BTW...my new companion is Elder Browne

Hey Everyone,

Everything is still going good in the far off and exotic land of Sandakan and it is nice to be back and getting to work after learning some awesome things and then being able to apply them.

Saturday night we went with the Wieland’s and they had found Roderick!!! A Recent Convert who had dropped off the map for a couple weeks.... Well he basically changed his number so now we got his new number and his new home and now he is back in the action. He is still good and he said; well Elders you need to come and teach me twice a week now to get me all caught up. So we are excited because he is back.

Roger and his wife are now out of the hospital and we are teaching them at the home. They are super amazing and their knowledge alone that they have gotten from the Bible is amazing and his ideas pretty much match the Lords church and he got most of it from the Bible but, he is way pumped because the Book Of Mormon is exactly what he likes, it is helping him understand the fullness of the gospel. They are way cool and quote lots of scriptures from the Bible but, even just the other day the wife quoted one for us from Mosiah 13. The daughter, Sister Dosy is a member and so it works out well. She has hopes that they'll join the church they would be the last ones who are members in their family. Man…they would make a some great members they are super smart.

We are still teaching Baby, who is going great, he is a smart kid and reads the Book of Mormon and he so far has prayed and it’s going really well. He is getting along great with the members too.

We also just got a referral from some members here named Lovely and he is pretty good so far. Hopefully we can teach her again, she set up a return appointment, we have high hopes for her.

Ebie is still doing amazing and moving right along for baptism. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and Word of Wisdom, which went well but, she loves to drink Milk Tea so she is going to do her best. We will see her again tonight to follow up with her on it. She says she wants to stop but, it is her favorite drink so, we’ll see how it goes. Her phone broke so it is hard to get a hold of her.

Rosmini is still doing good as well with no complaints she is way funny and is doing great. They just came back from Mile 30 so, they can come to church again ha-ha....

Tonight we go with Elder Wieland to teach a contacted referral from Youth Conference. They live out at mile 14, we are having high hopes for them because they have a car and speak English.

We are also teaching an Iban guy form Johor, who Elder Browne used to teach there. He recently moved here so we are excited to go and see him. He should be good…speaks English and is new to Christianity.

Irene is still doing good we read with her 2 Nephi 33 and it went really. It is probably one of my favorite chapters too, she is still really worried to read it on her own. She said she is scared if she reads it something is going to happen…well its true but, maybe she worried about what will happen if she joins the church or if it isn't good or something.

Things are good and just trying to finish strong and keep my eyes open for those who are prepared to hear the gospel. I know that they are out there but, they are hiding sometimes from us.

Oh yeah…BTW… my new companion is Elder Browne from Pleasant Grove, UT.  he is cool and played football. That’s all.

Mejumpa Vagu Ingin oku Dikau

Elder Watkins

Turning 21 in KK...

Nathan got his wish.  He was able to go back to Kota Kinabalu for his twenty-first birthday.  Elder Martin had to go to Singapore for his Visa Run so Nathan went to KK because the Wieland's where going there for Youth Conference...so he had to go along...I don't think he was disappointed about seeing old friends.

 Hey Everyone!

Well this last week was a good one. First things first, I am emailing you all from my old stomping grounds of KK. We have just been seeing all of my recent converts here and helping the elders teaching their investigators.  

My companion Elder Martin is transferring to Sibu Jaya in Sarawak so I’ll be getting a new companion for my last 6 weeks named Elder Browne. He has just finished his training so it should be good. I really have been thinking about my last 6 weeks and how Elder Browne and I can kick some butt in Sandakan and find some awesome people to teach and get her done before I go home.

This last week was dang good we had a lot of activities going on and it was good for some of our recent converts and investigators to get fellowshipped into the Branch.  Jeffrey Tiga got baptized last week which was way good and it was great to see his whole family back together. His mom was way happy because their family is now complete and they have a new goal of getting to the temple but, they just have some other things to work out first. 

