Pitching in the Vegas Tournament

Strike Three!

Tacos and Transfers

Goodbye Kota Kinabalu

Hey Everyone,

Well it isn't as big as a surprise to me as it probably is for you guys but, I got transferred.....  I am now in Sandakan which is in my Zone I was just over. I replaced Elder Kampenhout here and he took my place in KK.... So I am now with Elder Martin from Fresno, California he has been out for 10 months now. He has served here and in Singapore, Elder Sorensen was his trainer.  He has been here since December. 

But, in other news I did get the package thanks a lot…Peter loved his tie and his Scriptures. The best news of all though is that Ah Ling got baptized yesterday, literally 2 hours after I arrived in Sandakan.... But, what is important is that she still got baptized. Apparently it was a pretty dang awesome baptism it took Samuel 3 dunks to get her down according to Elder Sorensen last night. 

We had a lot of good bye parties in KK so that is what pretty much happened after Wednesday night.We contacted Dammy and Samuel's brother; Arjammy and he seems pretty cool we just got him to the point where he is our friend and he is pretty cool with us and we lured him out of his room with Taco's Yes…Taco's, the food of all food to get referrals ha-ha. Well Samuel and Dammy loved them and since we found Tortillas at a store, they were pretty dang good and everyone loved them except Ah ling because well she said they were spicy ha-ha. 

Well after I emailed you guys last week I got a call saying that I was to give a talk on Sunday which was good timing. They had 2 youth speakers and then me ha-ha so I had to cover like 20minutes... which I pulled off cause you know how it is I am, a master, after that public speaking class ha-ha j/k… yeah I covered the time because it was Easter, so the topic was easy and then I bore my testimony for the last time…for 7 minutes ha-ha but, it was pretty good. 

Amy the referral from Fiona is doing alright she isn't as interested in learning as much we think she got wind of the word of wisdom from Fiona but, I guess it had to come out eventually. Rose is doing awesome though she is way cool and is totally ready for baptism, probably the 14th of May which will be sweet. We had an amazing lesson with her right before I came here yesterday. 

We also contacted Sister Dorkas's sister from Penang who is pretty dang cool and we taught her a bit and she read the whole pamphlet while we taught Rose then we explained it to her afterwards. She is awesome. She got excited about the Book of Mormon so she pulled the one off the desk and opened it up to somewhere in 2 Nephi and it said like something along the lines of relying on the lord and not upon the flesh alone and she loved the verse to death and was pretty touched to have just opened up to it on the first try. So they'll continue to teach her and such.

Sister Jemimi, Leslie and Peter came and picked me up and took me to the bus terminal for my 6 hour bus ride. It was really nice of them and it really helped me out…no need to call a taxi. It was way cool but, then the tears came and well, it was rough…luckily the buss wasn't delayed or anything. I guess I just have to finish off strong here and later I guess we will see them when we stop in KK before heading off to America.  We stay in a terrace house here like in KK, two stories which is nice, that’s all I really know ha-ha. I don't really know everything that’s going on because I haven't even been here for a full day. So that is all.

Mejumpa Vagu
Elder Watkins

97 Days and a VERY Short Email

Well things are going good here in KK nothing to complain about. If I can find a box today I’ll be sending home a package with a bunch of goodies. Well time has been going by crazy fast. There are transfers next week so we will see what happens. I don't have a whole lot to report on.

Last week we taught some good lessons with Rose and with Amy. They both came to church and are both doing good so far.

We finally got to see conference which was awesome and there were a lot of talks that had to do with missionary work and with marriage ha-ha so we gave a couple members crap…that they needed to get married ha-ha. Other than that I really can't think of a whole lot today. I just got back from a baptism interview in Tawau.... Tonight we will see Dammy and Samuel and we are cooking them tacos and I’ll get the picture of me from him. Well that’s all...

Mejumpa Vagu

Elder Watkins

Did Samuel get Baptized after 5 years of Learning?

Hey,

Well…I'll start off by apologizing for the late email. Well, it is because we were in Kuala Lumpur from Monday until late Wednesday night so we didn't get to email from there because we were in meetings all day... Fun stuff, right? Well of course it’s good but, I can't endure so much sitting and listening and sitting and power points from 9am to 6 pm.... ha-ha...

