Archive for February, 2007
This week in Bintulu: Zoo
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007Well, this week has been really cool. We went to the Zoo! it was a lot of fun. We got to see a few animals, and it wasn’t anything all that great, but it was still fun, especially since I love animals. It was hot too, really hot. Well, let’s see, what else happened? I baptized a boy named Chunky last Saturday, and it was the first time I’ve ever baptized anyone in Malay. It was a new experience. I am trying to learn more Iban, but it is way hard because there aren’t any Iban dictionaries here. I asked my bud, Elder Christensen to bring me one from Miri next week. So we’ll see how that goes. Currently I am just listening and imitating what I hear. I’ve probably learned about 50 words. My malay is getting better. I can say just about anything I need to, and I can understand everything. My chinese is slipping though. I tried to talk to someone in Mandarin the other day, and I forgot most of it. It’s ok though, because everyone here can speak Malay, so I always have that as a backup. Most of our investigators are Iban and they speak Malay as a second language, so we speak bad malay, and so do they, so we meet in the middle haha. The area is really cool, and we have a lot of investigators who are going to be baptized real soon. So we are really fired up.
Oh yeah, I had to take some nasty worm pills, that definately was NOT fun. But, I probably had worms cause I was in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore, and now Borneo, so it is good to take them I guess. But I am healthy, so no worries.
There hasn’t been much else going on… I just uploaded all the pics from this week, so you can check them out here:
I love ya guys!
Still Alive here in Bintulu
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Well… I am sorry, but I don’t have much time today to post… Dang, we only get one hour to do this every week, so it is hard to squeeze in all the things I need to do. So… what’s new this week? Well, we had Chinese New Year, on February 18th. It was a lot of craziness! All of our neighboors are chinese, so they started lighting off millions of fireworks at 12 midnight. It woke my companion up, but I was still awake. It was actually pretty hilarious because he was disoriented and thought that it was a war and he thought that it was coming from the bathroom. It seriously did sounds like a war. I thought they had to be in our yard, it was so loud. So we went outside and watched for a while as they lit off firework after firework. They asked us to light a few, which is against our rules…. but I did anyways, I couldn’t resist, plus I love to play with fire and explosives. Plus it only says ‘no lighting fireworks’, it doesn’t say anything about ‘main api atau bomba’. Haha. SO it’s ok. We went to church that morning and then after church (which was awesome, we had a lot of investigators come on their own will and we were really shocked because it was raining and a holiday, but we were happy that they came) we went back home and packed our bags and then left for the airport to fly to Kuching for the Mission Tour with Elder Garn, of the Second Quourum (sp?) of the seventy and the Asia Area President. So we flew in and stayed at the Kuching 2nd Branch Elders’ apartment and went on exchanges with them that night. Then on Monday morning, we had the Mission Tour meeting. Elder Garn, his wife, President and Sister Skelton, and the APs gave trainings, and we were really edified and learned a lot. I am really blessed to have been there. It was a lot of hassle, and we didn’t have any food due to poor planning, so we fasted, but it was really a good experience. Then we went out that night to go street contacting. I got a few cool pictures of Kuching and I also got my visa card detained by an ATM machine, so that stunk, but my mom patiently and kindly took care of it. Where would I be without her? Then in the morning on Tuesday, we flew back to Bintulu and went right back to work. We didn’t have many appointments, so we just followed the Spirit and were able to see a lot of good people and have some really awesome appointments. One of them was especially cool. We went to meet with an investigator, and asked him if he wanted to be baptized, and he said he had to ask his dad but his dad wouldn’t let him. Elder Mortensen had tried to teach him before but the parents were never really very interested. So the dad said that he had to ask his pastor. I was liek: “Oh no you don’t!” So I said a silent prayer and began to teach him the Restoration in Malay. It was hard cause I still am not very good at the language, but I was blest to be able to speak clearly and powerfully to him with the spirit and I taught him all of it he needed while Elder Mortensen was teaching the kid. I really was guided to the right words. After that, the father said: “Baik, membaptis dia esok, boleh?” Which means ok, bapyize hime tomorrow then, and I was like, well wait, we need to wait til Saturday because he still needs to be taught some things and he needs to be interviewed. So we set it all up and the father wants to be sure that it is at a time he can come and see. Wow, it was so cool!
Well, that’s about it for this week. I have decided to change the way that I post photos, so I am going to make weekly Albums with photos for that week, so that you can see the photos each week without getting confused. I’ll start doing it that way next week so for this week, I uploaded the photos to the Bintulu album here:
Love ya guys!
Here in Bintulu
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007Well, I’ve been here in Bintulu for over a week now, and I’m still alive. So that is a good thing I guess. I actually realllllllly love it. I comment to Elder Mortensen every day about how beautiful the sky is here. Singapore just didn’t have very good skies, and you could only see little parts of it through the skyscrapers. Here in Bintulu it is just the opposite. We are basically in the jungle here. Lots of trees all over, and stuff. The main populace consists of Ibans. That is why I am trying to learn Iban. My Malay has greatly improved in the past week, and I can teach all of the lessons now, just from the words I know, without practicing first. I remembered all of the stuff I learned in KL 8 months ago. I didn’t practice at all in Singapore. I am really excited to be teaching in a different language though. The other day we had an investigator who spoke english, and he wanted us to pray in English, and I almost forgot how (i’ve been praying in Malay for personal prayers). I also was tempted to write my journal in Malay, but I figured I better not so that someone in the future can read it. My area is pretty small though. We don’t really do a lot of traveling. It is about the size of a football field. We don’t have bikes or have to take any buses or anything. It is really nice. We also have the opportunity to teach a lot of Recent Converts, because over 90% of the members were only baptized 0-2 years ago. It is amazing the faith these people have. The major challenge is to get them to overcome the word of wisdom problems they have. Things here are really poor in comparison with Singapore.