A sad thing though is we lost Rosmina... She went back to Kampong.... Her husband is still in Sandakan so we will hit him up and keep it up with him but, it sad that she is gone...

Melvin is still good but, we will have to try and hunt him down because he will no longer be coming to the member’s home and we have to go and see him at his work place.

Jennifer, her son, and Auntie are still doing good they are just taking it slowly. We are just really focusing on getting the auntie to come unto Christ and understand why he is important and how he can help us. She reads and understands and come to church but, we haven't gotten her to pray she is just way too shy and I don't think she understands why she needs to yet,

We are also working with Ebie she is so awesome. She can read and then explain it back to us and so far she loves it. She even asked us if she could get baptized the other week, we were already planning on inviting her but, she invited herself so… it’s even better. She fits in very well with the Branch and is well fellowshipped. Her mom is also learning but, she works on Sunday so it is hard because we can’t get her to church.

The Nings brought us a new referral from their Kampong…it is their cousin, his name is Baby; yes, Baby ha-ha…which is crazy I know but, he is tight and so far loves church. We are also teaching his dad, Wilson too. Hopefully something good will come from it.

But, tomorrow I am on a flight over to KL for a MLT again so it will be my last time in KL for meetings. We are working hard with a lot of Part Member families but, the last week was rough for seeing them because of the holiday most of them weren’t there. But, they are doing good and have sincere desires. We are just trying to build a relationship with all the members to try and get referrals and get them to help us out so we can get some good work done down in Sandakan.  

Irene is still doing good but, she is still having a hard time reading the BOM so we are just reading it with her at our appointments but, she didn't make it to church because she said she couldn't bear to see Elder Martin again since he was leaving... but, she is still willing to learn and come to church so, we will work with her and hopefully we can strengthen her faith and help her to find the truth.  Well that is about all I can think of. Talk to you later.

Mejumpa Vagu Ingin oku Diikau,

Elder Watkins

Week 100

Elder Nathan B Watkins Week 100 (23 Months)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Hey Everyone, 

Well this last week was good no complaints. Last week after KL we were pretty dang busy trying to see everyone that we missed and just working on getting Jeffry Baptized. So with that, he is getting baptized tomorrow, June 2nd so, it should be good. It turns out he likes to fish so he and Pres, Wieland went fishing this morning so it should be good since Pres Wieland is a pretty big fisher also so it should be some good BRT. When we were there last time I helped him fix his fishing rod just like Dad used to help us do so many times while we were fishing on the river. He had a tangled line with the arm on the reel broken so I fixed them both for him.

Monday and Tuesday of this week was Ka'amatan which is the harvest festival down here basically when the harvest ends and they just celebrate. In KK it is pretty huge and they have a big party selling stuff like beads, swords, clothing, and yean.... since Saturday things have been really quiet because they have school break for 2 weeks and everyone is gone back to Kampong and then with Ka'amatan even more have gone back so things have been a bit slower.

Yesterday we went in search of a lost recent convert here. He apparently moved to a new place called Sungai Kayu which is far and far from where he used to live. We were pretty unsuccessful in finding him over there...  It was a pretty, dang huge area and a lot bigger than we were told.

Afterwards we went and taught Rosmini and her daughter their RC lessons. We went and saw a PM/LA Family and as well. The father is the only member he has 3 kids and his wife that are not members and the only reason they didn't learn before was because the elders didn't speak Malay or Chinese and church was in English. But, now they are willing to listen and learn so we are going back on Saturday night to teach the whole family he was a pretty nice guy.

We also contacted a cool referral from a sister here…it is her niece. Her Name is Ebi, she is Christian but, never really learned a whole lot from the Catholic Church and really didn't understand it, she said it was just hard. So we taught her the restoration and it was a good lesson and she asks good questions. She is really looking for an answer. Another cool thing is she reads and she understands the scriptures too.