So… the news you have all been waiting for... Did Samuel get baptized after 5 years of learning? Yes! Ha-ha he got dunked ha-ha it was awesome. Samuel and Dammy were baptized on April 6th so it was pretty dang sweet. So they are pretty excited. Pres Fausto was giving us crap like; “Elders are you guys going out to the buffet after the baptism to eat because do you know how many elders have tried and didn't get it him” and stuff like that.  It is true…many have tried but, I think it was the fact that his brother also wanted it too and that helped him pull the trigger. This last Sunday they were interviewed to receive the priesthood. So, next week they'll get the priesthood and then the following week Samuel will baptize his wife, Ah Ling. 

Samuel and Dammy

 If I haven't told you already…Dammy is an amazing artist…words just can't describe how awesome he is at painting, drawings, and pastels. Long story short… he painted a picture of me.

So, I took a picture of it and I will send it today in my email.

Dad asked for a story he could share so I will try to tell you Dammy’s story and how we taught him in a nut shell for you to share but, yeah I’ll do my best ha-ha. It all started out with Samuel dropping something off at the church. Samuel and Dammy went together to drop it off cause whatever it was, it was heavy.  Well, the sisters just happened to be there at the time and met Dammy and got his name card, kind of thing. They told us about it so we met with Samuel at his work and talked to him about the possibility of teaching his brother. Samuel told us that his brother always runs into his room and hides when the elders come over so he told us to just come to his house and knock on his door and then ask for Dammy. Because now we knew his name we could ask for him instead of Samuel ha-ha. We knocked on their door about a week later and Samuel answered the door and we said; “Is Dammy here?” He said, “Yes he is elders one second”.  He goes and gets Dammy out of his room and well he was really shy. We just started to talk to him about life and what he did for work and stuff. The conversation went on for about 30 minutes and then I asked him about the paintings on the wall. He told us he was just doing them as a hobby, we told them they are way too good to just be a hobby. Well…Samuel being a master mind said; “Hey elder show us that picture of the plan of salvation that you draw so well” ha-ha so we busted it out and Dammy was like snap what is this? So we told him it answered 3 questions and briefly explained it and used a bunch of scriptures from the Bible and he loved it so much that we got another return appt. We continued to teach him and it went really.  We put him on baptism date with Samuel and it turns out that he was planning on getting baptized in another church which he canceled when he found out that this was the true church. So we continued to teach him everything until April 6^th…he is way awesome. The Lord truly will prepare people for you to teach and even if the idea is a bit crazy as to how you find the person some how it works out and the Lord will bless you.

It is so crazy how things work but I know the Lord prepares people for you to teach no matter where you are and he knows how you work so he'll help you to meet those people. Many times things are hard and a mission, to be honest isn't the easiest thing but, when you teach someone the gospel and you see the changes in their life everything is worth it. Worth all the doors you knocked, all the many crazy rainstorms that come out of nowhere and drenched the crap out of you and you are just wet and muddy.  Just do what you gotta do and the Lord will help out. Love the people. I guess for those preparing to go a mission if you can love the people with all your heart and just  forget about yourself and get down to business you'll have the time of your life and you'll do some of the coolest things ever. I hope that helps, Dad.

Things are still going good here, just super busy. Rose is doing really good she says she is at about 80% that the church is true and that she still has one more concern that we haven't resolved yet so, I guess we just keep preparing lessons for her and just help her help herself resolve her concerns. She is pretty cool. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she accepted it with no problem and she was already following it; so she was cool with it. Last time we really focused on a prophet that lives today and how she can come and hear the prophet this coming weekend. For all you guys back at home you have already heard it, like what 2 weeks ago while we are just barely getting it here ha-ha. So she is awesome.

We are also teaching Fiona's Cousin; Amy she is pretty good also and really wants to come to church. She just missed it last week because she couldn't find it but, Pres Fausto and Fiona are going to bring her next week. She is looking for the truth. We are just trying to get her to open her heart to the Book of Mormon. She has a strong testimony of prayer so we are using that to our advantage.

We are also working with some new people and we got a whole bunch of new referrals to contact... so just in the process. Next week I go to Tawau again for a baptism interview so our weeks have been really cut down ha-ha but, we are just going to have to work hard with the time we got to follow up with people and rely on the Lord.  

That’s all I can think of…so talk to ya next week.

