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