Rosmina and Melvin are doing well but, didn't make it to church last week cause of Ka'amatan. We will have to push their date back another week because of that. We thought after Ka'amatan Rosmina was going to move to Kampong for 3 months and Melvin would still be here and work but, he only went back to kampong last week and she is staying for another month or so, Melvin will still be here working for a lot longer.

Irene is doing alright she still hasn't read a whole lot of the Book of Mormon on her own but; we have been reading it with her and talking about prayer. She is still coming to church which is good we just hope we can get her to read and then pray about it on her own.

Next week is Youth Conference here and they'll all be heading up to KK for it so there won't be a whole lot of people here in Sandakan for 4 days.

Well I can't think of anything else really.  I am going to KK on the 6^th and then, I go to KL after for a MLT (Missionary Leadership Training) it’s about the new things they are doing with the simplified doctrine that they have to teach everyone here. All the new missionaries get it in the MTC now so they are just teaching the oldies...like me.

Mejumpa Vagu Ingin Oku Diikau,

Elder Watkins

P.S. Congratulations on the Babies.

Picture from Sister Wieland...Here is a closeup of the bracelets they just learned how to make using glass beads. Elder Watkins learned how when he was in Sarawak, where they make beautiful beadwork vests that sell for hundreds of dollars, and he agreed to come teach them.  Next week's YW lesson is making hot peppers and lizards with beads. (I can hardly wait to see those pictures)

Elder Bednar's Visit

Hey Everyone,

Well we just got back from KL and it was pretty dang awesome. First things first; last week we contacted Sister Lucy’s husband and he is a pretty cool guy. We have a return appt for tomorrow the only problem is they are going to Bintulu for 3 weeks right after our first lesson.... But, what to do. He is cool and he is the road repair crew for Sandakan… he is way nice.

Melvin and Rosmina made it to church last week and are one step closer to baptism; they are way cool and nice. Melvin it turns out has never been baptized and he is way pumped to get baptized in the coming month. They have no problems with the Word of Wisdom; he told us he quit smoking all on his own back in 2007 with no drugs or anything. He was proud to have done it by himself which, he should be because it is not an easy thing to kick.  

Rosameeni and her daughter Kurniawati got baptized on May 21 which was way awesome. It was a very spiritual baptism, even a lot of the members said it was way good and the best they've seen in a while. Mostly because it was so spiritual and that they wanted this so bad and had to overcome a lot to get it. Jeffrey a member baptized Rosameeni and I baptized Kurniawati. 

Elder Watkins and Elder Martin were very happy with the baptism of Kurniawati (L) and her mother Rosameeni (R) - her sister Tingak (in orange) is beside her - President Wieland and Jeffrey Tabiar on right.

We are also teaching Jennifer and her family they are so awesome and they are probably some golden people that have come back in church. We are hopefully going to put them on baptism date tomorrow. Her aunty is way cool and loves church so much. She used to be a Christian but, after she got married she just followed her husband in Buddhism. But, they are doing great. 

So the much waited for… Elder Bednar.... Well first I got to go the new chapel in KL out in Puchong for PJ2 branch and it is way nice I got some pictures of it I’ll send home. But, Elder Bednar is way cool and Funny. He talked a lot about following and teaching by the spirit and how we make it so that everyone is edified and not just the teacher going up there and just putting out his discourse on everything he learned throughout the week and giving it to you as you sit there. They also just organized a stake in Indonesia which is way cool he was there before he came to KL. He is meeting with the government officials there but, what about, I forgot or I am pretty sure he never told us. So we learned a lot from him that morning we got a group shot with him that Pres. Clark will probably send us in the next week or so but, it was awesome.

  

But, after that we had zone conference which was good but, it was my last one and so I had to give my last testimony at a zone conference.  The returning missionaries always give a testimony at their last one. Well it was good, if you want to know more you can ask the Larson in KK about my testimony and I will leave it at that but, it was spiritual but long because there was 17 of us there, a lot from our group and the Blissett's group that goes home 3 weeks after my group.  So it was cool.

President Wieland really wanted to go to the top of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur while we were there.