Mejumpa Vagu, 

Elder Watkins

The Crocodile Farm in Tuaran

Bridger gets a Cousin...

Jeff's parents got a new puppy...their dog of 13 years passed away last Tuesday and Jeff didn't waste any time in finding them a new dog.  He is so cute...Bridger is gong to love playing with his new cousin.

Dammy and Samuel are getting Baptized Tonight!

Hey Everyone, 

I guess I’ll start out with that… DAMMY AND SAMUEL ARE GETTING BAPTIZED!!! They were interviewed last Friday and passed so tonight they are having their baptismal service. Pres. Ling is going to be baptizing them. What is totally awesome about the whole thing is that they are both potential priesthood holders.

Rose is still doing good as well. She reads and prays but, she doesn't feel ready to be baptized at the moment. But, she is doing a lot better; she actually prays at the end of every lesson. Right now the only problem is that she is a bit quiet and we have to strain to hear here ha-ha. She comes to church and says she likes it a lot. Sister Dorkas does a good job at fellowshipping her.

Desy and Maryann are still doing good but, Desy was having to watch a sick guy at the hospital so she couldn't make it to church this Sunday so sadly she won't make her baptismal date. I felt really bad for her because she wants to be baptized so bad but, sometimes things happen… I guess. She prayed for us again, yesterday but, it was in Cebuano like usual. We couldn't really understand what she was saying but, man could I feel the spirit so strong. She finished her prayer with tears in her eyes; it was a great lesson. The lesson had been on prayer and she shared an experience that she had while praying. It was cool.

I spent Monday in Tawau it was a good exchange. We went and taught a members girlfriend and it went really well. After that we traveled and had a baptismal interview for Vincent; he is Chinese from Melaka in West Malaysia. He is pretty dang cool. His wife and his mother-in-law are members and he is also…Ah Yong brother in law who we baptized here, back in November. He is a pretty cool guy and fed us a lot of food; including a lot of pork. So he'll be getting baptized this Friday. Elder Peterson and Clarke are over in Tawau… they are pretty cool.

Sunday I sent Elder Sorensen to the bus terminal after church and Peter Wong followed me around or I mean was my companion and we did a lot of chasing people. We went to go meet Jason, a guy we contacted a while back. We go to his house and he is like I am at CKS (grocery store) and so we tried to find the one and then Peter was like no man it’s over here. So we get on a bus and go there and it turns out it was the wrong one.... So we didn't get to see him.

So we head over to go see Sister Fiona well…since her boss is in China for 2 weeks she can't make it to church and is super busy at night time at her work... So we didn't get to see her but, Pres Fausto stays with her and so we talked with him a bit.

A cool thing that happened on Sunday was Ah Yong passed the sacrament for the first time, it was awesome. Amy, Fiona's cousin is doing good and so far likes the Book of Mormon quite a bit. Last time we watched the Restoration DVD with her and read some from the Book of Mormon. She is pretty cool.  Only problem now is that she took a job working like 7pm to 5 am.

Sister Jemimi was way sick yesterday and on the way to the hospital when her car broke down. Talk about a run of crappy luck. We stopped by and gave her a blessing and she was really happy. Her car already got fixed… got there all prepared to go and push her car back to the house which was about 2 miles away.  Luckily, her car is tiny just like the small car Mr. Incredible drives in the movie The Incredible ha-ha.

Saturday a member who was baptized just over a year ago baptized his 8 yr old son, it was so cool. He was super nervous. The son bore his testimony too. He was super scared to do it but, he whispered it in a members ear and he said it for him…it was so cool.  His testimony was strong because he comes to church and primary.

Things are going good…just looking for some new solid referrals that are out there, they just need to be found ha-ha. 

 Today we go to the Crocodile Farm in Tuaran which should be cool. We are going with Money Curdy, Leslie, and Peter so should be pretty cool. Adrian also got his call last week.  He is going to Salt Lake City, South Mission. He is pretty excited. He goes to the MTC on August 16th. So that is pretty exciting. 

 I don’t know if I have told you before that Dammy is an artist and he can paint pictures that are really amazing, he usually does portraits. He is doing one of me so when it is finished I’ll take a picture of it and send it to you guys. He is about half way done and well it is amazing. That pretty much it. Talk to yak next week. 

Mejumpa Vagu,

Elder Watkins