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Transfered… Continued
By Leighton | February 6, 2007
Elder 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!
Topics: Bintulu | 1 Comment »
February 6th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
You got frozen in Bintulu?? LIAR!!!! the temperature there is like 85!!!!