This is the view from the 41st floor skywalk.

It's all made of stainless steel and laminated glass, with a super-strong cement -- this is the view looking down.

 We waited two and a half hours in line to buy the tickets to ride the elevator, we were allowed 20 minutes on the skywalk to take pictures

But, we had some extra time in KL so I was able to go and see Sister Yanti and Dewi in KL and it was good to see them and tell them to stay strong in the church and things because the elders said it’s been a couple of weeks and they haven't gone; they said they were just being lazy... So hopefully they can get them to come back to church and be more frequent about it. We also went to the bridge at the Petronas Towers and it was good and way cool. We also ate at Chili’s as my early Birthday lunch ha-ha it was good. We also saw lots missionaries from the mission again like Elder Lewis, Elder Carter, Elder Thomas and Sister Rinet and stuff it was good. Now we’re back in Sandakan emailing you guys and that’s all I can think of so that’s it.

Mejumpa Vagu Ingin Oku Diikau

Elder Watkins

                                                            

Taking a bit of a beating...

Sister Wieland sent this picture to us...It looks to me, that they are all "patiently" waiting to dig into some yummy looking food.

Sister Marlita invited us and the missionaries to dinner -- she is an excellent Filipino cook.  There are deep-fried 4" prawns drizzled with a mayonnaise honey sauce  three kinds of chicken - fried, baked, and with a sauce, two different fish dishes - one with sweet and sour and one with garlic and onions, and another new vegetable to me that was delicious.  

What a royal smorgasbord!  If you notice, the silverware is always placed either on the plate, or on a separate plate -- the Chinese are particular that their eating utensils are not placed on the table where they could get contaminated with germs.  And, I have never seen napkins served, usually it is just a roll of toilet paper that is offered and you pull off a piece to wipe your hands on.

Hey Everyone, 

Well last week was pretty good and we are still fairly busy just trying to keep up with our people and with the traveling stuff. First off we are going to see Elder Bednar next week on Monday morning at the new PJ2 Chapel so, I will get to see him and the new chapel there ha-ha.

This weekend Rosmini and Kurniawati are getting baptized so they passed their interviews and so they are good to go. Her son Elvin still hates us for some weird reason but, he finally accepted the fact that whether he likes it or not, we are going to teach his mom ha-ha. So he stopped crying but, now he just beats up my companion and me…he tries to punch us and stuff but, well he is 4, he did make Elder Martin bleed a little though ha-ha. We still teach them but, we just take a bit of a beating besides. So things are going pretty sweet with them.

We are still teaching Irene our Pakistani investigator but, as of right now she is not willing to accept the BOM which is really rough and so we are just going to have to keep working with her. She came to church last Sunday again, which was good. She stayed the whole time and hit it off really well with the members there. She told us also she'll continue to learn and to come to church but, for right now she is going to have to take it slowly with the BOM and she hopes that one day her heart will open and receive it. We invited her that if she finds things to be true; would you get baptized? And she said; yes, so we are going to keep it up with her.

Del Rosario is doing a lot better, he is the man that was way sick in the hospital but, now he is doing so much better and will be out soon. He told us stories of how back in the day he was the number one hunter in all of Borneo. He used a shot gun with slugs to take down his prey ha-ha he is nuts… as in cool. He has killed a total of 7 Elephants, 1 Rhino and lots of Deer and Boar and anything else they have got in Sabah. He is a cool guy and reminds me a bit of grandpa.  We took the sacrament to him again last week and he told us that he is going to come back to KK for sure at least for a year and he'll stay with his less active daughter; Dosy and bring them back to church. He told us; “I am going to come to Mormon Church every Sunday when I get out of here.” So he is way cool.

We also went and saw Enol; he is another guy from a part member family who is way awesome and loves his kids a lot. He was going to come to church but, the Saturday before church his father, Maju got a job so he couldn't watch the old Nenek at the house so Enol couldn't make it but, he made sure to send his two sons who hadn't been in a long time. He has already figured out how he can make it for next week.  

