Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

From Our House to Yours...may you and all your loved ones have a "Bountiful Thanksgiving" with all the trimmings.

...But, don't eat too much Turkey!

Were Back in Business...

Family Home Evening with Helen

Hey,

Well, I was on yesterday because we were at the Changi Airport in Singapore with 2 hours before our flight to leave so we were just using the free internet mainly to read about Elder Schone. So what you know about him from the email is pretty much everything we know. His parents are on the way to here now and it will be awhile till he gets back to America. It really is such a bad accident but, so many miracles also. 

So we just got back from Singapore we went in Monday and came back yesterday we pulled a U-turn and it was kind of intense but, we had no problems with immigration. But, the custom guy checked my bag and started looking through our supplies then he found a picture of Christ and said; “Oh you’re the ones from the church.” No problem just go on through ha-ha. So no problems and now were back in business. 

Sadly Ah Yong didn't get baptized because his work schedule changed at the last minute and so we had to just move it to this week so it should be pretty good.  This week we have got Selester and Ah Yong getting baptized and it is going to be pretty awesome. Selester went back to Kampong and came back even better at prayer than she was before. She also brought her mom to see her get baptized and the mom seems kind of interested. She also brought a bunch of relatives with her that will be here for a couple months then go back and then they will come back during the holiday breaks. So we got some cool new people from her to teach and couple of them came to church and had a great time with the members and made a bunch of friends.   From the sisters we have got 3 baptisms, a girl named Welsy who is the child of a PM family but, now everyone is coming to church. They have got 2 others, a young engaged couple who are way cool and they are getting baptized this Saturday. Along with some child of record baptisms from the PM family so this Saturday there with be 6 baptisms in the KK Branch! :)

Sister Jemimi's nephew is working towards baptism now; he wants it but, he is just so confused and his life has been pretty rough. Since his mom wanted to divorce his dad he has had rough times. His dad is working in KL and will be coming to KK to work soon and he'll be here with his son. Hopefully with them both here it will work out better and he'll be more open. Since back in Kampong his mom just doesn't really care about him he just goes around and is kind of a gangster. But, he is coming to church and making changes. So we hope when his dad comes back it will be easier for him to receive baptism. He wants it. He is just confused and not quite sure what to do because his mom is SDA and his dad likes our church and actually learned a bit before he went to KL. But, Sister Jemimi said that he still wants to learn when he gets back from KL. 

Also on the subject of Sister Jemimi she used to be a pedicurist and she actually fixed my toe :) It is so much better and it feels so much better; she is the best ha-ha. She saw my toe because my socks were off since they were wet and she said Elder Apa hal?!?! Kaki Kau sakit dan kau tak bagitahu saya. Saya boleh bikin.  She said; “what the crap elder, it is sick and you didn't tell me and I can fix it really fast,” Ha-ha so she did and now I am walking with ease. She is way cool. We went and made them macaroni and cheese last week for them for helping us out a lot and fixing my toe and they loved it; 1 cause Malaysians love cheese the only thing is cheese is expensive here so they loved it. But, the problem was I put it too much milk.... so it didn't taste as cheesy but, they loved us for it and it was a reward for the referrals they give us.

Wendy is still doing good we taught her again Wednesday night and Saturday. Wednesday we taught her and her sister-in-law who has got some depression. We gave her a blessing and taught about the Book of Mormon and that how church and the scriptures can bring us closer to Christ and help us become happier. At the end of the lesson we could tell that she was happier and she really liked what we taught. We also taught her and Madam Yap again Saturday and it went really well. Madam Yap has 1 kid and we are teaching him also, he is 11 years old and has ADHD but, he is super cool and really enjoyed church on Sunday. We taught them the plan of salvation and Wendy loved it because her husband passed away and she was concerned in what she needed to do for him. We taught her about temples and she was pumped to get baptized then get to the temple to do the work for her husband. At the end of the lesson we were going to teach her word of wisdom; which I was totally scared to teach them but, we went with it and low and behold they had no problems with the word of wisdo

