Waiting and Waiting...and then waiting some more

It has been a long week waiting to hear from Nathan...We finally received his email and are relieved to know he is in his new area and doing good.

September 9, 2009

So I went to send my email and it deleted everything …I hate this so sorry for a crappy email.
My companions name is Elder Bukchuluun he’s from Mongolia. He is way nice. He knows a little bit of Chinese, Tamil (India), and Malay. He can understand all three of them. My companion is a convert of 4 years and his sisters converted as well, one served in Australia. People here are awesome and the food is great. You can get a whole meal for 6 rm (Ringgit) or so. So I’ll just answer your questions sorry I can’t really tell stories since it deleted my email now...I feel so bad… sorry. I only have 20 minutes left to email you and the Mission President.

Answers to some questions you asked in your email:

I am in West Malaysia just below Thailand. P-day is Wednesday and we email from Pinang which is a short ferry ride 10 minutes where all the shopping is. We learn Malay here but it’s the worst area to learn the language because everyone speaks English or another language. We don’t wear name tags and we can proselyte. And we don’t take the malaria pills. Mosquitoes are only bad in East Malaysia. We get 166.98 American dollars a month here its crazy ha-ha. I've got to go sorry but the stupid thing deleted my email so I don’t have time to rewrite it so sorry.
Elder Watkins


Second Email…9-09-09

I have like 10 extra minutes so I’ll try to write some more stuff… My companion speaks a little English but it’s still hard to communicate with him. But he’s way cool. He has ridden a two humped camel. There are lots of Chinese people here and Indian and Malay. But the problem is they all hate each other. I have learned 4 basic words in Chinese to find out if people are in there homes and thank you in Tamil ha-ha. People usually leave there main door open but they have like a big gate that covers the whole door for security and so they can leave it open… so you go up to the gate and say hello and then see if they’re interested. Right now Ramadan is going on so lots of good food everywhere. And you can get fresh soy bean milk for 1 rm . They have a drink here called Milo which is exactly like hot chocolate but you put it in hot over ice and its way good. Our apartment is really nice its only 4 years old but most people’s homes aren’t very nice they live in big tall things called kampongs which are kind of dirty. They have there sewage come right out there front door from a pipe and it falls all the way down to the gutter below. They also all have scooters or motorcycles and they all drive like maniacs, its nuts that more people don't die every day. The bikes weave in and out of the cars and its way intense. I already had to fix a whole back tire on my bike because I have the oldest bike in the mission and the tire hasn't been changed once. So now I have to wait till next month’s bike fund to fix the front ha-ha. The members here are great my fav is Bro. Titus he is like 70 and he’s Chinese and he speaks very good English which he learned while trying to become a doctor. I speak this Sunday on the great apostasy and I taught family home evening Monday ha-ha it went good though. The Indian people will all ride by and be like HELLO FRIEND to us its way funny ha-ha. The kids here love us they are so awesome always jumping around and following us. We don’t have toilet paper right now so we just use the hose next to our toilet at home which isn't bad because your bum gets clean but your legs get a little wet. But that’s how you do it everywhere but your apartment. But I am doing good and healthy. I challenged an investigator to baptism and he’s going to give us a date at church on Sunday so I am way excited. Also baptisms are hard here compared to East Malaysia because people hold on to the culture or the cultures religion regardless of if they like it so older people generally won’t listen. Well I got to go lovvvve you all. Elder Watkins