We saw Justin and his sister last night and just talked about prayer with them; it was a pretty good lesson and they should be coming to church this coming week. We will just have to do our best at following up with them.

Sister Marlita's husband is doing good as well he goes back in for chemo next week but, we are going to stop by on Friday and see him and teach a bit. He is a way nice guy we just hope we can invite him to have a desire to come to church.

Melvin and his wife are doing great and moving right along for baptism. They are so awesome and he has a true desire to learn… it’s so crazy awesome. The father read the pamphlets and actually understands them; he is cool. We asked him; Melvin did you read the Book of Mormon he said; No, I didn't and we were sad but, he was like but, that is because I read the blue Joseph Smith pamphlet because I wanted to make sure I understood where the Book of Mormon came from before I moved on ha-ha. Because he works in the factory he can only make it every other week but, he will make it next week. His wife still comes even though but, man his wife is dang tall btw she is 5'10" maybe taller and her brother we met very briefly while he was here is a 6 foot man they are tall. But, they are doing great.

Last but, definitely not least is Jennifer and her family. Her Mother-in-law and her daughter and 11 year old son have come to church the last two weeks. Jennifer is a Filipino lady from Manila; she was baptized about 20 years ago in the Philippines and has been inactive for 18 years; basically since she moved to Malaysia. Well the day before I got here she stopped Elder Martin and told him she was a member. We went and talked with her and gave her a BOM again and helped her understand how to get to church. So she came with all of them on Sunday. Even though the aunty and the son only speak Chinese, they loved church to death. We went Monday to teach her and her Mother-in-law with the Lee's, it went way well. The Lee’s speak Chinese so that really helped with the aunty. Hopefully later this week we can invite them for baptism; they are way awesome. Jennifer is way happy because her family likes to come to church and she said she really misses church a lot. Turns out the aunty loves to wake up Jennifer at 7am to make sure they get to church on time. Jennifer’s sister in the Philippines is a member as well and a RM; she told her how awesome the temple is and so now she is really working towards get her family to the temple and being active and learning the things that she has forgotten; so she can make it there. So that’s pretty much everything I can think of.

Mejumpa Vagu ingan Oku Diikau,

Elder Watkins

Ka'amatan is the Harvest Festival here...it doesn't start until the beginning of June.

Check out this Basketball court...

 

Lots of Exciting things happening here in Sandakan

With his companion Elder Martin...

Hey Everyone,

Well it was really nice to talk to all of on Mother’s Day and to see Bridger and grandma and grandpa. But, now all me and my companion can think about is how cool it would be to have a sweet iphone now ha-ha.... But, it doesn't distract us ha-ha.

Well this last week was good. Monday after we talked with you we went and saw our investigator Irene from Pakistan she is super awesome and came to church last Sunday. We stopped by and she told us that she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet but, she is still waiting for her answer from God. She is crazy awesome and every morning messages us a bible quote if we aren't going to be able to see her that day ha-ha. She has already read 6+ chapters from the gospel principles manual and has read just as much from the Book of Mormon so she is doing way awesome. We are planning on putting her on date sometime this week maybe even after church this Sunday. She also has a MDA and is way smart. Her father has lived in Sandakan for 15 years but, she has only been here for 6 months now. At some point she wants to move to KL because, well…she doesn't speak Malay but, she is learning but, she has better opportunities in KL.

Melvin and his wife Rose Minna are doing awesome as well.  We taught them last week about the gospel of Jesus Christ after they had come to church that day and it went really well. We invited them to be baptized on the 4th of June and they are down for it. Melvin is the only one who can read in the family but, he already has read from the introduction to somewhere in 1 Nephi 2. They are cool and their daughters are way funny and so easy to make laugh ha-ha. You can just stare at them and they will laugh. Rose Minnie not Rose Minna ha-ha and her daughters Kurnia and Wati are doing amazing as well. We finally got them to church after we figured out the reason her son was freaking out and screaming and crying when he saw us it was because he thought we were doctors coming to give him a shot and so he was scared to death. But, they are all pretty cool. They are preparing for baptism on the 21st of May.

