Goodbye Butterworth :( Hello Ipoh :)

This one is my favorite!
The Ching Family...Sister Wendy (who just received her mission call to Salt Lake Temple Square Mission), Kelvin, Elder Watkins, Ewin, and mother Maggie.

Movina's Baptism...Front row: Movina, Senthia & Darshana
Back Row: Nathan, Mangayarkaras & Elder Herbst

Last week I asked him for a few pictures of his apartment...
just in the nick of time!
We knew this was his desk because of the stacked Mountain Dew cans on the left. I am sure he brought these back from his trips from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur :)

Elder Herbst just chillin' doing his Rubix cube. Notice the two guitars in the corner...I think Nathan's is the brown one.
Elder Herbst was a great companion and I think he really helped Nathan with his Malay.
It's a good thing he took the bus to Ipoh so he could take all of his "treasures" he collected from Butterworth.

Nama Berita Dek?

So this week was pretty dang intense. Well let’s start off with Elder Herbst is getting better but we still don't know what is exactly wrong but, he was feeling better when I left and he was planning on going back and getting checked up again. This week the AP's also came to Butterworth to hang out and see how we were doing at the end of their Mission tour. So we found some really good people that day we found, a guy named Mr. Lee and he told us at the end of the first appointment that he has never felt as anyone cared this much about him or loved him so much in a long time and he wants us to teach his whole family. But sadly Friday night I also found out the bad but, good news that I was being transferred from Butterworth to Ipoh. Barlow went to Kuching to be a Zone Leader. And now Elder Herbst and Thomas are companions and the only companionship in Butterworth. So now I am in Ipoh which is about 2 1/2 hours south of Butterworth so I just bussed down to there. Before I get onto Ipoh I guess I'll finish Butterworth. But the Mexican food was legit Mexican food cooked by a Malay man ha-ha but, it was good.

We go down to KL on the 23rd of February for Elder Russell M. Nelson. There’s a senior couple down here named the Dabels in Ipoh from Canada. The branch has been here in Ipoh for about 30 years so it’s more established and so far I have met a great bunch of people down here. We have the same mix of people down here but, were in a bigger city less motos and more cars. We live in a condo again and it’s nice but my bike was junk but, it’s getting better since I went and replaced some stuff on it the other day. I am now with Elder Blissett who went to East High School and is from Salt Lake City. So I went from Junior companion to District Leader just like in The Best Two Years movie ha-ha and now I have a lot of things I have to do that I have no idea how to do them ha-ha. Oh yeah thanks to the "birdhouse" :) for the card and thanks for the support :)

Here in Ipoh we have some baptism up and coming for March, right now 3 which we set the first day I got here and 1 we set the next day for Mala and she’s pretty much done she just want to make sure a Sister Low a members here can make it. We have some sweet members here and I am pretty excited to serve. Umm also I don’t know how long I’ll be here but Elder Stone said this wasn’t where I was suppose to come first but, I could be here a long time or a short time he said, things could change ha-ha. But right now were low on missionaries because a lot went home and we have about a month before we get new ones in. Ipoh is a lot bigger city and they listen to more American music like, I just heard Jason Mraz, Avenged Sevenfold, Ateryu, and Hot Hot Heat ha-ha, all in the cyber cafe here ha-ha. Here we actually have a standalone building like a church at home and its really nice, I like it alot. Umm that’s all for this week.

Bertemu Bahru
Elder Watkins

Last night our first email came through with a few pictures saying, "Here are a few pictures of my "old house" and when I left Butterworth." So that's how we found out he had been transferred and we had to wait until his letter came through a half hour later. Of course I had to Google (I love Google) Ipoh and find out where Nathan is now and a little about it. So, for all of you who love his food stories it sounds like Nathan will have plenty to tell from Ipoh because it is especially known for its food. Ipoh is perhaps most known for its Chinese cuisine, although Malay and Indian dishes are also very popular throughout the city. Local specialties are the stir-fried vegetables from the locally grown produce and "Squid". Tropical fruits are cheap and plentiful, especially the pungent Durian and sour/sweet Pomelo. I wonder how long it will take before he tries the "Squid"??? So... Goodbye to Butterworth for now and Hello to Ipoh, the next part of the journey...