't progressing, which will be sad. But it's awesome to see the Lord providing and preparing people for us to teach. *One especially interesting lesson- one investigator we have who has known elders for several years spent about an hour telling us how we were horrible missionaries. It was very interesting, but we already knew we are weak without the Lord. We know our message is true, and we will continue to share it to the best of our limited ability. The Lord will do the rest. *Miracle- Elder Hanks jumped into an MRT after accidentally getting off at the wrong station and seeing me inside. He jumped right as the doors were closing, and it was miraculous he wasn't crushed. :) Well, that is the week. This next week looks like it will be awesome as well. Wo ai ni men! Love, Elder Andrew Earl