Transfers, Visas, Stolen Camera & COPS!!!

Hey Everyone,

Well this last week was pretty good. News for the week is Rathnayake is getting transferred to the Celementi Ward Elders in Singapore. He'll be covering three wards down there in another three some. OTHER BIGGER news is that Elder Thurman calls me Monday night and he said he had just decided to check his passport and notices that when we came back from Singapore he had only gotten a 2 week chop..... So he was 2 weeks illegal in the country..... So he called me and I told him to call the Carpenters in the mission office.  Their plan was to basically try to bus him down and see if they don't notice.... So then I called them and said no he should go to the American Embassy and talk to them before he does anything. So they finally agreed and he went down early the next morning. They told him he had to go to the main integration office and report it and then he'll just have to pay a fine and then leave the country and hopefully not get a red chop meaning he can't come back. So he paid the fine and they gave him 7 days to get out of the country and gave him a envelope which he can't open and he has to give it to the immigration officer so, hopefully he can get back into Malaysia.

Those 14 Indonesians that we are teaching are doing good.Three of them came to church this Sunday Dolly, Nurhayati, and Merba. They are cool and we went and taught them the next day. They are super cool and funny. As we left their home after teaching them one blurts out the only thing she really knows in English and it was I HATE YOU! Ha-ha she did it with a big smile on her face.

Also with some other news I thought the day would never come but, we now have to wear our suits to church on Sundays..... So that’s not so awesome... Devid and Aasis are getting baptized next week on Saturday they will be interviewed this Saturday. They are super awesome and super funny. We asked Aasis if he had ever been to jail and he said; yes, and then he said just for one day because he drove the wrong way on a one way street ha-ha.

We also are teaching a new Indonesian named Uli she is cool and is doing awesome. She is super funny and makes fun of Elder Lewis when he eats with his hands ha-ha same with Dewi and Yanti they make fun of him when he eats with his hand. He isn't so pandai (clever) with it yet.

We also went and saw Sister and Brother Siow and they are super awesome they fed us some good old Filipino food and it was awesome. Maybe you'll have to check and find us a Filipino restaurant in SLC.

Jhenny is also doing great and putting right along towards baptism and is awesome and super funny she is just like an 18year old ha-ha. Elder Rathnayake and I were sitting there after sacrament and she looked mad so we made faces at her and she came over and punched me ha-ha. But she is cool and loves to read the Book of Mormon. She also started to teach me a little bit of her Bahasa so now I can say little things like, don’t be mad and don’t be shy…ha-ha. 

Sister Yanti also went up to Melaka for her work for a 1 day vacation trip and she told me the morning of and I told her to keep an eye out for the missionaries up there. About 5 hours later I get a sms saying, Elder Watkins I just met the two elders here ha-ha. She even got a picture with them. She walked up to them and said; “aku anggota gereja Yesus Kristus dari orang orang suci zaman akhir” (I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). And they were like huh? Ha-ha so she was super happy. 

Sister Caroline also hooked me up with a shirt from Sarawak and a bead necklace from there it’s pretty cool so, I was a bit happier that day cause it was also the same day my camera got jacked. We were at a restaurant and someone walking by snagged it out of my backpack.  I lost all of my picture from June until now :( Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the money to help buy me a new camera. I will buy me a new camera today.

The Durian party sounded fun but, the Durian you got was a BAD Durian…it was way too yellow on the shell and it shouldn’t look like mush in the middle.  You’ll have to try it when I get back so I can pick a good one and then open it the right way and the “cool way” J You also have to try it three times before you can judge…the guys who didn’t try it are a bunch of babies ha-ha.  I had Durian ice cream yesterday, mmmm…delicious :P

That is super awesome about Nick but, sad that I won’t see him for like three years.

So things are still going good for now. We are just getting the work down and trying to find some new people. Like yesterday we were knocking some terrace housing and then all of a sudden Elder Rathnayake says, Elder Watkins there are some cops and I was like; what, and I turn around and the cops were flagging us over.... Just what we needed. Apparently someone called on us because and said we were bothering people. The cops didn’t really care and they didn't speak English so they couldn’t really say anything to us but, they basically said to carry around a thing that says the church sends us so, I just foto stated my copy of my ministerial certificate. They just told us to leave there for the day and we did. Then we went to Mentari Court near our home and they were shooting a movie and of all the places…Mentari Court ha-ha. They were shooting a scene with cops in it and low and behold it’s those 2 cops from before also being used in the movie and you could totally tell they couldn't act and they were just using them for the film and their car.

And that’s all.

Elder Watkins