We also have a whole bunch of cool members here. We went and visited some PM families in hopes to get some of their spouses interested in learning. We have had some pretty good success with doing that. We met with Sister Lucy and her husband last week and it went pretty good. The best one so far was when we went to see was Sister Lisa and her husband Justin. Justin has a degree in Electrical engineering and a degree in IT so he is crazy good on the computer and we watched him delete a virus in like 30 seconds but, not using his antivirus using CMD ha-ha it was crazy cool. He is a Kadazan from KK and so now we are starting to teach him and his sister who recently moved in with them also. So we are way excited for him. He speaks English, Malay, Kadazan, and 4 dialects of Chinese.... He is insane and his computer is way nice and it was crazy awesome it was one of those mini computers but he had a 400 gig hard drive and he also had 4gig of ram in it. It was awesome. So that was another way awesome lesson we had last week.

Recently there was a man here who was a father and uncle of many of the members here and he had a crazy bad infection in his hand and had been in the hospital for about 2 weeks now. Well it wasn't getting better so the first week I was here we gave him a blessing and he started improving. The pain wasn't as bad but, it still wasn't getting better and they were preparing to amputate it…well we went and gave him the sacrament last week and then we went and saw him yesterday and he has improved so much and he is going to get released in a couple of days. It is truly a miracle that he was healed. He has such strong faith in Christ.  It was so cool to see someone with such strong faith even though they aren't a member of this church.  He was living in Ranau which is in between here and KK. Now he is going to move here because all of his family is here and so we are going to start to teach him and his wife and we are excited for that as well.

There is also another PM family we started working with Sister Marlita's family. Her husband is Chinese and actually didn't like the church at all. He wouldn't let the elders come to his house at all when he was home or when he wasn't home. He got cancer which sucks but, we visited him a couple times and stuff and he is going through chemo and he is getting better but, because of the visits and the love we have shown. He is doing awesome now and he got out of the hospital last week and he asked his wife when we were going to come over and share with him so, he has had a huge 180° turn. So we go and see them this Friday.

There are lots of exciting things happening here in Sandakan. Things are good though and we are finding lots of cool people to teach. One member Brother Kennedy he has two daughters like 6 and 4 and they are so cute.  I’ll get a picture of them and send it to you he always dresses them in the same outfit it is way funny…they are hilarious and love the elders.

Rose got baptized back in KK last week which was awesome and Desy and Maryann should be getting baptized very soon because Desy is getting married to her husband this week or next week. :) So things are good. I still miss KK a lot but, watudu ha-ha. 

Mejumpa Vagu Ingin Oku Diikau,

Elder Watkins

I Love Skype!

I LOVE SKYPE!!!

We are able to use skype to talk to Nathan on Mother's Day!!!  It was the best...What amazing technology we have today...I am glad I am a missionary mom in this day and age.

Last Visa Run to Singapore

Elder Nathan B Watkins Week 96

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

I am in the airport on the free internet in Singapore on my last Visa run.  I will try and email later.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

I don't have a whole lot of time to email or anything because our flight got delayed last night by an hour so I got back in Sandakan around seven and then we took a taxi back to President Wieland’s house.  From there we went and picked up my companion and then preceded to our nightly appointment with Jeffrey a part members family kid, who were less active and now are coming back to church. He passed his interview and should be baptized next week.

We recently contacted a new family that we are teaching named Milvin and Rose Minna a young couple. The wife is Sungai and the husband is Dusun from KK they have 2 young daughters so hopefully they will pan out.

We are also working with a couple of other part member families in hopes to get some more of the husbands of these wives here into the church as well.  We are also trying to find the next Branch President for when the Wieland’s go home.

Sorry the email is short but, no time…I will get something out next week. Hope everyone is good over there.

Mejumpa Vagu,

Elder Watkins