In other news, my brother, Tyler, is reporting to the MTC today! On Valentines Day! He is going to Paris, France. I heard that the farewell talk he gave was a real knock-out. It was awesome, and I wish I had been there to hear it. My brother is gonna be the best thing Paris has ever seen, he is so amazing and spiritual, and he is smart, hardworking, and friendly too. I won’t get to see him all in all for almost 4 years, and I miss him. But, I know that he is doing the right thing. Nothing in life can replace going on a mission. He will do awesome!
If anyone is wondering, here is my new address:
Leighton Whiting
Blk 737 Sungai Plan Lot
Jalan Tanjung Kidurong
97000 Bintulu, Sarawak
East Malaysia
Well, I can’t write much today, but I will write more next week, and I will post more pictures. I posted the rest of my singapore pictures, so check them out:
Transfered… Continued
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007Elder Einfeldt was a good Elder, and I will definitely miss him. He was always really patient and humble too. And a hard-worker. Now I am with Elder Mortensen (yes, the same one who I was companions with in the MTC).
I flew into Kuching Monday with Elder Stevenson. We caught a taxi to the Kuching Elders’ apartment, dropped off our stuff, and then we went out on exchanges with Elders Andrews and Wong. I went with Elder Wong and with the bikes. It was only the second time I’d been on a bike in my whole mission, the first time being over a year ago in Negombo, Sri Lanka. It was really a scary experience at first, with cars flying by at high speeds only a few inches away. But then after I got the hang of it again, I loved it. I really do like bike riding, but I HATE helmets. They always give me a headache. But not this time, I was lucky I guess. We went to see some of their investigators, mostly Iban, in the Kampungs and small neighborhoods. It was pretty cool. They are really humble people. I got to practice my Malay, and even though it was really broken, I still was able to help a little and also was able to pray. All of the appointments asked me to say the opening prayer (cause I was the new guy) so I didn’t know if I could but I just went for it and it turned out pretty well. It was a long day, but it was also a lot of fun. Whenever I couldn’t understand anything, I knew that they were speaking Iban. By the end of the day, I had learned a lot of new words, and a few Iban phrases, and my butt was reallllllllly sore. The ride back home was kinda scary, cause it was night, Elder Wong ditched me (he was like 200 yards ahead) and there were dogs chasing us. Hahaha, but I lived. We went to sleep after showering. We had to wake up at 4:30 to go to the airport the next day. It was a cool trip, and the views from the plane coming into Bintulu were pretty awesome. I got to the house, unpacked, and then we went to DDM. Elder Mortensen and I then went out and met some of our people. Our area is the smallest one in the Mission, consisting of only a section of ‘flats’ (apartments) with 5 floors, 8 rooms on a floor, each. And the blocks go ABC all the way to R. So it’s a lot of people. Most of them know who we are already. I am pretty happy that we don’t have to ride bikes. I lied though about the area size, we actually technically have all of Sarawak from Bintulu up to Miri, but we don’t ever go there. We have a couple Kampungs, and a few long houses also. We teach English at a longhouse for free (after getting the chief’s permission). I met a lot of people, and I don’t know how but my Malay was actually decent enough to understand most of what all the people said, and to teach the Restoration and help out on the other lessons. That’s good, cause I was worried it would be gone after not studying it at all the past 7 months, and I didn’t really get to practice it at all during my 4 months in KL where I studied it. So I still have a long way to go, but I am excited to learn and I hope that I will be able to learn fast. Most Elders come here without knowing any Malay, so hopefully I can get a head start. I also have decided that after I cement my Malay, I am going to learn Iban. Well, that was basically my first day. No pictures yet, but I will try to take some this week and post them on the blog next week.
The house (the first house I’ve lived in on my mission so far) was really dumpy, and it was a big mess. I took a broom to it this morning (no vacuum cleaner) and I filled a grocery bag with the dust and dirt and cobwebs I gathered. It was ridiculous. The brooms had cobwebs (indicating their infrequent use). And the kitchen is really dirty too. This house will be a project, but I’m gonna make sure that it doesn’t stay too dirty. The first night I discovered that my blanket (which was too small) was made of some wierd fur material that I am alergic too, so I started sneazing a lot. I eventually just kicked it off and then I froze the rest of the night,. Kind of a rough night. I’m gonna have to buy a new one, and a ton of other stuff. I made a list. I also need to get my hair cut this week. Well, I’ll write more next week I guess. Love ya guys!
Getting Transfered
Sunday, February 4th, 2007Hello all, I am now at the airport waiting for my flight to Kuching. We will be spending the night in Kuching and then flying tomorrow morning to Bintulu. I am with Elder Stevenson and Elder Christensen. I was in Singapore for about 7 months. I am really going to miss the people here. I got a call this morning that woke me up from Kandace and Myra, saying goodbye. I also said goodbye to many of our ward members yesterday at Stake Conference. And we went to eat at the Pang’s and then at the Loh’s. This ward has some really good members, and I am glad that we were able to have success here while I was here. I am also really excited to be going to East Malaysia though. It will be my first time going there. I haven’t studied Malay since I left Kuala Lumpur 7 months ago, because I was trying to focus on Mandarin here in Singapore, but I will have to learn Malay again. Saya masih boleh cekap Bahasa Melayu, tiada masalah. Tetapi saya mesti berlatih dan belajar lagi sampai saya boleh cekap dan faham sempurna. Good look it up with a web translator if you are so curious what I said. Well, I got to go now.. flight boarding soon. I will post all the rest of my Singapore pictures as soon as I can, and I will write the part for Colombo and Singapore soon, after Kuala Lumpur. SO many things to write…. bleh. Well, I love you all. Bye~