Me knocking on doors

Things are going really good right now and we have quite a bit of people to work with now. Wendy is really helping us out a lot and it is sweet. We had a appointment fall through the other day but, it worked out we had to go knocking a bit and the first door we knocked on she let us in and she was a young single mother of 2 kids who are hilarious and it was like she was waiting for us to knock on her door. She said that day she always works but, it was the first time she took it off and then we knocked on her door. She said she had heard of the book of Mormon and actually seen one back in Kampong but, never read one yet and was excited to receive one. So in that little bit of time we toughed it up and keep working and the Lord blessed us as usual.

We haven't talked to Elder Blissett in a couple of days because we have been in Singapore but, it is rainy season so I guess flooding can happen. We don't have any flooding here but, right now we have a lot of rain and it just dumped about 10 minutes ago and it still going. Things are still awesome in KK and lovin' every minute of it.

Elder Watkins

Fall to Winter...

In just two weeks we went from a tree full of leaves to this today.  In the last two days alone we bagged over 30 bags of leaves...we figured we did about 70 bags in the last two weeks.  I am getting too old for this.  So, I am happy we are through for the season. 

The Golden days of Fall are gone...

to the Cold days of Winter...in all it own Glory...what a beautiful sight!

Fiona's Baptism

 Fiona's Baptism

Nu nu Habal Nu!?! (How are you in Rungus),

Well things in KK are still going fantastic. Fiona got baptized by Jacob and it was really nice. Jacob did a great job for his first time baptizing someone and with him only been a member for about a month now. He is super cool and pretty funny. Fiona’s baby was sick that night and she wasn't sure if she was still going to get baptized but, she came anyway and when she got home her baby was fine and she was super happy and felt blessed. She also bore a great testimony at her baptism about how she knew that even if her whole family isn't so supportive all the time she knows that she has the support of the church members, they are like her second family. We had soooo many people there to support her baptism it was crazy, awesome. All of them were her friends and they were super happy to be able to see her join the church. We taught her yesterday and she was super excited about the gospel. We had her teach us the plan of salvation and asked her to share it with a family she knew and she said that she already had her brother and sister in law in mind. She said they are Christian but, don't really go to any church. So we challenged her to share with them the plan of salvation and how she knows that families are important for us all. So she was pretty excited to share it with them.  It was great. 

Me, Fiona, Jacob, & Elder Wright

Sister Marta another Recent Convert here called us on Saturday night and said; I have some friends that I am bringing to church tomorrow. Sunday comes around and 3 of them came; Madam Chung, Wendy, and Roselin. They’re three Chinese women who have children and who were married but, their husbands either left or passed away but, they loved church a ton it was great. What is even better is usually when you knock on the older Chinese doors they don't even respond but, thanks to Marta we were able to get 3 of them to church and they loved it. They speak a little Malay but, Chinese is best except for Wendy she speaks Chinese, Malay, and English; she is super awesome. She called us that Sunday night and said that she wanted to meet us Monday and that she had 2 new friends for us to meet. So we met with her and her other friend Madam Yap and Michael. Madam Yap is Buddhist but, her husband is Christian and speaks a little Malay and Chinese but, she is awesome. Michael is a Chinese guy in his early 30's and he speaks German, Chinese, and Malay. He is super funny and loves Michael Jackson and can even dance like him ha-ha. So we started to teach the 3 of them and the first thing that Wendy says is they want to know about why there are so many churches and how long do they have to learn in order to join the church.  They heard after 1 year that you go somewhere with the church and make another promise with God and that they wanted to do that also ha-ha. (The Temple…btw) After the lesson they asked us; “If we are baptized do you just do it in the canal,” and we said; “Oh no, we have a font and we went and showed them the font and they were like what… so nice. We asked them if they would like to prepare themselves for baptism on the 11th of December and they said; WE CAN! Woohooo so now we have 3 more people on dates. They all love it and they really notice the things that make this church true and how all the rumors they heard weren't true ha-ha. They love how when we pray we always say; “Our Dear Heavenly Father and that we don't pray to the Mother Mary etc.  They really are some solid people and Wendy is a “referral machine”. She brought the 2 people to church that Sunday and 2 more the next day on Monday. And tonight she has got 3 more people she wants to bring. Luckily she drives an 18 seater van to bring them all ha-ha. We have a big meeting with them all this Saturday before the baptism of Ah Yong and after wards they will get to watch his baptism. So they are pretty sweet.

