Elder Ben Mullins: Ostrich Jockey

Hey Everyone!

I can now say that I'm a certified ostrich jockey. Whatever that implies. Anyway, this week was super-fast. I can't believe it's Monday again. Last Monday, we woke up early and went with the Pattersons (senior couple missionaries) to a place called Batu Caves, then after, an ostrich farm. Who knew they had ostrich farms? Anyway, Batu Caves was awesome. There were a bunch of Hindu temples and shrines and a giant cave. Monkeys were everywhere. The best thing about it was I got reunited with Elder Allred! Elder Allred got transferred to PJ last week because he couldn't ride his bike anymore because of some medical problems. So we got to hang out! Elder Allred is the coolest missionary ever. We're definitely gonna hang out when I get back from my mission. Anyway, we hiked up a million stairs to the cave, explored, then went to the ostrich farm. I fed ostriches, and even got to RIDE them. HOW COOL IS THAT? I rode an ostrich. It was super awesome.

On the way home, we had a lot of fun. Elder Patterson (Elder P) doesn't like slowing down when we go through toll gates. There are these things here called smart tags, and they scan pretty quickly as you pass beneath the toll booth. The gates lift up fast enough that you can drive through. Sister P always gets really mad at him because she thinks they're gonna hit the gate. But we went through 4 or 5 toll gates on the way, and nothing happened. On the way home we went through two or three of them. Sister P, of course, says, "You're gonna hit one one of these times! You have to slow down!!!" and we all just laughed. We went through another one, and guess what happened? We totally slammed into the gate. It popped open and swung around, and guess what Elder P did? Just kept driving. We were all crying because we were laughing so hard. Elder P and Sister P were just arguing in the front. Sister P is saying, "I KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN! BOYS, STOP LAUGHING! YOU'RE JUST ENCOURAGING HIM!" all while Elder P was saying, "Honey, the gate was being stupid! It payed, it just didn't lift up fast enough!" So we were all dying. It was super funny.

Tuesday we had to pay 3 water bills, because they hadn't paid the bill the last 3 months. I told Elder Forsyth we needed to do it. The Chinese Elders tried the day before, but they were closed. We had to travel for around 45 minutes to get to the place to pay our bill. We spent a big chunk of time looking for the place and getting there, then we couldn't find a bus stop, so we walked a few kilometers back. Later that night, we had an awesome dinner given to us by Sister Peggy and her family. It was super good garlic pork and some really good chicken. Then we taught them about the Book of Mormon. After that, we went around finding lots more people.

Wednesday, we dropped off a Tagalog Book of Mormon for Ariz while he was at work. I've never seen someone so happy to get a Book of Mormon. He was way pumped. He's been reading it a lot recently! He was too busy to be taught that day at work, so we visited him later in the week.

On the way home, we saw this little kitten. It was freaking out at something down a gutter. I think it might've been a rat. Anyway, it would poke its head down this little hole and meow 3 or 4 times, pop its head out of the hole, meow at Elder Forsyth and me 2 or 3 times, and then look back in and repeat. Sometimes it'd stick its paw in the hole too. The hole was barely big enough for it to squeeze its head in. It was probably a 6 foot drop down to the bottom of the gutter. This cat puts its head in one more time, puts its paw in, then puts in another paw, and it started to slip down! Elder Forsyth and I start moving toward it to save it, but then its whole body slipped through. We tried looking down into the gutter to see if it was ok, but we couldn't see it, and we couldn't hear it. I don't know what happened to the cat. But it was super funny.

Thursday, we got some awesome new investigators! We met with a referral from Sister Shena named Rewin, and she's interested in learning more. We also met with a lady named Rayne, and she's EXTREMELY prepared! I'll talk more about them when we teach them a bit more. But I'm excited to teach them!

After we taught them, we went to KL to go on exchanges with the zone leaders! Elder Forsyth stayed there, and Elder Orgill and I made the hour long journey back to Puchong. I learned a ton of stuff from him just that night. He was pretty cool.

Friday, Elder Orgill interviewed George for baptism one last time, and he's gonna get baptized on Saturday! We're looking forward to that! It'll be awesome! My first baptism! He's totally prepared! George is such a great guy, and will make an awesome member! After the interview, we went back to Ariz and taught him, then after that, he gave us a referral, but she wasn't interested. Bummer.

After learning a million new things from Elder Orgill, including how to speak Malay, we went back to KL to switch companions back. Elder Forsyth and I both learned lots, and we've been doing even better since the exchanges. On the way back from exchanges, we contacted for the hour long train ride. We talked with a ton of people, but there was one that really stood out. We were walking toward him, and all of a sudden, I just knew him. It was super weird. I knew his personality, I knew who he was, and the weirdest thing ever was I felt like I knew his name. I just had the name Winson pop into my head. I was going to say to him, "I bet I can guess your name", but Elder Forsyth cut me off right as I was about to speak, and asked him how he was doing. He said he was doing well. He asked him what is name was. Guess what his name was?!?!? WINSON! My jaw dropped, and after a second of shock, I asked him if we had talked with him before. He said he'd seen us before, but never talked to us. So I was saying in my mind, "I HAVE to get this guy's number." But he wasn't interested. But he DID promise that if he ever saw us again, he would set up an appointment to learn, so that was really awesome. It was like I had a vision. Craziest experience of my mission. I don't know why God thought I should know his name, but I know that God gives us revelation for a reason! So someday... One day he'll meet with us!

Saturday, we went contacting for pretty much all day, and we did it pretty boldly. It was super awesome, but nobody was interested. We stayed positive anyway. So it was good. We got to teach English Class at least, so that was fun. The district had a dance for the youth, so they had fun at that, but it kinda left the missionaries without anyone to help teach. That's ok, because all of our lessons cancelled anyway!

Sunday was awesome! Church is the bomb. We taught 5 lessons after church between the two sets of Elders, then finished our studies right before dinner. We went to a dinner appointment, and had some of the Chinese Elders' investigators there to teach. We knew there would be a language barrier, but the Chinese Elders had another appointment somewhere else. So we ate dinner for an hour, because some reason, the members think you have to introduce the gospel really slowly and ease into it. Finally, we got the topic onto church, and started teaching. The crazy thing was, as we taught them, they all understood. They could all hardly speak English, but somehow, they understood! It was awesome! Now the Chinese Elders' investigators are on date for baptism! So that's awesome. Too bad they aren't our investigators.

My week was super awesome! I'm loving life in Puchong, and I have at least 1 more P Day in Puchong! Hopefully I have 13 more though! That's the goal! Thanks for supporting me in being a missionary! You're all awesome! I hope your week is great!

Love,

Elder Ben Mullins