Week 38

The Week of Chinese New Year! So, this week was awesome. Let's start by talking about the non-Chinese New year related things. 1. While on exchanges, I had an interesting day with Elder Kehl. We got to chop a chicken's head off with a dull knife (it was already dead, but it was still a little sad). Then, right after the closing prayer in another lesson, I looked down to see a scorpion (maybe six inches long with HUGE pincers) walking straight towards me. It was fun. The man of the house cut it into pieces with a huge knife. 2. A ginormous spider came into our house. We ran away like little girls, but later came back and defeated it. 3. Our #1 investigator accepted the commandments we taught her, came to church, and is on track for baptism soon. 4. Another investigator also came to church. Way cool. 5. Church was only 1 hour, and not fast Sunday, all because it's.... Chinese New Year!!!! Sibu is apparently the best place to be in the mission, because it's the most concentrated city of Chinese in the mission. And we are lucky enough to be the Chinese elders. We also had a returned missionary from Taiwan tell us it's way better here than in Taiwan. So we're pleased. Things that happened: 1. The night of the 30th, pretty much New Years Eve, we had two dinner appointments, including one at a fancy hotel. My companion, full from the first appointment, was unable to eat much, so I had pretty much multiple dishes to myself. My eating talent has impressed people, so that's good, I guess?! 2. The fireworks. They've been going a bit for a few weeks, but on the night of the 30th to 31st it became ridiculous. Nearly every house shot 1000s of ringits of fireworks up into the air. Sleeping would be impossible. Fireworks in every direction, firecrackers everywhere, and smoke so thick you couldn't see many houses nearby. And it lasted over an hour. SO cool! 3. The bainian-ing. The tradition is that everyone puts tons of junk food in their front rooms and people just come to eat, talk, and if you aren't married, take a hongbao, a little red envelope with money inside of it. We've made quite a bit of money, eaten till we are stuffed at nearly 20 houses, and visited tons of people. Hard for lessons, but if every day just had food, friends, and fireworks, life would be good! 4. Finding new people to teach. A member led us to a relative who has a great family and great potential. A member led us to a less active we had never even heard of who is willing to meet. An investigator introduced us to a cool family. In fact, it was a miracle that deserves some more explanation. We got there, and he had us pray with him, we gave him a Book of Mormon, and in return, he said if he could move back to Sibu, he'd join our church and come every week. I let him know that the church is also where he lives, Bintulu. Even more cool, there is a random picture of our house from years ago with old missionaries and several members of that family! So strange how it ended up, because this is an investigator simply contacted a couple months ago. Way cool. Other things: 1. Seminary class is going well for Malay-speaking branches. 2. Two potential miracle investigators being passed to us from Malay elders. I love Sibu! Thank you for being the best! Wo ai nimen! Love, Elder Earl