We have also tried to go find kind of some lost recent converts the other day. But, they weren't home so afterwards we did a little knocking and it was a success, the Lord blessed us with a family to teach. It is a Filipina and her 3 kids and her Chinese husband. The husband is off and were not sure where he is but, the family is pretty willing to learn. We came in and taught them the 1st lesson. But, they are pretty cool. A 17 year old daughter, a16 year old son and  a 9 year old son, Jessica, Jospeh, and Hendy. So we are supposed to try and see them this Friday. So hopefully everything will go to plan.

We are also teaching a member’s cousin Dexter still, he came to church and he loved it and he made some good friends with all the youth. He is doing well and we challenged him to be baptized. He wants it but, he has to talk with his Dad who is also the one who told his aunt to bring him to our church. His father is off somewhere in West Malaysia and he is supportive of him but, we want to get his Dad here and teach him too. He is pretty cool and way funny.

Last week when we got our haircut Sister Jamimi and Leslie took us to a place to get it done. Afterwards I talked to one of the girls who worked there; her name is Yuli a Christian girl from Rano but, hasn't been to church since she came to KK. I know that if it wasn't for Leslie that she probably wouldn't be so willing to listen but now she is really open and Sister Jamimi will bring her to church.

We had a lot of awesome things happen this week and it was super awesome. Ah Yong this week will be getting baptized and he has quit smoking for about 3 weeks now. He is super awesome because he did it all on his own plan and now our plan.

Samuel is still doing good for baptism but his wife isn't back yet and now he might want to switch his date cause he asked us if Christ was really born on 25th of December and we told him; no, it is actually on this day and so he was kind of upset and said he might wait till April which isn't really the best because he has been coming to church for 3 years but, he keeps procrastinating baptism.

At the River

Last week on p-day we went off to Kiulu which is the kampong of a member here that is about an hour away I’ll send the pictures from there. It was her brother in laws birthday that’s from Holland and he married her sister. 

Elder Watkins

On the Bridge

Kampong

P.S. This picture is of a rice field, nice huh?

Jeff's First Whitetail Deer...

Montana

 

The Mighty Hunters

The Cabin

Jeff and his first Whitetail

Justin and Jeff

Jeff and his Dad

Justin and Ryan

The Road Home

Montana Deer Hunt

One Week Later...

Getting a little closer

The Wait and Anticipation is all over...

I'm Loving Every Minute Of It!

Hello,

Well this last week was good. I'll start off with Fiona. Fiona is the one who had been taught before then has come back from Kampong and came to church then the first thing out of her mouth was I want to be baptized. Well we finished getting her taught and everything and had her interview taken care of on Sunday and now she is already to go. She is doing awesome and the gospel has already changed her life a ton. Now it is just trying to get her husband to listen to the message. He is one of those drunken bums who totally needs the gospel so that he can help his family so, we are going to push to meet with him also. He is always hung over and asleep when we have come to her home. She is pretty awesome and she said the whole time while she was at kampong she would think about what church she would join when she came back. She said she would think about SIB, Catholic, Baptist etc...  But, every time her thoughts took her back to this church and the Book of Mormon and how much she enjoyed reading it. So things are going fantastic with her. 

 A Kampong at low tide

We then have Selester who we have been working with. She is the niece of a member here. She is from Limbang, Sarawak which is in between Brunei and Sabah. She is a Chinese Iban or Sino-Iban. She is pretty cool and a new mother. She kept telling us she wanted baptism but, she didn't quite understand why. So we taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and explained all the blessings from baptism. We asked her if she wanted those and she said; yes, then we asked her again if she wanted to be baptized. Then she looked at her aunt and then at us and said; yes, can I! Ha-ha it was cool she has also invited her mom to come down and see her get baptized which is awesome. The more the merrier especially if they want to learn also.  So she is on the path to baptism now as well. The other day before we went to Tawau and Sandakan we went over to teach her the Word of Wisdom. We just said the name and she went off; yeah, I know no coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, and Drugs ha-ha... We then asked if she had any problems with these and she said; Nope, I have been following it ever since I learned about it 2 years ago when she came to church the first time. So it made it even easier.

Mixdius also came to church again and had a wonderful time. He even went up and bore his testimony and said how he wants to get baptized and how he wants his whole family to be baptized in the true church. Sadly he was too busy to meet with us after church this Sunday but, he said he has the desire to be baptized he is just not sure when yet. We were suppose to meet him tonight but, he canceled on us said he was too busy to meet. But, he is doing good still and reading. He even said he wanted to serve a mission after he gets baptized. Now we just have to meet with him so that we can get him on date.  He is pretty cool though and truly seeking for truth. 

We also saw a couple of members here that I met for the first time that are pretty cool. We went and saw a family who we are trying to teach their father. They are super cool and if their father was a member also they would be so strong. The member is Sister Helen and here kids Olivia, Evy, Elvin, Alvin, and Amy. I have never had my name called out so many times by so many people. There are about 5 of them from ages 6-17 and all of them will want to tell you something or show you something all at once. It is like Elder, look elder, look ha-ha its super funny they are super cool. Afterwards I was talking with them about how I want to see a tokek a lizard that is poisonous and gets pretty big, they are rare in Sabah and for 1 gram its 350 ringget if you want to buy one, because they are used for traditional medicine. They make a crazy noise. I am sure you can look it up on the internet. But, after I asked if they had seen one they said; yes many times and that their neighbor (also a member) has one. So we went over there and low and behold there it was in all its glory ha-ha it was pretty cool. I got a picture of it and stuff and so now I am even happier for completing that goal ha-ha. Now I just need to see one in the wild so I can hear it do the call. 

  Tokek the Family Pet

We also saw Sister Leslie a recent convert here. She is doing good and she is super funny. She brought us a referral, her cousin and he is pretty good. He is down here from Kampong for now and should be coming this Sunday to church with her. We taught him a bit and he was shy but, really accepting about the Book of Mormon and the story, he said, he always wanted to know why there are so many churches and how to find out which is true. He said back in Kudat he went to SDA. But, all in all it was a great lesson. It drenched us on the walk to their home and so when we got there our socks were wet the member Sister Jamimi said, Hey give me those and I’ll wash them and well get them dry ha-ha so we did; afterwards the daughter (Sister Leslie) in an effort to get them dry quicker used her hair blow dryer ha-ha so it was pretty funny. This family is super awesome and they are way funny. One p-day they offered to take us up to the tip of Borneo where there Kampong is and let us see it and the beach and she said we can pick up some traditional handy crafts while we are there. We just aren't sure what day we will do it on. 

Sister Leslie drying our wet socks...ha-ha

We just got back from Sandakan (Elder Wright) and me from Tawau. The exchanges went well but, I am super beat because I had to get up at 5 Tuesday morning to make my flight then this morning at 6 to make the flight back.... so I am beat ha-ha. But, things are going awesome here and I lovin' every minute of it.  Today we don't have any big plans but, just bowling cause we couldn't find any adventures to do that weren't super far and or expensive. That and the sisters said after 2 p.m. cause they are getting manicure and pedicures things so we are waiting on them... But, this Saturday Sis Fiona is getting baptized and so we are pretty pumped. Right now we are just working hard to try and find a family to teach and baptize. That is one goal I have set, is while I am here try to get 2 family baptized. It is definitely hard but, can be done.

Sunrise in Tawau at 6:02 a.m.

Till next week,

Elder Watkins